No not Galloway - some people lead incredible lives and bring nothing but pleasure to everyone who comes into contact with them, this was true of George Melly who died today.
Over the past 30 yrs since he went back on the road with the 'John Chiltern Feetwarmers' I have been to many of his shows, once in fact in Erskine ! At the interval of a show at the City Halls Candleriggs we sped off guided by my friend the well known booze sniffer Pat Mulligan through the back tunnels of the place while ahead of us was the unmistakable figure of Melly heading, like us, for a small bar behind the venue called 'Kelly's' ( no relation )
Melly had planned ahead for there on the bar was 6, that's 6, malt whiskies (doubles) which he proceeded to swallow during the 20 minute interval and we had the pleasure of chatting with the great man, he told jokes and stories using his gift for mimicry and accents and had the place in stitches, he then went back and played a great second half, he was loving it and so were the audience.
He wasn't just a Jazz/ Blues singer/ showman - he was an author, drama critic, art expert and raconteur extraordinaire, a real renaissance man, I heard him say once that had he known he was going to live so long ( 80 ) he would have looked after himself properly, thanks for the memories George.
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4 comments:
Nice one Terry. Me and my "older" husband have good memories of seeing George perform (a rude joke about Morningside women and vases comes to mind!).
Glad to read you are back again on your blog.
Mo
Nowt about the terrorist attacks? Not even a reference to Smeato?
Mo - I thought I knew most of the stories about Melly but I heard this and it 'done me in' he was with Mick Jagger at a 'do' and Melly asked Jagger about the lines on his face, all the wrinkles etc. and Jagger replied " George these are laughter lines" to which Melly quickly replied " Mick, nothing's that f****** funny"
I also found out that Jagger copied Melly's behaviour on stage, when I think about it now, all that strutting and pouting and outrageous stuff it't true all right, that's where Mick got it.
Jan - not very subtle eh ? are you trying to get me to say something unpopular ? Well I'm not going to start lying now, am I.
No one knows how they will behave when an emergency happens, I hope I would act in a way that I did not disgrace myself.
Some people have reacted here to assist the police and are rightly being praised for doing so, I was impressed but, there is always a but isn't there ? I'm now waiting for someone in authority to give the official advice on what happened, what do they recommend ? some are suggesting that it's a Scottish thing to attack bombers, dangerous nonsense !
We are all familiar with the tele. 'mug' shot of a criminal on the run accompanied by the stern advice 'if you see this person, do not approach, he could be dangerous' so when the dust settles I think we are entitled to know, don't you ?
I think that there is a danger that people will try to copy the brave behaviour of those like Mr Smeaton who rushed to help and it could all go wrong so easily.
It's a very serious issue and like any other incident of this kind it is vital to learn from it, I trust that that is what we will do.
About the attacks ? There is a serious discussion to be had here but I'm not sure that entering in to it with some of the people who write to me would be worth while.
Why do highly educated people who work in a caring profession do these things ? why do people, many youngsters become suicide bombers ? do we want to kill and condemn ? Or try to understand why and solve the problems and stop the killing ?
Who wants to discuss ?
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