Wilko Johnson
WILKO JOHNSON ilko Johnson should have the blues. But he Leave your handkerchiefs at home, folks!” hasn’t. Following the announcement that he is As strange as it sounds, there are visible signs suffering from terminal cancer of the pancreas, the that his terminal illness has given him a renewed guitarist has given a series of interviews declaring his (albeit temporary) appetite for life. Last time we visited “euphoria” as he faces his last months, with one him, the curtains were drawn, the living room was broadsheet writer declaring: “Britain is realising it has shrouded in semi-darkness and cluttered with another national treasure.” possessions. This time, light pours in from a patio Johnson’s prognosis is a particularly cruel twist, as window through which we can see the garden; the 2012 had been one of his busiest years yet, with the room has been painted and cleared of all but a few publication of his autobiography Looking Back At Me, books, paintings and the Wilko Telecaster (of which a character role in TV’s Game Of Thrones and, of course, more later). It’s clear that he is viewing his continuous gigging. Demand for Wilko is at an all- surroundings through fresh eyes because of the time high, fuelled in no small part by Oil City cancer, which he’s named ‘This Thing’ as he prods Confidential, Julien Temple’s celluloid love-letter to his left side. Wilko’s old band Dr Feelgood. “I suppose we all imagine, what would it be like It was towards the end of an extensive UK tour if I was told I’ve got cancer and I’ve got just a short WILKO last November, just before he was about to play the while to live? And of all the things I’d have thought, Canvey homecoming date, that Wilko fell ill and this is nothing like it.
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