Don Letts wrote just the other day about how all the ingredients that existed for punk in the first place are very much back on the agenda in 2010. High unemployment, anti-immigration sentiments, inner city decay, lack of confidence in the job markets and our politicians plus an undercurrent of violence of boredom in many cities. He seemed bemused that something as exciting wasn’t happening to sweep away X-factor and American Idol, Playstations and TV addiction. Maybe that’s part of the difference, in 1976 was it perhaps an easier task to convince a 16 year old he or she was bored and pissed off.  No future (courtesy Sex Pistols) was a phrase that people related to and responded to. Now do youth know they are pissed off but the boredom seems less of an issue? Where am I going with this….I’m not quite sure….work, yes that was it….work….finding a career you love…doing a job that fills you with pride and satisfaction, having the chance and the choice to find a career that you will be excited to do. Finding a job that truly brings your greatest skills and creativity to the fore in a job that makes a difference to others and makes you feel a valuable part of a community.

Perhaps that’s the biggest failing of society – not matching people to jobs that fill them with pride. I fear that may now be even more likely, I hear younger people who wanted to be teachers or work with animals, who wanted to help in a hospice, paint or write, or promote concerts but they are faced with not being able to pay off their student loans or get a mortgage if they pursue what they love. Then the choice of taking a job that doesn’t match your spirit, or taking any job they offer you…because you still need to make rent. Today should recognise the millions of people who do jobs we couldn’t imagine having to do, jobs that still have to be done. We should honour generations of people who worked for decent and safer working conditions and shortened the working week and got benefits to an acceptable level, sadly now many of these benefits are being taken back, corporations are saying how it will be and employees are left too scared to speak out. The gap between rich and poor is growing again and executive salaries have no relation to company performance.

This Labour Day should be about seeing the pendulum swing back in the right direction, workers rights and benefits shouldn’t be ground that is being lost. I am amazed to see things moving backwards in so many ways, are you going backwards…or forwards? Is your workplace asking for more and giving less? Is this any sort of way forward? I don’t know….I just know it looks bad from where I’m sitting. So then…to The Clash.

The Clash were a workers band, the lineage runs from their earliest lyrics to the worker’s cause that put Joe and Mick on stage that one final time in 2002 as they played for striking firemen who were looking for an equitable salary increase. Where did The Clash get much of their feelings from then….I have to trust all I’ve read and remembered, Bernard Rhodes was a critical figure in forming the opinions of a young and impressionable Clash in 1976 and beyond. Rhodes was constantly quoted as saying ‘write about what you see…write about what you know’ rather than giving Strummer a political agenda or bullet list of topics to build songs around. They did as he suggested, writing about lack of career opportunities and boredom making London the grayest backdrop for young people without enough A levels or the right accent.

Joe Strummer was criticised for coming from a ‘privileged background’ which really rings bloody hollow. It hardly worked for him when he started busking in London, or digging graves in Newport or squatting in London. He drifted around for a time and saw people with those jobs that held little glamour, perhaps more importantly The Clash (certainly for the first four years) remained very in touch with their fans, understood what they were like and the jobs they held. All of this certainly helped shaped Joe’s lyrics as he sought to add an edge…but an edge that could be related to within his lyrics.

Talking about the mundane jobs so many endured in factories, the bosses keeping you down and in your place and the sheer boredom of doing a job that you didn’t love were all explored in Clash songs and interviews. I think Bernie Rhodes helped Strummer realise that you couldn’t write about the social condition without commenting on workers and they jobs they do. The list of Clash songs which talk about work are numerous and consistent but take an insiders view of dead end jobs and the need for something more. All the lyrics are from observation and experience as far as Strummer goes as the rest of the band had previously primarily been students up to that point followed by time on the dole.

Clash Songs that focus on work and workers were integral in the success and appeal of the band and the glamour (ironic perhaps?) of joining a band and being part of something. I think the fact of the matter was  that fans related to lyrics, for many if they weren’t in a dead end job the fear of that being the most likely outcome after school or the dole always loomed large. As a teenager then still in school the lyrics of The Clash did influence me…they told me to find a job you loved at all costs.

