A very good evening to you wherever you may be reading the blog from ClashBlog Towers. An unseasonably warm (almost hot) day today had me looking for my shorts much to the excitement of the girls on the street I’m sure. I don’t want to miss new Clash happenings so I thought I’d boldly proceed with the review of 2011 started yesterday and looking at the most read posts each month from the year just concluded. Before that though two quick thoughts and one of which is also a thank you. Thanks are owed to a good friend in Toronto who was kind enough to send me a 2012 Joe Strummer calendar from Strummerville. I don’t know how many of you already have one or have perhaps been on the fence about acquiring one but now that I’ve seen it in person I can’t encourage you in strong enough terms to rush and get one before January winds down. Not that I intend to use it as a calendar though and write birthdays and Arsenal fixtures on it (is there anything else?) – it’s far too beautiful for that. The photography is remarkable but it’s the overall quality and presentation of the whole package that makes the calendar such a collector’s piece. Others have said they’re going to be framing some of the best shots although it would be hard to limit yourself to just two or three of the images on offer. It’s that good. Again my deep thanks to the sender -I really appreciate it. If you’re not convinced yet you really should be but here’s a reminder and a link to purchase one.

Also worth noting is that Strummerville are organising a music festival this summer to coincide with Joe’s 60th birthday, more on that later in the week. Needless to say it has the potential to be something very special indeed and might be taking place in Somerset. Right then, back to the 2011 ‘best of’ with April, May & June.

April 2011 -

‘Joe Strummer mural damaged‘ (April 7)

I’ve written a lot on the blog about how I feel that The Clash deserve more official recognition, it might sound trite to some but such recognition creates a symbolic place for fans to gather or simply reflect. In Joe’s case that’s even more specific since his passing but in general I think England really needs to get more done to pay tribute to the band and/or Joe. Glastonbury has the Strummer stone but that’s only key during the festival, you might be aware that Soho Square in London has a bench for the greatly missed (here at CB Towers) Kirsty MacColl. London needs to be doing more. I’ve got some hair brained scheme that we could start a campaign of signatures to present to the Mayor of London to get such a tribute taken care of – perhaps that idea will brew more completely this year. Anyway, back to the post in question – New York’s Joe Strummer mural has become such a gathering point for so many since it was created and when it was vandalised in April it caused a lot of anger. Happily the guilty party was caught which I wrote about later and the mural was repaired although maintenance of the piece of art remains an ongoinf challenge.

May 2011 -

‘Ebay listing for early Clash/Mickey Foote sessions tapes’ (May 8th)

I must confess I’m not sure what the final outcome of this one was. I think the person selling these had no right to do so and common sentiment was that he’d have been better off contacting Mick Jones as such an artifact should really have been in the hands of one of the band. There was some intrigue as to how he acquired these but the exact details now escape me. Nevertheless the photos are rather brilliant. If you remember more than me (not hard to do) please add it to the comments.

June 2011 -

‘Joe Strummer mural vandal caught and served jail time’ (June 4)

Ah, there it is – part 2 of the April story. I told you we care about that mural. It was a strange tale though, so if you missed it please go back and have a look.

Right then, that’s all I’ve time for at the moment but I do find it enjoyable looking back at last year and I hope you feel the same. I’ll have part three very soon and after we wrap up the year normal service will be resumed. Thanks as always for dropping in and don’t forget you can keep up to date by  Facebook, Twitter or get the RSS feed which will see the blog sent to you directly. Keep on kicking – Tim.