JOE STRUMMER DIARIES OF PEARL HARBOUR TOUR
NME, March 1979

We meet at the airport and get on a plane to Vancouver. There seems to be quite a lot of us. We got baker and johnny green our backline crew, and rob and adrian who are welsh sound men.-warren “gandalf” sparks lighting engineer, and barry -scratchy’ myers, the famous d.j. Then there’s the four of us and caroline croon to handle the business.

“even aerosmith dont travel with so many people,” says epic records. .

– “ah yes we reply,” but we ve gqtta do it properly!”.

So, 17 hours later here we are vancouver, canada. No blizzards no snow no mounties—just the customs. They go through everything, confiscating studded belts, armbands, knives, cos they cant find any drugs. “if we’d known it was gonna be like this, we’d have brought some drugs for you” we tell ‘em. But they dont smile they just kick us out, knifeless and beltless.

But the show goes off real good an we meet bo diddley at last. Bo is coming on the tour and the next -morning a big shiny greyhound bus draws up outside the hotel with two nashville drivers: its all aboard first stop, California.

The bus is real neat with bunks a pisshole an a tv video. Its just come off away on jennings tour. We cross the us border real easy, no, search, nothing; “then its non stop across oregon.

– about midnight we doss in a ‘ faceless motel. I wake up and as i’m searching for some breakfast ,ace penna our us tour manager tells me ”hey, did ja know sid is dead?” i grab him by the throat “what do you mean” i snarl. Then as it sinks in, i dont want no breakfast. Our first morning in america.

In california the sun is shining weakly .the other people walk about the streets weakly.in fact everything here is done weakly except for when the cops get hold of you. We play the Berkeley Community Theatre on the college campus our first mistake, meaning, it aint our scene but we play and they dig it, tapping their biology books in time to the tunes.

Bill graham, famous hippie promoter is promoting the show and making all the money, but he leaves town just before we arrive. Next night however we agree to play a benefit for this youth organization who are trying to-open up the s.f.scene by promoting cost price rock shows. The show is really great ,the hall is really great, the audience is really great but we gotta leave straight after the set to drive the 400 miles to los angeles.

The santa monica civic centre turns out to be a concrete barn. I only remember the really good shows or the really bad shows. So this one must have been just o.k. Cos my memory is blank.

Right after the set, they drag in some epic people. Quite a lot of em, line em up and try to get us to pose with them. I’m fed up with this so i’look at topper and he reads mythoughts ’lets fuck off outof it” he says almost simultaneously as mick and paul say it. So we do. When the epic people leave they do not speak and they do not look the air is thick as they file past.

Again straight after the show we gotta hit the road. A load of fans give us a great send off so we are all in a good mood as we head for oklahoma city.

Drivling to oklahoma city is like driving from london to glasgow 10 times. So i get my head down and when i wake up we are in texas, i know this because johnny green and baker are wearing the biggest -cowboy hats i ever seen.

Texas is one of the best places although i cant say why. We are trying to reach cleveland ohio hoping to catcha plane in oklahoma city. Theres plenty of snow fog and ice at the airport but no planes. The bus has gone to nashville for repairs so we sit and wait. 24 hours later we finally get to cleveland, flying the roundabout route.

Incidently, to give you some idea of the size of the country, we meet some people who had travelled 800 miles to see the show.

Next stop is washington d.c.the bus has caught up with us so its all aboard. On this drive bo gives up his bunk to his guitar and he sleeps. Sitting up. So does Mick because nothing on earth will tempt him to get back in one of the bunks.

Meanwhile outside its 32 below zero and as we are filling up some place the brakes freeze up and are locked solid. So we have to sit and wait a few hours for them to thaw.

Those of you who stayed awake in school will know this is the us capital. Strangely enough most of the population is black, which makes all the white politicians a little nervous. We was gonna pay a call on jimmy carter but he was down in mexico,having a massage. So we played d.c. And headed out for boston. Even though this was only last week my memory has gone .again so lets say it was okay and get on with it, which means new york! New York! (so good they named it twice etc.).

We was playing the Palladium.a bit like the Rainbow.this was the third gig in three days.and with all the travelling we was pretty knackered. During the sound check i over heard a yank talking to his mate “wow these guys have had it/they can hardly stand up, never mind play!”

Then bo told me the worst audiences in the US were detroit and nyc. “if you can play new york you can play anywhere” .

