Feb 28th

Todays Independent carries a large obituary for Ian Wallace. Theres a lovely picture of him too that I hadn't seen before. Its a pretty extensive and well researched piece. For a moment it's strangely comforting to see this degree of recognition for Ian's work in a respected daily paper. Then I'm struck by the same thing that happened when I read Pi'ps obit in the same journal but a few months ago. Ian could have done with this kind of press when he was alive and releasing a new CD or Schizoid tour.

It's still hard to imagine that I will never speak to him again. That he won't call from LA for a chat about the football or in the hope that I might make him laugh. It's just horrible.

Meanwhile the web is also awash with generous appraisals of Ian as both man and musician.
I happen upon one website who do just this. Praise him and remember him. Yet this doesn't comfort me at all. In fact it makes me fume with anger. For the past few years of Ian's life this same site took great pleasure in knocking Ian down and taking the piss out of him at every available opportunity. Ian was a sensitive soul and took this to heart.

Free speech on the web is just that and I would tell Ian to ignore it. Crimson fans may well remember the Adrian Belew debacle on Elephant-talk. It's just not worth getting involved. These are, after all, just the musing of a handful of people. But Ian , bless him, just couldn't get over the injustice of, say, a record he's made, that no one had even heard yet being slagged off regardless.

So if that were my stance toward them, why has today made me so angry?

Well heres the thing. A month or so ago Ian took the very brave decision (in my opinion) to go public with the battle he was facing with this disease. This particular web site chose to report this genuinely touching event by making jokes about Ian and his illness. Indeed they referred to Ian and his cancer as 'Wally Potter and the throat of fire'.

It's hard to imagine what the sites motivation was in doing this. Maybe they thought they were being funny or ironic? Maybe the thought that they were being clever, dangerous, iconoclastic or challenging? Well you know what? Ian didn't think it was any of those things. He was absolutely devastated that anyone could say this about him. He was deeply upset at a time when he really didn't need any other worries in his life.

So, in case they weren't fully aware, that is exactly the effect it did have on him.

I hope they're pleased with them selves. Well done.

That someone could make light of my friend and colleague staring his own mortality in the face is, frankly, beyond me.

Just in case anyone thought this was a brief aberration from the site, I would like to point out that following this initial posting there was indeed some reaction form others suggesting the sickness of such remarks. This was greeted with great sarcasm. Indeed the most generous thing they could come up with was 'Let's wish Wally well and hope that it isn't long before he's ruining more Crimson standards by jazzing them up.'

Just what you want to hear when your dying.

God forbid that the individual responsible is diagnosed with a terminal illness himself, or his wife or child. Will he find the subject so hilarious then?

Ian was, as Robert Fripp pointed out in his diary, a man with out malice. In the end he said he felt sorry for them, but it certainly made his last and most difficult journey considerably tougher, both for him and especially those around him.

I note that since his death they appear to have erased these comments and exchange's from their archive. In its place are the musings and reminiscences of hearing, watching and indeed meeting this great musician.

Not funny, clever or challenging.

Definitely ironic though. He could have done with this care and support when he was alive. It's no use to him now. And to those of us left, it won't erase the memory of what they wrote about him before.