Friday night then…well done the lot of you for making it through another week. I must say its nice to be back blogging again, I feel like I’ve had an off-season and ready to challenge for the league title again after we get through some pre-season friendlies. One of the best things about the Clash Blog is the assistance, ideas and comments from you who drop by and read the blog. While I welcome all readers I find it amusing to come back to find that something I wrote last August about The Stranglers still seems to be pissing people off (see comments at end of the post). Point being if JJ Burnell ceased claiming to have invented The Clash I’d have no provocation in the first place. It sounds a bit like a soon to be divorced former US Vice-President claiming to have invented the internet, further complicated by the apparent will of Stranglers fans to believe this nonsense. While not wishing to turn this into the anti-Stranglers blog I do find this old chestnut fun to revisit. Some people love The Stranglers, some people love The Clash and I’m sure many of you reading this like both bands to varying degrees. What I don’t buy into is that an old keyboard based pack of pub-rockers from the wilds of Surrey were Joe Strummer’s blueprint for what The Clash went on to accomplish. Though it makes for bloody funny reading all the same. Now while I always try and run an uncensored blog if you come in to the party like an uncivilized yob steamed on cheap lager and wanting to fight everyone (and I consider my readers my guests) it just reeks of arseholeness, at the end of the day its my blog and I’ll take my chances by saying you sound like a complete imbecile…I’m a huge fan of well-positioned arguments and persuasive debate (see some of the earlier comments on that same post) but “The Clash were utter piss” doesn’t really open the door to much dialogue does it?  Anyway enough of that.

I know for some of us the next 4 weeks might be dominated by the World Cup and while next weekend sees England play the USA, do you have plans for the following Friday night? If not and you happen to be in or near London this might be worth jumping on the tube for. The location is Westminster Reference Library (just off Leicester Square) and its a bookish sort of night, but don’t let that put you off. On Friday June 18th from 630pm-800pm former Clash roadie and author Johnny Green will be reading from his book ‘A Riot of Our Own’ and answering questions about his days with The Clash. The book is a great read – and is still in publication and available to the best of my knowledge. If you’re able to make it along I encourage it, it seems reservations are needed so:

To book a place, please telephone: 020 7641 5250 or email referencelibrarywc2@westminster.gov.uk

Link to the event is here (scroll down) and directions to the venue are here.

Don’t you ever wish you were a bit older in 1975 (maybe not…I don’t know how old you are, although I’m sure The Stranglers never wish that). Well I sometimes do as my only major Clash related regret is not having been about 16 in 1976 and able to follow the band from the very beginning. Steve Levine was of age back then, though he might not be a name you know. He started working with CBS as a tape operator in 1975 and went on to work with The Jam, XTC and The Vibrators though most relevantly to us he was on hand during the making of the debut Clash album early in 1977. Thirty five years on he still is very involved in the industry and this article about him on CaliforniaChronicle.com is well worth a read.

Final thought — I’m beginning to feel very sad about being so far away from this years Glastonbury festival and unable to attend with the thought of missing Mick Jones and Paul Simonon on stage as part of Gorillaz. To rub salt in the wound I just saw the list of headliners at the rather brilliant left-field tent that same weekend at Glastonbury. The three nights are headed respectively by Carl Barat (Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things), Billy Bragg, and Paul Heaton (Housemartins, The Beautiful South). If you are in England and plan to go can we swap places that weekend?

I just finished reading Russell Brand’s ‘My Booky Wook’ – and yeah I find him bloody funny although the book shows what a selfish sod he was until he sobered up around 2002, not coincidentally his career took off very soon after. A good piece on him in today’s Guardian.

Cheers for dropping by – I’ll be back over the weekend.

Good evening to you all, thanks for making you way back to the blog (or welcome for the first time if that’s the case). Not a lot of excitement midweek but no complaints either. What I do have is a sprinkle of Clash related stuff for your reading/viewing and listening pleasure.

