Good morning you terrific people and welcome back the The Clash Blog, I really couldn’t be in finer fettle this morning as Arsenal won, Chelsea lost and suddenly the season is looking ever so chirpy again. If you don’t follow football ignore that as I do have a very brief bit of news and if you live in England you need to mark your calendars for Sat January8th, 2011. Yes our first 2011 event, even writing that seems a bit odd as 2000 once seemed so far in the future (you remember!) and now we’re about to hit 2011. Incidentally I hope you refer to the year ‘twenty eleven’ or ‘eleven’  and not ‘two thousand and eleven’ it makes no sense at all and its been a pet peeve of mine now for about a decade. Nobody called The Clash song one thousand, nine hundred and seventy seven did they? Think about it – the same bloody logic applies.

The place to be Jan 8th, Strummer night in Brighton

Right, well…an event then, as you know we are heading for the holidays which means a significant number of Joe Strummer events will be adding to the calendar around that time as we try and make a good fist of the sad memory of Joe’s death in December, 2002. I can’t say that it gets any easier each year at all for me and I usually struggle a lot right around that time – celebrating his birthday seems far more of a buoyant thing but I do think his passing must be honoured too. Like so many of you that I see on Facebook you seem to celebrate Joe every single day (you know who you are) which I think is equally great and apt. Yes…the event, on the South Coast of England sits Brighton, perhaps the hippest small town in England and just a short train ride from London. The Victorian buildings and pebble beach have been upstaged in recent decades as Brighton has become a bit of a celebrity enclave and supports a very active music scene too. When I were a lad its where old people went for a cup of tea and cake while taking in the bracing sea air. In Brighton on January 8th the annual ‘Joe Strummer Remembrance Night’ will be taking place with admission running at £12.00 at The Komedia. Here’s a link to the official blurb and the details are below also:

Saturday 8th January 2011
The Komedia ‘ 7pm
Gardner St, Brighton BN1 1UN
Tickets £12.00 from:
www.komedia.co.uk
Phone Bookings on 0845 293 8480

With all proceeds to Strummerville, the Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music, the line up for the night comprises Clash tribute Rebel Truce, The Sex Pistols Experience and the sounds of Radio Clash from The Boiler. The 22nd December will mark the eighth anniversary of the untimely death of Clash front man, political agitator and world-wide inspiration Joe Strummer. In January 2003, just days after Joe’s death, a group of Brighton fans of Joe, young and old, put together a small event to mark his passing and to celebrate the life of this inspirational musician and campaigner. Saturday 8th January 2011

I’ve linked the address and website above and will add to the events page – I hope some of you will be able to get along to the seaside and pay respect as you should. Back soon – Tim

Good Morning everyone, it would be best if I don’t say much this morning as I’m thoroughly pissed off with Arsenal losing at home to Newcastle…I mean really. A perfect opportunity to change the tune however exists with part 2 of Shannon’s story about Mick, Paul and seeing Gorillaz in New York at the David Letterman appearance. Part 1 is required reading and the link is right here and then I’ll just leave you in the capable hands of Shannon who is in the midst of the first song of the evening…..

The song ended and for a moment I stood there surveying the stage trying to take it all in. Before me were Mick and Paul, something I was just a few short years too young to ever have witnessed when The Clash were still together. I thought a moment about all the memories that existed between the two of them, memories beyond what is known and written, and it was really quite something to have my first time seeing them reunited on such a small stage and so close. It was truly a moment I’ll treasure throughout my lifetime. And this is where the coherent words begin to fail. Watch the webcast if you haven’t already, and just know it was every bit as exciting as it looks (then multiply times ten, television may add pounds, but it also reduces excitement factor when all said and done). Damon launched into full on performance mode for the entire night, dancing wildly, sweating fiendishly, and conducting his mad circus of performers and audience members, whipping everyone into a complete whirlwind of excitement. They all played their hearts out, and we danced our asses off. And all the while, we knew the world was watching, including our family and our kids. It was truly surreal in so many ways.

