Red Mick

Day four in the leper house and like all nurses, I'm busy surfing the internet while my patient is alseep. Of course, if I was a real nurse I'd be surfing it while they were awake as well, but I digress.

On my surfing travels I came across this picture of Mick Hucknall and I can't help wanting to share it with you.

I used to love Mick Hucknall years ago, like in the late eighties and early nineties. Simply Red was the first band I ever saw live and the sight and sound of him prancing around the stage at the G-Mex had me hooked. Whatever you think of him (and Darren refers to him variously as the ginger tosser and Prick Suck 'em all so say what you like), you can't deny he's one of the greatest soul-singers the country has ever produced.

At the height of my adoration, I used to wear a Stars tee-shirt to university, along with a long star pendant on a leather chain, and it was in a similar get-up that I ran so fast across the Docklands Arena to get a spot at the front that I tripped and fell over some wires and had to be tended to by the St John's Ambulance for a sprained ankle. Literally falling over myself to see the guy

Anyway, the last time I saw him, I wasn't impressed. The voice was still there but the passion for the music had gone, as though he'd spent so long listening to his own music and believing his own hype that even he was bored with himself. And half the audience were wearing slacks.

I read today that Simply Red has disbanded, and about time too. He's looking uncannily like Eddie Large. For years Darren has been saying he's pug ugly and at last I can see his point.