New Films: Suzi Q, Seberg and White Riot

I don't often go to the cinema the days - there's not much on that I want to see, really - but there's been a few new films that I couldn't stay away from recently, beginning with a new documentary about Suzi Quatro.

'Suzi Q' is a full length documentary about the life and times of Suzi Quatro. I was lucky enough to see a screening followed by a Q&A with Suzi herself. I nearly saw Suzi for the first time back in 1972 when she was third on the bill behind Thin Lizzy and both supported SLADE on tour - I saw nearly since my parents decided I was too young to go to a gig on my own back then. 1973 was Suzi's year when she broke into the charts around the world with 'Can The Can' and went on to have a string of hits followed by acting in 'Happy Days' on TV and then on stage with 'Annie Get Your Gun' and all sorts of adventures.

It's a very thorough document of Suzi's early years, firstly as a member of the Pleasure Seekers in the late '60s and then coming over to London with Micky Most to start a solo career in the early '70s. There's a lot about her family and the jealousies that created when she broke away, and that's understandable. It did rather skate over the later years with only brief mentions of her continuing touring in Europe and Australia - she still sells out huge gigs in Oz on her tours there - and records and her autobiography over the last decade or so.

There were some lovely snippets of other 'names' talking about her, from Don Powell of SLADE and Andy Scott of Sweet (with whom she delivered a record a few years ago as QSP), all the Runaways, Debbie Harry, Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club and others. Her former husband and lead guitarist Len Tuckey featured and it was great to hear his honesty about her career.  There were also some great video clips and photos of Suzi in her heyday that I'd never seen before. I thought it was a very good documentary - surprisingly good - that is well worth seeing. There was also a Q&A after the screening.

Another new film is 'Seberg', a film about three critical years in the life of Jean Seberg in the late '60s when she was hounded by the FBI in America for the crime of having a social conscience and donating money to 'right on' organisations. Jean became an instant hit when she played Joan of Arc on the big screen and remained a star in France while being a 'B' lister in America. In 1968 she started to support civil rights and equality groups including the Black Panthers and that's when the FBI started to take notice of her and decided to discredit her in any way they could. I suppose her only crime was that she wasn't a big enough star to be able to shrug off their attempts to trash her.

It's a sad tale in many respects and is selective in it's portrayal of her life but the facts of what happened are largely accurate. Jean died later in the '70s and is buried in Montparnasse in Paris.  Kristen Stewart plays Jean and she's very effective playing the young actress caught up in a much bigger picture. I saw an early screening at the BFI as part of the London Film Festival and the film will be released next year in 2020.

Another film screened as part of the London Film Festival was 'White Riot' about the Rock Against Racism movement in the late '70s, with the title taken from the song of the same name by The Clash. It tells the story of the rise of racism in the mid to late '70s and the rise of the National Front, the racist, fascist political party that was roundly defeated in the 1979 election. Rock Against Racism was a grassroots movement that  played it's part by mobilising music, bands and their fans to combat the everyday racism of the time. The film culminated with the Rock Against Racism gig in Victoria Park in London in 1978 with X-Ray Spex, The Clash, Steel Pulse and the Tom Robinson Band amongst others - punk and reggae always hand in hand. The sad thing is that there is so little video footage of the gig but we saw Jimmy Pursey singing 'White Riot' with The Clash on stage and some great photos of Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex.

Rock Against Racism was everywhere in the late '70s, along with the Anti-Nazi League, and this film tells us how it came to be. How do organisations like this come into being? Someone has to have the initial idea, someone has to name it, produce a logo or sign for it, put up the first posters and put on the first gig. And that's what we learn in this film, how a rock photographer called Red Saunders and a small group of friends and activists attracted others and a cause was born.

It was a fascinating film to watch, a bit of time travel back to the '70s. I'd forgotten how grey everything was back then, how casual racism was everywhere, the potential for violence and so-called politicians were able to talk about 're-partriation' of British citizens on TV, it was all very odd by today's standards. It also felt very current in some ways with the racism of brexit and the gradual rise of another grassroots movement in Extinction Rebellion.

The Jam - 'About The Young Idea' at Somerset House

What are Saturday afternoons for if not to re-live your youth and marvel at the passing years? Yesterday we went to the exhibition about The Jam at the venerable old Somerset House, 'About The Young Idea'. It was full of middle aged men reliving their youth (as I was) and showing off to their families - 'look! I used to have that tee shirt!' - as well as a surprising number of youngsters who weren't born when The Jam split.