By gig time the place was packedand all the top liggers in town were there.we were plenty nervous halfway through the show i checked the audience and became convinced that we were going down like a ton of bricks. But like they say its a tough town and by the end of the day we managed to whip it out and give ‘em some of our best.

We stuck around for a day or so to see the sights like studio 54 which is okay but nothing to write home about.to get in without paying you have to turn up with andy warhol.

One more show to go, in toronto. We fly there to do the gig which is in a cinema. The dressing room actually is a toilet and the pa. Sounds as if its filled with hamsters on coke. Even though it sounds rough we really enjoy it and so do they, storming the stage at the end english style. One of the funniest things i ever saw was these two bouncers trying to hold the whole audience back. The two of them! After the first number they were swamped so they gave up and went ‘ home.

And the next day so did we, to break, crack, storm or blitz america you have to work as hard as elvis costello, shake hands and smile like the boomtown rats, and sound like dire straights. Of the three. We could make the first but not the rest so we are going to go back to play the us agal n but we must also play britain, japan, europe, australia, and its fair shares all round. Hey! I hear theyre really rocking in russia.

© Joe Strummer/New Musical Express

1. Cattle And Cane – The Go-Betweens
2. Fairytale Love – The Triffids
3. Reptile – The Church
4. I’m Stranded – The Saints
5. Kare Kare – Crowded House
6. On A Night Like This – Kylie Minogue
7. Slave Girl – Lime Spiders
8. In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated – Dead Can Dance
9. Aloha Steve & Danno – Radio Birdman
10. I Want You Back – Hoodoo Gurus

Sir Nick Cave har de seneste ca. 25 år boet i London, Berlin, Sao Paolo og nu Brighton, så han får ikke lov at deltage…

Hvad har alle disse navne til fælles?

Rage Against The Machine, Björk, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Manu Chao, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Crowded House, Air, Tiësto og Kings of Leon

?

De skal alle spille på Coachella-festivalen i USA, der begynder 27. april i år. Og I har set rigtigt – der står Crowded House. Og så endda kun få måneder efter dvd-udgivelsen af gruppens afskedskoncert. Den besætning, der var bag gruppens efter manges mening bedste album, Together Alone, er sammen igen. Dvs. Neil Finn, Nick Seymour og Mark Hart – men desværre ikke Paul Hester, der døde på tragisk vis i 2005. Heller ikke Tim Finn ser ud til at være med.

Mark Hart forsøgte sig efter tiden i Crowded House som medlem af noget så skummelt som Supertramp, men der skal jo brød på bordet. (Jvnfr. Tommy Stinson.)

Der kommer endda et nyt album, Time On Earth, produceret af Ethan Johns – søn af Glyn Johns og bedst kendt som produceren bag f.eks. Ryan Adams.

Se http://centralvillage.blogs.com/cv/2007/01/crowded_house_r.html.

Se også http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003535555.

CALENTURE

Disc 1
1. Bury Me Deep In Love
2. Kelly’s Blues
3. A Trick Of The Light
4. Hometown Farewell Kiss
5. Unmade Love
6. Open For You
7. Holy Water
8. Blinder By The Hour
9. Vagabond Holes
10. Jerdacuttup Man
11. Calenture
12. Save What You Can
13. Baby Can I Walk You Home (bonus track)
14. Region Unknown (bonus track)
15. Love The Fever (bonus track)
16. Bad News Always Reminds Me Of You (bonus track)
17. Everything You Touch Turns To Time (bonus track)

Disc 2
1. Bury Me Deep In Love (rehearsal demo)
2. Kelly’s Blues (rehearsal demo)
3. A Trick Of The Light (rehearsal demo)
4. Hometown Farewell Kiss (rehearsal demo)
5. There Must Be A Curse On Me (rehearsal demo)
6. Open For You (rehearsal demo)
7. Burned (rehearsal demo)
8. Blinder By The Hour (rehearsal demo)
9. Vagabond Holes (rehearsal demo)
10. Jerdacuttup Man (rehearsal demo)
11. Save What You Can (rehearsal demo)
12. Calentura (bonus track)

