Good Morning London, Lisbon or Lima…or wherever this latest post finds you waking up with coffee and a grin on your face. I’m in fine fettle as I start this post with a strong mug of coffee following a superb Chicken Tikka earlier this evening. I’m beginning this post on Wednesday evening but I think I’ll probably wrap it up tomorrow. I’ve been sorting out my music collection in anticipation of the impending move and I am a bit embarrassed as to how many CDs I’ve got. There’s no excuse for it, some people choose booze or drugs and I’m an addict for music. I should really stop buying CDs. I thought seeing as the weather has been so nice it would be good to get an oil change, clean the windscreen and take a ride along the Westway for the first edition of Westway Traffic – our handy and easy to use guide to various Clash related snippets circulating on the internet. Its our 20th edition so let’s try and get through half a dozen or more along the A40. If you’re new to the idea it’s a series of shorter stories deserving of a mention but probably not an entire post. So…clutch is in so off we go.

Art Expo including London Calling cover shot coming to Allentown: I know we get a great number of readers from eastern Pennsylvania/Philadelphia, so some of you might want to get along to the ‘Who Shot Rock and Roll’ exhibition coming soon to the Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley from Feb. 11 to May 13. The entire exhibit sounds pretty tasty but the original Pennie Smith shots for London Calling will be included. Check the link for more and also the art museum’s site right here.

The 10th Anniversary starts here (on Facebook): Just like it says on the tin – a facebook page looking to honour, celebrate and share in the fact that 2012 marks the 10th year without Joe. The page is off to a nice start and if Facebook is your thing you’ll surely want to take part. I seem some regular faces already. Perhaps the owner of the page can mention this old blog too…

Top 10 films related to Elvis (not Costello) that aren’t Elvis films: From the STL Today website (now we know where to find people in St Louis online) comes a list of the best films related to Elvis Presley. My number one is his number two as Mystery Train which is perhaps Joe Strummer’s best appearance on film finds it’s way to number two on the list and was probably Jim Jarmusch’s finest hour. Its a good list though and I’d recommend all of the top 5 with the exception of Forrest Gump – it’s so long since I saw that and I don’t have great memories of it.

Strummerville Winter sessions down at HQ: I meant to write about this when it was posted last week but…well..it was last week. Here’s the official blurb and the video is beneath that, it is well worth a look & listen.

Here is a short video taken at our Winter Sessions 2011 gig down at our yard. We were thrilled to have Kai Fish (of the Mystery Jets) headlining proceedings alongside some of the fine talent we have supported throughout 2011:

Breadstealers
Gaz Brookfield
Huw Olesker
Hysterical Injury
Leon Fender Walker
She Makes War
The Gun$how
The Promenade

Punk Art expo starts today in Cardiff: A great story from Wales online explains how a then teenage Gerrion Jones traveled around the UK to see as many punk bands as he possibly could from 1976 onwards to escape the prevalent boredom of music at that time. Along the way he’s been carefully collecting and maintaining as much print, press and photographic memorabilia as he can to create what is now quite the archive featuring of course a fair bit of Clash. Happily hes putting it all on exhibit now in Cardiff starting today and running through Feb 2. Details are as follows: Punk Art Forever runs at the Howard Gardens Gallery at the Cardiff School of Art & Design from Thursday, January 12 until Thursday, February 2. The gallery is open Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm. Entrance is free.

Clash letterpress artwork on sale: Sometimes you see a bit of art and think I could do that and you’d probably be half right. Other times you hear music like Coldplay and you think why do they do that and you’d be completely right. As for me I’ve got a minor obsession with looking at creative ways to create art that focuses on The Clash if not the budget to acquire any. Wasted and Wounded have added a series of three punk pieces featuring The Clash, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols now for sale on their site, just click the link at the head of this paragraph.

 Clash and B.A.D. make playlists for Portlandia stars: I’ve never watched Portlandia but heard very good things about the comedy. Hopefully one person reading this can attest to that. I’m more tempted to try and watch it now as a recent piece on Stereogum revealed that the two stars have a musical taste that includes B.A.D and The Clash, even more specifically some knowledge about the bands and songs. In the case of Fred Armisen it was ‘E=MC2′ and for Carrie Brownstein it was ‘Charlie Don’t Surf’ which makes her my new pinup. To be fair she was previously a key member of sometimes good Sleater Kinney and has always been nice enough to look at.

