That’ll be Father’s Day drifting off then, hope yours (if applicable) was pleasant and you either were smothered with attention from your offspring/left alone to enjoy the football (delete as appropriate). You’ll have noticed that we’re going to persevere with Westway Traffic as nobody seemed to be offended with the initial run out a few days ago. Newcomers to the blog – it’s just a way every day or two of covering a wider spectrum of Clash related news without me getting ever so wordy and you returning to Facebook/The Guardian/Yahoo Dating/The Huffington Post before reaching the bottom of the story. So let’s jump in and see what is on The Westway today.

It’s nice, but is it art? : Another review of the current Ray Lowry London exhibition comes courtesy of the Chance Collective website. More

Could those 3 tiny discs be Sandinista! ?

insight into the guest artist’s contributions plus some pictures you might not have seen yet. I believe all (or most) of the dedicated pieces will be auctioned off after the exhibition for further information come back to the blog, for an auction catalogue you can email Rachel.wood@ideageneration.co.uk  I’ll assume there is a digital edition, semi-serious inquiries might be best.

Simonon fix – Junior edition: I read your comments and your emails, I’m aware that many of our female readers who love The Clash might just love Paul Simonon the most. We’re modern men, we understand what’s what and many of us will agree that few musicians before or since have ever looked as consistently cool as Simonon. Even now he still has that swagger and confident persona and many insiders have said Paul’s primary role may have been helping the Clash look so great. Cynics say he never became proficient with the bass guitar but I disagree strongly. Anyway, the link above is to an article and short video clip featuring Paul’s son model Louis Simonon. The video promotes the newest line of Loewe Leather clothing and accessories, you’ll see your dose session of Simonon Jr at about the 0:21 mark. Full marketing campaign online next month. (please note the Loewe site can be a bit Sloewe to load)

Global music, afrobeat drummer Tony Allen: One of the many intriguing elements to The Good, The Bad and The Queen was percussionist Tony Allen. I didn’t realise Tony Allen was touring with a new project which goes right back to the beginning for the excellent musician. After working with the brilliant Fela Kuti until his death in ’97 Allen has worked with various projects including of course the album and tour with Simonon, Damon Albarn and Simon Tong. Read this article linked above on askmygirls.com and catch up with his new project now touring under the name ‘Secret Agent’ – check Tony’s myspace page to hear some tracks. Nice stuff indeed, listening as I write and getting well relaxed.

Strummerville campfire will warm The Drums: New York’s The Drums have been confirmed on the bill at the Strummerville Campfire during the Glastonbury weekend. All the news via the S-Ville site courtesy of the NME. The Drums will take you back to 1985ish with an American take on the jangle stuff I used to love so much – think The Railway Children, Bodines, McCarthy, June Brides. Yeah a bit twee but ideal for the setting.

Album Reviews  – The Clash S/T : Gibson (the guitar makers) have wisely added a blog to their corporate website. For one of the big two guitar makers along with Fender most responsible for the sound of The Clash the site just added a review of The Clash S/T. Only fitting that they should have their chance to do so, and a well written review it is and worth a read as the writer keying in on the fact that The Clash only ever made one punk album. Like me I think the feeling is where could you go after Jan 1, 1978 but something new which is just what The Clash accomplished though it seems to have upset many. I have a torrid time writing album reviews it seems so hard to avoid sounding rehearsed or coerced.

Clash Shopping : I wonder where this still shrink-wrapped copy of Give ‘Em Enough Rope has been sitting since 1978? In truth it’s not that old

Might we be needing one of these next year?

as the sticker indicates its a ‘CBS Nice Price’ which was reserved for back catalogues releases after they had been on the books for a few years. Regardless it must be at least circa 1982 or so. Priced to move at $7.99 on ebay – just $3 more than the original sticker.

