It’s almost down to 90f in the desert tonight, the ClashBlog dog is looking at me expectantly and demanding we go for a late night wander. Thus I told her let me put together a quick update for the blog and then we’ll see if it’s cool enough out. Yes it’s been that sort of summer where 88f is going to feel pleasant, indeed these are the conversations I have with the dog.

A few updates on the wires that I wanted to share with you this evening because as ever you can find Clash related tales on the interwebs which is good as it keeps you informed and me out of trouble. First up then is a really enjoyable read from the Sabotage Times which takes an extract from ‘Shadowplay – The Rise and Fall of Factory Records’ (I need to buy this book!) and it looks back at the punk/post punk days of the The Factory at The Russel Club in Manchester, Tony Wilson’s live music fledgling venture that had a history so colourful I wish I had a time machine. The extract itself is brilliant and well worth a read if you bought a lot of records in the late 70′s even if you were miles from Manchester. Of course there is a reference/anecdote about The Clash which you’ll find just below the video on the post. Here is a list of the bands that visited just during the second half of 1978 and into 1979:

Magazine, The Fall, The Passage, Ultravox,Wire, Pere Ubu, Ludus and Penetration, while 1979 saw visits from Gang of Four, Crass, Stiff Little Fingers, The Cure, Cabaret Voltaire, Skids, Throbbing Gristle, The Human League, Mekons, Pink Military, The Raincoats, Simple Minds, The Cramps, Teardrop Explodes, Echo and the Bunnymen, B-52s and Joy Division.

Can you even fucking imagine twelve months like that?

I know a lot of you enjoyed the article about Joe Strummer’s daughter Jazz the other day which looked at her cutting edge involvement with the textile industry. It made me smile more than a little (my grandfather was a tailor so clothing/fashion has always had a soft spot with me). Published this week the London Evening Standard also took a look at what the younger Strummer has been up to which you should take a look at.

Dog is now pacing….

Remind me to get back to this but I’m still on my quest to read eighteen books this year, book 13 is called ‘Bloody Confused’ which is about an American sportswriter throwing himself headlong into discovering the joys of proper (futbol, soccer) football when he moves to England. He becomes a supporter of Portsmouth (poor sod) but the book is so far an excellent investment of time and it just so happens that the author is a bit of a Clash nut. The book automatically seems better, even though it’s good anyway. Two glowing references to our boys and I’m only 80 pages in, what a coincidence and one I knew nothing of at the time of purchase. I’ll need to contact him about that when I complete the book.

Right, that should do for now – I will have more soon, time to put the dog in a better mood. Be Good…Tim

Good morning Clash people around the globe and welcome to another Monday. It’s a better Monday this week as it’s apparently a holiday for something or other, perhaps it is to honour idiots like me who live in a climate as hot as Phoenix? A short update this morning and then more tonight is the plan and I thought I’d reintroduce Video Clash as I haven’t done that for quite some time, the idea being that we feature some of the more recently uploaded Clashcentric videos to be found on the internet. I can’t guarantee they will all be new to you but if some or most of them aren’t I’d be failing miserably. Cover versions, odd clips and sometimes rarities stumble into the mix so let’s see what we have today. I need to do this twice per month, I’m going to try for the 5th and 20th, so remind me.

Festival cover versions (strummer festival season). I don’t think it’s my imagination but it seems more and more bands are covering Clash songs in their live sets. I’ve no problem with that especially if a fan of that band decides they might then want to go back and hear/buy the genuine article. The appeal of cover versions depends greatly on your ears I suppose, for the most part I struggle to hear a Clash song without either Strummer or Jones being on hand to deliver the vocals but that shouldn’t detract from the effort/recognition being paid by various acts in 2012. Beneath is Rise Against performing ‘White Riot’ in Leeds last month and below the video are links to some others, good, bad and indifferent but I’ll let you be the judge.

Rise Against – White Riot – Leeds Festival Aug 27, 2011

I.M.F. perform ‘Radio Clash‘ at ‘Concert for a Cure’ in Ontario. Concert for a Cure is a music-based, family fun day to raise Cancer awareness. A group of youth from Six Nations have come together to bring cancer awareness to the surface in this aboriginal community.

Mighty Mighty Bosstones perform ‘Rudie Can’t Fail’ at the Reading Festival. In all honesty I didn’t realise they were still going (sorry).

