Jonathan Neuman died of leukemia this summer, but his memory will linger on campus with an concert dedicated to his memory. Neuman would have graduated this May, but he left Tufts at the beginning of his junior year when he was diagnosed of leukemia.
He died on June 26.
Neuman was better known as "Johnny Physical" to Tufts students. The nickname stemmed from his band at Tufts, "The Physicals," which was voted the best band on campus in a spring 2000 Daily poll.
The concert, which has been dubbed "Annual Physical," will be the fall concert of New Music Ensemble (NME, pronounced "enemy"), an improv group of which Neuman was also member.
This year's "Annual Physical" will be called "Physical Memory," and will be held on Nov. 21 in the Alumnae Lounge. The idea for an annual commemorative concert came from dialogue between Neuman's brother, Joshua, and John McDonald, the chair of the Music Department. "Physical Memory" will be a type of "pilot" for the rest of the "Annual Physical" concerts. According to McDonald, "it will definitely be experimental."
Although this year's concert is sponsored by the Music Department, in the future it will probably be sponsored by outside contributors.
The musicians of NME will perform a piece based upon the recordings Neuman made while in hospital. There will also be several other pieces inspired by Neuman, including a piano solo composed by McDonald.
The show will also incorporate clips from a documentary about NME, showing Neuman participating in the group that will be shown during the concert.
Neuman was difficult to "package into a statement" according to his friends. "It seemed almost as if he was so smart that he just thought completely differently than everybody else," one friend said.
"Everybody else tries to act weird, he really was weird," another said, in reference to the genuineness of Neuman's character.
When his friends spoke of him, they responded with smiles and demonstrated an underlying affection for the passionate musician.
McDonald described Neuman, a music major, as "an energetic musical mind."
Neuman continued to pursue his music while undergoing treatment in New York. Apart from recording his music and taking up the piano, he also put on acoustic guitar shows for the other patients. Joshua Neuman said that his "visitors constantly remarked that Jonathan cheered them up, not the other way around."
While in the hospital, Neuman participated in one of NME's concerts, using the keys of a telephone as an instrument. In the past, the group has experimented with such unconventional ways of making music, including an "Anti-SUV" concert, which featured instruments made of car parts.
But when friends remember Neuman, they think of more than just music. One remembered how "when we went to visit him, after he left school, he had no hair."
"But he came in with a really black, furry CVS wig... he wore it so seriously even though it was a joke.
More from The Tufts Daily
