//The post featured a grab of Pennie Smith’s portrait for Nick Kent’s The Politics Of Flash article in an April 1974 issue of the NME//

Ten years ago I posted this on The Look blog upon returning home from a gathering at London gallery Chelsea Space.

The venue was fitting; Chelsea Space is within the grounds of Chelsea College of Arts which was in Manresa Street off the King’s Road until a few years back. This was among the arts institutions attended by the student painter Malcolm Edwards in and around London in the 1960s.

Our friend the writer Chris Salewicz broke the news; among the company was guitarist Mick Jones, whose life, like many of us, had been improved by connection with McLaren.

Naturally, Jones expressed sorrow, and his immediate response to the news of McLaren’s passing struck me hard. ‘We’ll never hear Malcolm’s latest thoughts again,’ said Jones. ‘All those brilliant, wild ideas which seemed to pour out of him on a daily basis, that’s over. And that’s really sad.’

Tags: Chelsea Space, Chris Salewicz, Mick Jones

//Framed shred of Lucian Freud wallpaper designed by David Bowie for inclusion in the 1995 War Child fashion show Pagan Funwear//

It is of course very sad to note the death of David Bowie; 69 is too young, particularly for such an important figure in the pop cultural landscape with an evident abundance of creative contributions still to make to our lives.

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Tags: Freddie Buretti, Goldie, Kansai Yamamoto, Kevin Cann, laura Ashley, Lucian Freud, Mick Jones, Minotaur, Pagan Funwear, War Child

//The Dance, from the series News From The Metropolis, Derek Boshier, 2014. Ink and collage on paper//

//From Best Foot Forward, Derek Boshier, 2014. Film//

To coincide with the publication of the Derek Boshier monograph Rethink/Re-entry, writer/curator Guy Brett and I are putting together an exhibition of the same name which will be held at Flowers Gallery in Cork Street, Central London this autumn.

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Tags: Arts Council Of Great Britain, Clash 2nd Songbook, David Hockney, Flowers Gallery, Guy Brett, Joe Strummer, Lives: An exhibition of artists whose work is based on other peoples' lives, Lodger, Mick Jones, News From The Metropolis, Pennie Smith., Posy Simmonds, RB Kitaj, Steve Johnston

//My copy of the Tedious/Memories 12in//

Junior Murvin – who has died aged 67 – will forever be associated with the rebel cool of his 1976 Lee Perry-produced single Police & Thieves. Yesterday morning’s BBC Radio 4’s Today news programme displayed it’s trademark ham-fisted approach to pop culture when eagerly proclaiming the song his shining achievement by managing to misname Paul Simonon “Mick Jones” in an interview introduction and rushing to gush unconvincingly over an excerpt of The Clash’s version.

Personally, I favour another Lee Perry collaboration from the same period, the epic single B-side Memories.

I bought the UK 12inch mix on a shopping spree in a record shop tucked away in an Earl’s Court side street one late afternoon in 1977 on the recommendation of the shop assistant.

At 8mins 45secs, Memories is not only a sonic adventure to match the very best of 70s dub, but also a sweet, romantic song, the yearning, regretful theme over Perry’s bubbling cauldron of rhythms perfectly matched to Murvin’s falsetto whoop (I found Police & Thieves too preaching, which I guess is why it made sense for The Clash – always complaining about being told what to do, they tended towards dictating to their audience).

The flip, Tedious, is pretty good, as were other Black Ark explorations such as Closer Together, but nothing in my view in Murvin’s body of work touches the tenderness of Memories.

Remember him this way:

Tags: Black Ark, Closer Together, Earl's Court, Junior Murvin, Lee Perry, Memories, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, Tedious, The Clash

//Top: Stacia Blake weaving her magic onstage at The Roundhouse in 1975. Photo: Paul Apperley. Above: Peter Lavery's photo of Russell Hunter from the insert in the Pink Fairies' 1973 album Kings Of Oblivion. Posted on the Facebook Portobello Shuffle group by Ian Nottnotw Edmondson//

Sad to witness Hawkwind, the great British musical force which has carved out a unique position outside of the mainstream music business over several decades, dragged into a tawdry row regarding ownership of the group’s name.

The dispute has been sparked by  saxophonist/flautist/sometime frontman Nik Turner. It seems he is trademarking the group’s name as a touring entity in the US, even though he hasn’t been a member for a long time.

Turner was in the line-up during Hawkwind’s greatest period, 1970-76, and returned sporadically until a parting of the ways with Dave Brock, generally acknowledged as Hawkwind’s founder and the band’s one constant, at the helm for all 44 years of its existence.

