Friends, family salute slain Oakland musician
Before he even learned to speak, Dave Deporis sang.
He was a lifelong musician, singing as a child in several languages and, as a man, perpetually with a guitar slung over his shoulder, his family recalled. A Florida native and beloved singer-songwriter recognized by nationally known musicians such as Regina Spektor, Deporis was nomadic. But Oakland was the place he felt his music was most understood.
“Oakland was his spiritual home,” said his father, Gene Deporis. “New York is the home of the music industry, but he said, ‘They don’t get me there. They get me in Oakland.’ ”
The East Bay city is where Deporis will perhaps be most remembered. Family, friends
and fans gathered Saturday, Sept. 9, at the New Parish in Oakland, crying and laughing during an intimate celebration of the musician’s life and music. Deporis, 40, was killed Aug. 9 after being dragged underneath a getaway car when a man stole his laptop, filled with his recorded music, outside a cafe on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland. The Oakland Police Department has made no arrests yet, but a person of interest has been identified.
Deporis’ death has produced an outpouring of love and support, Gene Deporis said. Saturday’s event was one of many organized in the past month, and a benefit concert was hosted the night before at People Linking Art, Community & Ecology in Oakland.
“It’s not like a clique of people or a little group of people,” said Gene Deporis, who traveled from Florida. “It’s dozens and dozens of people, none of whom know one another. They all knew him individually.”
At the New Parish, a space provided free of charge to the family, a few dozen people from as far away as New York, Philadelphia and Europe gathered for the three-hour concert.
“His life was music and friendship,” said Zachary Greer, a friend and fellow Oakland musician. “He was a prolific musician and a professional friend. He took his relationships very seriously.”
A small march along San Pablo Avenue opened the celebration, with friends and family holding banners reading, “Peace.” Inside the venue, they huddled around a table where a memorial notebook sat, gradually filling with messages to the musician many described as an “experimental Bob Dylan.”
Shortly after 2 p.m., the stage opened with tearful speeches from the Deporis family.
“As a parent, no matter how much you love your kid, you can’t be there for them when they need you the most sometimes,” said a trembling Gene Deporis. “I wish I could have been there with him.”
Amid the mourning, several artists performed songs and traded stories of Deporis — his kindness, his love of nature and his roving impact on all those he met throughout his transient lifestyle as a musician. Many friends told of their first meeting, which often revolved around watching him play music.
His folk-influenced songs, always anchored by his tender and brittle voice, spoke of truths people often shy away from, said his mother, Stella Deporis.
The Deporis family has put together a GoFundMe campaign, hoping to raise $50,000 to produce and release an album of his music. The effort has raised more than $13,000 so far.
“I think people have kind of a religious experience with his music because he’s very transcendental,” said Miki Huber, a musician friend he had met years earlier in New York. “He had a portal between this world and another world.”