The Joe Strummer Mural London W11 Unveiling Party Thursday June 13th 2013

Mick Jones and Ray Gange at the unveiling - Photo Copyright Peter Stevens

Last night saw the unveiling of the Joe Strummer mural on the junction of Portobello Road and Blenheim Crescent, right in the heart of The Clash's old Ladbroke Grove stomping ground. I went along to visit the event and there was a great turn-out with some live acoustic performances and a few beers to go along with it. Mick Jones turned up to lend his support and so did Ray Gange from the Clash movie "Rude Boy". It's a long time coming, as New York has had a fantastic Joe Strummer mural for a few years now and it was about time that London paid tribute to Joe too, so credit to Gary Loveridge and Emma Harrison for making it happen. 

Mick Jones of The Clash - photo by Steve Worrall

Gary and Emma unveil the Mural - Photo Copyright Peter Stevens

Here, Gary explains how the mural came about: "I've been a Clash fan for over 35 years. Two years ago I was in New York on the anniversary of Joe Strummer's death (22nd December) and to pay my respects, I headed to the Lower East Side because I heard there was a mural of Joe there. I found it. It was good to see him and stand with him in one of his favourite cities. In November 2012, I was asked to create an exhibition of Joe Strummer and The Clash posters from my collection for the "Arms Aloft" gig at the Tabernacle W11. They wanted me to hang the posters, coincidentally, around a photograph of that same mural in New York. Seeing as the anniversary of Joe's death was coming up, it got me thinking that we should have a mural here, in West London, where Joe used to live. I found myself looking out for a wall. The space I was lucky enough to find is at the side of Lydon's Stitch and Bead Shop. The owner said that he liked art and the wall was mine.



Gary, Emma and Mick Jones - Photo Copyright Peter Stevens

I then had a chance meeting with Emma Harrison and during a conversation about Punk Rock posters I discovered that Emma was a mural artist and I asked her if she could paint a Joe Strummer mural. We sat down and designed our mural. We decided to use an older image of Joe with his trusted Telecaster guitar along with a quote of something I'd heard him say on a late night radio show..."Without People, You're Nothing"."

Ray  Gange and Gary Loveridge with original sketch - Photo Copyright Peter Stevens 

So, great stuff from Gary and Emma, if you're visiting Portobello market be sure to pop along and check out the mural for yourselves and pay tribute to Joe Strummer, it's located on the junction of Blenheim Crescent and Portobello Road, close to Rough Trade. Here's a short video of the unveiling

Many thanks to Gary Loveridge, check out more about his poster archive and exhibitions here. For more info on Emma Harrison please visit her site here. Also, many thanks to Peter Stevens for allowing me to use some of his excellent photos, please visit his photography web-site here.

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A Musical Celebration of Jeff Munday's Birthday: Featuring The Fallen Leaves, The Past Tense, The Legendary Groovymen and The SuperMinx '70

Jeff Munday "guesting" with The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Steve Worrall

DJ and dapper Man-about-town, "Chelsea Jeff" Munday, celebrated his birthday in style last week at the William Morris in South Wimbledon with a great line-up of bands that bore close resemblance to the last Retro Man Blog Night at the Half Moon in Putney. The evening kicked off with The Past Tense, who played their danceable little garage pop nuggets to perfection. Drummer Warren Samuels and bassist Ken Halsey are getting a reputation as the best rhythm section on the circuit, and tonight Warren had the crowd's mouths agape at one particular point in proceedings with some tremendous drumming. They ended on the Quadrophenia tribute "Jimmy's Love Song" from their excellent debut album "Take Three" and singer and guitarist Andy Norrie-Rolfe performed a perfect Pete Townshend leap to round it all off, captured here by Paul Slattery...

Andy takes off! The Past Tense by Paul Slattery

Next up were The Legendary Groovymen, who are one of those perfect party bands, with their mix of catchy originals and a choice selection of cover versions including songs from The Jam, The Strangeloves and a cheery "You Need Wheels" by local heroes The Merton Parkas.

The Legendary Groovymen - Photo by Paul Slattery

It was my first time to see The SuperMinx '70 and they were a pleasant surprise - off stage I'd always seen singer and guitarist Paul Osborn dressed to the nines, perfectly suited and booted, so I was expecting their sound to be more of the Mod persuasion. However, the band are refreshingly different - on stage Paul was more casual - wearing a Mott The Hoople T-Shirt that gives a slight clue to their sound. They play brash South London street-tough tunes nicely augmented by Sax and Trumpet. There's hints of the rougher bovver-boot end of British Glam Rock such as The Hollywood Brats and Jook.  If you've ever heard the early demos of the Sex Pistols where Glen Matlock plays his melodic bass lines then you might get an idea where SuperMinx are coming from. Paul's a great singer and his lyrics are also original and amusing. Unfortunately, the band have not yet been in the studio, but I am eagerly awaiting their first recordings and look forward to seeing the band again.

The SuperMinx '70 - Photo by Paul Slattery

The Fallen Leaves close the show with their usual brilliant set, I've already waxed lyrical about The Leaves so many times on the Blog, but they really are the best band out there playing now. Tonight they wow the crowd with their Punk Rock for Gentlemen! Jeff Munday gets the ultimate birthday present, he gets to join in on backing vocals on "Trouble"...money can't buy a gift like that!

