Good Sunday to you…my very best intentions of getting a new post together this morning were derailed by some internet issues but with a bit of a luck plus some string and sellotape what I’m writing currently should get posted today (the aforementioned Sunday). Two small matters of blog interest from last week which reiterates to me the interest that remains in all things Clash related is that we surpassed 2,000 followers on the Clash Blog Facebook page which is amazing, if you haven’t added your name to that list please feel free to do so – we have some good banter and there are stacks of photographs which you may not have seen. We’d be able to populate a village now that would probably support 2 or 3 pubs and fairly good amateur football teams….just imagine what our church fete would be like – lots of used vinyl and leather jackets that don’t quite fit anymore but you can bet our pubs would have the best jukeboxes in the shire. I also wanted to thank you all for another landmark we passed last week as the blog received its 300,000th visit – and I hope we can double that total this year.

As ever the backlog of stories is rather long so I’m going to try and cut down those entries by scraping the ice of the windows and taking the old trusty British Leyland Princess (HL) out for a spin down the Westway, traffic should be light on a Sunday. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of old cars from the 1970′s suitable for a drive. Let’s have a look at what we see:

Mick Jones 1978, image courtesy Phillippe Carly

Photos of The Clash you’ve probably not seen from 1977 and 1978. I’m so sorry that I didn’t keep the email but someone kindly emailed me about two sets of photos of the band taken early on during concerts in Belgium. Both sets are truly worth a look and were compiled by Philippe Carly – please respect his licensing of the images and if you want to use them please consider a small donation, here is the link to his homepage and also to the second page of Clash photographs. Great stuff.

Gang of Four interview: No it’s not The Clash but I think one of very best bands to emerge from the post punk scene and certainly the 2nd best band to ever come out of Leeds (5 points for guessing my first choice). I don’t see many new interviews with the band so as a result have included a link to this one on Crawdaddy. Also if you don’t already subscribe to Wolfgang’s vault for vintage (and new) concert downloads I suggest you do so to make your 2011 that much better - the link is here and new stuff is added all the time.

Clash interview and (excellent) photos from Smash Hits in 1980: More and more people are being kind enough to upload their old magazine collections from the heyday of music coverage pre-internet and I’ve got to go back and scan a lot more of these myself. This upload is also a great high resolution image so reading the entire feature is a snap unless you’re tying to do so via your phone. Interview was from December of that year hot on the heels of the release of Sandinista! which the music press weren’t quite sure what to do with.

Don’t forget The Clash/Adrian Boot Exhibition: Runs until January 30th in Camden Town in London. As featured earlier on the blog it might be the last chance to see some of these excellent shots before they make their way into private collections.

Music Ruined My Life – new feature Joe Strummer collaborations: I love this site and yet again he’s come up with the good with a special feature of 20 tracks where Strummer works with other artists. Lots of stuff you may not have heard and/or is hard to track down all in one place. Be a good neighbour and tell him thanks via his comments too; these things take time to put together.

That’ll do for now but I’ll be back again soon, as ever I welcome your comments and shares/tweets and general bonhomie.

I did want to write a few words about what happened a few hours drive down the road from here in Tucson yesterday but good words escape me. It was something I thought was left behind in the 1960′s but sadly what was a lunatic’s attempted assassination of a politician and equally awful murder of six people just makes me sick. I don’t know what fueled his decision but if it was the awful and divisive rhetoric preached by politicians and media alike its certainly come home in a bloody sinister way. Protest..yes…riot…yes….vote…yes…be active yourself…yes…..but walking into a supermarket car park with the singular purpose of killing people makes you wonder what its all about. But before people get too shocked, how big of a surprise was it? This remains a violent country (by western standards whatever that means) with over 65% of murders being due to firearms – but much like the UK its also a very divided country right now in my humble opinion. It’s easy to say the divides are political, or liberal versus conservative but the biggest and still growing gulf between rich and poor is at a 90 year high…nothing will divide a country quicker.

The right to bear arms was written down when America had thousands of miles bordering wild frontier and no certainty that European armies wouldn’t look to soon reclaim these lands. Its as relevant now as the spinning jenny which came into being around the same time.

Good morning, I thought I’d add a quick post to stop me from jumping on a plane to Heathrow so I can personally tie up Andrey (Andrei) Arshavin and ship him in a box (postage paid) back to Russia. Yeah…he’s that annoying. 95% of the time when I write about something on the blog I know exactly what I think of it and yet the clip from television in the UK the other night has me filled with a mixture of love and hate.

Not Joe...

