After Benni's passing, his friends and family gathered on a forum on this site to share their memories of him. Between 2005 and 2007 they wrote nearly two hundred posts: stories, gags, his tops, his loves and hates. Here is some of it.
Stories
Friends and family remembering Benni, from the forum they shared in the years after his passing.
i am sure everyone would agree that benni was a fantastic story teller. he was able to captivate any audience with his genuine wit and amazingly creative mind.
i remember when we were both quite young (i was about 7 or 8 ) and shared a bedroom. we had bunk beds, benni being the eldest got the top bunk. one night when i couldn't get to sleep benni created this story about a huge colony of mice that lived beneath our school, kinloch primary(probably not far from the truth!). he named this colony 'the nibblers'. the nibblers would have these amazing adventures during the night when the school was closed. unfortunately i cannot remember any specific stories other than once i think they prevented the school from flooding. thinking back, he must have almost been making these stories up as he went along but they were always amazingly exciting and intriguing. from that night on i didn't want to sleep as i was eager for the next nibblers installment. in fact he eventually got really annoyed with me as he wanted to get some sleep.
over the past few weeks i have logged onto this site, looking with interest at all the stories being shared about my Benni. from a very early age, he could make us all in the family laugh. i remember one time we were having a concert in the house. sharon, benni and martin would often put on little shows for us. this particular time we were taping it onto a cassette. sharon was the compere, running from one side of the room to introduce the acts on the mike, then back to the piano to play her tunes, martin was singing 'the wheels on the bus' then benni announced he was going to tell a joke!! he then proceded to tell a funny story. he must have only been 4 or 5 years old. we still have that cassette somewhere around the house. although i am still struggling to come to terms with our loss it is a comfort to know he held and indeed still holds a special place in so many hearts.
I remember Benni had the idea that going camping would be fun, so we set off with Janet and Nicole to somewhere, I really have no idea where - it was by a loch.
It was such a great day, we got the tents pitched with the traditional palaver then went foraging for sticks and climbing up the hill. Bit of a hiccup as I'd been supposed to bring the food. Not being a vegetarian at that time, and not entirely au fait with the concept, I'd thought he could have the fruit slice from the breakfast pack - sandwiched between the sausage and black pudding as it was. Luckily Nicole had come prepared.
In the morning we inflated the dinghies and went rowing on the loch - paddling against the current, trying to get back to base while Benni kept pecking at me in his guise of 'Scunner the Seagull', was so funny. Such a happy time.
The more I think of these memories of Benni, the more life without him seems too sad for words.
Just before the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a few years ago I, and others, were taken in by Benni's pre-fest wind-ups.
He invented fringe shows that he convinced us were in the programme.
One I really fell for was a show called "Hats Off To Dougie Dunlop." This, he said , was a one-man show by Dougie based around Come Dancing but was all full of holocaust revisionist metaphors.
I know now how ridiculous that sounds, but Benni was very convincing and had me looking at Dougie in a new light for ages.
Wee wind-up merchant that he was.
Just thinking of 'Hats off to Dougie Dunlop' made me piss myself - that was a classic!
However I think 'Hats off to Dougie Dunlop' was a straightforward dance homage - the holocaust one was 'Simpfeld's List', a one-man version of 'Schindler's List' written by and starring Colin 'Simpfeld' Simpson.
Do you remember 'Simpfeld's List' Simpfeld?
i remember when benni was president of the art college student union. he had a cash and carry card. benni, myself, scott stewart and a couple of others would generally go up there once a week. they had a couple of fantastic, but really cheap brands of lager - 'lynx' and 'scorpion' we would buy a few crates and benni would often add the biggest jar of pickled gherkins and the biggest jar of olives in the world to our trolley. it was always really amusing pushing this trolley around amongst all the shop keepers with our collection of produce.....cheap lager, olives and gherkins!.
occasionally benni would also add a box of 'pot noodles', chicken and mushroom flavour of course.
I always loved Benni's 'Littlewoods' stories about when he worked there as a student.
He worked on Sunday morning so he'd come in with a stinking hangover and, because of the low-quality fare, have to 'inflate' the yorkshire puddings - by mouth. His booze-breath was so bad that once the unlucky diner pierced one of these misbegotten foodstuffs the stench was enough to knock out all of those within a 20 metre radius.
Classic.
I think the first story Benni ever told me, one which had me in hysterics, was when he was at a party chatting up a girl who was mad-keen on Robotics.
He'd been talking to her for an hour telling her what an expert in Robotics he was, how he was an expert in Asimov's 3 laws of robotics etc. Finally she said to him 'I hope this isn't asking too much but I'd love to see some of your moves'.
Immediately Benni leaped up and marched out the room shouting 'I AM A ROBOT, I AM A ROBOT'.
This was just after Benni's 28th birthday party, I was going to London the next day to fly to Germany and Benni was taking a trip to London to plan his move there.
I'd discussed travel plans with Benni, wondering whether to fly or get the train. He proposed an alternative method - hitchhike! He recounted enough stories from his band-days to convince me this would be not only fun but punctual and economically advantageous.
We waited an hour outside Dundee for our first ride. This took us a mile. The situatin improved somewhat after that when a Glaswegian pigeon-fancier called Willie took us to Glasgow. We then got two truck-drivers intent on racing one another. However as their speed was capped at 56mph this was hardly formula 1. After buying them lunch they dropped us off near Preton assuring us this was the premier hitchhiking layby in the land. After 10 hours waiting this began to seem a somewhat inaccurate statement. As night drew we decided the only option was to spend the evening in a hotel. By this stage any economic comparison to train travel would hardly have proven favourable. And the hotel only had one double-bedroom left, which we had to share. A great picture of us lying in bed like Morecame and Wise with Benni reading a book I had called 'Life's Losers'.
Situation improved the next day, an eccentric car-transporter driver took us, or zig-zagged us as he dropped off his cargo - it seemed every time we were getting somewhere he'd turn-off - to our destinations. I made the flight by 10 minutes, Benni eventually landed in London.
It may have taken most of two days to get there, it may have cost twice a trainfare but it was an incredible trip, because of Benni. He had me splitting my sides, even after 10 hours in a layby he never stopped looking for the comedy in every situation. He could just make anything funny - have never hitchhiked since and can't imagine doing so again but for that journey it really was the only way to travel.
Hej Graham,
Do you remember Dave from Comedy Giants? The fictional comedy agent and alter ego of you and Benni? I believe he got me into the Mardi for free a couple of times. A phone call would be made:
"Hi, it's Dave from Comedy Giants here." (heavy cockernee accent)
"Hi there."
"Listen love, we've got a few of our acts playing in Dundee tonight, any chance you could stick the compere and the headliner on the guest list."
"Yeah, sure, no problem Dave."
"Ta, love. The names are Benni Esposito and Sandy Nelson."
"Ok, Dave. Bye."
"Bye then."
And Bob's yer aunties live in lover-free entry!
Any more Dave stories?
Sandy.
Nicely remembered Sandy - infact Dave had a friend, one Jaffa Wilson who was originally a nom-de-plum for articles in the Student Times. However he grew in stature, kept writing articles and Benni took it on as a mission to convince people he actually existed. A typical conversation would go something like this -
(Benni to first year student)
'have you seen Jaffa?'
'Jaffa who?'
'You know, Jaffa Wilson - does all the stuff for the Student Times'
'oh yeah'
'do you know where he is?'
'no'
'you're friends with him, right?'
'not really'
'oh come on, i saw you guys together at the Freshers Show, tall guy, dark hair'
'oh .... yeah - him'
'he's a top bloke, you been hanging out much with him?'
'yeah, a bit, he's in a couple of my classes', we've been out a couple of times'
'cool, any idea where he is tonight?'
'actually he did say he might be along later'.
Best bit was when a student, entirely genuinely, came up to Benni and said 'I was speaking to Jaffa today, he was asking after you'.
Hope you're good Sandy - how's the comedy going?
I loved going into littlewoods to watch Benni work. He was always having a laugh about how many of the old women were nipping his nuts and feeling his bum everytime they passed him. miss you Auds.
haha im glad you mentioned little woods, benni told me a funny story about when he worked there which involved a little boy, soup and a snobby old woman , the little boy pinged something in her soup and it slopped up over her face, can anyone remember the story properly? benni was crying with laughter when he was telling me it so it would be good to remember it properly! can't believe another big brother is on, wonder what benni would think about it, i reckon this one will be good! also has anyone seen the spongebob film with David Hasselhoff it's so daft you have to love it , they use his body as a boat !! :lol:
miss you benni xx!!!
I knew Benni since I was 6 he was in all my classes at kinloch. We had such a good laugh. He went out with me and my sister in primary school.(At different times of course!) She still has a couple of valentines he gave her. I remember he used to love the Young ones, so we did plays about the Young Ones at school to entertain the teachers and pupils. Benni was always full of ideas for new projects. I was glad Benni was in some of my classes at high school so we could still have a good laugh. I feel lucky that Benni was my friend.
He once told me whilst walking along barry road with Martin Green, a quote from jim morrison, 'Life is nimble life is quick, life is like a walking stick. Plant it and it will grow, and watch it waver so'! It was extremely funny at the time because he had the art of timing his comedy. Me and Auds still missin you!
Really sad to hear the news and had been a while since last bumped into Benni. All the memories I have are fond ones, mostly from college.
One occasion I remember was when we were in first year. Benni had been working on a painting for some time and when it was well on the way I recognise the subject. I went up to see my friend in her painting studio, his then girlfriend, to announce that he had been doing a painting of her... naked, stretched out on her bed. Very obviously her in her room.
Funny seeing her rush out saying "oh my god the whole college has seen me naked now". Nice one! any similar stories?
A few of his gags
As his friends remembered them. Benni's act was a good deal ruder than this.
My ex-girlfriend once said to me, 'I'm not overweight, I'm just big boned.' By the way, can anyone tell me the name of that big bone that goes round a fat person's waist?
Remembered by Martin Esposito
The Discovery: a boat designed to handle some of the harshest environments known to man. And it's been to the South Pole.
Remembered by simpfeld
I took an EasyJet flight the other day. We all got on the bus to take us to the plane, and it took off.
Remembered by simpfeld
It was a bumpy ride. I asked for a whisky to calm my nerves. The steward said, 'Sorry, the pilot's just had the last one.'
Remembered by GrahamP
The plane went through some turbulence. I knew it was getting really bad when cracks started appearing... in the stewardess's make-up.
Remembered by GrahamP
London's an aggressive place. I said to a shopkeeper, 'Do you have any tomatoes or onions?' He said, 'Outside.' I said, 'Steady on mate, I only asked!'
Remembered by GrahamP
They sell drink for next to nothing in the students' union, then they throw you out for being drunk. It's like going up to someone in a restaurant and saying, 'You look a bit full, you'll have to leave.'
Remembered by GrahamP
There are signs all over London saying 'Pickpockets are operating in this area'. And they wonder why the health service is in such a state.
Remembered by GrahamP
A lot of people say I'm like Bob Monkhouse. Because I like to MONKEY around the HOUSE.
Remembered by GrahamP, on the joke Benni wrote for his school's Blind Date at 15
A mate said, 'I saw your ex the other day, walking past McDonald's.' I said, 'Couldn't have been her. She could never walk past McDonald's.'
Remembered by GrahamP
You may notice that Dundee University has a Christian Society. Or as it should be known, a dating agency for geeks.
Remembered by GrahamP
I've got a bad coke problem. I can never get the can up my nose.
Remembered by GrahamP
My dad dropped dead at a bar. I was devastated. It was his round.
Remembered by GrahamP and raedarcy
Dundee's got a slogan: 'City of Discovery'. It's rubbish. Glasgow's Miles Better; we could have 'Welcome to Dundee: Glasgow's Miles Better'. Greenock's on the Go; we could have 'Dundee's on the Dole'. The council paid 200k for a slogan. My mate Mike would have done it for a couple of pints and a packet of fags.
Remembered by GrahamP
I was reading about a really bad earthquake in India. Apparently there were bad aftershocks for days afterwards. Surely low-quality booze is the least of their worries.
Remembered by GrahamP
The policeman asked if I'd been drinking. He said, 'I want you to do this', and put his finger on the bridge of his nose. So I did. Poked him in the eye.
Remembered by GrahamP
I'd like to leave you with a thought. (A reflective pause. Then he walked off the stage.)
Remembered by GrahamP
Can you imagine Jesus turning water into wine these days? It'd be full of e-heads going, 'Oy, Jesus, that's fine, but can you turn this aspirin into an E?'
Remembered by GrahamP
Dream interpretation books should have just two pages. Page one: 'utter'. Page two: 'bollocks'.
Remembered by GrahamP
Two monkeys in a cage in a laboratory. The door's been left open. The first monkey says, 'Come on, let's get out of here.' The second says, 'Sorry, I never leave without my make-up on.'
Remembered by Martin Esposito, who called it a rare Benni pun
I'll just rip out this Adam fireplace and bung up a bit of MDF.
Remembered by simpfeld, from Benni's routine about makeover shows
Biscuit Boy was on first. He started well, but soon crumbled.
Remembered by GrahamP, from the night Benni invented Biscuit Boy
On stage
Ben D'Arcy, Duncan Donuts and the Fringe.
Edinburgh Fringe, 1998"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the deliriously unoriginal Benni Esposito!"
The first gig I did with Benni was a benefit for the Liverpool Dockers organised by June Broon. I think it was Benni's first gig. That's when we met. Turns out he had seen me in a play at The Rep several years earlier. We got drunk ( could happen) and became firm friends.