Career Opportunities and its tale of what the job centre offered for you versus staying on unemployment benefits. Clampdown and its call to action about getting out before your best years are stolen from you, Magnificent Seven and the urgency of getting out of the office at all costs. The band aligned themselves to causes because they thought they should or because their own experience of the DIY ethos of punk showed them it could be done? Janie Jones and need for excitement outside work, then of course they wrote about the options of being in the military or turning to crime for kicks.

When the band were active they had critics scoffing at the politics of Joe Strummer and accusations of sell out surrounding the band and the eventual success they achieved. I argue that they tried to achieve something, sought to inspire change and succeeded for so many of us. Strummer wrote his lyrics from his heart and was inspired by social observation. The fact that one of his last gigs in Acton was a benefit for firemen on strike says it all to me, Mick Jones being in the audience that night and joining Joe a final time on stage also seems to ring with added significance. Labour Day is a day to play The Clash loud and proudly – we are all workers after all, that’s the way the system is. If you or someone you love is currently seeking work I wish you good fortune and timely resolution. To work is to feel worthwhile…

The offered me the office, offered me the shop
They said I’d better take anything they’d got
Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?
Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?

Thanks for listening to my rant….I’ll be back.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Clash Tank Top - Does anyone really wear tank tops anymore? Did they ever? Apart from stereotypical generalities about a certain type of male I’ve never seen anyone outside of a gym or boxing club wear tank tops. Just about redeemed by the fact that it has a simple Clash font and a big…black….spot. (?) What does the spot symbolise? Why is this first item of Clash shopping leaving me with more questions than answers? We’re not off to a great start but the tank top is yours for just $13.99 and will be shipped anywhere you like from Bangkok…scene of the album cover shoot for Combat Rock….hmmmmm.

Clash 1979 Concert Handbill (original) – I just realised it has been over a month since we did Clash shopping and I started you off with a tank top with a spot on it! What was I thinking and how soon can I redeem myself? This item goes a long way to doing so I think, yes its very pricey but it is exceptionally cool. It is rather beautiful and I would suggest extremely rare – here is the official blurb:  “This is a near mint condition original concert handbill measuring approx. 8.5″ x 11″ advertising a show at the Masonic in Detroit, MI on 09/17/79 by THE CLASH, David Johansen, more…. Designed by legendary Grande Ballroom and MC5 poster artist, Gary Grimshaw. Grimshaw has been at the forefront of rock poster artistry since the beginning, and this unique piece is no exception. Far better in person, photos do this one little justice. Signed in pencil by Grimshaw” Check out the really details photos on ebay, this is really sweet but at $275 you would expect it to be, please note they have another one with a ’slight crease’ for $195. To save you asking yes this would be the perfect Christmas gift for your blogger….

The Clash neon pub light/sign - I know, I know you probably already have one but if you don’t now might provide the opportunity to finally get one. Neon pub lights are a staple of kitsch culture lets be honest but still lovable to a degree. A couple of rules before you even consider purchasing a neon sign for your home, this will save you any trouble later on. 1) Are you a male that lives alone? 2) Do you live in a flat or an apartment 3) Do you think a neon sign makes for suitable ‘mood lighting’? 4) Do you consider cooking to be reheating pizza from an earlier delivery and/or the need to boil a kettle to complete a meal? If you answered yes to all four questions you probably already have a neon pub light, in fact you may already be the proud owner of a Clash one. Details…its the semi-official Clash font, just $9.97 to grab a copy, wired to work in North America only as far as I can tell. Yes it comes with a chain to hang it on the nail you’ll eagerly bash into your wall. Perfect.

Ticket stub for the Clash in Brixton - Funny what time does to us collectors eh? You could have seen The Clash at the Brixton Academy December 1984 for 5 quid (including VAT!) and now just getting a ticket stub auctioned on ebay will cost you more than double that. It is a nice memento though, it was round about 1983 when tickets gradually went from being very generic in London to having a bit of colour, for some reason that is also when I started saving tickets more often. I’ve a handful of things from 80-82 but 1983 is when I seemed to start keeping everything. The gig was for striking miners of course and the stub will take you back to those heady days when I remember thinking it was all going to go off…and often did. Bidding ends in 12 hours and just went over 10 so hurry and decide on this one!

Joe Strummer tour poster 1988 – Rock against the Rich tour poster on a lovely vibrant orange background. Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly war with all dates on the footer of the poster. I’ve not seen this one before and it makes a change from the steady flow of Clash/BAD and Mescaleros posters that hit the market. If this doesn’t sell soon someone should tell Mick Jones it would make a nice addition to his rock and roll public library exhibition. The poster isn’t in perfect condition but the starting bid of £29.99 looks like it would be worth a punt in my opinion. Make sure you click on the image (and others) for a better look.

Clash buttons/badges as previously featured for just $4 – get some now as they are back in stock !!!!

Clash Singles box set – ebay auction starting at $35 which is a good price for a pretty tasty collectors piece. Especially those  mini reproduced sleeves.

That was good fun and I can see from the amount of choice on the market I need to do this more often, would every ten days or so drive you mental or does that work for you. Get those badges and if you need my address for the gift I mentioned earlier email me..or twitter…or leave a comment. Have a splendid evening – Tim

In the last decade the reissue market and the anniversary market have both been beefed up extensively to try and get what’s left of consumers (typically my age and above) to buy something we already own and again I confess that I do it more and more often. In recent years back catalogs by artists such as The Clash, Echo and the Bunnymen, Pulp and Billy Bragg have all been reissued with special packaging, bonus tracks and DVDs. Ridiculously I find myself (with the example of the Bunnymen or The Clash) doing the following; buying the vinyl album when it first came out, often adding a cassette for my tedious journeys on the London underground, replacing the vinyl with a CD at some point between 1990 and 2000 and then falling for the 20th, 25th etc. anniversary edition of said album. It doesn’t happen with every artist but it is definitely happened with the brands mentioned previously and a few more besides. Luckily nobody at Polydor or Rough Trade have given that special anniversary treatment to The Jam or The Smiths just yet, I’m sure they will and I’m equally sure that I’ll tell myself I really need a new copy of ‘Meat is Murder’ or ‘The Gift’ because of the artwork and demo sessions on the new disc.If you download all of your music you probably think I’m mad but then again I think downloading is like McDonald’s versus the proper nutrition of having a record (CD) collection.

Talking Heads, reissued but still impeccable

I’m writing this because today I popped into couple of record shops one of whom was having a special sale and temptation got the best of me, but you’ll be glad to know I found some things I really needed including some stuff I already owned but not with the concert DVD! If it doesn’t bore you to death I might once a week or so pick out a CD from my collection at random and let you know just why I like it and hopefully you might too. I’ve been waiting a few years and avoiding the $17-$20 price all of the Talking Heads special reissues that came out a few years ago, today was the day my patience paid off as I managed to get the special editions of each of the first three albums with the DVD used for just nine dollars each but with 20% off because of the anniversary sale. So now I need to sell my original CDs of those and recoup a few dollars but that’s all right. I also got Pulp – Peel sessions double CD, Kate Nash new CD, The Clash live at Shea Stadium (finally and after you had all told me I had to), Brett Anderson, XX new CD, two Elvis Costello reissues. The Clash was just $4.99 and in total I spent much less than I expected. Next I have to go to another town and another record shop because a couple of special orders I placed have arrived. I don’t watch TV (hardly) so I have my excuses all lined up.

I know it’s a bit mad but I hadn’t gone record shopping for a few months and I’m all set now until October except there is that new James album coming out next week. These Talking Heads reissues are really lovely so I know what I’m doing this weekend, but the ‘Fear of Music’ doesn’t have those little raised grooves to represent the diamond plate flooring like the original album cover. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you missed a great year in 1979….I think the best year for music ever.

