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.

Good Morning, it’s Friday right? Sorry about the lack of a new post last night, I played football last night and when stretching for the ball (doing my best impression of a 42 year old Tony Adams) I felt something ‘go’ a bit in my calf. When I got home it was giving me a bit of a nag so I just packed up for the night and laid down like the old git I guess I’m becoming. I do love playing football though it’s not the level of excellence but just the chance to kick and head a few balls and whack a few shins twice a week, it stops me from being nasty to old people and children alike.

Just a few short things for now and I’ll summon up the time for a longer post this evening. I think/hope the blog is functioning a bit more like normal the last few days (according to the stats the navigation and time spent on site is back to normal so it suggests it’s working properly). If someone can send a comment to this post so I can test it further please? Gail – I owe you an email – thanks for your patience! As we’d covered earlier Paul Weller received his well earned ‘godlike genius’ award from the NME this week and thanks to Mark for sending me the video of Weller receiving the award and then getting a very nice hug from Mick Jones who was at the ceremony. This linked video also features an interview with Weller on the night – if you can get past the knob interviewing him its pretty good. I’m trying to get the upload on the video with Mick – expect to see it later on the site.

Also from the same night of the NME awards – watch Mick Jones put up with Courtney Love, or is he just humoring her?

Finally I’ve found the full video for the Haiti benefit single by Shane MacGowan and friends ‘I Put A Spell On You’. The video is great featuring plenty of Mick Jones, Nick Cave, MacGowan, Bobby Gillespie, Glen Matlock and Johnny Depp. The highlight for me was the vocals by Chrissie Hynde who really belts it out. More importantly to download the song and contribute to the cause please visit concern.net (where you can read more and watch the video again). If you’re an internet social media kind of person this is one of the few times I’d suggest you facebook and twitter this one!

Right…enough videos for one day eh? See you later…