Wolfgang Kurt Bommersbach
WOLFGANG KURT BOMMERSBACH - 1950-2006
Guitarist. Soundman. Repair Tech.
Sadly the Cleveland music community lost a great friend and a wonderful human being, when Wolfgang Kurt Bommersbach passed away on March 30, 2006.
Over the years Kurt was always there to help so many area musicians by fixing their gear whenever it failed them. (His most recent gig was working for Dr. Z amps). If you were short a couple of bucks or needed extra time to pay him for the work he did he didn't care he would still fix your rig anyway. In fact he would come to your home and pick it up, repair it and drop it off within a few hours if need be. He was always more than fair in what he charged for his work. In addition, if you needed some time to pay him he was always very patient and understanding and knew you would pay him when you could. The monetary reward for his work did not matter to him. What mattered most of all to Kurt was the music! In a sentence, Kurt Bommersbach was one of the most
caring and genuinely altruistic individuals many of us will have ever known.
On Sunday, April 2, 2006 numerous Cleveland area musicians, family members and friends gathered at Craciun Funeral Home located on Cleveland's West Side in the Detroit-Shoreway district to pay homage to a fallen comrade.
Instruments were set up & and stood vigilant to the right of the casket where Kurt laid in state as crestfallen mourners meandered into the funeral parlor. Then, at a little past 5:15 PM and for several hours thereafter, many of Cleveland's finest musicians made a joyful noise together to celebrate the life of a dear departed friend, fellow guitar picker, sound man and repair guru, Wolfgang Kurt Bommersbach.
To the uninitiated it may have seemed strange that we played music in what is traditionally such a quiet, whisper filled & tear stained parlor, but to those of us who knew Kurt and Kate (his wife of 5 months and girlfriend of 25 years), and to those of us whose greatest love
in life is music, it felt perfectly natural to fill the funeral home with song as we mourned the loss of a very special man and a dear friend.
Wolfgang Kurt Bommersbach will be sorely missed by so many. This was clearly illustrated by the funeral parlor that was filled to capacity with family members, friends and fellow musicians who gathered together on a rainy Sunday evening to sing Kurt back home.
Colin Dussault
April 3, 2006
