Namesakes, keepsakes

Conversation that is becoming familiar (no contempt involved!) with persons, various, interested in my painting:

"Do you have a website I can look you up on?"

"Yes, its just my name.co.uk - ingridnilsson"

"How are you spelling that? n-e-i"

"N-i-l-s-s-o-n. Like Harry"

"Oh, a little touch of Schmilsson in the night?"

(or "Oh, Nilsson Schmilsson")

Its funny how it takes you a while to figure out the angles; I have always struggled to get over my surname spelling; now I have found the answer. Only problem is that it will potentially only work with persons of a certain age who will automatically recognise the line "When I was young, I never needed anyone..." Have to confess I was ignorant of the actual demise of Mr Nilsson, as long ago as 1994; had it been more recent I may have been aware, but at that time I guess I was still largely unaware of my only really famous namesake. Found some great stories out about him though; Stu had already made me aware of his 'lost weekend' in L.A. with John Lennon, a bit of an old school rock and roll bender; didn't know that 'Mama' Cass and Keith Moon both died in his flat in Mayfair. He sold it after that, funnily. The other title which caught my eye was his early recording 'Pandemonium Shadow Show' - great title, so I shall retain that somewhere in my brain for a potential posthumous painting tribute, Nilsson to Nilsson. His story is one of those touched with a poignancy as despite limited success he seemed always to be struggling against some tide (or himself?) that prevented him ever breaking through into the league he seemed to be aiming for. Must dig out a biography at some point so I can find out, among other things, what a Nilsson was doing in Brooklyn in the first place.

The conversation today on the Nilsson spelling also veered away from Harry and brought up a forgotten ghost from my school days; Derek Nilsen; while we don't share a spelling I still endured 'friendly' taunts that the mass murderer was my father. (Oh the logic of children, my father had died years prior to the date of Mr Nilsen's notoriety.) Another to add to my reading list; 'Killing for Company' by Brian Masters is a well reviewed work carried out in complete cahoots with Nilsen detailing his thoughts and reasons for the murders he committed. I usually steer away from books seeming to cash in on the somewhat ghoulish idea of 'getting inside the killers mind' but this does seem unique in its collaboration with the man in question, rather than that most flexible of creatures, journalistic speculation. I am automatically connecting with Hannibal Lecter due to the head-boiling elements of the case, but I think his reasons were less gastronomic; what I heard from the friend I was talking to involved, as the title suggests, an attempt to relate to the corpses as people, friends, in the absence of an ability to relate to the living. Talking or 'whispering' to the bodies was involved. Must read this, it does sound compelling, not least as it may have been triggered by an early brush with a relative's corpse, which unfortunately I can relate to. Luckily, I was given only nightmares (albeit persistent ones) and no homicidal urges.

Still, strange the little connections we all share; collective experience throws up all sorts of similarities and coincidences. I wonder if I will ever merit a Wikepedia entry detailing my 'Bateau Lavoir days' year and subsequent solo shows, publications and even that elusive great unfinished novel?...