Hello and welcome back again. A strange day as the Clash blogette had a painful trip to the Doctor and now I’m playing nurse…if you know me you realise that’s probably not a sentence you would want to hear from my lips.  She’ll be fine….right! Okay then on to matters Clash and there are a few pieces for your persual. First off -  don’t forget that this Thursday marks the debut of ‘Breaking Rocks’ the JGD film in Camden. If you are in London or nearby I’d highly recommend you take the tube to Camden Town and the short walk for a great event. As far as I know tickets are still available, if you know different please let me know.

It seems Mick Jones made a short trip to the South of France last week to appear at the Festival Marsetac with Rachid Taha (as his guest I believe). Video clip is below and as you can see it seems to have been a splendid time -- I’m waiting to learn more. That sounds like the perfect weekend, a music festival and Marseilles which is such a lovely city. It’s really great to see just how public Mick Jones has been since I started the blog, it makes you wonder where he might show up next. I hope it means the Carbon Silicon album is ready to go and not that he has other time to spend elsewhere? Further info on Rachid Taha on his myspace page. Additional video of Rock The Casbah has now surfaced too along with other great clips though not sure about Mick Jones doing an Algerian dance!!!

San Francisco has always been an interesting city for music and along with Los Angeles had it’s own very vibrant punk scene back in the day. With that in mind this book review sounds great (and of course reference our boys). Gimme Something Better is available now in the US from $12.25 on Amazon.

Billy Bragg sits down with the Newham Recorder (East London’s finest) and further explains the inspiration behind the Jail Guitar Doors project.

Visitors to the blog who live in the New York area should try and visit the following exhibition which starts October 30 and runs through til the end of January. Amongst the collection of Rock and Roll photography are some Clash pieces by Pennie Smith which would be nice to see first hand. Full details with address and hours etc are here.

Finally….I learned a new word today - Rhotacism. It’s the inability to properly pronounce the letter ‘R’ and no I’m not making light of it. The examples that come to mind Jonathon Ross in the UK or Barbara Walters in the US (or Elmer Fudd globally). Why am I mentioning this? Well I found a list of famous people with speech impediments and Joe Strummer is on the list for Rhoaticsm. I’ve seen dozens of interviews with Joe and of course all the songs…surely I would have noticed it?? Does he actually sing White Wiot? Am I missing something? Answers on a postcard or via comments please.

More soon -- Tim

Hello everyone and I hope your Monday wasn’t the sort of Monday that Bob Geldof sang about. It was a good day here as I finally have normal internet service and was able to get some work done (though I know the blog is backed up). I also realised that The Clash Cup is very overdue a match so I just got the data back and also plugged in the random number machine. You’ll be glad (or mad) that you visited. About ten days ago I noticed there were a lot of ‘big’ songs still remaining and wondered when they would be picked. No lie – 4 of them tonight…I’d day these are the toughest votes of the cup so far, you won’t need to be introduced to any of the songs but you will struggle to vote. I’m dreading it. Before that some results for you:

Sean Flynn defeats Mensforth Hill 46  -  6

London’s Burning defeats English Civil War 41  -  20

First result was a decisive win as you’d expect but the second match up was intriguing. English Civil War actually lost but a rough amount but still picked up 20 votes which may still see it go through. I’ll let you know. Next on to the four for today and I promise you it’s horribly difficult.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment. Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Groovy Times - Wondered when this going to pop up. Never on a Clash album but appeared on the single with Gates of The West. Sadly not the best known Clash song but a classic in it’s own right. It was recorded during the GTER sessions and never made it to the final list for London Calling so got caught in the middle.

The Call Up - This might be one of my most overplayed songs of my youth. I really loved the lyrics and it was one of the first things I ever recorded onto a VHS player also. What a great track and sadly not the ‘hit’ single it deserved to be. I think radio airplay in the States was stifled due to the subject matter which you can’t say about the next song.

Train In Vain - Perhaps the most known Clash song in the USA before Combat Rock. This made the US top 30 in 1980 and became the song that broke the band as a chart act in the world’s biggest record market. Many Clash fans disown this as it was such a straight out pop song – I’m not one of them, despite having heard it thousands of times it’s close to perfection. Easy to sing along to, possible to dance to and not hard for even the most basic guitar player. Though when people call it Stand By Me I get a little knot in my stomach.

The Guns of Brixton - Paul’s biggest Clash moment as far as vocals but what a bloody smashing bass line. The lyrics are simply ideal and the song has such menace that it’s a vital part of London Calling. I can’t imagine the album without this song nor can I image the Clash without Paul.

