Über Umwege erreichte mich die Nachricht, dass Cotton Mac Aloon seit letzten Freitag nicht mehr unter uns weilt. Das ist eine sehr traurige Nachricht. Cotton war ein großartiger Entertainer. Rebecca Steinberg schreibt über ihn:
I first met Cotton in Berlin during the 1980’s when he was on tour with Parody Paradise. I was a student at the university. He came to the copy shop where I was working the counter, xeroxed promo material and told me his life story.
10 years later we performed together in Chamaeleon Varieté. In the 90’s we were in „Damen, Bärte und Barbaren“, on tour, in „Fünf auf einen Streich“, and in countless midnight shows together. After the curtains closed, and we were both immortalized on the Chamaeleon curtain, we used to stroll past the whores on Oranienburgerstrasse and have a drink at Meilenstein or Obst and Gemuse, across from post-reunification Tacheles. One time at 2 in the morning Cotton treated Michael Korthaus and me to a duck and champagne dinner at a restaurant near Motzstrasse. Later that year his mother Peggy McAloon helped him cook a huge Thanksgiving dinner in his little tiny apartment in Pücklerstrasse. For an appetizer he treated us to prawns. Later he inspired Dietmar Naffin to learn the art of gourmet cooking.
In 2004 I moved into his neighborhood, Kreuzberg 36, where the yuppies and the homeless live side by side. Since then we’ve spent countless Thanksgivings and birthdays together. We used to go have a biowurst every Friday at the Biomarkt at Lausitzer Platz. He always stopped to chat with the French man who sold wine and oysters. Every year Dietmar and I were welcome guests at Cotton and Mimi’s May 1st balcony BBQ , where we would all look down upon the anarchists and revellers. When he was sick and couldn’t walk, I came over regularly and we binge-watched Wired, Girls and Treme and ate Indian, Thai or Vietnamese take-out. I visited him in the hospital after his operation. And he visited us during our Monday night meals on his way home from AA meetings. We walked our dogs together, we met in Görlitzer Park and Cutie Pie Café and at the Turkish family restaurant across from his apartment.
He made mix CD’s for me with funk, classic rock, blues. As Martin Lillich says, Cotton was a living encyclopedia of rock history and had read all the biographies and seen all the movies. He helped me pick the right songs to sing, so I could be the real me on stage and not imitate other singers. Cotton, Mimi and I went to see Madeleine Peyroux, whom he knew from his time juggling in front of the Pompidou in Paris.
He was my friend, my mentor, my cheerleader, my California dude and bicontinental sympathizer. His life was filled with wonderful people and songs. He looked people in the eyes, and he listened to every word in every lyric. In the Varieté Berlin scene he was a legend. Iconic. As he himself said, a hard act to follow.
I am so pissed at him for choosing to leave. Damn it, Cotton! You helped everyone else laugh at themselves and get through bad times. Why did you choose to be stubborn and give up instead of letting us help you.😢😡😭
My wish would be for us to have a huge New Orleans style funeral after the Coronavirus has passed. Just like in Treme. Mimi said yesterday, we have to have a big party for Cotton. And since he juggled at my 50th birthday, I owe him a song. I would like to celebrate his life with everyone whose lives he touched, whenever Mimi deems is the appropriate day.
Danke Rebecca fürs Teilen!
Schon letztes Jahr starb ein großer Entertainer – Gregor Wollny. Einen Nachruf auf diesen wunderbaren Clown gibt es auf https://www.memo-media.de/blog/nachruf-auf-einen-clown/.
Mögt Ihr auch im Jenseits die jenseitigen so gut unterhalten wie die diesseitigen!