“It’s funny seeing your own fat lumpy face 6 foot wide on a cinema screen….”
I went to see the new Public Image Limited documentary ‘The Public Image Is Rotten’ last night at the Odeon with my good friend and musical collaborator Andy Trussler (Rogue Sector). It was an interesting evening. As usual, the trains in and out of London on the Thameslink have gone to pot so I decided to drive up (20 miles) which was dead easy given it was a quiet Sunday evening. Plenty of parking to be had a short walk away from the venue.
Screen 3 was fairly small, cosy I guess, and I was given a complimentary VIP seat (which is just what a normal cinema seat should be like when in actual fact all the standard seats are too small). The documentary itself is a very good chronological account of the entire PiL history from it’s inception up to the present day and there are some interesting characters interviewed in it.
Of course, I’m in it for a bit when the film moves on to the New York segment and I am very pleased to say I wasn’t made to look a big chump in the editing suite. It’s bizarre seeing yourself up on a big screen like that, a 6 foot wide head is not a good look for anyone! It was good to see my old mate Martin Atkins on screen, he was very funny and I miss him.
There were a few people I knew in the audience which was nice. There was also one or two people there who I didn’t really want to see and I even had a bit of a confrontation with one of them but it soon settled down. The film was a tad too long I felt, could have done with shaving off a few minutes. It was good to see they had also used some of my personal photos from that era.
John Lydon held a short Q & A after the film but I couldn’t face listening to him spout on about the same old shit so I left. His wife Nora was there so it was a shame I didn’t get to say hello to her. She was great fun back in the 80’s when we were all living in NYC, a lovely lady, though I have no idea what she saw in John!!

I will be seeing PiL perform at the 100 Club on the 20th June, that should be fun, to see how much of it I can stand!!
See ya next time!! PjJ