I told you it was some rotten decisions. So please think these through and cast your selections by Thursday at noon. Thanks in advance…and next time out we have the final songs from round one! (I think). The only way all four songs can remain is lots of votes…so tell your mates.

“You don’t get paid for designing posters or doing the clothes”

Paul Simonon

Good afternoon hope all is hopping wherever you are. I’m sure you may have read some of the controversy about Joe Strummer’s God Daughter Lily Allen in recent days. Lily has rarely been far from the headlines these last three years but this week it’s actually been interesting rather than just fun and provocative. The short version is Allen has been leading the outspoken dissent about file sharing and how it literally steals from artists. The popular bloggers position on Allen and the controversy is that she is showing nothing but greed and selfishness in her comments and therefore is not a proper artist. For a typical post read this piece and although it contains the following brilliant quote:

“They may have stolen The Clash’s sound, clothes and hair but, compared to Joe Strummer, Billie Joe Armstrong is as rebellious as Paddington Bear”

That said the rest of the post explains why today’s stars are pampered and victims. I’ll agree that on the high end of the spectrum there is a lack of fire and political nous, but 25 years ago it was Spandau Ballet and Culture Club. The more things change the more they stay they same. Indie/alternative/post punk had it’s heyday from 1978-1983 and though it would be nice to think the intervening years had a Clash, a Jam or The Redskins leading the way of rebellion – it’s simply not true. That’s not to say rebel music is dead – it’s just been marginalised by the establishment, be that TV, radio or the music press.

However, back to the point of Lily Allen. It might be a bit unpopular of me, but I see her point. This decade long (remember Napster wars?) debate about online access to music and file-sharing is still very unresolved. Those on the other side of the fence say ‘more people hear more music than ever before’ – I agree but they don’t then purchase it! They also say ‘small bands can compete on a level playing field’ again I agree but they sell fewer albums than ever before. Records shops are all but extinct, album sales are becoming almost laughable and a full appreciation of an artist’s catalogue is no longer the norm. I used to work in a record shop – everyone I worked with simply loved music. As did most of the customers. There are so many people now in their 20′s and 30′s who are fans of dozens of bands – and ‘own’ thousands of songs. The problem being is so many don’t pay for them. Is a 5,000 song collection that you just ‘took’ a sign of being a fan or being innovative? I understand the ‘if you can’t beat them join them’ argument.

I may hold musicians in too much reverence? I think an album is a work of art, I’m prepared to pay for that piece of art, even though I don’t have to. I can name 100 songs at random right now and find 90% of them online to listen to for free. If I wanted to download them I could do so without paying for at least 50%. I don’t because I think it’s taking money out of the band’s pocket. I know that the wrong percentage goes to the artist (just look at The Clash) but that is a battle that’s been going on for half a century. The rise of indie labels (remember Tony Wilson’s ‘contacts’ on Factory) has improved that. You can buy more albums direct from small labels and the band direct – so that’s an improvement. Bands tour more now than 15 years ago to increase awareness, generate concert revenue and sell CDs/merchandise.

I find myself straddling the fence to a degree, and I do think Billy Bragg was right when he said Capitalism is Killing Music. Though that had more to do with the fact he thought 8 quid was too much for an album in 1986 (and he was right). The digital age is bringing about the end of the album but it’s also via file sharing becoming the death of artist’s income. I don’t buy the argument that it’s just like a mix tape. It’s not….when I made friends mix tapes in the 80′s and 90′s they generally went out and bought the vinyl or CD. Today I think that happens on a much smaller scale, one of the reasons being with a digital copy you already have the music in as good quality as you would get via a downline purchase. The audio is good (though MP3 suffers when compared with CD – so many ignore that fact) and it’s 100% portable right away. That’s before you even tackle the illegal downloading from people who aren’t your friends. When I made a brilliant mix tape in 1985 it wasn’t online and accessible to 50% of the world’s population.

Of course this impacts the artist – and of course it’s an issue. Anyway for more on Allen and the featured artists coalition with the official statement read this. I guess it’s open to interpretation based on ‘what you do’ but the point is there are millions of people who never buy music and yet enjoy it daily. Then there is this from the lead singer of Muse.

Bearing in mind Carbon Silicon started as free download concept does this make it ironic that I feel the way I do? Or is it ironic that CSi then released a ‘traditional’ album – with another forthcoming shortly. Bottom line – the money I’ve spent on Clash records (and related) since I was a kid has brought me more joy than most other things I can think of. The only thing I’d change would be more of the proceeds going directly to the band.

OK…I’ll shut up now.