I couldn't quite get past the niggling thought that all this stuff I was surrounded by was about my past as well as about rebellious youth, about fighting the establishment and yet here it was as an exhibition. My memories and history are now nostalgia and worthy of an exhibition. When did that happen? I went to The Clash retrospective exhibition a few years ago in Soho and loved reliving the experience and this exhibition is four or five times bigger with so much more stuff. Badges, clothes, records, posters, music paper covers and fanzines, guitars, video walls, and all sorts.

It was fun reading some of the little snippets of Jam history that littered the display, much of which was new to me. Such as Paul Weller seeing the Sex Pistols and deciding to take the band in a new direction. Like The Jam's first review was of them playing at Berwick Street market with The Clash in the audience. Lots of interesting stuff.

The clothes all looked so small. Were we all that skinny back then and of course we were because we were young. I wouldn't even dream of trying on the Union Jack jacket these days - the seams would split if I even looked like I was going to try it on. It was nice seeing the jackets - and even the shoes - that featured in videos and TV appearances. The Jam always had a specific image that made them stand out.

It was also nice to see all the badges - badges used to be important. They demonstrated your beliefs and which tribe you belonged to but don't really seem to exist these days. I still proudly wear my Poly Styrene signature badge on jackets and coats just as I wore my original X-Ray Spex badges from 1978 when I say Poly at the Roundhouse in 2008. Some things are important.

But I loved seeing the old tour  posters, music paper covers and leaflets and recognising the names - some of which I remember buying back in the day. Siouxsie & the Banshees featured a few times but also lesser known lights like The Saints and Patrik Fitzgerald who also supported The Jam on tour.  I have almost as many songs by The Saints in my collection as I do for The Jam and I have more Patrik Fitzgerald (the 'punk poet' I've blogged about before). Siouxsie outnumbers them all of course.

It's a good exhibition, nicely displayed and filling the maze of rooms, along with videos of the band playing and guitars hung all over the place. It was very busy yesterday so looks like it's been a success. It's on for another couple of weeks so go and take look if you can.  It's not in the same league as the 'Bowie Is…' exhibition a couple of years ago (that's still touring the world) but it's more evidence - if any was needed - that recent popular culture is worth collecting and looking at again.  I wonder what the next one will be?

Viv Albertine - 'Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys'

Viv Albertine is writing her autobiography called 'Clothes Clothes Clothes, Music Music Music, Boys Boys Boys' after something her mother said to her about her interests back in the '70s. I was lucky enough to see Viv play a short gig at the 12Bar Club in January at which she also gave us a short reading from a draft of the book from her laptop. She read out the section of the book about The Slits supporting The Clash on their 'White Riot' tour in 1977 and mentioned their Newcastle gig. It was made even more interesting by Mick Jones (her boyfriend at the time) being in the audience.

It's nice to see progress has been made with the book and it's now listed on Amazon with a publication date of 1 May 2014. I'm not getting my hopes up since release dates often change (usually pushed back, rarely forward), but it's another step closer to it actually happening.

After seeing Viv's great shows supporting Siouxsie at Yoko Ono's Meltdown festival in June I'm pleased to say that I'm seeing her again on the Southbank in a couple of weeks time. This time she'll be playing the Purcell Room in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 17 October. If she does a signing after the gig I'll ask about the book. 

Krista Siegrieds - 'Seventeen'

Krista Siegrieds is my favourite pop star from Finland and she is full of energy and bounce, big dance songs and a big image. But she is also capable of touching just the right nerve with her songs. I've been listening to 'Seventeen' and would put it in my list of perfect teenage pop songs that say just the right thing and sound just right.

I remember being that age - I was 17 in 1977 when punk exploded out of London, the Sex Pistols released 'Pretty Vacant' and the Clash released their first album. And a host of other things like first hearing X-Ray Spex on a 10" compilation record and The Adverts' 'Bored Teenagers' (weren't we all?). I got my hippy hair cut short in 1977. Punk wasn't the only thing going on and disco was in the air with Donna Summer ruling the world with 'I Feel Love', full of sounds we'd never heard before. There was 'Rock Follies of '77'. And of course, there was growing up, hormones raging and getting ready to enter the adult world (although I'm not entirely sure I've managed to do that yet).

