Following up on my recent Joe Strummer interview story…
Toward the end of the interview Joe said he believed a future president will have been in the audience of a Clash show. I joked that maybe it would be me. (Note: It looks unlikely that will occur at this point, but if I change my mind can I count on your vote?) Right at the end of the interview you may hear me asking Joe for an autograph. He says sure, so I hand him my copy of “The Cost of Living E.P.” and he pauses and looks up at me and asks “This is yours?” He seemed a little taken aback, but certainly not in a bad way. Just…I’m not sure what. Surprised to see it in the US? Impressed I had a copy? Maybe he wasn’t expecting the trip down memory lane?
Regardless, he signs his distinctive signature and then adds something else and hands it back to me as he is escorted out by Kosmo. Aside from his autograph, he wrote it was for me and under that wrote “Prez?” You can probably imagine how amazing that was for me. I was doubly impressed because he remembered my name without asking; I had nothing with my name on it and he only heard my name once when we were introduced at the start of the interview.
So, yes, I was on cloud nine.