IN THE PINES

Suntrapper
In The Pines
Kathy Knows
25 To 5
Only One Life
Do You Want Me Near You?
A Trick Of The Light (bonus track)
Once A Day
She’s Sure The Girl I Love (bonus track)
Jerdacuttup Man (bonus track)
Just Might Fade Away
Better Off This Way
Keep Your Eyes On The Hole
Blinder By The Hour (bonus track)
Wish To See No More (bonus track)
One Soul Less On Your Fiery List
Born Sandy Devotional
Love And Affection

Og hvad betyder Calenture? Ifølge pladens cover dette: “Tropical fever or delirium suffered by sailors after long periods away from land, who imagine the seas to be green fields and desire to leap into them.” En beskrivelse der også fint illustrerer The Triffids’ længselsfulde univers…

Ole Hyltoft er netop blevet udnævnt af Dansk Folkeparti til deres repræsentant i Danmarks Radios bestyrelse. Her er hvad han har at sige om sin mediepolitik i dagens udgave af Information:

“Der er noget oplæg til krig og fascisme i en del af rockmusikken,” siger Ole Hyltoft. Ud over at det er for ensidigt, er det faktisk også skadeligt, mener han. Da Nørrebrogade den 16. december 2006 blev omdannet til en kampzone mellem ‘de unge’ og politiet, spillede DR’s tredje musikkanal en indirekte rolle:

“Man kan få den tanke, at den manglende ynde, smidighed og humanisme i den hårde rockmusik i virkeligheden ansporer unge mennesker til at gå så vidt, som de gjorde, da de angreb og faktisk forsøgte at slå politiet ihjel,” siger det nye bestyrelsesmedlem, der er ret sikker på, at man lytter til P3 på Jagtvej 69.

Det var nok ikke fra den kant, man forventede at høre nogens tiltro til rockmusikkens potentiale som samfundsforandrende kraft.

Han går nok ikke og nynner den med Joan Jett.

Listen to Miss Kittin and The Hacker’s new direction
Driving a car or three on three, giving you a piece of life and energy somewhere out in the universe, for a novel
We try to analyze feelings, thinking about you, friends, mountains, and party times
I wish you could see us, how we are, how we love and hate

This is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about.

Listen to Miss Kittin and The Hacker, our mind is real, on a cloud, when someone’s playing us in a club at night.
And we receive smiling on the dance floor, trying to forget everything
We don’t know you, but you are a part of ourselves, and we can look into your eyes, wherever you are

Because this is what our music is about, you and us
Cause that is what our music is about, you and us

Listen to Miss Kittin and The Hacker, we take planes, from hotels every weekend, we drive on the highway to other places, looking at the landscape running behind the window, we are all alone
Listen to something on the stereo

We would like to see skyline and city lights of New York, or Tokyo and then come back to the green fields we know, and do nothing
And sleep
And do that again and again

Because, this is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about, you and us

Listen to Miss Kittin and The Hacker because this is what our music is about, you and us
You, and us.

Listen to Miss Kittin and The Hacker’s new direction
Driving a car or three on three, giving you a piece of life and energy somewhere out in the universe, for a novel
We try to analyze feelings, thinking about you, friends, mountains, and party times
I wish you could see us, how we are, what we love and hate

This is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about, you and us
You and us
This is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about, you and us

We would like to see skyline and city lights of New York, or Tokyo and then come back to the great fields we know, and do nothing
And sleep
And do that again and again

This is what our music is about, you and us
This is what our music is about, you and us

© Miss Kittin & The Hacker

Der er ingen grund til at være så individualistisk i disse kolde tider. Her er en engelsk vi-liste fra mit musikbibliotek:

1. We All Get A Taste – Grant-Lee Phillips
2. We Are Nowhere And It’s Now – Bright Eyes
3. We Are The Champions – Yo La Tengo
4. We Are The Dead – David Bowie
5. We Are The Music Makers – Aphex Twin
6. We Are The Pigs – Suede
7. We Are The Winners – LT United
8. We Belive – Ministry
9. We Can Have It – The Dears
10. We Can Work It Out – The Beatles
11. We Care A Lot – Faith No More
12. We Deal in Dreams – Live
13. We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37) – Peter Gabriel
14. We Don’t Exist – Meat Puppets
15. We Have Explosive – The Future Sound Of London
16. We Have Explosives Pt. 2 – The Future Sound Of London
17. We Know The Night – The Replacements
18. We May Be The Ones – Paul Westerberg
19. We Only Come Out At Night – Smashing Pumpkins
20. We Prick You – David Bowie
21. We Run This – Missy Elliott
22. We Shall Overcome – Bruce Springsteen
23. We Suck – Radiohead
24. We Walk – R.E.M.
25. We Want The Airwaves – The Ramones
26. We Who Are Not As Others – Sepultura
27. We Will Not – Bad Brains
28. We Will Not Be Lovers – The Waterboys
29. We Will Still Need a Song – Hawksley Workman
30. We´ve Come For You All – Anthrax
31. We’ll Inherit The Earth – The Replacements
32. We’ll Meet Again – Johnny Cash
33. We’ll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning – Gram Parsons
34. We’re A Happy Family – The Ramones
35. We’re Coming Down – Grant Lee Buffalo
36. We’re Coming Out – The Replacements
37. We’re Going To Miss You – James
38. We’re Here – Guillemots
39. We’re In Yr Corner – Cornershop
40. We’re Just Friends – Wilco
41. We’re Not Right – David Gray
42. We’re Pastie To Be Grill You – The Orb
43. We’re The Replacements – They Might Be Giants
44. We’ve Been Had – Uncle Tupelo
45. We’ve Got a File On You – Blur
46. We’ve Got Airplanes – Guided By Voices
47. We’re an American Band – Yo La Tengo
48. We’re Going To Live For A Very Long Time – Heaven 17

Her på siden vender vi – ialfald for et øjeblik – ryggen til enhver selvdyrkelse og retter blikket ud. Evnen til at kunne kommunikere bunder vel trods alt i sund nysgerrighed og interesse for den person vi finder os stående overfor, nej? På årets 26. dag tager vi derfor en top-26 over sange der henvender sig til – og begynder med – dig:

01. You Won’t Find It Again- The Go-Betweens
02. You And Us – Miss Kittin & The Hacker
03. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby – The Smiths
04. You Gave Me A Mountain – Elvis Presley
05. You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory – Johnny Thunders
06. You Do Something To Me – Paul Weller
07. You Get What You Deserve – Big Star
08. You Are The Everything – R.E.M.
09. You And I – Sandra
10. You Are My Destiny – Paul Anka
11. You Know I’m No Good – Amy Winehouse
12. You Bury Me – Broder Daniel
13. You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me – Dusty Springfield
14. You Say You Don’t Love Me – Buzzcocks
15. You A Fool Boy – Angela Prince
16. You Don’t Understand – The House Of Love
17. You Must Please Remember – Morrissey
18. You Win Again – Hank Williams
19. You Can’t Be Too Strong – Graham Parker
20. You Keep Me Hanging On – The Supremes
21. You Wanted More – A-ha
22. You Don’t Miss Yor Water – Otis Redding
23. You Are The Only One – Ricky Nelson
24. You Should Never Have Opened That Door – The Ramones
25. You Little Thief – Feargal Sharkey
26. You – The Au Pairs

Og nu, hvis du har lyst…

Her på årets 25. dag en top-25-playlist, der – som det er så fandens højt oppe i tiden – hylder jeg’et; 25 klassiske sange der starter med det engelske “I”:

01. I Will Never Turn My Back On You – Chuck Jackson
02. I Can Never Go Home Anymore – The Shangri-Las
03. I Won’t Share You – The Smiths
04. I Had A Dream Joe – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
05. I Never Dreamed – The Cookies
06. I Wanna Be A Star – The Cockney Rejects
07. I Was Born To Cry – Dion & The Belmonts
08. I Really Love You – The Tomangoes
09. I Need Somebody – Iggy Pop
10. I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten – Dusty Springfield
11. I See A Darkness – Johnny Cash
12. I Remember California – R.E.M.
13. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend – The Ramones
14. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone – Sleater-Kinney
15. I Feel Love – Donna Summer
16. I Can’t Forget – Leonard Cohen
17. I Remember The Railroad – Gene Clark
18. I Dream A Highway – Gillian Welch
19. I Can’t Help Myself – The Four Tops
20. I Put A Spell On You – Creedence Clearwater Revival
21. I Found A Reason – The Velvet Underground
22. I Like Girls – Sparks
23. I Fought The Law – Bobby Fuller Four
24. I Live For Speed – The Star Spangles
25. I Walked Away – Bobby Paris

Det er ikke nemt at begrænse sit jeg til 25. Kan vi få andre bud…?

