The only blog that matters

Hello again – what a day that was…..hope yours was decent, mine started with watching my Arsenal lose (again) and then a cold chilly spot of football myself and I felt like heaping revenge on the ball for this morning. Let’s just say the day continued as it started. So back to something a bit more fun. The Clash Cup Round Two – before I explain the format we have one result to share from round one -

Protex Blue defeated The Magnificent Dance 34 – 20

Credit: Photo by Ray Stevenson / Rex Features ( 565076C )

So we are all set with the contenders for round two. (You might want to skip this paragraph) Don’t forget we have 25 songs ’seeded’ due to the initial voting which will be introduced in round three – let’s call them the heavyweights, the final 25 you all selected would make for the ultimate Clash CD but those votes were cast months ago so nothing is written in stone. From round one 64 songs make it through, 54 outright winners plus the 10 runners up that compiled the most most votes. From these 64 we’ll carry forward 32 winners + the 7 best runners up (percentage of all votes cast) = 39 songs + the 25 seeded songs for our final 64! It’s not as complex as it sounds but we’ll end up with 64 brilliant songs to match up head to head.

Voting I’ll leave open for a week – and the sincere goal is to run at least two matches per week. In a perfect world round two will run over the next 16 weeks (at the most) and will try and get through it a bit quicker as round three will be something else. You don’t need to register – just click to vote – one vote per match up.

I’ll mention how the song did in the prior round, you can click on the song to hear it before you vote and I’ll share an opinion if it might help the propaganda of getting the songs I want to see through (I’m kidding). Songs are selected via a random number generator which has the approval of Bernard Rhodes.

Round Two Match One

Cheapskates versus Kingston Advice

Blimey that’s a tough one to start things off I am going to hold off on voting til tomorrow but probably leaning towards one of them. Cheapskates strangely enough also featured in our first week of match ups back on August 16! Kingston Advice came out of the hat the next week.

Form -

Cheapskates won round one 27-4 over Idle in The Kangaroo Court  87.1%

Kingston Advice won in round one 27-10 over Look Here 73.0%

Odds (pure supposition) I’d say Cheapskates is a slim favourite but you may see the Sandinista! track go through as a best runner up. So every vote matters even if your preference is trailing.

Best Lyrics?

Don’t give me the benefit
Of your doubt
‘Cos I’ll bite it off and spit it out

In these days the beat is militant
Must be a clash there’s no alternative
In these days nations are militant
We have slavery under government

Listen here – Cheapskates or Kingston Advice

Thanks for voting !!!

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Good Morning from a wet and gloomy Phoenix, funny after living in London that you can grow to love mornings like this but it’s quite lovely and almost (51f) brisk outside. I’ve got the coffees in and I have some time before Arsenal play Chelsea, I can only hope that unlike last weekend we actually remember how to defend as I can’t stomach another defeat today. I was also putting together the list for 2nd round of The Clash Cup, if I get that finished I hope to have the second round started tonight.

I’d written about this once last year but was reminded how great his work was and he’s since added more items. Japanese artist Nob Suzuki came

Strummer T-shirt by Nob Suzuki

to my attention with the Clash figures he made but has added more since to his collection. He sells items privately via ETSY and unlike so much artwork it is actually pretty affordable. In addition to the figurines there’s wall art, t-shirts and more – if you are ever struggling for a unique gift for a Clash fan in your life I suggest you visit his page (and I hope those that love me are reading…).  If nothing else it makes a nice change from some of the less than stellar sweatshop crap you see elsewhere on line, the very fact that Clash shirts are mass produced by people being paid insulting wages is wrong on multiple levels, not that I’m limiting that statement to Clash shirts of course.

I’m always on the lookout for artists who were inspired by The Clash and Ebony Bones isn’t shy about her influences in this recent article in the Chicago Tribune. Ebony Bones (Thomas) first got noticed via her MySpace page and first toured supporting The Slits. The subsequent two years have seen her getting bigger gigs and appeared at SXSW last year. Her look and sound are both memorable – there is a crossover of that old Burundi Beat sound from Adam and The Ants and a bit of rap with punk, she’s been championed by Damon Albarn, Rat Scabies and many others. The best thing about the music is that you can’t file it one place – and she looks marvelous just a sense of ‘why not’. South London punk for the new decade. Anyway she knows her roots and it’s interesting to hear her background (she was born in’85 I think) and influences in the interview.

“When I was growing up in the ’80s, my dad had a small market selling punk music to West Indians, Punk and reggae were mixing in London, and bands like the Clash galvanized that.

