Happening! Joe Strummer Foundation Benefit, London, March 19 w/Jools Holland, Chrissie Hynde, Suggs, Mick Jones, and much more

The Joe Strummer Foundation gives opportunities to aspiring musicians, and support to projects around the world that create social mobility through music.

joestrummerfoundation.org

Movie of the Week: Candy Mountain (1988)

A struggling musician sets out to find the legendary guitar maker Elmore Silk, with whom he hopes to strike a deal to make himself rich and famous. This 1988 film was directed by Rudy Wurlitzer and Robert Frank, and features Tom Waits in a lead role amongst a veritable all-star cast of musicians including Dr. John, and Joe Strummer.

Kate Simon on ShowStudio discussing her work with the Clash and other legends

Joe Strummer backstage - After the show in Bath, UK, December 1978 by Kate Simon

Friend of the blog, master photographer Kate Simon, is a recent subject of the very cool series, The Photography of Punk, being run on ShowStudio. Have a listen to Kate discuss this photo of Joe Strummer, and her history - she's definitely one of the more interesting people I know, and I'm glad to call her a friend.

Other photographer-subjects in this great series include Dennis Morris, Ray Stevenson, Steve Johnston, Kevin Cummins, Bob Gruen, Judy Linn, Jon Savage, Steve Emberton, and Jonh Ingham. All ably interviewed via telephone by Nick Knight. All interviews can be accessed on the ShowStudio Soundcloud page.

Daisy's Letter From London: Without People You're Nothing - The Unveiling of the London Joe Strummer Mural

Dear Karate Boogaloo -

Very exciting … Thursday, June 13, 7:00pm, the Joe Strummer Mural London W11 mural, designed and realised by Gary Loveridge with Emma Harrison, had a lovely unveiling ceremony in front of a fabulous flock of Punk Rockers, and Richard Young, a rather well-known English paparazzi geezer (“Oy! Gary, Emma over here!”).

Mural from across the street

Gary, Emma & Mick

MICK JONES, his Clash Royalty suited and rain-coated self (who brought HIS digital camera), came along, and ended up shooting Gary (35 years a Clash fan) into seventh heaven by taking his photo AND signing a declaration of approval AND standing by for photos with happy fans, young and old, from far and wide ...

Mick's declaration of approval

 

Cosmo Johnson (not to be confused with Kosmo Vinyl) who got the train from Watchet, Somerset, a pair of Spanish boys on Boris Bikes, Ray Gange (his grinning Rude Boy-self), Gaz Mayall from Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues, Steve Worral (who writes the wonderful Retroman Blog).

Here is the unveiling moment:

“About time” was the consensus and “well done” to Emma who had a lot of expectations to fill.

After a lot of photos in front of the Mural, there was a general wandering into the pub, catty-corner, for a bit of a pint because these lads don’t want to be seen getting all choked up on the street. A girl’s job here is to offer a few hugs to hide the misty eyes.

It’s been interesting watching the project get realised over the last few years. The seed was planted when Gary happened to be visiting New York on the anniversary of Joe Strummer’s death (22 December). He went to pay his respects down on Tompkins Square Park, 112 Avenue A at East 7th Street… stood with his hero in one of Joe’s favourite cities. Few weeks later, Ray Gange (Rude Boy) came to visit NYC for the DeKoening show. They’d connected via Facebook and we went and had lunch across the street from Avenue A Joe Strummer visible out the window.

The following year, Gary had a show of his punk rock posters at 198 Gallery in Brixton, London, where someone from Notting Hill had come along and said, “could you put up some posters of Joe Strummer at the Tabernacle when we have the anniversary of the Acklam Hall gig for the Arms Aloft (fire brigade union) fundraiser?”.

Gary goes to hang this show, and they’ve got this photo they offered for him to include. It was a photo of the mural in New York. Now it’s December 2012. It got Gary thinking all over again, “why isn’t there a mural in London?” And why not in Notting Hill, Joe’s old neighbourhood?

It wasn’t long before he spotted the perfect wall! It was next to Lyndon’s Bead Shop at 197 Portobello Road at Blenheim Crescent, a short walk from the Tabernacle in Hedgecote Court, past the Rough Trade record shop.

The son in Lyndon’s couldn’t be more friendly. “My dad likes art” he said, “I think he’ll like the idea.” And he did!

Now it just so happened that Emma Harrison had a stall at Spitalfields Market, and it just so happened that Gary saw some badges on her stall that attracted him over. They got talking about punk rock and she did mentioned that she had been a mural artist in New York with Fab 5 Freddie back in the day.

