Greetings Clash maniacs ~ thanks for meandering back to the blog for another daily dose of the contents of my head. Actually hopefully there will be more to the blog tonight than the contents of my head today as they would primarily revolve around one of those Wile E. Coyote 5 ton anvils falling on top of someone I dislike (all for the greater good you understand) and my other burning desire which is to get back to California as soon as possible. I’m having serious withdrawals from city, ocean, culture, diversity and nice weather and I can quench most of that quite locally. Its a longish drive but not as much to see en route as you might get on a short burst down the Westway – hence tonight is another update of Westway Traffic - your quick and easy reference guide to shorter Clash stories on the web. Westway Traffic volume ten (first in 18 days…oh dear!)  just click on the story header for more information.

Image courtesy 'Tian'

Speaking of Topper Headon: Yesterday’s post was a good chance to take a more recent glimpse of Topper Headon and the stellar work he is doing on behalf of the Hepatitis C Trust back in the UK. Within my idle speculation I mentioned how I think he is probably quite simply grateful to be alive and well and still receiving (the very merited) recognition for the amazing body of work he achieved with The Clash. Its easy to overlook Topper as ‘just’ the drummer but the reality is that from early 1979 onwards the band’s appreciation of each others influences and of course ability is what drove The Clash to achieve such a diverse range of work on London Calling and beyond. Topper was a huge part of that – I think an understated part of that, his talent and versatility as a drummer (but guitar, piano als0) meant he was a critical part of the sound that The Clash achieved. Anyway, I’m rambling again (I’ve cabin fever and it happens daily) but I stumbled across this video you can see by clicking the header of this paragraph where Topper is awarding a drumming scholarship at the Canterbury Christ Church University music department. Its great footage to hear Topper talk about drumming, his recovery and The Clash.

Bloody good art….and it’s from France too! : I hope you’ve noticed the remarkably cool images to the left and below on the right, these canvas prints were made in four stages from the debut album sleeve and existing photographs. I stumbled upon this and an assortment of truly fantastic images that have been created by an artist named Tian who is from Le Mans, France. I’ve written to try and find out more and hopefully we can do a more in depth feature on his work on a future post but his work and style really is something you should have a look at. He has done a number of Clash pieces but the rest of the portfolio is also wonderfully conceived. More to follow soon I really hope and ideally I can get particulars if any of you are feeling a bit spendy.

Ken Livingstone, his life and music: If like me you’ve lived in London or visited extensively you know that the mayor of the Greater London Authority is a fairly important duty and perhaps especially so in helping to shape London’s approach to transport, crime and the arts. Ken Livingstone did much more than appear on the Blur track ‘Ernold Same’ - Livingstone won that position in a 2000 election and held it until 2008. You already know I fall far left of centre and I’ve always liked Ken a great deal, he’s been credited with doing a lot to reduce racism in London, reduce congestion and make it a slightly better place to live. Admittedly I’m making that observation from some distance as I left the city before he was in office. He has a record of being radical and very outspoken but when you cut through the agenda that the press have you can see he tried desperately to improve London. Now the city is under the ‘control’ of Boris Johnson, a man that deserves (and has) much longer articles written about him on other blogs. I understand Livingstone is looking to get back into office in 2012, we’ll keep an eye on that one. As for the link, a great interview recently conducted by the equally great Quietus that asks Ken to reflect on the music they play to him and reflect on it and culture during his many years in London.

I’ve just realised that I’ve got about 20 more Clash related tidbits to get through. So let me brew some coffee and I’ll get another update done soon…thanks for dropping in. Tim

Hello again and cheers for stopping in at the blog. This apparently would be Friday so I hope you navigated your week successfully and have an exciting weekend in store? Seems like it’s feast or famine when it comes to Clash related news in the ‘proper’ newspapers but suddenly there are a number of features which I’ll have to get to over the weekend. Speaking of features I’m still waiting for my local bookshop to get a copy of the most recent edition of Uncut magazine which had the special Clash exclusive concerning the anniversary of the release of Sandinista! In the UK and Europe you’ve had it for weeks already so I apologise for the late coverage of the article via the blog. Last weekend as a substitute for not finding the magazine I did pick up the new Marcus Gray book ‘Route 19 Revisted…’ about the making of London Calling which so far is rather good and I’ll add it to my list of things to review when I get through the 500+ pages.

