Post by Dan the G-Man on Jun 26, 2010 22:09:28 GMT -5
The Death of A Dandy and the Pursuit of Extremes
So sad to read of the death of the artist and self confessed dandy man Sebastian Horsley who died of a suspected heroin overdose yesterday.
Not because I knew him well because I didn't.
And certainly not because whenever I saw him he was particularly nice to me because he wasn't.
But because he was this wonderful, colourful, larger than life character who frequented the same bars as I did back in Edinburgh when I was in a band called Goodbye Mr Mackenzie and I but dreamed of an exciting,glamourous life filled with adventure.
The atmosphere in the bars would change whenever Sebastian arrived. He was our small town prince! Our local "celebrity".
Not because he had actually achieved much at this point in his life but just because he had the balls to be flamboyant and shockingly unapologetic. He also happened to hang out with a just released from prison for murder man called Jimmy Boyle,who was once reputed to be the most violent man in scotland but who has since renounced violence and gone on to become a successful artist himself.
Anyway....when Sebastian arrived on any scene we would all carry on nervously sipping on our rum and cokes....pretending not to notice he was standing at the bar right behind us, eyeing the room with a disdainful, haughty look on his face as if to say:
" Look at all you pathetic people..........with your cheap clothes and your trite conversations........look at you all with your hungry little mouths and your ambitious little faces.........I think you're scum."
Regardless........as a disempowered teenager desperate to be "cool" I was in awe of him.
I wanted to seek out his approval.
I wanted to catch his attention.
By a weird stroke of fate, I knew his girlfriend Evelynn who would deign to speak to me on occasion and as a result so would he..
She would even come to the occasional GoodBye Mr Mackenzie show.......always looking a tad bored and slightly fatigued somewhere near the back.
Dark haired, obnoxiously beautiful, crooked teeth and mysterious allure.......tight black dresses, pale skin, red lipstick and seamed black stockings tipped into ridiculously high heels.She had studied art at St. Martins in London and she was my heroine.
Yeah.....getting back to Sebastian.
Even his name seemed cool to me.
Quasi religious in undertone and the name of a darling little character from the TV series Belle and Sebastian.......it was the perfect name in my mind at the time.
Anyway.....I digress.
My point being he was larger than life and seemingly indestructable.
He was powerful in a way because he was beautiful and cruel and unapproachable.
Except he wasn't.
And that's what makes me sad.
Death got him too.
And a little bit of my past into the bargain.
Damn death.
Damn it I say.
What a business this dying is.
RIP Dandy Man (You too Evelynn although you passed us by some time ago. x)
So sad to read of the death of the artist and self confessed dandy man Sebastian Horsley who died of a suspected heroin overdose yesterday.
Not because I knew him well because I didn't.
And certainly not because whenever I saw him he was particularly nice to me because he wasn't.
But because he was this wonderful, colourful, larger than life character who frequented the same bars as I did back in Edinburgh when I was in a band called Goodbye Mr Mackenzie and I but dreamed of an exciting,glamourous life filled with adventure.
The atmosphere in the bars would change whenever Sebastian arrived. He was our small town prince! Our local "celebrity".
Not because he had actually achieved much at this point in his life but just because he had the balls to be flamboyant and shockingly unapologetic. He also happened to hang out with a just released from prison for murder man called Jimmy Boyle,who was once reputed to be the most violent man in scotland but who has since renounced violence and gone on to become a successful artist himself.
Anyway....when Sebastian arrived on any scene we would all carry on nervously sipping on our rum and cokes....pretending not to notice he was standing at the bar right behind us, eyeing the room with a disdainful, haughty look on his face as if to say:
" Look at all you pathetic people..........with your cheap clothes and your trite conversations........look at you all with your hungry little mouths and your ambitious little faces.........I think you're scum."
Regardless........as a disempowered teenager desperate to be "cool" I was in awe of him.
I wanted to seek out his approval.
I wanted to catch his attention.
By a weird stroke of fate, I knew his girlfriend Evelynn who would deign to speak to me on occasion and as a result so would he..
She would even come to the occasional GoodBye Mr Mackenzie show.......always looking a tad bored and slightly fatigued somewhere near the back.
Dark haired, obnoxiously beautiful, crooked teeth and mysterious allure.......tight black dresses, pale skin, red lipstick and seamed black stockings tipped into ridiculously high heels.She had studied art at St. Martins in London and she was my heroine.
Yeah.....getting back to Sebastian.
Even his name seemed cool to me.
Quasi religious in undertone and the name of a darling little character from the TV series Belle and Sebastian.......it was the perfect name in my mind at the time.
Anyway.....I digress.
My point being he was larger than life and seemingly indestructable.
He was powerful in a way because he was beautiful and cruel and unapproachable.
Except he wasn't.
And that's what makes me sad.
Death got him too.
And a little bit of my past into the bargain.
Damn death.
Damn it I say.
What a business this dying is.
RIP Dandy Man (You too Evelynn although you passed us by some time ago. x)