Good evening and once again thanks are in order taking the time to visit the Clash Blog. A fairly normal Monday here except the fact that I managed to impale myself on the garden gate earlier (really it’s not as sexy as it sounds) but my scrape to my midsection did draw blood (heroic blogger) but not to the extent where I felt I would need an updated tetanus jab (cowardly blogger). It did hurt though and I am going to blame the clashblog dog as it was her I was trying to block from making a daring escape from the back garden. Tonight I had hoped to get ‘ official’ approval on using the text associated with a new gallery exhibition of Clash photographs – I didn’t receive it in time for tonight’s blog post but I don’t think it will present an issue.

You may be familiar with the name of “Proud Gallery” which is situated in Camden Town just on the northern fringe of central London. I always associate Camden with the first stage of long ago late night walks home after missing the last tube – typically after seeing a band or practicing in the ritual of trying to chat up a girl at the Camden Palace despite the fact you could not hear a word she said all night and vice-versa. When you screamed out ” I’ll meet you outside in a bit” you could just as well have been shouting ” I’ll beat you down side you shit” – which will may or may not have resulted in a bad first impression. Always hated nightclubs for the simple reason that it was impossible to start conversation with anyone – good bad or indifferent. I understand you supposed to go and dance, but if he can’t dance what’s left to do? Anyway Proud is not only on our radar as it previously hosted a Jail Guitar Doors event last year (or was that earlier this year?) but the gallery also sits upon fairly hallowed ground for Clash fans – in the same block of buildings that included rehearsal rehearsals where The Clash originally practised, wrote and in some cases slept during the very early days. The space was dug out by Bernie Rhodes and backs onto the railway tracks heading to the North.

The gallery will be hosting a special collection of photography featuring the work of Adrian Boot. From December 8th 2010 Proud Camden will present London Calling: The Clash by Adrian Boot. This exhibition is a photographic portrait of the band and will include a number of never before seen images. Photographs include them rehearsing rehearsing in the Gin House at the Stables Market in Camden which was also the site of the original Proud Galleries in Camden, so the exhibition represents a homecoming in the truest sense of the word as only the calendar has changed but the location has not. Here is the official blurb underneath you can find the address and contact details:

Proud Camden presents London Calling: The Clash by Adrian Boot. This unique exhibition is a photographic portrait of the most influential punk rock band, credited with pioneering the advocacy of radical politics in rock, and includes never before seen images. Referred to as ‘The Only Band that Matters’, The Clash was a band like no other. Pioneers of British punk-rock; their incendiary gigs, definitive style, intelligent lyrics and passionate idealism captured the spirit of the time and their album ‘London Calling’ was labelled one of the best albums of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. Adrian Boot’s photographic portrait of The Clash reveals a softer side of the punk rockers as they relax and rehearse together as well as shots of them during their legendary performances. Photographed rehearsing at their studio in the Gin House at the Stables Market in Camden which was also the site of the original Proud Galleries in Camden, this exhibition marks a true homecoming for Boot’s extraordinary images of this cult band. Admission is free.

The exhibition runs right through until the later part January so that many of you will have a chance to drop in and have a look – by all means please let us know on the blog what you thought. Sounds like an ideal chance to do a bit of West End Christmas shopping, or crawl round Camden Market or maybe even up to see the Arsenal – topped off with a trip to the gallery. If you have any other questions about the exhibition please get in touch and I’ll try and find out extra details. Not sure about The Clash being a ‘cult band’ they really need to contact me to write their press releases. Talk to you soon -

Here’s a link to Proud for further information. (My thanks to Sophie @ the Gallery)

Hello again on this fine Wednesday evening, tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the States – it’s a weird holiday when you’ve not grown up here and have no real attachment or memories for the date. It’s the one day where nobody goes out/shops and tend to see family – even more observed than Christmas in terms of a day to relax. Note to those in charge though – make it a Friday….what good is a Thursday off? As for news here – not much except the addition of a dog to Clashblog towers, more news on that later. She looks like Gromit if that helps – although Gromit is surely not a suitable name for a female dog…?

