A Toast, My Dears...

-
Remembering good times past - John Gary Kyte (on the left) -

It is with deep sadness that I write of the death of my old friend Johnny, a matter of hours ago. He suffered ill-health for much of his life, after contracting polio as a child. The physical limitations he had as result of this, and subsequent health issues over the coming decades, he bore without complaint or self-pity.

His love and knowledge of music are what initially cemented our friendship at the age of fourteen or so in school, but it was our shared bizarre and surreal sense of humour that saw us laugh and giggle our way into early adulthood, until we physically parted company when I moved away from Birmingham.

At school we became part of an extended group of lifelong friends - still called 'The Lads', even though we are all in our mid-sixties now: and it is as that 'family' that we sadly say "tara, our kid". Keep it fast and bulbous, wherever you find yourself, mate.

Comments

  1. Steve26 May 2021 at 18:01

    Nice tribute and "tara" from me too. Sadly there have been too few times when we were able to get together over recent years. Out of sight however was never out of mind. JGK will also live on in all our memories and especially through the music we all loved and shared.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sideways26 May 2021 at 18:08

      Too right, mate! I let Karen know this evening, too, and said I'd keep her posted...

      Delete
  2. Phil.28 May 2021 at 07:01

    A thoughtful tribute Kel - and a wonderful picture. White Punks On Dope indeed.

    We met at Foundry Road in September 1966. Even as a very young lad he was fascinated with music. As an 8 or 9 year old kid when we lived in Winson Green he used to listen to Elvis and Gene Vincent!

    Wend & I took him for his second vaccination on 11th May. He was pretty uncomfortable, and wasn't his usual, perky self. Got him out of his car, took him back to his flat, said a few words as he was very tired, and that was the last time I saw him in person.

    Trust All Well with you,

    Phil.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Feedback & Wobbles

-
Image
Many years ago I came up with an analogy for poorly damped feedback loops. The feedback loop that prompted this frankly tart analogy was indeed a horror. Anyone who remembers shame-faced their first attempts at clutch control resulting in the good old kangaroo launch across the lights only to stall in the middle of the crossroads will have some idea of the kind of data transfer lag involved in said system. The analogy I made was that of a large blancmange. Untouched, a model of stasis and eminently stable and predictable; but prod the bugger and the resultant chaotic behaviour needs a very complex physical model and some very decent computing horsepower to predict its outputs, if at all. The system in question was a large and complex audio-visual display at what eventually became 'The Electric Mountain' in Llanberis. We were ultimately contracted to maintain the thing having been witness to and peripherally involved in its installation. Certainly not involved in its des
Read more

Sister Ray

-
Image
Ray Keats - aka Ann Key - local artist & family friend, died this morning. She'd been ill for some years, but never let it get in the way of her work or of tending to the massive network of friends, colleagues and fans she had accumulated over the decades. Her house on the High Street of Rachub, just below where we live - a former cockle factory(!) - bought many years ago when she and her late husband Ronald moved here from Manchester to set up home in Yr Achub, is currently still home to her paintings and drawings, and the front window displays her work, including the last drawing she made in hospital, just days before she died. Her good friend Colin has been a diamond in her latter years, looking out for her and just being there when she needed him. She will be much missed by this tiny community of ageing bohemians up here in the hills, but suffice it to say, George, her cat, will be well looked after now she's gone.
Read more

A Time of Connection

-
Image
I was just reflecting on the vacuum of continuity that's left behind when someone dies: that sudden sense of disjoint, of fracture, in one's personal history that takes one completely by surprise at the oddest moments. These pinch-points in memory can often yield some surprising revelations of fact about periods in one's past. One such occurred to me tonight, tending my rather lazy meal of pizza in its journey from shrink-wrap to mouth via the oven. Al's recent demise still catches me out from time to time: the space he left bounded by forty plus years of friendship. But the thing that struck me tonight was just how much change was happening on a personal and social level in the very early years of our acquaintance. Between moving here from Birmingham in September 1980 and our buying our first proper house eighteen months later, all manner of things occurred that would chart the course of our lives to the present day. At around the time of our meeting Alan & Irene [
Read more