Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Party at Ground Zero

ROCK POSTER claim to fame- OtherWisz work included in movie about Strummerville.

I was contacted by the production staff of a movie being made about "Strummerville," the charity foundation created following the death of Joe Strummer to continue his charitable work. They wanted to use one of my rock posters (click now) in the movie!

The film is by Don Letts, the famed English filmmaker with strong ties to the Clash. His list of accomplishments is amazing: he was one of the first club DJs in England to play dub, reggae and ska, he was in Big Audio Dynamite with Clash-man Mick Jones, he is an author and he has directed numerous videos including "Pass The Dutchie" by Musical Youth and "Back on The Chain Gang" by The Pretenders. In 2003, filmmaker Letts won a Grammy for his Clash documentary "Westway to The World." Good bio link here on BBC radio.

His new movie is about Strummerville and the work they do, the bands associated with it, the yearly concerts, benefits and their continuing devotion to helping youths obtain their musical dreams themselves, as DIY-man Strummer would have liked! The charity is described on their website as "aiming to create new opportunities for aspiring musicians. Set up by the friends and family of Joe Strummer in the year after his death, the charity seeks to reflect Joe's unique contribution to the music world by offering support, resources and performance opportunities to artists who would not normally have access to them."

The production company, Brassneck TV describes the movie, debuting this weekend (March 12-21, 2010) at the SWSX music festival in Texas as:

STRUMMERVILLE- Joe Strummer's untimely death in 2002 sent shockwaves around the music world and beyond, yet Joe's friends and family were determined that his spirit would live on. In this documentary, Grammy award-winning filmmaker Don Letts demonstrates how Joe's DIY attitude is manifesting itself through a charity which helps aspiring musicians - Strummerville. The film features performance footage and interviews with Strummerville artists, supporters and founders including Billy Bragg and Damien Hirst, plus previously unseen footage of Strummer himself.
Locally, Wolf Tickets rocker Chris Malachowski has been carrying the flag of Joe Strummer since his death in Dec. 2002 and OtherWisz Creative been designing the posters for each tribute show (as well as DJing them). Chris has kept strong ties to Strummerville, as our local event has donated proceeds from each show to the charity.

It was cool to get the call, and it is an honor to have some of my work featured in a movie about such a great organization that is associated with the memory of one of my heros, Joe Strummer. So if anyone will be at SWSX this weekend, look for the film and the brief glimpse of an OtherWisz-designed poster.

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3 comments:

Jason Gusmann said...

great, great stuff - good to see you get some recognition for the solid rockarolla design work

Kevin J. Hosey said...

Good work and very deserved, Mark.

Tim said...

Excellent artwork - fully deserved (nice post too)

Tim