Bloody Hell….where does the time go? I had the best intentions of getting to this last night but it wasn’t to be, however I’m a believer that good things are worth waiting for and what could be better on a Monday than the latest installment of The Clash Cup. You can find out all about the premise on many earlier posts (It’s a knock-out cup competition with democracy mixed in and you help vote for the best Clash songs of all time). It’s a fun and simple process but as we’re now in round two I’m seeing decisions that are far more difficult and the voting reflects that. How do you oust a song when you love both? That’s a problem we need to overcome I fear.

Before we find out the next two random songs to ponder I do have results from our last pairing.

Round 2 – Match 3:

Clash City Rockers defeated The Card Cheat    35-23   (60.3% vs 39.7%)

So that’s twice that The Card Cheat has lost in the popular vote and the 39.7% share probably won’t be enough to keep it floating into round three. The timing on Clash City Rockers is funny as I just read in the Strummer biography about how Mickey Foote sped up the original master tapes ‘by about 1.5%’ at the insistence of Bernard Rhodes but without the knowledge of Strummer/Jones. Needless to say it was the last time he produced a Clash record. Still a great single if just a bit too fast….

So the random number machines has been wheeled out for our next two songs and the dynamic duo are:

Round 2 – Match 4:

The Leader    versus   Every Little Bit Hurts

Blimey!! Well if this was the FA Cup the equivalent would be Gillingham pulling Chesterfield out of the magic bag and avoiding Liverpool or Manchester United wouldn’t it? Still all songs got to round two on merit and one of these is guaranteed a place in round three, so are you loyal enough to back the same horse. Let’s see how they progressed to this stage.

Form:

Round 1 – The Leader defeated Junkie Slip  19-5 (79% of the vote)

Round 1 – Every Little Bit Hurts defeated Cool Confusion 20-14 (59% of the vote)

Odds:

Well at least we can see how both songs got through round one can’t we? I wouldn’t make a good bookmaker as I’ve missed 2 of 3 predictions so far, but I’d bet my Clash coins on The Leader for this pairing. It’s a good song, good support in the first round and is taking on a track that never got an official release. How can you not back The Leader? (prove me wrong).

Lyrics:

So the girl let the thin man touch her
Mixing questions, drunken laughter
The ministry car was waiting there
A minister knows his own affair

Come back to me
Darling you’ll see
I can give you all the things
That you wanted before

As ever you can spend some time listening before voting (always encouraged) by clicking the respective links The Leader (live!!) or Every Little Bit Hurts.

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Thanks for voting and for visiting the blog, polls close Saturday evening. Til next time…and don’t forget to submit your questions for Strummerville.

Good Morning, welcome back (or thanks for your first ever visit), I’m armed with coffee and a touch of melancholy today. Some sour things (there’s a trio of deaths lingering around us this week….these things really do happen in threes) are offset by the fact that the sun is out the breeze is lovely and Arsenal just won another critical game (staying alive one game at a time) and if Wolves can win in the next hour a pint of lager will be in order later on.

I’ve only got one real bit of news this morning but I’m quite excited about it. Since the earliest days of the blog I’ve always felt it natural to lend our support to Strummerville as much as possible. As most of you know Strummerville was established shortly after the death of Joe by Lucinda Strummer who oversaw the original ideas behind the trust, she remains a trustee. I don’t think it would be wrong of me to say that for many of those who love Joe and The Clash that Strummerville has become a living, breathing idea keeping alive the spirit of Strummer. If not the embodiment of what Joe was all about then certainly as near as we can ask for. If someone had to keep the ideals going, far better that it was the people who work hard each day for Strummerville than CBS/Sony, the rock and roll hall of fame, or some other option. Elvis has Graceland and Strummer has Strummerville, having experienced both I know which side our bread is buttered on. What’s remarkable about the trust is the growing diversity of projects that they support, you may be surprised at the breadth of work that they now do. The assistance they provide in developing new music is about the most fitting tribute to Joe Strummer that I can imagine.

