Well hello again, all things being equal it’s the end of your working (or studying week) or perhaps you are part of that fraternity of people who work weekends? I’ve been in that boat and the rest of the world just don’t relate to you if you have a week day off cos you have to work a Saturday or Sunday do they? Anyway if you are a weekend worker I hope you enjoyed your day off during the week. Not sure why I brought that up – mostly to welcome in the weekend before we see what’s come over the Clash newswires the last 36 hours.

Quite a lot of activity to be expected in the next week or so as Stummerville makes it way to Austin for the SXSW music festival and hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of a rumour that’s been circulating for the better part of two weeks about Simonon and Mick Jones becoming part of Gorillaz live band. Initially I heard that the two former members of The Clash would be appearing with Gorillaz at Coachella and then that they would actually become a semi-official part of Damon Albarn’s live band for gigs coming up in the UK. Now it seems the rumour is heating up as the NME are joining the speculation I’ve offered above. Two thoughts on this, first I think where there’s smoke you tend to find fire so I do expect it to happen at some level, secondly I don’t care if you fail to enjoy the music of Gorillaz (I realise some Clash fans are more than a bit turned off by it) the fact that Albarn respects his musical heritage enough to include Paul and Mick is good enough for me if that’s what it takes to see them play live on the same stage together. To extend that point, Blur made some of the most interesting music of the 90’s while I’d take all three Gorillaz albums and The Good, The Bad and The Queen as representing some of the more diverse things done during these last ten years. The heritage of a musician who takes chances and constantly evolves is entirely in keeping with the spirit of The Clash and for me has more merit than Simonon and Jones joining a band that attempt to be a modern day Clash circa 1978 (I won’t name names but there are more than a few of those kicking around with a US origin). Let’s see what happens and keep an open mind to new music – in as much as there were Clash fans who disowned the band after the release of London Calling you’ll find Blur fans who can’t find value in what Damon does now. I’m banking on it being made official next week.

This is great (thanks for the heads up Alan Miles) and make sure you make some time to listen. A podcast is up with an special feature about JGD. It kicks off with the reworked version of Jail Guitar Doors with vocals from Billy Bragg and a new verse from Mick Jones. It’s a pretty lengthy podcast which doesn’t

image courtesy Laura Levine

exclusively feature Jail Guitar Doors related material but there’s enough on there to keep you interested. The bulk however features an extensive interview with director Alan Miles (who put the film ‘Breaking Rocks’ together about the charity)  and tracks by some of the artists associated with the project. The link to the site is here and they give you a further outline there especially if you want to skip to your ‘Clash’ bits.

New York City and The Clash is a theme we’ve touched on more than once on the blog, accepted wisdom is that Manhattan gradually became the overseas headquarters of The Clash especially from 1979 onwards. As the British press started to reject the evolution of the band they spent more and more time in the US and Canada, New York becoming the hob for the band. It extended beyond the residency at Bonds and other famed concerts but they also were immersed and inspired by the scene in the city not to mention recording and mixing so much of their music in the town. I only meant to write a sentence there…sorry…I mention the pairing again as PopMatters posted a good article about New York and the band that’s worth a quick read.

I’ll have more over the weekend – Clash Cup and more. Thanks for visiting…..

Hello again and welcome back to the blog, I hope your day mirrored mine in that you occasionally see something (a concert, a sunset, a pretty girl) that you know wasn’t exclusively for you but you realise you’ll remember it for years and maybe decades to come. In my years of going to concerts there are a few dozen that I’ll never forget in fairly explicit detail, while hundreds of others were great, good, fair or awful it’s the occasional brilliant moments we cherish.  I had one such moment today, I’ve been following Arsenal since I was a tiny kid and regularly attended games throughout my time living in London. Since leaving England I can’t say my commitment to the team has changed (it might be stronger than ever) and I probably watch 98% of their games even when it involves getting up at 430am to see them as it sometimes does. Over those 35+ years I’ve seen a few thousand goals and although you enjoy them all, once in a while you see one that you know will stick with you for many years to come. So it was a few hours ago when Samir Nasri scored a goal of pure grace today it makes you appreciate the beauty of the sport. I’ll enjoy that for a long, long time.

So this got me thinking about the first time I heard The Clash and the first time I saw them. It made me remember being introduced to songs and bands that become almost a part of who you are as they become embedded in your character. If you’re anything like me you’ll defend the music you love as much you might your own family (or perhaps more). If someone tries to convince me that The Clash don’t belong in a list of the 5 most important bands of all time we’ll have a long debate in store. If a legitimate fan of music tries to say that The Clash weren’t the single most influential English band to emerge from the punk/post punk era we’re going to have to disagree. I also looked at what The Clash and my football club have in common and it’s my big brother, who really introduced me to both.

