Good Sunday afternoon from a vantage best descibed as the hissing of summer lawns but someone already took that title I think. Such a lovely summers day I wish I wasn’t stuck with a mountain of work in front of me. A strange post today but one I wanted to share anyway though I’m not sure what you’ll file it under; odd, funny, daft or vaguely interesting all come to mind. It only struck me as a bit of each but not a lot of one. Read on and make your own mind up.

While music from 1982-84 offered much brilliant stuff (despite that spell leading to the collapse of The Clash) there wasn’t much about television comedy that sticks in the mind for those less adventurous broadcasting times. Whilst music was reinventing itself and challenging,  television was generally a decade behind in terms of going through anything resembling a punk phase. One notable exception was BBC’s The Young Ones which ran from November of 1982 to June of 1984, I thought my memory was playing tricks on me but only twelve episodes of the comedy were ever made. At the time it was probably the most anarchic thing that the BBC had ever ran in the 80′s and upon research I found out that the only reason it ever got commissioned was the advent of the new television channel (Channel 4) in the UK and the BBC fearing that any ‘alternative’ audiece would migrate to the new station en masse.

Background information complete and fast forward 30 years, Ade Edmonson who starred as Vyvyan Basterd no longer has orange spiked hair, in fact he has no hair at all. However in a throwback to the days before The Young Ones he now tours as the head of a band he began in 2008 called The Bad Shepherds that are deeply influenced by punk music. The three piece act features Ade on  on vocals, mandolin and mandola; Troy Donockley on uilleann pipes, cittern and whistles and Andy Dinan on fiddle and their repertoire includes a wide range of  punk and new wave covers with a folk sheen. Now 56, Ade grew up right when punk came to the forefront:

“I was 19 when punk arrived, so it’s always been a part of me. But even before that I remember when we got (folk electronic band) Fairport Convention. That felt kind of revolutionary”

He plays because he enjoys it and the band just began a 5 date tour of Australia but the music doesn’t aim for any comedic edge, simply a folk instrument based interpretation and loyal observance of the original songs. For Ade it’s become a career love after his comedy phase ended and takes the music seriously as evidenced by the dexterity of the musicians. Worth a look if you have the chance, you can find out more via their official site or Facebook page. Dates coming up include Sydney, Brisbane and Perth over the first 8 days of May.

Source article for quote – TheAustralian.com

The Bad Shepherds – London Calling

 The Clash Blog News | Twitter | Facebook | Google+| RSS feed 

Congratulations you lot, you’ve navigated your way to the cusp of another weekend. I must confess to being pleased at the prospect and in a more laid back country than this – this would even be a holiday weekend wouldn’t you think? Not since we’re all being pushed to work and work, then work some more though. Sigh…enough of that.

Long term readers of the blog may remember one of my very eariest posts was about the project ‘Let Fury Have The Hour’ by Antonino D’Ambrosio. As you’re probably aware the project evolved into a book and documentary that is a little tricky to describe, so with artistic license I’ll borrow from what the L.A. Times wrote back in January as they do a better job than I’ve done previously:

“Kudos to writer-director Antonino D’Ambrosio for taking such an eclectic and disparate number of aims, thoughts, subjects and mediums and creating the smart and inspiring — and uniquely whole —documentary that is “Let Fury Have the Hour.” A kind of think/performance piece about what’s termed here “creative reaction,” the film hears from a stirring swath of socially conscious artists whose work largely emerged as an anger-channeling counter to the Reagan-Thatcher era of conservative individualism”     -Barry Goldstein Los Angeles Times

The book was an interesting narrative seeing as the content came from so many angles and the word is that the film, pulling  its content from the essays within the book creates a stronger whole within the setting of a documentary. The movie was featured at film festivals in the spring of 2012 and drew strong praise from many quarters for accomplishing all it set out to do – take a modern look at activism and the arts from the mouths, pens, art and instruments of those impacted by our (horribly) big society. You can learn much more about the book, the film and the overall concept via the official website.

Naturally I’m not writing about it again just for the sake of it, but to alert you to the fact that the film is now available via iTunes download and I’m excited to announce I’ve got six posters for the film signed by Antonino D’ambrosio to giveaway below which feature the stunning artwork for the film featuring Joe Strummer at Victoria Park in 1978 as created by Shepard Fairey. What do you need to do to receive such kindness? Just answer the question below and also please share the news about the films iTunes release simply by sharing this post via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or even Pinterest if that’s your bag – I’d just appreciate it you can help spread awareness. Please share your tweets with @letfuryhavehour and @obeygiant if you’d be so kind and if you can share the short-link http://bit.ly/ZzRB4m I’d appreciate it, it helps make the prizes available to you good people.

