Monday, September 1, 2008

PROFILE UPDATE/JOE STRUMMER

I've put some of my favourite song lyrics of all time on my profile page. Check them out. They're penned by the mighty Joe Strummer and are from Big Audio Dynamite's brilliant track Beyond the Pale. I first listened to this tune in a hotel room in Singapore. My parents and I were en route to London. I was fourteen years old. Ah, the song and its affecting words still resonate today...

I once shook hands with Joe Strummer and thanked him for his music. He had just finished playing a blinding set with The Mescaleros at The Metro in Sydney, and appeared out the back of the venue to chat to fans, passers by, whomever. I remember he arrived tentatively, hung in a doorway and peered off down the alley to where throngs of people drifted down a busier street - he was Captain Nonchalance really - he had no real desire to rush up and talk to the few Clash devotees that hung out to say hello. Still, he was polite, collected and dead cool. He complimented my 'Dubwiser' t-shirt (which was white and featured the Budwiser label but changed a little by the band Dreadzone to reflect their dub rots).

This was about a year before he died.

LJ, September 1 2008.

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