Uncertain Futures, Unexpected Losses
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Today, as I write this, it’s the traditional Day of the Dead - Mexico’s annual Dia de Los Muertos - celebrating the loved ones that we’ve lost in the past, recent and distant. For many of us in the MOG community, the holiday has a dark resonance this year, due to the untimely and all-too-premature death of our friend and colleague Chris “Crash” Pryor. On this Day of the Dead, I’m marking his departure from the mortal world, acknowledging the valuable contributions that he made to his readers and to those in his social and professional circles, and, of course, raising a glass to his memory.I don’t believe that Chris had an opportunity to catch a screening of “Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten,” director Julien Temple’s new documentary about the life and death of the singer-songwriter-guitarist who served as the driving wheel of the crucial British punk-rock band, The Clash. But, from what I know of Chris, I’m sure that the topic of the film and the insights that it provides into Strummer and the Clash would have been of great interest to him.Temple, who was imbedded in London’s punk and new wave scene in the late ‘70s, first garnered attention as the director of the 1980 Sex Pistols docu-comedy “The Great Rock and Roll Swindle.” This irreverent, occasionally fictionalized look at the rise and demise of the notorious punk group was a prelude to his memorable work as a video director in the early days of MTV, including such masterful efforts as the jubilant, single tracking-shot that served as the promo clip for Janet Jackson’s “When I Think of You,” the jocular on-location production of the Dexys Midnight Runners hit “Come On Eileen,” and a whimsical period-piece for the Kinks’ “Come Dancing.”Since then, Temple has essayed other projects such as the 1986 film adaptation of “Absolute Beginners,” Colin MacInnes’ acclaimed book about the U.K. hipster scene and race riots in the late 1950s. The film, which featured David Bowie, Ray Davies, Sade and Patsy Kensit, was envisioned by Temple as a colorful musical that harkened back to ‘40s and ‘50s Hollywood productions. It bombed, although it developed a cult of devotees that appreciated Temple’s audacious approach to the material.But he revisited the punk scene with 2000’s “The Filth and the Fury,” a more straightforward documentary about the Pistols that used archival footage and latter-day interviews to paint a picture of the band in its heyday. The same approach was used for “The Future Is Unwritten,” which serves as a biography of Joe Strummer and also an appreciation of The Clash, who forged an amalgam of punk-rock, reggae, rock and roll, and even a touch of funk, the likes of which had never been heard before.Although none of the interviewees in “The Future Is Unwritten” are identified on screen, many of them – The Clash’s Mick Jones and Topper Headon, U2’s Bono, the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis, actors Johnny Depp, Steve Buscemi, John Cusack and Matt Dillon, and director Jim Jarmusch - are recognizable figures who help recount the story of the man and the impact that he and his band had on popular culture.There’s a big chunk of potent performance footage of the Clash, from 1976 until their break-up in 1983, and some brief but impressive concert highlights from Strummer’s subsequent group, the Mescaleros, which he founded in the late ‘90s. Temple offers a lot of biographical material and accounts by family, buddies, rivals, business associates and former lovers. We learn of a turbulent childhood, of the struggles of a fledgling idol who often felt like an outsider, and of a musician who wrestled with damaged self-esteem after the dissolution of the band that made him a star. And many heartfelt eulogies are delivered in the wake of Strummer’s surprising death in 2002, at the age of 50, from a congenital heart defect.Certainly, he was too young to die. He was a husband and a father, and he had just begun to find his muse again with the Mescaleros. But he left a powerful legacy – and that’s one of the comforts offered by “The Future Is Unwritten,” which should be required viewing for rock fans of every vintage.Here’s an artful concert video of a tremendous (and sometimes neglected) Clash tune, “Complete Control”:And, to top it off, an unvarnished live take on the funkified track “The Magnificant Seven,” performed before the TV cameras on “Tomorrow with Tom Snyder” in New York City during June 1981:
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