Good morning everyone. Before I go for bagels and pastries I needed a coffee and before I drank my coffee I found something to share. I know it just figures, right?

As much as I love the Velvet Underground I’ve never quite got on to the Andy Warhol pop art express train to cool conceptual art. Truth be known what little taste I have has always been limited to trying to absorb as much music as I could and I don’t think I’ve ever picked up a paintbrush after the age of six or so. Therefore I’ll send all Clash related art to you to be the judge and in the case of this mornings link it looks cool to me, is affordable and is a limited edition. Those three reasons might make it appealing to you I hope. I think I need to get myself one.

Simon Dixon's London Calling - more details below

It’ a pop art creation based on the famed cover to London Calling and while it doesn’t stray to far from the original it still unique. As you can see, me describing art is like your grandparents explaining sex so I’ll just give you the official blurb:

Simon Dixon uses classic 20th century images and icons as a base for his pop art creations, as this London Calling pop art print shows.

Of course, based on the classic Clash album cover, it keeps all of that detail, but flushes it with colour to look more like an original painting. The one pictured here is a high quality giclee numbered Pop Edition, sized at 12 x 12 inches and limited to 750 in total.

You can pick it up online for £40.

The link to his shop is right here – and they do seem to ship overseas….even better. I also spoke to Simon today, if you contact him via his site you can collect from him directly. Right then, time to get bagels and milk which incidentally might be the title of my first EP.

Good morning Clash world how goes it? Still no license plate and no fall out from the kebab last night so it’s a net neutral I’d have to say. Been working on our website in our quest for world domination in blog design, alright I exaggerate. Coffee has brewed, found a decent new music player online that actually seems like it will be worth bookmarking and I’m wearing my best ‘can do’ approach towards the weekend. I actually have to get out back today and clean the grill which is not my favourite task but makes the food taste a lot better and reduces the risk of an explosion which would take out the back third of the house.

Seems like a good morning to fire up another round of The Clash Cup as we get deeper into round 2 and only the big boys remain. Before we sort out the new pairing (selected very officially via this site) we need to review the last vote which frankly was a devastatingly one-sided affair.

Career Opportunities        defeated       Last Gang In Town              61-6

It didn’t take a brave gambler to think that the winner would be Career Opps but still the margin of the win was pretty remarkable. I think to a certain extent the early 10-0 head start made some voters want to pick the sure winner. However you slice it that was a bad result for ‘Give em Enough Rope’. I’ve a theory that the better Mick’s hair was at the time of recording the better the chance the song will win. I’ll need a powerpoint presentation to prove my theory but just you wait and see. Let’s move away from the rubble of that result and see what we have next, and I’d say it will be a closer call having just picked the numbers.

Round 2 Match 8

Lightning Strikes      vs       48 Hours

Nice one indeed and I’m feeling some weird symbolism which is daft, as I write it is of course the early stages of our 48 hours and last night we had more lightning than rain (which in truth is always the case here). Two tracks that I’ll suggest won’t be around at the final 16 stage but one is assured an unlikely run into the third round. You probably disagree but neither song is often on my top list of Clash songs I have to hear when I’ve only got 4 minutes of available time. Both songs are good but not what I’d consider to the best in the Clash stable of their respective vintages, though you’re welcome to disagree.

Form book:

Round 1 – Lightning Strikes defeated Crooked Beat                        66% of the vote

Round 1 – 48 Hours defeated Three Card Trick                                 78% of the vote

Odds:

This is a bit like trying to guess if Huddersfield will beat Preston really but I think it will be very close thing. Its time for all the lovers of S! to rally together and see Lightning Strikes through to round 3. I know 48 Hours will get a lot of support but its possible that the other early Clash songs will see much more interest. I’d say Lightning Strikes by the thinnest of margins.

Stuff:

No brilliant insight to offer here, I do think it important to note that Lightning Strikes was written and and recorded in 1980. Not only had The Clash not really made anything that sounded anything like it but nobody else was making music quite like it. Its a great example of Joe’s trust in Mick to really expand the style of the band and Strummer in turn just marrying a lyrical rhythm to match the song itself.  I rarely throw the video in the voting mix but this clip from Barcelona in ’81 is well worthy. As for 48 Hours, you’re not really a Clash fan unless this has gone through your head on a Friday night on the way home from work. I’d suggest listening to this version from  1976 and see how the track evolved in the months between then and when it was recorded. Good Stuff! The rest is up to you…thanks for voting and tell me if it was a tough decision…even now I’m not quite sure which to pick. If you get two minutes can you vote for the blog on the right under ‘best pop culture blog’ we’ve a chance to go top 10!

 Loading ...

Still no license plate, we’re getting closer to driving around with just a Clash sticker on the back of the car. Another cloudy day in the desert and it makes a nice change and is a lot cooler too. I didn’t mind wearing long trousers and breakfast outside today, not normally options for July here. Still no word on the .5C/G US tour dates so perhaps we’ll need to get through the weekend. I know they won’t play here in Phoenix so Los Angeles or Las Vegas will be likely, although getting tickets for Los Angeles might be a bit tricky. Don’t you know who I am ticketmaster (or did they officially go away?) I’m from TheClashBlog….’the what blog?’ and thus the conversation will end right there. Off topic a bit but the British witch hunt in DC is getting on my wick at present. First BP (which incidentally is 39% owned by Americans – 40% British) are seen as the great Satan as if Chevron and Exxon don’t drill offshore and now we have the Lockerbie issue. Why doesn’t the senate/congress focus on domestic issues for five minutes and stop printing UB4os for a few months? We gave you language, baseball, Monty Python and The Clash – how about Washington DC says thanks and moves on! We did after all follow the blind leader(s) into Iraq. What next, an inquiry into Russell Brand and Ricky Gervais stealing work from less funny American comics?

I’m excited that you enjoyed yesterday’s post about ‘Clash shopping’ seems some of the items in question even sold out! How great is that…?

You probably recall our coverage of the frankly brilliant Ray Lowry London Calling exhibition at the Idea Gallery in central London. I’m excited to learn that you’ll now get a chance to see the exhibition in Manchester, New York and Tokyo. Following the huge success and endorsement from The Clash it’s very fitting that people outside of London will get an opportunity to see Ray’s work up close and personal. I keep getting these very strong signals that I need to relocate to New York or Los Angeles to be better positioned to do the blog….thankfully you’ve been great at giving me first hand reports from London. I’d be wandering around Manhattan with a digital camera trying to chronicle everything and never get time to do any paid work – so perhaps it’s not the best idea. So Ray Lowry: The London exhibit and auction created a lot of worthy attention being listed as The Guardian’s pick of the week and getting coverage in Mojo and the NME. featured in the NME and Mojo magazines.

The initial artwork was partially auctioned in London, so far raising some £20,000 for the Ray Lowry Foundation –the project set up after Ray sadly died to assist young artists. Only a third of the donated work has so far been sold so forthcoming auctions will occur at the new locations for the exhibition. Crawshawbooth (just North of Manchester) is confirmed – the details are beneath

‘London Calling’ exhibition comes north

Preview night – 22/07/10 6.30 to 8.30 pm Exhibition dates – 23/07/10 to 07/08/10

Opening times – Monday to Sunday 10am to 4pm,  Late night – Thursdays 9pm close

Admission – Free     Venue – The See Gallery, Oddfellows Hall, 1 Binns Street Crawshawbooth, Lancashire BB4 8AA

I’ll do some digging around to get details about the stops in New York and Tokyo. Thanks for dropping in, if you have any thoughts or questions please post a comment.