It’s been pouring with rain the better part of 24 hours, weather like this makes me long for a ride on a double decker down to my local pub. The Sunday papers to read all about the football and have a nice flaky sausage roll. If you’ve always lived in England and bemoan the clouds and rain just trust me when you live in the sunniest place imaginable you do miss the rain. So I’ve been happy as can be this wet winter while the locals can’t stop complaining about the weekly rains.

I’ve been reading (again) the excellent Chris Salewicz bio of Joe Strummer recently, nothing certifies a great book as much as being able to read it again and still find a lot to enjoy. The complexities of Strummer are something to behold but the sincerity and dedication of the man can’t be questioned. If you haven’t read it – it is a book that will at times make you recoil at times as you learn about Joe up close from those who knew him, and while it’s not a book that seeks to put a halo above Strummer’s head it is still a book that needed to be written. I mention this as I was reading about how Joe was perfectly happy as a late teen (and again in his 40′s) to visit a 3-4 day music festival or even an extended country party. It might involve just a sleeping bag on the grass somewhere but his borderline nomadic tendencies probably made being in a band that was constantly touring that much easier to adjust to. Much of it was also possibly because he moved so often before the age of ten (and from country to country) and then felt that he was ‘discarded’ into a boarding school. If that represents the first seventeen years of your life it is fairly easy to understand that Joe probably never felt settled anywhere/felt at home anywhere depending on your point of view. I went the long way round to get there, but knowing and wet and gloomy the English weather can be, how did he manage to rough it when needed? Was the weather that much better in the late 60′s? From my memory (1974 onwards) the only summer England has ever had that was very warm and dry was 1976 which was also the summer that punk germinated in London. Just a coincidence? It does make you wonder. Incidentally there are 10 signed copies of Salewicz’ book Redemption Song – The Ballad of Joe Strummer being given away in a drawing via his site – so drop on by.

I’ve only one other short thing this evening (Clash Cup tomorrow) and it’s something definitely worth a read. The blog ‘Ariff Minds The Gap’ has written a good article about ‘Cut The Crap’. He has more of an opinion on the album than I can compose at present, well at the very least he explores some of the legend behind the making of the final ‘Clash’ album. I’ve got to be honest, if I was introducing someone to The Clash I’d most probably suggest they stop their historic education with Combat Rock. Am I being unfair?

Finally, I found myself in the mood to at last tackle the film ‘Control’ this weekend by Anton Corbijn. As you are no doubt aware the film focuses on the last 7 or 8 years of Ian Curtis and the formation of Warsaw who were to become Joy Division. I read a great deal about the film when it was released in 2007 and then partly by intent never saw the film. I’m pleased I waited, it gave me distance from all the reviews and recommendations and I was able to watch it with my knowledge of Curtis and Joy Division as it previously was – fairly in keeping with the film. I must say I thought it was incredibly creative in it’s production and the major character of Ian, his wife and his mistress were all superbly cast. The film has a brutal starkness to it and the use of Black and White only adds to the desolation of the story itself and the settings of Manchester and Macclesfield in the mid-late 70′s. My only complaint was the minor characters (example, the rest of Joy Division!) were somewhat shallow and bordered on cliched but that scarcely detracted from a stunning film, my comment is tempered by the fact that the film was truly about Ian Curtis after all. The palpable sense of despair and confusion circling his life almost brings you to frustration, but the final feeling is one I’ve had since I first heard he died when I was just a kid – what a tragically brief life. You almost sense that Curtis was dying as soon as he joined the band. Sam Riley as Curtis and Samantha Morton as his wife Debbie are simply remarkable. I hope you’ve had the chance to see the film, if not you should.

Hello out there in Clash fan land, hope you’ve had a pleasant Saturday wherever you reside. I can’t say that was a very great or normal day, waking up to learn about another significant earthquake (this time in Chile) was followed by tsunami warnings throughout the Pacific – even at the time of writing Japanese coastal towns are fearing what might happen in the next few hours. Then I watched a genuinely exciting football match between my side and Stoke City – a game that was ruined by Aaron Ramsey having his leg literally broken in two by a late (jury is out on the

Will Coachella feature half of The Clash?

intent) tackle from a Stoke mule. Although we went on to win the match, seeing one of your most promising young players with his foot literally hanging off at the wrong angle ruined the entire spectacle of winning. I played football myself later this afternoon and felt very cautious throughout although at a much slower pace of course! Add to that some Clash news and I guess we can wrap things up eh?

