Hello and good evening (although it might not be when you read this) welcome back to the blog. Yes I know its been a few days since I squeezed in an update but I took a little break from blogging this week in the hope that I’d recharge my batteries. Instead I found myself spending the evenings listening to a pile of CDs that I’ve purchased recently, attended a concert (Gruff Rhys, he of Super Furry Animals fame) that was simply brilliant and began to study for my Google Analytics certification. If the last part of that sounds incredibly dull it probably is unless you really like numbers and statistics in which case you might enjoy it. I’m also getting into that end of the football season/start of summer vibe so I’ve been getting my bike (not a motorbike) ready for hopefully 50 miles a week of riding which I need to get me out of the house and in fighting shape because of course I expect to get in a fight soon with a Stanglers fan or a random Tea Party supporter. Those bloody tea baggers eh? To add insult to injury Sarah Palin just moved into this very town, as if property prices weren’t low enough as it is. On a lighter note I heard a commentator on the radio today point out that in reality we have slipped back into recession, this wasn’t some paranoid talking head either but a genuine economist with data that supports his statement. Brilliant!

All of which doesn’t begin to get you any closer to news about The Clash does it? When in fact I’ve got quite a bit. I’ve worked out that all too often I try and compile an 800 word post so that your visit feels worthy and as a result I’ve been averaging about 5 or 6 posts a week. Quite good but I’ve always wanted for the blog to be a daily thing whenever possible so I’ve made an unofficial decision to on occasion not wait until there are 3 or 4 topics to cover but instead send out  a shorter three of four hundred word update post which will cover sometimes just one piece of news in more depth. Posts will then be more frequent if sometimes a bit shorter than you are used to. Does that sound good? Even if it doesn’t that’s the plan for the time being. As ever I welcome your guest posts on the blog so if you’d like to write about a Clash memory or a favourite song, concert or bit of trivia that you think that the readers of this corner of the internet might enjoy please get in contact. It doesn’t have to be exclusive about The Clash, you might want to review a concert or album that draws a parallel to the band, you might want to write about the best opening ten seconds of any Clash song ever, or write about the best haircuts ever sported by Mick Jones (first album sleeve to save you time) – I’m open to your suggestions and something that gives more variation than me chirping away daily.

You see I find myself back in the situation where I have half a dozen topics to cover and feel I’m destined to miss something entirely or at best give it short shift (I thought I’d include a link to that phrase as every time I use it in the states people look at me as if I’m the one with the speech impediment, at least I can pronounce ‘otter’ correctly so you know I’m mentioning the river residing little mammal). Speaking of little mammals I wanted to shut up and simply introduce a never before seen (by at least 90% of you) video interview with the four members of The Clash circa 1982 in Auckland, New Zealand. Its so very worth a watch as the video and audio are brilliant quality, Joe plays a few songs, Topper drums on his legs, Mick looks very happy and Paul is cool as the proverbial. The interview is really good and has a touch of foreboding about it as Joe explains that The Clash won’t simply stop or go away. My thanks to Steve for letting me know about the video which originally surfaced on the incomparable Black Market Clash site. Incidentally there is no better resource for tracking every concert/event and live recording in one place than that site. I don’t know how Graham (the site owner) possibly compiled such an amazing level of information but chances are you can settle almost every debate about The Clash via that brilliant website. I consider it the ultimate fact checking site when I’m trying to determine chronology of events or concert information. In fact I’ve tried to find out if Graham would do an interview for the blog about this site/Clash story, he said yes and we’ve yet to schedule it which I understand as he’s a busy chap. I’ll explain why when I get the interview. Anyway please visit his site if you haven’t or even if you have and be sure and say hello on his site. Here’s the video and I’ll be back within 24 hours I hope, see you in the comments.

Interview excerpts with The Clash, Auckland, February 1982

I had a dream last night which featured the unlikely guest appearances of Terry Chimes, Osama Bin Laden and a ginger kid I went to school with when I was about nine years old. He was still nine which was odd and Terry Chimes and he were playing snooker (ginger was losing) whilst OBL seemed to be for the most part busy flirting with the girls in the dream and getting in a round of drinks. The only dialogue I recall was Terry saying that he couldn’t believe he was losing another frame and the in the dream I was more focused on me studying the difficulty of each upcoming shot rather than the unlikely cast of characters that I was watching. One of those observational dreams rather than a talking one so I wasn’t able to ask Bin Laden why his photographs aren’t being released or whether he had the taste of salt water in his mouth. (in case you were wondering).

image courtesy R E Aaron

I thought as its relatively early in the evening I would compile some Clash odds and sods for you tonight, and then tomorrow we should have another guest post followed by some of the standard updates than have been lacking of late. First of all the video linked here from the unlikeliest of sources Reuters which is a very short clip about the B.A.D. reunion including a brief chat with Mick Jones, the chap doing the voice-over not only reads his script like he had just heard of The Clash and Mick Jones about 3 minutes before reading the piece but his phrases include immortal cliches such as ‘rock and roll guitar and decidedly English vocal stylings’. It’s as if you took the lyrics from Safe European Home and asked your grandfather to read them aloud and with conviction. I know they say any press is good press but if you previously thought Reuters were square this will only confirm those 90 degree angles.

Another video then for you which I’d never seen before this week. When The Clash played the Jamaica World Music Festival in Montego Bay on Nov 27, 1982 it was part of a 3 day event that combined rock, pop, soul and reggae artists. The festival never became the annual event it was hoped to become but was surely a dream trip for the band, especially Paul Simonon who may have still harboured annoyance from his previous exclusion on the songwriting expedition by Mick and Joe back in 1978. Particularly when you remember much of the reggae influence and relative expertise within the band came from Paul’s earlier days. While the great audio recording of the event has long been available online and off I had not seen this before although read that it was in existence. The whole event was broadcast live on TV at the time in Jamaica and this 4 minute clip was evidently made as part of a special documentary for Canadian television. If anyone knows if the entire VHS is still in existence I’d love to know. Not fantastic video quality but that doesn’t outweigh that it’s still a rare and priceless piece.

Clash footage from the Jamaica World Music Festival, November 1982

Not to go back to the well but on this occasion I’m going to have to do so. You may remember a few days ago that cut and paste/chaotic and rather unsentimental piece in The Sun about the death of Poly Styrene and punk artists in general. The bad article just got worse with an addendum by none other than Alan McGee. For decades I’ve had a lot of respect for Alan McGee, his eye for talent and dedication to Creation Records and many of the the acts who excelled under his guidance can’t be ignored. He has an amazing history and was one of the most influential people involved with British indie music in the 1980′s. If I look back to what I was listening to in 1985 a huge percentage of my favourite acts were either discovered or promoted by McGee. Under normal conditions I could write chapters about all the times I’ve considered him crucial and I still do, which helps alleviate the blurb he added to the original column. You can check it for yourself here but essentially it opens with him lamenting the loss quite rightly of so many leading lights from the punk period but he also puts it down to their lifestyle. It could be a misquote I suppose but I don’t associate the loss of the specific people he mentions, namely “Joe Strummer, The Ramones, Tony Wilson and Malcolm McLaren” with the excesses of their lifestyles.

These were pretty uniformly untimely deaths from diseases and health issues were they not? We’re not looking at people found dead in car wrecks, suicides or with needles sticking out of their arms. Perhaps he means the fast paced life of gigging, touring and recording meant that time caught up with them but in that case why not say that. Perhaps I’m over-sensitive to it, but Joe’s death along with many of the other names we could reel off always seemed such bloody bad luck more than self prescribed. Not to demean cancer or a pre-existing heart condition but aren’t these really the random cards we are dealt to some extent? Not every smoker gets cancer, not every drinker has liver trouble, nor does every cancer sufferer smoke two packs a day. These are tragic diseases we should continue to support the research to combat and prevention of rather than be glib about who was dealt some sort of ‘consequence’. I have seen too many people die from cancer to see it any other way. Alan McGee you remain a brilliant chap but your words could have perhaps been chosen/quoted differently, say it ain’t so Alan. Then again it’s The Sun, why talk to them in the first place?

I’m also thinking about restructuring the ongoing Clash Landmarks series on the blog. I’ve got some ideas I’ll share soon and I’m hoping some of you can help me in far flung cities and countries. Lastly I really hope that the UK gets it right the the Alternative Vote referendum today but as you can tell here, I’ve got major doubts. More tomorrow and let me know what you think of the video and whether I’m getting the wrong end of the stick with Mr. McGee in the comments (you know…down below…so I don’t get an echo when I type). Cheers – Tim

Well hello again and thank you for your return visit to the blog or perhaps this marks the very first time visiting in which case it’s ever so sweet of you to spend Valentine’s Day evening with me, I hardly know you and you really shouldn’t have. A fairly ordinary Monday is moving towards sunset here and the weather suddenly thinks it’s early April which means I’ve got to see if I need new shorts for the spring. Fascinating stuff eh?

