Good Evening. Hope you had a good day and are reading this somewhere interesting in the world (even Milton Keynes or Milwaukee can be interesting, it depends on your point of view). Its been a bit of an action packed day it would seem as I scanned the wires tonight and sadly not all of the news is good, but we’ll get to that in a moment. I’d rather start with good news, move on to some strange news and then perhaps tackle the sad. The good news first, by all accounts the first Strummerville showcase on Monday evening in Austin went very well and the second takes place this evening (Wednesday). Below is the official blurb:

We’re flying the flag here in Texas at SXSW where we joined with Jail Guitar Doors on Monday night for our first showcase presenting The Supernovas, Nat Jenkins, Smokey Angle Shades, Beans on Toast with The Good The Bad, Chris Shiflett, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly and the inimitable Billy Bragg.

We are so honoured to have such powerful support from people like Chris, Sam and Billy and it so inspiring for our young bands to have figureheads who really are doing something positive and powerful through their music and ultimately making a difference, welcoming new talent to the stage and spreading the love.

Thanks to the guys at the British Music Embassy for inviting us to take over on Monday 15th.

Tonight (Weds 17th) we have our second showcase with the same line up and also the awesome Wayne Kramer.  Don Letts flies in today for the world premier of his film called Strummerville on Friday.

It all sounds a good time and should spike added interest in Strummerville (at last!!) here in the States. Needless to day I hope to add some video, audio and blogging updates from the main protagonists later in the week. Next I’ll move on to Mick Jones who as you know has been turning his attention back to Carbon Silicon in recent months. The band who haven’t toured in quite some time have been leaving hints here and there for a few months now that we could expect to see them on the road again soon. Well today they’ve announced their first ‘proper’ live gig of 2010 and in a move that would be typical of The Clash it’s not where you might expect to see them. London or New York? Toronto or Dublin? All too obvious it would seem, the first live date posted is set for Zagreb on May 7th. So if you are in Yugoslavia Croatia you know what you’ll be doing that evening. I got all 1980′s with my Yugoslavia typo there, its been a while since I got to type that word. I’m guessing that we’ll see more shows announced in the coming weeks so stay in touch.

Bad news, I could write a whole post about the band Big Star but that’s not really the ethos of the blog. It should be noted and hopefully known that Big Star filled up a pretty empty void – being a useful American band from 1970-1974. While never achieving the success their music merited the band have influenced so many excellent groups in the decades since it almost borders on theft. I can’t find the right words to describe the quality and innovation of the three albums they released. I’d recommend ‘#1 Record’ and then go back to your own collection and connect the dots to see which bands were inspired by that great album. I ramble on as I learned this afternoon about the sad death of Alex Chilton from an apparent heart attack at the age of just 59. Chilton formed the band in 1969 I believe, and also continued to perform long after they disbanded. I was lucky enough to see Chilton back around 1993, and although the concert was short it was very memorable. I never was even exposed to Big Star until the mid 80′s but that didn’t dull my interest. By all accounts he was back to his best working with members of The Posies and Big Star within the last decade and still making ground breaking music. The New York Times wrote a fitting piece this evening.

Finally, if you grew up with access to BBC radio or the world service chances are overnight at some time you listened to famed DJ Charlie Gillett. The broadcaster would play the most interesting music which complimented John Peel with its diversity. Playing ‘world music’ before even such a term existed, he just knew no bounds in championing new music. Sadly he passed today at the age of 68, who better than the BBC to pay tribute?

I had a bunch of other things but bed is calling – so there will be more tomorrow. Cheers ~ Tim

Hello again, thanks for coming back to the Clash Blog (or welcome aboard if this is your first trip). Still combing through bits and pieces of information from the SXSW Music Festival and based on how I feel tonight it might be later in the week when I get it all sorted out. Sorry about that but you’ll be glad I filter out the junk for you – trust me! What I can announce tonight is that the Jail Guitar Doors USA website has gone live and a very nice job they’ve done with it too, but don’t take my word for it please have a look at the site. The other confirmed news out of Austin from last nights Strummerville event is that it poured with rain, giving it that very authentic W10 feel I would imagine.

Two other things I mentioned on Facebook but wanted to include here. Thumbs up to the BBC for honouring the passing of John Sicolo, the article mentions Joe Strummer playing the venue although I’ve no idea how they failed to note the year of Joe passing was incorrect? Also a quick video for you of Anti-Flag and Billy Bragg performing a cover version of ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ at last weekend’s Harvest of Hope festival in Florida. Some really good bands on that bill actually, shame we don’t have an equivalent on this side of the country. (it wouldn’t be Coachella!)

Worth a very quick look is this list of ‘the ‘top ten duos in popular music’. Pleased to see Strummer/Jones making that list but some of the other stuff on there is either far too obvious or a few that are decidedly dodgy. Always felt Strummer/Jones just rolled off the tongue despite it not being alphabetical, come to think of it Mellor/Jones would have sounded alright too eh?

