Quote of the Day- Joe Strummer

Today, we continue our series of quotes with artistic radicals and subversives with a quip from the late punk rock singer Joe Strummer (1952-2002), leader of the legendary band The Clash.

Unlike many rock n rollers who died before their name, Strummer died of natural causes. He was actually not a user of recreational drugs, though his chain-smoking was one of his trademark traits.

Strummer also acted after the break-up of The Clash (circa 1986) in such films as "Mystery Train" by Jim Jarmusch and "Stright to Hell" by Alex Cox, who has directed the biopic "Sid and Nancy" depicting the short, wild life of Sid Vicious, the bass player for The Sex Pistols, another Enlgish punk rock band.

Here is the quote from Strummer:

"Everyone has got to realize you can't hold onto the past if you want any future. Each second should lead to the next."

Quote of the Week- Neil Diamond

While you are not likely to hear Neil Diamond on radio stations that play The Clash and Metallica, the legendary singer has endured and remains a favorite of adult contemporary radio stations from Cleveland to Kuala Lampur (we assume!).

His Neilness is not currently on tour, but you might be able to catch a performance of the Carrboro-NC based tribute band The Neil Diamond All-Stars, whose lead singer is Jack Whitebread, who does seem more like the late Joe Strummer (lead singer of The Clash) than Diamond himself but he does a great "Sweet Caroline."

I saw the trib band perform at The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro a few months ago, and they were simply awesome though I don't recall them singing my favorite Neil song "Red, Red Wine," which became a chart-busting hit for the English reggae pop band UB40 in the mid-80s.

The venue hosts the '80s New Wave band The English Beat ("Mirror in the Bathroom") on Aug. 24 which we wish were not a double-expletive school night!

Diamond also sang the national anthem for my sister's graduation at The University of Colorado.

Here is our quote from Diamond:

"I don't like all of the music to be serious and deadly."

Quote of the Week-Joe Strummer

We conclude our Quote of the Week series for May with yet another left-wing radical in Joe Strummer (1952-2002) who was the lead singer of The Clash and a character actor in such films as Jim Jarmusch's "Mystery Train" (1989).

The Clash's classic 1979 record "London Calling" was recently profiled on the NPR show "Sound Opinions."

Politically, Strummer was one of the leading radical figures of the punk rock movement and his songs always expressed social concerns, whether it concerned American involvement in Central America or the dark side of capitalism (ie. "Rock the Casbah" which deals with the oil business).

Before I quote Strummer, I should add that I am a bit more to the political center than he was, but we certainly aren't involved in the Tea Party movement either!

We have quoted Strummer before on both of our blogs (the other one is "The Daily Vampire") so I hope we haven't used this one before:

"Yeah, all those things, responsibility, pressure. It's a bit stressful. I try to come to terms with it by not thinking about it."

Remembering Dennis Hopper (1936-2010)

Today, we want to remember Dennis Hopper who died yesterday in Venice, Calif., with some tidbits from some of his most famous films. We will not include his most famous work which was "Easy Rider" (1969), a film which he also directed. But, I did learn that Hopper and his co-stars Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson actually smoked real marijuana in the film.

Here are some trivial notes for some of his other films, including "Apocalypse Now!" (1979), which is pictured above:


"Apocalypse Now!:"

-Steve McQueen was the first to turn down the part of Captain Willard which initially went to Harvey Keitel who was in turn fired from the set and replaced by Martin Sheen.

"Rumble Fish:"

-Matt Dillon, who played the title role, told the original story's author S.E. Hinton that "Rumble Fish" was his favorite novel. She reportedly responded by telling him that those who like the book were usually in a reformatory!

-Tom Cruise was offered Dillon's role, but he turned it down for "Risky Business."

-Director Francis Ford Coppolla said the movie is among the top five favorites that he's directed himself.

"Straight to Hell:"

-This film featured several musicians including Joe Strummer, Elvis Costello, Grace Jones and Courtney Love as well as film director Jim Jarmusch in addition to Hopper.

-At the end of the credits, a title comes up which says: "COMING SOON: BACK TO HELL," yet this quirky 1987 spaghetti western rip-off never had a sequel.

"True Romance:"

-The film uses the f-word some 225 times.

-Hopper said the only lines he improvised with Christopher Walken were 'egg plant' and 'cantaloupe.'

-Quentin Tarantino, who partially wrote the screenplay, never came on director Tony Scott's set during the filming.

Lastly, we leave you with this tweet from Slash from the rock band Guns N Roses concerning Hopper:

"You take the great ones for granted until they're gone. RIP Dennis Hopper."

Happy Joe Strummer Day...Long Live The Clash!

This photo reminds me of director Jim Jarmusch's film "Coffee and Cigarettes." It was made after Joe Strummer's death (the lead singer of The Clash died on this day seven years ago). But, the two were co-stars in Alex Cox's surreal western "Straight to Hell" (1987) and Jarmusch later directed Strummer in "Mystery Train" (1989).

And, though they don't allow smoking, The Mill Mountain Coffee Shop in Salem, Va., will be having a Christmas breakfast on Dec. 24 which will include a charity art auction.

I would write more but I'm running late for my mom's 70th birthday, and that might make her confiscate all my Clash cds!

Yet Another Quote of the Week?!- David Byrne

We just quoted former Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne, who also has an outstanding solo discography, just a few weeks ago. But, since his new book about bicycling in cities like Istanbul, Turkey, is out in bookstores right now and since I am absolutely addicted to his music with Talking Heads, I thought I would quip him once again.

I was able to find the remaining three cds that I needed to get in order to have the complete Talking Heads discography at my disposal (I actually have two of their albums on vinyl!) from CD Alley, a cool independent cd store in Chapel Hill, NC, over the weekend.

His book is assuredly available at my favorite independent book store in North America, but the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Col., is quite far from my log cabin in Floyd, Va. (not where I really live, but relatively close).

We quoted the lead singer of another punk band from the late '70s, early '80s ear, the late Joe Strummer, on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire."

A Talking Heads web site in Holland had a fan survey and those of us who absolutely love this band chose their 1980 release "Remain in Light," which features the song "Once in a Lifetime" as the band's best. "Rolling Stone" also named the same album as the fourth best record of the 1980s. Though I personally prefer their 1983 record "Speaking in Tongues," which feautres every would-be-arsonist's favorite anthem "Burnin' Down the House."

Here is the quip from Byrne:

"I couldn't talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching."