Good Saturday morning Clash people all over the globe, this morning I feel like last night consisted of copious amounts of vodka, gin, rum, cider and unfiltered cigarettes however the truth is nothing happened last night and I just still have a stinking cold/flu combination which I think is about to run its course. The former sounds far more exciting however doesn’t it? Hopefully some of you have legitimate hangovers.

This time next week the Justice Tonight tour which features Mick Jones will be underway and I know from many of your comments that expectations are running high for this and rightly so. I think it’s fitting that it took a series of concerts for such a worthy cause to have Mick take this unprecedented step of playing live and featuring Clash songs rather than just a chance to line his pockets with cash. That speaks volumes about the choices that Jones makes, he could have pulled together an all star band of friends by calling in favours at any time over the last decade and gone out on a money spinning tour playing Clash songs over the last decade. He’s never taken that option because it never seemed right but the Hillsborough Justice Fund coupled with his friendship with Pete Wylie and others means next week will be something really special. I think what makes it even more enticing is that I don’t think it will happen again, I can’t see Mick calling up Paul and Topper in 2012 and proposing the ‘almost-Clash reunion’. Nor do I think they’d be interested. Anyway, I’ve rambled on at length enough probably and that’s partly cos I’m frustrated that I’m too far away to attend plus the cause is very important to me.

As for that short tour next month, thanks to those who have volunteered to cover the concerts for the blog in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool. I’ll contact you next week so we can keep current on the blog, if anyone is attending Cardiff or Sheffield and would like to contribute to the blog please let me know. As for the tour itself the special guest spots are really taking shape now and there’s some seriously good people making up the bill dependent on the the city in question.

In Cardiff Manic Street Preacher James Dean Bradfield will be the special guest whilst in Glasgow Glasvegas singer and poor man’s Joe Stummer impersonator  James Allan will be added to the lineup. In London guest stars are expected to include the excellent Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream/The Jesus and Mary Chain plus Don Letts as DJ and in Sheffield guests include a favourite of mine Richard Hawley plus Jon McClure (good article here in The Star). Hawley will DJ in Sheffield which I think would be a great night to make it along to. By all accounts there will be more guests announced as the dates draw closer and some who will probably remain as surprises until the very last minute. Rumours that Mr. Simonon might appear in London are just that at this stage but never say never, wouldn’t that be something? If you learn of other special guests before I do just add them to the comments and I’ll spread the word. Confirmed rumour is that more Clash songs are being added to the set.

It seems that London tickets are still doing the rounds on ebay but at exorbitant prices which seems like bad form for a charity concert. If anyone has unused tickets for any of the nights let me know via the blog and we’ll try and find you a taker from the readers. That’s all from me for now, thanks for reading.

This just in – tickets for Sheffeld on Ebay for just £10.00 are currently listed. Also, keep me posted via via Facebook, Twitter or get the RSS feed  thanks for stopping by.

Good morning and welcome back to another weekend at last. I must confess that Saturday’s are much more pleasant now that Arsenal are once again looking like a team who actually have some fight in their stomach, it certainly makes getting up at 5am much more rewarding.

image courtesy Erik the Fish http://www.flickr.com/photos/23662057@N03/

In a quest to keep the blog more current expect to see a few more short posts in the days/weeks ahead. I think if I try and get short updates out as I see them/think of them it might be a better approach. We’ll try it and see. On the agenda this morning is the Justice Tonight tour in the UK next month AKA the ‘Mick Jones Review’. I was surprised to see that tickets are still available at five of the six venues with currently only London on December 8th being sold out. Interestingly the night(s) before the London concert are open on the schedule so perhaps we might see a second night added if a venue can be found as The Scala has another event booked on the 7th. An extra night might also avoid people looking to charge £75 on ebay per ticket. I hope many of you in the UK (sod it, it would be worth a trip over from mainland Europe) are able to get tickets for one of these, I don’t think opportunities to see Mick Jones play perhaps 6-8 Clash songs are going to come along very often. Tickets for the other five nights can be purchased here.

Finally on the same subject, if anyone has a spare ticket available for the London concert please let me know. Someone from Ireland contacted me and desperately wants to make it over only to find the show has sold out, if you can help please contact me and I’ll match you up. That’s all I’ve time for right now but more later I assure you, in the meantime below the video below might make you go and get a ticket.