Strummercamp 2010 is coming up – I’ll write much more in the weeks ahead as the lineup is really good this year. A lot of bands with many memories (and great records) will be up in Cheshire for the event on the last weekend in May. I hope some of you from the North of England might be getting along – if so please get in touch before you go so we can relay your stories. Confirmed acts for the weekend include Spear of Destiny, The Godfathers, The Blockheads and many others. Details are here, I’m sure we’ll cover this in more detail nearer the time. Staying on the Strummerville theme this is a great post by a chap who had a request for his (brilliant) artwork to be used in conjunction with the Strummerville film, a nice article and worthy recognition on the reverse side.

Sorry for the brevity of the post – I’ve got to finish writing a letter and do some laundry (exciting that eh?). Tomorrow marks St. Patrick’s Day but also the anniversary of me leaving London to move to Chicago back in the 90′s. When asked “What brought you to the States?” in the years since my stock answer if I don’t like you has been “a 747″….and to some I tell the truth. I wasn’t wanted for a crime in Hammersmith or anything so exciting – it was a girl.

So here we are then March 15th, which if all went well and flights were made the nearest incarnation that the SXSW music festival has ever had to the legacy of Joe Strummer should be upon us at about the same time as I write this. I’m of course referring to the first night of Strummerville events at the festival and hopefully in 24 hours the first tweets, video and articles will be online for us to review. Billy Bragg (who is treating Facebook as a friend…well done Billy) seems to be in the habit of updating events somewhat regularly – per his earlier update:

“If you’re down in Austin for SXSW, you will be able to see me perform tonight at Latitude 30, 512 San Jacinto St 8pm-2pm. Strummerville and Jail Guitar Doors are hosting an event at the British Music Embassy with Chris Shiflett, Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly and myself among others. Kicks off at 8pm, I’ll be on around midnight”         Billy Bragg

Bragg also adds that “As part of the Jail Guitar Doors USA launch this week, Wayne Kramer has organised a visit to the Travis County Jail just outside of Austin on Friday morning, to deliver some guitars to the inmates there”. Hopefully all these snippets of information will become something more lucid as the week unfolds and in the interim I beg your patience. The event marks the debut on US soil for Strummerville and also the first events connected to Jail Guitar Doors USA – so both sites will also be worth keeping an eye on I’d venture. Hopefully one of you might even have made their way to Austin this week, if so shoot me a message via the blog or Facebook and we’ll have a chat. Wrapping up Austin for the night, what Clash event (non-concert) took place just outside of the Texan city that cemented the band’s success in the States?

Sometimes the misinterpretation of songs/information published that become borderline gospel (allmusic.com ‘guide’ indeed) seems to be the source for this shoddy article. Within it a brief examination ‘I’m so bored with the USA’ and ‘Train in Vain’ and both write ups verge on the distasteful. Citing “I’m so bored…” as the blueprint for all Clash themes and the song that ‘they always opened US gigs with’. Neither statement is close to being accurate nor is the assertion that the song was meant as much more than a complaint about the infestation of American television shows on British TV and US culture in the UK in general during the mid/late 1970′s. How right were Strummer’s lyrics? I distinctly remember my house glued to Columbo, Starsky & Hutch, Police Woman and Kojak on seemingly every weeknight for a spell there. The song is about a bored Londoner’s view of American culture seeping into England from that specific period of time – not some giant thesis about the animal that is the United States. Perhaps something got lost in the translation, though I think any member of The Clash would be honest enough to say they weren’t in a position to really write about the States until a few years later in 1979. I won’t dig much deeper into the article, just not quite sure what the point was – oh and it links to a ‘Live Clash performance 1980′ when in fact the footage was taken from the final ever Clash gig (Strummer Jones) at the US Festival in 1983. Whatever happened to fact checking – perhaps it was better that there was no internet in 1976-1983 eh?

Newport, South Wales….not only a place that Joe Strummer spent a few years pre 101′ers when he was simply Woody Mellor but also a place I

TJs in Newport

don’t think I’ve ever had a better laugh. I used to go there for work twice a year and there were some great chaps always game for a pint and recollections of punk’s glory days. Funnily enough everyone in Newport seemed to have a Joe Strummer story though I’m sure most were embellished or borrowed from someone else. Seeing as Strummer had little or any money when he lived there I doubt he was a regular in the pubs of the town which contradicts the folklore. I’m sure however that like everyone who grew up in Newport he spent a night or two at the city’s best music venue TJ’s, over the 35+ years of its existence every band you can image played the famed venue, and it was also apparently the location of Kurt Cobain’s proposal to Courtney Love. It was one of those places that the venue even made up for an average act, I know Joe Strummer eventually played there so I’m guessing it was because he visited it back in the early 1970′s. I’m writing about Newport tonight as I was sad to read via the NME that the owner of the club John Sicola passed away today at the age of 66. TJs was/is Newport when it comes to music, RIP and thanks for keeping music alive in South Wales.

More soon – thanks for dropping in.