Hello Hello….hope all is well in your corner of the world, I can’t complain from mine. Austin, Texas sounded a good place to visit until the news today that a looper who (was) angry about taxes and the IRS lit his house on fire, and then flew a small plane into government offices that contained tax employees (apparently). I believe the only person to die was the protester or at least I hope that is the case, newswires have it that  he was quoting Karl Marx in his postings of discontent while simultaneously complaining about taxation?? A tad confused eh? You’re giving Marxism a bad name down in Texas chap, knock it off would you please? Austin remains on the agenda however for the Jail Guitar Doors initiative and the early news is now trickling in from Strummerville.

Latitude 30 will be the temporary home of the ‘British Music Embassy’ on Monday March 15th as the venue is turned over to the JGD project. Confirmed acts appearing on the night include Billy Bragg with special guests The Good The Bad, (does that mean what I think it does) and Beans On Toast. MC for the night is Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett. More news to follow nearer the time, if you are heading to the festival that week please get in touch with me as I’d love to ensure we get photos and on the spot reports for the Strummerville related events that are scheduled. There is of course also the premier of the Don Letts Strummerville documentary to look forward to.

If you are a collector of Clash literature and more specifically rare interviews I highly encourage getting over to the website for ArthurMag.Com. In the Spring of 2002 they published a very special edition of the magazine as a tribute to Joe Strummer. The included interview had been conducted the prior Summer with it being intended as a feature in that edition – the sudden unexpected death of Joe led to that edition becoming an issue that was focused on Joe; including the interview but also a slew of extra featured content revolving around Strummer. Its easier if I just share their blurb:

Arthur holds a wake in print for a man who mattered. In addition to stunning photographs by Ann Summa and excerpts of back-in-the-day Clash coverage from Slash magazine, we present reflections on Joe by Kristine McKenna; a lengthy, poignant interview with Joe from 2001 by McKenna; a consideration by Carter Van Pelt of the Clash’s embrace of reggae, featuring insights from Clash collaborator Mikey Dread; and a brief on Joe’s legacy: a forest in the Isle of Skye.

The interview was conducted by Los Angeles arts chronicler Kristine McKenna which adds even more credit to the cause. The reason I want to share this with you is that Arthur are down to their final 50 copies of this special issue and no reprints are possible. Please visit their site for lots of extra information about what this contains but I guarantee it is something work picking up if you like to have a very complete chronicle of all things Joe. I’m getting mine this evening before you all have had a chance to read this. You can order from this link, and if you need global shipping please contact me and we can work something out offline.

Okay then, please tell me I haven’t mentioned this before (it was on my ever growing pending list with a question mark next to it) but another single benefiting the victims of the Haiti disaster is being released. Apart from the cause being worthy of your support the EP also features a cover version of Coma Girl by Joe and The Mescaleros. The band are Class War Kids (fair enough) and they come from Newfoundland which is a place I rarely pronounce as my diction always results in the word ‘found’ appearing in the middle which is very wrong. Class War Kids myspace site features a number of songs if you want to check them out but not Coma Girl, I’d suggest ‘Break Me’ which has a very likable Stiff Little Fingers guitar sound (and nearly vocally too). Perhaps Newfoundland is full of former Ulstermen? Enlighten me….I thought it was more Scottish than Irish? Full details about the charity EP are here or you can hear Coma Girl here (it is good fun…and priced to sell $3 for the download).

Right, that got my energy levels up. Ever been on Ebay and seen a series of bootleg live Clash CDs for sale and felt cautious about what is worth buying versus skipping? I’ve been stuck there since going to Camden Market in the early 80’s and buying bootleg tapes which were very hit or miss. Fortunately someone has put together some decent summaries of some of the more common bootlegs you might be able to find so that you can purchase with a bit more confidence. Set lists and notes are worth the read even if you’re not shopping, regardless here is the link and thanks to BigOzine for the input!

I’ve been asked why I don’t write about the special edition “Converse/Clash” sneakers/baseball boots/trainers (whatever your poison). The truth is that I think they are a bit crap and you’d be better off purchasing some more Clash albums or at least go and see a new artist or too rather than buy them. I’ll add the links to the images when I get really low on other material…sound good?

Earlier I mentioned Stiff Little Fingers….so continuing that 1979 thing one of the very best (to my mind) US punk acts were Husker Du. You probably need no introduction or if you do you really need to get some of their discs in your collection. Tonight I found a brilliant audio interview with former Husker Du member Grant Hart (Bob Mould tends to get the press)….its really worth listening to and learning about what he’s been up to. Link to NPR is here (bless NPR for their DAILY and needed contribution to culture here in the States) so if you have 30 minutes please give it a listen.

Right…somehow this has turned into a very long post. I really do need to catch up – apologies to any unanswered emails you’ve sent lately as I’m nearly a week behind. Cheers for now.

Don Letts filming the Citizen Sound! (Image courtesy Pete Stevens)

Hello everyone – nearly through another week of thrills and spills. I’ve got a backlog of things to cover and will try to ramp up the posts over the weekend. I will say it looks likely that we’ve got some very interesting Clash associated interviews exclusive to the blog coming up in the next few weeks and I’ll probably need your help – so keep in touch!

