Ten Years Gone

I'm usually not one to get too bent out of shape about, for lack of a better term, "celebrity deaths," but I still remember being genuinely shocked and even a little choked up upon hearing of the death of the great Joe Strummer, so vividly that it's hard to fathom that it was already a decade ago.

For the past few years, I've devoted posts to his memory on the anniversary of his death, usually appended with a striking black n' white photo of the man. The picture above ... stumbled upon on Tumblr ... is another great example. Oh sure, there are thousands of amazing photographs of Strummer fronting the Clash and throwing any number of heroic poses, but there's something so simple and lovely about this shot (not least because it was taken here in New York City ... somewhere in the West Village -- Jones Street, maybe?) that makes it so ripe for inclusion here today. In it we see Joe strolling manfully down the middle of the street (Dylan-stylee) with his wife in 1994. I'd not spied this shot before, but according to the site from which I prized it, it was snapped by the great Bob Gruen.

Pour one out for Joe.

Comments

[EV Grieve]

I always liked the photos of him on NYC streets... Didn't you post one of him on East 14th Street and C at some point...?

[Alex in NYC]

Yeah, click on the links where it says "past few years," and you'll see it.

[James C. Taylor]

Funny to think that even Joe Strummer succumbed to the obligatory Jones Street Freewheelin' homage pose...