We could see the set list on the floor in front of us, and finally when “Feel Good Inc.” was over, we knew there was only one song left. Noooooo! But it was “Clint Eastwood.” If you’ve watched the webcast, you’ll know that is when the final frenzy occurred. All hell broke loose, and we jumped headlong into the chaos on stage. Then, it was over. There was a brief dash for the stage as people began asking for things from the stage, mainly the set lists. My sister asked for one, but it was intercepted in the process. At that moment I noticed an upside down button on the stage. Somehow I knew to look at my bag and noticed mine was gone. It was my Strummerville pin (*editors note=badge), and it must have come of in the thick of things. I called to one of the security guards but at first he thought I was asking for something from the band, so he semi listened but didn’t do anything until I finally yelled “that’s my pin up there!” I got it back thankfully, and then we were out the door.

After the show:

We headed outside and walked to the side of the building to see who was around. Equipment was being lugged out the side stage door, and crew was all over the place. A few people from the audience were hanging around, but not many. Bit by bit we began to see people come through the side stage door. Yukimi Nagano was talking to someone, and then was gone. Bootie Brown came and went quickly. Members of De La Soul were hanging out, and CBS staff were milling about. I was actually surprised at how few audience members were there, so talking to everyone was very relaxed and so casual that it almost bordered on feeling intrusive being there. Finally, a few more fans gathered around outside near us, and I think only because he felt like what he was supposed to do, one of the CBS staff asked everyone to move off the side and away from the door, and pointed to an area about 3 feet away from where we were standing. Ady and I chuckled at the fanfare that was made of moving us such a short distance. But it was now that I was starting to get nervous because I knew I was most likely going to be meeting somebody, whether it be Damon Albarn, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon or Jamie Hewlett . . . I tried to pretend to myself that I wasn’t, but there was no getting around it in the end.

Somehow, through all of that however, I knew that if it was anyone, I had to meet Mick Jones. My nervousness translated into me becoming single-minded and I just basically declared that I had to talk to Mick Jones. Had to! Looking back it’s all very amusing to me now, and much to the credit and kindness of Maseo from De La Soul, he saw my determination and indulged me (in all honesty, probably with a bit of a hint of amusement on his part) and called over to my sister and I and told us to hang low by him to help deflect any further shooings from the staff. We thanked him and discussed the show, telling him that we enjoyed ourselves so much it ridiculous, which he seemed truly pleased to hear. My sister asked him what it was like performing for such a small audience, and he said it was great, the smallest they’d ever played together for with Gorillaz, and that they were all having a blast together on the tour. It was nice to hear that.

Jamie Hewlett came out for a bit after that. Jamie, I have admiration for on an entirely different level than I do for Mick Jones, and for Damon Albarn. As an artist, his territory is much more familiar to me and I feel that I have at least some common foothold in his world, or at least feel that I can speak the same creative language. For this reason I think, I was actually able to hold a regular conversation, thankfully. We also had a couple photos taken with him, which we did not look at until he was gone. They are priceless, every bit as comically demented as his art work, with my sister and I playing part of the straight man. I put one of them on my desk and laugh every single time I look at it.

Then very casually, Mick Jones was there……

Thanks again Shannon…it’s really a great read and part 3 might be the most enjoyable of all which I’ll have posted soon.  Tim

Hello again good people, I had the best intentions about getting a post out this morning but the day was so nice that sitting in front of a computer seemed a bit harsh, although I did spend 2 hours in the company of Arsenal…that was nice as we edged Man Citeh 3-nil. Good times indeed. So I’ve got a good audio link for you tonight and a video also, so that will keep you occupied and save me from typing too much although the usual tendency of babbling on is hard to break. I’ve nearly finished that Marcus Grey book about London Calling so will have a review of that within the next week or so and I also need to review the NME special, the feature in Uncut and the Big Audio Dynamite reissue. When I first started this up I wondered if there would be enough to cover and really I feel like I’m having to defer and delay a lot of things all the time…I never imagined that!