Right then, that should be enough to be going along with. If you happen to visit anything listed above or have other thoughts I’d welcome them. Have a superb later part of the week. Tim

Hello you lot and a warm welcome back to the blog for the very first post of 2012. I prefer odd-numbered years so my expectations are lowered somewhat but if you look at some of the greatest things to happen in the last 30 years they happened in odd numbered years, try it out yourself – pick your 3 favourite moments from that last 20 years and you’ll see that his formula works . I’m not consigning 2012 to the pile of shit years just yet though and seeing as it’s only one full day in that would be a bit unfair but you’ve been warned, drop your expectations a bit. So the new year has arrived and I’d love to say that I didn’t get to writing a new post until January 2nd because New Years Eve was such a heavy evening with endless entertainment, libations and brilliant camaraderie. However I live on Phoenix so you’re expecting too much, the truth is with our move to San Diego to take place later this month the first two days of the new year have been consumed with sorting out just what we keep when we move versus sell or donate. Endless work and tiring as well and after a few days away from work, working tomorrow looks increasingly inviting.

Anyway, I hope your New Years Eve was enjoyable and safe and you didn’t get in a fight or dumped by your lover for example. My resolution this year is to listen to more new music, go and spend time at the ocean at least once a week (effective February) and write more. One of those outlets will be this blog of course so expect a bit more frequency and variety but based on this post so far there might be a modicum of impact to quality. I’ll try not to let that happen though – we’ve a big (albeit not as good as we expect) year ahead of us. For today though I thought I’d look back at the most popular stories in terms of total readership with links to the posts from 2011 on the site starting with January through March:

January 2011 -

‘Big Audio Dynamite – Why I’m Excited about this Reunion’ (Jan 23)

As the year kicked off the rumoured tale of a reformation of B.A.D. was confirmed at last. The on again/off again news was almost certainly delayed by Mick’s extended commitment to Gorillaz in 2010 but conversely I suppose you could argue that touring with Gorillaz convinced Mick that pulling the band together wasn’t such a bad idea. It certainly turned out later in the year that Damon Albarn had suggested to Mick that B.A.D. were in many ways the blueprint for Gorillaz which I think does shine through with the very notable exception of the fact that B.A.D. never used guest vocalists. At the time and as you can read on my original post opinions were very sharply divided amongst Clash fans about the reunion with opinion falling into three main camps. 1 – There were those who couldn’t wait mixed with those who had never seen B.A.D. the first time round, the fact that it was the original lineup also cemented interest. 2 – Those who assumed (incorrectly it turned out) that the shows would be a poor nostalgia trip for a band that were no longer vaguely relevant. A common opinion but one that totally disregards what B.A.D. set out to achieve, so much of it was years ahead of the curve. Then there were those who simply pulled Clash comparisons which was about as useful in 2011 as it was in 1985. Thirdly were those that didn’t think much of B.A.D. in the first place and yes, there still are quite a few in that camp. I’m not one of them as you know, I think the first three B.A.D. albums were amongst the best of that era. Anyone my original post looked at a piece in the Guardian that asked if B.A.D were more influential than The Clash, interesting but not something I’d agree with.

February 2011 -

“Big Audio Dynamite ‘First Photos of the Return” (Feb 21)

Almost a full month after the reunion was confirmed the first photographs of a now more senior B.A.D. made this February’s most popular post. It was a bit like seeing a picture of an old school chum who you’d lost contact (pun) with for many years and then suddenly they friend you on Facebook (I keep having that happen). Of course we all knew how Mick and Don Letts were looking circa 2011 and for some of us we’d kept tabs on the members of Dreadzone but seeing the original lineup for the first time was pretty exciting, even if it reaffirmed that we’d all aged twenty years as well. Getting older is such a strange thing, when you look in the mirror or at your loved ones each day you hardly notice the impact of the months and years but suddenly a contrast photograph from 1986 is going to wake us up. I’m happy to still have all my hair I must say although I wish it were still dark and angry instead of a losing battle with the silver. The coolest things about the photos (linked above) were the band were wise enough to choose the same setting as the PR shots for the debut record so many years back. If memory serves tickets also went on sale in February and the buzz was tangible, as was the rumour of North American dates. A rumour that we again were correct about!