Take a few minutes to listen to some of her stuff – and get past the Bow Wow Wow comparisons, as there is more under the surface in the lyrics. To get an idea about her fashion and visual style that’s caused a stir check this video.

On a related note – here’s a great article about fashion, Central St Martin’s College and being at the heart of it all in Soho in the late 70’s. I remember people just name dropping St Martins when I was a teenager was like ‘oh wow, who do you know?’ seems not much has changed.

In addition to London, Sheffield and Manchester I think Liverpool has been the most important scene for punk and post punk over the last 35

Bernard Sumner at Pickwicks - Image courtesy Francesco Mellina

years. For what is a relatively small city the number of bands that I’ve been fixated with that come from near the Mersey has been remarkable. From The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes and Wah! the blueprint was there for so many that followed. I just stumbled upon an article about a photographer who has captured so much of what was happening in clubs and gigs during those formative years (including snaps of The Clash) Francesco Mellina. Many of his classic B/W photos have been made into T-Shirts under the ‘Icons’ range including this one of Joe Strummer. However its the photographs I really wanted to draw attention to – just remarkable images from a time that seemed to be lost to history. His exhibition hopefully will get a future run elsewhere – for now please have a look at the pages for that site and also I recommend his facebook page. For an appetiser just look at the photo of Bernard Sumner up above. This site has some fantastic photos and an interview.

Have a good one.

Hoping to expand upon this over the weekend with a lot more info from Mark Matthews the man behind the project. If you’re new to the blog Shatter The Hotel is a project in conjunction with Strummerville to create a CD of Clash songs performed in a dub / reggae style. The disc itself is brilliant and benefits the Strummerville  charity – if you haven’t bought it then you can do so and learn more on the site. The UK launch event took place last night at Inn on The Green in Ladbroke Grove. By all accounts it was a great event with a smashing vibe and hopefully I can furnish more info over the weekend. Pete was their with his camera and has captured some lovely images – starting with Dubmatix beneath:

Dubmatix at The Shatter The Hotel event - courtesy Pete Stevens

I’ve been listening to the disc a lot recently and as opposed to other ‘Clash cover compiliations’ this is a really cohesive piece of work and makes for a worthwhile sit down and listen (or drive…or skank). The disc has liner notes from Chris Salewicz and features among others Don Letts, Dubmatix, Chomsky All Stars and of course Prince Blanco (Mark) himself. You can get a flavour of the album on the MySpace page. Back later tonight…

Strummerville Merchandise - image courtesy Pete Stevens

Joe Strummer with a Pogue

Friday and such…well done and welcome back. Before we get started I wanted to set you with a challenge. Go to the Quietus website – they’ve created a ‘album cover quiz’ but not in your normal style. You get 30 second video clips to watch one bloke try and mime the famed album cover. It was a lot harder than it sounded – I managed to get twelve correct, but it really is a teaser. Wasn’t I just writing about Mick Jones being very keen to lend his time for a good cause…..well he’s at it again.

Seems that Shane MacGowan has enlisted the help of a few mates to record a single to benefit those impacted by the recent earthquake in Haiti. According to this article in the Belfast Telegraph Shane has recruited Glen Matlock, Chrissie Hynde, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie and Mick Jones. There’s even a rumour that Johnny Depp played some guitar on the recording but I imagine they didn’t plug him in. MacGowan flew to London to record his version ‘I Put A Spell On You’ which along with two other songs will form a charity EP for the Irish organisation Concern Worldwide. Nice one! *** This just in….I have video evidence of the gathering ***

You might like this interview with another friend of Mick Jones – the French Algerian musician Rachid Taha who talks about his latest record as well as The Clash and music in general. One of those chaps who breaks down the walls of nationalism he’s always got an interesting point of view. Below you’ll find the video of him performing with Mick Jones in 2006 – a stellar version of Rock El Casbah (How much would Joe like this one!)

Taha has been around as an artist for over 25 years now and I guess when I was a lad he would be categorised under world music, whereas he is just brilliant at blending sounds from all different cultures. Worth investigating if you don’t know him, start here with his myspace page.

“I did ‘Rock el Casbah’ because I like The Clash, and it was my tribute to Joe Strummer,” “It’s extremely pleasant to play with Mick Jones, because he was one of my childhood idols. It’s a dream come true!”

Hope some of you made it to the Shatter the Hotel launch event tonight. Let me know if you did!

Back with more during the weekend….Tim

(John Terry…..ha ha ha ha ha couldn’t happen to a bigger ****)