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  • Jude: Level 1
    Jude: Level 1
    by Julian Gough

    Shortlisted for the 2008 Wodehouse Prize for comic fiction.

    The novel's prologue won the biggest prize in the world for a single short story - the BBC National Short Story Prize.

    "Sheer comic brilliance" - The Times

    "The best comic novel I've ever read" - Tommy Tiernan

    "Could be the finest comic novel since Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman" - The Sunday Tribune

  • Juno and Juliet
    Juno and Juliet
    by Julian Gough

    My first novel, of which I am very fond. The adventures of teenage twin sisters Juno & Juliet, in their first year away from home. Life, love and literature, in Galway and Tipperary.

     

    "Like Roddy Doyle in an extremely good mood" - The Washington Post

    "A modern, at times brilliantly ironic reworking of the classical fairytale, with nods to Shakespeare, Austen and Beckett." - Literary Review

    "Hugely entertaining" - Vogue

« I Am The Loch Ness Monster | Main | Shocking. Heart Failure. And So Young. But We Still Have The Music... »
Sunday
28Jun2009

I Thought I Saw Johnny Massacre Last Night, As Alive As You Or Me

DateSunday, June 28, 2009 at 01:09AM

I was crossing Torstrasse about an hour ago, round midnight, and I thought I saw Johnny Massacre coming across the road towards me, wearing a big green gansey. I was mildly but very pleasantly surprised. Always a joy to meet Johnny. As he got closer, I was about to say hello, and then,

 

A) I realised it wasn't Johnny, and

 

B) I remembered that Johnny was dead.

 

The last time I saw him, if you can call it seeing him, he was being lowered into the ground in a coffin in Longford in 2003. Ming the Merciless (Johnny's great friend Luke Flanagan) gave a speech at the graveside, a good speech. And then Ming the Merciless urged us all to give Johnny Massacre (born John Doran, and only 27 when he died, in a car crash), the parting gift he would have most appreciated - a huge round of applause. We did, oh we did.

(Mike Casey had filmed Johnny's street show in 2002, and put this tribute together after Johnny's death.)

AuthorJulian Gough | Comment7 Comments |
in , , , ,

Reader Comments (7)

I'll never forget that graveside applause as long as I live. It was one of the most positive spiritual experiences anyone could have taken part in. People were whooping and clapping and crying all at the same time and nobody wanted to stop. I well up any time I try to describe it to someone. We were honoured to have known him.
June 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMaeve Kelly
After your tweet last night I watched the video in a hotel bar as a wedding stumbled around in oblivion. I wanted to sit them all down and tell them about Johnny. Instead I wept a bit and finished my pint.
But I had another, and it tasted even better. And that was the effect that Johnny had on Galway.
June 28, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAllan Cavanagh
Maeve, it was an astonishing experience, and I didn't want it to ever end. In a way, it didn't, we're still talking and laughing and thinking about him...

Allan, you're right. He would just lift your day. Johny blasted positivity like the space heater in the Warwick blasted heat. Someone should have measured the ions around him, there was something scientifically unusual going on...
June 29, 2009 | Registered CommenterJulian Gough
I have shared the same pleasure as johnny, to tour the pavements of the world making people smile unsing nonesence as a tool for joy. I first hear of johnny as some young up-start street preformer who was teaching himself sword swallowing by sticking butter knifes down his throath. Straight away i wanted to meet him, and when i did I was ent dissapointed and we became good friends.
He was a mountain of talent ambation and great fun.
I rember him storming the street ,playing the joes like a fiddle and all us, the juggler, pupperters, acrobats, watchin, seeing his joy. The idiot in control and him winking at us as if saying, "look ,see how much fun im having"
He was great, and is missed dearly.
Thanks for the reminder Julian.
Keep it carny
Ken Tumble Cirucs
June 29, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterken
A few weeks before he passed away I happened by a performance of his in Galway. A series of photos I took at the time can be seen at http://www.focuspocus.org/index.php?page=seriesthumbs&n=0001
September 16, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAlb
That's lovely Alb. Thank you for sharing that here. I might tweet a link to those photos on Twitter tomorrow, when the West's awake...

And if I forgot to thank you at the time, Ken I'll thank you now... ah, Johnny was really something.
September 18, 2009 | Registered CommenterJulian Gough
I first met Johnny when I was at Glastonbury. He was there with some friends of mine in a band called Flannel. Johnny was performing pre-jackass mentalness on stage with them. Surfboard sandwich of death, nail up the nose, setting himself on fire etc. The bass player from Flannel has unfortunately since passed to the great festival in the sky too.

Last time I saw him I was walking down Shop St. in Galway with my then girlfriend. We walked oblivious into hos performer's circle and he said "Wow! That guy must be really rich!" to much laughter from the large crowd watching. I took it in good humour but wished I had had a quip to come back at him with.

I don't think he recognised me but it's a good last memory to have of him.
February 3, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterSmickers

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