Kathy Burke’s collection of short comedy shows “Little Crackers” had an episode this week dedicated to a 15 year old girl’s chance meeting with her heroes The Clash. The episode is in full below and is worth a watch for the portrayal of school and music in 1980. I enjoyed her drawing 2 Tone chequerboards on her school folder (I did that obsessively on EVERYTHING from 1980-81, I’m surprised the cat wasn’t  covered in black and white boxes) and the character’s obsession with music, pictures and the badges on her clothes. Those were heady days! She aspires to be a music journalist and is obsessed with punk/new wave bands whilst her friend is oblivious. Upon leaving school the stumble upon The Clash sitting around waiting for their coach (to be fixed?) – coach as in bus ….The ‘appearance’ of The Clash occurs from about 6:50 onwards if you want to focus on that as my like for the clip diminishes soon after they appear but watch the entire thing for the dialogue about Joy Division and Manchester.

If nothing else it shows just how hard it will be to cast the band in the forthcoming film(s) about the band but these four seemed to be a last minute pick at very best. You see Joe first and remarkably compared with the chaps who play Mick and Topper he’s passable. Did they actually look at any photos of Jones or Headon before shooting this clip? Simonon isn’t quite as bad but the whole thing is really rather funny. Not as funny though as the dialogue that escapes from the mouth of ‘Joe’ with his ‘babe’ this and ‘babe’ that. Don’t be put off though its still a good laugh and worth a watch. It made me laugh which is more than I can say for Arsenal this morning. I’ll be back later.

Little Crackers 2010 (Clash episode)

Hello again, it’s already Christmas Day in most of the world as I write this which leaves me with time to really just send a quick message out about the season. I remember music and Christmas going hand in hand as a kid/teen and young adult. November and December always seemed to be the very best months for tours as bands tended to get a last tour in to fill their coffers/promote their albums but that’s a hindsight view. I just recall there always being a good full schedule of gig going once the autumn came to an end. New Years eve too has some great memories – Madness, Billy Bragg, Big Audio Dynamite, Ride being amongst the bands who I saw on New Years Eve in London over the years.

Christmas 1979 sticks in the memory as I was thrilled that my brother guided the gift giving that year and I was the happy recipient of the recently released London Calling, The Specials first album and I do believe a calculator watch. I know that sentence tails off as it ends but I was just twelve years old. What I remember then from that point onward getting some new albums or blank tapes was the highlight of Christmas — creative gift giving may have climaxed with a band shirt or tickets for a gig as I got a bit older. I still have much of the earliest vinyl I was ever given which takes me back to long ago.  My brother (in those days a bigger music collector than myself…he worked..that helped) was the master of the mix tape in the 80′s and would spend a lot of time making a personal 90 minute tape for friends, girlfriend and I knew I’d arrived when I started getting one made for me too. I wish I still had those. But yeah weird memories, television specials, advent calendars, those Cadbury stockings with different chocolate bars, top of the pops specials, John Peel’s festive 50, waiting to see what would be Christmas number one, special editions of the NME and MM and later on family drama, escaping down the pub and counting the hours until boxing day football matches.

I see that a lot about ‘these days’ that is easier, more convenient, more options…but if you’re anywhere near my age I think you’ll agree that Christmas was much better in the 70′s and 80′s. As for The Clash…they never made a Christmas single, and I don’t even think the word even pops up as a lyric does it? Their most famous yuletide event being the warm up gig for the Concert for the People of Kampuchea that they did on Christmas Day 1979 for 50p – which we talked about last year on the blog. ***correction – Christmastime in Ho Chi Minh City – Straight To Hell ***

I’ve no great knowledge about the holidays or 2011…I do know it’s been a difficult year for many I know and I really hope something will give next year. However I do think we’ve (as a society) maybe lost the plot in the last decade plus — or maybe that’s bitterness when you hit my age? I’m not sure? I do think that we need to make some big changes though and I can’t pinpoint what that means for any of you of course. I just think its time for me to rattle a few more cages in 2011 and get out to see more bands, read more and make sure I don’t avoid difficult decisions. I know those are the ones that matter. Wherever you are have a peaceful and happy holiday – enjoy your friends and family – think of those who are alone or without – and toast those you’ve lost or are far away from. Sadly my family are all over the planet and not near me but that’s alright I’m a big boy now. Cheers though to my Mum who never stopped believing in me and has tolerated me landing so far from home and to my brother for filling my head with brilliant music in the first place. Thank you all for following the blog all year (or longer) and for the friendships we’ve formed – you make the whole process worthwhile.

Cheers -Tim

If you watch this below you’ll probably understand why The Clash never did ToTP – although it negatively impacted their chart success in the UK. The weekly BBC program was designed to (and did) help singles move up the charts for over 40 years – I think that The Clash were fairly unique in their refusal to appear on the show – particularly amongst ‘major’ acts. Trivia experts let me know!

The Beat – appearing on Top of The Pops, Christmas 1981