Terry Hall prays it will stay open (on the 100 Club stage)

First off there has been a really good level of response to what I wrote about yesterday, the potential impending doom for the 100 Club in central London. The very concept of closing down such a historic venue seems ludicrous and wrong on many levels; a complete slap in the face for the musical heritage of England. What makes it all the more strange is that for over 45 years rock music has been one of the most successful exports that the UK has had. The country that used to make almost anything and export it successfully is now just a memory and in terms of international impact you could make a great argument for music being the single most important export from Britain over the last 4+ decades. Closing down historic establishments that are part and parcel of that heritage is just shortsighted and nonrecoverable once a decision has been made. Much like people go to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Anne Hathaway’s cottage (not the actress!) many people wander through the streets of London, Manchester and Liverpool to see the places where musicians who impacted their lives grew up, the studios where they recorded and of course the venues where they played. You couldn’t convince me for a moment that in 25 years time New York won’t still regret closing down CBGB’s and I’m sure London would face the same dilemma in hindsight if we keep tearing down everything that is old or not making enough profit.

There simply must be somebody or some collective that can step in and save the future of the 100 Club, we’re not talking about a giant venue that takes up a whole city block and could be converted into a luxury condominium tower but a basement venue tucked away behind a major shopping street. Part of me thinks Richard Branson or the chairman of Sony should cover the overheads for the foreseeable future just on the basis of what the Sex Pistols and The Clash did for those respective labels, throw in the head of Polydor while you’re at it – I’m just really annoyed that it is even up for discussion as it seems so completely wrong to me.

Anyway as for the response in the media it is encouraging and hopefully a benefactor or organization will step in to resolve this partly as a result of the heightened awareness and the fact that three months or so remain to find a solution. In less than 24 hours that Facebook group to ‘Save the The 100 Club’ that I mentioned yesterday has gone from 4,100 to 6,650 members and continues to spike. London has already lost The Marquee, The Astoria and so many other places too lengthy to mention, let’s hope that list doesn’t continue to grow.

The musicians union were quick to come out with a condemnation of the news and a reminder about the heritage of the venue.

Altpress also put their weight behind a headline story about the potential closure

Mick Jones in an exclusive interview with Spinner said someone should really step in to save the club. Yes Mick, let’s all do it together!!
No less than you’d expect from Jones he even offered to lend his time to assist

“”If someone’s going to do something and I’m available then I’d love to help. You have to balance it with the fact that life changes, but I’d love to help.”

John Robb over at the NME wrote a good piece about why it must not close and even inferred that Mayor Boris should get involved

The list of stories about it continue to grow, in the interim I’m thinking perhaps Elton bloody John could donate half of the money that he received for doing this. That might be a Facebook campaign we can all get behind.

I’ll have to save those other stories for a bit later, as I didn’t expect to rant on about this again so much this afternoon though I do think it’s really important and shouldn’t be ignored.

The 100 Club last year, Jones, Matlock, Diggle and Ascott playing ‘Pretty Vacant’

Good evening everyone how was your Saturday then? I just got home from playing football where it was a lovely 104f when we started but good fun nevertheless, in fact I imagined the ball was a particular person’s head (see previous post) so putting my boot through the ball had an extra level of satisfaction tonight. If this is your first visit your timing is good as it’s time for another edition of The Clash Cup. A very simple process that allows you to vote for your favourite Clash song via the blog; round one included every Clash song I could find and we are now well into round two. The pairings are completely at random and you can vote once over the next four or five days. Before seeing which names come out of the bag tonight we need to recap the previous battle from earlier in the month which was quite a close run thing.

