SICK SIDEBOTTOM

Sad news today that Frank Sidebottom has been diagnosed with cancer. Anyone that knows me will tell you I have been a massive fan for over 20 years and that for the last 4 or 5 years, I have somehow ended up being Frank's road manager, driver, roadie, merch guy and bass player in his backing group THE OH-BLIMEY BIG BAND.

Its seems weird to me...as a fan, that someone who never gets older than 35 and has never suffered with anything more than an ear infection or a head cold could fall foul of such a serious disease....it's almost surreal.

Frank is insisting the show will go on (a few gigs and appearances cancelled over the next few weeks whilst he has some surgery) and as of now, the OH-BLIMEYS are booked to play with Frank on Sunday July 4th at the LMRCA in Timperley. I will update on this blog as and when I get any news.

Above is a picture I took of Frank with Billy Childish and the MBE's, backstage at the Dirty Water Club, London. This was a proud moment for me, I switched Frank onto the magic of Billy Childish, constantly playing his music in the car on the long journeys through the night trying to get Frank back home before his mum found out he was out doing some show business.

Frank soon picked up on the brilliance of Billys music and poetry.

After an Xmas Frank gig in London, we whizzed over to Dirty Water to catch the last couple of numbers of an MBE's show that coincided with ours. This very quickly led on to a support slot with Billy (not something that is easy to get, I can tell you)

A brilliant evening only slightly marred by the fact that Frank accidently dropped his "wages" for his gig, 500 pounds, rolled up in an elastic band, whilst dancing down the front .....a good Xmas present for somebody!

heres some footage:

Here's Frank and the Oh-Blimey Big Band doing "Beastie Puppets" from Xmas 2009