What Was A Joe Strummer Logo Decorated Van Doing In My Neighborhood?

 As I was running in the neighborhood on Saturday morning, I stumbled on this interesting van parked in a lot along Sunset Boulevard. No name, just the dates under a silhouette and the signature red star, and immediately you know whom we are talking about.

I just wondered, who could decorate his van with this giant sign, except a die-hard fan? I have never been to that extreme for a band, just the usual bumper-stickers, not a huge thing like this, but it did sound cool to me.

The van actually looked totally awesome, the design was a little damaged, so it must have been painted a while ago, but it hadn't lost any of its powerful message. Would you imagine the same thing with let’s say a Bono or Michael Jackson's logo? I know one of them isn’t dead, but that’s not the point, they also were/are musicians with die-hard fans… However it would have looked ridiculous to me, as cheesy as an ad for the music, or for the superstar image. But that’s the thing with Strummer, he was different and this worked, it didn’t look ridiculous or fan-cheerleading, it had meaning.

When I think about it, it was even a little beat up van and it had other stickers in the back – I remember one for Obama’s 2008 campaign – a vehicle probably owned by a regular working guy, and it fitted with the Strummer logo. A Bono fan would have probably used a hummer or a limo.