Our second gig together was at The Laughing Carrot in Aberdeen. We're talking 97/98 here. Benni and I were in support to Joyce Falconers one-woman musical, a sort of semi stand-up/ monologue peice about a Torry Quine. That's where Scunner the Seagull came from. Scunner was a character puppet in Joyce's show, being one of the "coorser" seagulls terrorising Torry Bay. I do remember Benni video taped the gig. I hope that's still lying around somewhere.
BTW, I belive Duncan Donuts also went under the name of Spunkin' Duncan and was a big Dundee fan, hat and scarf and all.
Sandy.
hi graham, just saw your post on the tapes being with Glenn Miller, i'll see if i can get them. They would be fun/sad to watch, that was around the time i first became friends with Benni and you - grubby angels! Was really glad to find this site, was just looking at chortle to see the great picture of Benni in a wig and you in the phonebox.
The first comedy gig i saw Benni do, he went under the name of Duncan Donuts, it was in the Stand but i never again saw him appear under that name - was it one he used much when he started comedy?
Delia
Hi Delia - Duncan Donuts, that's going back, was when Benni thought his comedy was getting a bit nob-gag orientated and he wasn't really representing his intelligence, decided to effect a Jekyll and Hyde split - Duncan told the smutty stuff, Ben Darcy would do the smart stuff.
Think the experiment ended after a gig in Aberdeen when some bloke said to him 'you were funny, but that bloke Duncan Donuts was brilliant, if you had a couple of jokes like his you'd have a great act'.
I remember Duncan Donut well, he was one of the first acts I ever saw at The Stand long before my first gig. I went twith work people, everyone thought Benni was the best on the night. He did stuff about changing rooms and how Handy Andy was obsessed with MDF
'I'll just rip out this Adam Fireplace and bung up a bit of MDF'
Can't remember if it was Duncan or Benni who did that gag. It was during this period that Benni was coming on as Duncan Donut and half way through would take off the hat and glasses and become Benni. I asked him about this a while later and he said it was kind of a mask, that he felt more comfortable coming on as Duncan and becoming Benni later.
Scunner I never saw, I just remember Benni squawking and talking about Scunner all night when he'd had a few beers (I think it was a night during the fringe, do you remember Graham?). It had become a fun obsession of that day, Scunner could say the insulting things Benni couldn't. It was, as usual, with Benni , very funny.
A couple more gags:
'Sex is too complicated nowadays. When I was young it was just milk, milk, lemonade and round the back chocolate's made. That's all you needed to know'' (with actions)
'The Discovery, a boat designed to handle some of the harshest environments known to man, and it's been to the South Pole'
Scunner was the invention of Aberdonian Torry Quine Joyce Falconer who now plays the evr popular Rosin in River City. (We supported her in Aberdeen once as reported earlier.) I'm sure Joyce would be happy to know she was so influential.
Benni never did Scunner on stage, he did make it his own offstage though. He was perhaps at his most brilliant just having a laugh after a few beers.
Simpfeld do you remember something else he did, we were just talking, I think I asked you for a biscuit, Benni latched onto it and started singing a song about 'Biscuit Boy'. It was hilarious, something like 'I am biscuit boy, see my biscuity limbs, look at my biscuity face'.
After that when I'd ask who'd been on a bill Benni would say something like 'Biscuit Boy was on first, he started well but soon crumbled' or 'I bumped into Biscuit Boy there, he was Hob Nobbing backstage'. He could create absolutely hilarious situations from nothing.
I can remember the night, there were loads of biscuit jokes.
Was it not things like, his act was half baked. He melted when he was on with coffee boy.
I can't really remember, sadly. Wish I could.
Haha, great stuff Sandy.
Do you remember our fringe show in 1998 where our audience were all under 16 and we ended up playing to them on the steps outside Christies. Got told to clear off by an old lady shouting out a window, was like something from a Norman Wisdom movie!
'Don't you hate those people who don't drink, it's like 'no, don't mind about me, I'll just sitting in the corner, nursing an orange juice, messing up the round system'.
They're always the first to come up to you the next day and say 'do you know how drunk you were last night? Do you remember what you were saying? I'm like 'no, I was drunk, that's the whole point of it'. The only person who remembers it is this sober person, carrying the memories round like a ball and chain. I need the blank spots to punctuate my life!'
not really a joke but I was with benni at his last gig in inverness. It was in a small room and everyone sat in rows of sofas. Benni was having trouble with the microphone,I think it was a loose connection, and it kept cutting out. After about 3 tries he said he would work without it and threw it on to the floor. As he walked past it he accidentally kicked it and it began working so he did the next few minutes lying on his stomach on the stage with his mouth at the mike. Everyone was in stitches. He also did a joke that he just thought of as he walked on stage then couldn't do the next couple for laughing at it himself. We had taken a camcorder with us but both forgot to tape the show. I really regret that.
Well it's nearly Edinburgh festival time again.
The night before Benni's birthday I went with my girlfriend, Caroline, to see the new Annie Griffin film "Festival." Great stuff. It captured wonderfuly the selfishness and paranoia of so many comics and industry folk, but also ecapsulated the inexplicable dedication that one has to ones own art.
I did my first Fringe show with Benni and Graham called "There's More To Life Than Meaty Eyes." (Graham's title you won't be too amazed to find out.) I had to introduce Benni on a nighly basis. When the reviews came out they were pretty mixed, with once critic saying Benni was "deleriously unoriginal." For the rest of the run Benni made me introduce him as "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the deleriously unoriginal Benni Esposito!"
I thought he was fantastically original, breathing new life into and old subject ie: the difference between men and women. So many comics at the Festival churn out the same lazy observations year after year, but Benni managed to do something fresh with the subject.
Whoever is in charge of cataloguing Benni's art work should remember to get on to The List for a copy of Benni's self portrait in (I think) biro, which featured in the stand up comedy special a couple of years ago. It features Benni on stage with a mic in one hand and a pint in the other throwing up over the head of a Perrier judge, with a sign on the wall behind him saying:
Rules Of Stand-Up Comedy.
1. Sean Connery impression.
2. Knob size (ie: small.)
3. Patter (if Glaswegian.)
Top class!!
Awrabest,
Sandy.
Hi Sandy
I'm doing the cataloguing so I'll try and get hold of that drawing, I remember it well. I went to see Festival last week too and kept thinking how much Benni would have loved it. I reckon he may have even gone to the cinema to see it, which was a rare thing indeed. He hated sitting still for that long!
It was brilliant and very sad seeing Benni doing his stand up again at his tribute night, and remember just how good he was. He was really looking forward to geting involved in the festival again this year. I remember him pacing around my studio last August, all edgy as it went on without him. I made him promise to get involved again for my sake!
Bye for now, Jackie
Been searching out some old emails and found this one from last November. Me and Benni had been chatting about doing a show at the festival.
To help you with a reference in it, "Mudfinger" is a newer comedian who can best be described as a permanent open spot. An odd young chap who was round the circuit about two years back, who's act consisted entirely of talking about non-existant mud (seriously).
From: benni esposito
To: Leighton Calvert
Subject: fringe
Sent: 18 November 2004 13:11:48
hi leighton
i've been giving some serious sober thought to our
chat the other day about next years fringe.
my biggest problem in terms of getting involved in
performing is that i have a solo painting show opening
in shetland on 3rd september 2005, which i'll have to
work my ass off to complete from now til then. that's
on top of my lecturing job here at art college. i'm
worried that i'd be taking too much on and not be able
to give any of it my full attention.
i'd have to give it more thought and see how the
paintings are coming along over the next month or so.
at this stage however, i'm definately up for getting
involved in helping write next years show. i can bang
out decent stuff fairly fast. have you had any more
thoughts about the angle or area you want to cover?
if you and simpfeld are having any discussions about
it i'd like to get involved.
i'm compering an 'art' event at the local artists
collective tomorrow night. so far the 'line-up' is;
a girl making 'reactive movement' (not dance) to
random sounds generated by her laptop.
a bloke making a 'live' painting on a wall of a
projection of a marlon brando movie (can you tell what
it is yet?) to the musical accompaniment of a guy
playing a guitar with, not a plectrum, but a hand-held
face cooling fan.
a some bloke reading poems in spanish.
Bring back Mudfinger - all is forgiven!!
talk soon
benni
I loved the way he incorporated his personal quirks, noises and gestures into his act. When he was telling this joke, he'd go
'My dad dropped dead at a bar ...'
then he'd do one of his Edward Munch meets Will Hay gasps, pause for a second and ...
'I was devastated'
put his head down, shake it a couple of times going 'mmmm' before looking up with wide-eyed indignance ...
'it was his round'
Well I want to tell a couple of stories actually, the first is about benni at the Edinburgh Fringe festival a couple of years ago, (I had an absolutely fantastic time), cutting a long story short...we were in the cue for an act & a friend of benni's gave him his slot for the evening. It was great really funny, although I must admit to being a little three sheets to the wind throughout the entire weekend anyway the joke that I want to recount is this one, My dad died last year.... bastard it was his round!!!! Benni's humour has had me in hystertics all my life, & his art in these past few years, captivated me entirely. So much talent, what a great friend.
The other joke i'll save for a later date..........
I will really really miss him.
Hi Guys,
Last weekend I was privilaged to be the compere of a lukemia research fundraiser at Oran Mor, Glasgow in memory of Gail Wylie, another young artist and poet who was taken away from us last September at the age of 35.
http://www.thespaceyourenotin.com/
The bill was unbeleivably prestigious with readings from Alisdair Gray, Janice Galloway, James Kelman, Aidan Moffat, Zoe Strachan, Liz Lochead, Tom Leonard and John Byrne. Music came from Eddie Reader, Eugene Kelly, Arab Strap and Bell & Sebastian. There was an auction of art, hosted by the unfathomably charismatic Anita Mannig, the first female auctioneer in Scotland. Artworks based on Gails poetry were donated by Peter Howson, Jim Lambie, Graham Sharp, Valentin Petrov, Lesley Banks and too many more including, again, the ridiculously talented John Byrne.
With the Wylie families permission I took the opportunity to pay tribute to Benni in front of such an art loving crowd, by talking about his life and reciting some of his stand up. I choose to do the bits from "Road To Dundee" regarding the city slogan. ("Dundee-The Paisley of the East".) It seems Benni is still capable of getting the big laughs. The show went on and about 20 mins later I introduced John Byrne onto stage. A Paisley man himself, Byrne opened with the line " I was recently in the Dundee of the West..."
WOW! A John Byrne call back to a Benni gag. As you can imagine the first thing I wanted to do was phone Benni and say "John Byrne's referencing your material!"
At the end of the show a Duncan Of Jordanson student came up and thanked me for the tribute saying it was good just to hear his name being mentioned again. Another girl approached, and sadly, this was the first time she had heard mention of Benni's passing. He had painted two portraits for her family and they were hoping to commision a third. She was, of course, quite shocked by the news. I gave her this website address, so hopefully she will make contact, and perhaps also help you catalogue Benni's work.
BTW, I wore my Benni t-shirt all the way throught the gig ( I printed off a picture of Benni and got it printed onto a black t-shirt. It's rather classy.)
My thanks to Gails family for allowing me to make the tribute, but as Gails sister Linda said, it is important to keep all of these spirits alive.
Sandy.x.
Music
Broccoli, and the band before it.
Friends' favourite Broccoli tracks
FidoGrahamP's pick
10 Journey TrousersGrahamP's pick
Neglect ItGrahamP's pick
Pond LifeWayne's pick
All SmilesWayne's pick
Chesnut RoadGrahamP's pick
Pr ExorciseGrahamP's pick
Benni played bass in Broccoli from 1993, touring the UK, Ireland, Europe and Japan.
When I met Benni my music tastes were a little embryonic, it took me a while to get into them, very glad I did - they are one of the great rock groups of all time.
So, my 3 favourite tracks are -
Fido, 10 Journey Trousers, Neglect It
What are other people's favourites?
I have to say, it was pond-life and all smiles for me.
Also, that classic track "who moved the ground?" by Gerald The Fish where Grant Miles did backing vocals, classic stuff. :)
Saw Idlewild on Wednesday in London, fantastic gig! Sure Benni would've liked their new stuff - it's kind of Fugazi-esque.
On the Broccoli front, i've been listening to Chesnut Road and Pr Exorcise recently.
Benni loved his music, I hadn't heard of a lot of the bands he was into but I know that he was a big fan of Fugazi. He also liked The Sex Pistols, The Fall, The Smiths and David Hasselhoff, to name just a few.
Anyone else know other bands he was really into?
GrahamP, I just remembered that I still have the master copies of the backing music / voices I did for you for RFD! I think I also might still have an 'alternative' version of Mr Hasslehoff's 'Wings of Tenderness' Benni asked me to do for... some reason.... Can't remember if I finished it, or if he used it though... I might stick 'em on the site at some point, but the RFD backing track is a little disjointed without real filling in the gaps...
W
Uncovered some old audio and video footage recently. Scary to think that it is now seventeen years since ZYKLON-B last played live. Anyone interested (or skilled) in converting PAL to digital please get in touch and we might be able to bring ZYKLON-B to the World Wide Web!!
hi andy
hope you are well. getting some video footage of benni on the internet has actually been one of our long term plans for the web site. our thoughts were to attempt to upload benni doing his stand-up comedy. i think it would be great to have zyklon-b on the net. am not sure if the world is ready for them yet, even after 17 years!. will definately get in touch when we are a bit closer to uploading video onto benni's site.
speak to you soon
martin.
His paintings
Collectors, the lost portrait, and Benni in the National Portrait Gallery.
Sword of progress (2000, Benni Esposito). "One of his favourites", according to its owner. See all his paintings
Is it going to be possible to put together an inventory of all Benni's paintings? It'd be fascinating to find out how many he painted and where they are.
