[atlantaprog] FW: Pip Pyle 1950-2006

I am in disbelief. I got to meet Pip in Bethlehem, PA back in June at the NearFest pre-show. He was a fabulous talent, warm and friendly. A great loss.... Steven


From: jonny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: Jonny Greene <jonny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Pip Pyle 1950-2006
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 20:50:16 +0100

Pip Pyle died in a Paris hotel at 2.00am on the morning of 28th August. He had stopped off while returning from a Hatfield and the North gig in the Netherlands by train.

We all loved Pip, everybody did. A big spirit, a big heart and a big musician. No-one who ever toured with him or counted him among their friends will ever forget the sheer joie de vivre with which he launched himself at life, and which so often sucked you along as well, I know they will all be devastated. As one of the Gongmaison musicians told me through the tears when I broke the news to him, "I had some of the best times of my life with Pip." He was at the centre and the heartbeat of so many bands and worked with so many musicians, it's like some mighty oak has fallen.

Although Pip's appearance at the Unconvention was never formalised between us (I kept putting off speaking to him because we didn't have the budget to do justice to what the Hatfields deserve), a Gong gathering without him being there was absolutely inconceivable. He was the outstanding mainstay of the 25th Birthday Party concerts in 1994, playing with nearly every band, hours of top-class drumming each day. No doubt, knowing the stature and nature of the man, he would have become central to the Melkweg event as well.

Like all of us Pip had some real up and downs in his life, the past few years had seen joy of the birth of his son and the difficulty of a very serious major back operation, but throughout it all he remained just Pip, a great musician to his fingertips, always straight with you and always genuinely a brother. It is impossible to overstate just how much he will be missed. Love to all he leaves behind.

Tributes are being posted in the Forum in the Planet Gong section
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