“The Mayan Calendar ending doesn’t mean the World is ending. It just means we need to make a new calendar.”
—Belizean bartender Diego, Placencia, Belize, 2014

“I don’t know what everybody is confused about. Joe Strummer already told you what to do.”
—Jason Basarich, Online and long ago

It’s been a while, long enough that I can’t recall what Bas was reacting to. Maybe it was the Seattle World Trade Organization protests in 1999, maybe the current North Pacific Bycatch Reduction talks. He has varied interests.

But life keeps taking me places his Joe Strummer theory applies. One year I follow a part-shedding RV up Blewett Pass, WA, humming The Clash’s “Rudie Can’t Fail” and trying to pass. A week later I meet a cheap hood out of Death or Glory in a Walla Walla sports bar. The phrase “Joe Strummer already told you what to do” is now a default value for me. At least until direct observation proves Joe and I wrong.

Subscribe for access to this article plus the entire archive of The Snowboarder’s Journal content—and receive a discount on all products.