As well as his own art, Benni was a fantastic promoter of other people's art - the amount of paintings he pulled out of the skip off the Perth Road would be an exhibition in itself!
just to keep you updated. with regards benni's art. we have started the process of cataloging all of his work. it appears that benni had begun this process himself and had put a lot of his paintings onto slides and disc. once this process has been complete we hope to open up a gallery on this site as we believe his paintings are far to good to stay hidden. if anyone has a benni esposito painting please let me know so that we can catalogue the details.
cheers
martin
Hi everyone.
Benni's painting fascinated my by it's sensitivity, sensuality and sheer quality. Benni was not a spiritual person as such, but his works had a certain spirituality to them.
A few years ago Benni painted six full body portraits for an exhibition and I was privelaged to be one of his subjects. After the exhibition Benni realised he didn't like the body and cut it down to a head & shoulders. In true artiste spirit Benni's art was dreamt up, dealt out and forgotten about immediately, so in one of our last conversations he told me he couldn't remember what he did with the painting.
If it's around I would be very honoured if I could buy this painting. So if anyone comes across a portrait of a blonde haired, blue eyed guy wearing a brown top, please advise.
Neil,
Benni always spoke very highly of you and your consistent purchasing of his paintings was always hugely appreciated by him. I remember him finishing pieces and keenly putting them in the back of his mum's Clio to drive up to you in Aberdeen.
Out of interest, which of his paintings do you have?
Graham
Hello Graham,
Thanks for the response to my posting. I have 7 of Benni's works, all of them oil on canvas, as follows (I've given sizes as well):
The Sword of Progress, 45 x 52cm
Party Girl, 50 x 60cm
Transmission, 64 x 97cm
World of Opportunities, 40 x 55cm
Waiting Room, 51 x 69cm
Mars, 17 x 17cm
Untitled Study (Flowing Gown), 16 x 22cm
Benni always said that "The Sword of Progress" was one of his favourites, and he wanted to buy it back one day! I think is probably my favourite.
If you look at the extract from Benni's work in the top left hand corner of this website, the girl looking down with eyes closed, I think that is taken from "Waiting Room". I'm not 100% sure, but I think it is her. (Can't check it out, as I use the internet at work, and the painting is at home of course.)
Unfortunately, "Transmission" has met with a slight accident, and has a scratch right down the front of it (dropped a mirror). I was going to ask Benni if he would repair it next time I saw him, so sad that can't happen now. I'll get someone else to repair it that I know, they had better do a good job, I'll make sure it is restored to something he would have approved of......
Benni did borrow back the paintings for at least 1 exhibition that I can remember, so they might be familiar to some people. Suffice to say, they are all currently hung in my house (except the damaged "Transmission"). They are all superb, and I really take great pleasure from them every day.
With very best wishes,
Neil McLeod
Aberdeen
My brother was in the National Portrait Gallery the other day, mincing around, when lo and, you know - a picture of Benni was there!
It's by Jackie and I'm off to see it in 10 minutes, mixed feelings as its always hard to look at a face which which was so alive. Will be fascinated to see how people are reacting to it.
Hello everyone, I have been meaning to to let everyone know about Benni's portrait being exhibited for weeks now, many apoligies to Juno who got a bit of a shock bumping into in without warning.
The painting is in the BP Portrait Award in the National Portrait Gallery and will be there until the 25 September. the exhibition also goes to Aberdeen later in the year, but I don't have the dates for that yet.
If anyone would like to see the picture just let me know and I can send a photo of it to their e-mail address.
Bye for now, Jackie
It's a beautiful picture, right in the corner of the gallery. Very sad to look at for those who know and surreal to see those who don't looking without knowing.
I got an A3 print-out of it, going to put it on my wall so I can see Benni every day and remember what an amazing person he was.
Still missing him a lot like everyone who visit this board I'm sure. It's wonderful that Jackie has captured Benni's essence in the painting for so many to see. Hope Benni's own work is up in the National before too long.
Really glad you liked it Graham. I've always wondered if he looks a bit too angelic in the painting, and half expect him to break into a cheeky grin and dirty laugh!
This is going to be a hard week with Benni's birthday on wednesday, I'm going to go up to Dundee to mark the occassion. I moved down to Glasgow two months before Benni died and I find it hard to go back to Dundee with Benni gone, but it seems like the right place to be on the day somehow. I'm sure we will all be thinking of him. I'm going to try my best to think of how lucky I was to have know him rather than the pain of losing him.
Jackie
It's perfect Jackie, took me a long time to be able to look at a picture of Benni, still couldn't look at one with his eyes staring back, would be too sad. He looks peaceful, restful.
I'd love to be able to come back for his birthday but won't be able to, hope you all have as good a time as is possible without Benni.
finally managed to get down to the national portrait gallery to see the painting of benni. i was slightly apprehensive beforehand, not knowing how i would react to seeing a painting of my brother.
it is a truly outstanding painting and jackie has managed to capture benni's features to create and astonishing likeness. i found it uncanny that despite being painted in jackie's distinctive style of calm, soft pale colours (sorry jackie, am not an artist), the painting, and benni seem to jump out at you. i also think that it is very apt that benni is in the national portrait gallery, a place that i know he enjoyed visiting very much.
i would definately recommend a visit to anyone who can get down there whilst the exhibition is on. all the entries are worth viewing.
martin.
Would like to say that my thoughts are with Benni`s family and friends, especially today.
I found out the sad news about Benni two days after it happened and have visited this site regularly reading all the lovely and funny thoughts and stories about such a wonderfully talented guy.
I was in touch with Benni this time last summer and was fortunate enough to have bought one of his small paintings from him, the one and only painting I have ever bought. It is one of the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen. I was due to send him photos of the painting in the new year as he had lost the film of images of it. Sadly I didn`t get the chance to send him the photos. If anyone in his family would like these photos I will gladly send them on.
I hope today will be a celebration of his life to all.
Kind regards
Jacqueline
Loves and hates
He was so passionate about the things he loved.
Loved
On the Buses · TJ Hooker · Bob Monkhouse · Fugazi · The Sex Pistols · The Fall · The Smiths · Wat Tyler · David Hasselhoff · The Prisoner · Prisoner Cell Block H · Jerry Springer (the early years) · Doctor Who, the Pertwee years · The Double Deckers · A Bit of Fry and Laurie · Alan Partridge · Neighbours · Mutiny on the Bounty (Charles Laughton) · Roy Chubby Brown · the Carry On films · Tolkien · Magnum PI, eventually · Big Brother · I'm a Celebrity · history, and his Italian roots
Couldn't stand
Blandness. A girlfriend once asked him to a Gabrielle concert
The friend who comes on a night out and doesn't drink
I thought it would be good to have a board about Benni's loves and hates. He was so passionate about the things he loved, and his passions were a huge part of his personality.
So, to get the ball rolling -
Loved:
On the Buses
Hated:
Blandness - he almost choked when one girl he was seeing asked him to go to a Gabrielle concert!
Don't worry about it Simpfeld, I knew Benni for years before discussing 'On the Buses'.
