Mastodon

London Calling

  • Sunday / July 4, 2010
London Calling 1

London Calling

London: Skins Around Trafalgar SquareLondon calling to the faraway towns
Now that war is declared-and battle come down
London calling to the underworld
Come out of the cupboard, all you boys and girls …
(Strummer/Jones)
And so we did. On so many levels.

It was the summer of 1982. At least the beginning of it. I had graduated from CW Post Center of Long Island University. I had already seen all three Asbury Park Clash shows and my friend Charlie Maraia (also a Post toasty) and I were about to embark on a month long trip to England and France.

Charlie and I were both photographers. Me having hot new photos of the Clash plus my other photos from Bonds and The Palladium shows, and Charlie had his more social documentary black and white portfolio. Our first week there would be a mix of business and pleasure.

Before it all started there was a ton of preparation to get ready. I went out and bought 40 rolls of Kodachrome. This was going to be the biggest trip of my life, thus far, and it certainly needed to be documented in all its Kodachrome glory.

If documentation was in order I also needed at least three new thin red journals and red Flair pens to go along. On some level I have to thank Dorothy for getting me into journaling. I had started journaling shortly after we met. It’s especially wild to look back on any of those journals so many years later. It sure helps to fill in some of my memory gaps, but also sometimes stirs up feeling I had long since put behind me.

I have to admit, that as I post excerpts from my journals, they will be heavily edited. Never adding unless [indicated] and way more “removal” than anything else. More to protect the innocent, and at times, the not so innocent. As verbose and telling as they were, sometimes they were just the rantings of a 20-something year old man-boy-child groping his way through the world in the process of “coming out of the cupboard” / closet … literally.

Thursday June 10, 1982 9:50 PM EDT
Transcribed and edited from my “little red book”.

London Calling 02Here we go again … Another book another look … at yet another chapter in this crazy mess … “Everybody is working for the weekend vacation.” It’s only a week … yes 7 days away! Holy shit!! The preparations have already started.

Let’s listen to singles! “Wipe Out” by the Surfaris. Sounds like the Ramones when they were tots & didn’t even know chords yet. What???

“Love Is Like A Heatwave” sounds soooo … good!!

“Crimson and Clover” … Fuck You Jett Girl … Jett Boy … this is the real thing – just like “the pause that refreshes.”

London Calling 2The weekend I got home from L.I. was The Clash Attack on Asbury Weekend. Things went well, met all kinds of new people … took many pictures of the Clash Boys – minus Topper. The little junkie blew the gig!!! He quit! [or got fired] Could be because of the heroin bust in London. Well … what more can be said … It’s Topper’s turn to cry.


Brenda And Joe Asbury Park
Back of Photo

Tory Crimes aka Terry Chimes took his place for this three day extravaganza. Charlie came with me the first night. We’ve known each other since the beginning of those back to school days, but never really hung out with each other until recently. Charlie came for the first night & missed the second & best show. How sad. We did have a blast though. He had trouble getting in but Cos came to the rescue, gave us a ticket to get in … we blew off the first band and went for a beer with Brenda – who we met at the door. We all walked the boards and Charlie took pictures of the “dejection twins” on the beach. Fucking long isn’t it?? I feel like shit and I’ve reached the end of my rope & my new old singles so it’s time to close.

Goodnight my love
Pleasant dreams tonight
Visions of London Calling …
Yet to come

I’m not quite sure where this is going. It’s a prelude to the main event. London. I think I needed to lay some groundwork, since I’ve told this story in bits an pieces throughout my Clash posts. I’ve started to scan the Kodachrome slides from this trip. It took us from London to Dover England, across the channel and from the north of France to the south and back again. Eventually spending our last week in Paris.

There are so many stories tied up in this trip. those journaled, and those not. It will take me some time to see if there needs to be a more compelling narrative. I think I’m doing this more to just show off the tons of photos documenting this “post punk” period in London and the trip in general

London Calling – London Trip 1982
01 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

01 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

02 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

02 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

03 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

03 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

04 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

04 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

05 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

05 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

06 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

06 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

07 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

07 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

08 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

08 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

09 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

09 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

10 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

10 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

11 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

11 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

12 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

12 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

13 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

13 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

14 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

14 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

15 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

15 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

16 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

16 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

17 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

17 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

18 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

18 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

19 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

19 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

20 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

20 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

21 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

21 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

22 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

22 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

23 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

23 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

24 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

24 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

25 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

25 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

26 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

26 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

27 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

27 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

28 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

28 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

29 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

29 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

30 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

30 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

31 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

31 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

32 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

32 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

33 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

33 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

34 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

34 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

35 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

35 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

36 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

36 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

37 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

37 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

38 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

38 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

39 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

39 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

40 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

40 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

41 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

41 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

42 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

42 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

43 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

43 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

44 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

44 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

45 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

45 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

46 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

46 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

47 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

47 of 47 - Joe's London Calling Tour 1982

London Calling 3
London Calling 4
London Calling 5
London Calling 6
London Calling 7
London Calling 8
London Calling 9
London Calling 10
London Calling 11
London Calling 12
London Calling 13
London Calling 14
London Calling 15
London Calling 16
London Calling 17
London Calling 18
London Calling 19
London Calling 20
London Calling 21
London Calling 22
London Calling 23
London Calling 24
London Calling 25
London Calling 26
London Calling 27
London Calling 28
London Calling 29
London Calling 30
London Calling 31
London Calling 32
London Calling 33
London Calling 34
London Calling 35
London Calling 36
London Calling 37
London Calling 38
London Calling 39
London Calling 40
London Calling 41
London Calling 42
London Calling 43
London Calling 44
London Calling 45
London Calling 46
London Calling 47
London Calling 48
London Calling 49
Post Navigation
Tags:
Avatar

Joe Streno

artist . musician . photographer . retired apple computer consultant . residing on planet earth with his two cats rudie, & rocco & living to tell tales about it

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
2 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments