Joe Strummer – The Oedipus Project

10/21/201006/06/2011

Ari Up: a Tribute

Ari Up was only 14 years old when she formed the Slits in 1976. Embracing the DIY attitude of punk rock, the band charted unknown territory for women rockers, and along with the Runaways paved the way for all-female (or primarily-female) rock bands. The Slits featured three women with Ari Up as the lead singer. Not your typical girl, Ari Up grew up in a household with Johnny Rotten as her step-father and received guitar lessons from Joe Strummer. In 1981 she disbanded the Slits and moved with her family to the jungles of Indonesia and Belize and eventually settled in Jamaica.

The Slits debut album Cut, released in 1979, is an obscure punk classic. The album cover featured the women wearing nothing but loincloths and mud. “Typical Girls” was the single from the album and the 12 inch included a marvelous version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”. From the original vinyl, both can be heard here. Ari Up lives through her music.

The Slits

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“Typical Girls”
“I Heard It Through the Grapevine”

02/22/201001/18/2021

The Clash as DJs

The Clash first performed in the Boston area on February 16, 1979, at the Harvard Square Theatre in Cambridge, MA. It was a Friday evening and the band was scheduled to come up to the radio station for a late night interview with me. Unfortunately, it never materialized as our staff had just gone on strike. The new owners of WBCN had decided to fire half of the workers in order to break the union. We all walked out. Scabs were hired. Although we eventually emerged victorious, this is another story for another post. That evening at the concert Joe Strummer dedicated a song to me and wished all of us good luck in our struggle.

The Clash returned to Boston later that year and played the Orpheum Theatre on Wednesday, September 19, 1979. Sam and Dave were their support. After their performance the entire band joined me on my program as guest DJs. Here is a recording of what remains from that night in radio history with a increasingly drunken Clash playing their favorite songs, exposing their politics, battling with listeners and singing along to the Dave Clark 5 and the Village People! Yes, this did air live.

Oedipus & the Clash

02/16/201002/09/2014

The Clash

In 1979 The Clash were winging their way to America for their first American tour. “The only band that mattered,” the Clash were an inspiration and a call to arms for all that rock ‘n’ roll could be. The Clash in Boston will be explored in the days ahead.