Hello good Clash people and thanks for entering your demographics (without me even asking) over on the Clashblog FB page. Nice to see we range from 16-60 and from every corner of the globe. What a diverse bunch you are ~ I wouldn’t have it any other way! When I wrote on July 4th about the anniversary of the first ‘official’ Clash concert in Sheffield it reminded me how fun the “Clash Landmarks” series had the potential to be. I wanted to write about locations where The Clash played or recorded or somehow had a significant part to play in the history of the band. So I’ll get back to writing the Clash Landmarks series tonight and try and cover a venue every couple of weeks or so. I’ll be the first to confess I don’t know everywhere like the back of my hand so I might need your help with Cleveland and Paris, Vancouver and Bristol. If you want to be part of the circulation of information get in touch….all hands on deck.

The Screen on The Green in modern times

For tonight though let’s look at the venue where The Clash played their third ever concert and second proper gig. It has special significance to me as I’ve been in there a number of times and spent every other Saturday for much of my life less than a mile away at Highbury watching Arsenal play. That part of North London changes dramatically in just a short distance. The area around Finsbury Park is neither glamorous nor down-market, terraced houses sit on congested roads down towards the former home of theold  football club. Beyond Arsenal to the South I spent part of many match days in the Highbury Barn and as you walk slightly uphill toward Islington proper the homes get more stately along with the shopping and dining options. Highbury Park cedes to Highbury Grove and then a short jaunt West finds you at the top of Upper Street, Islington. Halfway down Upper Street sits the Screen on The Green and when I was old enough to know a bit better I couldn’t walk or ride a bus pass without thinking “That’s where The Clash started out”. Back in the summer of 1976 I had no such clue however, the nearest I got was Arsenal’s ground. I had just turned 9 years old and one of my clearest memories from that age was going to see Arsenal at their first home match of the new season. It was a really hot Saturday afternoon and I remember being crushed that we lost 0-1 to newly promoted Bristol City, new signing Malcolm McDonald didn’t score and the Bristol City goalkeeper shared my last name. I felt betrayed and dismayed all at the same time as the high hopes of a 9 year old boy came rudely crashing down in just a few hours. I even found a video with the highlights of the match that day.

The entrance roof above the marquee

Fate was crueler than I even knew at the time as just 8 days later on August 29th The Clash played their first proper London concert just down the street in Islington. If I was but 5 or 6 years older I’d like to think I’d have been amongst that audience, the reality is I probably wouldn’t have been there as The Clash were barely heard of at that time, Joe Strummer still better known for his former outfit the 101′ers than this new collection of punks. The Screen on The Green doesn’t belie it’s title – it was a cinema first and foremost and has now returned to that role but in the 1970′s and beyond it hosted a number of concerts including this significant run out by The Clash. The building itself is not significant but I always found the neon marquee lights on a wet London night to be most enticing. The setting is notable amongst the shops of Upper Street, looking like a small ship has moored off the main street,  the pavement around it beckons you in as I’m sure was the intent when it first opened as the Empress Electric Theatre.

The Empress Electric Theatre opened in October 1913 following a commission by architects Boreham & Gladding. The original design hosted seating capacity for 600 on a single floor. The original name didn’t last and was soon renamed Empress Picture Theatre. After the war a refurbishment lowered seating to 541 and a new name as it became the Rex Cinema in 1951. The Rex closed on 29th June 1970, but was bought by Romaine Hart’s Mainline Pictures Group of Screen Cinemas, who re-opened it on 13th September 1970 as the Screen on the Green – first film was Robert Redford in “Downhill Racer”.

In February 1981 a huge modernization took place adding significant foyer space, something the original lacked. There was a price to pay as capacity shrunk further to 300. Screen Cinemas ran the venue until 2008, when it was then sold to the Everyman Media Group. As you can see by the photos it wasn’t the most glamorous venue in London but the interior has a great barrel ceiling and the exterior borders on an art-deco feel although it predates that style of construction by about a decade. In part two we’ll have a quick look at the gig itself with The Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks. Audio from the night in question is over on the top right of this page. If you ever went to The Screen please add your recollection in the comments….

The famous neon at The Screen on The Green

Thanks for swinging by – Tim

Hello – sorry for no updates in a few days….from what we thought were minor plumbing repairs a major part of our house is being demolished and replaced. So…with no access to our kitchen and 70% of our shower/toilet etc rooms we’ve been scrambling to get things fixed and come up with the funds needed. Its been a mental week…but at least Arsenal came back from the dead against Barcelona on Wednesday evening…that was the highlight of my week. I’ve had little time to blog – but will get back on track shortly.

Balcony viewing at the Carnival

In the meantime – Don Letts is back on the front page here at the blog. Carnival – his well received film about the Notting Hill Carnival is getting a North American debut this June at the NXNE festival in Toronto. Find out more about the festival here and I’d recommend bookmarking it as the confirmed bands will be added to the site in the weeks ahead. Notting Hill is an huge part of West London life, I can’t tell you highly enough that you have to get along there one Summer if you never have. As far as The Clash you all know that tensions ran high in the hot Summer of 1976, and the violence witnessed by Joe Strummer that day led him to write the lyrics to White Riot.

More soon – thanks for stopping in – back soon with some cool memorabilia, vintage videos and lots of other updates.

Cheers – Tim….and oh….Cesc Fabregas – you’re a fucking legend mate.

Good Morning, hope you are in good spirits this weekend? I’ve had better weeks and then my chosen football club allowed a 92nd minute goal yesterday which confirmed a bad 3 day spell. If you are from Birmingham or support BUFC please take my frustration with you on this day (especially Aston Villa who rolled over for Chelsea to allow seven (!) goals at the bus stop in Fulham). Enough about me and football let’s instead focus on some Clash related news as its decidedly more upbeat.

Don Letts interviewing Joe Strummer

Where to begin then? I need to thank a Clash Blog reader named Anja for sending in news of the documentary about Don Letts that is coming out this Summer. Its titled ‘Superstonic Sound – The Rebel Dread documentary’ and based on the preview it looks excellent. Every single time a film like this gets made I start lamenting I don’t live in the UK, New York or Los Angeles as seeing independent films in much of the US can be a serious challenge at best. The film is scheduled to be previewed at the Roundhouse in London on June 7th, the official tag for the film is a Documentary film on Don Letts and his family legacy. From Dub To Punk; A journey with the legendary DJ who witnessed Britain’s Culture Clash. The paths of the The Clash has been nicely intertwined now for over 30 years and it looks to be a film that Clash fans will want to see. Read a lot more via the official site – here is the overview:

Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. “Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread” is a documentary about the Letts family legacy that mirrors the history of BASS in the UK from Dub, Reggae and Punk to 80s pop, Hip Hop and Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal link between past and present. Don’s father was amongst the first Jamaican immigrants to Britain and he brought his sound system with him, introducing London to Jamaican Dub with its heavy BASS accent.

Don grew up in Brixton, immersed in Dub and Reggae. In the context of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech and KBW – Keep Britain White – grafitied across the walls of London, Don became the lone Rebel Dread crossing musical and cultural boundaries between black and white. He became DJ at the first Punk club, the legendary “Roxy” where in between live Punk sets, he played hard core Dub-Reggae and fortunately for him…

“The Punk kids liked it. They liked the obvious anti-establishment vibe, they liked the BASS lines and they didn’t mind the weed either.”His son Jet, now 24, is trying to make it as a DJ and producer of Dubstep – the latest sound in British music and a direct descendant of Dub, Reggae and Hip Hop. If Reggae was black music and Punk was white guys influenced by Jamaican music, Dubstep is perhaps the first true combination of black and white musical and cultural traditions in today’s post-racial London.

Three generations of DJ; the Letts family has been an integral part of British music for over 50 years. Their story IS the story of BASS in British music.

The preview should get your blood flowing too !

Many of us enjoyed the Mick Jones Rock and Roll public library last summer under the Westway. Whether you were able to attend personally or viewed the many videos and articles (we did quite a few!) that were online it was the second chance to get a unique view of Clash and cultural memorabilia that Mick Jones had gathered together over the decades. For over 9 months I’ve seen some clamour for the exhibition to go mobile (although not sure if crossing the Atlantic will happen it would be lovely to see) I’ve got some good news as it will be heading to East Anglia in the late Spring. While you might expect the exhibition to make it to Manchester, Glasgow or the Midlands in contrast you can find it in Norwich later this year. Specifically the Rock and Roll Library will be presented from 13 April to 22 May at the Norwich University College of the Arts. Full details available via the site and we’ll note this on the calendar nearer the time. I’m hoping that this signals we can expect other cities to be visited soon, the initial choice of Norwich is an interesting one. If you are in the states its a bit like finding out that after New York the first city the exhibition visits is Des Moines (not to offend Iowans but trying to draw an analogy) as Norwich is a small city of 135,000 in East Anglia  fairly remote from much of England though fairly near to Cambridge, Ipswich and Peterborough (hmmm that just reinforces my point).

I’m just gathering other info from Austin – but to close for now this really pissed me off (as I already mentioned on the Facebook page). Q Magazine published a list for the ‘greatest frontman of all time’ as voted for by their readers. While I appreciate that the list of twenty names was compiled in 2010 I sincerely assumed that Joe Strummer would make the the top five even though 5th would be a bit of a sham. The actual results tell me more about Q readers than about the history of Rock and Roll but you might be amazed. Who would be your top five? Here are Q Magazine’s (more on this here) top 20.

1) Liam Gallagher
2) Bono
3) Freddie Mercury
4) Damon Albarn
5) Chris Martin
6) Matt Bellamy (Muse)
7) Jim Morrison Bob Marley
9) Paul McCartney
10) John Lennon
11) Robbie Williams
12) Debbie Harry
13) Mick Jagger
14) Morrissey
15) John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon
16) James Brown
17) Bruce Springsteen
18) Robert Plant
19) Tom Meighan (Kasabian)
20) Joe Strummer

Strummer in 20th? Hard to fathom or even consider, Chris Martin, Robbie Williams, Kasabian’s singer? Come on…what a pile of shit, time to write to Q – I’ve long ceased reading the photo-heavy journalism-light mag. Here’s my top 5 just off the top of my head based only on bands that I’ve seen live:

1 – Joe Strummer 2 – Damon Albarn 3 – Jarvis Cocker 4 – Morrissey 5 – David Gedge

Love to hear your list ~ be back soon and cheers for stopping in.