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