My older brother turns 50 tomorrow, which I can’t quite fathom. Yes, he has always been 7 1/2 years older than me and the aging process was inevitable but surely he can’t be turning 50 years old. I remember the first post I ever wrote for this blog and reflecting on how my brother’s room was always the home of everything I felt guided by. In 1973 I’d take his Arsenal programs from his wardrobe to read while looking at the sleeves of albums by T-Rex, David Bowie and Roxy Music. The music that came from his  room was a constant soundtrack to being an adolescent and building expectations of what being a teen might be. By 1977/8 I understood that music was more than a hobby for him as it dictated his clothes, his girlfriends and the concerts he attended. I must have been ten when I noticed there was more passion and fire in the singles and albums he was playing, as Elvis Costello, The Clash had begun to dominate his turntable, replacing Queen and Wings. Later that summer of ‘78 when I just turned eleven was when it all made sense to me. He took me to record shops, I started my own collection of vinyl. He started taking me to concerts, I began my own journey of determining what live music represents. I was already obsessed with football and suddenly I had to find time read the NME, Melody Maker and find the extra cash for the next single that he recommended.

I’ve no idea if I would have found The Clash and so much brilliant music without my brother, I’d like to think so but I can’t be sure. I’ve no idea if I may have instead found love for cricket or rugby if it wasn’t for him, probably not as we lived to play football when I was five…but I might not have attached myself to Arsenal. I’m so lucky my big brother left his bedroom door ajar for me to listen and I can simply say ‘Thank You’.

Happy 50th David.

It’s pissing down with rain again – seems to be a weekend thing around here. Just two quick things and then should be back with a Clash Cup pairing later this evening.

I wrote a few days ago about a photo exhibit in Toronto of concert photography (Toronto Calling) which includes some great pictures of Joe Strummer amongst others. Steve was kind enough to write in to provide some more background to that story – and there’s also been a new article about the exhibition in the Toronto Star that he found. So..over to Steve:

I didn’t know if it was okay to post directly to the ClashBlog so I thought I would just send you the link this way. This is a review of that photo exhibit currently on display in Toronto. Interestingly they point out that Joe wasn’t in a good mood the night of the Clash’s first show in Toronto. He always seemed to be a bit grumpy when he performed here with the band. At another show at Toronto’s CNE you could tell he wasn’t feeling well or clearly did not want to be here (unfortunately Toronto wasn’t considered a major stop in those days for bands ready to conquer America). There is a great footage of his backstage indifference captured by the program The New Music (I sneaked backstage for one show by literally walking in backwards and can attest to his behaviour. The New Music, by the way, was a great weekly program that extensively covered music in the 80’s. It was hosted by J.D. Roberts (who went on to become John Roberts of CNN!).

In any case, Joe did an about face when he got older. He adored the crowd when he returned with the Pogues and when he was with the Mescaleros it seemed he had become comfortable with his role as, I dare say, an icon. I met him a couple of times in the years just before his death and he was funny, happy and accommodating. He signed every autograph and posed for every picture. The best image I have of him in my mind is him walking down Yonge St. in Toronto for an appearance at radio station CFNY. He was all dressed in black with his guitar slung over his shoulder. When he got to the studio some fans were waiting. One shoved a book in front of him and Joe said: “I’m going to write my own book about the Clash one day. I’m going to call it a bunch of fuckin’ goofs!” at which the crowd burst out laughing. Because he was late for the appearance, the DJs were adjusting their scheduling so, with some time to kill, Joe took his guitar out of his case and started busking on the street. Fantastic. During the recording of the show he played a few songs. During the commercial break I asked him for his guitar pick. He gave me one, but I asked him to give me the one he just played with so he handed that one over. After the taping of the show he hung around and talked to everyone who was there until only he and his record company rep were left. They then went next door to Starbucks for a coffee.
But I digress.

Here is the link to the story.

Keep up the great work. I look forward to reading the blog every day. One more thing, this spring brings the Specials, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Beat, and Public Image to town on various nights.

Thanks so much Steve – great stories you have to share and thanks for letting me indulge them further via the blog itself.

So what to do on a rainy day like this? I’ve watched some football from England, had far too much coffee and listened to some old Joe Strummer London Calling radio broadcasts, I wish we had more of those to enjoy. The link I’ve mentioned before but if you have never listened to Strummer’s stint as a BBC DJ I encourage you to take some time and bookmark this page!

I’ve got football later in the mud, in the meantime have a look at this - Pressure Drop, the play. I heard about this a few months ago – Billy Bragg is going to be in a play that is ostensibly exploring what it means to be English in contemporary Britain. That said I’m sure it expands far beyond that and might be fascinating, Bragg wrote a fascinating book a few years ago with the lofty ambition of studying that same topic. In a country (like so many in Europe) that straddles the thin line between the extreme right and the extreme left – the conversation is a natural one to be having. I find especially interesting what Billy wrote about the pressure to renounce being English.

“There are plenty of things that I’m ashamed of that England did. And there are plenty of things that we do now that I’m ashamed of. But to renounce that part of my identity which I define as English would be to surrender to the bigots on the right and to the cynics of the left. Instead, I’m determined to engage with both sides and to challenge their perceptions of what it means to be English”  (Billy Bragg)

Finally, I bought more new music yesterday (as usual). We’ve talked about Gorillaz enough this week so I’d suggest you listen to the new Editors album ‘In The Light and on This Evening’. Here’s the link to ‘Papillon’

See you later…and thanks for dropping in – my thanks again to Steve.