Don Letts celebrates the Clash's strong bond with New York City and the way it influenced their music. He also remembers the show they played at the city's Shea Stadium. Including contributions from bandmembers Mick Jones and Terry Chimes and New York photographer Bob Gruen.
It'll be on their player for a month in case anyone wants to hear it
edit: If you look at the week's schedule, there are a lot of punk related shows on. Buzzcocks, Ramones, Pistols. Worth lending an ear if you get a chance
I was lucky & saw the Clash open for the Who on their "farewell" tour. Haha. The Clash came out & played for an hour & just destroyed the Who. They were special.
I also prefer P.I.L to the Pistols but I think I'm less of a minority on that.
I'm with you on that one. Back to the Clash: did you like the Mescaleros? Some of that stuff is holding up pretty well. I actually saw B.A.D. once. They weren't bad just for me the Clash is kind of a holy thing. The Clash music for the most part still sounds just as vital today as when it came out. Just my humble opinion. Good P.I.L. story: I went to England with my friend's band to help out hauling amps & such. One of the shows we were 3rd bill to P.I.L. & Live (bleh!) at a small venue in London. I'm spacing on the name of the venue. Maybe Town & Country Club? Anyway, we were hanging with the guys in P.I.L. who were really nice. Johnny didn't show up for soundcheck. I was quite tempted to get up & sing Seattle with them! Before the show backstage all of the sudden someone came through & cleared out the hallway etc. The explanation was "Johnny's not into people". I would've been disappointed if he was, haha! During the set, Johnny says "say goodbye to Virging & hello to EMI" & then launched into an insane version of EMI. The place went absolutely crazy. After the show, the guys in P.I.L. gave us their leftover food & alcohol as we were on a tight to non-existent budget. They were cool. BTW, my friend's were called the Aquanettas. They were an all girl band out of NYC kind of like the Bangles. They had an album that was distributed by IRS back in the day. It didn't do much but at least they had a shot. Got me to England the first time.
I did catch the Mescaleros at Glastonbury in '99 - but Glastonbury was still quite messy in those days so my memory is a bit fuzzy at best. I do remember they played Clash tunes for most of the set and the crowd was crazy. I think it might even be on youtube. T&C sounds like the right kind of place for P.I.L, must have been late 80s/early 90s cos it's the Forum now. Did you get to meet John McGeoch?
I did catch the Mescaleros at Glastonbury in '99 - but Glastonbury was still quite messy in those days so my memory is a bit fuzzy at best. I do remember they played Clash tunes for most of the set and the crowd was crazy. I think it might even be on youtube. T&C sounds like the right kind of place for P.I.L, must have been late 80s/early 90s cos it's the Forum now. Did you get to meet John McGeoch?
I believe I met John McGeoch. We hung out with the whole band minus Johnny. I'm a little fuzzy, haha. There was much sampling of Britian's brewery output on that trip. & I believe it was about 1989. Right around then. t1970
As the 15th anniversary of Joe Strummer's death approaches, there's a chance to enjoy twelve programmes the former Clash frontman recorded when he became a DJ for the BBC World Service.
Joe Strummer died on 22nd December 2002, aged just 50. His World Service programmes began in 1999, and show his great enthusiasm for music from all over the world, his eclectic tastes, ranging from Big Youth to the B**tles and Ray Charles to the Wu-Tang Clan.
They leave the shows on the player for a month after broadcast so plenty of time to catch up with them. They're only 30 minutes long each.
As the 15th anniversary of Joe Strummer's death approaches, there's a chance to enjoy twelve programmes the former Clash frontman recorded when he became a DJ for the BBC World Service.
Joe Strummer died on 22nd December 2002, aged just 50. His World Service programmes began in 1999, and show his great enthusiasm for music from all over the world, his eclectic tastes, ranging from Big Youth to the B**tles and Ray Charles to the Wu-Tang Clan.
They leave the shows on the player for a month after broadcast so plenty of time to catch up with them. They're only 30 minutes long each.
hard to believe joe's been gone 15 years. i remember the shock when i picked up the newspaper & saw the news. he is very much missed!
