Roger Dean
[ the one with the guitar ]
Cherry Bakewells and Dancing Trousers
If anyone had ever
eavesdropped on conversations I had with Roger Dean they'd have come to the conclusion that we
both needed to be admitted to the nearest asylum forthwith.
From the moment he got in touch with me, in response to a piece I had written about the Nu-Notes, we both just knew we were going to get on like a house on fire. We had the same stupid sense of humour.
One of our long conversations went along the lines of:
Don't you dare die on me. I've only just finished your web site and I refuse to ruin the design by putting a black border round it.
Couldn't you use Cherry Bakewells instead?
You want me to do a border round your obituary with Cherry Bakewells!
I like Cherry Bakewells.
So now you know the reason why the home page of this site has a box of Cherry Bakewells on it. Roger wanted them there. And whatever Roger wanted is OK by me.
You see this was a man who, besides being a superb guitar player, was also a really nice guy. I just knew him as Rog, lead guitar with the Nu-Notes. It never occurred to me to ask him what he'd done after that and he never mentioned it. It was only when he'd had his accident and I decided to take his mind off it by doing this site; I needed some information to fill it, he shipped over his CV, and I nearly fell off my chair.
As I tracked people down to get information and old photos it became clear the amount of respect and friendship there was out there for Roger, even from those who hadn't seen him for years. So many people mentioned his serious exterior which hid a sense of the ridiculous that would surface when you least expected it. He was quite capable of bringing the most solemn of events to raucous halt with one off-the-cuff comment.
At one point I had a monthly column in a music magazine documenting the ongoing saga of the development of his incredible "Electric Dancing Trousers (for men who can't)". He contributed to this with great gusto. I was never sure if the readers thought it was funny or that between us, we'd totally lost the plot. Whatever it was, we had a whale of a time putting it together.
I count myself fortunate to have known him. He didn't want us all mourning his passing, he liked people to be happy. He liked making them laugh. I laughed till I cried at times but right now, 'happy' is one wish of his that I'm afraid I shan't be following to the letter. This time I need to cry till I laugh.
Bye my friend.
xxxxxx