Don Letts has your answers : Always happy to see Don Letts get the level of press he should considering not just his ties to The Clash but the film track record and detail/dedication he keeps bringing to the table. He never seems to lose his energy and I think is adored by more people as the years trundled. A good article on Spinner.com is well worth a read as he covers a platter of topics including whether Big Audio Dynamite will reform in 2011 as rumoured.

“I can neither confirm nor deny a reunion, I’d give it a shot. But I’m the only one who can’t play anything, so it would be easy for me.”

Much more on that NXNE festival shortly but that should be enough to get you through the night…thanks for coming in – and please feel free to comment, say hello, or just talk about your dog (or Paul Simonon I suppose)

Tim

Hello again and thanks for stumbling upon the blog (or welcome back). This was going to just be a journal entry but then I thought I’d share it. I was writing yesterday about time passing too quickly…and it got me thinking. Why is it that I can still clearly remember riding with my brother in his car to the record shop to purchase Combat Rock, peeling of the price sticker, fawning over the logos and cover photo of the band and squinting at that lyric sheet as Strummer’s words were squeezed in on that black background? Why is it that I can remember really acutely specific events from nearly 30 years ago and yet I can’t remember a thing about so many more recent events? I think I’ve established some sort of halo effect for certain spells and artifacts in my life. Cruelly I can’t say its been people who stick in the memory as jaggedly for me, there just wasn’t room with all the records and concerts. That makes me sound a bit of an arse but a memory only has so much space right?

Where so many good nights out began.....

With the advent of Facebook I’ve had people contact me and recollect trivial shared events from 1982 that I can’t even pretend to remember. Drunken nights or fights from 1985 are forgotten also, its just a blank space where a memory should be. But ask me about purchasing the 12″ single of Confusion by New Order in the Summer of 1983 and I know which shop it was and how I felt when I heard it (too electronic and tinny production….the legacy of Joy Division fading by the time of the run-out groove). Ask me about the first time I saw James in concert (they supported New Order coincidentally) and I’ll tell you where we had drinks beforehand, though not with whom I was with. This Factory Records analogy is just a coincidence but I realise I’ve tagged my life with singles and albums, concerts and football matches. Hearing new music and seeing new bands was never more vital for me than from around 1980 (when I first had some money to spend on records) til around 2001 when I’d left Los Angeles and the rich fountain of concerts it offered almost any night plus the restaurants, the people, the art, the scenery and all the rest. When you have lived in London, Chicago and then Los Angeles living anywhere else is going to seem a bit arid.

Since then I’ve kept buying too many CDs (downloading is just soulless for me) and reading about music all the time. I still have huge a passion for football and music of course but what I really am missing is going to 25 or 35 concerts a year – Its not my age, I blame this town, and the bands I like simply skip Phoenix. It’s not on the way to anywhere or from anywhere. Too close to Los Angeles to merit a separate stop and too far from anywhere East to fit within a tour schedule. It wouldn’t be far fetched to say every couple of weeks a band plays in L.A. or San Diego and I am forced to wonder how the gig was. Its 350 miles away…a tough argument just to catch 75 minutes of live music. But I really miss it!

So with that in mind during this new decade some sort of changes need to be made, fortunately its possible for us so the discussions will need to escalate, no hurry I’m a patient person. Southern California, the Bay area or Seattle seem to be the biggest and most logical contenders at present and any would be satisfactory so long as a goal is agreed upon. Its not just about the music, I need to see the ocean when I want to and be somewhere a little more welcoming to everyone  in general (not that I’ve suffered as a result of being English here), its a better place for kids (education, social environment) and a more rounded lifestyle. Perhaps most importantly I always felt strangely very much at home in Los Angeles and miss that dearly, I didn’t realise how vital that was. Its just that a cultural chasm exists and Arizona isn’t winning any awards for open arms or urban hip. With recent events here bands are even boycotting the state to protest the immigration issues. Think of the gulf between Swindon and London for some sort of comparison. London for a second spell is also tempting…maybe next decade!

