In The Spotlight with Dave Woods: Remembering John Marlatt

The legend John Marlatt

The news spread quickly on Monday, July 24, 2023, that John Marlatt, owner of Oakville’s iconic Moonshine Cafe, had passed away after a brief illness. Right away, there was an enormous outpouring of love & remembrance on social media for the man known for his quick wit, friendliness and love of live music. The Moonshine stage became a fixture and a hot spot on Kerr Street over the last 17 years. John would always be there, working hard, barbecuing, encouraging artists and sometimes asking the audience to stop talking and really listen to the acts & their songs. The Moonshine Cafe is legendary because of the legend that John is. Anyone who has been to this venue as an audience member or a performer knows this to be true. Leaders like John don’t come along every day and what they leave with us stays with us every day.

Many artists’ first chance to play on a stage was at The Moonshine and it couldn’t have been a more safe & welcoming room. A place for artists to grow and learn over the years and try out new songs. A lot of places where artists play, their music gets pushed to the background, drowned out by conversation… but John created this space to be a listening room. Especially on acoustic songwriter nights.

He was always supportive of my songwriters’ series, Country Nights In The City, and was always very kind to me. During the pandemic, he came up with the idea of turning the parking lot into a patio area and streaming my shows to a big screen outside. It allowed the music to carry on during a challenging time. One time, when I had given out the door money ahead of time and ended up at the end of the night short by $100, John reached into his pocket and handed me five $20 bills. He said: “We’re a team”.

Like everyone else saddened by this news in the music community, it doesn’t seem real or possible. But a life well lived by John made us all better off. I’ll be back with my next Moonshine show on August 30th and we’ll remember & celebrate John with stories & songs.

Here’s to you, John! The music community you gave so much to will never forget you.

John & Jane

“As some of you know by now, we lost our fearless leader in the wee hours this morning. My beloved husband, John Marlatt, passed away during an emergency surgery to remove a large aneurism found in his stomach. He suffered a variety of ailments over the past two months, leaving him quite weak and extremely tired. John was a larger-than-life character with an extremely quick wit that kept our Moonshine patrons constantly entertained. I want to thank all of you for reaching out to me with your kind words and love. I am overwhelmed with pride with how respected and loved my Johnny was. He will be missed dearly and daily by everyone who knew him. The Moonshine will never be the same without our Johnny Boy.”

– Jane MacKay, John’s wife

John’s legacy will live on forever

“He’d always say, “You know I’m not paying you.” Something along those lines. These are rituals between people who’ve known each other a long while… little things that don’t seem like much, but really are so much. I am so grateful that we developed something beyond the band and bar owner relationship – we developed into true friends. Of course, we didn’t have to do much to make that happen; John made that quite natural. He made friendship come easy… and John is one of our truly, truly great friends. We love you John, and it is a great comfort to me that I think you really did know that, and that you know it now, everywhere you are. You’re always one of us and you’re always with us man, until we meet again.”

– The Weber Brothers

“I will always be impressed by the long game he played with his beloved Moonshine Cafe. He started years before opening the doors at 137 Kerr. I first met John when he was running open mic nights at the Pic-A-Deli. John knew that the Moonshine was going to be built on relationships. It took years of patience and hard work to build the community of entertainers and patrons that make the venue the success it is today. He battled through early days of regulatory red tape that meant things like dividing the room in half because he could only get licensed for half his capacity. The Covid pandemic was probably his biggest challenge, but the community he built wouldn’t let the Moonshine die and came to his aid with enough money and moral support to get him through.”

– Neil MacNaughton

Dave Woods & John Marlatt