continued #3
It wasn't surprising to read Dean's thoughts in this article as i recalled two others from the past...one written many, many years ago, during Phase II, but well before Jan passed (which i'd read reprinted in Sunshine Music) As i recall, Dean confided that it was difficult for him to say it was such a wonderful thing that Jan survived the car wreck when he saw how much it hurt Jan to be "there" enough to remember what he'd been like ...and ...how it was for him now.
...and then, in an interview before a concert April 2011 at the Spencer, Dean responded with "The truth is for the first couple of shows, it was actually quite liberating," quickly adding that while he deeply missed performing with Berry, doing so was often fraught with challenges due to Berry's aphasia and paralysis resulting from the 1966 accident. "We always had to keep an eye on Jan, because you just never knew when he might fall down or whatever."
Personally, I think it truly was putting it mildly when saying "he might fall down or whatever". Along with what 2Dean2 was trying to express in his other posts, the day to day trials for Jan in everyday things, there was the excruciatingly difficult times when Jan's understandable inability to simply (or NOT so simply) make it to the stage or to the waiting transportation TO the stage, came into play. Or perhaps, who can count the times when the pressure was on, as Jan's emotional pain from these continual trials before shows caused Dean to undergo extreme pressure with the fact that a contract might not be able to be fulfilled...with a crowd seated, waiting for them to appear.
PLUS, the awfully inexcusable times when venues were not adequately prepared to equip a handicapped performer's basic requirements...yet would Dean be able to let his feelings fly in such circumstances? NO! He would have to genuinely, remain courteous to these hosts of events as well as make sure Jan's needs were at least, bare minimum provided for.
It's nerve-racking for any performers before a show and traveling for those shows...so with the all the added stress of these things i've pointed out, one can't minimize the motivations behind and inside of Dean to have handled things the way he did for he and Jan...I do not believe that it was all for money. It's fun to say it was for the money--it's easy on many levels to have said that...Because who is willing to list the other needs and existing reasons? They're pretty deep and show our vulnerability--and that's uncomfortable: to give a life long friend and partner a most meaningful source of fulfillment and means of self-provision -- which enriched LOTS of people in many ways--that's one other thing and as and more important than money.
