//Left: DJ figure; right: Music press ad, January 1979. Image: Brooklyn Vegan//

Thanks to my FB friend Vadim Kosmos for alerting me to this (I am not keen on Star Wars so avoid media coverage): a reference in the latest film in the franchise, The Last Jedi, to the Barney Bubbles/Jake Riviera advertising campaign for Elvis Costello And The Attractions’ 1979 LP Armed Forces.

In The Last Jedi Benicio del Toro plays an opportunistic hacker referred to as “DJ”; for some time there has been speculation as to what the initials stand for.

Now director Rian Johnson has revealed they represent “Don’t Join!”, the slogan used in British music press ads for Armed Forces which featured in my Bubbles’ monograph Reasons To Be Cheerful.

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Tags: Armed Forces, DJ, Don't Join!, Elvis Costello And The Attractions, Jake Riviera, New Musical Express, Phil Szostak, Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Vadim Kosmos

The countdown is on to this years’s most exciting street-style collaboration: the limited edition Barney Bubbles x Fred Perry collection.

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Tags: 4000 Weeks' Holiday, Armed Forces, Billy Bragg, Cracking Up, Depeche Mode, Do It Yourself, Elvis Costello And The Attractions, Hawkwind, Henrietta Street, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Ian McLagan, Nick Lowe, Rob Tufnell, Rolling Stones, Sir Peter Blake, Small Faces, The Faces, The Specials

//Lynam – just about visible on the right – talks through the extraordinary sleeve design and packaging for Armed Forces, the 1979 album by Elvis Costello & The Attractions//

A film of last month’s celebration of design hero Barney Bubbles by American graphic designer Ian Lynam is now available to view online.

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Tags: Armed Forces, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Hawkwind, Ian Lynam, Let It Rock, Nick Lowe, The AC/DC Desk, Vermont College Of Fine Arts