Closure

Graham died on Christmas day. Jamie rang me to inform just moments after my last post on this site, a great release and yet such a great loss, cancer as ever the most ferocious monster. My thoughts go out to his family, Slajana, Ceiron and Jamie and to all his friends. He will be missed by so many. I first met Graham at Calderstones Hospital in the early 90's and sought refuge [as many others did] in his office sanctuary to discuss the relative merits of Messrs Brautigan, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Bukowski, et al. [Ok we did some proper work also but...] Graham was inspirational, he inspired people to check out the margins, he was like a walking dictionary of pop-lit counter cultural cool, he got me into loads of literature/musical stuff, Johnson, Fante, Childish, Corso, Magnetic Fields, +++ not forgetting Beat Scene the Coventry based beat generation magazine [my subscriptions overdue but its on the way Kevin I promise] as well as supporting my own muso/poetic endeavors [no matter how futile they seemed to me]. Graham was a marvelous antidote to the depressive inertia of the creatively moribund, he helped people believe in themselves no matter what and I consider myself truly fortunate to have been his friend. It was Graham who introduced me to the Blackburn/London indie-band collective tompaulin whose debut album 'The Town and The City' I co-produced with Rob Ferrier in 2001. Graham loved tompaulin with a passion that was positively inspiring [and occasionally irritating] though we forgive him the enthusiasm of the proud parent [I've been there myself with my daughter]. I vividly remember with great affection the night we went to see Ianthe Brautigan at Manchester Waterstones reading from her book 'You can't catch death', the look on Grahams face when she started reading, she sounded just like her father, and there we were, this group of Richard Brautigan fans, soaking up the words and feeling something, something unique...something beautiful..something very Graham. Grahams death leaves us empty, it's premature and it it sucks... still I know who my moneys on to win the heavenly pub quiz....Graham Melia, I will miss you, RIP, with much love, Alanx