Paul Hester

A special post here just about Paul Hester, who died this week. He always impressed me with his warmth and humour. He drummed in Split Enz and then in Crowded House, and I think was an essential ingredient in the success of the latter. I saw Crowded House play once at a free "Save St Kilda" concert. At one point apropos of nothing in particular Paul yelled out that he was "the shah of Prahran", which still makes me laugh.

He appears in one of The Wiggles videos as a chef with a huge floppy white hat, mugging and mucking around and it is always a nice relief from the omnipresent purple, red, blue and yellow gentlemen of whom we see a bit too much.

I didnt know him and certainly know nothing about his personal circumstances. But I do know that no-one knows how things are going to turn out. Being depressed doesnt give you ESP. Sometimes it might seem that if you weren't around, it would be better for yourself and for others too. But we don't have the power, or the right, to decide that.

I wish he had given himself a chance for things to get better.