Back soon ~ Tim

I don’t follow that many peoples twitter accounts simply because I don’t have time to check what they have to say about this and that but I did add John Cusack some time ago and noticed he must’ve been missing Joe Strummer this week. He tweeted about six tracks from Streetcore earlier in the week which I thought was great but greater still were all the warm responses from others remarking upon the brilliance of Strummer. I either dreamt this or did in fact read it 10 or 15 years ago that John Cusack had a clause in his Hollywood contract that at least one of three things had to happen in any new film he agreed to do. The three items were 1-The Clash had to be in the film soundtrack, 2 -The Clash had to be mentioned in the film’s dialogue 3- Cusack would be able to wear ( in an obvious fashion) a Clash T-shirt at some point in the film. Did I imagine this or was it true? I am fairly sure it’s more than an urban myth and that there was some shred of truth in it. If you know for sure or if you are John Cusack please let us know. Also have a look at his twitter account although today he has moved on to Tom Waits and some others but nothing too dodgy.

In the interest of this being your reliable and well informed Clash Blog I also thought I’d do a bit of research concerning Cusack and The Clash. John Cusack was born in the summer of 1966 ( that makes me feel better and a tiny bit younger) in suburban Chicago. At that age he was primed to be greatly influenced in his adolescence and early teens by the band. As far as I can tell he spent his entire childhood in Evanston which also would have given him the chance to see the original lineup of The Clash and MKII just a few miles south from where he lived at the Aragon Ballroom on Chicago’s North Shore. What a great bloody venue that place is and definitely somewhere that will feature in Clash landmarks on the site in the future. So with that established I also thought I would see what quotes John Cusack has made about the band, his affection for them is no secret. One huge oddity about Cusack I did know before writing this is that he claims to be a fan of both baseball teams in Chicago namely the White Sox and the Cubs?? That is beyond the pale, I can only compare it with liking both Arsenal and Tottenham or Rangers and Celtic – as you know reading this that provides more than a little a cause for concern. What next? Will we find he just can’t pick between The Clash and The Stranglers, or claims equal affections for lager and bitter?

So I did my research and there are indeed numerous mentions of the band by the actor and rather than chop and change those around I preferred to furnish you with something quite lovely he wrote in November of 2005. It’s reproduced in full below:

I was asked to write a little something for a Joe Strummer tribute in Scotland… Doing so, I remembered just how grateful I was he showed up on earth while I was around…

There was no one like Joe Strummer. There is a lineage, of course. Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan…I was always staggered by his voice. It was like a shaman should sound. If Roy Orbision sang for the lonely, Joe sang for the hungry…. His voice was liquid desire and it ignited as it left his mouth, his body shaking to contain the heat, like a rocket in the first phase of lift-off…. He was a pioneer who demanded art and politics be fused in the interests of humanity and truth. Often the truth was painful, just as often it was liberating, transcendent, and just plain fun. He was an icon of unrivaled integrity… Billy Bragg said if it weren’t for The Clash, punk rock would be just a sneer, a safety pin and a pair of bondage trousers… it sounds right to me… It’s been said Strummer reinvented rock. That sounds right too. I know for certain he challenged, inspired and demanded us to think and feel in ways we hadn’t before… demanded we use rebellion and anger as fuel for the journey to other, better worlds, never as an end in itself. Demanded we reach for the transcendent in everything and everyone, and to never suffer those fools who will not think and feel their way home. He was a guiding light and he got us out of many a tough jam. Knowing him, I was always humbled by his grace and intelligence, his passion, and the sheer ferocity of his will… and Jesus Christ that man could fucking rock.

