The Stormcock Community

Hi All

Sorry I haven't posted here in a long time.  Life has a way of throwing changes at you much like being at the receiving end of the cosmic shit shovel!

Sadly this post is about the untimely demise of my brother Chris, who sadly passed away on Thursday after suffering a massive organ failure following several months of Prostate Cancer that spread to his bones and his liver.  In the end renal failure put paid to a bright light that has done more than most for acoustic music in the UK and Internationally during the past eleven years.

Always a modest person, Chris never genuinely realised how good he was as a performer, entertainer, organiser and first class individual.  He wasn't a Saint but he never intentionally harmed anyone and was as nice a person as you could meet.  He loved music for the whole of his life and had very broad tastes but in recent years had begun to establish a reputation for himself playing acoustic sets of Americana and Folk Music.  His recently formed band Snakey Terrain was beginning to build some strong support and when I last saw him I persuaded him to set up a MySpace site to promote himself on a wider stage.

From Buxton in Derbyshire he helped to run Club Acoustic and tirelessly worked to encourage people to learn, improve and perform at many venues and gigs throughout the North but it is through the Newsgroup RMMGA that he developed an International reputation that started with gatherings of members for several days of music making, entertainment, eating and copious amounts of alcoholic beverage consumption in the UK and spread to the USA and elsewhere.   Chris selflessly organised the events with support from his partner and probably cost him money although they were supposed to break even.  Nonetheless he earned the respect of players and luthiers, professional and amateur performers.  This culminated in several Club Acoustic CDs and You-Tube videos of live performances.

Generosity of spirit and dedication aside, Chris could charm the birds out of the tress whilst at the same time frustrate the hell out of people but he never bore a grudge and always sought to find a way to please everyone.  Although not a religious man in any way, he demonstrated great humanity and proved it by being a Carer throughout the day and a performer whenever he could get the opportunity during the evening.

In tribute to his memory, I have set up a Myspace site www.myspace.com/chrisrockcliffe so that people can listen and see some performances warts and all.  He meant a great deal to so many people, possibly some in this community.  I hope no-one objects to this posting and would be delighted for those of you who have a MySpace account to add yourselves as friends and leave a comment if you enjoy the music.  Chris wanted to spread love and happiness through music playing and performing and his influence will be felt for years to come.

Thanks for reading this.

regards

Peter R