You can purchase the film via iTunes download for $9.99 via this link. Here’s some more of the official word and then onto the prize giveaway.

Rough, raw and unapologetically inspirational, LET FURY HAVE THE HOUR is a charged journey into the heart of the creative counter-culture in 2012.  In a time of global challenges, big questions and by-the-numbers politics, this upbeat, outspoken film tracks the story of the artists, writers, thinkers and musicians who have gone underground to re-imagine the world – honing in on equality, community and engaged creativity – in exuberantly paradigm-busting ways.

“Exuberant… a thoughtful and entertaining debut film”
-Adam Schartoff, The New York Times

“Rousing… You’ll leave the theater wanting to create something LOUD.”
-Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

“A thrillingly articulate wallop of ’80s-era rage… refreshing”
-Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York

“Let Fury Have the Hour is a cinematic movement, not just a film.”
-E. Nina Rothe, Huffington Post

“Explosive blend of vision and expression”
-Indiewire 

To enter into the prize drawing for one of six signed prints you just need to answer the question below. I regret that I can only offer the prize to readers in the US and Canada at this time. I’ll do my very best to have a follow up drawing for a free download of the film open to everyone who isn’t in the US & Canada. How’s that sound?

To enter – all you have to do is answer the following question and email me the correct answer.

“In the same song that the film takes its title from – what colours does Joe Strummer warn that you might start wearing as you grow up and calm down?”

Please email your answers here and enter ‘Fury’ as the subject line. Winners will be announced and picked at random next Friday and naturally you’ll have to provide a mailing address if you win. I’d like to extend my thanks to Snag Films for the prizes and good luck and thanks for taking part.

‘Let Fury Have The Hour’ trailer

Check out the award-winning film Let Fury Have the Hour with Van Jones, Eve Ensler, Lewis Black, Billy Bragg, Shepard Fairey, Chuck D, Thievery Corporation, Antibalas, Gogol Bordello and other amazing artists, musicians and great minds. Now on iTunes! http://bit.ly/ZzRB4m

Good evening and welcome back to a rather healthy feeling but still hungry Clash Blog Towers. I’ve spent most of today working on a new client website for a local Indian restaurant and the photographs of delicious looking food have left me feeling a bit ravenous. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach which is fair enough, I just can’t get my head around why my stomach seems to have been made in Bangalore, it’s just the most wonderful and sensual food when done well. As luck would have it for dinner tonight I had a spinach and arugula salad with pear and blue cheese, nothing wrong with that but it hasn’t fixed my biryani craving one bit.

I wanted to thank Paolo on the Facebook page this morning for sending over a link to a Joe Strummer video that I’d never seen before. I’m sincerely hoping that if I’ve not seen it then a decent ratio of you won’t have viewed it before. You’ll find it below in full and was held with Music Planet just after the release of ‘Global A Go-Go’ which dates it from probably August 2001.

I watched it twice this morning with coffee and I have to say the first time made me miss Joe more than ever and the second time made me laugh aloud a few times and reflect on just how happy he was overall with life, with his place in the world and with working with The Mescaleros. He’ll make you laugh one minute and feel reflective the next, why we listen to music and why it matters are covered in fairly simple statements by Strummer but that doesn’t make them any less valid. He had arrived at a point where he was excited about music and about being alive, his recollection of his excitement over a hand dryer in a New York pub ‘ a cruddy old bit of iron on the wall’ showed that he wasn’t just wandering through life. Something to think about really.

Joe Strummer Music Planet interview – summer 2001

He credits the band as being key to his own excitement at that time and it made me think that Joe’s extensive time in the music ‘wilderness’ may have had much to do with not finding the right people to work with. He was never cut out to be a ‘solo act’ in the traditional sense of the term. Anyway I won’t ramble all too long about the interview, I really hope it will be new to some of you.

I know we tend to reflect on Joe in a louder/more public way in conjunction with certain anniversaries but like many of you I find it aches on an almost daily basis knowing he had to leave at such a young age and in the midst of a very productive phase for him. I hope he knew how much he’ll always matter.

The Clash Blog News | Twitter | Facebook | Google+| RSS feed