I don’t know that I could put it better myself I also think my earlier speculation about the film contract becomes a bit of a moot point having read that. He is obviously and genuinely a huge fan beyond what I already knew earlier this week, we need more people like Cusack in positions like his to speak out about how important music has been and continues to be. I dare say I’ll now have to put aside some time this weekend to watch Grosse Pointe Blank, The Grifters and High Fidelity….bugger it I might just watch all three. I may even need to do a bit more research on the actor, one of those rare times a celebrity Clash fan isn’t such a bad thing. He even ( used to at least) write the occasional blog so some extra points for that as well…if you get a chance read his November 5, 2008 post about the election of Barack Obama. Where has all that pride and optimism gone in the intervening two years? I’m not suggesting Cusack has changed his tune but living in the states as a foreigner makes me wonder why people (some not all) cannot support anything through to completion, especially when you are elected on the basis of trying to create change. Unfortunately we may be half way through the office of a one term president, which surely would leave the machine that is the US not only slipping a gear but probably heading for permanent reverse. That’s another topic for probably another blog on probably another website but still it does leave you wondering just where we are collectively heading.

Enough of that at least for the time being, I’ll wrap it up there and wish you farewell. Till next time – Tim.

Allow me to start by taking you back to about 1974 when I was seven, if you are nearly the same vintage as me or grew up in the UK you will surely relate. At that age I did get pocket money weekly and much of my wealth would be spent on comics. At that age it was Shiver & Shake or Whoopee as far as I can recall. The Beano and Dandy for some reason belonged to my brothers generation, these comics contained one or two page weekly strips about 15 or 20 regular characters that you grew quite fond of. I think my mum knew she was onto a good thing as it meant I was reading constantly and also developed a keen interest in sketching cartoon characters, something I still do now and they definitely owe something to those early comics. By about the age of nine or ten my mother somehow got hold of about 200 Marvel comics which became a new obsession until I turned twelve.

That was the age where I suddenly became far more aware of what my brother was listening to not least of all The Clash. I also realized that summer that there was not one or two but three weekly music papers which would interview and have reviews of so many of the bands that seeped out from my brother’s speakers. Here’s my strange memory, my grandmother did not live nearby but love to send things in the post each week. She used to send me at least one comic every week from about the age of six. I think it was Christmas 1979 when I asked if she could now start sending Melody Maker each week to our home, she was going down to the newsagents every Wednesday and changed my subscription from Shoot! (a football magazine) to the Melody Maker which would then get sent from the post office two doors down. I’m forever grateful that she did that every week until I was about 16 as there was no better moment than that paper coming in the post each week. Thinking back I’m not sure why I chose the Melody Maker over the NME or Sounds. I think my decision may be based on something as simple who was on the cover the week that my awareness finally triggered. As it stood I was guaranteed Melody Maker 52 times per year and would pick up the NME when I had extra cash and Sounds only if somebody I really liked was featured. Sounds always seemed to focus more on metal and progressive music whilst post punk was somewhat of an afterthought in those days. But the time I moved out of that house was purchasing my own copies of the NME and Melody Maker every single week and did so fervently right up until the early 1990’s.

At that point the purchasing then became more selective depending on who was in the issue until gradually I stopped buying them entirely. Sounds and Melody Maker both went bust eventually as their key audience moved on to the monthly magazines such as Q, Uncut or Select with the demise hastened by the internet. Melody Maker finally went under in 2000 when it unceremoniously merged with the NME. Sounds came to an end much earlier back in 1991. I had a feeling this would be a long post and so it’s turning out as my premise was to write about the state of the NME in 2010 which surprisingly to me is not as bad as I feared and certainly better than a few years prior. The motivation to write was due to a kind blog reader (thank you again) to send me the recent NME that featured the special 16 page Clash collectors issue at the beginning of August. I’ll be back in the coming days to cover both of those things. Cheers for now – Tim.

So will it be this B-Side...

The Clash Cup if you’re new to the blog is a very simple and democratic process allows you to select your favorite Clash song by way of voting on the blog. We are now in round two and looking to whittle down the best Clash songs ever until we reach a final 16, then eight and so on. Each of the pairings is set 100% at random so you take what you get even with the decision isn’t always easy. Before tonight’s pairing we do have to review the voting for the most recent installment of the cup which was earlier in August. Decent voter turnout for the last matchup but I would suggest the more likely song still won out:

