Good evening and thanks for landing on this site once again or perhaps welcome for the first time, bookmark me in that case as there is a lot to be said. I wanted to start with an invitation tonight – if you’ve ever wanted to write about The Clash whether it is the influence of the band on your life, a favourite concert or memory or simply your thoughts about a song or an album please submit it to the blog. Sometimes I  worry if my somewhat opinionated and Lond0n-centric view of the band gets a bit old and I do want the blog to be as inclusive as possible and share all sorts of viewpoints. Your submission doesn’t have to be solely about The Clash but should link to them in some way ideally. I don’t need you have the writing ability of a Thomas Hardy or the photographic skills of a Bob Gruen – just a love for your subject matter and the desire to be ‘published’. Ideally 350+ words will get things rolling. If you are interested please get in touch and we can talk.

For tonight I realised that it’s been ages since I had a scan around the internet to see what interesting/daft/unique or rare Clash items were on sale. It’s less than seven weeks until Christmas so I thought it a good time to note some ideas for Clash nuts in your life or gently infer to the people who love you that you’d love to see this or that in your stocking.

A few weeks ago I featured the piece of art on the left created by Amy Hood of Hoodzpah. I understand that you don’t expect to see Joe Strummer with such an avian amigo but what makes this such a nice piece of art is the fact that it’s been uniquely created by Amy and I think her interpretation of Joe is brilliant. Learn more about the piece via this link, what I didn’t know when I wrote about it previously was that a limited edition of 50 would be going on sale. The price is (I think) a reasonable $20 and here’s the link to Etsy if you want to grab one. You also will probably enjoy the development phases of drawing Joe’s face which is featured on the initial link above.

Clash drink coasters (drink mats!) – yes I want these. I like a good cup of tea, mug of coffee and the occasional pale ale and I take more pride than I should in having a good mug or glass to consume it from. I’ve also got a bad habit of leaving said vessel on top of a nearby CD case rather than mark the desk or coffee table. A solution at last! Here’s the specifications (yes it’s remarkable that Cut The Crap is one of the four, perhaps that’s for American beer?): “Drink coasters made from 4.25″ cream colored ceramic tiles. Classic rock or jazz or other album artwork is laminated on top. They come in sets of 4. They have protective felt on bottoms so they don’t scratch anything.” $29 and they can be yours, if you need my address to send me a set just ask.

Zombie Clash Skeleton destroying bass. Yes, more than a bit odd but if you like this sort of thing then perhaps it might go perfectly with the rest of your London Calling collection. I’m not made keen on it though it’s an improvement on Mickey Mouse taking a rodent turn on Paul Simonon’s famed angry moment with his instrument in New York back in 1979. I’m sure you’ve seen that if not go and look it up. Here are the details: “Each skeleton is made by hand from steel (1:9 scale), and stands approximately 8″ tall if welded upright. Depending on the pose the final sculpture may be taller or shorter than 8″. I cut the parts individually to allow for different posing options as I weld them together. The photograph is of the first one I made in that pose. If it has sold, I will make another in the same pose, but it may turn our slightly different. They are not finished with any paint or clear coat and if left outside, will eventually rust. ” Available via this link at a price of $59 if you fancy..

Lots more to come in the weeks ahead I’ll surely find something you can put under the tree. I’m going to have to go and create some dinner now as I’m starving. Until next time you can follow the blog  via Facebook, Twitter get the RSS feed  thanks for reading and circulating the blog all over the place. Tim

Greetings from Clash Blog towers, how are things in your particular corner of the world then today? I’d have to say bollocks to the last 24 hours here, not only was this very site once again taken out by the vague needs of extremely infantile, bored and annoying people (hackers some call them) but our new roof added this summer faced it’s first very heavy rain overnight and failed miserably treating our hallway to a leak and partial ceiling collapse. Thus a very annoying day has been spent trying to get that repaired and resolved. As for the issues with the blog we’ve been promised improved firewalls from our hosting company but if that doesn’t prove successful in the weeks ahead then I’ll need to switch hosting which also means taking the site offline for a few days so it’s a bit of a lose/lose when you’re trying to provide a regular bit of Clash type updates. I know, I know, all of this is intensely dull but I didn’t want you to think that it’s always wine and roses for your blogger. Cold tea and nettles would better sum up the last couple of weeks.