I’ve got Clash news for you later, but I was just venting…so there you have it! Lots of news later I promise…thanks for reading, or skipping to the closing sentence as the case may be. Today’s video won’t win any awards for style but look away from the screen and remember it was recorded in the Summer of ’76 in Brisbane of all places.

ps – sorry Swindon.

pps – If you want to win in the World Cup, try using Cesc Fabregas

Tim

Ray Lowry - Clash draft (courtesy RayLowry.com)

That will be Tuesday almost in the rear view mirror then….when did 2010 decide it was going to pass more rapidly than any other year ever? I’m having some moderate trouble with this new decade thing and the symbolic aspects of it being 10 years since 2000, twenty since 1990 or thirty since 1980 thinking “I remember each of those years, it can’t be that long ago can it?” 21 years since Tiannemen Square, nearly 22 since the Lockerbie disaster, 28 years last month since Combat Rock was released!! Just how can that be?

Some Clash news I have…yes yes sorry for rambling. One of the the many members of the peripheral Clash entourage who in truth actually helped make it even more memorable was cartoonist/illustator Ray Lowry. Perhaps most famed for his work on the London Calling artwork he was also the bands mobile reporter at times using cartoons to capture the band rather than the established tool of photography. Almost as if it was the 18th century and a traveling explorer would need the ability to sketch what he had seen, so it was with Lowry and The Clash who made personal the events he witnessed. As a Clash fan or an NME reader you’ve seen his work perhaps without knowing it, check his gallery and site if you’re in doubt. Sadly we lost Ray in October of 2008 but his work lingers on with renewed interest and a new exhibition brings it back into the spotlight. A number of artists and creative types have contributed to an exhibition celebrating Lowry and the famous London Calling sleeve. The Idea Generation Gallery will be hosting this event from June 18th to July 4th. Below is the official blurb:

In support of the Ray Lowry Foundation, our next major exhibition is a unique exhibition paying tribute to the life and works of iconic illustrator, Ray Lowry. Manchester-born, Lowry began his career drawing for Punch Magazine, International Times, OZ, NME and Private Eye creating a cult following for his celebrated illustrations and cartoons. Most famously, Lowry created the unforgettable art work for The Clash’s seminal 1979 album, London Calling.

As well as an extensive look at Ray’s back catalogue – including paintings, drawings and sketchpads – the exhibition will feature contributions from the likes of Billy Childish, Nick Hornby, Tracey Emin and Harry Hill, as 30 creatives pay tribute to an unforgettable artistic influence.

It seems you can even RSVP via this link for the opening night June 17th which also features live music.

Preview some of the art and learn much more via these articles in the Evening Standard and The Independent and The Evening Standard. The Standard adds more which should whet your fancy:

This month, 30 artists, musicians and general roustabouts are producing images inspired by, in celebration of and in tribute to Lowry, who died in 2008. Works by Tracey Emin, Keith Allen, Billy Childish, The Stone Roses’ John Squire and the Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon will appear at the Idea Generation gallery, alongside Lowry’s original sketches, cartoons, illustrations, paintings and designs for albums that were never to be. After the exhibition, the interpretations will be auctioned for the Ray Lowry Foundation, which supports further education projects for the underprivileged

Image Courtesy Idea Generation Gallery / Ray Lowry London Calling Exhibition

I sincerely hope some of you might be able to get along to this, if so please let me know how you enjoy it. Gallery is near Old St tube in the City, directions and such are on the gallery website. Follow Ray Lowry on Facebook. If you need further incentive to go look at this photo on the right, I’ve contacted the gallery to see if we can post a few more.

Lastly we chatted about the Tom Robinson Band yesterday in relation to the Victoria Park gig with The Clash. ‘McMutton’ shared with me a (weekly?) show that Tom Robinson hosts on BBC 6Music that I wasn’t aware of where he highlights new music. It comes with high recommendation so do check it out via the BBC or download via Ichoonze (iTunes).

Alright then, I need some sleep and food not sure in which order, but I’ll be back soon and cheers for dropping in.