We told you a couple of days OK that Wilko Johnson, the great UK blues guitarist, has terminal cancer, though what we didn't tell you because we didn't know was that you might know Wilko because he acts in the HBO show "Game Of Throws" so I guess he will be missed for something in the US.
The UK always have had an affinity with black pop and from the jazz to blues to r&b have mined it for gold, but the pub rock scene did something else: it mined Black Blues for working class roots rock: the whole paradise postponed thing. And Dr. Feelgood were the best at it, they bled beer and sawdust and an esthetic so far away from the boogie black delta blues they performed: as though just the shared humanity and financial tyrannic burden was enough to forge the two societies into one.
Personally, losing the Dr. Feelgood stalwart would be losing a bit of my past, my pre-punk stuff drinking Guinness and puking in the men's room while failing furiously to pull girls. And I would live to relive those days! And if you live in the UK you will have your chance to say goodbye to the greatman. Incidentally, rumors this will be a Dr. Feelgood reunion -always a naff idea with Lee Brilleaux dead, appear to be unfounded.
Anyway!: "Says Wilko’s manager, Robert Hoy, “The four UK dates represent an opportunity for Wilko to express his sincere thanks to his fans for all the support he has had over his long career.”