Morning…. for some reason this household woke at 5:00am today…everyone!?! So a quiet early coffee was out of the question.You lot…what? Be quiet it’s too early….

What I do have is today’s blog round up and it’s focused on Joe to varying degrees. This older post by Angela on Planet Forward speaks passionately of social awareness and the responsibility that comes with it. Inspired by the messages of Strummer she elaborates on taking that principle and applying it to what we see and can change. I see this attributed to Joe constantly, talk about a worthy legacy.

One of the most common messages I keep seeing is how we still need Joe, now more than ever. While I agree the world at large needs more people with a platform to question the status quo I also think Joe’s message is that it starts at grass root level. We can educate our own family and influence our own community. Can’t help feeling if we wait for the big suits (nothing personal Obama) to change things it just stays the same.

Alright, enough of that, more coffee needed. This is a brilliant piece by Bob at Oxfam America. On a chance meeting with Strummer in 2002. Another quality post about being inspired by The Clash socially and politically I especially enjoyed this quote attributed to Joe.

“You know, you and me, we lead very lucky lives. You live in New York, I’m from London. We can both open our windows, and shout anything we want out into the world, and a thousand people will hear us,”

Earthquake Weather….the Joe Strummer album that vanished upon release is given a very fair and bright assessment by Daniel on his blog. Personally I feel it was one of these records that impacts (the very few who own a copy!) everyone differently. Strummer was pulling from 100 places at once and really wanting to be heard. I guess the end of the 80′s (the greed era in music in my opinon) was a bad time for a former punk spokesman to relaunch his journey. Daniel’s review is peppy and balanced so I hope you get on over and read it.

One last thing, I’d like to plug the Jail Guitar Doors shirts at Philosphy Football – very worthwhile gear and even if you’ve not got the cash well worth looking at.

Thanks for reading – Tim