music – Andy writes!

Essay: Joe Strummer, punk prophet

Reposting an old essay on the 23rd anniversary of The Clash front man’s death

NOTE: Soon after Joe Strummer’s death of an apparent heart attack on this date in 2002, I wrote about The Clash co-founder’s influence as a prophetic voice in the world of punk rock and beyond. My attempts to connect Strummer’s musicianship with Christian theology might be a stretch, but it was a fun thought experiment and I enjoyed exploring those tenuous connections on the page (or the screen). I offer it here as my tribute to Strummer, who, in my opinion, embodied the spirit of ’77 punk rock and infused it with global sounds and a politically progressive worldview that is as needed today as ever.

Earlier versions of the essay below were published in 2003 in the online Christian/emerging church publications RELEVANT and The Phantom Tollbooth.

New writing in Syncopation Literary Journal

Love the ’80s? Check out my latest music-inspired writing.

The latest issue of Syncopation Literary Journal just dropped, and I’m excited to have contributed two pieces to it. Syncopation is a music-focused litmag, and Volume 4, Issue 2 focuses on the music of the 1980s. As a product of that era — most of my favorite music and musical influences come from the rock, punk, and new wave sounds of the late ’70s and early ’80s — this theme is right in my wheelhouse.