Joe was someone who never gave up his desire to make a difference via music and relished sharing his love of new artists from all avenues. From his boyhood days in boarding school being obsessed with listening to pirate radio under the covers, to his final touring when nothing made him happier than digging through a record shop to see what he could uncover and add to his carrier bag. His passion for music never waned. For some of us the importance of music in our life remains as critical in our 30’s, 40’s, 50’s as it did when we waited for the next single by our favourite band when we were thirteen. It seems though that for so many getting an education, a good job, having a family, new hobbies gradually relegate music until it becomes little more than a soft soundtrack to life in general and the passion for new music flickers out and then dies. I can’t relate to that. I’ve been asked ‘why do you still care so much about music?’ and ‘why didn’t you grow out of being excited about new bands’ – I’ve been just as confused by their stance when reality TV, a bigger car, or new golf clubs take the place in their heart and desire that used to be occupied by music. I’ve never found a substitute for music and I hope I never do – I feel lucky to be in the same place that Joe Strummer always seemed to be – that the next record you hear might be one of the best you’ve ever heard. Accidentally (as usual) I’ve gone way off topic.

I write about Strummerville today as I’m thrilled and honoured to announce an exclusive interview with Trish Whelan the Charity Director at Strummerville. Trish is just getting all the loose ends together for the trip to the SXSW festival in Austin which is having a huge slice of Strummer related events (see yesterday’s post). As much as I lament living in a world without Strummer (I constantly read ‘we really need Joe Strummer in days like these’) I think we should be thankful that we have a world with Strummerville and the work that they do.

I’ll ask Trish as many questions as I can think of but hoped you might be able to help me out with other ideas? If there is a specific question you have for Trish about Strummerville I’d love to include it when we speak. Email me via the blog – or contact me via the facebook page or twitter – I’ll do all I can to get all questions answered. I know Strummerville are proud and excited at the growth of these last six years and a growing profile in North America can be anticipated. Get in touch – this will be fun.

Cheers – Tim

Hello out there in Clash fan land, hope you’ve had a pleasant Saturday wherever you reside. I can’t say that was a very great or normal day, waking up to learn about another significant earthquake (this time in Chile) was followed by tsunami warnings throughout the Pacific – even at the time of writing Japanese coastal towns are fearing what might happen in the next few hours. Then I watched a genuinely exciting football match between my side and Stoke City – a game that was ruined by Aaron Ramsey having his leg literally broken in two by a late (jury is out on the

Will Coachella feature half of The Clash?

intent) tackle from a Stoke mule. Although we went on to win the match, seeing one of your most promising young players with his foot literally hanging off at the wrong angle ruined the entire spectacle of winning. I played football myself later this afternoon and felt very cautious throughout although at a much slower pace of course! Add to that some Clash news and I guess we can wrap things up eh?

This is just at the rumour stage at present but there is a a certain amount of buzz that Mick Jones and Paul Simonon might be playing with Gorillaz at the Coachella festival in Southern California coming soon. If I can find something concrete about that I’ll be sure to let you know. As if The Specials, PIL and others wasn’t enough reason to drive to the middle of nowhere eh?

The charming and very informative Viv Albertine gave a brilliant interview to the Quietus this week. Within it she discusses her return to music in addition to her time with The Slits. She also talks about the early days of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, her relationship with Mick Jones and other key figures in those early years. Don’t forget Viv wasreally close to Sid Vicious, Keith Levene and so many others as she tried to break into such a male dominated scene. She says of Mick:

“Mick had such a thinking, intelligent mind, he wasn’t swayed by the latest wave of thinking or what was trendy. That’s what’s so great about Mick. Yeah. Brain in there”

Here’s an interesting write up on the Canoe.Ca site about the recently released ‘Shatter The Hotel’ project – the dub tribute to the songs of Joe Strummer and The Clash. There is a lot of interesting insight into the making of the album so it is definitely worth a read. I hope you’ve had a chance to purchase/download the album which benefits Strummerville, if not here is the link.

Finally a poll on the MTV site inquires about what might be the best debut albums of all time (and you can vote if you wish), credit to the former music channel (now just basically a big teen wankfest) for mentioning the debut record by The Clash – the results of the poll so far tells you all you need to know about who watches MTV these days.

A fairly rubbish day – but that will all change overnight. Cheers for dropping by.