Infact Benni did one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me after we'd exchanged a series of emails on the subject, he took a still from 'On the Buses' - of Stan and Jack and had it put onto a hooded-top.
I wore it all the time, it was my favourite top. Unfortunately after Benni died I knew I'd never be able to wear it again, it made me too sad, I took it to a charity shop. Someone out there has a truly remarkable top, the tragedy is that they'll never know the truly remarkable person behind it.
Hi Graham
I never knew Benni was a fan of On The Buses.
Quite right, what a great sitcom. It has a load of memorable characters, Blakie, Butler, Olive, the horrible brother-in-law and a baby that made fart noises.
Was it his comedy Hasselhoff?
Benni definitely loved 'On the Buses', he liked a lot of shows from the 70s. Another favourite of his was the kitschy John Pertwee Dr Who's.
He also loved TJ Hooker!
And was a big fan of Bob Monkhouse.
bob monkhouse, what a genius he was. i think benni and i first got into bob when he was team captain on a game show which i'm sure was called 'gagtag'. his opposing captain was frank skinner and it was presented by jonathon ross. i think the general idea was that the captains were teamed up with a couple of less well known stand ups and competed against each other by coming up with amusing gags and one liners in response to questions from jonathon. bob monkhouse was the master and seemed to have a side splitting answer for everything. we thought it was totally hilarious but i don't think got past the first series.
benni loved 'the prisoner' starring patrick mcgoohan. i got into it eventually by being forced to watch it over and over again by benni. it was one of his ambitions to go port merion in wales which was actually 'the village' in which the series was set. jo and i went there late last year whilst touring around snowdonia and spoke to benni on the phone from there. he was really jealous and said he would get round to visiting it eventually. it is a really amazing place and well worth a visit.
staying on the prisoner theme, benni was also a big fan of 'prisoner cell block H'. he used to stay up until the early hours to watch it in its 'prime time' spot. he had books on the series and could recite most of the scripts. having said that, i am convinced he only watched it because he fancied all those gorgeous inmates!
They've been reshowing 'The Prisoner' recently, I thought of Benni. He also loved 'Jerry Springer' - he'd made up a compilation tape full of his favourite moments, there were some classics in there. However he was very much a Springer-purist and lamented the decline in quality in the last few years.
I've just thought of another band he loved, Wat Tyler.
hi graham
am really struggling to think of things that benni really hated. not sure if he was a big fan of the christian fellowship. there were lots of things that annoyed him and it was always great fun listening to him banter on about the various issues of the moment. i am sure he would have been loving the latest series of'celebrity fame academy' but hating lesley garretts over the top, annoying, false and nauseating positiveness for every celeb! in fact its me that hates her!
Hated seems a bit strong, 'couldn't stand' is better, I know one particular person who Benni couldn't stand. You know that person, the one who comes along on a night out but doesn't drink, they just sit in the corner ruining everyone else's night out and in the morning ........
Hi guys....
A number of rather bizarre likes that recall were gems such as...
"The Double Deckers" and "Doctor Who" particularly the cheesey 70's Pertwee stuff.
I also remember years ago (probably at school) getting pissed and watching "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" endlessly with Benni.
Of course he loved his beer...when he wasn't going through a "I'm not touching that stuff again" phase which he did frequently...
Benni had a mixed relationship with Magnum PI, he initially wasn't a fan but I got into it, we discussed it and he started to see its undoubted merits.
There are so many things though, that I'd love to know what Benni thought of. I've been watching 'Robin's Nest' lately, I wonder if he liked that.
Also, he loved Alan Partridge.
Neighbours - Benni loved it!
He reckoned it broke the day up nicely, at whatever time it was viewed - did a nice line in impressions from it too - best being Harold and Madge.
He loved 'Mutiny on the Bounty' too - especially the Charles Laughton version. He wasn't generally a film fan but the films he liked, he loved.
He was also a huge fan of Roy Chubby Brown and could quote vast swathes of his material at will!
He loved the 'Carry On' series.
He particularly related to Sid James's characters - who Benni was not entirely dissimilar to in certain respects!
benni was a big J. R. R. Tolkien fan. in fact, i have a really old box set of 'The Lord of thge Rings' which i 'borrowed' from benni years ago. he also owned most of Tolkien's other books including the Tolkien companion and a really cool map of middle earth.
he also really liked the cartoon version of 'the fellowship of the ring' and used to watch it endlessly when he was younger. not actually sure what he thought of the new films, am sure he must have seen them but i can't remember ever speaking to him about them.
Thought it was about time we had a topic named after the great man!
Feeling sad as it was this time last year I booked the tickets for Benni, Martin, Jo and myself to see the Hoff in Chicago. Still think of all the things we could do if Benni could be here again, he'd love to see his picture in the National for a start (though he probably wouldn't admit it) and there's a great pub in the Seven Sisters Road with £1.59 pints. Don't think he'd be up for Herbie - Reloaded though!
was lucky enough to catch the great hoff presenting the top ten rules of power ballads on TMF last weekend. the man is truly a legend and impressed me with his vast knowledge of the intricacies of power ballad production.
it was also fantastic to see the video of his classic song 'looking for freedom'. perhaps a campaign should be launched to get more of his material released in the UK!
The tops
Sponsored, borrowed, given away.
a Mecca Bingo shirt
a Brownies T-shirt
a B&Q polo shirt, worn on tour in Japan
a Tampax T-shirt
a Sainsbury's jumper, short in the arms
a grey Tesco jumper
an old Girl Guides jumper
a Godzilla T-shirt
'Lovemen'
'It's Wednesday Night'
'Assert Riotous Assembly'
'Et tu pleasur justifier suffrance'
just trying to think of all the amazing 'sponsored' tops benni used to wear when he was on stage with broccoli or doing his stand up. i'm sure there were loads and loads but can only remember a few. i definitely remember him wearing a 'mecca' bingo shirt and i am sure he also had a brownie t-shirt. i also have photos of him playing base with brocolli wearing a B&Q polo shirt. benni always was way ahead of the times. he was touring japan and europe advertising B&Q long before ellen macarthur even considered sailing around the world!
can anyone remind me of anymore?
martin.
In the promo photo's for the 1998 Edinburgh show he did with Graham P and myself Benni wears a Tampax T-shirt.
Still got those photo's, Graham?
Benni had the originals for the photos, I remember him showing them to me. I do however have a copy of the 'More to Life than Meaty Eyes' flier with our picture on the back ....... how long ago.
I'm putting together a couple of things to send to Wayne for the site, so, as they say, watch this, you know.....
About Benni's tops - he had a wonderful one, which said (something like) 'et tu pleasur justifier suffrance', does your pleasure justify another's suffering, with a picture of a cow and pig beneath.
He was always very generous with his tops, infact he gave that one to my brother Xander.
There was a Godzilla one he used to wear in 1994/95 that I remember stealing. I wore it for years!
I remember the first time I met Benni and went to the pub with Martin.
