Dancing Tom

   

When I was young I remember that whenever my dad would take me downtown to a festival or to watch a band I would always see an older man with crazy hair and no shirt dancing around. I asked my dad who this guy was after I had noticed him a few times. He told me he was known as Tom Cat and that all he ever did was go from place to place and dance.
     I remember thinking as a child that he was somehow literally always dancing, and that once the festival was over he would just go dance somewhere else. It seemed as if he was omnipresent.  I eventually learned that this was in fact not far from the truth.
     Over the years I saw Tom dance countless times. I remembering seeing him at the Fraze Pavilion, South Park Tavern, and at Riverscape. I don't think there was a single blues, reggae, or jazz festival that me and my dad ever went to that I didn't see Tom at.  It didn't matter what kind of music was playing, or how many other people were on the dance floor, Tom would always be there.
     In fact I remember one time when I went to the Fraze with my dad I felt really uneasy about dancing to the music because there were only a few people on the dance floor. Then Tom showed up. He started dancing and pretty soon the amount of people on the floor had tripled. He had some kind of almost magic quality about him, something in his moves told you that you to needed to get out there and just do whatever you felt like doing.
     The reason I wrote this blog about Tom is because a few days ago I  found out that Tom recently died of a stroke. I was deeply saddened hear this news and I started to remembered all of the times that I had seen him and been inspired by his spirit, his charisma, and his dance moves.
     I'm sure some of you may have seen this man around town at some point, and if you have you're almost guaranteed to  remember him. I know I will probably think about him the next time I attend a festival downtown. I'm also sure a few people will be surprised when he is not in attendance.  Tom did teach me a valuable lesson in the times I met him though. He taught me that you should not care what other people think about your dancing and that when it comes down to it, music is ultimately about having fun above all else.
      The Dayton Daily news also did a piece about Tom, which is where I found the picture of him I used in this entry. Here is a link to article.