I think all of that helps to explain why I love Krista's 'Seventeen'. 17 is one of those ages that matter, a transition stage between childhood and becoming an adult and our experiences influence us for good or bad. Krista sings:

When i was seventeen, 

                                 We treated every moment like it was the last 

My boyfriend was nineteen, 

I am looking at a picture thinking of the past 

Every song was the best song ever, every kiss could last forever 

Every Friday night was stunning, every heart went wild drumming 

No worries in the world could stop us, we where always gonna be on top cause 

We could be what we wanted to be 

Look at me, living for the day like a dancing queen 

Young and free, there's something in the air when you're seventeen 

There's something the air when your'e seventeen 

And wasn't every song you loved the best song ever? Nothing could ever be better than your latest favourite song. I have a vivid memory of hearing 'Pretty Vacant' on the Kid Jensen show on Radio 1 on a Saturday morning and immediately getting the bus into town to buy the record straight away. I had to.

There's definitely something in the air when you're 17...

Black Market Clash Exhibition & Pop-Up Store

Yesterday I went back in time to the '70s to meet The Clash when I visited the 'Black Market Clash' exhibition and pop-up store on Berwick Street in Soho. Soho is a much tamer place these days than it was back in the '70s, even down to the very polite and smiling bouncer on the door of the exhibition (well, I assume he was a bouncer since he didn't move from the door). Clean white walls and everything nicely spaced out shouts out that this is more than just another small shop trying to be trendy, and so it is.

The Clash have remastered, re-packaged and re-released their studio albums and the exhibition is part of the launch of the records. And the nice thing is that they're involved in the whole thing - Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon. No nameless technician re-mastering their music, they've largely done it themselves and have donated their own stuff to the exhibition, like Paul's broken guitar underneath the Penny Jones photo of him on the cover of 'London Calling'.

You can buy the remastered records in different formats and packages, vinyl as well as CD. The top of the range edition comes in a ghetto-blaster styled box (designed by Paul) with a range of extras including a DVD, CDs of rarities, badges and other stuff. The package is just shy of £100 and looks good. Or you can buy the albums in a tour-box designed box with your very own cut out 'Clash' stencil. Or you can buy the new compilation double album 'Hits Back' that reproduces the gig The Clash played in Brixton in 1982. Or you can buy the albums individually. I bought the tour-box set.

The exhibition and pop-up store are in an empty shop on Berwick Street. It's quite small but holds some great memories. The ground floor has a few guitars and stuff, but the gems are downstairs in the basement with posters on the walls and one long wall glassed off and fronted with a pink partition with the word 'Clash' cut out so you can see the memorabilia inside.

There are records in the original sleeves, hand-written lyrics, tee shirts and jackets worn by the band, posters (including the poster for the Sex Pistols gig at the Screen on the Green), gold records, badges... ooo loads of stuff! I particularly liked a photo I've never seen and which I've seen thousands of times - the original black and white photo of the band on the cover of the first album. The original is of three young lads being a bit sulky and moody, not scary or menacing at all until the designer got it, added the ripped effects to the record sleeve and there you have it, a classic punk cover.

It's a fun exhibition and a trip down memory lane for those of us old enough to have been there back in the day. It's only open until 22 September so, if you get the chance, pop in and take a look. The shop at the front of full of stuff - including the remastered records. You can even buy a Clash mug if you want to...

And there's more...

Take a listen to the Radio 4 Front Row interview from a few weeks ago with Mick, Paul, Topper and an old interview with Joe here. 

Viv Albertine @ the 12Bar Club

As you might remember, I backed Viv Albertine's PledgeMusic campaign to fund her first solo album and it was released in November 2012. I was more than happy to support Viv and was delighted with the result. Viv offered us the opportunity to support her at a showcase to promote the record and the autobiography to be published later this year and I jumped at the chance. The showcase was last night at the 12Bar Club on Denmark Street (also sometimes called Tin Pan Alley) in London.

After a long day at work I finally left for the gig and arrived at Denmark Street just before the start time, gave my name at the door, had my hand stamped with the date (it's a long time since that's happened) and the bloke on the door said to go straight on through. So I did. 

My heart fell slightly when I walked in since the place was dingy and small, but I went to the bar to order a Guinness to celebrate seeing Viv, my first Guinness of 2013. The bar staff just talked to each other in Polish paying no attention to customers so it get's a minus mark for service. Then I walked on and found a small maze of rooms with bare walls and walls covered in ska and TwoTone posters and found the gig room which is about the same size as my living room with bare brick walls and a teeny stage. I stood at the back, roughly in the centre so I'd have a good view.

At first I thought, 'o dear' but then I travelled back in time to the late 70s/early 80s and remembered this is exactly the kind of club I used to go to way back when - small rooms, brick walls - this one just seems to have survived over the last 30 years! It was perfect for a showcase for Viv and I felt strangely comfortable. The stage was about 3 feet tall and just big enough for four people. The room probably holds about 50 people and it was full. It was gloomy with a few lights on the stage and that was it, with the band setting up their instruments (keyboard, violin and a bloke sitting on a wooden box as drums).