Benni was wearing a Sainsburys jumper!!
You could just tell he did'nt work in Sainsburys
In fact you could tell it had'nt been made with him in mind as it was a little short in the arms
it's really good to read all these posts!! i gave Benni the mecca bingo shirts he really loved them ! and he gave me an old girl guide jumper that was too wee for him!
i also remeber he had a t-shirt saying "wednesday night" that he wore any night of course.
yeah i remeber him telling me that the wednesday night show didn't work out too well, he also gave me a t-shirt saying "assert riotous assembly" i love that t-shirt too it's great.
I remember, during the days of Christies comedy club, that Benni wore a t-shirt with the slogan "Lovemen." repeated several times. I think it may have been the name of a band. Anyway, Reg Anderson and Joe Heenan, the biggest fish wives in Scottish comedy, who were sharing a flat at the time got the idea that Benni was gay. I told Benni this and he decided to go along with it. I think he kept them going for quite a few months.
See Benni Stories for other wind ups.
The 'It's Wednesday Night' t-shirt was from a somewhat shambolic night that me and Benni did at the Union a few years ago. It was foisted upon us when TFI Friday was considered cool and it involved such classic games as throwing paper balls at a Des Lynam cutout and, well, there must have been more but that's all I can remember.
Benni never thought the night was much juice and swiftly 'moved on to other projects', he did like the t-shirt though!
I still have a lot of Benni's t shirts, I have the one that has written down the front, THE WORLDS TEN GREATEST F then from 1 to 10 tells you what they are.
Whenever I got Sharon Benni and Martin together I would insist on a photo. I love having photos of them around the house, on this particular occasion we got Stephen, Sharon's friend to take us sitting together on the settee. We were all posing, smiling happily but Benni was crying with laughter. The photo was taken before we realised why he had been laughing so much. He had that on that particular t shirt! When Steven got them developed, he painted bits out and tried to make it look like FLICKS. I have that photo framed and placed in the living room. Everytime I look at it, I have to smile.
He was very fond of his grey 'Tesco' jumper!
I remember him being pleased because a magazine had stopped him in London and asked to take his picture. Can't remember what his get-up was, but he was looking pretty cool.
He loved stickers as well - sent me a couple of beauties 'I love my old English Sheepdog' and 'Love is Life'.
yeah i have a "love is life" sticker too , i still havent stuck it anywhere yet he also mentioned that he really loved writing letters to people and would collect things to send his pen pals.
The tribute night
Generator, Dundee, 16 April 2005: the night the fund began.
A tribute to BenniGenerator, DundeeSaturday 16 April 2005Bands · comedy · short films · Benni's stand-up on video£3 on the doorRaised £1,004 for the fund
hi,
welcome to the benni esposito web site. firstly, my mum, my sister and i would like to thank everyone for their kind messages and offers of support since bennis tragic death. the response has been phenomenal and rather overwhelming. it has been a great, great comfort to know that so many people cared hor him so deeply.
from the response, it has been obvious to us that everyone is keen to ensure that bennis name is never forgotten, and that his life should be celebrated. this has led to lot of discussion as to what would be the best way to achieve this.
a number of projects appear to be developing. There is going to be a trust fund set up in bennis name which will award a yearly prize to a student at the duncan of jordanstone art college. there is also talk of a live music evening being held in dundee later on in the year. in addition to this, there will almost certainly be a future exhibition of bennis art.
this web site is another of these projects and there are plans to develop this over the coming months. we eventually hope to have a biograghy, some of bennis comedy and a gallery of his paintings avaliable to view.
at the moment the forum has been set up so anyone who wants to share some stories of benni, leave messages, catch up with old friends or simply have a chat can do quite easily. we would especially like to thank wayne taylor who has made this forum possible.
hope to speak to you all soon,
martin x.
There is going to be a tribute to Benni on the 16th April in Generator in Dundee. There will be live music, films, a video of Benni's stand up routine and a DJ. We are charging a £3 entry which will go towards a fund being set up up to award an art prize every every year in Benni's name. All welcome. Thanks.
just arrived home from the tribute show. it was a great night. the comedians were good. the bands were good and they did a 20 minute video of benni which was excellent. the generator was packed. congratulations to the organisers.
The tribute night was a huge success and all went according to plan. The evening was started with an acoustic set by a local musician followed by some short films by myself and one by Stacey Matthew. Two comedians came through from Edinburgh, Stephen Dick and Teddy(sorry, don't know his second name!). They both did their set without the aid of a microphone due to feedback problems but both put in a top perfermonce. Stephen went on first and did his fantastic comedy magic and then Teddy did his very funny set as a build up to showing the video of Benni's stand up. The only serious hitch of the whole evening was a technical problem trying to show the video which seemed to mysteriously stop working just at the crucial point. However we managed to get it working. Showing the video was something I had felt concern over and it proved to be very emotional for some, however as soon as Benni launched into his hilarious material we all remembered how funny he trully was. Once again he managed to make everyone in the room cry with laughter. For some it was the first time they had seen his stand-up routine and they greatly appreciated the opportunity to see it. The rest of the evening was live music from Stoor, Alamos and Laeto. Unfortuntely we ran late and each band could only do a short set however they all played an absoloute blinder. I'd like to thank all who contributed their time freely and made it a trully special evening. Also a special thank you to Delia Gallagher for compering and helping make the night run smothly, she did a great job. We managed to raise around £950 for the Benni art prize fund, thanks to all for giving so generously.
Hello,
I'd like to express a few thoughts and thankyou's to do with the Generator gallery tribute in Dundee. Four of us organised the shindig; myself, Selina Mowat, Delia Baillie and Frewie. Firstly, we thank Elizabeth for her strength in lending us four of Benni's paintings and a video of one of his Edinburgh standup gigs. These formed the emotional and creative highlights of a very strong line-up of music, film and comedy. The night could'nt have gone any better, and this is inspite of the beer constantly running out, West-end neds setting fire to a neighbours bin, an irate local who wanted to take a swing at me, and a couple of visits from the (genuinely understanding) Tayside Constabulary. All in all, the kind of night that the bon vivant in Benni would have loved. As I was the smiling maitre'd / contributions-hustler on the door, I only saw 10 minutes of the four hours of events. However, this meant that I was in the really heartening position of seeing how feelings for Benni were directly translated into financial help for the prize fund. We raised over twice the amount that I'd been expecting. On this note, if anyone has ideas as to other fund-raising gigs (Sandy?), just go for it: the fund is and should be an evolving series of events. I'll close with some thankyou's: thanks to Delia Gallagher for her panache and guts for compering the evening; thanks to the 20 visual artists who contributed individual work's for our prize raffle; to our line-up of Unkle Fritz, Frewie, Stacy, Teddy, Stephen, Alamos, Stoor and Laeto; to the Generator staff for their suss and tequila cocktails; and on a personal note, thanks to the many 1st year Duncan of Jordanstone students who by coming to the evening wore their hearts on their sleeves and dug deep into their limited dosh.
