Post by shaggaz on Jun 17, 2006 10:08:15 GMT 10
An excerpt from Mick Thomas' website.
SADDEST SONG I'VE WRITTEN. We are incredibly sad to have to let people know that on Wednesday morning of this week, the 14th of June, Stuart Speed, ex Sure Thing bass player and darling man, very sadly passed away.
Stuart Ralph Speed was a colossus of a man. He stood six foot seven inches high and played the extremely upright bass with a sensitivity that could often be staggering and inspiring - and if his playing became unpredictable it was only ever due to the sickness that ultimately, tragically claimed him at the premature age of forty years. Damn he could play.
He was irreverant and witty and so many of the people he touched have only beautiful and hilarious memories of him. He was a lover of music and had a rare ability to immerse himself in the execution of it, both on-stage and in the studio. It is a fucking waste he is not around - to make people laugh, to make their songs and performances better than any of us might have hoped for. Damn he could play.
Some people live to ripe old ages by holding on to life experiences in the way a selfish schoolchild might clutch a bag of lollies - stealing off to consume them slowly and solitarily. Stu-bones opened up his bag of lollies and gave them all away - happy to share everything he had. Happy to see the faces of the people around him. He had a habit of coming in and out of people's lives and seemed to possess a familiarity with so many of us that meant we could immediately take up where we had left off - months, even years earlier. For this reason so many of us cannot come to grips with his demise. I still feel like he is going to ramble down Brunswick Street tonight, or in a year's time shouting "Ahoy - hello good peoples - anybody lurking?"
Anyone with glib rock n'roll platitudes about living fast and dying young cannot possibly feel the incredible sense of dispair and deprivation everyone who was ever around Speedy feels at not seeing him grow into the fantastic old man that we all know he was shaping up to be. He somehow seemed like a person from another era anyway. I think old age would have suited him.
There will be a tribute night to raise a bit of money for Stuey's family at The Rainbow Hotel in Fitzroy on the 22nd of July. More details soon...
SADDEST SONG I'VE WRITTEN. We are incredibly sad to have to let people know that on Wednesday morning of this week, the 14th of June, Stuart Speed, ex Sure Thing bass player and darling man, very sadly passed away.
Stuart Ralph Speed was a colossus of a man. He stood six foot seven inches high and played the extremely upright bass with a sensitivity that could often be staggering and inspiring - and if his playing became unpredictable it was only ever due to the sickness that ultimately, tragically claimed him at the premature age of forty years. Damn he could play.
He was irreverant and witty and so many of the people he touched have only beautiful and hilarious memories of him. He was a lover of music and had a rare ability to immerse himself in the execution of it, both on-stage and in the studio. It is a fucking waste he is not around - to make people laugh, to make their songs and performances better than any of us might have hoped for. Damn he could play.
Some people live to ripe old ages by holding on to life experiences in the way a selfish schoolchild might clutch a bag of lollies - stealing off to consume them slowly and solitarily. Stu-bones opened up his bag of lollies and gave them all away - happy to share everything he had. Happy to see the faces of the people around him. He had a habit of coming in and out of people's lives and seemed to possess a familiarity with so many of us that meant we could immediately take up where we had left off - months, even years earlier. For this reason so many of us cannot come to grips with his demise. I still feel like he is going to ramble down Brunswick Street tonight, or in a year's time shouting "Ahoy - hello good peoples - anybody lurking?"
Anyone with glib rock n'roll platitudes about living fast and dying young cannot possibly feel the incredible sense of dispair and deprivation everyone who was ever around Speedy feels at not seeing him grow into the fantastic old man that we all know he was shaping up to be. He somehow seemed like a person from another era anyway. I think old age would have suited him.
There will be a tribute night to raise a bit of money for Stuey's family at The Rainbow Hotel in Fitzroy on the 22nd of July. More details soon...
