Good afternoon and thanks for dropping by the blog once again, just a short one for you because it’s ‘hot off the presses’ so to speak so I’ll let the pictures really speak for themselves. Big Audio Dynamite are as I mentioned the other day dedicating a lot of time to rehearsals in West London especially as the live dates are now just five weeks away. While I don’t know the exact address of the rehearsal space checking out the coffee shops and pubs near to the corner of Portobello and Golborne Roads (London W10) might be a really good place to start your hunt.

The two photographs featured today were taken on Friday afternoon in the heart of Westway country and you’ll surely notice one of my favourite buildings looming large in the background. I’d like to extend my thanks to Danny de Matos for the photographs and the approval for using them on the blog today. It’s funny how knowing that the band were getting back together gets taken to a whole new level when you actually see the five of them in familiar surroundings once again and realise that the photograph was taken just last Friday. There’s not really much more for me add of course but I’d be lying if I didn’t say how cool I thought it was to see the band once more.

Sorry for brevity of the post but I’ll be back later on I’m sure. Tim

Well hello again and thank you for your return visit to the blog or perhaps this marks the very first time visiting in which case it’s ever so sweet of you to spend Valentine’s Day evening with me, I hardly know you and you really shouldn’t have. A fairly ordinary Monday is moving towards sunset here and the weather suddenly thinks it’s early April which means I’ve got to see if I need new shorts for the spring. Fascinating stuff eh?

Three quick updates and then I thought it was time to update our ongoing collection of videos that hopefully you haven’t already seen with another installment of video Clash for your viewing/listening pleasure. Firstly I was pleased to here back from The Subway Gallery in London which I spoke and wrote about in recent posts, hopefully it looks as if the lease may well be renewed and closure not as imminent as at first feared. If anything changes on that front I’ll let you know in the meantime if you are near Edgware Road tube station be sure and check out the ‘Joe Strummer Subway‘, incidentally the photograph to the left which I hope you can read (click on it to zoom) adorns the wall where the subway is. Personally I think they should just rename the entire tube station or better still the Metropolitan line from Hammersmith on up could just be called The Clash line. Another interesting trend I’ve noticed on twitter in recent days is just how many people are referencing Joe and The Clash in relation to what has happened in Egypt in recent days, I think it speaks volumes that people would associate such landmark events with The Clash rather than The Blackeyed Peas. Finally a reminder that there is still time to enter the competition to win the Joe Strummer tribute DVD as mentioned on Friday’s podcast, just click on this link to learn more about that and hear the rather easy to answer question that puts your name in the proverbial hat to win one of three DVDs that are being given away. Good luck with that, I’ll be doing the random drawing at the end of the week. Now let’s see what comes through on the old videos since last time.

Topper Headon contributed to a film that I missed last year: I’m not quite sure how I missed the news on this one but better late than never. In 2010 an independent film that celebrated the career of Henry Padovani was released and in addition to featuring his former bandmates in The Police Sting and Stewart Copeland the film also features the recollections of Topper Headon as you’ll see from the clip. Padovani was to The Police what Keith Levene was to The Clash, an early guitarist who left the band just before they made their breakthrough. Thus it seems a bit far-fetched that the film would be dedicated to his time with and after The Police but he did go on to have a successful career of his own – the film was titled ‘Rock n Roll…Of Corse!’ (spelling err on purpose). The premise for the film sounds quite interesting, I wondered if anybody had actually seen it as the reviews from Cannes last year were favourable. It also opens up a can of worms that could see a 101′ers film eventually made especially if that time period isn’t fully explored in the forthcoming Joe Strummer biopic. Speaking of which did you hear the news that Julien Temple is now going to be working on a Marvin Gaye bio?

Big Audio Dynamite interview on Rapido 1989: There’s a chance you may have seen this before but I only show recently been uploaded again to YouTube. I’d almost forgotten television show R R Rapido and I’m sure I never saw this interview with Mick Jones and Don Letts in Liverpool at the time that Megatop Phoenix was released. The video runs for over five minutes and includes live clips, interviews and of course a brilliant collection of hats. Jim Jarmusch also features as he was involved at the time with directing a video for the band. It’s also one of the rare times that Mick’s serious illness in 1988 was discussed in a video interview that I’m aware of, the highlight might be Mick’s face as he watches Don at the end of the video.

Sara Milonovich covers Johnny Appleseed: One can find literally hundreds of bands doing cover versions of various Clash or Joe Strummer tracks with a chap on the microphone I don’t often come across a cover version with a female vocalist. Therefore I included this cover of Johnny Appleseed partly for that reason but also because it’s such a major reworking of the original song. Performed by Sara Milonovich and Daisycutter at The Living Room in New York. Sara Milonovich, vocals and fiddle / Greg Anderson, guitar / Andy Goessling, mandolin / Leo Traversa, bass / Steve Holloway, drums. More information on Sara is available here.