Let’s start with the visual! If you are in or near Toronto (based on the traffic to the site that’s actually a good number of you) there is a great exhibition of photography of bands that visited the city in years gone by. Including shots of the first appearance by The Clash in Toronto (Rex Danforth Theatre Feb 20, 1979) the exhibition is titled ‘Toronto Calling’ and begins today and runs until April 1. Admission is free, included are  The Clash, The Ramones, Johnny Rotten, U2, The Specials, and many more. All images were taken in Toronto which gives is not only a local feel but also will make it a unique collection. If you can make it along I’d love to know what you think of it. Excellent additional information on the Torontoist site and the Steam Whistle site. If you can’t make it to the exhibition it’s still worth visiting the first site I mentioned for a brilliant photo of Strummer on stage.  This all takes place at Steam Whistle Gallery at the Roundhouse (255 Bremner Boulevard in the middle of the city). More on the photographer here.

Audio next right? Yes yes yes…you can hear the entire Gorillaz album online for free via The Guardian. If you’ve been paying attention you know exactly why, if you don’t either ask someone about The Clash connection or read some earlier posts from the last couple of weeks. Having been a Blur fan since the first album and then followed Damon Albarn ever since I’m not the person to ask if the new Gorillaz disc sounds good. Of course it does…

I better offer you something to read too as I’m a bit knackered and won’t be stretching this out to one of those endless posts where you wonder when I’m going to end. This is really worth a read – if you’re in the UK you are already aware that in keeping with the rest of the planet the BBC is struggling (not to make money as it’s not American TV/Radio) to justify it’s current operations. Essentially it looks as if up to 25% of the BBC’s staff, programming, empire need to be removed – on the chopping block is BBC 6 Music. This would be tragic in the extreme, 6 music is perhaps the most diverse, informative, fun, rewarding and consistently innovative places online or offline to find music. I could write an essay about what I think of the station – but it’s better if I refer you to this post. For new artists there is no better venue for them to be found by joe public than BBC 6 music - new artists are always at the heart of music in my opinion. This story on The Daily Growl does a great job in explaining where things stand at present. I’ll get up to speed in the days ahead – I hope the station (and the BBC Asian Network also!) will be spared from closure.

G-night

So said Damon Albarn in the Guardian today. He’s right I suspect (not well tuned on the density of a dying star, astronomy was not my strong point). I do encourage you to get over and read the article in The Guardian where you can learn more about how he hooked up with them and his Clash ‘desert island discs’ – I should have him vote in the Clash Cup eh? I know we’ve covered their contribution to the new Gorillaz album but can you really understate the significance of Mick and Paul recording together again – in truth you cannot – and Joe of course would have been

Camouflage vinyl edition of Combat Rock

invited if he was still with us I’m sure.

This is also worth an extended look on the BBC website. Jim Garrets has amassed a bloody impressive collection of Clash records since 1977, to the point where he tries to get hold of everything and each version of every single he can. His collection has now reached 330 (vinyl) records, singles and albums, by the band. The article explains he was a fan from the beginning and was lucky enough to see the band at the famed Victoria Park, Hackney event in April 1978. Worth a read for the photos alone – what a chap he is, if he can’t display them himself I’ve a feeling Mick Jones might be interested in helping show these to the British public eh? The story also features an interview with Simon Warner, a lecturer at the University of Leeds about the legacy of The Clash. I’ve never reached that level of obsession to collect every version I could find of each record by a band, I always saw that as money I could spend on other new music – but I’m glad people like Jim had the needed dedication. Jim echoes my sentiments about digital music:

“You can’t collect that sort of thing with digital downloads. Quite a lot of the records in my collection I have never actually played. Although when I get a ‘new’ record to add to my collection it’s an opportunity to take a look at some of them again, but mainly the collection sits there quietly.”

Right – I enjoyed that! As for non-Clash artist of the day, I suggest you check out St. Vincent who recorded a session for NPR’s World Cafe. St Vincent is Annie Clark from Oklahoma, this link features an interview with her and a few tracks. Definitely interesting stuff – she doesn’t make music with any rules which I enjoy. The link is here – audio link is on top left of the page. (It’s mellow…listen with coffee)

Let me close with this – A new fashion collection for the Spring is ‘using the Clash as it’s Muse’ – the results are a bit…I won’t comment  yet but the results are as linked beneath. I’d love to know what you think. Clash Fashion for 2010? (we’re decades ahead of you!) They’ve called it the “Magnificent Seven Collection”….and I’m signing off til tomorrow.