New Joe Strummer Video Shot
by Chi | 00.00.0000

It’s Sunday, Nov. 16, in New York City, and draped across the skyline is the spirit of Joe Strummer. The occasion happens to be the shooting of Strummer’s posthumous music video, a cover of Marley’s “Redemption Song.” Strummer’s stark, but majestic voice breathes a sense of penultimate energy into his original take--he conjures up those feelings of sudden and overwhelming passion that occur prior to the actual climax. Amidst his exalted cries lies an assortment of images--New York, both its rough and resplendent features, along with archived footage of the Clash pioneer performing. This is followed by an awestruck crowd of mostly friends and admirers, among them Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, Matt Dillon, Jesse Malin (whose Avenue A bar Niagara is actually the site of the shooting), and Rancid. A mural dedicated to Strummer slowly shifts into focus and by the end of the video, it is emblazoned with lit candles and tokens.

The hubbub that has followed Strummer throughout his career with the Clash and the Mescaleros is now careening towards a deafening roar. His final album Streetcore has earned him the reputation of a punk poet on par with Woody Guthrie and Allen Ginsberg, or at the very least, Zach De La Rocha, if he had only quit the yelling and told us something we didn’t already know. Whether brandishing the torch of left-wing activism with the Clash, or supporting worldly causes as the frontman of the Mescaleros, Joe Strummer never strayed from his original formula--a story worth telling to the masses, with some rip-roaring tunes to boot. The video is expected out by December.