Saturday 16 December 2017

Monday 11 December 2017

Keith Chegwin - d. December 11th 2017

I'd like to swap something, 
anything, for a bouncy Scouser,
multi-coloured, smile fizzing 
in the very depths of his eyes.

Read about Keith Chegwin here

Wednesday 6 December 2017

Johnny Hallyday - d. December 6th 2017

Quand le disque finale s’estompe
comment est-il possible d’être forte?
Nous vivons dans des temps de folie
Elvis est vivant mais Johnny est mort

Tuesday 5 December 2017

Wednesday 22 November 2017

David Cassidy - d. November 21st 2017

This morning
I woke to a day
like a bad dream;
death in the Family,
all those damp-eyed girls
too young to know love
who thought
they loved you.


Tuesday 21 November 2017

Rodney Bewes - d. November 21st 2017

The truth of you
was in a million men 
called Bob; suited,
suburban, provincial, 
souvenirs of the people 
we used to be.



Jana Novotná - d. November 19th 2017

When life contrives 
to slam your sharpest serves 
back, and back, listen 
for the whisper 
at your ear; don't worry,
you'll win this one day.

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Keith Barron - d. November 15th 2017

I’m sure I saw you
on the box
only last night,
comfortably real
in a low-ratings show
where all the parts
were bit parts.









Monday 13 November 2017

Tim Gudgin - d. November 8th 2017

From the missing channel
comes a voice, nimble
cadences of scoreless draws
and late kick-offs moving like
scales to a harmonic point of rest.

Wednesday 25 October 2017

Fats Domino - d. October 24th 2017

It's the aftershow party,
everyone’s here. Fat man
grins, paws rollin’, voice 
like a slurred trombone.
Down here it's still,
the thrill is gone.


Tuesday 24 October 2017

George Young - d. October 22nd 2017

1 The beat was not easy 
2 One hell of a band 
3 Your mind was on Friday 
4 No flash in the pan 
5 So what’s it to be, George?



Monday 23 October 2017

Rosemary Leach - d. October 21st 2017


How often the camera
pushed you to the shoulder
of the frame, missing
that ordinary glamour,
that sultry stage-croak,
that neglected smoulder.

Monday 16 October 2017

Sean Hughes - d. October 15th 2017

After all the shows,
those poems of sadness
and light,
it comes to this;
a beginning, a middle
without an end,
a joke
waiting for a punchline.



Tuesday 3 October 2017

Tom Petty - d. October 2nd 2017

A forgotten town,
choked in dust.
You've been here many times before.
But none step down
from this tour bus,
you won't come around here no more.

Read about Tom Petty here


Thursday 28 September 2017

Hugh Hefner - d. September 27th 2017

How revolutionary to die
in silk pyjamas, have Bunnies 
hoist your bier on bare shoulders,
walk you through man-crowds
to your father's mansion.

Tuesday 26 September 2017

Tony Booth - d. September 25th 2017

St Peter hears
a cockney voice
Tell 'im to cut 'is 'air
It was good enough 
for Lennon and Trotsky; 
it's good enough 
for a randy Scouse git.

Liz Dawn - September 25th 2017

I saw her; an old swamp duck
squawking through the drizzle
of a Manchester sky,
circling the sooty chimneys,
turning away across the Red Rec.

Read about Elizabeth Dawn here

Thursday 21 September 2017

William G. Stewart - d. September 21st 2017

Who said
'We start with three lives;
the one we dream of,
the one we fear,
the one we live'?
Sorry William,
lights out.

read about William G. Stewart here

Saturday 16 September 2017

Harry Dean Stanton - d. September 15th 2017

There you go,
playing your final 
haunted man,
face like a ruined mansion,
in from the blinding desert,
back to the old freezerino.


Friday 15 September 2017

Grant Hart - d. September 14th 2017

Do you remember
the beautiful noise,
the hardcore honey?
Turned on the news
to hear it had been 
cut out, 
cut down to size.

Read about Grant Hart here

Wednesday 13 September 2017

Frank Vincent - d. September 13th 2017

In this thing of ours
a wiseguy's worth 
his weight 
in provolone
I heard a cry 
popped the trunk
but there was
just a note that said
fuhgeddaboudit


Tuesday 12 September 2017

Sunday 3 September 2017

Walter Becker - d. September 3rd 2017

I bought a thrill from you,
a groove cool and literate,
spinning to its own logic.
Walter, you had my number.

read about Walter Becker here


Sunday 27 August 2017

Tobe Hooper - d. August 26th 2017

While there are shadows 
on a sinister street,
noises in the attic, 
the fuzz of TV static,
the buzz of a chainsaw
you're here.



Tuesday 22 August 2017

Sunday 20 August 2017

Jerry Lewis - d. August 20th 2017

Hail the King of Crazy,
Grand Poobah of Nutty,
Arch-Dummy, 
Lord Screwy,
Chief Goof, 
The Kook's Kook.

Read about Jerry Lewis here


Friday 18 August 2017

Bruce Forsyth - d. August 18th 2017

No song without dance,
no crack unwise, no phrase
that wouldn't catch. 
Nothing lower than an ace:
To have known you, nice.