If scans of signed US documents circulated online prove to be authentic, Turner’s registration in the US – where he has just toured under the banner Nik Turner’s Hawkwind – denies the existence of any other entity of that name operating in the field of live performance. This undercuts his claims in the American press that he wants to spread peace and harmony by invoking Hawkwind’s name and has enraged a section of the fan base.

Brock meanwhile has cancelled his Hawkwind’s American tour on the basis that he – at 72, a year younger than Turner – is suffering from a stress-related illness as result of the dispute.

//Barney Bubbles poster for Sunday bill at The Roundhouse, 1975//

//I went with my friend Matthew Cang. He kept his ticket//

This is all a long way from the relative harmony in the ranks when I fell under their spell as a teenager. I saw Hawkwind a few times, at the Edmonton Sundown or the Dagenham Roundhouse in north-east London and at a free festival in Harlow New Town, Essex, but one particular concert in February 1975 when the ensemble played Camden Town’s Roundhouse with the Pink Fairies stays in the memory.

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Tags: 1975, Andy Dunkley, Andy Summers, Camden Town, Dave Brock, Duncan sanderson, Groupie, Hawkwind, Jah Wobble, John Lydon, Kings Of Olivion, Lady June, Larry Wallis, Lol Coxhill, Matthew Cang, Mick Jones, Nik Turner, Peter Lavery, Portobello Shuffle, Roundhouse, Russell Hunter, Shane Magowan, Stacia Blake, The Police, Twink

//Author image for US edition of Bob Marley: The Untold Story, 2009. Photo: Grzegorz Lepiarz.//

NAME: Chris Salewicz

RESIDES: London

OCCUPATION: Writer

Chris Salewicz is a neighbour and friend. My admiration for his work harks back more than three decades, when his words shone from the pages of the NME.

As detailed by In Their Own Write, this was no mean feat since Salewicz was part of the formidable team whose members included (deep breath): Max Bell, Angie Errigo, Pete Erskine, Mick Farren, Chrissie Hynde, Nick Kent, Nick Logan, Ian MacDonald, Kate Phillips, Charles Shaar Murray, Neil Spencer, Tony Tyler…

Now Salewicz deals in big subjects as an author, broadcaster and film-maker: his Strummer and Marley books capture the definitive portraits of these imposing figures, while involvement in such ventures as the documentary Beats Of Freedom denotes a mature reflection on his Polish roots.

In addition, Salewicz’s role as an aide-de-camp in Mick Jones’ ongoing Rock & Roll Public Library project betrays the highly attuned visual sensibilities conveyed in these, his answers to the Blokes Of Britain Questionnaire:

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Tags: Angie Errigo, Bob Marley, Casino, Charles Shaar Murray, Chris Salewicz, Chrissie Hynde, Cockell & Johnson, Deborah & Claire, Ian MacDonald, Jim Carter, Joe Strummer, Johnny Rotten, Johnson's, Marcus Price, Max Bell, Mick Jones, Neil Spencer, Nick Kent, Nick Logan, Pete Erskine, Robert De Niro, Squire, Stirling Cooper, Sweeney's, The Baron, Tony Tyler, Village Gate

This portrait of David Bowie was taken by Kate Simon at Olympic recording studios in Barnes, west London, on January 14, 1974.

Simon’s photograph captures a man on the cusp; furiously occupied in the studio, Bowie was tying up loose ends ahead of his departure for America 10 weeks later. He hasn’t lived in Britain since.

Three days before this was taken, Bowie’s production job on Lulu’s version of The Man Who Sold The World was released as a single. Applying himself to finishing Diamond Dogs, Bowie also recorded such eventually unreleased tracks as Take It Right (to become Right, a “plastic soul”  anthem on Young Americans) and a try-out of Bruce Springsteen’s Growin’ Up.

Sessions with vocal trio The Astronettes – including paramour Ava Cherry – had proved inconclusive, though an olive branch recently extended to erstwhile producer Tony Visconti soon bore fruit in the form of renewed collaboration.

A month after the shot was taken, Rebel Rebel was released ahead of the marathon US touring schedule over 1974/5 which marked the severing of business relations with Tony Defries and the faltering of his marriage to Angie.

I wanted to talk to Simon about the stories behind this image and others which deliver an emotional charge yet retain the reportage stance of the cool documentarist.

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Tags: Any Day Now, Bill Brandt, Caroline Coon, Dave Fudger, David Bowie, David Hearn, Diamond Dogs, Disc & Music Echo, Elton John, Gary Glitter, Joe Strummer, Jonh Ingham, Josef Kourdelka, Kate Simon, Kevin Cann, leonard Freed, Mick Jones, Olympic, Paul Simonon, Rod Stewart, Sex Pistols, Sounds, Stomu Yamashta, The Astronettes, The Clash, Tony Defries