R. I. P. George Michael

[subport]

Another great songwriter has gone. R. I. P. George

last christmas it was...

[SaintMickey®]

You know your good when you can sing Freddie Mercury...and David Bowie stays behind to listen and enjoys.

 

[Ken Gargett]

all very sad, so many leaving us. not sure i'd fall into the category who have him as a great songwriter but reach to their own.

i spent an evening in sydney with him many many years ago (i assure you, before cardinal whipcrack decides to entertain himself, that it was long before he was outed/transgressed etc). i was living in kings cross and headed up to a local club late-ish one evening (the cauldron, i think?). a few of us were on a road crossing and a car went through a red light and nearly took us out. i yelled something at the driver - no recollection at all of what it was - but it amused the bloke next to me. he was also going to cauldron, we got talking and he insisted i tag along with his group. then the penny dropped as to who he was (although bizarrely, he denied being him all evening, even if his mates all gave him away). he was with the most astonishingly beautiful woman, so i did. although she did not say a single word all evening and it was only a few years later that it twigged that perhaps she was not a she. he had a bunch of mates with him who were good blokes, mostly pommy ex-pats. the evening was a lot of fun - only issue was when i tried to buy a round of drinks, as one does if someone buys you one. he was extremely insistent, almost aggro, that under no circumstances would anyone other than him buy the drinks. his mates would just shrug and say that is what he likes to do.

after about six hours, it all got very weird. he was a nice guy but started coming up with all these theories about how the vatican was full of pope killers and the mafia and so on  and how there were groups of bankers plotting to take over the world (yes, i have seen the reports but this was extreme) and then he became incredibly anti-semitic. really quite venomously so, but by then, he was pretty pissed.

it had been fun but by this stage, i reckoned it was time to take the first opportunity to race off home. he was forever watching all the people in his little party and was insistent no one went anywhere without his permission, even for a leak. so next time he launched into a rant, and was not watching, i shot off home as fast as i could. he was certainly a character.

[JohnS]

My family just came back from the Boxing Day Sales (for those outside of Australia, traditionally it is a day set aside for retailers to offer items not picked up prior to Christmas for sale. You can imagine the annual pandemonium at many shopping malls in our urban areas) and my wife just shared the news. I couldn't believe it. About a week ago I had managed to pick apart Freedom '90 on piano and was over the moon, I had been wanting to do this for ages, and two days ago I was admiring his interviews on YouTube with David Frost (regarding the legal fight he had with Sony in the 1990s) and Tim Sebastian on BBC's HARDtalk Show (regarding the UK's involvement in Iraq). I was amazed how thoughtful he was, as well as plainly honest. In fact, so honest that when I think Sebastian asked him about speaking against drugs he declined on the basis of admitting he took them and didn't want to be a hypocrite.

I went to sleep reflecting on his soulful voice, truly the voice of an angel, and thinking how glad I was that Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 came out in 1990 and what a musical tribute it was to Stevie Wonder (and others).

George's last interview can be found here.

[SaintMickey®]

5 minutes ago, JohnS said:

I went to sleep reflecting on his soulful voice, truly the voice of an angel, and thinking how glad I was that Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 came out in 1990 and what a musical tribute it was to Stevie Wonder (and others).

^^^^^This^^^^^^

He wasn't a perfect human but he is gone and should be remembered for what he gave us.

[Ken Gargett]

1 minute ago, SaintMickey® said:

^^^^^This^^^^^

He wasn't a perfect human but he is gone and should be remembered for what he gave us.

yes, i apologise if my post was a bit too denigrating of him (wasn't the original intention). not sure we'd find a perfect human amongst  any of our entertainers or sporsmen or the general public. merely intended to relate a very interesting if odd evening.

[SaintMickey®]

@Ken Gargett I'm outta LIKES but I understand...would love to have had that experience to relate. 

Yikes...I am not sure if I like this song or the video! Those models....

 

[subport]

6 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

yes, i apologise if my post was a bit too denigrating of him (wasn't the original intention). not sure we'd find a perfect human amongst  any of our entertainers or sporsmen or the general public. merely intended to relate a very interesting if odd evening.

 I couldn't take it that way. Just a personal story with him. Strange it was, yes but still

[Ken Gargett]

i will confess to many late night versions of careless whispers when younger.

[JohnS]

I been watching the following video today of James Corden's first ever Carpool Karaoke with George Michael done for Comic Relief in the UK...

 

[OZCUBAN]

So Sad another victim of a horrible 2016 day before it was Rick Parfitt of Status Quo fame one the childhood heros 

for me George Michael was much better than he actually got credit for 

RIP for both you guys 

[irratebass]

11 hours ago, SaintMickey® said:

@Ken Gargett I'm outta LIKES but I understand...would love to have had that experience to relate. 

Yikes...I am not sure if I like this song or the video! Those models....

 

His best song. He will be missed. 

[canadianbeaver]

No interest in his personal imperfections or whatever. Just a big music fan and sad he is gone.

RIP

[Diamondog]

A lot of heavy hitters went out in 2016 for sure.

[JohnInCleveland]

On 12/25/2016 at 9:02 PM, Ken Gargett said:

yes, i apologise if my post was a bit too denigrating of him (wasn't the original intention). not sure we'd find a perfect human amongst  any of our entertainers or sporsmen or the general public. merely intended to relate a very interesting if odd evening.

It was a great story.  I was thoroughly entertained.  Who among us doesn't get a little anti semitic after a few cocktails?  /s

[soutso]

 

[TheMonk]

RIP, George.

[JohnS]

Simon Hattenstone's interview with George Michael for the Guardian 7 years ago now seems somewhat prophetic.