It’s 5.23 am as I write this after getting home from Charlies, where we had a fundraising night for our good friend Claudio.

Bluntly honest, I feel f*cked, but very very happy the way the night went. There are two main reasons why I’m happy, the first being that we all achieved our goal for the night, which was to take some of the pressure off Claudio and his family, and the second – which is nearly as important – being that it was fantastic to see everyone pulling together when the chips were down on this small volcanic rock that we inhabit collectively.

All I can say is that it reinforces my belief in humanity, which some times can be difficult for us all to see, but even when I’m kicked I have this knack of refusing to accept that people in general mean the best, or at least the most of them. Then you see a night like tonight and the support that was given by customers, staff and musicians from all the bars, all of whom were friends of Claudio´s, and not just financially, but also of their time and talents, and it confirms to me what I try so hard to believe about the human race, even in difficult times.

On behalf of Claudio I want to thank you all for making this the night that it was. All from the Craic n Ceol, Buddy´s Bar, the American Indian Café, The Dubliner, Mulligans and last, but by no means least, the staff and musicians from Charlies, and everybody else who attended to support this event.

On a final note, before I hit the hay, I thank God that we are closed tomorrow and that we all get some rest.

A night and time well spent. BED BED BED BED!!!

There have been some people who have said to me that the interview that I did with Scot on UK Away FM came across badly, for the following reasons…

This has to do with the fundraising event next tuesday night (28 October) for Claudio and his family. At one point in the interview Scott said that Claudio sometimes went “bananas” on the bongos and the musicians that he played with got upset with him. I then said that nobody could stay mad with Claudio for more then 3 minutes because he is always smiling, or something to that effect.

I just want to clarify something here that I know to be very true. First of all, Scott has nothing but extreme admiration for Claudio´s ability as a fantastic percussionist, and secondly, I know Scott for a while now, and I also know that he meant nothing sinister in any way against Claudio. What he said was meant in a fun loving, joking way, with absolute zero malice whatsoever. What he was putting across was that Claudio was one of the great characters of this island, as a person and as a musician, and that he had his moments like we all have, but first and foremost he is, above all else, an absolute loveable genius and anyone
who interpreted what he said in context in any other way must have f*ckall else in their own life to be concerned about, except trying to pick holes in what decent people like Scott say. People talking like this are only trying to hide themselves from their own failures and realities.

Stop talking sh*t and get down to Charlies on Tuesday night and help to support someone we all love as a person, who is in a serious bit of bother.

Here is a small story for you. I went down to Claudio with Andy the other day and Claudio was showing us his budgies, and the paintings he made for his beautiful daughter, and the puppet shows he was making for her as well. He was laughing and joking despite his poor health. He then said to us in his broken English that he was different now, and that his time was for his family above all else, and that he coudn’t and didn’t want to bother having a drink anymore, and that he was a different Claudio now.

The truth is that I saw no difference in him, regardless of what he thought himself. He was still as happy go lucky as ever I knew him, just as mad in the lovely way that he is, and never ever have I heard him say a bad word about anyone. I left his home thinking to myself “what a man, and what a human being”. His energy levels for what he was doing with his family were every bit as strong as any night he ever performed, even in these difficult times. He knows that he is very ill, but he is determined to make the best of any situation that he finds himself in regardless of how serious.

We could all learn a lot from that way of thinking.

Enough said.