First things first, a really entertaining interview took place with Paul Simonon and Damon Albarn when Gorillaz were in Minneapolis. I can’t recommend this one highly enough; it runs about 20 minutes and contains a few tracks but better still the time spent by the host Mark Wheat is split just about evenly between Paul and Damon. Paul is in sparkling form, funny, observant and more than that enjoying himself. Mark knows his subject well which adds to the value of the chat. You’ll get to the bottom of the submarine crew apparel for once and for all as these two are the main culprits. Any of that cynicism I remember reading about this ‘partial Clash’ reunion on Damon’s cartoon driven beat (not my words) I think ebbing away from even the most hardened observer now. Jones and Simonon are not only enjoying themselves but feel they are part of a very special band and contributing to it – not just collecting a cheque. I tried for an age to embed the audio file on the blog but something wasn’t meshing correctly and I waited for a reply to a technical inquiry all day but nothing was forthcoming – so instead I’ll need to give you a link to it. Forgive Damon stuffing his face full of something during the interview, horrible lack of manners. The interview link is here and was conducted by Mark Wheat on 89.3FM Minneapolis Public Radio – The Current.

From there I need you to sit back and watch a video, I really hope you haven’t seen this before, I hadn’t but I know some of you have seen everything! When I look back at The Clash, The Jam, The Specials and so many other bands in video and photographs from 1977-1982  there was always more than a bit of style on display. A band’s look was not the be all end all but for me there was something great about record sleeves and concert photos from that era. Sometime in the 1980′s the new romantic scene came into play and haircuts and clothing become more than a bit daft but in many cases the most important thing about a band. That seemed to heighten during the first half of the decade and got worse and worse (or better and better I guess). If you’re my age (born ’67) or older I bet you’ve looked back at photos of you and your friends from the 1980′s and thought aloud ‘what was going on there then?’. It seemed to reach absurd levels round about 1984 and that’s exactly when this video was filmed. When you think of The Clash you generally think about the epitome of cool, from Paul’s art influence to New York Gangster threads or 1940′s era hoodlums The Clash always looked pretty bloody great on stage. Arguably when combat gear took front stage in ’82 and ’83 they became a bit too colourful but the age of MTV and videos had arrived and The Clash were still cutting their own unique path. Now I don’t blame Mick Jones for what followed – the fashion police apparently went on an extended holiday in the mid 80′s and Jones with the newly formed Big Audio Dynamite were fully into baseball caps and New York street wear, whether it was being bought on Harrow Road or shipped from Brooklyn is in doubt but I know there were dodgy fashion crimes happening everywhere in London at that time.

Regardless, the video is interesting and entertaining all at once. It’s apparently filmed in Mick’s basement and features a demo/extended version of Sudden Impact from the debut album. Based on the level of completion it was from the final recording process which would place it in the summer months of 1985. What is obvious is that they are having a laugh, lip syncing and to some degree seeing where the band would go visually. Nor were the guitars plugged in, they were having a laugh for the most part. I saw Big Audio Dynamite at least three times in those first couple of years and they were definitely experimenting constantly, with sounds, lyrics, influences and also aware that housing a ‘former Clash star’ carried a unique level of expectation. As much as the press said that B.A.D. were where The Clash may have headed I think once Mick had the band formed the shackles were off to experiment with everything and anything plus within that mix was Don Letts encouraging a cinematic feel. Whether Big Audio Dynamite were quite as  innovative as I think they were can be debated but you can’t suggest they didn’t make a very important contribution to what followed musically. Actually on repeat viewing the wall behind features photos from the album’s artwork meaning the video was probably shot in October or November 1985.

B.A.D. – Sudden Impact remix

I’ll be back tomorrow with lots to get through…thanks for visiting and be good. Tim