John Cooper Clarke + Johhny Green @ The Ilkley Literary Festival – 4/10/11

It’s been a good 20 years since I last saw John Cooper Clarke. At that time he used to deliver his poems at break-neck speed and fit dozens of them into his set. Since then he’s been to the Frankie Howard school of stand up and managed to woo the crowd with hillarious chat and only a slight sprinkling of poems. There was a lady signing his performance for the deaf who surely deserves a medal for her ability to keep up. Bongo’s trousers had us in fits. An hour in the great mans prescence really wasn’t enough. He ended with Beasley Street and the newly renovated Beasley Boulevard……which sounds just as awful!

A quick hike down the road after brought us to an hour with Johhny Green, who was with The Clash all the way. He read from his book about the band and took questions from the floor. They ran the band like a co-op and were paid £25 a week – Bernie Rhodes missed a payment and Mick Jones never forgave him….

Thanks to Jez for organising it all although it could end up being an expensive night…… Lee’s talking of moving to Ilkley now……!

Bob the Chiropodist