The Feast of St Joseph

 Today is the Feast of St Joseph, but not the one you're thinking of... there are no sfingi to be had this time of year anyway.  Today is the day we celebrate the birthday of the Sainted Joe Strummer, and a charitable livestream featuring an all-star cast of musicians will take place this afternoon.

I'm especially interested in hearing Cait O'Riordan and Spider Stacy, and I hope that Shane MacGowan, who shockingly survived Joe Strummer, makes an appearance as well.  Most of all, I hope that Joe's bandmate Mick Jones makes an appearance, especially if his daughter joins him.

Besides being a punk legend, Joe Strummer was an unapologetic lefty, singing about racial and class issues, the evils of imperialism, the experiences of immigrants and repressive government policies, not only as one of the frontmen (with Mr Jones) of the Clash, but as the leader of the Mescaleros.  Joe also fronted the Pogues while Shane MacGowan was pursuing a solo career, or drinking himself silly... I forget which.

I'm going to have to join the livestream somewhat late, being preoccupied with work for the first hour or so, but I will definitely watch as much as I can.  In the meantime, I figured I'd post a video of one of my favorite Clash songs, the timely White Man in Hammersmith Palais, being performed by St Joe, who promptly turned over vocal duties to his loving fans:

Now, that's exactly the sort of roots rock rebel we need these days, when the white riots we see tend to be stupid ones.