Good Evening, you’ll recall that a week ago Proud Galleries were able to host another rather unique night in London Music history. Writing about events back in London is partially easy (in as much as I know London like the back of my hand) but not being there can be a hindrance. So as you know (or can revisit the story here) Mick Jones, Billy Bragg, Wayne Kramer and a host of others played an exclusive gig in conjunction with the first screening of Alan Miles’ film “Breaking Rocks” which chronicles the Jail Guitar Doors program. The finest thing about doing The Clash Blog has been the brilliant support, contributions and ideas from fellow Clash fans around the world. You are all familiar with the excellent work of our photographer friend Pete Stevens, in turn Pete has hooked me up with Stuart Warwick who was at the event last Thursday.

Stuart is a 41 year old artist, fan and dedicated supporter of the Clash and all things punk (as we gracefully and collectively slide into our middle age). Stuart has an art background as always enjoyed animation/cartoons (you’ll see below and in part two). As a hobby he’s contributed works featuring Steve Jones, other Sex Pistols, Rat Scabies and of course Mick Jones  and Tony James. They’re all keeping me busy enough at the moment. He insists it’s got to be for fun otherwise he won’t touch it. He arranges to have the art given away at gigs and such. He doesn’t earn a penny for any of his work but has been very happy with trying to raise a few pounds for a couple of charitable causes this year. So I’ll hand the story of last Thursday over to Stuart….part one….

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Esty (my wife) and I got down to Camden – me laden with pictures, frames and assorted rubbish for handing out. I’d had a message from Jail Guitar Doors to pop my stuff off sometime after 4pm at the Proud Gallery, Camden. To calm the old jitters we stopped off for a few beers en route after checking into our hotel and go for a wander round Camden Market with a view to sussing out the venue. We have a skulk around, check out Rehearsal Rehearsals and the immediate area, where I spot Pat Gilbert chatting to some blokes

Stuart's special piece for the night

Soon we’re at the back of the Proud and I notice a bar sign. We decide to go in and order a couple of beers and hope to work out how/who/where to drop my pictures off. It’s a smashing warm day, so it’s outside again with our drinks to relax for a bit. Minutes later I can hear music coming from somewhere – and as the gallery seems to be open, and people are wandering in and out, I decide to go and explore. It’s Billy Bragg doing his soundcheck. I quietly observe for a bit – he’s doing ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ I think. I go to get my wife, who’s still nursing her beer outside, but she won’t come in. She’s a bit shy. Eventually I persuade her to come in, but Billy’s just about done his stuff so we only catch the final two notes !

There are people putting chairs out for the film and roadie types lugging gear around. I ask some bloke if he knows where my Jail Guitar Doors contact is and lo and behold it’s the guy standing directly behind me. I give him my pictures, then make to leave, when I hear ‘Jail Guitar Doors’ being played in the main hall. We pop through and it’s Pat Gilbert with Night of Treason, running through their soundcheck. We watch them and leave via the back

The audience at Proud ready for the film

exit. Esty sees Billy signing my painting – there are kind of stable areas off a corridor where the bands are based – and you can see over the chest height wall that separates them from the long corridor which runs down the centre of the building. Anyway – it’s a case of “Phew, job done” as far as I’m concerned, so off we go for, you’ll never guess, another beer or two….

….Gulp, glug, wash and scrub, we change clothes and exit the hotel at 6-ish to get to the Gallery for 6.30pm prompt, as the film is meant to start 7pm on the dot. Entering the Stables Market on Chalk Farm Road, not far from the legendary Roundhouse and the first person I spot, lounging on a bench is…..

*** Very nice Stuart...and thanks so much…part 2 will follow soon!Tim

Hello all and a happy Sunday to you. I’ve got a lot of bits and pieces scattered about due to a lack of posts the last few days sorry about that. I’ll work to get current and reply to your emails and posts in the days ahead.  I will try and review Clash stories from around the net Monday though there was nothing major over the weekend. Just one quick piece of news this evening; I’m excited to announce that I’m scheduled to have a short phone interview with Alan Miles, the Director of Breaking Rocks (the Jail Guitar Doors film) this week. Entirely worth being aware of is that Alan also was behind (accidentally) ‘The Last Night London Burned’ the short documentary that captured the night that Mick Jones joined Joe Strummer (Nov 2002) onstage in unplanned fashion shortly before Joe’s death. This famous event in Acton (Acton Town Hall pictured right) was captured by Miles and given the historic nature received great plaudits upon release. If anyone reading the blog has a question they’d like me to offer to Alan Miles I’d be happy to try and include it when we speak. Breaking Rocks of course has been formed in a far more natural style and I look forward to seeing the finished product. Please email me or leave comments before Tuesday evening with ideas.

Lastly, have a look at this article from Wonkavision and help me determine if they are being serious or not. I thought it was a joke but I’m not certain, I think it might be legitimate stab at the moral fibre of ‘punk rock’ in which case…come off it! Not much else, sorry for lack of news – I’ll make up for it next week. Cheers – Tim

Friday morning at last, it’s been that sort of a week. Funny how the events this week with Billy Bragg sent more than just me into a bit of a frenzy. It’s not every day that 50% of The Clash get together to re-record an old Clash number and better still in this day of online promotion you can get pretty much ‘real time’ access to exactly what’s going on. It reiterates a theme I’ve dwelled on a few times and that is just how much the music industry and media has changed in the 30 years since The Clash were active. In the 70’s and early 80’s the music press held all the cards. If you wanted news you waited for the NME or Trouser Press to be kind enough to share it. If you wanted to hear the songs it was late night sessions on the BBC or perhaps independent radio in the US. When did college radio kick in in the States to help indie music? 1982-3?

If you wanted to see the band wait til they finally toured in your town or city, by the time MTV came along and made music videos the norm The Clash were already close to the end. With all that said I did a quick scan of the reporting about the Jail Guitar Doors event this week and wanted to share some with you:

Consequence of Sound went with the somewhat bold “The Clash reunite, well kind of…”

The Telegraph promised even more as “The Clash Musicians revisit one of their classic tracks”

The New York Times (consistent Clash support) keep it up!

Uncut was more subdued as it just stuck to the details

The Guardian kept up their Clash campaign with a nice “Topper and Mick collaborate on charity single’

The Mirror (wankers) decided to cease the Strummer baiting long enough to fire out a story which was even vaguely accurate!

UKPA announce ‘Clash duo reunite for a Jail Project’

I’m excited on two counts, it shows that the level of interest in the Clash remains high in general which cannot be a bad thing. It also brings a lot of added awareness to the Jail Guitar Doors program specifically and the film just before the release date. Needless to say I hope the Clash Blog will be your preferred source for Clash news but nice to see a story create such a buzz this week. I must get my head down to some work, Clash Cup tonight and some assorted stories this weekend.

Cheers – Tim