It had been on Gary’s mind that the person who would be right for painting the mural would have to be a young man in a hoodie with an aerosol sort of thing (probably Banksy if he could get his phone number. After all, Gary was brought up not far from Bristol). It was a few weeks later that the penny dropped and he thought, hang on a minute … he’d met a living breathing mural artist, turns out Emma even KNEW the Clash! What are the chances?

They met up and came up with a design. They decided to use an older photo of Joe with his trusted Telecaster guitar and something Gary had heard Joe say on a late night radio show: "WITHOUT PEOPLE, YOU’RE NOTHING." They prepped the wall, marked it out and painted! Joe Strummer always enjoyed a campfire, so there’s one in the corner. The Mesceleros insignia is top right.

The plan

The result

Then all we had to do was pray for good weather. (I admit, I did actually pray. There had been a few showers early on in the week.)

By Julian Yewdall

So, that’s the story of that and we hope you can come and visit when you are in London next. `Rock with us …

Daisy's Letter From London: Best of 2012

 

1. 198 Gallery:  Blank Generation Punk Poster Exhibition - Daisy's friend from art school, Lucy Davies, now runs a great Community Gallery that hosted Gary Loveridge's punk poster collection…a good time was had by all!

2. Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson

2A: To ward off homesickness:  I listen to Radio Free Song Club 

3. Dexy's new album, One Day I'm Going to Soar, played in full at Shepherd's Bush (not a dry eye in the house).

4.  Stone Roses reform and play 3 sold out gigs in their home town, Manchester.  This is Gary holding up my new hat in Heaton Park (left).

6.  There is actually a sunny day in the summer and we sit on a hill by Alexandra Palace and have a picnic.  

5.  We played Jack White's fantastic but creepy new solo album Blunderbuss in the car.  Meanwhile Jack White wears BLUE clothes!

6.  Gary visits San Francisco, goes to see Rise and Fall of The Clash and meets up and coming Spanish filmmaker, Danny Garcia - introduces Daisy via Facebook, and Daisy starts transcribing interviews for his new movie Looking For Johnny (Thunders) and the flashbacks begin!

7. Daisy goes to Paris with Alexandra.  While Alex goes to her 30th high school reunion, Daisy enjoys Noir Blanche.  We stay in the crepe district, visit Samuel Beckett, buy a new umbrella.

8. Rough Trade Record Shop events:  We particularly enjoyed Jarvis Cocker reading from Mother Brother Lover.

9. Living legend, Lee Black Childers' book launch at Soho's Society Club.

10.  Gary goes to all of the Memorial events for 10th Anniversary of Joe Strummer's death. Namely:  

- The Arms Aloft in Acton Town gig at the Tabernacle Notting Hill

- Joe Strummer Memorial Poster Pop Up Exhibition at Tabernacle

- Meeting Joe Strummer - a play by Paul Hodson at the Cockpit, NW8

- London's Burning (a particularly good performance by The Phobics) 

- 100 Club weekend of gigs, Remembering Joe: 10th Anniversary Memorial Weekend, which featured Spizz, The Duel, Ruts DC, The Latchicos, Glen Matlock, Eddie Tenpole, and TV Smith

 

Daisy's Letter From London: Nov/Dec 2012

Dear Karatee Boogaloo,

Wee are just back from Chelsea, darling. We went the Vinyl Factory and hung out with Leee Black Childers amongst his photographs of Blondie, Iggy, Mapplethorpe rent boys etc. Seems to me he can't take a photo of someone and not make them look sexy….

The photographs are in his new book - and he got a thumbs up from us when he appeared at an In Conversation event at The Society Club, a tiny Charles Dickens type coffee shop/bookshop (yes, they have those in London) to intrepid Monday Nighters who braved the freezing temperatures.

Leee had just flown in (staying at the St. James Hotel with hot tub… it's where all thee rock and rollers stay when in town)… and maybe he was little jet lagged, i don't know, but he got little tearful when he talked about Johnny Thunders and Sid Vicious.

It is because of Andy Warhol that he became a photographer. Apparently, Leee used to blag his way in to record company parties back in the day for the Buffet Table. He told Andy Warhol that he got in by pretending to be a photographer.

Apparently, Andy Warhol pointed to Jackie Curtis who was smoking a cigarette and drinking a cocktail at the Factory. "She thinks she is a woman." The implication being you don't have to pretend. And Leee was transformed.

Andy Warhol bought a photograph from Childers for $10, but, said Leee, instead of cashing the check at a bank, he took it to the Chelsea Hotel where it was well known someone would pay him $50 dollars for the Warhol check… And, apparently, David Bowie asked him to work for MainMan… and that's where he learned he could order Steak Tartare, Shrimp Caribe and Limos and Tours and all sorts…(Continued after the jump)

Movie of the Week: Straight To Hell (1987)

A classic from 1987 directed by Alex Cox, and starring Dick Rude, Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, The Pogues, Dennis Hopper, Courtney Love, and a host of other hepcats. My favorite thing about this film besides the soundtrack? Spoiler: Everyone dies.

