Monday 28 May 2007

A Tribute to a Great Friend


It has been one year that my mate passed away. I would like to post this as a tribute to him, he was such a special friend. His name was (still is) Biffo. I knew him for 25 years and I was so glad that he was part of my life for all those years. He battled cancer for 9 years, but he never complained. He wanted us to joke about it, so we did. We told him that if he started a band we could call him 'Kid Cancer and the White Cells', it made him laugh and that was the way he always wanted it!

Biffo loved his Rockabilly music, he lived for it! He had a huge record collection and he always dressed the part. He had the best quiff of us all. There were approximately 20 of us in the 'gang' and he was one of the 'main' boys. We always had such a laugh! I could tell some stories, in fact I may write a book about our lives. If any of you have seen the film 'Grease', 'Lemon Popsicle', or 'The Wanderers', then that's the way our lives were!

Biffo struggled during his last week. The boys and I visited him in hospital daily during that last week. We would stay for hours at his bedside. We would play his favourite music and tell our stories of our past. I could see that there was some response coming from Bif, he would try to open his eyes, and he would move his fingers. He knew we were there and it seemed to make him very happy.

We gave him a great send off. We dressed in jeans and tee shirts at the funeral, those were his wishes. We draped the American Confederate flag over his coffin and we played 3 rockabilly tracks. Do you know what the first track was? 'Well Now Dig This'! It's what he wanted - just his sense of humour! I wrote a poem and read it out in the service - that was really hard! I buried it with him when we lowered him down.

We all miss him dearly. Would love to have him back even for just one more day!

The picture shows a few of my best mates. From left to right: Biffo, Me, Lee, and Nyrion. This photo was taken in 2004 at a Stray Cats concert in Brixton, London.

R.I.P Biffo

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Welcome to the world of bloggers Last Samurai! I think Biff would be proud of your tribute to his life on this earth. I'm looking forward to reading more from you. Perhaps one of your memories from the past. You, Biff and the gang!

~smile~

Head Cookie said...

Hey there Mark welcome to blogging isn't it fun? Still haven't mastered it myself but sure am having fun.

Your friend would be so honored to read what you have written such a nice tribute to him. I like this blog and will be back to see what you get done. If you get bored please feel free to check mine out at www.jadey73.blogspot.com

Mark Antoney said...

Well thank you Ambre and Jadey! This is fun and I shall look forward to reading your blogs.

~takes a bow~

Unknown said...

Liking the construction going on around here...Please do continue as your fans want pictures of Whales in all her glory!

~get the camera out~

Mark Antoney said...

Thanks for the comment, much appreciated! I couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch of mates!

Mark