Wilko Johnson has recently announced that he is terminally ill with cancer of the pancreas and has decided not to undergo any chemotherapy. Wilko, for those of you who don't know, was the guitarist in the English blues band Dr Feelgood until they split up in 1977. Since when he has carried on recording and touring with his own band.
I saw Dr Feelgood once before they split up, but saw Wilko and his band many times after that. I don't remember where I saw Dr Feelgood, probably in England some place before I moved to Edinburgh, but I saw Wilko in Preservation Hall in Victoria Street, Edinburgh. The venue no longer exists as a pub or music venue. It became an Indian Restaurant called Khushis which then had to close after a mysterious fire. I think it may have re-opened as a pub/bar now. Will check it out next time I'm up that way.
Preservation Hall was an excellent music venue, mostly used by blues bands and some folkies. I once saw Tam White record a live album there, which I have somewhere, probably worth a fortune nowadays, so if you see it , buy it. He was a great blues performer, now sadly no longer with us. If you have seen Tutti Frutti on TV, it was Tam providing the vocals for Robbie Coltrane. I recently bought the CD set and should listen to it, now that I've got my new tele, but maybe I'll wait until my home cinema is up and running, which should be soon as it's sitting through there waiting to be set up.
Wilko Johnson was the most intimidating performer I have ever seen and you just never knew what to expect from him. He seemed wild, threatening and unpredictable, so it was best not to get too close to the stage, which in Preservation Hall was sometimes easier said than done. But he was a brilliant performer and always worth the effort. He was never the same without Lee Brilleaux at his side. Lee was the singer in Dr Feelgood, and he too is now dead having passed away in 1994. Together they were a much greater band. I'm glad to have seen them, though, together and apart. And I'm thinking of the friends I used to see him with, in those long gone days of yore.
He is playing a farewell gig in Glasgow on 9th March if anyone fancies going let me know....
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4 comments:
i remember once when I was about 13 watching TOTP2 on TV and seeing Dr Feelgood playing. Wilko was doing that thing of looking stern and just repeatedly marching back and forward like a lunatic.
i remember saying to mum that if I ever get in a band I'm going to try that. i have done so now and can say that it's reeeeeally difficult whilst playing well. So props to Mt Johnson!!!
On a different note, one of my best mates did sound for him at a blues festival a couple of years ago and said he was just as intense off-stage as he was on!
Scary (but talented) man indeed.
Hi Chris, thanks for comment and yes he is quite intense and stern, and does behave in crazy fashion, best not to get too close to him whilst he's on stage, which in p hall was not easy sometimes. He will be missed by his many fans, though he should have had more. Maybe your mum saw him with me at p hall? I can't remember sadly. Hope all well down south. xx
Although i agree he should have had more fans, he did do well within his field.
There aren't many white bluesmen who actually make a living out of it. So props again Mr Johnson!
I'd love to come to the gig. Sadly I'll not be back in time to make it.
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