Thursday, July 03, 2008

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: CLASH CITY DVDs

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 4, 2008


STRUMMER LIVES!Joe Strummer was so bored with the USA. He identified more with the Sandinistas than he did with Ronald Reagan. Yet he loved America. He loved the craziness of the cities and the weirdness of the countryside. He loved cowboy stuff, big cars, big pizzas, big drinks, and, of course, the music — Woody Guthrie, Elvis, the Bobby Fuller Four, Bukka White, Eddie Cochran, and the MC5. He probably would have agreed with Leonard Cohen that America is “the cradle of the best and the worst.”

“He knew the culture of America,” says Joe Ely in The Future Is Unwritten, a documentary about Strummer. Ely, a country rocker from Texas, toured with Strummer and The Clash about 30 or so years ago. “He knew the culture. He knew the music of it backward and forward. And so we hit it off immediately. Here was this unlikely meeting of two guys who grew up thousands of miles apart. But the same things moved us.”

Maybe he was a Brit — technically. But The Future Is Unwritten reminds us that Strummer can also be seen as a great American, one worth celebrating this Fourth of July. Had he been around in 1773 he’d have helped us dump tea in the harbor. And after the revolution, he’d have provided the soundtracks to Shays’ Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion.

The Future Is Unwritten, directed by Julien Temple, tells Strummer’s story: from his boyhood, through his years as the leader of a hippie/squatter band, through the glory years of The Clash, through the lean years when his music was scarce and obscure, and though his musical rebirth leading a band called The Mescaleros — a comeback cut short by his unexpected death in 2002. The movie is scheduled for release on DVD on Tuesday, July 8.

Temple — who created two Sex Pistols movies, The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle and The Filth & The Fury — tells Strummer’s story through family movies and photos as well as through footage that Temple shot during the pioneer days of punk rock. There are clips from a BBC film of George Orwell’s 1984 and an animated Animal Farm. There are Strummer doodles brought to life through animation. And there are interviews with the musician’s friends, family, and celebrity admirers — almost all of which are set around campfires in both rural and urban locales.

Some of the interviews are gushing. Steve Buscemi, who was in the Jim Jarmusch movie Mystery Train with Strummer, confesses that he was just as nervous to be working with the rocker as he would be working with Brando or De Niro. Bono does a typical Bono rap about how important The Clash was.

But some are not so worshipful. Mick Jones still seems to feel pain about being kicked out of The Clash. One old friend calls Strummer a coward.

Strummer was born John Graham Mellor in 1952 in Turkey, where his father (who was born in India) was a British diplomat. Strummer spent part of his childhood in Egypt and Mexico and was sent off to boarding school in Surrey, England, along with his brother, David. The film tells of David’s suicide and how that tormented Strummer.

Hooked on American folk music, Strummer took the name Woody, probably in honor of the Dust Bowl balladeer. He attended art college in Wales, busked on the London underground, and then became leader of the 101ers, a band of fellow squatters. (The group performed the New Orleans classic “Junko Partner” years before The Clash did.)

By the mid ’70s, Strummer shed his new name and snapped at anyone who called him Woody. He was becoming Joe Strummer. “I can only play all strings or none,” he explains in the documentary. “And not all the fiddley bits. That’s why I called myself Joe Strummer.”
This is JPG Clash
During The Clash years segment, the movie takes on a bit of a VH1 Behind the Music veneer. There’s some great footage of the band, but soon the creativity, energy, and idealism are crushed beneath the weight of egos, drugs, management problems, “creative differences,” and most of the other crap that kills great bands — except airplane crashes and Yoko Ono.

“We have fallen into every pitfall that you can possibly fall into ... and invented some new ones along the way,” Strummer says in the film.

There are many memorable moments in the documentary. Jarmusch talks about seeing Strummer weep when he saw a television news report of American troops listening to The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” as they were bombing Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. There’s the interview in which Strummer rants about anti-smoking laws, saying that nobody who doesn’t smoke should be allowed to buy works created by artists who do smoke.

And there’s the moment when the 1990s Strummer is raving about raves. Even though earlier in the film he snarls, “Hippies can shove off,” by the ’90s, Strummer says, “Quite frankly I am a hippie. I want to be a hippie. Punks and hippies are now fighting together here in England. ... In fact, you can’t tell them apart. And they’re coming together in some new strange style.”

Yes, basically, Strummer was just a big bundle of contradictions. Light some fireworks for him on the Fourth.

My review of the soundtrack CD for The Future is Unwritten, which was released about a year ago, can be found HERE.

Also Recommended

* The Clash Live: Revolution Rock. Except for the music here — 22 Clash songs recorded at various concerts and television appearances between 1977 and 1983 — the best thing about this DVD (released earlier this year) is that it gives you the option of “just play music” and skipping the cheesy narration, which tells the story of the rise and fall of the band.

The music, indeed, is great. But if you already own The Essential Clash DVD or the movie Rude Boy you already have several of these performances. Weren’t there other versions of these songs that could have been used?
They're coming to take me away, ha haaaa!
One twisted little treat is a bonus feature — The Clash’s 1981 interview with the ultimate befuddled American squarejohn Tom Snyder, who is, as usual, unintentionally funny here.

But Snyder’s weird sincerity sometimes get sincere responses from band members. Even so, Strummer, at one point, gets away with quoting “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!”

PRESS RELEASE OF THE DAY: JESUS' COMEBACK TOUR

(I'll just cut and paste and embed the Youtube they mention )

For Immediate Release: July 3, 2008

URGENT: MEDIA ADVISORY
The man Christ Jesus arrives in Stafford, TX next week

Everyone is talking about the arrival of the man Christ Jesus in Stafford, Texas on July 13th, 2008. Come and meet the man making news headlines in each country He visits, and listen to His message which confirms Him as the Second Coming of Christ. This LIVE broadcast will be transmitted to all nations through world renowned TELEGRACIA channel (telegracia.com), and webcast is tuned in by 103 countries through http://www.creciendoengracia.com/. Find out more about Dr. Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, the incarnation of God in a man, and see why global followers already acknowledge that it is not the year 2008, but rather Year 62 after JH (the Second Coming).

WHEN: July 13th, 2008

WHERE: Stafford Civic Center - 1625 Staffordshire Rd. Stafford, TX

TIME: 3:00pm (CDT) / 4:00pm (ET)

WHAT: National Convention USA 2008 with the honorable presence of
The man Christ Jesus, Dr. Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda

Open to the public - Free Admission

NEW MEXICO FIRST

We got a press release from Lt. Gov. Diane Denish this afternoon encouraging New Mexico residents to visit New Mexico vacation spots during the upcoming holiday.

"... in the face of rising fuel costs, New Mexicans should consider staying closer to home and exploring the mountains, lakes, festivals and Pueblo dances in this state.

“ `As a lifelong New Mexican, I’ve experienced so many rich vacations in my home state,' said Lt. Governor Denish, a native of Hobbs. `From playing on the Ruidoso River as a child to bicycling around Albuquerque today, I’ve enjoyed that big, blue sky, the endless views and the people who make up our multicultural heritage.' ”
However, somebody apparently didn't read Denish's press release.

My very next e-mail was from the governor's office.

"Governor Richardson and First Lady Barbara Richardson will be in Cape Cod for the holiday weekend. They will also spend time with the First Lady’s family in the area. They will return early next week."

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: THE MARK OF ZORRO

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 3, 2008


Here’s a name that many New Mexico politicians, from the governor to the county sheriff, would like to forget: Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein
Epstein, who owns a 26,700-square-foot hilltop mansion in southern Santa Fe County, has begun serving an 18-month jail term after pleading guilty this week to soliciting sex from girls as young as 14. Police said Epstein had sex with five teenagers he hired to give him massages at his Florida home.

According to a report this week in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Epstein, who also has a 13,000-square-foot mansion in Palm Beach, will spend 18 months in the Palm Beach County Jail followed by a year of house arrest.

Epstein’s arrest in June 2006 caused a huge stir in local politics because of the massive campaign contributions he’d made in the state. Among those were $50,000 for Gov. Bill Richardson’s 2002 election campaign plus another $50,000 in 2006 under the name of one of his companies, The Zorro Trust, to Richardson’s re-election; $15,000 to Gary King’s 2006 attorney general campaign; $10,000 to 2006 state land commissioner candidate Jim Baca; and $2,000 to Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano’s 2006 re-election.

The candidates returned the contributions or donated the money to charity after Epstein’s arrest.

New Mexico politicos weren’t the only ones to be embarrassed by their association with Epstein. The Guardian, a British publication, reported Epstein has “holidayed with Prince Andrew.” The Guardian also dug up some old quotes from President Clinton praising Epstein’s “insights and generosity” a few years before the arrest. Epstein loaned Clinton a jet to travel to Africa on an AIDS-awareness mission in 2002.

It seems I usually write at least a couple of stories every election cycle about politicians giving money to charity after some contributor turns toxic due to some scandal. I’m sure the fine people who run charities aren’t nearly as jaundiced as I am. But you have to wonder whether they figure in tainted campaign cash when they’re doing their budgets every year.
Jerome Jr.
Memories of another Jeffrey: The recent revelations about Democratic Public Regulation Commissioner candidate Jerome Block Jr. bring back not-so-distant memories of another candidate whose personal problems came to light only after he’d won the Democratic primary.

Block won the six-candidate primary for the $90,000 position with less than 23 percent of the vote.

In an interview before the primary, Block admitted to The New Mexican that he’d been arrested “on suspicion” of drunken driving 10 years ago when he was 21 years old — a case that eventually was dismissed due to prosecutors’ not trying him within six months.

However, Block didn’t mention that shortly after that arrest he was cited with disorderly conduct for allegedly urinating in public. In recent interviews, he’s said he doesn’t remember that citation.

OK, I’ll admit I’ve made the “mark of Zorro” in a few alleys during Fiesta back in by reckless youth. And I certainly don’t remember every time. But I’m pretty sure if I ever got a ticket for it, I’d dang well remember that.

These incidents, plus others outlined in a recent Santa Fe Reporter article — a 1999 arrest for riding with a drunken driver to which he pleaded guilty and failing to appear at child-support hearings — have made some Democrats wonder about keeping Block on the ticket.

Which brings us back to 2006.

That summer, Richardson and other state Democratic Party leaders pressured Jeffrey Armijo, the party’s candidate for state auditor, to remove himself from the ballot. This was after newspapers published police reports filed by women who claimed Armijo made aggressive and unwanted sexual advances toward them.
Armijo
Armijo in 2007 was indicted on a felony count of false imprisonment and three misdemeanor counts of battery. But by the end of the year, the district attorney in Albuquerque decided not to prosecute, saying the state had insufficient evidence.

But unlike the Armijo case, Dem honchos aren’t rushing this year to boot Block, who is the son of a former PRC member and former state corporation commissioner.

State Party chairman Brian Colón said Wednesday that he hasn’t spoken to Block about the reports and, unlike the Armijo situation two years ago, he hasn’t heard of any movement to dump Block.

A spokeswoman for Richardson said she didn’t think Richardson would be getting involved with the Block situation.

Block’s only general election opponent in his heavily Democratic PRC district is Green Party candidate Rick Lass.

And Lass apparently won’t be making an issue of Block’s past legal skirmishes. He told The New Mexican this week that he thinks it’s “odd” Block doesn’t remember his disorderly conduct violation. “I actually consider this a bit of a distraction from the main campaign that I plan on running, talking about how important the PRC is and how we need an advocate for the people,” Lass said.

Lass, in a 2004 interview when he was running for a state Senate seat, admitted he’d been arrested in 1999 on a misdemeanor charge of simple battery in a fight with his girlfriend. He said the charge was dropped after he successfully completed the Municipal Court domestic-violence program, which he said involved anger-management classes.

But at least he remembered it.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

PEARCE NAMED TO DIRTY DOZEN


National environmental groups this week are stepping up their attacks on Republican Steve Pearce.

First there was the Prius give-away by the Defenders of Wildlife, which I reported on in today's New Mexican.

Today the League of Conservation Voters, which already has endorsed Democrat Tom Udall, named Pearce to its Dirty Dozen list.
"During his five years in Congress, Steve Pearce has voted consistently against the environment," LCV Senior Vice-President for Political Affairs and Public Education Tony Massaro said. "Of the 80 conservation key votes since he has been elected, Pearce has voted against clean air, clean energy, protecting the nation's wildlife, and preserving our natural heritage in all but one vote."

Pearce's lifetime LCV score is an embarrassing 1%. He has earned three 0% scores in his tenure and his highest annual score was 5% in his first year. His opponent, Tom Udall, has earned a 96% lifetime LCV score.
Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana also was named to the Dirty Dozen.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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