Hello and welcome back again. A strange day as the Clash blogette had a painful trip to the Doctor and now I’m playing nurse…if you know me you realise that’s probably not a sentence you would want to hear from my lips.  She’ll be fine….right! Okay then on to matters Clash and there are a few pieces for your persual. First off -  don’t forget that this Thursday marks the debut of ‘Breaking Rocks’ the JGD film in Camden. If you are in London or nearby I’d highly recommend you take the tube to Camden Town and the short walk for a great event. As far as I know tickets are still available, if you know different please let me know.

It seems Mick Jones made a short trip to the South of France last week to appear at the Festival Marsetac with Rachid Taha (as his guest I believe). Video clip is below and as you can see it seems to have been a splendid time -- I’m waiting to learn more. That sounds like the perfect weekend, a music festival and Marseilles which is such a lovely city. It’s really great to see just how public Mick Jones has been since I started the blog, it makes you wonder where he might show up next. I hope it means the Carbon Silicon album is ready to go and not that he has other time to spend elsewhere? Further info on Rachid Taha on his myspace page. Additional video of Rock The Casbah has now surfaced too along with other great clips though not sure about Mick Jones doing an Algerian dance!!!

San Francisco has always been an interesting city for music and along with Los Angeles had it’s own very vibrant punk scene back in the day. With that in mind this book review sounds great (and of course reference our boys). Gimme Something Better is available now in the US from $12.25 on Amazon.

Billy Bragg sits down with the Newham Recorder (East London’s finest) and further explains the inspiration behind the Jail Guitar Doors project.

Visitors to the blog who live in the New York area should try and visit the following exhibition which starts October 30 and runs through til the end of January. Amongst the collection of Rock and Roll photography are some Clash pieces by Pennie Smith which would be nice to see first hand. Full details with address and hours etc are here.

Finally….I learned a new word today - Rhotacism. It’s the inability to properly pronounce the letter ‘R’ and no I’m not making light of it. The examples that come to mind Jonathon Ross in the UK or Barbara Walters in the US (or Elmer Fudd globally). Why am I mentioning this? Well I found a list of famous people with speech impediments and Joe Strummer is on the list for Rhoaticsm. I’ve seen dozens of interviews with Joe and of course all the songs…surely I would have noticed it?? Does he actually sing White Wiot? Am I missing something? Answers on a postcard or via comments please.

More soon -- Tim

Hello everyone and I hope your Monday wasn’t the sort of Monday that Bob Geldof sang about. It was a good day here as I finally have normal internet service and was able to get some work done (though I know the blog is backed up). I also realised that The Clash Cup is very overdue a match so I just got the data back and also plugged in the random number machine. You’ll be glad (or mad) that you visited. About ten days ago I noticed there were a lot of ‘big’ songs still remaining and wondered when they would be picked. No lie – 4 of them tonight…I’d day these are the toughest votes of the cup so far, you won’t need to be introduced to any of the songs but you will struggle to vote. I’m dreading it. Before that some results for you:

Sean Flynn defeats Mensforth Hill 46  -  6

London’s Burning defeats English Civil War 41  -  20

First result was a decisive win as you’d expect but the second match up was intriguing. English Civil War actually lost but a rough amount but still picked up 20 votes which may still see it go through. I’ll let you know. Next on to the four for today and I promise you it’s horribly difficult.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment. Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

Groovy Times - Wondered when this going to pop up. Never on a Clash album but appeared on the single with Gates of The West. Sadly not the best known Clash song but a classic in it’s own right. It was recorded during the GTER sessions and never made it to the final list for London Calling so got caught in the middle.

The Call Up - This might be one of my most overplayed songs of my youth. I really loved the lyrics and it was one of the first things I ever recorded onto a VHS player also. What a great track and sadly not the ‘hit’ single it deserved to be. I think radio airplay in the States was stifled due to the subject matter which you can’t say about the next song.

Train In Vain - Perhaps the most known Clash song in the USA before Combat Rock. This made the US top 30 in 1980 and became the song that broke the band as a chart act in the world’s biggest record market. Many Clash fans disown this as it was such a straight out pop song – I’m not one of them, despite having heard it thousands of times it’s close to perfection. Easy to sing along to, possible to dance to and not hard for even the most basic guitar player. Though when people call it Stand By Me I get a little knot in my stomach.

The Guns of Brixton - Paul’s biggest Clash moment as far as vocals but what a bloody smashing bass line. The lyrics are simply ideal and the song has such menace that it’s a vital part of London Calling. I can’t imagine the album without this song nor can I image the Clash without Paul.

I told you it was some rotten decisions. So please think these through and cast your selections by Thursday at noon. Thanks in advance…and next time out we have the final songs from round one! (I think). The only way all four songs can remain is lots of votes…so tell your mates.

“You don’t get paid for designing posters or doing the clothes”

Paul Simonon

Good evening, vaguely exciting day as I’m working on another interview that will be exclusive to the Clash Blog. I’ve got some news that needs to be looked at so let’s jump into that.

Regular followers of Mick Jones will remember him being involved last year in a project called ‘Dirty Stop Out’. The music was alright and he seemed to enjoy his live appearances with them (check out youtube). Anyway the project was the musical support side gig of lingerie maker Agent Provacateur. There were a few limited press reports that one half of the ownership of AP had sadly committed suicide over the weekend. I assume Luca Mainardi (he who passed) was an acquaintance of Mick and I’m sure the news was a shock to all around him. I’m not certain if Mick was involved in the album that Dirty Stop Out were currently working on. Joe Corre who was also in the band and is the son of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood. Again, news reports are a bit vague so if I find out more I’ll report it.

Staying with Mick Jones, the on again/off again rumours of a Libertines reunion seem to be heading back to being a non starter. Carl Barat is reporting that the ‘time isn’t right’ for a reunion and that nothing has been planned. Indeed it seems that he is now working on a solo album for the new year. I’d be curious to see the outcome of a Libertines reunion but again I think the window might be closing (as far as it being a good thing to reform).

Ade Edmondson star of cult TV comedy The Young Ones in the early 80′s also falls on my Clash radar this evening. Ade has messed around with guitar since he was a teen (he’s now in his early 50′s) and has now teamed up with Neil Innes (Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and The Rutles fame) to form a makeshift folk band. The story itself is an interesting read and the video (below) is pretty special also.

Nothing to do with The Clash (though there is a Morrissey connection) guitarist for hire Johnny Marr has most recently now joined The Cribs (who I endorse fully). By all accounts everyone is happy with the arrangement but I’ve found Marr’s gypsy like status since the Smiths once of the oddest tales in music. Since parting ways with Mozzer he has worked with The The, The Pretenders, Sinead O’Connor, Billy Bragg, Modest Mouse and formed Electronic with Bernard from New Order. A remarkable career that’s covered brilliantly in this new interview.

Last but by no means least -- I want to wish a speedy recovery to the genius that is Leonard Cohen.

Gotta get to bed….more tomorrow