Mick playing with The Libertines

Hello all – hope you had a chance to look at the video on yesterday’s post – very cool and equally strange to see Paul Simonon and Mick Jones playing and recording together in 2010. I wish I were a fly on the wall when they went for a pint as reported afterward, as it must have been equally strange for them. Mick has (from my vantage point) made a huge transition in the last decade in terms of now working on a variety of projects in different roles. It seemed to stem from his work with The Libertines as a producer at the start of the decade just ended and then evolved onto his work with Tony James / Carbon Silicon. More recently he has partnered up with other for benefit concerts and taken an active role in Strummerville related projects as well. Coupled with that is the music media and the press in general now see members of The Clash as elder statesman with a lot to offer and stories to tell….its all a million miles from where Mick was in the mid-late 90′s after Big Audio Dynamite came to an end. Throw in the Rock and Roll Library and it’s just a thrill that he has been so public and giving in raw terms.

As a fan I’m thrilled that his influence is both more widely recognised but also more widely felt – it’s more than overdue for him along with Topper and Paul. I don’t want this to lead to simple speculation as to why things have ebbed and flowed but I am pleased that the pendulum of higher regard has swung in the right direction for The Clash. Still crossing my fingers that someone with the creative passion and the finances/studio backing tackles the gaping hole where a proper Clash film needs to be made. I genuinely feel that the surviving members would give the right project the support it merits, until such time I’ll just hope it can happen.

Mojo had an interesting piece today about Bernie Rhodes in a list of ‘The Worst Rock n Roll Management Decisions in History”. For his involvement with The Clash Bernard ranks 5th on their list for the issues that tainted the last year or so of the band’s (proper) existence and of course the Clash MK II. From what I know and have researched the complexity of the last months of the band are as tangled as they are multi-layered, apportioning blame to only one individual I think is akin to saying that The Clash made a definitive album. The implosion of the band was just not as simple as that and to this day a proper and frank account has never been put forward by all parties concerned, while in this case of Joe indeed it is already too late. For my money I think Rhodes’ story does need to be told if only to display the critical piece he played in the formation and original path that the band took.

Over the years it has been easy and quick to blame the end of The Clash on Mick and Bernard/Joe and the revamped band seen as a revolting blot on the copybook created by the ego of a manager who wanted to be the band, but is that entirely fair or accurate? I’m not sure to this day and unless more information is provided it has become accepted wisdom – folklore if you will. I’ve offered the ClashBlog as a forum to Bernard Rhodes a few times during 2009 and while we’ve never agreed on a format for the discussion I think it only fair to remark that he has been polite and considerate with his responses to me. In truth I’d most like to discuss the early years of The Clash with him and not those that are trotted out to his detriment concerning the later stages of the band.  Mr. Rhodes has edged towards talking about today and the future which I respect – at some point perhaps he’ll engage with the blog as I think we have a great audience and community that is open to hearing recollections and ideas, thoughts and concerns, even if (especially if) they go against the accepted truth we’ve been fed all these years. Anyway….that rambled on longer than I intended but the offer is still on the table Bernard. Back to Mojo – 1. Credit the blog for the photo of Mr Rhodes please (but thanks for finding us) 2. They think it was as simple as this “Like the USSR, Bernie has been left behind by history” I beg to differ.

That’ll be me done for the day then…cheers

Good Evening all…its absolutely chucking it down with rain here tonight which isn’t really big news except when you live in the desert just hearing it bashing against the windows is rather novel in itself. As for the way people drive when it rains here, the only word to come to mind is pathetic.

I’ve a few quick things that you might enjoy tonight and its mostly point and click which will make life a lot easier for you (and is helpful to me as I’m a bit short on time tonight) but I will try and post something a little more meaty later tonight or tomorrow. I do want to always try and get a new posting of some length out daily as it creates some consistency for you very kind people who visit the site and I do appreciate your loyalty. I’m also sure the occasional break from my pontifications must be like the relief of rain in the desert for some of you…so lets jump right in.

Steve Jones

Former Sex Pistol and current Los Angeles resident and (now) online DJ Steve Jones appeared on Craig Ferguson late last night. To my pleasure I saw that his interview was already online and I’ve posted it beneath. Craig Ferguson??…yes that Craig Ferguson, if you are the UK you may well remember Ferguson for his (typically drunk) stand up comedy which was really good and quite popular back in the 80′s and early 90′s. Craig has appeared on sit-coms in the US (and a few films) but started hosting a late night chat show in 2007 which is slowly and surely gaining quite a small foothold and some loyal fans in its late night slot. Ferguson does a good job, far less scripted than some of his US counterparts he still lets things run very loose and his monologues tend to run all over the place. He’s also a good host never seeming to fawn over stars as much as try and get them to relax and have a good laugh. He loves music and often has some great guests on the show.

