seems like a long time : a clash story

In early 2023 I walked over to Bywater Bakery, just a couple of blocks from my house in New Orleans, to have a cup of coffee. The young woman behind the counter admired my punky t-shirt depicting Joe Strummer running the 1983 London Marathon, and of course I had to tell her that I took the photo on the shirt. She smiled, said she was a huge Clash fan, and asked me if I ever met Joe.

“Well,” I said, “in June 1982 I went on a whirlwind three day trip to Hollywood to shoot a Bow Wow Wow cover feature for Sounds. We stayed with the band at the famous Sunset Marquis, where we were joined not only by The English Beat and Kid Creole and the Coconuts, but also by Joe Strummer and The Clash.

The Clash were playing at the Hollywood Palladium, with special guests The English Beat, and they invited us their show. Although I didn’t take photos of the show, I did take one photo of the front of the Hollywood Palladium.

The following night, Joe and Clash drummer Terry Chimes came along to the Bow Wow Wow show at Perkins Palace in Pasadena, and hung out backstage while I took some photos.

On one of those evenings, I went out for a drink at Barney’s Beanery with The Clash creative director and fellow Hammer Kosmo Vinyl, and the man himself, Joe Strummer, and in the course of a drinking game I found out that the first LP Joe bought was Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells A Story. Which just happened to be my first LP as well!”

As I finished relating the story, I noticed the tears forming in the corners of the woman eyes, which frankly seemed a bit of an over-reaction. I waited. She took a breath, and said “You know the song Seems Like A Long Time?” “Yeah”, I said, “it’s the second track on Every Picture Tells A Story. Beautiful song.” 

“Well’, she said. “My dad wrote that song.”