VALE DIXON COULBOURN!

I was deeply saddened to hear today that my good buddy Dixon Edge Coulbourn from Austin, Texas, died on the weekend due to an unspecified (at this point in time) swimming accident. Dixon was one of the good guys. Maybe you've never heard of him, though he'll always be remembered by me for two things...

The first is the amazing web site he maintained for nearly a decade. Split into various offshoots, his site is a one-stop shop for any information you may require on such essential topics as The Pop Group (the best site dedicated to them anywhere on the web) and the early '80s punk rock scene in Austin (ditto). My praise is irrelevant. I can only assume you'll check it out and thus agree wholeheartedly.

More importantly, what I'll always remember about the guy is the week I spent with him and his partner at the time, Jenni, in mid 1999. The overwhelming heat and massive consumption of booze makes my memory hazy, though that week still stays in my mind as an awesome blur of sweltering mid-summer Texan humidity, seeing ST37, Don Walser and Daniel Johnston play live at various venues around the city, watching Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout (Dixon's all-time fave flick), scouring flea markets, being amazed by Dixon's remarkable capacity to write cheques for absolutely everything he bought (whether it was dinner or a newspaper), searching for Stacy Sutherland (13th Floor Elevators)'s grave in the middle of nowhere, visiting Jenni's family in the hills (and before you feel tempted to call me a lardass, I'll let you know I've lost 35 kg since that photo was taken...), checking out the sites where Dazed And Confused was filmed and... a whole lot more.

Dixon wrote to me just last month, excited by the fact that an old photo of his was to be on the front cover of an upcoming book detailing the history of Austin punk. A decade older than myself (that makes him 43), his death is a massive shock and hits me as a stark reminder that you just never know when your number's going to come up. Maybe this isn't the forum for this kind of talk, though it needs to be said. The work he did in his life, and his warm and giving personality, need to be paid tribute to somehow. He'll be missed.