27/10/2024
Getting ready to leave Lochgoilhead. The glow from an idyllic 10 days is sadly dampened by the devastating news of the passing of a good friend. I met Folmer Jepsen when he invited me to play at the opening gala of the Aarhus festival back in 2012. It was a huge honour for all involved: live TV: we got to sip champagne eat oysters with Queen Beatrice in the green room afterwards. After that year I was regularly invited to Aarhus as Folmer’s guest. I got to meet many fine folk there: Joe Henry, Billy Bragg, Rhiannon Giddings, Daniel Lanois, Grant Lee Philips, Sylvie Simmons, Howe Gelb, Emiliana Torrini, Lisa Hannigan. Folmer was a maverick Prospero: he gathered minstrels, troubadours and blithe spirits, gave them a platform, and let them play. He himself was a man of many talents: a singer, comedian, TV producer, writer, film maker etc. We last met in London a couple of years back. There we spent a couple of heady days drinking cocktails, eating beyond our means and laughing. Always laughing. I bagged us front row tickets at The Palladium to see Aimee Mann: Folmer virtually floated in ecstasy. And that is how I’ll remember him: an ecstatic spirit who loved people and would do his utmost to show them that love.
And he loved me: you know that of your very best friends. It doesn’t need saying. It just is. And he loved my music. Always enthused about each release. He particularly like one song. It’s the one he insisted I perform at that gala. I’m not much for dedications but… this is for my amigo, my lovely, lost friend, Folmer. My cocktail chum. His memory is already a blessing.
