Good Morning, bloody tired today and am looking to get it going. Summer in the desert is a bit like winter in more typical places, after 8 months of ideal weather you have to knuckle down and get through it. 100-115f temperatures are daily now through Mid September. It hasn’t really rained for 4 months but any day now the monsoon storms will start, or so they tell us. I need a trip back to London.

Not too much on the slate today, will start the Bernie Rhodes piece tonight. In the meantime a review of the The Clash (the big pink book) appears here. The knock against the book has been the lack of anything new if you already are well versed. I’ve also seen a few people saying it’s brilliant and must be owned. If you’ve got it and want to share your thoughts please do comment. I’ll hold my thoughts until then, I don’t really like ‘greatest hits’ albums either for most bands I skip them and others they lure me right in against my will. The fickle nature of being a fan. As for the Clash I think I’ve read most related books, I’ll expand on those in later posts but recommend the following.

• Redemption Song – Chris Salewicz (Joe Strummer Bio)
• The Clash – Bob Gruen (superb photos by the master)
• Last Gang in Town- Marcus Gray (a bit of an anorak effort)
• A Riot of our Own – Johnny Green (up close and interesting)
• The Clash Before & After – Pennie Smith (out of print and amazing)

There are others of course and I’ll add that to my list of objectives for the site and make sure you can find the book reviews in an orderly fashion. A Clash book of the month club….well maybe not.

I also plan features on those around the band including Bob Gruen, Don Letts,  Caroline Coon, Danny Baker and the list goes on. If the site grows as early indications show it can I’m also going to see if I can get email interviews/questionnaires out to some of the people in The Clash family. No promises as to whom but I’ve already got some initial communication out and on the table with a few people.

Live in 1982

Other changes for the site as it grows (and please be patient I’m known to change direction) is a video only page with space for comments and a playlist. I’m experimenting to see which wordpress tool will work best. I’m also considering a Clash Cast/podcast although for it to be worthwhile it means a big time commitment. I’d love to do it and will see if the site grows as I hope it will.

I’m open to other ideas and suggestions too of course and thanks to everyone who has taken the time to contact me over the first 10 days of the blog. Our collective knowledge of The Clash is remarkable and if you can expand on a story or add details I know people love looking at the comments section (know your writes).

I’ll be back later in the day, apparently it’s a holiday of some sort here in the States tomorrow though I’m not entirely sure what that’s about?

Tim