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eleven months pass...
I only met the great man once, but that was enough. The tale started many years before when i had emailed John regarding a track he had played many years before but had never left my conciousness. The track was 'The Sound of Worms' by a certain Tony Burello. My e-mail asked a) did he remember the track and b) where i might be able to get a copy of said record. A few days later i received a mail from john@hometruths, it never registered with me automatically that it was indeed his Peelness but when i read it i put the 2 together. He replied by saying that he did remember the track but could not remember who had recorded it, but that if he found it in his collection he would send me his copy..I was bowled over, stunned and amazed. Would I, me, be the proud owner of a disc form John Peels private collection, and not just any disc but The Sound of Worms.
I never heard anything back. But receiving that e-mail was like winning a trophy, i was honoured.
Fast forward 3 years and John is playing at the Triptych Festival in Glasgow as part of a showcase with Pan Sonic, Wire, Irmin Schmidt and a few others. I arrived and went to the bar, there was music playing in the bar area and i look over to see John Peel standing, record in hand, no more than 10ft away, he played a cracking dub reggae number, and a smile played accross my face. All the while i can hear Pan Sonic destroying the place in the main hall, half of me wants to stay and pray at the altar of Peel, the other half wants to go and twitch to the brutal frequencies of Pan Sonic. I hurry to catch them. Pan Sonic end a brilliant set and at the back of the hall the soundboard and some decks are set up , it is then that i notice John lurking about the decks, oh yes. As soon as Pan Sonic fin(n)ish, John plays 'Love will tear us apart', and it sounded immense, the sound system in the hall was superb and it was a pretty big space. I took this opportunity to go and speak to the man himself. As the records are playinh John lounges to one side, no scratching, no dicking about with the eq's, no looking intense and no gay flourishes. I walk to the barrier and he comes over for a chat, i shake his hand and i simply say 'The Sound of Worms'. 'Tony Burello', he says immediately, he remembered!! For a brief moment i thought he was gonna produce the record and present it to me. To be fair i think that would have been too much to take and I may well have fainted. We chatted for a minute or so, about what i cannot remember, but it hardly matters. He was accomodating and polite and i imagine would have been happy to talk about wine and music all evening.
He went on to play a brilliant set, very much like one of his shows, some hardcore techno, an amazing samba track that got faster and faster and a whole load of brillant tracks. In the end he finished up to great applause and Schmidt came on and dj'd a whole load of Can tracks that sounded incredible in the big hall..
All in all a brilliant night, but there is no time to be sad, John Peel will live forever.
― neonmeatedream, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 11:45 (sixteen years ago) link
two years pass...
five years pass...