...who recently passed away at age 71. Cancer took his life in the end. A well-known Swedish actor and media celebrity and a personal friend with Sir Michael Jagger since the mid sixties.
He is dearly missed. Björn Ranelid wrote an elegant eulogy about his friend which I will forward parts of here (the beginning and the end):

"Käre Johannes Brost,

livet skjuter döden framför sig i barnvagn. Du står på Rörsjöskolans gård i Malmö och böjer huvudet bakåt och ropar glatt medan fotbollen dalar från himlen en måndag i mars 1958.
Människans glädje och skratt får inte plats i kroppen.

Du står där fortfarande efter nästan sextio år, ty barnet inom människan skriver det sista brevet inför döden. Jag hör dig skratta när bollen når din högra fot.
Ögonblicket föds på nytt när tiden och rummet tvinnas till en navelsträng.

-------------------

"...Jag bevittnar denna stund och tiden rullar ihop sig till en boll som du lägger snyggt vid din högra fot.

My och barnen står vid din säng på lasarettet i Lund.
Det är nästan tyst i salen, men hjulen på barnvagnen gnisslar en aning när döden kommer snett från sidan och hämtar dina skratt och ditt goda, snälla hjärta."

Nice words.

Maybe you'll translate them for all to see, Stoneage?

Thanks DP. Not my words though, Björn Ranelids. I don't know if i would dare to interpret prose. That would be a willful thing to do I guess.

Here's Google's take:

"Dear John Brost,

life shoots death in front of a baby stroller. You are at Rörsjöskolans farm in Malmö and bend your head back and cheer smoothly while the football is falling from heaven one Monday in March 1958.
Human joy and laughter do not get place in the body.

You still stand there after almost sixty years, because the child in man writes the last letter before death. I hear you laugh when the ball reaches your right foot.
The moment is born again when time and space are twisted into an umbilical cord.

-------------------

"... I witness this moment and time rolls into a ball that you put nicely at your right foot.

Me and the children are at your bed at the laser theater in Lund.
It's almost quiet in the hall, but the wheels on the stroller rub a bit when death comes from the side and brings your laugh and your good, hearty heart. "

"Dear Johannes Brost,

Life shoots death in front of itself in a baby stroller. You are standing at Rörsjöskolans School yard and bends your head back and yells joyfully while the football falls from the sky one Monday in March 1958.
A man's joy and laughter does not fit within the body.

You are still standing there after almost sixty years, because the child within a man writes the last letter before death. I hear you laughing when the ball reaches your right foot. The moment is born again when time and space are twisted into a navel string.

---

I witness this moment and time rolls into a ball that you put nicely at your right foot.

My (his spouse...) and the children are at your bed at Lund's hospital. It's almost quiet in the room, but the wheels on the stroller squeaks a bit when death comes in from the side and collects your laughter and your good, hearty heart."

A less poetic memory of Johannes Brost. Many years ago, there was a special feature on the Stones on Swedish television (on channel four if memory serves me right). It wasn't very memorable but one small detail stuck in my mind. Johannes Brost was interviewed and described his first encounter with the group in Malmö in the mid-Sixties. After the show, the Stones & friends went to a big house in a wealthy part of town, owned by the parents of one of the girls. Brian Jones helped himself to the parents' booze but pulled out a huge wad of cash and left some of it on the cabinet. After a while, Jagger disappeared with a female member of the party to a bedroom. Brost followed them and, pretending to look for the bathroom, entered the room and calmly took in the view. Brost concluded, not without pride: "He was furious, but I am one of the few people in Sweden who has seen Mick Jagger screwing".

He croaked at the same day as my grandfather about 7 hours earlier, and on saturday Jagger is on the Aftonbladet newspaper placards all over town with a hommage to Mr Brost. With me showing my grandfather on youtube on christmas eve the white t-shirt I gave to Keith in Paris during the 3rd show it became a strange coincidence. I told the old lady and she agrees it's really strange as grandpa could listen to the boys and really like what he heard.

He was born in 1922 so he must've been one of the oldest people in the world who could listen to the boys and really dig it.
I lived with my grandparents back in 1999 for one year and I used to blast out Love You Live and drinking Jack Daniels before I hit the metro into town and my grandfolks really dug the If You Can't Rock Me and GOOMC medley.
Happy Days!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2018-01-19 17:34 by MadMax.