This is Radio Clash defeated Ghetto Defendant 28-18

Closer than I expected but I don’t think enough runner-up votes to allow the Combat Rock track to make it through to the next round, which to be fair is probably how it should be. As I said this is most likely the last round where the voting will often be fairly easy, so let’s have a look at the next pair:

Round 2 Match 10

City of the Dead versus  Justice Tonight/Kick It Over

Well that’s a turn up for the books as neither song would make the most obvious list of Clash songs which is not to say either song is poor by any means. In fact both songs are quite unique in terms of sound and come from that spell of hyperactivity that The Clash were guilty of from ‘77 until ‘79. The other thought I had almost immediately is how do you separate the two and choose a winner? I know which one I prefer (just) but I won’t share it so as not to influence your voting… as if. Also by sheer coincidence both tracks appeared on Super Black Market Clash which I think is another novelty in this pairing. The extended version of the album is sometimes just the perfect tonic for a good Clash fix perhaps especially because it featured many songs you don’t hear quite as often. Battle of the B-sides!!

Form book:

Round 1 – City of the Dead defeated Freedom Train           98% of the vote
Round 1 – Justice Tonight defeated Junco Partner             73% of the vote

Odds:

I am not quite sure what you can take from the first round, both for convincing wins although Justice Tonight had to overcome a trickier challenge from Junco Partner which was tough because I love both songs. If I had to predict a winner I think it might just be City of the Dead because it is an original track and not a dub/remix. Though I do think the voting will be close.

Stuff:

...this B-Side?

Not many tracks by the Clash have dated that badly at all, although I do think City of the Dead is one of the rare exceptions where the production just sounds a little muddy and the song could only be from the mid-late 70s. Worth remembering a song this good was originally just a B-Side to the stellar Complete Control. Justice Tonight of course was B- side to another of the most famous Clash singles London Calling so for yet another reason this pairing has fantastic symmetry. You don’t need me to tell you it’s also the dub version of Armagideon Time, a song that I will go on record and proclaim as my very favourite Clash cover version and high on my list of all Clash songs.

As for the voting the polls open immediately and you will have until next Tuesday morning to cast your vote for which song remains in the competition. Before you vote it’s always good to have one last chance to compare the songs side-by-side so if you’d like to just click the links that I provide. For City of the Dead let’s substitute the live version so we don’t focus on the production of the original. I do think some of Joe’s lyrics on the track are superb. Your last task is to reserve 8:54 of your life to just mellow out to Justice Tonight / Kick It Over and make sure you turn up the bass first of all.

Enjoy voting and thank you – this is actually rather an interesting pairing.

Uncut Magazine features The Clash – If you’re in the UK you already know about this (and thanks for your emails) – the new edition of Uncut has an in-depth interview with Mick, Paul and Topper about the making of Sandinista! thus I find it quite funny that the cover promises ‘the untold story’ of the making of the album, as opposed to what exactly? 1980 was such a hectic year in Clash history that the making of the 4th Clash album has never been reviewed properly by the band with most commentary to date referring to the fact that it had too many songs / would have been better as a single or double album etc. I wouldn’t change a thing as it happens, its perhaps the album that I’ve grown up with and returned to more in the last decade than the others. Incidentally the bonus CD with the latest issue features fifteen tracks that Joe featured during his London Calling BBC broadcasts, my favourite of which is this by Cornershop and I think the lyrics sound like something Strummer himself might have written.

Leave Chattanooga
Walk in to New York City
Aeroplane down to Nippon ground
Meets some friends in Tokio-town
Across to West Maluva
Showboat to West Malay
Leave my foes to their woes
Sometimes “that’s how it goes”
It’s good to be on the road back home again

Speaking of Sandinista! its as good as official that a special 30th anniversary edition of the album will be released this year with requisite bonus tracks and some demos and remixes (plus I would expect remastering of some sort). I had to purchase another copy of the double CD recently to replace my worn out CDs just a few years ago so in addition to the vinyl and cassettes it looks like a 5th version will he heading to the household in time for Christmas. I think we’ll make the month the reissue comes out Sandinista! month on the blog. I’d love for the reissue to feature a live concert from late ‘80 or early ‘81 but I haven’t read anything that indicates this might be the case (grumpy return to my keyboard).

