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My wife Jeni was complaining yesterday about a most annoying earworm. You know those nerve-grating songs that get stuck in your head and play on an endless loop. Her earworm was “We Built This City” by Starship. My most maddening tunes usually include something by Journey or Foreigner.
And I’m willing to bet a dollar that many of my own songs have ended up worming their way into the skulls of many insomnia-frazzled parents.
But every now and then you get an agreeable sound, or thought, or memory, or song that plays over and over in your head that ends up being quite pleasant and comforting. It’s not right to call these “earworms”, because they’re more like an angel whispering in your ear. So, I’m calling them “ear-angels”.
As my band and I prepare for the third annual KC Jiggle Jam, I have had the most delightful ear-angel flitting around in my mind. It’s the song “Bright Light” by my good friend Bongo Barry. Over and over the words remind me, “I am a bright light, perfect just the way I am.”
For those of you who did not know him, Bongo Barry Bernstein was a beautifully energetic spirit who engaged a generation of kids throughout the Midwest with his joyful, positive music and pounding rhythms. He was a solid pillar of the Kansas City family music scene for years and an integral part of the success of Jiggle Jam.
Barry unexpectedly left his earthly body last August to take on his next spiritual assignment. And there doesn’t seem to be any physiological evidence about why or how that happened. He just slipped out of this life and into the next in the same sprightly way he lived in this world.
When Bongo Barry asked a crowd of a thousand people at the first Jiggle Jam to start chanting the phrases "Charlie Parker plays jazz" and "Really great barbeque", I thought he was nuts. And he was nuts. That's why I loved him.
He was nuts about music. Nuts about people. And nuts about life. Bongo Barry could get anyone to sing or dance. He had the talent and the passion and, most important, the genuine love for his fellow humans.
He was a truly loving soul who included everyone in whatever he did. He was the only performer I know who would bring enough instruments to a show so everyone in the audience could participate. He had dozens of tubs loaded with oodles of drums, egg shakers, and film canisters full of beans.
And here's a classic example of the whimsy and love he sprinkled on our world: His last tour took him to western Kansas for some library gigs. Along the way he stopped at highway rest areas and left behind colorful plastic percussion egg shakers with his name and website printed on them. This was no marketing ploy. It was another example of Barry sharing the gift of rhythm with the world. And that's what he did best – share. He gave and gave and gave of himself, always, including his sweat. He perspired more than anyone I've ever met. After every show, he was soaked to the bone. I'll miss those sweaty hugs.
So, to honor Barry and celebrate his life, we are dedicating the workshop stage at Jiggle Jam in his memory. That stage is where he spent so many hours laughing and singing with families, and helping kids make their own instruments. There will be a drum placed there under his portrait. Please drop by and pound on that drum in honor of Bongo Barry and send an ear-angel up into the heavens that will get stuck in his angelic noggin for the rest of eternity.
Awww...what a nice tribute. I never saw Bongo Barry, but everything I have heard about him has been wonderful.Thanks Jim- I sat here and cried for 10 minutes after reading this. Barry was such a unique person and I am so happy that I got to spend some time with him- thanks to Jiggle Jam, I have everlasting memories of him and his antics!
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