Meeting Joe Strummer

I once met John Graham Mellor, y'know. It was in a club in Brighton (name now forgotten) along with something like 300 other people watching Joe Strummer and guests. He played a two part set, the first consisting of his latest material and the second half of Clash standards. Thatw as what people had come to see. The second half rocked. I particularly remember Brand New Cadillac, which has always been a favourite of mine.

I can't say that it influenced my life greatly but meeting Joe Strummer often had that effect on people. It's the impact he made on two young men that's the subject of Meeting Joe Strummer, which played recently at The Drum Theatre in Plymouth.

I thought it was a great show with just the two narrators and no set. I could relate to everything they said and so did my gang of friends in the audience, The Usual Suspects of punk rock inclinations plus some more high brow types. Some of us were practically euphoric at the end and when one of the characters exclaimed "Shit the bed!" we roared with laughter as this is a classic Gary-ism. The guy playing Nick even looked a bit like our Gary.

Afterwards in the pub we asked each other, what was Joe's impact on your life and apart from some great music I reckon it was the inner bullshit detector.

For someone who wasn't particularly eloquent Joe done good to be such a towering figure in popular culture. I guess he let his music do most of the talking.

And Meeting Joe Strummer brought home to me the effect a good song can have on you and all the positive associations it can assume - especially if you aren't quite certain about the words....