The news was not totally unexpected, but I would never have been ready for it. Manni Lennartz, friend to just about any folk musician - Greek, Spanish, Irish, Brit, American or from Mars, who played in Cologne - died yesterday morning. A measure of the man is that those people, who could have been his fiercest rivals, were actually his closest friends. He used to go on holiday with Nico, a Greek restaurant owner, with whom he also played Greek folk music together. Manni was a Cologne original, proud of his Cologne roots and a Kölner to the core. But he was of the generous kind, who was a friend to everyone, who wanted to share his beloved city. I have busked and done gigs at his wonderful restaurant for over thirty years. I have also been to many great nights of music there. Manni was one of my best friends when I was recovering from the Hepatitis B, which almost killed me, back in 1986. His generosity was legendary - and in that year, when I was convalescing, he never allowed me to pay more than five marks. When I had guests over from Britain, he would inevitably join us for the last half hour and insist that we joined him for a shot. I experienced and saw so much kindness from the man, that it is impossible to recount a fraction of it.
He survived a brain tumor a couple of years ago at the expense of an eye, half his face, much of his voice and a huge weight loss. Somehow he managed to return. He is absolutely irreplaceable. A part of this great city is gone.