Mick Jones Rock & Roll Public Library - Exhibition of The Clash & Big Audio Dynamite Legend's Memorabilia

It was great to visit the Rock & Roll Public Library which is just part of Mick Jones' collection of memorabilia and 20th century pop culture now on display courtesy of former Subway Sect and JoBoxers drummer Sean McLusky and his team at the excellent Farsight Gallery. We'd been to the two previous Rock & Roll Public Library exhibitions at the Chelsea Space and Subway Gallery and it's always a huge pleasure to marvel at the hundreds of nostalgic and evocative items on display that include books, comics, fanzines, games, posters, clothes, electrical equipment along with tons of music, movie and football memorabilia. Of course there are many items that will be familiar to fans of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite including handwritten lyrics, posters, guitar cases, T-shirts and clothing, record covers and even a ticket and poster from The Clash's very first London show. Here's a walk-through of the exhibition...

 

The exhibition is being held at the Farsight Gallery at 4 Flitcroft Street WC2H 8DJ (just off London's legendary Denmark Street) and has just been extended to March 22nd due to popular demand. Don't be surprised if you bump into some famous faces if you visit, Bobby Gillespie, Ian Brown, Clare Grogan, Phil Jupitus, Glen Matlock, Neal X and Steve Diggle are just some of the celebrities to have popped in. There's a fantastic magazine/programme to go with the exhibition too and issue 1 is available to buy at the gallery or via mail-order after the closing date. The magazine is beautifully produced on high-quality paper with some stunning photographs by one of Retro Man Blog's favourite photographers Jeff Pitcher, and there are plans to publish more issues which will hopefully be available at Rough Trade Records and other outlets in the future. Here's a few words from the organisers.

"The Rock & Roll Public Library (RRPL) is a large, material archive of 20th century pop culture, collected over a lifetime by British musician and songwriter Mick Jones. An archive encompassing many varied items, including books, comics, magazines, musical equipment, literature, art, clothing, ephemera, as well as music and film in every format, revealing a wide network of influences. The most comprehensive and in-depth exhibition of the RRPL to date, showcasing previously unseen material and artefacts and featuring new installations created from the unique collection and personal items from Mick’s life and times as an art student, to The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite. The show celebrates the physical pop culture history of the 20th century and beyond - the aim being to inspire others to create, make connections and remember. Visitors are invited to interact with the exhibition: relax in the recreation of a living room and use items from the archive including Mick’s home recorded VHS tapes, books, comics and newspapers from another time; browse through and listen to a selection of his record collection in the recreation of a 1970’s listening booth; or visit the RRPL Kiosk to shop for new merch. The exhibition marks the launch of Issue #1 of the RRPL Magazine. A portable exhibition in itself, it invites the reader to find their own connections and inspirations from the Library’s wide-ranging artefacts. Edited by the RRPL team and featuring three different covers, the first issue focuses on DIY culture - from punk rock fanzines to fashion, art school to dole queues, four-track home cassette demos to high-tech studios - a ragged map to aid further exploration and, hopefully, to inspire yet more creation. The exhibition and magazine are made up entirely of items sourced from the Rock & Roll Public Library that have been selected by Mick Jones & The RRPL Team."

"The magazine to me is like a record, with each article a separate track and it tells a story - my story and by extension through our shared culture, all of our stories. I hope that anyone who reads it will enjoy it." - Mick Jones

 

 

The Rock & Roll Public Library exhibition has been extended due to popular demand. The show is open every day including weekends from 12 noon-7pm. Now ending at 7pm on 22nd March 2025, it's free to enter and no pre-booking required. Farsight Gallery, 4 Flitcroft Street, London WC2H 8DJ

 

 

 

Check out the RRPL site here for further details. You can also see our features on the previous exhibitions at Chelsea Space here and Subway Gallery here.

Sheila Rock PUNK+ Book Signing and Talk, Rough Trade East May 29th

Sheila Rock takes the applause - Photo by Dave Patten

Last night, Rough Trade East hosted a talk and book signing with renowned photographer Sheila Rock as part of a series of events to promote her excellent new book PUNK+. Sheila was accompanied by legendary DJ and Big Audio Dynamite member, Don Letts, who joined her to talk through a great slideshow of her classic images, many of which were previously unseen. Don talked about his experiences working at seminal Punk stores such as ACME Attractions, which he admitted were probably amongst the best days of his life, and of course his DJing at The Roxy. After the talk, Don played some great reggae tracks as Sheila chatted and signed copies of the book. Also in attendance were Viv Albertine, Harry Pye the ex-colleague of Steve Strange and Chrissie Hynde in the short-lived Moors Murderers, ex-Subway Sect guitarist Rob Symmons, now of The Fallen Leaves (who you can see in action at our next Retro Man Blog gig on June 29th),  The Roxy owner Andy Czezowski, designer Pam Hogg, author and Joe Strummer biographer Chris Salewicz, Martin and Paul Kelly from Heavenly and there was a surprise appearance by the ex-manager of Iggy & The Stooges, The Doors and Ramones and full on rock music legend, Danny Fields.

Danny Fields - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

Chris Salewicz and Pam Hogg - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

PUNK+ chronicles both designer and street styles between 1976-9 that had such an effect on fashion, society and politics, including Vivienne Westwood’s shop SEX as well as BOY, Robot and Acme Attractions. It is a fascinating insight into one of the most influential transformations of music and celebrates the scenesters who were the punk audience, and the designers that clothed the movement. As Paul Simonon (The Clash) comments: "This book is a great photographic record of a major shift in British street fashion". Sheila’s conversations with Chrissie Hynde, Tony James, Don Letts, Jeanette Lee, Glen Matlock, Chris Salewicz, Jon Savage, Steven Severin, Paul Simonon, Jah Wobble and more, provide an illuminating commentary on the punk phenomenon. As she observes "Punk was all about changing and surviving". All books are numbered and signed and feature 199 full colour and black and white photos from Sheila Rock's personal archive.