Anyway…Steve Jones. See the video below but the chat was short but enjoyable. If you’re in Los Angeles or know your way around the web you may well have happened upon ‘Jonesy’s Jukebox’ which is his radio show. He was on the show for the interview but also to play live with Hot Rats. Hot Rats are one half of Supergrass (best band ever from Oxford, bugger off Radiohead) and they’ve put out an album of Supergrass(ish) cover versions including the Sex Pistols EMI – which is the 2nd video beneath.

Interview with Steve Jones

Playing live with Hot Rats

A thought I’ve had but I’m not sure yet. Clash memorabilia seems to be a growing concern and of huge interest to many people. So I’m thinking of either doing a feature about rare stuff every week or two or perhaps (and maybe more enjoyable) creating a buyers/sellers board on the site. For

Not talking with the Taxman....

Clash fans and by Clash fans. Can this work….do you indeed care?

Finally and I do intend to write more about this – have you been following Billy Bragg and his argument over bonuses to Royal Bank of Scotland wankers executives? Bragg has been all over the press and radio explaining his position and being labeled an anarchist for his troubles. Good luck to you Billy, this hasn’t played out yet but I do want to revisit it later this week. You don’t see that from Wilco do you?

More soon everyone…(The Specials at Coachella?? I’m feeling 14 again…)

Happy New Year to you, I hope you are in good spirits and full of unbridled optimism as we roll into not only a new year but a new decade to boot. I haven’t quite digested the fact that the first decade of the 21st century is now consigned to history but give me a few days and I’ll adjust. Not much to share from my New Years Eve, when I was in London it was always a good night to go and see a band, hope they’d play well past midnight and wonder why the muppets were out in Trafalgar Square in the freezing cold being watched with trojan authority by the Metropolitan Police. That never looked like a good time to me and its probably why I never did it. I was lucky enough instead to see some good concerts on the last night of the year the best of which include Billy Bragg (three times I think), Madness and Ride if memory serves correctly. Going out around here on New Years Eve reminds me of Berlin in the 1980′s with police roadblocks (drink driving checkpoints) at every other major intersection and every amateur drinker in the city out to ‘get totally wasted’…I must say its not appealing and even knowing that the cops will be out in full force you still see people sloshed as they drive their way home in the wee hours. As a result, it makes me pine for London Transport even if it meant getting the party night bus home from Trafalgar Square which seemed to stop in parts of Hammersmith that hadn’t been visited my traffic since the 1930′s.

I now tend to celebrate at 5pm local time with London simultaneously ringing in the New Year and then settle down to something approaching a normal night with the Clash Bloggette away from the risk of pubs at midnight. Speaking of Trafalgar Square,  I was doing some Clash research and January wasn’t usually the busiest month of the year for the band but on January 1st 1977 they did play a tiny venue that in an amazingly short spell became one of the most celebrated venues of the punk movement in London. It sat just a few hundred yards up from the famed square.

If you wander around the gentrified streets of Covent Garden these days with its arty boutiques and candle shops it seems a million miles from somewhere that hosted the famous Roxy Club from late 1976 into 1978. However just the shortest of staggers from Covent Garden tube sat the venue right at 41 Neal Street, from here the Roxy sprang to life in December of 1976. I’ve walked past the former location a few times and there is no indication it ever existed just the same white tiled entryway that took you to the lobby and stairs down to the original basement venue. Upstairs now resides a Speedo swimwear shop, which seems like almost as trite a transition as you could even fear. It wasn’t always thus…

Covent Garden Tube (love the staircase)

Andy Czekowski held an ambition of creating a focal point for the punk scene when he opened the little club in December 1976. Considering the odds, the recognition that the original acts who played at the venue achieved makes it completely remarkable. The debut concert was by Generation X, followed that same month by The Heartbreakers and Siouxsie and The Banshees. The official gala night opening (prices were raised by 25p to 1.25 entry for the night of January 1st. What prompted such an expensive night in the still new venue? The Clash were to headline along with The Heartbreakers.From literally a standing position the previous summer The Clash had played enough gigs in the prior three months (and gained some press and notoriety right along with that) that they were in a position to be relevant enough to properly christen the Roxy on the first night of 1977. Czekowski might seem to have been the right owner at the right time, as the Roxy in its very short history hosted an amazing list of artists each of who were integral to what was happening in 1977. That definition of Andy seems fair until you realise he also later founded the (brilliant) Fridge in Brixton (one of my favourite venues). The Roxy became synonymous with the London Punk scene and perhaps it was only meant to last the short time that it did, however two critical components helped propel it into the fame it still holds, the resident DJ happened to be Don Letts and The Clash baptized the place. Incidentally Letts and The Clash remain as interwoven as New Years Eve and getting drunk even after all these years. I’ll be back with more about The Clash appearance, Don Letts and the Roxy over the next few days.

Cheers ~