Tony Wilson
Two earth shattering things happened in Manchester last Friday.
One was an earthquake, which apparently was 2.5 on the Richter Scale. I spoke to my mate Mickey Hutton who was gigging there and he knew nowt about it, so I guess it wasn't 'that' earth shattering.
The second was the death of Tony Wilson. Loads has been written about how he 'made' the Manchester music scene etc etc, and most of its true. Factory Records, the Hacienda, Joy Division, the Happy Mondays all of that stuff made an impact on music afficionados everywhere.
I only found out he was sick when I was last at my Dad's and he was on the local news explaining how his local health authority wouldn't fund the treatment needed for his cancer. He'd launched a campaign to help fellow sufferers who didn't have popstar mates to chip in the £3,500 needed per month. I was shocked at the sight of him, he seemed so old! Much older than his 57 years but then I guess cancer'll do that to you.
When I heard that he'd died of a heart attack on Friday I thought back to the only time I met him. It was backstage at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1978, when he was simply 'the cool guy off of Granada Reports'. It was on his other show So It Goes that I first saw and heard the Sex Pistols, and for that alone I was pretty thrilled to meet him. Me and my mate had gone to see Devo, and somehow blagged our way into the backstage bar, he walked in with his then wife/partner, and with all the fearlessness of youth I walked up to him and said thank you for opening my eyes to punk rock (or something equally pretentious, we all wanted to be Paul Morley in those days!). He smiled, asked my name and bought me and my mate a drink. We talked about our favourite bands and I told him about the fanzine I was doing. He wanted to see a copy of it and gave me his address at Granada to send it to him. Needless to say I never did send him a copy, but I reckon he coped.
Over the years I went to the Hacienda a few times, it was a cracking club. Hell I even bought the t-shirts! Two in fact a Factory one and a Hacienda one, I still have them in the drawer. Shame they out-lived him.
Wherever you are now Tony, I hope there's a good playlist.
One was an earthquake, which apparently was 2.5 on the Richter Scale. I spoke to my mate Mickey Hutton who was gigging there and he knew nowt about it, so I guess it wasn't 'that' earth shattering.
The second was the death of Tony Wilson. Loads has been written about how he 'made' the Manchester music scene etc etc, and most of its true. Factory Records, the Hacienda, Joy Division, the Happy Mondays all of that stuff made an impact on music afficionados everywhere.
I only found out he was sick when I was last at my Dad's and he was on the local news explaining how his local health authority wouldn't fund the treatment needed for his cancer. He'd launched a campaign to help fellow sufferers who didn't have popstar mates to chip in the £3,500 needed per month. I was shocked at the sight of him, he seemed so old! Much older than his 57 years but then I guess cancer'll do that to you.
When I heard that he'd died of a heart attack on Friday I thought back to the only time I met him. It was backstage at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1978, when he was simply 'the cool guy off of Granada Reports'. It was on his other show So It Goes that I first saw and heard the Sex Pistols, and for that alone I was pretty thrilled to meet him. Me and my mate had gone to see Devo, and somehow blagged our way into the backstage bar, he walked in with his then wife/partner, and with all the fearlessness of youth I walked up to him and said thank you for opening my eyes to punk rock (or something equally pretentious, we all wanted to be Paul Morley in those days!). He smiled, asked my name and bought me and my mate a drink. We talked about our favourite bands and I told him about the fanzine I was doing. He wanted to see a copy of it and gave me his address at Granada to send it to him. Needless to say I never did send him a copy, but I reckon he coped.
Over the years I went to the Hacienda a few times, it was a cracking club. Hell I even bought the t-shirts! Two in fact a Factory one and a Hacienda one, I still have them in the drawer. Shame they out-lived him.
Wherever you are now Tony, I hope there's a good playlist.
Labels: Misc and TV
posted by JoJo Smith at Monday, August 13, 2007
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