Rob Symmons with Viv Albertine - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

Don Letts - Photo by Dave Patten

Photo by Steve Worrall

Sheila Rock and Don Letts talk us through some photos - Steve Worrall

PUNK+ is published by FirstThird Books, an independent publishing company specialising in high quality music photobooks. PUNK+ is Limited to 2000 numbered and signed books, including 300 deluxe versions exclusively available through the FirstThird Books website. PUNK+ is the second in a series of limited edition titles, following the soon to be sold-out book on the legendary Indie icons Felt. This book features some excellent early Felt photographs by Retro Man Blog's regular contributor Paul Slattery. Here are some more photos from the signing.

Rob Symmons with DJ Jeff Munday - Photo by Dave Patten

Don Letts - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

Sheila Rock signing copies of PUNK+ - Photo by Dave Patten

You can read more about the book and see some examples of Sheila's fantastic photographs in our previous Blog feature here. We have also previously published a feature on  the excellent Heavenly Films documentary "Lawrence of Belgravia" and FirstThird's Felt book here.

With many thanks indeed to Rhiannon Ifans and Dave Patten for contributing the excellent photographs of the Punk+ Party. You can view a full set of Dave's photos at his Flickr site.

Mick Jones' Rock & Roll Public Library at Subway Gallery, Joe Strummer Subway, Edgware Road, London

Here are some photos from the recent Subway Gallery installation of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite's Mick Jones' Rock & Roll Public Library. Unfortunately, the exhibition only ran for about a month and has now finished, but it would be great if the collection could find a permanent home somewhere soon. 

The Subway Gallery web-site explains the idea behind the public showing of the collection: "The Rock & Roll Public Library, a testament to popular culture, springs directly from the enormous personal archive of Mick Jones, a collection that began well before The Clash were formed in 1976. As such it forms an invaluable guide to the collision of cultural influences that informed The Clash and Jones. The collection is also a testimony to the manner in which pop music came to its first full fruition at the same time as Pop Art. 

Envisaged as a permanent reference library for use by both the local and international community, it comprises, believes Jones, 'a personal, cultural and social history of our times, and through that it extends beyond the local to the global'. Popular culture is now established as part curriculum of many universities: it is intended that ultimately, the library will be an invaluable and essential aid to academic research and personal inquisitiveness. 

Great song-writing partnerships are hard to break up, and so it is apt that the Joe Strummer Subway on London's Edgware Road (in the shadow of the Westway) will lead you to the latest edition of the Rock & Roll Public Library at the Subway Gallery - a home for underground art."  Here are some of my photos taken on the Exhibition's last day.

All photos by Steve Worrall

You can see some of my photos of the original, and much larger, Exhibition at Chelsea Space back in 2009 HERE.

News: Mick Jones' Rock & Roll Public Library at Subway Gallery, Joe Strummer Subway, Edgware Road, London March 09th-31st

Clash memorabilia from the Chelsea Space exhibition 2009 - Photo by Steve Worrall

 Mick Jones' amazing collection of The Clash, B.A.D and cool Rock & Roll and Pop Culture memorabilia, is back on public display at Subway Gallery, Joe Strummer subway, Edgware Road, London March 09th-31st.

101'ers Poster from the Chelsea Space Exhibition 2009 - Photo by Steve Worrall

 Intended by Mick to be a permanent reference library for use by both the local and international community, it comprises, ‘a personal, cultural and social history of our times, and through that it extends beyond the local to the global.’ The collection features a huge array of rare and interesting memorabilia from The Clash days, including hand-written notes, stage clothes, flight cases and gig posters. There are also many pieces from Big Audio Dynamite alongside various movie posters, comic books and pop culture items.

"Hello Mick, It's Joe. Okay I give up, you win. Call me, Love, Joe" - Photo by Steve Worrall

I'd been along to see the collection when it was exhibited at the Chelsea Space Gallery back in 2009, here are some more of my photos of the items on display.

Catalogue of the Chelsea Space Exhibition 2009

 You can find more information on the excellent Strummerville site.

All photos by Steve Worrall

Big Audio Dynamite - London Shepherd's Bush Empire April 03rd



Big Audio Dynamite - Photo by Steve Worrall

Great to see B.A.D. so happy to be back playing live again, they seemed to be enjoying themselves as much as the audience. There is talk of them working on new material but the gig thankfully consisted purely of "old" - a run through of all their classics with the undoubted highlight being an extremely powerful "C'mon Every Beatbox". Joe Strummer's widow was in attendance, and seeing her reminded me that B.A.D. were what The Clash could have become with their eclectic mix of reggae, rock and roll, hip-hop and samples.  When the band played "Beyond The Pale" and "V13" this became more apparent , as they were amongst material co-written with Joe and were real stand-outs.  I remember once hoping that Joe would become a fully paid up member - that would have been something really special.
I am not sure how this re-union will affect Mick's other side project Carbon/Silicon as the look on the band's faces as they basked in the applause and affection at the end hinted that they this is not going to be a quick come back for a bit of cash. Let's hope they stick around a bit longer and appreciate the credit due to them.