[Hockey Rocker]

Originally Posted by loudfast

The announcement of the Strummer Tele has once again made me recall how I made it into my mid-20s before I ever tried to play a guitar – but it was all because of the influence of Joe and his mates that it happened.

After having seen Jimi (when I was 13), Blackmore, Page, McLaughlin, and hundreds more in person I was, “what’s the use? I’ll never be as good as these guys…” But by the late ‘70s, one of my favorite bands was (still is) The Clash. The first time they came to Philadelphia, I knew where they were staying. I walked in the Ben Franklin Hotel and all four of them were hanging out in the lobby, because they really enjoyed meeting their fans. I got all their autographs on a poster of “Give ‘Em Enough Rope” (hanging on the wall of my studio right now – see photo) and got to talking to Mick Jones. We were talking about other guitar players, and I said, “Oh, I always wish I’d learned to play.” Mick looked at me, and said, “Well then, why don’t you? I’m no better than you are!”

The light bulb switched on – and I got after it, better late than never. It just took the encouragement of someone I admired to make it happen. I was off to Eighth Street Music within days and bought my trusty ’78 Fender – and I suppose you can guess why I picked a black Tele. This guitar was a tank that served me well as my band Informed Sources played with everybody from Black Flag and X to Bad Brains and the Replacements. It was relic’ed the old-fashioned way, complete with my blood on the Informed Sources sticker between the pickups!

I just got back from seeing The Clash exhibit at the Rock Hall of Fame – I went straight up to the 5th floor when the museum opened and had it all to myself for an hour. It was really powerful for me to be there with their “aura” all around me. I was kneeling at one point reading Joe Strummer’s lyrics to “Tommy Gun” when that same song came on the video screen behind me – so I saw Joe’s face reflected in the glass over the lyrics as the song played. He was always a really good guy to me, and we got to know each other enough to where he always remembered my name when we met – I can still hear him croak it out, “Hey, Moriarty!”

Hope no-one’s minded the long-winded reminiscence!

Great story. That's a nice homage to Joe Strummer too. Nice guitar.