Hello again, I’m just about to have a bit of lunch so I thought I’d get a short update together while I’m at it. Hope the weekend went well and you’re fighting the good fight at work or school. After yesterday I didn’t fancy the loss of another icon but indeed I hear that Ken Russell has died at age 84 today – if you ever wanted to know what a punk rock filmmaker in the 60′s & 70′s looks like you’d do well to check out his career. I’d sum him up in one word – brash – in an industry that is so often dull and predictable which makes it more of a shame that he spent the last 20 years on the sidelines from notable success. Right then, some Clash related things to rifle through.

I’ll argue at length that alongside The Clash one of the most important British punk bands were Buzzcocks and even if others may have developed a bigger following I think they have inspired loads of great bands since in addition to their own brilliance. What was very unique about them was that a key member left right as the band were getting started. Howard Devoto was an integral part of their formation but departed after they only played live eleven times but not before they had completed the brilliant spiral scratch EP. Devoto didn’t vanish though as he immediately formed the very different but exceptionally good Magazine who soldiered on until 1981. Therefore if you’re one of the few who saw the original lineup of Buzzcocks you’d be one of a very rare breed of probably less than 3,000 people. Does that apply to any of you? (we may need proof). However I just read via Louder Than War that the original members are going to play two very special shows together for the first time since ’77 next year. The concerts take place May 25/26 in Manchester and London and I know that’s a long way off but if you’re interested I’d nab a ticket immediately if I were you. I should get over eh? Ticket details are via the linked page above.

Clash collections might be getting a little larger in the printed variety this week with Uncut Magazine released a 148 page special edition devoted to nothing but The Clash. I don’t have a copy yet but it will feature reprints of old interviews, some summaries, dozens of photos and a specially written introduction by Mick Jones. I’ve picked up a few of Uncut’s previous specials and they are good if you’re a collector so look out for one. If you’re in the UK they are at newsagents for £5.95 if you’re elsewhere good stores that offer import magazines should have it within a week or so. Failing that you can order a digital version online here and also be environmentally friendly or ask someone on the blog or facebook page to send you one for Christmas. You can help me get one or grab me a coffee over on the right too….

I need to get back to work, but you can keep in touch via Facebook, Twitter or get the RSS feed  thanks for reading. Tim.

Good morning everyone, a bright and sunny Sunday here and the calm before the storm that is often December. I really miss a lot of things about London but luckily with the internet I can still get a lot of them (football, music, television) and finally you can find good tea, pickled onions and even a Toffee Crisp in towns as unsophisticated as Phoenix. December is different though, I really miss London during the holidays. Yes it gets dark horribly early, it’s cold and crowded with shoppers and commuters but if feels like Christmas. Whereas here Christmas lights wrapped around a cactus when you’re wearing short sleeves in 70f weather doesn’t make you feel that festive. Last night I went to a ‘Festival of Lights’ Christmas parade where all the vehicles and people are covered in Christmas lights (I know…it’s extremely punk rock…I did at least fail to applaud the police!) and whilst it all looked nice enough it was a lovely warm evening and a cold drink was in order. Not very Christmas like at all. Still, Christmas hasn’t really been the same since 2002 but that’s for reasons that are personal to me and most of you I’d expect and as fans of The Clash you can’t get through December without the shadow of the anniversary of Joe’s death looming large. We’ll try and make it something very positive next month so I hope you can take part in that.

For this morning I just wanted to share some photographs. As you can imagine trying to compose the blog I’ve probably seen several thousand photographs of The Clash in their prime and it’s members since they split up. I try and dig out good shots as often as I can and I know many of you are instantly familiar with probably 500 plus that you’ve all seen before. So many of those photos are almost as iconic as the band itself, from the early paint splattered days of the first tour through to The Clash Mark II where Joe and Paul never looked entirely comfortable with their new colleagues. Sometimes I come across photos I’ve not seen and take the approach that hopefully at least half of you haven’t seen before either, in which case I’ll add them to the blog. Everyone has their favourite images of band but I think the series taken below of Joe in New York are rather magnificent. It’s also great to see a set of photographs from the same session. Based on the weather and Joe it was obviously taken in the summer of either ’99 or ’01 I think as he was there with The Mescaleros both of those years, I think it was probably the former. If I’ve uploaded these correctly you should be able to click on the first image and then cycle through each of the others, five in total.

I hope these photos speak to you as loudly as they did to me, each one certainly has a different feel to it. What I think you can read between the lines is just how happy Joe was in New York City. The Clash enjoyed such creative and rewarding times there and Joe made many lifelong friends in the city, it became almost a second home at times and it’s interesting that the longest time he lived in the US was Los Angeles rather than Manhattan but again he’d built a new network of friends on the west coast as well. I’ll never tire of photos like these it has to be said. As for the source they were all on the flickr account of Hitsville UK 08 and thanks to him or her, I don’t think these were an official set by Bob Gruen but if I’m incorrect please let me know so the photographs can be credited properly.

On another very sad note this morning I know many of you share my affinity for football and if you’re a fan of the game in the UK you were probably as devastated as I was to learn about the death at just 42 of Gary Speed the current manager of the Wales national side. I’d seen Gary Speed play many times over the years against Arsenal and always thought he was a class player, by all accounts he was a gentleman off of the field and obviously a great competitor and success. Tragically he had apparently committed suicide early this morning leaving behind his wife and two children. It’s too early to speculate but the dark spectre of depression was apparently something he had hidden. If someone you care about suffers from depression make sure you’re involved in their lives, you can make a huge difference. Rest in Peace Gary Speed.

A good Friday morning to you then, I’ve had better weeks but a cold isn’t enough to stop me from getting an update out to you fine people. There are a few things to get to some of which we’ve looked at before. I’m glad to say we broke the news of Julie Delpy being given the reins on the forthcoming Joe Strummer biopic before many of the other sites but over the last 48 hours it’s been given some coverage by many outlets. Here are a selection of those stories:

 BBC News gives a straightforward ‘just the facts as we know them’

The Guardian had a long and interesting article which they’ve now removed….very curious as to why

The Telegraph (honestly!) must now appeal to older Clash fans too

Rolling Stone (former Clash lovers) offer three sparse sentences

Variety suggests Delpy will be in the film itself….as Gaby I’m guessing

Spinner suggests the film will cover from 1982 right up until Joe’s death in 2002. That’s a new spin…

It would seem that official word is hard to find and a lot of speculation is beginning to dominate and I’m guilty of that too to some extent, but my biggest concern is the working title of the film. It’s a poor choice.

As I mentioned on Facebook that above and beyond being concerned about how the project will turn out I also think ‘The Right Profile’ is simply the wrong title for it. Yes it’s a Clash song but it also happens to be very specifically about troubled film star Montgomery Clift, thus the title (to a Clash fan) refers more to Clift than it ever could to Joe Strummer. I think we need to concoct a better title, I think simply ‘Strummer’ would work or even go back to the original ‘Joe Public’ which I didn’t think was great at the time but certainly more apt than what’s now getting selected. I don’t know how we contact Julie Delpy although we could try and bombard her facebook fan page although I doubt she reads it. Anyone well connected enough to have Julie’s ear please drop me a line and while you’re doing that I think I’ve come up with the ideal title for the film. How about just calling it ‘Joe’?

image courtesy hitsville uk 08 http://www.flickr.com/photos/26858003@N04/

The film is on track to be in production around the same time as the film about the making of London Calling which could make for a very interesting or disastrous 2012 at the cinema depending on how these projects actually turn out. Let’s keep our optimistic goggles in place at least until we find out who is being cast for the films then we can make an immense racket. I still think the wisest solution for both films is to cast an unknown actor in the key roles as it would be more believable than the calls for John Cusack and James McAvoy that I’ve seen thrown around. Also, nothing personal rest of the world but the actors needs to be British and preferably Londoners, I don’t want my Mick and Joe having a UCLA background thanks very much. What has been confirmed is that ‘The Right Profile’ will centre around the period of time when Joe Strummer went missing in Paris in 1982, again a strange part of The Clash story to focus in on if you ask me. Especially when you could I imagine easily build a film around the creation of the band, the early tours, conquering the US or even the extended stay at Bonds. 1982 wasn’t the peak of the tale and is strange era to zoom in on. Right then, I’ll be back tonight or early tomorrow with lots of news about the Justice Tonight tour.

In the meantime a huge thanks to those additional kind hearted Clash lovers who have donated to the blog in recent days (over on the right margin), it’s greatly appreciated and I’m flattered that you were able to help the blog out and view it in such a good light. Remember there’s no ‘minimum donation’ if you care to help out every penny counts. Thank you! If you’ve got a good idea for that film title please add it in the comments. More soon – Tim