On my way to meet a friend in a Dame Street pub a couple of hundred yards past Dublin’s Olympia Theatre where Monday night’s Dexys gig was taking place, who should be coming the other way but the COEHM himself. Conservatively dressed by his dandyish standards, Mr. R’s most flamboyant piece of schmutter is an impressively hirsute Faux fur coat whose like I have only ever seen twice before. (On Mike Winters in Coventry Precinct in and Lionel Blair in Hull Uni Students’ Union more than 40 years ago in case you’re asking.)

Resisting the urge to stop our Kev and ask him exactly how many Faux had to die to make said outerwear, I give him a knowing smile and respectful nod of the head which he graciously returns before continuing on his way.

A couple of hours later, the voluminous fur coat has joined the longshoreman beany and donkey jacket of the Geno Years, the early-80s raggle-taggle dungarees and that frock from the Reading Festival in the storeroom of Mr Benn’s local fancy dress emporium. Tonight, Kev hits the stage wearing a bum-freezer red jacket, capacious matching trews and a striped Breton T-shirt. All topped off … Continue reading Hopefully not going gentle into that dark night just yet – Dexys Olympia Theatre, Mon 25/9