Three quick updates and then I thought it was time to update our ongoing collection of videos that hopefully you haven’t already seen with another installment of video Clash for your viewing/listening pleasure. Firstly I was pleased to here back from The Subway Gallery in London which I spoke and wrote about in recent posts, hopefully it looks as if the lease may well be renewed and closure not as imminent as at first feared. If anything changes on that front I’ll let you know in the meantime if you are near Edgware Road tube station be sure and check out the ‘Joe Strummer Subway‘, incidentally the photograph to the left which I hope you can read (click on it to zoom) adorns the wall where the subway is. Personally I think they should just rename the entire tube station or better still the Metropolitan line from Hammersmith on up could just be called The Clash line. Another interesting trend I’ve noticed on twitter in recent days is just how many people are referencing Joe and The Clash in relation to what has happened in Egypt in recent days, I think it speaks volumes that people would associate such landmark events with The Clash rather than The Blackeyed Peas. Finally a reminder that there is still time to enter the competition to win the Joe Strummer tribute DVD as mentioned on Friday’s podcast, just click on this link to learn more about that and hear the rather easy to answer question that puts your name in the proverbial hat to win one of three DVDs that are being given away. Good luck with that, I’ll be doing the random drawing at the end of the week. Now let’s see what comes through on the old videos since last time.

Topper Headon contributed to a film that I missed last year: I’m not quite sure how I missed the news on this one but better late than never. In 2010 an independent film that celebrated the career of Henry Padovani was released and in addition to featuring his former bandmates in The Police Sting and Stewart Copeland the film also features the recollections of Topper Headon as you’ll see from the clip. Padovani was to The Police what Keith Levene was to The Clash, an early guitarist who left the band just before they made their breakthrough. Thus it seems a bit far-fetched that the film would be dedicated to his time with and after The Police but he did go on to have a successful career of his own – the film was titled ‘Rock n Roll…Of Corse!’ (spelling err on purpose). The premise for the film sounds quite interesting, I wondered if anybody had actually seen it as the reviews from Cannes last year were favourable. It also opens up a can of worms that could see a 101′ers film eventually made especially if that time period isn’t fully explored in the forthcoming Joe Strummer biopic. Speaking of which did you hear the news that Julien Temple is now going to be working on a Marvin Gaye bio?

Big Audio Dynamite interview on Rapido 1989: There’s a chance you may have seen this before but I only show recently been uploaded again to YouTube. I’d almost forgotten television show R R Rapido and I’m sure I never saw this interview with Mick Jones and Don Letts in Liverpool at the time that Megatop Phoenix was released. The video runs for over five minutes and includes live clips, interviews and of course a brilliant collection of hats. Jim Jarmusch also features as he was involved at the time with directing a video for the band. It’s also one of the rare times that Mick’s serious illness in 1988 was discussed in a video interview that I’m aware of, the highlight might be Mick’s face as he watches Don at the end of the video.

Sara Milonovich covers Johnny Appleseed: One can find literally hundreds of bands doing cover versions of various Clash or Joe Strummer tracks with a chap on the microphone I don’t often come across a cover version with a female vocalist. Therefore I included this cover of Johnny Appleseed partly for that reason but also because it’s such a major reworking of the original song. Performed by Sara Milonovich and Daisycutter at The Living Room in New York. Sara Milonovich, vocals and fiddle / Greg Anderson, guitar / Andy Goessling, mandolin / Leo Traversa, bass / Steve Holloway, drums. More information on Sara is available here.

Epic collection of Clash bootlegs & rarities: If you are a serious collector of live Clash recordings and then chances are you’re already familiar with this chap (I regret I don’t have his actual name sure someone can provide it for me) but his collection and more information is listed under Sharoma.com. He’s now taken it in extra step by putting together three videos that in total run for about 40 minutes covering his collection of rare vinyl and recorded concerts that he has gathered over the years. Lots of things you probably haven’t seen before and definitely worth visiting his website as well as linked above and he does offer to send out plain CD-R copies of much of the collection. I swear I need more hours in my life to maintain and enjoy such a comprehensive collection of live recordings of The Clash but this is a great place to start. Video one is below whereas two and three are linked directly from his website.

That should be enough to keep you busy for now, I’ll be back with more tomorrow I’m sure. Cheers – Tim