Returning to Uncut (I’m not in the UK so please don’t spoil my anticipation in reading the article when I get an imported copy in a week or two!) I hope the interview addresses the oft-circulated rumour that the album was essentially the work of Topper and Mick with session musicians and a well known Blockhead taking up much of the remaining slack during the recording process. I don’t buy that suggestion and I never really have and while its likely that the group cohesion during the recording of London Calling was no longer in full evidence as it had been in the summer of 1979 I don’t think the triple album was Mick Jones and Topper simply working with hired hands for the most part. Yes there were guest musicians but it is certainly a Clash album as a finished product. Others have said the evidence is that live versions of songs from this era bare little resemblance to the studio equivalents but once more I think that is the sound of a band expanding their limits and looking to break the confines of simply recreating a song in a live setting. Naturally I could be 100% wrong on both my assumptions so I’d be happy to hear what you think. Don’t however spill the beans on the magazine interview just yet – I’ll cover that when I get my copy!

Worth a mention and a link to a story is the fact that this summer did mark the 31st anniversary of the Sandinista uprising in Nicaragua which The Clash brought to a new audience. On July 21 1979 the first events associated with the uprising took place which eventually led to the overthrow of the existing dictatorship. This revolution this was one of the youngest and most independent rebel situations in recent history as most of the key people involved were little more than teens who didn’t have a plan B so much as they knew plan A had to be evicted. As you can predict the story didn’t end in ecstasy but it did mark a significant positive change in the history of that central American republic.

What else….today is September 1st – the least glorious day in Clash history as it marks the date in 1983 when the official word of Mick Jones being sacked from his own band was made public. Apparently so Paul and Joe could get The Clash back on track towards the original goals of the band…we know how that ended. I’ve written about that at length in the past and will do again I’m sure but its burned on my calendar as the darkest day during the time the band were a going concern. With that said let’s talk again September 2nd yes? Thanks for dropping in…

Let’s end on a happier note – check out this chap’s memory of meeting Joe Strummer many years ago.

So the last few days…..Don Letts usually manages to get flagged down around the time of the Notting Hill Carnival and this year was no exception. It was Letts of course who features on the striking cover of Black Market Clash as a then 20 year first generation proud young black man walking the tightrope of tension that was the riots of the summer of ‘76. I can’t say enough about Don Letts, he’s just such a likable character and always looks to be moving the tide forward and celebrating the unique period of time where he grew up and helped reggae and punk reach to cross sections within both camps. In addition he always shows pride and optimism which are so often lacking in some quarters. Anyway, getting back on track I’ll point you in the direction of both recent interviews with Letts as he sat down and spoke to the Telegraph and SKY TV in recent days.

Over at the Telegraph check out the feature on Don as he talks about his heritage, racial integration and his part in what was to be the forming of a soundtrack for mid/late 70’s Britain. Letts was always it seemed in the right place at the right time, or was that part of who he was? Hanging out with Malcolm McLaren and the various incarnations of his shop on the Kings Road, becoming the resident DJ at London’s first punk club The Roxy, befriending The Clash and later even Bob Marley. Then to follow that up as a member of Big Audio Dynamite and an accomplished filmmaker. As Letts himself explains he had an early taste for the counter culture from McLaren and it seems his thirst has never left him in the decades since. As for the music – he knows how vital it was to his peers:

As first generation British born blacks, we copped it the worst. But we came up with a good soundtrack. Tell you what!  They’d better come up with a good soundtrack, these eastern Europeans – that’ll help ‘em!”