I remember reading a few weeks ago about the sad death in a car accident of Andy Kotowicz an executive with famed indie label Sub Pop Records in Seattle. It sent shockwaves through the industry and of course his colleagues at the label. To learn more about this have a read of the obituary written in the Seattle Times, Sub Pop has long been about as close to Rough Trade in the US market as you can imagine. Please visit this page at Sub Pop for more details and classy tributes. Kotowicz was considered more than just a label executive but as the obituary said “he was the greatest ambassador Sub Pop ever had”. In Andy’s memory and to aid his family (his wife and a young daughter) the label have started the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation. In addition to donations an auction has been launched via ‘charity buzz’ and amongst the collectibles the shining piece is a Joe Strummer Signature Telecaster signed by the members of The Foo Fighters. Full blurb is below if you are a collector – the cause doesn’t need me to explain it’s value:

Foo Fighters Autographed Fender Joe Strummer Signature Telecaster

Autographed by guitarist Chris Shiftlett, bassist Nate Mendel, drummer Taylor Hawkins and frontman Dave Grohl of the critically-acclaimed Foo Fighters, this iconic guitar is modeled after some of the battle-hardened Telecasters that Joe Strummer performed with during his days with the Clash. Dave Grohl is one of many artists to carry on his legacy. The Foo Fighters have been recognized as one of the most influential bands since the mid-90s. They’ve won six Grammy awards including statues for Best Rock Album and Best Hard Rock Performance. Hits include “Learn To Fly,” “My Hero,” and “Monkeywrench.”

The proceeds for this item benefit The Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation

Terms: In condition as donated. Cannot be returned, exchanged, re-auctioned, or re-sold. Additional shipping charges may apply depending on location of the winner.

Donated by: Foo Fighters

Current bids have taken the price up to $550 and the auction runs until Dec 14th. It would be a great piece of memorabilia for someone and I hope the fact that Joe’s name is associated with the guitar helps drive the price up well above the estimate. Keep an eye on the auction or make a bid via this link. Thumbs up to The Foo Fighters, Chris Shiftlett (who has helped with Jail Guitar Doors) and Dave Grohl are both fans of The Clash. More soon – Tim

Afternoon…sunny skies hide the fact that it was such a gloomy morning…..I’m counting on you to be having a better weekend than I thus far. Continuing my commitment to more frequent posts I’ve a very quick two topics for the price of one and both are definitely worth your time in the opinion of your Clashblogger. First of all the image that you see off to the left, usually I do a semi-regular feature for ‘Clash Shopping’ now retitled ‘Lost in the Supermarket’ and usually I batch things together but today’s piece of art is different enough and perhaps good enough (beauty is in the eye of the beholder) to stand up for it’s own post, or at least half of one. What can I tell you about it – not that I know much about art – is that it’s done with pastels and prints are available. The artist is named Josh and attends the Savannah (GA) College of Art. I’ve asked him for more info such as price for the prints so if you’re interested let me know.

On a non shopping matter – I hope you remember a while back the many posts we had about Alan Miles’ film ‘Breaking Rocks’ – the documentary that looked at the Jail Guitar Doors initiative in the UK. It was a busy year for JGD who also launched a US chapter in the Spring. The film follows Billy Bragg and some of the individuals helped by JGD as they learned guitar and a new skill. The film had a pretty cool premiere and then made it to DVD I believe, I assumed sitting in the States it was something I would never see until the other day. Just doing a general search I found that the entire film had been uploaded online to youtube! I didn’t want to promote a bootleg so I got in touch with Alan Miles to check if it was alright to promote via the blog and he did give it the thumbs up. So why waste time reading my blurb, you need to pull up a chair and watch this film. Watch it for the good of the project, watch it for Billy Bragg and Alan, watch it for the spirit of The Clash…just make sure you watch it! Then let me or Alan know your thoughts – I’m sure he’d love your feedback. You can contact him via Facebook. Also, here is the official link to Jail Guitar Doors.

Cheers for now – the film is below. Tim

Alan Miles’ film Breaking Rocks