Epic collection of Clash bootlegs & rarities: If you are a serious collector of live Clash recordings and then chances are you’re already familiar with this chap (I regret I don’t have his actual name sure someone can provide it for me) but his collection and more information is listed under Sharoma.com. He’s now taken it in extra step by putting together three videos that in total run for about 40 minutes covering his collection of rare vinyl and recorded concerts that he has gathered over the years. Lots of things you probably haven’t seen before and definitely worth visiting his website as well as linked above and he does offer to send out plain CD-R copies of much of the collection. I swear I need more hours in my life to maintain and enjoy such a comprehensive collection of live recordings of The Clash but this is a great place to start. Video one is below whereas two and three are linked directly from his website.

That should be enough to keep you busy for now, I’ll be back with more tomorrow I’m sure. Cheers – Tim

Good morning and according to the increased noise levels at ClashBlog towers it must be the weekend. What is going on with the weather in Britain anyway? When I was a kid snow was a once every 5 years occurrence whereas London this years looks more like Winnipeg than Walthamstow for the second consecutive winter – it’s even impacting me as I got up at a stupidly early hour on a Saturday morning to watch Arsenal only to find the weather had caused the fixture to be scrapped. Annoyed of course but I fell back to sleep for once so that helped.

Today is Dec 18th so I wanted to try and map out a few things for the eighth (how can 8 years pass that rapidly?) anniversary of the day Joe Strummer passed away at his home in Somerset. Apparently we each experience between three and six events in our lives that we can remember til our dying day in exquisite detail, for most it will include things like the birth of a child or the death of a parent or a personal achievement of some sort. I’ve a strong feeling that many of you might have the death of Joe Strummer on that December day on your list of all time unforgettable days. With Joe the impact was two fold as he was who he was and had done the things he’d done but the significance seemed magnified as he was back in the saddle; recording and touring again and bringing that undefinable sense of Strummerness to our world at the beginning of a new century – being a celebrity must be odd for even when the lights are switched off and the crowds are no longer coming out to see you your life with all of its small victories and humbling defeats still ticks on like the most reliable clock ever made. I’ve read that musicians and sports stars often suffer from great depression when their time in the spotlight fades away as its all they’ve known since being a young adult or earlier in many cases. Not coincidentally much has been written about the complexity of Joe’s personality and that he was prone do depression. Though the same chroniclers and Lucinda Strummer suggested that he was never happier than he was those last few years – making music and meeting people – the two things that he seemed to be born to do. That alone makes me happy to some extent instead of a headline that read ‘Joe Strummer who last recorded an album 12 years ago has passed away’ it was the loss of Joe back to his best….small solace I realise but something I’ve thought long and hard about. The second piece was his age, he was only 50.

Over the weekend I’ll publish the full list of Strummer events in case you’re near enough to attend one and it sort of kicks of tonight with Don Letts broadcast (see yesterday’s post) about Joe. As for Wednesday the 22nd I really wanted to hand the blog over to you – I’m sure there are times when hearing thoughts apart from mine will be far more unifying so I am going to open the blog up to your comments and keep refreshing the blog post for that day to include your thoughts – so we can share a sense of Joe’s impact. So…here’s my rather cloth eared suggestion – we’re having an online Street Parade:

Beginning at 7pm on the 21st here (midnight in London) please drop into the blog to celebrate Joe’s life. A sentence or two about your favourite Joe memory, or how you heard about his loss. Perhaps what you think Joe would be doing today if he were still here – or the most important thing about Joe’s life. There’s no wrong answers – I don’t mind if you want a lyric or a favourite video or interview clip to be added to the blog – its entirely up to you. Just (if you can) include your first name or initials and the city / country you are located in. You can even begin sending your thoughts now and I’ll stockpile them. I’ll also pull from facebook if you like. I don’t mind if you care to write 6 words or 506 words, I just hope you’ll take part. The blog post will be updated throughout the day.

To contact me please either

• Add your comments to this post or the one I post last on the 21st, if you have a link to a video or a quote/lyrics please include it.
• Email me at Tim(at)theclashblog.com
• Twitter me up to 140 characters
• Find me on MSN Messenger under the same email address as above.

I sincerely hope you can find a few moments to participate on Wednesday to acknowledge this anniversary, it’ s been an extremely sad day for the last seven years for many of us and while that sentiment lingers I think its time to get some energy from Joe and do something a little more upbeat…but only if you wish. Looking forward to hearing from you – the blog only exists because Joe met Mick and Paul – and its only important (with a small ‘i’) because you come and read it – so please be a part of it. Join our Street Parade.