http://www.leipzig48.com/mp3s/mashups/WeMayBeTheOnes_Sara.mp3

Eller lyt til Jakob Dylans udgave af “Here Comes A Regular”:

http://download.yousendit.com/361B821566D69F74

Var i en diskussion om positivt arbejdsraseri forleden og David Bowie blev hevet frem som eksemplet på at kreativitet og voldsomt output godt – når talentet er der – kan forenes. Se på Bowie’s 1977, hvor han netop var flyttet til Berlin, vistnok hovedsageligt for at undslippe et ødelæggende coke-misbrug, hans amerikanske tilværelse ikke kunne være foruden. Så hvad gjorde David for at blive nyt menneske? Kastede sig hovedkuls ind i en Berlinmur af kreativitet og hårdt arbejde. Dels som soloartist med Tony Visconti og Brian Eno som sparringspartnere, dels med vennen Iggy Pop, der var flygtet med til Vestberlin og som med Bowie i både komponist- og producer-rolle også der selv skabte sig en helt nyt udtryk og niveau. Prøv lige ikke at tabe pusten af deres fælles release-kalender mens i Berlin:

14. januar: David Bowie – Low
18. marts: Iggy Pop – The Idiot
9. september: Iggy Pop – Lust For Life
14. oktober: David Bowie – “Heroes”

1969, 04. november: Space Oddity
1970, 04. november: The Man Who Sold the World
1971, 17. december: Hunky Dory
1972, 06. juni The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
1973, 13. april: Aladdin Sane
1973, 19. oktober: Pin Ups
1974, 24. april: Diamond Dogs
1975, 07. marts: Young Americans
1976, 23. januar: Station to Station
1977, 14. januar: Low
1977, 14. oktober: “Heroes”
1979, 18 maj, 1979: Lodger
1980, 12 september: Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

I samme periode nåede han så også at indspille og udgive to dbl-livealbums: David Live, udsendt 29 oktober 1974, og Stage, udsendt 8. september 1978.

Bowie’s tempo var regel sanrere end undtagelse for den tids artister. Roxy Music, Lou Reed, Sparks, T Rex og også de tidlige store bands efter punkbølgen kørte i samme høje gear. Udgivelsestempoet havde den fordel/ulempe, at det hurtigt eksponerede hvem der havde noget og hvem der ikke kunne være med. Et band kunne ikke – som f.eks. i dag – gemme sig væk i et studie i flere år og derefter udsende et værk så overproduceret, at dets egentlige substans eller mangel på selvsamme blafrer i vinden. Gad vide hvad nutidens acts ville komme op med med et sådanne tidspres på sig. Ville det f.eks gøre Kashmir ondt, at der ikke gik op til 4 år imellem deres albums? Ville R.E.M.’s output blive mindre vitalt af kun – ligesom i gruppens gyldne år – at være halvt så lang tid som nu undervejs i skriveproces og studio? Og ville verdensfreden blive yderligere truet af Bono’s fravær på den internationale politiske scene, fordi han oftere var krævet af sit band i et studie til det, han egentlig først og fremmest fik sin berømmelse på? Jeg tror det ikke.

Men det er ønsketænkning. Musikindustriens egen cyklus bryder sig ikke om for hyppige og for hurtige udgivelser. Den måde man gør tingene på nu kræver en langtidsforberedelse indenfor promotion/marketing, som handler om år ikke måneder. Det er vel også derfor vi – i modsætning til tidligere – så sjældent har glæden af enkeltstående singler eller EP’er, som ikke er ude for at tjene et helt albums sag. Den tankegang og forudsigelighed der ligger bag dette har gjort både musikbranchen og de plader den udsender ikke så lidt kedeligere. Hvis en David Bowie i dag var flyttet et år til Berlin, havde han kun fået lov at udsende ét enkelt album derfra og det ikke før l-a-n-g tid efter indspilningerne til det var afsluttet. For jo, der tales meget om at teknologien har gjort verden mindre, men dens musikmedier og deres funktioner har samtidig i den grad forlænget forædlingsprocessen og ventetiden før de nye plader endelig sendes ud. Ikke godt. For ny musik – nat og dag – bør altså høres…NU!

PS – New Music Night And Day var til sidste øjeblik arbejdstitlen på det album, som istedet blev udsendt under den noget mere anonyme titel Low.