Hello all…hope you’re keeping warm in Europe, and most of North America for that matter. It was never like this in England when I lived there so its hard to even imagine some of the weather I’ve seen the last few weeks.

Just a quick post to share a landmark you’ve all made possible and some other quick notes. Earlier this morning we welcomed the 100,000th view of the Clash Blog. Obviously that includes repeat visits, but every day about 50% of all people who visit the blog are here for the first time and the numbers of visitors amaze me, its a testament to the lasting impact of the band. For something we started just last Summer to get that many people so soon is really rewarding, and what I wanted most from the blog (an interactive place) is really happening. So — thank you — and keep coming back…I’ll keep bashing out the updates.

I also wanted to mention for those of  you who use facebook – that we’ve created a facebook Clashblog page – so please become a friend and leave comments, ideas, pictures – anything you want. Everything online with social media is very viral so I hope to see you over there if you can. The link is above or you can join over on the right. I also plan to use Twitter more in 2010 and you may have noticed the new link image also over on the right of the page. So if you are browsing send a tweet or a message via facebook – I hope to see you there or here.

More soon…

Tim

Hello again, I hope you found some solace and happiness in the anniversary of Joe’s death yesterday. Its quite nice that the two little ones in this house are used to The Clash blaring out of my office but yesterday they might have been wondering about the overload. Lots of really nice things were written on Facebook yesterday about Joe and I think people are generally making a good fist out of a pretty crap anniversary.

Some nice Joe tributes I saw appear over at Planet Forward , Zani E-Zine , Consequence of Sound, Ickmusic (with a nice bootleg of the Montego Bay show from 1982), and Run Dangerously. If you have time they are each worth a read, especially the first two.

I’ll do my best to wrap up some more of these for you tomorrow. I really enjoy seeing people taking the time to remember seven years on and it fills me with hope that the influence of Joe Strummer / The Clash will last well into this century. Watching music history unfurl as we live is really a strange experience, at Christmas in 1979 I got my copy of London Calling and naturally as a kid you never consider where the album will stand in the pages of music history thirty years later. The aged anniversaries for Clash concerts, events and records keep becoming almost a relic in some senses. With that said the internet with you tube, websites, blogs and social media has become a place to not only keep alive the video and audio that exists but also to further the debate, share ideas and create some sort of unity and community.

Kirsty with The Pogues

Two short other things for you right now, if (like me) you live in a household where Christmas music is preferred this week over your normal indie and punk you could do  a lot worse than check out the free mp3s (no download needed) over at the Indie Rock Cafe. There are well over 140 songs from XTC, Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, The Ramones, Belle and Sebastian and many more. It certainly beats Perry Como and Band Aid.

Finally a quick thumbs up to Billy Bragg who (with Florence and The Machine) ambitiously covers one of the best Christmas songs of all time – ‘A Fairytale of New York’. It’s nice to listen to but you can’t replace dear Kirsty MacColl no matter how hard you try, amazingly nine years have passed since we lost one of the sweetest voices I’ve ever heard. Still I get my Strummer references in with the Pogues plus check the acoustic guitars used in the video below.

Tim

Good Evening, just a quick post tonight. I hope you’ve had a chance to drop over and see what Carbon Silicon are up to lately? Check their official site for details as Tony James and Mick Jones have followed a very quiet first 10 months of the year with a buzz of activity. Spoiled as we were by the excellent Carbon Bubble album last month (download it for free) Tony has put together quite a few news updates about the direction of the band now and reaction to the album plus tour discussion. There’s a lot to digest there and I’ll be digging into it this weekend – though I’m keen to hear your interpretation also. It appears that something with record labels/management has triggered a brilliant back to basics approach and as TJ says he’s simply asks that you share the music. Email your friends, tweet about it, or add tracks to your favourites on Facebook. Considering the album has been released for free there’s no excuse for you not spending 10 minutes trying to help more people hear the music. More important than that it’s a great album.

Also with a lot to say about Punk Rock and the years since is former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock. Glen who performed this Summer with Mick Jones at the 100 Club is in the middle of playing some shows in snowy Canada at present. Matlock has given some really candid interviews about more recent events with the Chronicle Herald and also The Winnipeg Sun. Matlock is an interesting character who was key to the Sex Pistols (he was the chief songwriter) but left the band before events of the final 12 months and Sid Vicious stamped their place deeper in the memory of so many with a more pedestrian knowledge of the London scene. Downplaying the role of Matlock is failing to understand that it was really 1976 that created the scene and the development of the Pistols, especially in terms of the songs themselves. The doomed capacity of Sid was never really more than a tragically sad postscript which resulted in the self destruction of the band and ultimately the end of Vicious’ short life. It might look better on the T-Shirts but the Sex Pistols were far more tapered in the musical heritage of Matlock. Both interviews are worth your time and it’s interesting to learn of a Rich Kids reunion/fund raising show scheduled for London next month (apparently with Carbon Silicon) so more of that to come in the days ahead.

Clash Cup and Strummerville event previews coming up in the days ahead so I’ll talk with you soon.

Tim