Shortly after 7:10pm, someone got on stage in a coat and scarf, carrying a few bags, someone with shoulder-length brown hair. Off came the scarf, coat goes on the stage at the back with her bags and up stands Viv, putting on her guitar before turning round to say hello to the crowd. She wore a white pleated skirt, orange shirt with big collars and a tight suede jacket and said she hoped we didn't mind that she was dressed as a yummy mummy. I didn't mind at all.

The three-piece band came on and, just as they were about to start the first song, Viv's mobile phone went off! She said 'It's probably just Mick...' and crouched down to rummage for her phone and switch it off.

Viv and her band played four songs: 'Don't Believe', ' Becalmed (I Should've Known)' (a song for when you've cocked up big time), 'I Want More' (which is what Viv thinks about before bedtime) and 'Confessions Of A MILF' (I love the line when the little wife sings 'I chose being an artist over being a wife so now I'm going to lead a very lovely life'). They're all favourites so I was happy. I sung along and tapped my feet and nodded my head in time to the beat (man).

There was a slight moment of annoyance during 'I Want More' when a late arrival decided to push past behind me to get to the other side of the room and the bloke politely said 'sorry'. Co-incidentally, Viv fluffed the words and stopped the song to start it again and do it properly so I got the full song and could focus on it and thoroughly enjoy it, joining in to sing, 'No compromise, I want more!”. The bloke? O yeah, that was Mick Jones. I've never met a Clash before (I know it's not quite meeting, but y'know...).

After the four songs the three-piece band left the stage and Viv picked up her MacBook to read from her forthcoming autobiography. She joked that she'd increased the size of the text (and showed us the screen to prove it) to avoid having to go to Specsavers. She then read out the chapter about the White Riot tour with the Clash in 1977 with references to Mick Jones and how they split up at the end of the tour. It's remarkably honest and Viv is terribly brave reading it out knowing that he's in the audience. She also got a lot of laughs as she told the tale of Norman, the tour bus driver, refusing to drive if the Slits were on board and having to be bribed, of locking Ari Up in the toilet so she didn't dance in the aisle of the bus, and the support bands getting together on the final night of the tour to jam a version of the Velvet's 'Sister Ray'.

Part of what Viv read aloud was to do with the gig in Newcastle. Viv recalled it as being and looking poor and grey. My memories of Newcastle in the '70s are definitely on the grey side, lacking in colour and life, so I share her views. I found this blog about the gig (that I didn't attend since I wasn't a student but I bought the record) and it shares some of Viv's recollections.

Then it was all over. Viv said goodnight and we did the clap-clap-clap thing until the background music started playing again and Viv put her laptop away. People started moving away, space cleared and that was it. I didn't take any photos since it didn't seem right.

I moved to the side of the stage thinking, 'I'm not leaving without saying hello' and, of course, Viv was chatting to someone she seemed to know, then someone else came up and someone else for a hug. I'm standing there. Then I thought, if I don't say something I'll miss my chance so I said, 'Hello Viv, loved the show' and she started chatting to me. Asked my name and, after I told her she replied with 'O yes, you're one of my backers, thank you' – I was quietly delighted to be remembered!

I said I was pleased she'd played 'I Want More' since it's one of my favourites and that I agreed with what she'd said about Newcastle on the White Riot tour. She told me to pick up my freebies (that I think of as presents) from the desk at the front and told me to get a poster, a handwritten setlist and a CD single. I said 'bye' and she said 'bye'.

On the way out I had to squeeze past Glen Matlock. I think he's stalking me … After meeting him a few times at gigs over the last year or so I've decided he seems to follow me round (the cheeky fellow, but he obviously knows that I know the best places to go).

Then I went up to the front desk to pick up my presents, carefully rolled up the (numbered) poster to carry home as a trophy and left the club with a big smile on my face and lots of memories to cherish as I headed to Tottenham Court Road station. I felt a bit like a teenager again, seeing a hero and rushing home holding my trophies carefully. I listened to Viv on my iPod on the way home (a big difference from being a teenager), thinking and reminiscing.

Viv was fab. She sang songs, she did riffing, she did chatting, she did reading, she did laughing, she did intense honesty and she did loveliness. She is a hero. She's playing at Nambucca, a club on Holloway Road on 23 February so I've bought tickets to see her. It is my job as a fan.  As I've blogged before, it's the job of my heroes to tell me about new records, books and tours and it's my job to get them, attend gigs and tell everyone I can about them. It's a sacred deal, y'know.