March 2011 -

“B.A.D. add concerts in L.A. and New York, venue promptly catches fire” – (Mar 9)

You’re a consistent bunch, I’ll have to hand it to you as again a B.A.D. related story was the most popular post of the month for the third consecutive time. It’s good to go back and recall what a large amount of expectation surrounded these gigs and it turned out some new music to boot. Better still the live performance seemed to get better and better with the passing years seeming helping the technology whilst also beefing up the guitar sound, especially after than band got tightened up (another BAD pun, how does he do it). All that remains is for me to kick myself firmly in the arse for failing to make it to the gigs in Los Angeles. I’m still regretting that on a grand scale.

Image courtesy the AmateurChemist http://www.flickr.com/photos/amateurchemist/

So there we have the first 3 months of last year, the biggest stories dominated by B.A.D. and the return of a band that lived up to and for many people beyond expectations. Whether there is more to come remains to be seen but I think it’s at least quite possible. More soon including part 2 of the 2011 summary. Tim

Good evening once again and thanks for dropping in to the blog. Depending on how the next 24 hours go this may very well be my final post of 2011 in which case it’s probably not a bad idea to acknowledge the passing of another year into the mists of time. I don’t know about you but I think 2011 has just flown by, it’s been a busy year personally, professionally and here on the blog because of all the activities relating to The Clash which isn’t bad going for a band that wrapped up proceedings such a long time ago. Oddly there’s been more to write about this year than at any time since the band were active with the return of Big Audio Dynamite, another great year for Strummerville and of course the events just this month on the Justice Tonight tour which saw Mick and Paul playing Clash songs together on stage for the first time since WarGames was pulling people (idiots?) into the local cinema. Yes, it really was that long ago.

Joe's New York mural last week

In between the big stories there’s been loads of other events worth covering and our rotating look at Clash news both recent and old and in the New Year I’ll work like mad to continue networking and hopefully keep the blog somewhere worth visiting. Now would be a good time to thank you all for reading, the blog has has almost 400,000 visits this year which is nearly double the total of a year earlier – numbers that I never really expected – but it’d be nice to see us pass the half million mark next year. I couldn’t honestly do it without your help – you know who you are. I’m stuck out in the desert in Arizona and it’s your coverage, guest posts, videos, research and wonderful photos in Europe and all other corners of the world that make the blog as fun as it is. I hope I can count on similar assistance next year. Clash fans are a brilliant bunch, very generous and accommodating not too mention intensely loyal and with strong opinions. I love your comments and debates, opinions and ideas and most of all the shared experience of knowing just what this band still means so many years later. Before writing this blog there were (and remain) a few blogs that I read daily or every other day depending on output and they’ve become as much a part of my daily routine as a cup of coffee and checking my email. I always hoped this blog could become the same and if that’s happened then it’s all been very worthwhile. Thanks for being part of it and I hope you can contribute or join me in the comments or on Facebook & Twitter even more often next year.

Before the year ticks over though I think we should quickly remember that the passing of time also means we head into 2012 without some great people we were very accustomed to having around. These gaps don’t get filled but the spirit and energy of these people can only live on through you keeping them in your hearts and on your lips. To that end a sad goodbye from me to:

Trish Keenan the brilliant singer from Broadcast who died in January from pneumonia at just 42.

We also tragically lost Poly Styrene due to cancer aged only 53. That one hurt.

Amy Winehouse deserved much better than to lose her life aged just 27, a reminder that the media didn’t know what to make of Winehouse except act like voyeurs but she was a young woman with immense talent.

One of the saddest losses was the suicide of Wales football manager Gary Speed who took his own life, if you know someone who struggles with depression never underestimate the difference your friendship and support can make.

Away from music we also lost Christoper Hitchens  – never dull, controversial but a brilliant writer without compare, Socrates (the genius footballer and featured in Clash and B.A.D. songs), Ken Russell who made films that changed the landscape before The Clash were about and we also lost Steve Jobs who ensured people care more about their fucking phones than each other – thanks Steve.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten some important names and there are also the people who were in your everyday lives that some of you have lost – carry them with you. Have a safe and happy New Years Eve wherever you may be spending it and let’s hope that 2012 isn’t the year of the Newt. I’ll be back soon – Tim