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

Good morning to you, just time for a very short post this morning then I must be cracking on with other things. Oh incidentally we had a good laugh doing some Clash trivia yesterday over on the facebook page for the blog, I’d like to do more with quizzes here but the lack of real time interaction makes that a bit tricky. Don’t worry you didn’t miss any prizes just the right to exhibit your superb knowledge about the band. Perhaps I’ll put together ten of the more difficult Clash questions I can come up with every few months and let everyone have 48 hours to send in the their answers. I need prizes as a result though so I need to work on that so that it’s worth your while, or would you do it for the plaudits? Might be something fun to end the year with…

For today I’ve just got a video I needed to share that has been recently uploaded, it’s brilliance resides in the simplicity of it by combining brilliant photographs and music. Almost to this exact date (October 20th in fact) in 1977 The Clash had one of the many experiences that could seemingly only happen to them. It was on that date that the rather audaciously planned first concert outside the main British isle was planned with a gig at Belfast’s Ulster Hall. It went on to become one of the events that passed into Clash folklore for what did happen (remarkable photo opportunities in the city and a near riot) rather than what didn’t – the gig was cancelled. The last minute nature of the cancellation become one of those public relations knife edge situations that could go either way for the band and their reputation. A near riot ensued as disinformation about the concert filtered out but crucially it was no fault of The Clash. This was going to be the first concert of its kind in Northern Ireland, a leading English punk band braving a visit to Belfast and that really isn’t an overstatement. The Belfast of the 1970′s is a difficult place to describe in a very short blog post but it’s safe to say that division, violence, anger, fear, distrust and frustration all loomed large on a daily basis for the residents of the city, people who just wanted to have a normal life in an environment that wasn’t supporting that. Those were dark times that seem so long ago and yet so recent at the same time. For The Clash a bad situation turned into an event of their own making, not in the choreographed opportunistic way that a Coldplay or Radiohead might try in 2011 but in just wandering around town in their punk gear taking in something that don’t forget was as alien to them as it would be anyone else living in London at the time, this was supposed to be nation after all. Nothing else to do seeing as the band weren’t going to plug in a guitar on this particular trip I don’t usually like the word iconic but the photographs captured that day of the band, coupled with the background of Belfast on a damp day in black and white are some of my favourite Clash photographs I’ve ever seen. They may have been one of the earliest I’d seen also and assumed that they dressed just as fantastically even when they went out for a pint of milk. When you’re a kid you form your own perceptions much more rapidly and I thought that the look of the band was just as exciting as the music.

The photograph below is exclusively by courtesy of UrbanImage and you can find view a fantastic series of 16 images from that day by following this link.

Most of my family lived in and around Dublin when I was young (my Mum’s side) and I recall one family visit to Northern Ireland when I was about eleven so my memories are fuzzy but we went with an aunt and uncle as their car was safer to drive up than Dad’s english one that had come over on the ferry as usual for a family visit, I think it was the summer of ’78. When you crossed the border the countryside and the farms looked as green and lush as they did in the Republic of Ireland, the villages as pretty and quiet. I remember thinking it odd to see ‘English’ road signs. We spent only a few hours in Belfast and my biggest recollection was of so many murals and graffiti, fuzzier memories of strewn bricks and damaged buildings plus army vehicles and soldiers. All of that compiled to make it seem more like a film set rather than reality to me as a kid at that time. Otherwise it reminded me so much of Liverpool in so many ways….one regret is that as a ten year old I should have spent a bit less on records and perhaps bought a camera so I had this stuff documented forever. Anyway.

The Clash did make it back however just two months later in December when they played the city on December 20th. Perhaps symbolically it was their final live appearance of 1977 or year zero, a night that changed the landscape for hundreds of young punks in Northern Ireland and beyond. I hope you enjoy the video (uploaded by GlamPunkTV) below as it is cool to have these images in one place – watch in full screen. Tim

‘Remembering The Clash in Belfast, October 1977′