Last Friday night Prince Blanco (Mark Matthews) was back over in London from his current home in Toronto to reach the pinnacle of a year’s worth of work. It also involved heading to the right side (N) of the river! Mark has spent months organising, recruiting artists, marketing and collaborating on the Shatter The Hotel project on behalf of Strummerville. Actually for extra insight I’d recommend that you check out the podcast I mentioned the other day – during which Pete Cogle interviews Mark about the project. Last Friday marked the very special event that coincided with the UK launch of the album and in conjunction with Strummerville, the troops all rallied at The Inn on The Green. I’d asked Mark to check back with us when he had returned to Canada and he’s subsequently been kind enough to write this brilliant account of the evening beneath. Thanks to everyone who made it along that evening, all the artists who contributed and everyone who has so far purchased / downloaded the album. I’ll be back with more Clash Cup, some news and other special features soon – for now here’s Mark:

On Friday, February 5th we celebrated the UK launch of Shatter The Hotel: A Dub Inspired Tribute To Joe Strummer at Inn On The Green in West London. I must admit, I was a bit stressed getting everything organised for the event especially since one of our contributing artists DubCats, who were set to perform live on the night, unfortunately had to cancel at the last minute. Anyway, two lagers, a couple of quick interviews followed by a schedule tweak and we were back in action.

The punters starting rolling in around eight-ish and we began the night in fine style with ‘Lost In The Supermarket’ contributor and most recently Roots Manuva’s remixer Wrongtom who mashed up the place with a wicked set of what was essentially reggae as recorded by punk artists – think of ‘Jah War’ by The Ruts and you get the picture! Nice.

Up next ‘London Calling’ contributor Dubmatix with singer Mighty Howard hit the stage and tore the place up with some serious roots and dub. This was Dubmatix’ first ever performance in London and based on the reaction of many of the hardcore Ladbroke Grove lot, it definitely won’t be his last!

Mighty Howard - Image Courtesy Pete Stevens

Toronto based producer Citizen Sound who contributed ‘One More Time’ to the CD hit the turntables next and kept the crowd on it’s feet with a fine selection of chunes, including a nice white label alternate version of Joe doing ‘The Harder They Come’ all the while egged on by London DJ and mashup king J-Star.

Glasgow’s Chomsky Allstars hit the stage next and gave the crowd their trademark punk-fuelled selections. I joined them onstage for their Shatter The Hotel contribution ‘Know Your Rights’. The band brought some amazing energy to the room and I found out on the night that appropriately, they will be going into the recording studio very soon as they themselves are recent recipients of assistance from Strummerville!

Closing the night, the one and only Don Letts who lit up a packed dancefloor with some boombastic reggae cuts. Most of us were having such a great time by this point that we didn’t realise the bar had closed!

Cheers to all the artists who donated their time and talent to this event and to everyone who came out to celebrate with us! Special thanks to friends old and new: Trish and Bell from Strummerville, Dave Pitt and all at Inn On The Green, Slits’ biographer Zoe Street-Howe, Strummer biographer and Shatter The Hotel contributor Chris Salewicz, bassist Leo Williams (carrying regrets from Mick Jones), the very dapper Gaz Mayall, the legendary Robin Banks, rude boy Ray Gange, all the old Big Audio Dynamite gang – Guy, Desmond, Karl Statton, Rosamund, Brady from the Hollywood Brats (check your Clash history!), photographer Pete Stevens, Pete Cogle and the young geezer who shouted ‘Prince Blanco, you’re a legend!’ prompting the crowd to give me a very warm and heartfelt round of applause…thank you all very, very much!

A grand night was had all ’round and I have to thank the wonderful people of Portobello Road and ‘Da Grove’ for making me feel at home and for extending me honorary west London ‘citizenship’ for the week I was there – you made this sarf London boy feel very welcome! The best part of all is we raised more than a few hundred quid for Strummerville in the process!!

By the way, Don Letts came with a film crew in tow and filmed the entire event for last minute inclusion in his upcoming documentary about Strummerville. The film is set to be shown at this year’s SXSW festival in March – stay tuned to the Clash Blog for more on this!

Mark Matthews aka Prince Blanco
Toronto, February 2010

Hoping to expand upon this over the weekend with a lot more info from Mark Matthews the man behind the project. If you’re new to the blog Shatter The Hotel is a project in conjunction with Strummerville to create a CD of Clash songs performed in a dub / reggae style. The disc itself is brilliant and benefits the Strummerville  charity – if you haven’t bought it then you can do so and learn more on the site. The UK launch event took place last night at Inn on The Green in Ladbroke Grove. By all accounts it was a great event with a smashing vibe and hopefully I can furnish more info over the weekend. Pete was their with his camera and has captured some lovely images – starting with Dubmatix beneath:

Dubmatix at The Shatter The Hotel event - courtesy Pete Stevens

I’ve been listening to the disc a lot recently and as opposed to other ‘Clash cover compiliations’ this is a really cohesive piece of work and makes for a worthwhile sit down and listen (or drive…or skank). The disc has liner notes from Chris Salewicz and features among others Don Letts, Dubmatix, Chomsky All Stars and of course Prince Blanco (Mark) himself. You can get a flavour of the album on the MySpace page. Back later tonight…

Strummerville Merchandise - image courtesy Pete Stevens