CLEVELAND, Ohio - Derek Poindexter's description of himself pretty much sums up what the entire Cleveland music community thought of the man who died Monday night in a Cleveland Clinic hospital while awaiting a double lung transplant:
"Bassist, Educator, Videographer, Christian, Husband & regular guy. Life is really that simple!''
The only things missing in the 52-year-old bassist for Cleveland's the Waynes, among scores of bands, and former college professor's Facebook profile are two words he would not have added himself: beloved and humble.
Through her tears, Danielle Poindexter talked about the man she met at Akron's now-defunct Carousel Dinner Theatre in what has to be an introduction for the ages.
"They sent us up to costume-fitting and we, well, the band was also going to be onstage and in costume and we accidentally walked in on him in his boxer shorts,'' she said. "He was so sweet!''
And it got better.
"Everybody has their own preshow ritual, so while I was making my tea, he'd be on the couch, knitting,'' she said. "There's this black guy in dreads, knitting!''
The cast for the show was small, so when he asked her if she wanted to "grab a bite to eat,'' Danielle, who was living in New York City at the time, assumed it was a group thing.
But the first place he wanted to take her was closed, so Danielle said they drove around the area for hours.
"Finally, we went to a Mongolian barbecue place and we sat there for hours, talking and talking and talking,'' she recalled.
"Somewhere in the conversation, I said, 'Shoot, I'm going to marry this guy.' ''
Danielle Poindexter is spending their eighth wedding anniversary - Tuesday, May 16, 2017 - preparing for her husband's funeral. Those details are not yet available, but will be shared as soon as they are, most likely by Thursday.
Erin Rossi, a veteran singer in the Cleveland music scene, put together a fundraiser at Vosh last weekend that drew as many as 300 of Poindexter's friends, fellow musicians and just plain admirers. She, like many moved to tears by the passing of a man who wasn't just respected but loved, said his death will leave a major hole in the local community.
The scene will be "missing a role model,'' Rossi said. "Musicians looked up to him [for] his talent and experiences, and people who knew him wished they could be like him - humble, talented, humble, patient and kind.''
"First and foremost, he was a friend,'' said Rossi. "That's the biggest loss, and maybe it's a cliche answer.
"I never even heard him swear,'' said Rossi, a wry laugh escaping as she talked of the man who was her "go-to'' bassist in multiple bands since their first meeting in 2003.
"Even if he did want to complain, he would clinch his mouth a little bit and he would say, 'I'm not going to go there,' '' she said.
A Go Fund Me campaign initially launched to help defray the cost of medications Poindexter was expected to need after his double lung transplant - ironically, he was approved for the surgery on Monday, the day he died - has already raised nearly $16,000.
Rich Holsworth, who is the program coordinator at Cuyahoga Community College's Eastern Campus, spent time co-teaching with Poindexter in the school's music program. Holsworth would handle the composer side of the subject, and Poindexter would teach students about the business aspect.
Holsworth played guitar in a jazz jam band with Poindexter called the 4 Amigos. ("It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't play with three-quarters of the bands in town at one time or another,'' the professor said.) He said between his own tears that his friend was "a bit of a ham.''
"It almost flies in the face of how quiet he was,'' Holsworth said. When the 4 Amigos played the House of Blues for Thanksgiving and Christmas, he'd decorate his bass - which already featured a faux leopard-skin look - with Christmas lights.
"He was a goofy guy,'' said singer-songwriter Tracy Marie, who met Poindexter in the early 2000s.
Marie said she spoke earlier Tuesday with Moss Stanley, the London-born pianist whose solo act and Nitebridge band play all over the North Coast.
"He said he played this Halloween gig, and it was supposed to be a serious jazz trio, and Derek showed up dressed as Gumby,'' Marie said. "They were trying to play all these serious jazz tunes, and Moss couldn't keep it together.''
In a way, it was both in and out of character for Poindexter, who in the 2016 Lottery League sported a hammerhead shark costume when it came time to take photos for the cobbled-together band Serlin Spur, and whose closet still holds a Thing One costume and a Green Lantern costume, according to his wife, Danielle.
"He was not one of the most outgoing personalities,'' said Cleveland singer-songwriter Charlie Mosbrook. "He was just a spirit everybody loved being around.
"When I think of Derek, I think of a guy who just loved music and loved to play,'' said Mosbrook, who described his friend's musical style as "tasteful, with a funky edge.''
Terri Pontremoli, executive director of the Tri-C JazzFest, agreed that Poindexter could be remarkably reserved - he could come into her office and quietly and patiently sit for hours before anyone noticed him.
"The bane of any festival is transportation,'' said Pontremoli. He joined the festival as a volunteer driver, she said, and eventually became coordinator, overseeing the transportation company that now handles the moving of the "talent.''
That can be a headache, what with the diverse group of performers - ages range from musicians in their 20s to those in their 80s - and they are "Artists,'' with the capital A that sometimes stands for Attitude.
"I met Derek in the early '90s when we were both bassists in up-and-coming bands,'' said former Clevelander Tim Brennan, the bassist for the Spazmatics, currently based in South Carolina. "To see Derek play, you knew he had the whole package: solid, tasteful bass lines and a terrific showman persona.
"Seeing him play with the Waynes made me want to step up my game,'' Brennan said. "Then to meet him and hang out, I found out he was just fun, humble and cool. As he got older, he was able to use his talents to teach others, and share his faith with his music. He really was the best of what musicians can be.''
Aside from his own real family - his wife, Danielle - maybe nobody knew Poindexter as well as drummer Kurt Triptow, who was the other half of the rhythm section with him in Cleveland's near-legendary band the Waynes back in the early '90s.
"Derek was from Philadelphia and came to Akron to go to the University of Akron,'' Triptow said. "Once he was done with school there, he migrated north to Cleveland.
"He auditioned for us in 1991,'' he said. "We took to him instantly, and he became our bass player from then on.''
As a rhythm section, the two had an almost symbiotic relationship, Triptow said.
"He was an original,'' he said. "He would come up with these patterns that just felt so good. He and I clicked in being the backbone.
"We would look at each other, and we just knew what the other was going to do next,'' Triptow said.
The sadness in the Cleveland music scene is almost palpable. But even amid the sorrow of his passing, Poindexter will bring joy, said singer-songwriter Marie.
"I think it's going to bring people back together,'' she said. "People who knew Derek and loved Derek years ago, [today] are kind of consoling each other, with 'Remember this?' 'Remember that?'
"I think he knew he had a mission, and I think he knows he made a difference.''