The sad part is, if you don't have the p-rock in yer heart, you just don't get what I'm feeling on days like this (and the day Dee Dee Ramone died, and the day I found out Tim Yo died as well). Sure, you can email me links to silly news articles written by people who barely know anything about the Clash beyond the armadillo-in-the-video stuff, but you don't know what it feels like. It's like when people (and not many do, but there are a couple of well-meaning folks who do) try and tell me that they miss their old job/boyfriend/dog the way I miss punk rock. No. No you don't. You don't frigging get it. Because I barely do. At times like this I really miss having a punk rock...place to be, I guess.
Not that it's ever helped before - and it'll never be as bad as finding out about Tim Yo, but probably that was painful mostly because I had actually interacted with the man, that time, that place was very specific.
Argh. Who knew?

And now there's no more Joe Strummer. I'm sad, and not even from a fan-based sadness, but from a general feeling of losing one of those icons from my youth - one of those people who had a hand in bringing to life the reality of the culture I consider myself a part of. Say what you will about hte Clash (and plenty of people do) they still were the Who of punk rock, and they left an indelible mark. People like this dying makes me really aware of what's ahead...all the people I know (or have known) in the scene, what happens when they eventually "leave the bar"? How sad will that be? How sad will I be?