Read about Bruce Forsyth here

Tuesday 8 August 2017

Glen Campbell - d. August 8th 2017

I laughed when I read
the part that said
you were leaving, 
but now I hear 
singing in the wires;
adios, cowboy,

Read about Glen Campbell here

Thursday 3 August 2017

Hywel Bennett - d. July 25th 2017

The call goes out
for a small-time hood,
a scalp-hunter, a rogue,
lovable or louche
but they're so hard 
to find,
harder by the day.

read about Hywel Bennett here

Robert Hardy - d. August 3rd 2017

Dark hallway.
Phone rings,
Gruff voice,
Churchillian even.  
cuts through 
the murk, 
Darrowby 85?
Sorry, 
I'm not here.

Read about Robert Hardy here

Monday 31 July 2017

Monday 17 July 2017

George A. Romero - d. July 16th 2017

He is laid to rest,
yet I see the twitch
of an undead limb,
see his body rise, walk.
He came for me;
he is coming for you.

Martin Landau - d. July 15th 2017

Main Mission 
is impossibly silent,
all Eagles grounded. 

An Alpha Male 
falls out of orbit
with no way home.

Read about Martin Landau here

Thursday 13 July 2017

Liu Xiaobo - d. July 13th 2017

[This Otwituary
has been censored.
Its author is under

house arrest. Anyone
circulating it will 
be subject to arrest
and imprisonment].

Read about Liu Xiaobo here

Wednesday 12 July 2017

Ray Phiri - d. July 12th 2017

The train of music
stops at every station,
yet is unstoppable.
It comes for you now,
whistling through the veldt,
whispering in the deep.

Saturday 1 July 2017

Barry Norman - d. June 30th 2017

In the dark screening of life
it is not enough
to watch but not see,
to see but not understand,
to understand but not tell.



Wednesday 28 June 2017

Michael Bond - d. June 27th 2017

At the word herbidacious
the gate opens; a man
steps through, duffled,
marmalade-flecked.
Handwritten label pleads
Please look after this writer.

Read about Michael Bond here


Monday 19 June 2017

Brian Cant - d. June 19th 2017

Ready to play?
(that's P-L-A-Y)
then throw wide 
the windows,
throw out the rules.
I lived in a house;
you made it a school.

Read about Brian Cant here







Sunday 11 June 2017

Adam West - June 9th 2017

Foolishly, I left the 
Death Repellent Spray
in the Batcopter
and BIFF! BANG! POW!
you had slid down
the Batpole of eternity.



Monday 5 June 2017

Peter Sallis - d. June 2nd 2017

1921 was a good vintage;
dignified on the nose, grassy 
and autumnal on the tongue, 
hint of hills and motorcycle tyres.
Would go well with cheese.

Thursday 1 June 2017

Roy Barraclough - d. June 1st 2017

Last time I saw him
he was by the optics,
Embassy Regal 
and a large Irish,
face like a busted sofa,
a hint of lipstick
,
ringing last orders.


Monday 29 May 2017

John Noakes - d. May 28th 2017

So many ways to go;
the unopened parachute,
the mangled bobsled,
the rogue elephant.
Instead, the fading steps
of a man, following his dog.

Read about John Noakes here

Tuesday 23 May 2017

Roger Moore - d. May 23rd 2017

I was unwilling to be
persuaded of your death,
believing the final bullet
would be yours,
that you would always
keep the British end up.

Read about Roger Moore here

Thursday 18 May 2017

Chris Cornell - d. May 17th 2017

This morning brought me no euphoria;
the sun off sick with melancholia.
A voice I thought to be unstoppable
tails off into the superunknowable.

Read about Chris Cornell here

Thursday 11 May 2017

Geoffrey Bayldon - d. May 10th 2017

You were 
my brother-in-magic,
stepping out 
of a pre-electrick age,
hiding out 
in the tower 
of my childhood.

Read about Geoffrey Bayldon here



Wednesday 10 May 2017

Robert Miles - d. May 9th 2017

I’m in the queue
for a club called Dreamland. 
Dancers a thousand deep, 
blissed out and young again,
wait for the piano, 
the eternal breakdown.

Thursday 27 April 2017

Leo Baxendale - d. April 23rd 2017

When the bell rings
and it's time to go

I will remember you;
a crafty smirk, 
a smoking nib,
a style that was
never too cool 
for school.


Read about Leo Baxendale here

Wednesday 26 April 2017

Jonathan Demme - d. April 26tth 2017

In close-up
no-one blinks.
In close-up
the twist is always out of shot.
In close up
it starts making sense.

read about Jonathan Demme here



Monday 17 April 2017

Clifton James - d. April 15th 2017

In this Parish,
everybody needs
to breach the peace
once in a while,
cut and run,
churn up the bayou
and that means you, smartass.

Wednesday 12 April 2017

John Geils Jr. - d. April 11th 2017

Eventually
all blood runs cold,
and phantom rockers
may behold
their cloud-girt angel
as God's centrefold.