Better badges: A Clash collection (1979-1983)

Longtime reader Dan McC of Chapel Hill, NC, contributed the above shot of his Clash badge collection to share with us. He put this together over the years 1979-1983. Here's what he had to say for himself:

In 1979 I fell in love with the Clash. I bought the records, of course, and several t-shirts, and I obsessively clipped magazine and newspaper articles about my heroes. But badges proved to be the most accessible merchandise experience for a 14-year-old with limited cashflow and sporadic shopping options. Typically priced at $1 each, punk badges were a staple at any record store that sold any sort of new wave or punk, usually featured on a point-of-purchase impulse rack somewhere near the cash register. As tiny items easily palmed or pocketed, I suspect the retail place was meant to guard against shoplifting, too. Although I had ordered a couple of badges through mail order catalogues, the vast majority of the badges pictured were one-off purchases from record stores in the Baltimore/Washington area.

Thanks Dan! I'm looking forward to future contributions from him.

Shot by: Janette Beckman

Tenpole Tudor

Visit Janette's official website: www.janettebeckman.com

John Cooper Clarke

Joe Strummer

Dexy's Midnight Runners

Shane MacGowan

Strummer of Love in August

 Strummer of Love, August 17-19, 2012

Dead Pop Stars

Me, Joe Strummer, Howie Pyro, and Joey Ramone, Avenue A & 7th Street, NYC

This is Radio Strummer

I've grown a bit weary of the Clash recently, but when it comes to Joe Strummer's BBC broadcasts during his un-years [refer to the section entitled (1986–1999) The wilderness years here] its a whole different story.

If you enjoyed any of Dylan's recent radio shows, or the soundtrack to the Strummer documentary The Future Is Unwritten, you'll love this. Its full of surprises, even for been there, done that, heard it all before music fans. Check out over 15 broadcasts courtesy of the Radio Clash blog.

Strummerville - The Movie

In the wake of Joe Strummer's tragic & very untimely death in December 2002, the Strummerville organization was born in order to support & help musicians and young bands. Long time filmmaker, and friend of the Clash, Don Letts, has made a documentary about the organization, and it sees DVD release on May 31. The DVD will be available exclusively through the Strummerville website, and will wholly benefit them. Visit them here for more information. Good stuff!


Thanks to Steve at Strummerville for the video embed code.

Joe Strummer - When Pigs Fly

Perfect Sound Forever: For most of the '90's, you were outside of the public spotlight. What were you up to?

Joe Strummer: Well, there's a nice hammock in my yard, made from Guyanese mountain goat wool. (laughs) I am a lazy sod though - let's put that down front. And I also did a lot of weird things. I was always involved in things that never came out, like a jinx dare I say it. Like for example, I took eight months to do a score for a film called When Pigs Fly. There's talk of releasing the score (now). I did it all, front to back for the whole picture. The film couldn't get any distribution - they showed it at festivals here and there but nothing happened. Probably had one or two showings in its life. But there's talk now that they wanna put the score out. It's a lost body of my work, if I may use such a phrase! That probably took a year to come out of my head and that never came out.

The above quote, from a 1999 interview with Perfect Sound Forever's editor Jason Gross, describes what happened to this missing piece of Strummer history. Recorded in 1993 during Strummer's un-years, these songs were intended for use in the ultimately unreleased movie When Pigs Fly, directed by Sara Driver, longtime partner of Jim Jarmusch. If one is diligent enough, it's possible to locate most of these tracks, however it's not terribly easy. And I'm not counting crappy home made video versions on YouTube.

I obtained these back in the mid-90's when someone gave me a cassette of them. There are eight tracks in all:

01. When Pigs Fly (vocal)
02. Pouring Rain (vocal)
03. Rose of Erin (vocal)
04. Ellis Island Line (instrumental)
05. Phantom County Fair (instrumental)
06. Storm In A D-Cup (instrumental)
07. Free At Last (vocal)
08. When Pigs Fly (instrumental)

Joe Strummer - When Pigs Fly (lossless)

Strummer loved Springsteen

It's not time for Friday Ephemera, but I had to post this very cool bit of ephemeral rock history (courtesy of the wonderful Letters of Note). It's a 1997 fax response from Joe Strummer to a documentary film maker discussing his opinion of Bruce Springsteen. The film was a 1998 UK television production called Bruce Springsteen: A Secret History.

"We need people like this..." Indeed.

Lest we forget

Joe Strummer passed away on this date 6 years ago.

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Yalla Yalla

A decent NYC-based video from 1999. From the "Rock Art and the X-Ray Style" album. Hard to believe it's 9 years old now!