12/08/2023
UPDATE:
Yes, Tom Degan passed away yesterday.
Tom was a good chap. And "chap" was a word he might use himself.
He used to call our trip to Abbey Road Studios with brother Pete his mountaintop moment. Those of us who knew Tommy personally knew him as a sweet and funny guy who had, through some mysterious force, obtained a sharp comical wit very early in life.
Tom also had an insatiable curiosity. There are certain subjects on which he was an absolute authority. I had urged him over the years to write an updated biography of Lenny Bruce. Tom had read all the published work on Bruce and could critique each one in exquisite detail. Exquisite. He knew Lenny Bruce’s daughter and had corresponded with her over the years. He even spoke at a Lenny Bruce academic forum. When we were teenagers, Tom became so obsessed with Bruce’s work that he could recite from memory all the stand-up routines Lenny did during the People v. Bruce obscenity trials. Word for word. It made our Saturday night parties more interesting, and we all got an education.
In 6th-grade at St. John’s Elementary school in Goshen, NY, Tommy put on a small Charlie Chaplin film exposition for our class. He brought in a film projector and screened Chaplin’s, Easy Street. He then gave a brief talk on Chaplin’s film catalog.
I think this might have put him in the good graces of the nuns for a while. But that only lasted until the day he decided to question the infallibility of the Pope. Right there in class. Tom didn’t buy it. “But Sister, is the Pope human? Because if he is human, he can’t be infallible!” Tom’s attendance in class ended early that day. He recalls that as his point of expulsion. I can’t remember exactly, but I trust his encyclopedic memory.
Fallibility was something Tom knew well. He had his struggles in life and some of those struggles affected his health. He was aware of his own fallibility and through life, he showed an endearing compassion for others he knew and always seemed ready to accept their imperfections with a good dose of wit and self deprecation.
Tom wrote a blog for many years. Those of you who followed it might have recognized him carrying the torch of Hunter S. Thompson, the sharp commentary always tempered with a comical sense of life.
Tom’s own life was not driven by a plan, it was driven by wonderment and curiosity.
Down Time’s quaint stream
Without an oar,
We are enforced to sail,
Our Port—a secret—
Our Perchance—a gale.
What Skipper would incur the risk,
What Buccaneer would ride,
Without a surety from the wind
Or schedule of the tide?
— Emily Dickinson
I am feeling very sad right now. But I know that I am going to laugh again because I'm going to remember, and when I remember, Tommy is going to crack me up, just like he always has.
Godspeed dear friend. Keep those Angels laughing.
Kevin Swanwick