Justice Tonight/Kick It Over defeated The City of The Dead 37 – 30

That was quite the result, it was close from the very beginning and the original lead set by the eventual winner got smaller and larger until it ended as a very tight affair. As it stands, the City of The Dead looks set to continue into round three as one of the most successful runners up however that is subject to change based on the overall results from this round. I know I had a hard time picking between these two and it seemed so did you. The battle of the B-Sides indeed! Now we’ll use the random number generator for the next two:

Round 2 Match 11

Four Horseman versus  English Civil War

I do believe we have another difficult decision on our hands based on the above. I know both songs will get good support but on this occasion I know instantly which one I’ll pick but don’t let my thoughts influence what you do nor should you let the current votes impact your decision because I do see some big changes from day to day with these votes. This could be another situation where the runner-up gets enough support to make it into round three or perhaps I’m totally misjudging how the votes will fall. For me, English Civil War was one of the first Clash songs that I became completely obsessed with as a kid and I still find it’s one that sends my blood racing. Great to sing along to and then one of the first songs I learned to play very badly on guitar when I eventually learned how to do many years later, still learning don’t hold your breath. On the other hand Four Horsemen was never amongst my top 10 tracks from London Calling which means it will probably go and win this handsomely.

Form book:

Round 1 – Four Horsemen defeated Lover’s Rock          71% of the vote
Round 1 – English Civil War lost to London’s Burning    with 31% of the vote but stayed in the competition due to most votes for a runner-up in round one

Odds:

I’d completely forgotten that English Civil War had lost in round one but got a lot of votes which enabled it to continue on. I’ve actually read that a lot of people felt the song was too gimmicky and the lyrics too naive, not to mention the fact it wasn’t technically an original composition either. I may be in the minority willing it to go forward in The Clash Cup although I think it’s probably not going to make it this time. London Calling just has so much support spread across its 19 tracks so that songs from the album will usually be a favourite until we get to the final 32.

Stuff:

When people listen to songs that are more than a decade old or so the phrase ‘how has it dated’ often comes up. My opinion for what it’s worth is that Four Horsemen even years ago was the only track on London Calling where the production maybe didn’t bring out the best in the song and I’d say the passing of time emphasizes that a little bit more. As for English Civil War it technically a Clash cover version with the tune of course taken from Johnny Comes Marching Home and/or Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye. So whether the origin of the folk song is American or Irish is up in the air. I would guess Irish and then rewritten during the Civil War by Irish-Americans as a reworked folk song to mark the brutal war. Common sense tells me my personal affection for English Civil War came from knowing it from when I was a toddler although I don’t remember attending any Irish folk sessions it could be my Mum’s fault I would venture (yes she’s a Dubliner, not one of the Dubliners mind you, I don’t want to misrepresent her).

As always I encourage you to give both songs a final listen before voting which you can do by way of clicking the options that follow. Voting itself is equally easy but all votes are final, if you feel like justifying your decision or indecision please feel free to add your comments as it would be nice to hear from you. As for the versions, I almost forgot Animal Farm was one of the most influential ‘proper’ books that resonated with me at an early age and as you know the cover of the English Civil War 45rpm sleeve featured the aforementioned conflicted farm animals. Don’t know why that came up but there you have it and if you resort to read one book this year that you’ve never read, try that one or To kill a Mockingbird. Back on track here is Four Horsemen which features Joe adding vocals from the making of London Calling DVD with Guy Stevens working his magic. (Warning for the ladies tasty Paul Simonon alert on the video). As for English Civil War it just had to be the Rude Boy clip/outtake where Strummer looks positively charged and ready to shout the lyrics through your head if need be.

Happy voting, thanks for voting and I will speak to you very soon.

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