Mick Jones ‘Train in Vain’- Liverpool 24/9/11

Hello once again, yes I know it has been a while. I’m sorry, best laid plans and all that and suddenly the week has passed me by. Not that such trivial excuses help as their is much Clash related stuff to be getting to so I’ll try like mad to make amends over the coming week. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict 9 or 10 new posts over the next 7 days – that’s the only way we’re going to get current so check back often. Where have I been? Well it goes like this, last weekend I sliced open the top of my index finger that made typing rather tricky for a few days, then I had some pressing work to get done on a new website with a rushed deadline, then I had stomach flu and my server was down for 24 hours – follow that up with email issues and it’s been the week that shouldn’t have been. On the positive side there is decent likelihood of a move back to the west coast in 2012 and work remains busy so these are good things.

I am really keen on seeing if funding can be stretched to take in a trip back to England and Ireland next year and mix that in with some Arsenal games and Clash based events. If I plan and save and of course save and plan it might just happen. My relatives aren’t getting any younger and I miss good sausage rolls and quavers. I’d also have to visit this village (pictured left) in Ireland near Waterford, what could be better than a town named after The Clash (it wasn’t) but a town called Clashmore. Sounds ideal if you ask me. For those of  you who learned Gaelic in school – does ‘Clais’ truly translate to ‘Clash’?

So for tonight and probably half of the next few posts I thought I’d take the quick path to a speedy redemption and link you to those shorter Clash stories that merit a quick review on your part. If you think any are especially meaty or deserve closer inspection please let me know in the comments. All of which means we’re going to jump on to the Westway for the latest installment of Westway traffic. So then….off we go:

 Dodgy analogy of the week: The more I learned about Steve Jobs the less I liked him and that wasn’t a sentiment that arose after he passed away. He just seemed to treat a lot of people in a less than decent manner in a self important manner and also skipped a lot of bad press that wasn’t misplaced in the name of profit. Thus this article that begins with Paul Simonon smashing his bass being one of the most iconic rock and roll images (it is) having a parallel with the path carved out by Steve Jobs (it doesn’t) left me scratching my chin. It’s well written and worth a look but says ‘like many musicians he believed he could change the world with his ideas’. Which, in short, isn’t why I love music. I think the best lyrics and musicians that inspire me have made me ask how can I change the world – not wait for them to do the task for me. Have a read and see what you think.

Mick Jones impersonating Alexander The Great: Just file this under funny/great 7 second videos. It’ll make sense after you click the link I imagine.

Settle this debate – The best punk band of all time: Yet another of those daft/intriguing polls that asks for a decision on a broad question such as the ‘best punk band of all time’. The venue looks strangely to be a UFC site or something of that nature but I didn’t stay long enough to find out more. The promising news is that The Clash are currently joint first with 22.1% of the vote which puts them level with ‘other’. Second is shared between Black Flag and The Sex Pistols. Looks like you need to register to vote but if you have a few moments and want to make sure the final results are accurare please do so at the sherdof.com site via the initial link.

Want to feel inspired? Look to the punks: Sometimes a writer manages to capture something really well in the space of just six or seven paragraphs and so it is with this great piece written by Tom Hodgkinson in the Independent. Highly recommended read as it looks at the impact of punk music on someone in a less obvious setting than London or New York; in this case an activist who grew up in the former communist Czechoslovakia and how the music punctuated much of his energy. I really like the fact that 7″ singles continue to inspire.

“Punk thrives around the world. And it has been kept alive by its very physicality: while there are plenty of downloads and blogs in the movement, much preferred are old-fashioned formats such as vinyl, books and real fanzines made of real paper, which can be passed around and last for years”

Right then that should be enough to get you through the night but the photo above reminds me that I need to write about how bloody cool Paul Simonon is over the weekend and then we have to write to an ‘esteemed’ magazine who don’t seem to quite understand that. I’ll explain more – remind me. OK – it’s pouring outside so I need to go and enjoy that rare event but you can keep current via Facebook, Twitter get the RSS feed for the blog or email me and as ever thanks for reading and circulating the blog wherever and whenever you see fit. Tim