Good evening and welcome back to the blog. Hope all is well and if you’re in the UK that all is calm. Another day of tension in England it would seem and although London was seemingly quieter it seemed a lot of the troubles instead occurred in Manchester, the West Midlands and Nottingham. I’d be lying if I said it hasn’t been a major distraction this week and working from home on a computer having a newsfeed or radio stream in the background has been a constant. Interesting but distracting. I know I warbled on at length about this earlier so I will cut it short on this post but thanks for so many excellent opinions on the last blog post. I must say that now that England is four days into this chaos you really start wondering what the solution is. The UK has a long history of community policing with moderate use of force (debatable I realise) but it simply doesn’t seem to be working this week, nor can the service provide 16,000 men to London each night. However, if a radical change to that approach is decided upon it is really difficult perhaps impossible to ever return to the way things were. Thus now the blame game begins while the looting and burning continues. While none of this is overtly political there are of course underlying facts that the economics and the economy produce. Underneath all of that as Pete said earlier ‘rioting is fun’ and having been involved in a fair few myself it genuinely is, although I never saw it as a chance to steal. I remember all of this being predicted by so called radicals after the last election but in truth it wasn’t a radical prophecy nor an avoidable one sadly. Something’s got to give but I don’t see a solution on the tip of anyone’s tongue. One smart observer noted that a few rainy nights would slow things down to a great extent and as daft as that sounds it’s probably true. This won’t go on for months and the root issues won’t get addressed – but the UK may end up with a complete change to the approach of law and order.

Enough of that for now. I did want to link to the ridiculous story (fact) that much of the official advertising for the 2012 Olympics will feature the track London Calling. Can you think of a less appropriate use for the song? I think that it’s one of best songs ever written and will never tire of it but the lyrics do anything but invite you to London. It might contain some of Joe’s greatest lyrics of all but they speak of a city and a world shrouded in risk and doom. This was all in the shadow of the Cold War, Three Mile Island, inner city tensions and a society collapsing in on itself. Funnily enough it has more relevance to this week riots than the bloody Olympics but somehow it has become a theme song – just don’t examine the lyrics. The best piece I’ve seen or heard on this so far occurred on NPR (public radio in the US). Below I have the full four minute piece as broadcast, courtesy NPR. As it happens I’ve yet to hear or see the adverts. If you can and care to share with us please do so.

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NPR feature on London Calling as an Olympic invitation

I started writing this piece last night and it’s now the night after (Wednesday) and time escaped me not for the first time. We’ve got gig reviews and some inside scoop stuff to share in the next 48 hours as well as The Clash making the cover of the NME. The timing was of course intentional. More on that tomorrow, until then please enjoy this video of B.A.D. performing in Minneapolis earlier in the week. Until then go easy…..Tim

BAD – E=MC2 Minneapolis Aug 7, 2011

Morning…it’s an eggs and bacon/black coffee sort of morning I think. Then some more coffee, perhaps some extra bacon, a bit of toast and then a lot of water. Perhaps I’ll take a nap as well, just to be sure.

I’d love to give you a full report of the B.A.D. performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago yesterday but alas I was out kicking a football around in the heat instead so I can’t tell you much beyond what I’ve read this morning. Good reports again, a decent length set with the tracks we’d expect. I’ll seek out some video over the next day or two. What has surfaced online courtesy of WXRT in Chicago is a fairly extensive interview with Mick and Don that was filmed before the appearance yesterday evening. WXRT also published some cool photos linked here. It’s funny, interesting and I hope gives you a sense of how much they are enjoying the reunion. Especially Mick insisting it ‘wasn’t that long’ before he was once again friends with the other members of The Clash after he ‘was sacked’. That plus insisting on still calling Gorillaz – ‘The Gorillas’ Don Letts as ever exudes cool and I’m so glad to see them getting more exposure although XRT might want to send someone along next time who has done a tiny bit of homework.

If you saw the gig please by all means let us know what you thought and how the festival was – did B.A.D. pull a big crowd? In a Clash friendly city like Chicago I’m hoping so. I’ll have more later on if I get time by for now I hope you enjoy this.  Tim

Good afternoon, another warm one in the desert. I’m just watching Arsenal playing in Portugal with Russian commentary. Talk about global-a-go-go. I found myself listening to Streetcore last night, three times in a row. First time I’ve done that in years with that album.

When the album came out in 2003 I must confess I was still far too downhearted about the loss of Joe Strummer to properly enjoy the album, it was more a case of a record to mourn with and to feel sad or even despondent about. The entire year was darkened by the events late in 2002. I’m sure others instead rejoiced with it but for many years the album while I knew it was good only served to make me feel hollow. Until more recent times the best I could say for Streetcore was that the Mescaleros along with Lucinda Strummer did an amazing job at pulling together partially completed songs and make them release worthy. The sessions were at their very earliest stages and yet the album sounded hauntingly complete. Since Joe passed away I’ve always been more likely to listen to the first two albums with the Mescaleros. I think mostly for sentimental reasons, you know how you associate albums with a certain time? Those three years before Joe died were the most exciting time to be a Strummer follower since the days of Combat Rock in my opinion. He’d found a band (especially by the time of Global) who complimented him and expanded on his goals for the music, the layers of sound and the flow of ideas. Skilled, adaptable and flexible Joe even told Bob Gruen that he felt the Meskys were the most talented group of musicians he’d ever worked with. That is quite an accolade but I think there are a number of reasons to properly consider that statement. As he approached fifty he had (ironically) more fully taken on a characteristic of Mick Jones – pull on your influences and experiment to your hearts content. He found musicians who would take that path as freely as he dare. It resulted in some remarkable music. What hurts is that I have every suspicion that the best was yet to come from Joe’s “second busy phase” of activity, the band had found their feet on Global-A-Go-Go and you felt that they would go on to produce even more remarkable albums very soon.

It was a great time – Joe was touring almost constantly and having a brilliant time with it. Giving loads of interviews and seemingly finding himself comfortable (perhaps to his own surprise) in the shoes of punk’s senior statesman. What made that even better was he was humble enough to acknowledge just how much other music continued to not just influence but truly impress him. He also understood that as the writer of some of the greatest songs ever whilst with The Clash that there was nothing wrong with working or reworking some of those songs into his then live set. Can you even imagine what sitting in on a session in the studio must have been like those last few years when Joe knew he had found a pack of guys to play with that could build upon the sounds he wanted?

You’ll also probably remember there were rumours floating around in 2004/5 that there was quite a lot of music left on the tapes in the studio. Uncompleted songs and experiments that never became a finished article. At that time rumours were that Lucinda was going to work with Sony and Damien Hirst to get some of these songs released. Then the rumours died down until last year. At that time Lucinda revealed that ultimately a book with sketches, notes and song ideas from Joe would eventually be released. Something for the collectors then and again with the involvement of Hirst.

Streetcore remains an album forever associated with the final chapter of Joe’s life, seen as that it’s strong, full of fire and invention. Seen as an album without a date stamp it might have been the best Mescaleros album of all if fate didn’t intervene that December afternoon. An unfinished masterpiece or another bold step forward. Either way we weren’t ready for the floodgates to be closed so unexpectedly and suddenly. When I feel brighter thoughts about Joe I feel thankful that he met Richard Norris and started working with him again in the first place, a reawakening of Joe’s need to write and a rebuilding of his confidence that led to those last wonderful years. It’s plausible to consider that without the part Richard Norris played that Joe might have stayed on the sidelines. I’m thankful that we have those great records to still listen to. Tim

Coma Girl – Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros