The Execution of Gary Glitter

Next week is it the beheading of Roy Wood? Slade face the firing squad? The garrotting of Pete Townsend? Where is the book? I joke. Somewhere in all this mess a man will be watching a film of his own hanging on monday. David Peaces books, The Damned United brought on a court case from Johnny Giles. Peace claimed he was writing about a ficticious Leeds United, a fictitious Brian Clough, a fictitious Johnny Giles. Strange times. What did upset me was his Red Riding series using a ficticios Yorkshire Ripper. One of his victims went to my school before me. Jayne Macdonald, I can still picture her face, a very beautiful young woman. I read his books as they were set against the background of my childhood. I knew the events, the streets and ground where the bodies were found. When I am back in Leeds I still subconsciously clock Soldiers field, the Arndale centre, woodhouse moor and places in Chapeltown where bodies were found. I can only speculate as to how the families of Sutcliffes victims felt when Peaces books came out and the TV trilogy they spawned.
There is a temptation to make art about powerful events that occured during ones childhood. The Execution of Gary Glitter may well lay to rest my interest in him as an artist. At present I feel that if you have no forgiveness in yourself then you are eternally tied to terrible events . Lack of Foregiveness empowers thier actions and disallows the horror to disperse in to banality. Forgiveness disempowers the perpetrator of the crime, it doesnt let them off the hook. If I ever met Sutcliffe I would like to walk by, perhaps call him a sad twat then forget about him as he deserves to be forgotten. He is no one of importance.
Last night I spent time on the internet tracking down footage of 'the man who put the bang in gang'. In many ways it feels that my year of research in to Glam Rock, the planning of the failed Glamfest, has all led to this. Mondays hanging of Gary Glitter will bring closure. I hope he wears the red sequined jacket he wore for 'Do you Wanna Touch' when he takes the drop, the wing like collar pieces he wore for 'Leader of the Gang' didnt really work for me and the tight glittery trousers and silver platform boots worn for 'Rock and Roll part 2' looked like an experiment, his stage moves as yet un formed. His greatest moment for me was 'Hello hello, I'm back again', by this point he had perfected his stage persona.