Take care everybody,
Iain.
I would like to take this oportunity to thank everyone who helped make Benni's tribute night such a great success. to the organisers, iain, graham, delia to name a few, to the bands, the comedians, the generator committee, the artists for donating paintings, and the general public who packed out the venue. With all your contributions we have raised £1004 !!!!! If I have missed any one out please accept my apologies, I know a lot of work was carried out behind the scenes. We will be setting up the trust fund within the next month or so and will keep you informed of its progress.
Once again, thank you all so much.
Hi Everyone,
I too was unable to get to Fundee last Saturday. My girlfriend and I were in London so we missed an event that we were really looking forward to. I spoke with Stephen DIck and he said it was good to see the footage of Benni. ( I can hear Benni in my head now saying " At last, I headlined a gig.)
Does antone think we could reproduce the event in glasgow some night during the summer? I know there are enough people who would come out to commemorate. We could do it on a smaller scale with bands, comics and artists. Perhaps somewhere like Nice,n,Sleazy or something (where I believe Broccolli performed, in fact, Benni and I went there to see the post-benni Broccolli supporting Wat Tyler.)
Let me know if anyone thinks it's a good idea.
Sandy
hi everyone
just wanted to keep you all up to date as to what is happening with all things benni.
we are still planning to incorporate this forum into a full 'benni esposito' web site. wayne (who designed this site) got sidetracked in the summer by getting marrried. so congratulations to wayne and gill!. wayne and i are planning to meet soon to finalise everything. the site will probably feature a biography, some comedy bits and some of benni's paintings. if anyone has got any other ideas for this please send me an e-mail.
jackie anderson's portrait of benni will be on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh from December 17th 2005 until 12th March 2006. this painting is part of the BP Portrait Awards 2005 and is really worth a visit. if you cannot get there jackie can e-mail you the painting. she can be contacted via this forum.
the painting itself has actually been sold and we are really really pleased that jackie has donated the £500 she received for the painting to the 'benni esposito awards fund'.
with rergards the 'benni esposito award'. we have been in discussion with staff at duncan of jordanstone, the university of dundee as well as some of benni's friends and colleagues. we have learned that there are a multitude of ways that these awards can be developed but with much thought we have agreed on some of the basics. we are hoping that all the money donated will go into an endownment fund, managed by the university. a yearly prize will be generated from the interest gained from this endownment. we have not decided how the winner will be chosen but but our current thoughts are that this will be a first year drawing and painting student from duncan of jordanstone. this is the course that benni taught on and felt so passionately about. the university are confident that this can be set up for this academic year. none of these details have been finalised yet and we would welcome any thoughts or suggestions from anyone.
the size of the prize will obviously be dependant on how much money we raise. to date we have just over £3000. this has been achieved with with the fantasic help of many of bennis friends, such as jackie donating the proceeds of her painting and all those who helped with the 'benni esposito tribute night'.
there are also some plans to have another tribute night some time next year. we are also keen to have an exhibition at some time in the future. as well as this we are also investigating the possibility of selling prints of benni's work. all money raised would go to the award fund.
as i have already said, we are keen to receive any thoughts or suggestions of how we can honour benni's memory. and many thanks again for all your support over the last year.
speak to you soon
martin x.
Messages
Great to have this forum, though it still feels surreal speaking about Benni in the past tense. So much has happened in the last month that Benni would have had something funny to say about, from Bez winning Big Brother to Charles and Camilla.
So many times I've wanted to speak to Benni and it's taken a few seconds to click in that it's not possible, or seen someone in the street who reminds me of him. Last time I saw him we went to see 'Dodgeball' at the cinema - I saw an advert the other day that it's out on DVD, then it'll be on Sky, then on tv, all the while it gets further and further away from me and Benni watching it on the Holloway Road waiting for the Hasselhoff cameo. The march of time is an awful thing when there are memories you don't want to be any further away.
Good to see you and Jo last weekend Martin, hope to see you sometime soon.
How fantastic that this forum exists. As you say, Martin, it is very important to keep Benni's memory alive.
My girlfriend, Caroline, is an artist and I was looking forward to her getting to know Benni. Unfortunaley she only met him once, but I am very, very glad that she did. She has spent the past 15 years designing and making jewellery, but she has now picked up the paint brush again, inspired in part by Benni's works and his attitude to making sure you do with your life as you desire.
Looking forward to any events in Dundee. I haven't quite taken in the reality of the situation, so hopefully a few beers in "Fundee" will bring it home.
Love & Librty,
Sandy.
I've been working at a new place in central London, lots of lovely young ladies. Was speaking to perhaps the loveliest today, about friends, she asked me who my best friends were, without thinking my first reply was going to be Benni, as it would have been for the past 7 years.
Then I thought of all the things which I'd love to tell Benni, would love to hear what he had to say about them. I can't stand that it's getting farther and farther away from the time when Benni was here, saying funny things, sending funny emails and texts. Cycled past the Adelphi theatre where we saw Hasselhoff, thought that it's now 6 months since we were there.
So, I told this lovely young lady about Benni, how wonderful he was. But I wish it didn't have to be in the past tense. I can imagine that everyone who misses Benni feels the same, that there is a void which will never be filled.
It's a year since I last saw Benni, sure many others feel the same way, I still miss him every day. It's been a year in which so much has happened, there are so many times I would've liked to talk to Benni, get his perspective on things. Always find myself wondering what Benni would've made of news, new band, film.
As someone from Manchester once put it, there is a light and it never goes out.
i have been away from Fundee for 4 months(used to call it Dumpdee until now i get benni's point, thats it's not such a bad wee place after all!) and im just back, glad to see the site is still going strong! he has a big impact on many people's life's and i just wish i could meet him now for a pint to tell him all about my travels and to have a laugh, miss him millions. :P
Hi there,
Been thinking of Benni recently. Just saying Hi. I'll be in Dundee from January 1st, would be nice to see some mutual friends. Will be a sad time of year of course.
Hope your all well there. See some of you soon.
Best wishes,
Scott. x
Hello to all people who visit this site.
I knew Benni through buying his paintings (I'm a bit of an art collector), and I admired him greatly for his artistic talent. I only found out last month that he had passed away at the start of the year, and I was so desperately sorry to hear of his untimely death.
I have read most of the posts on this site, and am moved by the great love and respect that everyone obviously had for Benni. I didn't see him that often, but I certainly counted him as one of my friends, and I am so sad that I won't bump into him at the Duncan of Jordanstone Degree Show in future years.
However, I am honoured to have known him at all, and so very pleased to have some of his works in my collection, which give me great pleasure daily.
The world is definitely a poorer place without Benni, and my thoughts go to all his family.
Regards,
Neil McLeod
Aberdeen
I am really sorry I have not visited the site before. Unfortunatly I have only just found out about benny's death.
Ia m slightly stunned but will always have happy and fond thoughts of Benny
My love and condolences to his family