Letts shares a sentiment that many of you reading this of a certain age probably reflect on all too frequently, with the current social upheaval globally and lack of equality its remarkable that music/culture seems so passive…so pedestrian when surely the need for a real change resonates as loudly as ever. Letts puts it in better terms than I can:

“Right now it feels like punk never happened. All the things that helped create punk rock, racism, recession, strikes – other than power cuts – all the things we had in the late seventies are happening again today. What’s happening about it? I don’t know. All I know is that all the interesting ideas are coming from the amateur and the naive, and it’s increasingly difficult to find anyone who meets those criteria in the west”

He’s right….and I don’t even know why apathy is suddenly the most popular flavour for much of the generation who should really be tearing down the walls instead of watching the bloody television and youtube. Don is doing the rounds partly because he certainly should but also because two of his more recent projects are getting released to UK cable television and a special film fest at the ICA respectively. More of that in a minute but  the Blighty channel  also premiered at the weekend the Don Letts film Carnival (Notting Hill Documentary from 2009) and interviewed him in conjuction with that event. Well worth a read and a good taster for the film also, full information via this link.

As a reminder – the Don Letts documentary about his life will be getting its UK premier at the ICA (talk about a historic venue!)  ‘Superstonic Sound, The Rebel Dread’, shows at the ICA on 6th, 9th and 10th October. Ticket information and to purchase via this link.

Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread plus Q&A (Don Letts will appear at the Oct 6 Screening)

Right on the back of Joe’s birthday celebrations that were held in support of Strummerville and the Carnival events this past weekend (news to follow I hope) Strummerville have announced a tour featuring three Strummerville bands around the UK for a crazy week in October. The tour is being dubbed “Strummerville Westway round the UK” and will feature Rum Shebeen, The Supernovas and Beans on Toast. Better still unlike so many concerts this won’t cost you too much either with tickets fixed at around five quid it will make for a night out that is affordable and right at the core of what Strummerville are doing. Full details via the Strummerville site in the weeks ahead I’m sure and also on the groovy artwork I’ve enclosed – so if you are in Sheffield, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle and for those living the high life in London entry is free at The Flowerpot in Kentish Town for the final night. Three bands all touring together makes it sound a bit like one of the old Motown revues or perhaps something the Sex Pistols, Richard Hell and The Clash attempted many moons ago, hopefully not as many concerts will be canceled this time round!

I will be back a bit later with new words from Don Letts and some other stuff. Thanks for dropping in – Tim.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Supernovas – City of Smoke

it just won't run without fuel....

I’ll confess I’ve not actually had time for any great research since the last post so it leaves me to share the winner of the Strummer tattoo competition that we had about a week ago – and the winner in a very close event was tattoo number 2 – The black Strummerville logo (Joe on the Diving Board) just edged out one of the most impressive tattoos I’ve ever seen. I’ll try and locate the owner and offer them a lifetime subscription to the blog via RSS feed or something. In another poll we held recently it seems that the fine readers of the blog are well clued up on things other than The Clash as our preseason premier league poll (English soccer for some readers) showed the favourite pick to win the league this season as Chelsea, which I think is wise money. I’ll still stick with my prediction that Arsenal will take 2nd spot with some aplomb – to see the full results and my banal predictions have a look at this link. I warned you at the start of the post that I’ve not got a great deal of news for you this afternoon but on a personal level I wanted to share my newest Clash related pride and joy. You may recall about six weeks ago when my car tags expired I decided to order a new (mystery) Clash themed license plate for the car. Some suggestions I received and considered myself included H8FUL   TRNVAIN  COMROCK  WMiHP  PRTXBLU  CASBAH1 4HRSMEN   JIMJAZZ  MAG 7 and others, I made my decision thinking I’d only need to wait two weeks and not six – but when it arrived last week I must confess it felt like Christmas for a 6 year old for a few hours. The results are below – sorry the photo isn’t too wonderful, I’ll take more when its on the car itself. I’ve just have had an awful time finding a 1975 Ford Cortina.

The new ClashBlog license plate

I’ll definitely be back on a more regular basis in the days ahead, we’ve got Clash Cup, Video Clash, Westway Traffic, Clash Shopping, Gorillaz tour preview part 3, an NME feature, and news from Carbon Silicon and the UK press all coming up this week plus more I’m sure. Thanks for being patient – oh and the ClashBlog cat is doing a bit better (I won’t tempt fate and say she is well yet) it is a proper infirmary around here lately.