Anyway let’s move on past that and send a loud volley of information from Strummerville that I alluded to on an earlier post and am a little late in bringing to you, therefore a decent chance exists that you already knew about this. If not then you’ll be pleased as punch – I know I was. By all accounts Strummerville are ramping up to make 2012 their biggest and best year to date which I think is wholly appropriate as the sad 10 year anniversary of Joe’s loss will hit us next year. I’d like to make many more people aware of Joe and of Strummerville in the next 14 months so bear with me if we cover some old ground from time to time. Much more from Strummerville in the weeks ahead but to kick off 2012 they have announced the release of a very special Joe Strummer commemorative calendar to take us right through next year and honour his anniversary in fine style. It’s not the same old stuff recycled for the umpteenth time either but far more select than that. Here’s the official blurb and rather excellent video:

We are releasing a 10th anniversary Joe Strummer calendar for 2012. Marking 10 years since Joe Strummer’s passing, the calendar will include 12 months of Strummer’s most inspirational quotes, previously un-seen images and hand-written artifacts from his personal archive. “We are very excited to present this calendar as our first offering for Joe’s 10th anniversary next year. It’s interesting how even ten years after Joe’s passing some of his words of wisdom are more pertinent now than ever before and we hope that this is reflected in the calendar and that it will be celebrated by Strummer fans around the world.” - Strummerville

Forever Strummer

As if that wasn’t enough there is also an addition to your Christmas card choices this year – you’re hopefully already familiar with the Joe Strummer hand painted card that has been available the last few years. This year sees the addition of a new card featuring the fantastic image below that features Joe in New York captured by none other than Bob Gruen. Once again I defer to the official text from Strummerville.

We will also be releasing two Joe Strummer Christmas cards this year. One is Joe’s last hand-drawn Christmas card (Strummer would send hand-drawn Christmas cards to his close friends every year) and one is this previously never seen before photo of Joe, taken by Bob Gruen in New York, when Joe was giving money to a homeless person.

“I never saw Joe pass a needy or homeless person without giving them something.” – Bob Gruen

My thanks as always to Strummerville for allowing me to help them in promoting the foundation via the blog (Cheers Steve & Trish ) for me it’s an honour. Beneath you’ll find all the links needed to place your orders:

PRE-ORDER NOW FROM THESE LINKS:
Forever Strummer 10th Anniversary Calendar 2012
Limited Edition Bob Gruen / Joe Strummer in New York Christmas Cards (Black And White)
Joe’s Last Hand Painted Card

Thanks as always, I hope you can help out Strummerville – that’d be great. I’ll be back soon. Tim

A very good Saturday afternoon my very fine Clash people. A wet and windy overnight here blew away all the dust and last remnants of summer which leaves me with a clear head and a mission to accomplish (sort out the garage and work on selling a few thousand books and cds that are surplus to requirements). I wish I had a Mick Jones style lock up to keep all my old gear but years of hunting and gathering interspersed with a foray in selling online (which served me well for a few years) leaves me with more than I bargained for or have room for. If you’re looking for some obscure music let me know, I just might have it. I’m tasked with capping my collection at 2,000 titles which isn’t as easy as it sounds. I’ll let you know how that goes.

I mentioned yesterday that you can expect a flurry of new posts in the days ahead and I’m going to deliver on that. They might be a bit shorter than the usual variety but will at least leave me with a clear conscience and you being more current on all things Clash. My accompaniment to my work today will be the album by Yuck. If you’ve not heard them I recommend you check them out – it’s nice to hear so much guitar again. I’m a late convert to their debut album but check this out for starters – ‘Get Away’.

I’ve got the ins and outs of Strummerville getting ready to begin the 10 year recognition of Joe Strummer’s passing on the next post – something I think we’ll all have in the back of our minds throughout 2012 with December looming as that unhappy anniversary, with that said I think we should turn it into a positive celebration next year. Task yourself with trying something that only Joe Strummer might do. I’ve got something in mind already.

For today’s post I thought it was time to correct a flaw and encourage you to write a short letter of complaint to GQ for making such a glaring mistake. As you know the men’s magazine likes to consider itself the watchful eye of all that is stylish and cool for men. To that end they’ve compiled a list of the ‘Most stylish musicians of all time’. I don’t think The Clash should occupy the top four spots on such a list (maybe 4 of the top 12) but the highest ranking is quite rightly something you’d award to Paul Simonon right? What he lacked in musical expertise in the early days of the band he certainly made up for in image. Too many observers at the time the ‘look’ that The Clash were famous for and one which changed every few months was in large part down to Simonon. He knew what looked good and he always looked good even when the rest of the band went through some very dodgy phases, even The Clash were impacted by some style decisions that were unique to the 1980′s. When you think of people who tended to always look brilliant in the music industry even if we take off our Clash tinted spectacles Paul Simonon would have to be right near the top of that list right? Naturally you’d expect GQ to recognise that and have him resting comfortably in the top five. So we need to watch their interpretation of the top 20 as Simonon only came in at number 21. I’ll share some of those style gurus who rank higher as the names are revealed in the days ahead. In the meantime direct your complaints to Sean Hotchkiss at GQ here’s his twitter account.

Right, things to do so I’ll be back soon. Be good and please harass Sean above or comment on the page itself. – Tim