R.I.P. John "Juke" Logan

I'm sad.  My dear friend and radio partner, John "Juke" Logan passed away on Friday night.  Friday nights were OUR nights from 1992 to 2000.  We hosted the "Friday Night Blues Revue" on KPCC-FM.  Juke was a wonderful radio co-host.  His experiences as a musician added the MOST to the credibility of our blues radio show.  He knew EVERYONE in the music business and asked many of them to guest on our show.  Without Juke, the show would have been just more "12-bar boring blues."  He made our show come alive.

I wrote about Juke and our radio show a few months back.  You can read it all here.

Juke's best friend, Stephanie Riggio posted this statement upon his passing.  Juke's quality of life improved immeasurably when Stephanie came into his world.  We will always be grateful to Steph for enhancing Juke's life and his final days.  Here are Stephanie's words:

Hi everyone--it's Stephanie....sorry for lack of updates but, out of respect for Juke's wishes, I waited until he told me what he wanted to say publicly.
Juke passed away last night, in his bed, with his favorite hospice nurse beside him holding his hand. At my request, she had put his music player on shuffle next to him so he was hearing that and her words of how loved he was as he left. He was INCREDIBLY ADAMANT about anyone saying that he “lost” his battle to cancer. He and I agreed that I would instead say, after all that fighting, he CHOSE PEACE.
He has been in hospice here at the Joshua Tree home for 4 months officially. We've known his cancer was terminal since earlier this year, if not sooner.
The last month had been incredibly difficult for him.
We spent many evenings this past month or two watching the sunset, and we even watched some of the Persied meteor shower together a few weeks back. He was happy about how well the Dodgers are doing. Found joy in all the blessings of this house and surroundings. Loved it when Tom and I brought the dogs and parrot out.
He often told me he had NO REGRETS, truly, and was ready for whatever came next. Per his request, there will be no official public memorial--I wanted the musical benefit for cancer research and concert to be a memorial he could witness so I am so glad we made that happen.
Hold us all in your heart as we move forward without him in the physical world.

Over the years, my husband, Larry Underhill, photographed Juke for a few of his CD releases.  Larry and Juke were both raised in the San Fernando Valley, loved the hot rod/car culture and reminisced fondly about their early years growing up.  One of my favorite photos of Juke is the one Larry took while we were visiting at Juke's Joshua Tree home a few years ago.  Larry set the shot next to an old trailer on the property.  It was "golden" time.  The photo is perfect.

Joshua Tree, California.  Photo by Larry Underhill

I'm very glad that Larry and I last saw Juke on a high note....almost exactly one year ago at his desert home in Joshua Tree.  We were celebrating his 66th birthday.  His cancer was in remission.  It was a time of rejoicing.  Many friends were present.  

Juke was in great form, greeting everyone, happy to see so many people enjoying his beautiful desert retreat.  Here is a video, featuring Juke, Big Black on congas and Joey Delgado on guitar, from that glorious party.  This is how I will always remember my friend, John "Juke" Logan.  Check out the video here.

You will be in my heart forever, Pard'.