Spinner

Jesse Malin Remembers 'Professor' Joe Strummer

Jesse Malin, St. Marks SocialJoe Strummer spent a portion of his post-Clash '80s and '90s "wilderness years" touring with the Pogues, filling in as both a singer and rhythm guitarist. A young Jesse Malin happened to catch one the performances, and after the show, he had the punk legend autograph his ticket.

Malin never forgot Strummer's inscription, "Love It to Life," a slogan that, some two decades later, is the title of his fourth solo album, in stores now.

"I can't find the stub," Malin tells Spinner. "It would have been good on the artwork."

If Malin isn't particularly heartbroken about the lost keepsake, it's probably because he doesn't need a piece of paper to remember Strummer, who died in 2002. Thanks to a mutual friend, the rock photographer Bob Gruen, Malin got to know Strummer in the '90s. He found the iconic frontman warm, gregarious and happy to indulge curious Clash fans.

"The first night I met him we asked him every question we wanted to and drank until 6AM, and he answered them all," Malin remembers.

Having dropped out of high school, Malin counts Strummer as one of his "professors," placing him in a pantheon of personal heroes that includes Jello Biafra, Billy Bragg and Bob Dylan. Part of Strummer's appeal, he says, was his ability to expand listeners' horizons and expose them to new ideas.

"Strummer [got me started] looking up things," Malin says. "I didn't know anything about the Spanish War or what's going on with 'The Tao of Love and Sex' or Federico Lorca or reggae music or what's going on in Central America. I was living in Queens and watching 'M*A*S*H.' A billion things would lead to doing research, which you can now do online. Maybe it was a little more difficult, but it was more challenging -- exciting. And now he's a saint. He's dead."

Every saint needs a monument, and Strummer is immortalized in spray paint on the side of Niagra, a bar Malin owns in New York City's East Village.

"You watch every day, maybe 20 to 60 people take photos of that," Malin says of the mural. "They come from all over. He looks like Mr. Magoo on there. It was my sister's ex-husband that did the painting. He did a very good job, but it's very cartoonish, in a way."

Malin likens Strummer to fellow rebel guitar slinger Bob Marley, insisting that while both men had their flaws, they sang from the heart and spread positive messages.

"Whatever their daily lives were, their contradictions," he says, "whatever they were sending out was such a healing thing."

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iain

i guess if anyone could spot a poser it would be someone from the poser capital of montreal!

May 03 2010 at 11:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Minneapolis

I saw Jesse and the St.Marks Social perform in MPLS at Nick and Eddies after party. I had many Gogol fans coming up to me asking who they were (like the three post above,(even thou, yeah I know))They were interested in the music that was being played, a few of them went up to the bands merch booth. For those that do not KNOW him, check it out! I became interested in Gogol not from the media, but from hearing them play with a band that has captured Life! Disco Ghetto, puts the soul back in rock and roll. The Archer, we have all been there at sometime in our lives. Some of us are still thinking about that missed arrow! There is feeling, soul, fighting to stay alive, living, having fun with friends and a character and quality, most artists could not even begin to capture. This could never come from a RICH boy. You had to of been there to bring your audience there!

May 01 2010 at 5:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bloscoe

Well, I know 1 thing for sure...."Shariff won't like it. Rock the Casbah...Rock the Casbah!!..."

May 01 2010 at 2:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dean

Who??????????????????

May 01 2010 at 1:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Antique Organ

Who are they???????

May 01 2010 at 1:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jbjg24m

never heard of this guy !

May 01 2010 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Slim Whitman

playing crappy venues and sleeping on the floor does not make someone a musical genius...perhaps just the opposite.Long John Baldry,Leon Russell,Edgar Winter,Stu Kimball and many more that are truely talented who just fall through the cracks

May 01 2010 at 11:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dude !

well , since noone else has said it , i will : JOE STRUMMER WAS AWESOME. !!!!!! in fact his last album before passing had some really great songs . as for this guy, i don't know who he is so i won't comment .

May 01 2010 at 10:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
r peay

There is room for all. I agree with MANIC D. As far as greatness goes it will be determined by the longevity of the music they make. Look at the STONES...still the greatest rock band of all time.

May 01 2010 at 9:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Randy

I am an old school metalhead but I have an open mind for the most part. I do not know Jesse's Music to each his own. But I have yet to meet a Brittney Spears Fan or others like her. Now People like her are true POSERS. Hell I recently finally heard Lady Gaga and WOW her voice is awesome and I saw the youtube video M.I.A. made BORN FREE and I loved it, she has a Metal/Techno/Rap sound and I thought it was very orginal. Yet I listen to Slayer and mostly 80's and 90's stuff. I am starting to bring myself in the 21st century and listen to new things, so all you idiots need to keep and open mind.

May 01 2010 at 7:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply