It may sound like Palmolive toothpaste, but nothing is further from the truth. Paloma Romero, aka Palmolive is a Malaga who left Spain during the dictatorship to go to London, where he lived the birth of punk: he played with Sid Vicious, Joe Strummer was girlfriend and toured with The Slits and The Raincoats. Today he lives with his family in Massachusetts and found in God what punk did not give. We thought great enough to give this interview.
Spanish by the world keeps secrets. A boring Sunday afternoon I came to see the program on Boston and between witness and testimony of ordinary people who enjoy life outside of Spain came as a revelation, Paloma: a gay woman wearing for 22 years on the coast of Massachusetts working as a teacher. All normal until the voiceover warns: "give his life for a documentary." Dove, sitting on the beach, smiles and begins his presentation. "At 18, I wanted to know the world and London meant freedom. I met Joe Strummer there. "
"Who is Joe Strummer?" Replies a bold reporter.
Blessing went on my ignorance and looked more alert. Who was this dove?
LONDON
London, 70's. What times, eh? The world was in crisis, oil, and the United Kingdom, with epic levels of youth unemployment, some young people started to sing there was no future. But before finding freedom and paradise there, in Spain, where we were still in another plan, Paloma tried his luck in Madrid.
"Do you remember anything good about Madrid minimally that time?" Inquerimos on a list of questions via email. "Madrid was from January to June 73. To be honest, not much. But do not afflicted Madrid, rather my situation there. The University of San Blas, I think new that year was not the best. Every time he spoke in class (Sociology, was what I had signed up) people laughed in my Andalusian accent. The cops always behind us, I was thinking it was a political link or something, because I had a friend Trotskyist and had been abroad. "
At the same time, John Graham Mellor, then a young man who called himself Woody and then pass to Joe Strummer, "lounging" (as described in this book about The Clash) as Europe was already playing with musician Tymon Dogg on the subway. "I ended up in Wales after my apprenticeship with Tymon, since there seemed no way of earning a living in London or even to survive. That was before I discovered the homes of squatters. "
LIFE ON ROAD 101 Walterton
The 101'ers were the prequel to The Clash, the first group of Joe Strummer. The name, referring to the squat of 101 Walterton RD. The reason, make some money. "I lived in a squat in Maida Hill," continues Joe in the book, "and believed that playing in pubs could help me financially to survive summer. It was the first time I thought about mounting a group of electric rock and roll, but my only ambition was to spend the summer without having to run around the subway when kicked me out of the pubs. "
"When I met Woody was a little after," says Dove. "At that time he had great ambitions to play in pubs. To me the truth I never cared that much money, it always seemed that I managed. I did not mind living in a squat. I was quite hippy. I started because I thought it was funny and I felt restless and bored. "
They say that this song was a dedication to Woody, Joe Strummer, Paloma.
In October 1975, The 101'ers went to another house occupied, in which installed under a more professional than Walterton Road. I was in Orsett Terrace and there composed the Clash, the band's first album.
- I have found quoted in the book of The Clash. Strummer says that London's Burning wrote while you were sleeping in the house occupied in Orsett Terrace, in short to not wake up.
Well did not know, was asleep :)
- What your parents told you all this?
I think my parents had given up because they knew what I was stubborn and I was not going to change.
A stubborn
Redemption Song The book also reports this stubbornness. At the time when Joe Strummer was decided to mount the Clash, Paloma was in Scotland. "I had doubts about the viability of the relationship with Joe and needed some space." According to the book, Paloma returned to London with enthusiasm for Joe, but he had decided "to be with their friends. And his friends were The Clash ".
"I left a couple of months to Scotland, we kept in touch by phone. During that time, punk Happened. When I had seen the light, I wanted to be with him (...) I went to a pub to find him, put my arms around him, very seriously said, 'I'll be a punk rocker'. Got back together but it was never the same, I was insecure and he moved back to Orsett Terrace ".
"Paloma formed The Slits in a fit of rage," says Jill Calvert (producer of The Clash). "I had never before been in the music this way. He took the battery and thought, if you can do, I can do it. " Together, The Clash and The Slits did the White Riot Tour, but when The Slits released their debut album, Paloma had already left the band. "I got fired. What provoked in some way: he had begun to lose interest, "he explains in this extensive interview.
Dove (second from left) supported by Ari Up
Now part of The Raincoats. It lasted six months, a tour and EP. "After the first album by The Raincoats, went on tour. Even before the tour wanted to quit, but we had a deal so did not either run. So I thought I the tour, and Then I'm done ".
GOD
So, once done, Paloma went to India and left the 'punk'. And here begins the encounter with Jesus as Paloma herself explains in his biography, in India found and shared disappointments with Tymon Dogg (the paragraph above with Joe Strummer who had dawdled for Europe). She met her husband, left India and returned to Spain. And then, "ready to find the truth, left their home in Spain and went to a New Age center in England."
"Walking around, in the midst of my confusion, I decided to ask a student who spoke with conviction about his relationship with Christ. He explained that Christ was a real person, not an evasion 'Christ consciousness' as advocated anthroposophy. You could just pray and have a personal relationship with Jesus. It was about how to contact God. It sounded like music to my ears. " The history and biblical quotations continue on their own website. But what was his love affair with punk?
"THE PUNK does not provide solutions, was shaking ONLY YOUR CONSCIENCE FOR YOU will be searching"
- Where do you punk music today?
There is something I always liked punk and like me, who is deciding to play an instrument and experiment with sounds until you find what sounds good to you. Today there are a punk sounds that I can draw but for me it's very important what they are saying the lyrics. Today I want to sing about robbing Mr Paki, or be the Enemy # 1 or sing with Johnn Lydon I am an antichrist! I'm not, in fact I love Jesus as a person and God. The only problem is that punk provided no solution, it will only shake his consciousness so that you shopped. All energy was focused on living a present. "
- You do not share at all, the philosophy of 'living a present'?
Well, let's go by parts. I think that punk itself provide solutions - bad, but solutions. Do not be afraid to say bad. Sid Vicious was one of the most eminent figures of punk as it emerged and look where it led. He killed his girlfriend and then killed by overdose. It was a way of life: express your anger, do not worry about anyone but you, do whatever you want at any time, rebel against any form of authority. After the dancing, intellectuals looked at the movement and gave the 'twist' that the goal was to break the mold so that people could find their own values. I do believe in living in the present is really all we have. I believe in a wonderful future. But I try to live the present, my present.
- Are you back to London? Would you like to come back?
Yes, I would like very much.
- I get the feeling that you are a person who has taken advantage of her freedom, has been honest with herself and always has been seeking their own values. Do you regret anything?
Only for not accepting the truth of Jesus before!
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