This is just at the rumour stage at present but there is a a certain amount of buzz that Mick Jones and Paul Simonon might be playing with Gorillaz at the Coachella festival in Southern California coming soon. If I can find something concrete about that I’ll be sure to let you know. As if The Specials, PIL and others wasn’t enough reason to drive to the middle of nowhere eh?

The charming and very informative Viv Albertine gave a brilliant interview to the Quietus this week. Within it she discusses her return to music in addition to her time with The Slits. She also talks about the early days of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, her relationship with Mick Jones and other key figures in those early years. Don’t forget Viv wasreally close to Sid Vicious, Keith Levene and so many others as she tried to break into such a male dominated scene. She says of Mick:

“Mick had such a thinking, intelligent mind, he wasn’t swayed by the latest wave of thinking or what was trendy. That’s what’s so great about Mick. Yeah. Brain in there”

Here’s an interesting write up on the Canoe.Ca site about the recently released ‘Shatter The Hotel’ project – the dub tribute to the songs of Joe Strummer and The Clash. There is a lot of interesting insight into the making of the album so it is definitely worth a read. I hope you’ve had a chance to purchase/download the album which benefits Strummerville, if not here is the link.

Finally a poll on the MTV site inquires about what might be the best debut albums of all time (and you can vote if you wish), credit to the former music channel (now just basically a big teen wankfest) for mentioning the debut record by The Clash – the results of the poll so far tells you all you need to know about who watches MTV these days.

A fairly rubbish day – but that will all change overnight. Cheers for dropping by.

So said Damon Albarn in the Guardian today. He’s right I suspect (not well tuned on the density of a dying star, astronomy was not my strong point). I do encourage you to get over and read the article in The Guardian where you can learn more about how he hooked up with them and his Clash ‘desert island discs’ – I should have him vote in the Clash Cup eh? I know we’ve covered their contribution to the new Gorillaz album but can you really understate the significance of Mick and Paul recording together again – in truth you cannot – and Joe of course would have been

Camouflage vinyl edition of Combat Rock

invited if he was still with us I’m sure.

This is also worth an extended look on the BBC website. Jim Garrets has amassed a bloody impressive collection of Clash records since 1977, to the point where he tries to get hold of everything and each version of every single he can. His collection has now reached 330 (vinyl) records, singles and albums, by the band. The article explains he was a fan from the beginning and was lucky enough to see the band at the famed Victoria Park, Hackney event in April 1978. Worth a read for the photos alone – what a chap he is, if he can’t display them himself I’ve a feeling Mick Jones might be interested in helping show these to the British public eh? The story also features an interview with Simon Warner, a lecturer at the University of Leeds about the legacy of The Clash. I’ve never reached that level of obsession to collect every version I could find of each record by a band, I always saw that as money I could spend on other new music – but I’m glad people like Jim had the needed dedication. Jim echoes my sentiments about digital music:

“You can’t collect that sort of thing with digital downloads. Quite a lot of the records in my collection I have never actually played. Although when I get a ‘new’ record to add to my collection it’s an opportunity to take a look at some of them again, but mainly the collection sits there quietly.”

Right – I enjoyed that! As for non-Clash artist of the day, I suggest you check out St. Vincent who recorded a session for NPR’s World Cafe. St Vincent is Annie Clark from Oklahoma, this link features an interview with her and a few tracks. Definitely interesting stuff – she doesn’t make music with any rules which I enjoy. The link is here – audio link is on top left of the page. (It’s mellow…listen with coffee)

Let me close with this – A new fashion collection for the Spring is ‘using the Clash as it’s Muse’ – the results are a bit…I won’t comment  yet but the results are as linked beneath. I’d love to know what you think. Clash Fashion for 2010? (we’re decades ahead of you!) They’ve called it the “Magnificent Seven Collection”….and I’m signing off til tomorrow.