The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Steve Worrall

In the audience were spotted members of The Aadvarks, The Onlookers and The Transients and Ray Gange, star of the Clash's "Rude Boy" movie, was also there. So, a great night of music in celebration of Jeff Munday's birthday, brilliantly organised by Paul Osborn, Paul Philips and Tony Holton. Cheers Jeff! Here are a few more photos from the evening.

The Past Tense - Photo by Steve Worrall

The Legendary Groovymen - Photo by Steve Worrall

The SuperMinx '70 - Photo by Steve Worrall

Rob Green of The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Steve Worrall

Bill Lewington & Matthew Karas of The Fallen Leaves - by Steve Worrall

Rob Green of The Fallen Leaves - by Steve Worrall

Rob Symmons of The Fallen Leaves - by Steve Worrall

Birthday Boy Jeff Munday with Rock Photographer Paul Slattery - by Steve Worrall

Thanks and "hello" to all the bands, Jeff, Paul Osborn, Paul Philips, Tony Holton, Paul Slattery, Andy Norrie-Rolfe, Les, Albert, Emer, Adam, Ray Gange and Mark Leech.

Punk & Beyond - Gaye Advert curated Art Exhibition Launch Night Nov 24th at The Signal Gallery

Gaye Advert

I was lucky enough to go to the launch night of the new "Punk & Beyond" exhibition curated by Gaye Advert, the iconic bassist with The Adverts. The Exhibition features artwork by various musicians, DJ's and artists involved in Punk Rock through the years and whilst, some pieces might be more a case of enthusiasm over natural artistic talent, the standard throughout is very high. Gaye Advert herself was also extremely pleasant and her superb artwork sold out in minutes, you can see why she deserves to be curating the Exhibition.

An unexpected highlight for me were Ray Gange's colourful and vibrant triology of quotes from Chinatown, Goodfellas and The Clash's "Clash City Rockers". Ray Gange was the star of The Clash movie "Rude Boy" which, along with Quadrophenia, pretty much informed my teenage years. Ray was in attendance and was extremely friendly, willing to talk about his experiences with The Clash as well as his artwork and DJing.

Ray Gange in front of "Wiseguys"

I had a nice chat to photographer Ray Stevenson too who was exhibiting some of his early Punk photographs such as a very early Adam & The Ants photo and a great portrait of Gaye Advert. Also there on the night were Grant Hart from Husker Du, Don Letts, photographer Jill Furmanovsky, author of '77 Sulphate Strip Barry Cain, Dave Collins from Podrophenia, Jenny from The Priscillas and Shanne Bradley from the Nipple Erectors amongst others.

Photographer Ray Stevenson

I managed to talk to Billy Childish, who was also very pleasant and interesting about his fellow Medway-ites The Len Price 3 and Ranscombe studios. As I left the gallery I was dazzled by a cheerful bundle of energy with a bright shock of blonde hair and flourescent emblazoned outfit proclaiming Spizz Energi. Yes, the singer of one of my all time favourite post-punk songs "Where's Captain Kirk?", a classic single if ever there was one. Spizz was great fun posing for photos and it was a real pleasure to finally meet him. Other artwork on display included works by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Robert Pollard from Guided By Voices who contributed three excellent pieces, Jamie Reid's classic "Rock & Roll Swindle" collage and one of my favourite pieces on the night, "Dog in Aldridge Road Villas" by The Clash's bassist Paul Simonon. I'd been to see an exhibition of Paul's Spain influenced artwork previously in a very posh Mayfair gallery so was already aware of his talents. 

Spizz with Gary Loveridge

But it was those interesting surprises that were the real pleasure of the night, as I mentioned Ray Gange's artwork but also there was a really great wall mounted sculpture called "Mick Jones Guitar With Life Mask" by Alabama 3's Nick Reynolds and nice portraits of Poly Styrene by Chris Bell from The Briefs. The Exhibition was actually a fitting tribute to Poly Styrene who so tragically passed away earlier this year and there were some additional portraits of Poly by Knox and Charlie Harper as well as photographs by Ian Dickson. The news about Poly was made even sadder as she had just released a fanatasic new album "Generation Indigo" that was getting critical acclaim and putting her back in the fore-front of music again where she deserves to be. 

Gaye Advert Artwork

It is also touching to think of Ari Up who also passed away at tragically young age at a time when she had also released a great new Slits album. It was nice to see both Ari and Poly  paid tribute to in the art and photography on display. Other notable exhibitors included Michael Davis from the MC5, Penny Rimbaud with some very striking pieces, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo, Marco Pirroni from Adam & The Ants/The Wolfmen and Jowe Head from the Swell Maps. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the gallery to catch the exhibition before it ends and sincerely hope that this becomes an even more regular event.

The Exhibition is being held until December 17th at The Signal Gallery at 32 Paul Street London EC2A 4LB

Here are some more of my photos from the launch night.

The Signal Gallery

Robert Pollard from Guided By Voices

Jamie Reid

Artwork by Michael Davis of The MC5

Poly Styrene by Chris Bell of The Briefs

Self Portrait by Marco Pirroni

Artwork by Jowe Head of Swell Maps

Paul Simonon "Dog in Alridge Villas"

Artwork by Penny Rimbaud

Artwork by Robyn Hitchcock

The Adverts by Jill Furmanovsky

The packed out Signal Gallery

Gaye Advert in front of her artwork

All Photos by Steve Worrall - Many thanks to Gaye Advert and Chris from Signal Gallery