From The Dying Scene Vault: Remembering Joe Strummer After Ten Years Has Passed
Greetings, fellow soldiers! As you are aware, we are thrilled to have reopened Dying Scene Headquarters earlier in the year. Trying to bring the home back to its previous splendor and dusting off the bookcases and cobwebs has been enjoyable. Much of the older content is still available in the Archive, as you have undoubtedly observed, but it doesn’t look well. broken links, out-of-date images, etc. We will therefore update some of the older stuff that appears appropriate to offer when we feel like it. And now for the inaugural installment of the From
Vault of the Dying Scene. This tale was first published on December 22, 2012, the tenth anniversary of Joe Strummer’s tragic passing. It’s been ten years somehow since then. It’s amazing how quickly time passes, yet it’s true that we are in need of Joe’s advice and teachings now more than we have in the past.
I generally try not to look back on anything in my life, especially the small things like going to a punk rock show or not. I don’t think it makes sense to waste time worrying about something you wish you had done—or didn’t do, I suppose. That being said, I’ve been kicking myself for over ten years for one thing: not seeing Joe Strummer perform live.
I was too young to witness a live performance of The Clash. When I was three years old, Topper Headon and Mick Jones both departed the band. I wasn’t exposed to The Clash until junior high because my parents weren’t big fans of the punk sound of the 1970s. That introduction was made by
It wasn’t until several years later that I discovered London Calling. The rest was history, as “they” regrettably say much too often.
Let’s go back to November 1999. One Monday night, one of the guys I worked with at the liquor shop asked if I could fill in for him since he had tickets to see Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros at the Roxy in Boston. He had really asked if I wanted to go to the show with him, but because I was still in undergrad, I reasoned that I could utilize the money and see Joe after. Reluctant to leave, I took on the additional shift instead. It is all so dumb.
On November 22, 2002, exactly three years later, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros will perform at Liverpool University. Although nobody realized it at the time, Joe Strummer’s final performance would go down in rock history on that night. Exactly one month later, he passed away suddenly at home with a congenital heart ailment that might have fatally affected him at any time.