Glory Days perform ‘Bankrobber’. Never heard of them before but I like the acoustic version all the same, the band Glory Days (no shock) hail from New Jersey. What bands are named after Clash songs, what Clash song would be a good name for a band? I’d go with Hitsville UK or The Ghetto Defendants.

Japanese Band cover ‘Career Opportunities’. I love this mostly because it has such a nice raw sound, sadly I can’t provide much information because needless to say I don’t read Japanese but I know we got a lot of visitors from Japan so please provide some information if you can – I’d appreciate that.

‘Career Opportunities… in Osaka’

‘Lost in the Supermarket’ on piano. Just like it says on the packet, for whatever reason this song lends itself really well to piano and the emotions of the lyrics translate well to the single instrument rather well. If you can listen to this and not sing along or at least here Mick and Joe in your head then you’re a better man/woman than me. All I can tell you about the upload is that it’s from the UK.

Lost in the Supermarket – piano version

Mick Jones covers Elvis (not Costello). Just to make a change here we have Mick covering someone else rather than vice versa, I’d appreciate more information on this clip?

Mick Jones covers Elvis Presley

That’ll be enough for now, please furnish more information, comments and your favourite video from this batch below. Thanks! Tim

Good evening, a late night update from the desert from me(*typing by moonlight and a tall/cold glass of water). I know I owe you part two of the Mick Jones in Minneapolis piece and I will get to that tomorrow. Earlier this evening though I was looking through my records, you remember, vinyl. It struck me as how beautiful album (and even singles) sleeves were, I grabbed London Calling and realised just how much of an impact those 4 pages of lyrics and photos had impressed upon me as a teen.

I hadn’t revisited some of these records for quite a few years, each small black and white photo on the London Calling inner sleeve and the (Ray Lowry) fonted lyrics reminded me of how many hours I’d spent with these pieces of paper all those years ago. While the record was doing it’s thing at 33 1/3 rpm we would sit and look at the record’s artwork. We’d smoke cigarettes and drink cider as we wondered if there was ever going to be anything as important as our records and although I realise I’m supposed to grow out of that I’d still argue that the answer is still no. Nothing mattered as much as music then and I don’t know if anything has ever mattered as much to me since. Through music came a feeling of action, of involvement, of excitement, of possibility and usually a reaction. I looked at the 7″ sleeves of some of The Clash singles I have (so sadly dog-eared now) and the simple but expressive beauty of some of the early Two-Tone singles by The Specials. I found myself shocked at the majestic quality of everything I still own on Factory Records and 4AD, heavier cardboard, beautiful construction, art for the sake of it – and no wonder Tony Wilson couldn’t keep Factory afloat.

I slid the three slabs of Sandinista! out of their sleeve and laughed at the fact that The Clash insisted on making sure the record was affordable so their fans didn’t need to save up to purchase the thing, perhaps a triple album would be their folly but the fans shouldn’t need £15 or $20 to get their latest offering, it was of course marketed (if memory serves) at £5.99 in the UK and $9.99 in the US much to the ire of CBS records, about half of what the label wanted it to cost. The Clash meanwhile had to make peace with CBS by skipping royalties until 200,000 copies had sold, that moment didn’t arrive for more than two decades. I briefly panicked when I couldn’t find my copy of ‘The Armagideon Times’ booklet until I recalled that it was stored away with all my box set stuff.

I quickly looked at Combat Rock and remembered the bittersweet relationship I had with what always felt like an early goodbye from a band I wanted to have beside me for many more years, after The Clash my collection was dominated for a while by acts on Rough Trade, Mute, Factory and Beggars Banquet – my loyalty went to movements and labels (stables?) rather than a single band for a while but The Clash were still my gateway to all of that.

When CDs eventually replaced vinyl I resisted for a while but since felt sorry for those who never had the proper association with having amassed a record collection. Yet now twenty years later with a CD collection in excess of 2,500 titles, I’m told that nobody buys CDs anymore which isn’t true based on my local music shops. Even that is now obsolete and I thought it was hard enough to connect with an artist when the inlay card measured just 5″ x 5″ – is there anything more soulless than a downloaded collection of music then compressed onto your i-pod? Besides which you’re taking a huge hit in sound quality you’re also taking the media down to the lowest common denominator. I put my records back on the shelf with the mixed feeling of sadness but also gratitude for having them in the first place. I might even start a new blog called 144 square inches when I find me some time.