she's got red lipstick and a bright pair of shoes

Tony Wilson died yesterday.

I hadn't even known he was ill until a few weeks ago. He was on Granada Tonight talking about the drugs he needed to treat his cancer that weren't available on the NHS. Man, this is so weird. He was one of those people that you don't ever think of as dying. maybe it's because the film of his life was made while he was still living. He was a month younger than my dad.

I think we can officially say that Tony Wilson was the coolest person ever to work on Granada Reports. As well as giving the world Joy Division, New Order and the Happy Mondays, he opened the Hacienda and kickstarted the regeneration of Manchester as a cultural force. He actually gave a damn about the North.

He may have been vaguely ridiculous sometimes, or as the 24HPP poster succintly put it, a 'twat', but he was important. And his death has saddened me much more than I thought it would. The Hacienda is an apartment block now.



I think I'll have a little mourn and watch Twenty Four Hour Party People.