From the blog of Steve Kilbey (The Church) The Time Being...

"Monday, September 11, 2006

some friends tell me that ian rilen
a real rocknroll character here in sydney n melb
has terminal cancer n hes refused all the chemo n stuff
i dont know what to say..
i guess i can sorta understand ..
i know ian a bit
and hes the real rocknrollin' thing in spades
hard livin' hard lovin' hard fightin' hard drinkin' rocker
he writes great songs too
a whole buncha classics he penned
still one hopes ian could be miraculously cured
we're losin' a lotta good guys recently..
ian was in a great band called sardine v
and we opened for em once
and they were so good
i wasnt even jealous
ian had a great big suit n a weird guitar
another time ian "accosted" me n grant mc
at the hopetoun pub in sydney
he was trying to lift grants hat up to see how much hair he had
and then he was trying to give me a big beery kiss
we fell over and were kinda strugglin around on the floor
of this gig
and people were saying jesus!
aint that steve kilbey n ian rilen lyin on the floor there ?!
its ok
me n ian are mates
he used ta live up the road from me in rozelle
and i used ta drop in at his little house on my way up the shops
wow ian
you manage to be classy and wild at the same time!
a sorta rough gentleman or something
anyway
christ!
i hope it dont happen ian
but if it does
i hope you slip like a silver drop
into a silver sea
sk 11 9 2006
posted by steve kilbey at 1:52 PM 47 comments"