Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Jon Burr

I met him through Mark Kennedy and Mark Burgess, and we played some music together - I play a bit of blues harp. He was a very funny guy, and cool in a warm kind of way. I remember best the time we went out to Germany to play at a festival with Mark Burgess and ended up sharing a room together.

As a jew he was a bit nervous about the idea of going to Germany, plus a lot of the music at the festival was very dark. We went for a walk out of the festival and came across a hidden war memorial in the countryside. The gothic writing and skull imagery were certainly disturbing. One night there was a load of noise outside the hotel and Bryan got up and looked out of the window. I heard him swear and when he turned round his face was as white as a sheet. I ran over and there were a troop of men marching down the street with guns over their shoulders. It turned out that the town held a Shooting Festival (!) every year and the night time march was part of it.

There are a load of stories - I'm sure anyone who knew Bryan has plenty: like the time he felt sick before a gig, and Keni tried to calm him down by pretending to be sick first. He ended up doubled up on the floor with laughter.

It was lovely to hear Elbow's tribute - I knew who it was about the second I heard the words "Love you, mate". I'd love to hear the tribute album - is there one? Like someone else on this site, my tapes of Bryan have long since been chewed up and me and the missus would love to hear him again.

Please send your memories and stories to bryaninfo@gmail.com