continuing..
I met Rusty and Alison when we recruited them to sing at the reopening of an arson-burned community hall in Shawnee about 15 years ago. They were celebrities on stage for our grand reopening…New York entertainers, giving of their time on our little village. It was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

At the many parties that we all attended over the years, Rusty somehow found his way to the piano, to the spotlight (often dragging Alison with him) and brought laughter to the room with his great music and quick wit. If no piano were available he’d bring his accordion. Composing as he went, I was always in awe of a talent so foreign to my creative senses. He understand in his soul what Victor Borge once said, “Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”

A few years ago, we put together a surprise Murder Mystery for unsuspecting guests at a Shawnee New Years Eve party. A young woman was “murdered” and every guest was given a pseudonym and a few choice lines describing the darker side of their new personas. We didn’t have a solution for this murder, but asked the room full of suspects to create their own solutions. Just before midnight, our guests offered their versions of the murder. The winner was chosen by applause and who walked off with the significant prize? Rusty, of course…it was all in the delivery.

Alison & Nat,
Thank you, as so many others have, for Sunday's moving and uplifting service for Rusty. It was wonderful to hear friends and family from throughout Rusty's life weave a beautiful picture of the many facets of his 47 years. Love, Nancy, Jon & Kim

Below is the message I tried in vain to submit last week. I'll enter it in pieces.

My son, Jon, wrote a short story a few years ago recounting a Shawnee formal float that ended abruptly when a summer thunderstorm arrived. Our party of floaters disbursed quickly from the Delaware River and Jon and a few friends wound up on the riverbank with Rusty. Rusty ran with them through the torrential rain to the safety of an old stone building near the river. Along the way Jon lost his hat. Here’s a short passage from the story describing what happened next.

Rusty, the one adult with us, who was painted red and green, ran in vain after my hat. He later abandoned us to go check on his kittens at home.

I always smile when I think of that story. It’s quintessential Rusty. A responsible adult, he never would have left the boys at the river. But also a man whose mind was always racing, worrying, as he dripped red and green paint, about the fate of his cats.

Thank you, thank you Alison and Nat. The memorial. The way you let us be there. Thank you. Rusty will always make me smile. For those of us who were lucky enough to be in his sphere, it'll be easy. He was so much light and magic. From the Midnight Show to The Czar of Rock and Roll- It was the most fun you could have in a basement during the Reagan/Bush years. I wish you both peace. With love and admiration, Ann & Michael Mantel.

Dear Alison & Nat...
I was in Barbados doing some concerts when I got the word about Rusty's passing. Please know that if I could have, I would have been there at the memorial service. I can only send you my deepest condolences and tell you how much I admired and respected Rusty. He was not only a great talent, but a fine and funny man. He will be dearly missed by all who knew him.

Alison...Know that I look forward to seeing, and touching base with Nat soon at York, and that all my warmest regards and prayers are with you both.

Danny

Dear Alison and Nat,

Sunday's celebration of Rusty's life was moving and inspring. Thank you for sharing such love and joy. Rusty was a sweet, talented, generous man of the theatre and I am among the many who will miss him.

My heart is with you at this difficult time. The shock of grief and loss does not fade quickly, and yet, in time, the pain will abate, and his memory will remain vivid your hearts.

With deepest sympathy and love,

Susan

My sincerest condolences to Alison and Nat on Rusty's leaving us. My relationship with Rusty goes back quite a way - to the early 80's. I was a student at Santa Clara University out in Calif. and he came out one summer to visit a then-girlfriend who was doing a show with us. Rusty had a way of making an impression which stayed with me all these many years. His talent, his drive, his phenomenal sense of humor, his love of everything he did. . .all I can really say is that he was an example to everyone who came into contact with him. With an audience of only a couple of us in a "black box" theatre with a piano, he would keep us in stitches for hours! What great memories this brings back. . . When I moved to New York a few years back, I got back in touch with Rusty long enough to see one of his performances and touch base ever so briefly. Thankfully, I saw that twenty years had not changed him a bit. Up on stage, solo, performing and making us all laugh, I saw so much joy and love of life. I'm even more grateful now that I was able to see him perform one more time. I don't think that anyone who knew Rusty will ever forget him, no matter how closely or how long ago. He was an amazing person and my heart goes out to his family

Bye, Rusty. Thank you for everything. They were feverishly hot years down in the basement at the West Bank. A lot of people came of age down there and you sang us all through it. With joy...Thank you. And love to Alison and the boy.

Dear Alison and Nat:
I smiled all day today. My mind was filled with thoughts of Rusty and of yesterday's tremendous memorial to him. Thank you for arranging such a glorious celebration of his extrordinary life.

And thank you again, Alison, for making "Sweet Appreciation" happen last May. What a gift you gave us! We had a chance to show and tell Rusty how much we loved him, and he gave it right back to us. It was a poignant, hilarious, and magical evening that I will never forget.

Rusty will be in my heart forever.

Much love to you both,
Nancy Giles

Thank you for the Memorial service. It was beautiful and just as it should be--the sense of Rusty bringing us all together which was what he did so well in his life.
Rusty is so woven into the fabric of my adaptations that I feel he is part of my art forever. I would not have dared to develop Ubu Rock without knowing he would be there on the other side of the idea--the finished script--to make the musical be just that. He worked like a whirlwind. You would think nothing would be ready nothing and then suddenly three songs seemed to jump out of nowhere. He was so kind and generous to Andrei and I in working. He always wanted what was best for the show and nothing ever got in the way of that. He wrote incredible music and lyrics and gave us so much inspiration and our audiences so much joy. He is the reason that so many of Andrei and my adaptations became musicals. We would not have ventured there without him. I promise we will do everything possible to keep his music alive and giving off the joy, laughter, and wisdom that was the essence of his spirit.

Though I have dozens of fond memories of Rusty enthralling large audiences, one of my favorites involves a less-than-successful night at the West Bank back in the mid-'90's.

We had a small, small, crowd - maybe a dozen or so (counting Nat). But Rusty had resolved to perform a piece from back in his "less-responsible" days in the 80's; a jittery punk/new wave parody, as I remember.

Despite the emptiness of the space and his admission that given how much more clear-headed he now was, this would hurt a lot more, Rusty put on a thin tie, sunglasses, and had Nat move off to the side "for his own protection."

It was an amazing performance, unbelievably energetic, and it culminated in a massive stage dive. This was made funnier by the fact that there was absolutely no audience to dive into. Instead, Rusty sailed horizontally, flew, really, over two empty tables to come crashing down on a third, nearly fifteen feet back. The rest of us went as wild as a tiny crowd can go (which was surprisingly wild), as Rusty struggled to his feet and retook the stage, ready to introduce the next act. [Nat, far too young to appreciate some of Rusty's more sophisticated stuff, was still giggling 10 minutes later.]

There was no "lesson" intended, despite how easy it'd be to draw one. It was just Rusty being himself, getting and giving the maximum amount of joy in a situation that until that moment had seemed drab and mundane.