Good evening and welcome back to the blog, the more regular readers amongst you will surely be aware that in probably equal reverence to that which I reserve for The Clash I also hold a similar regard for Arsenal (a football club in London). So tonight I’m not in the best spirits although we certainly lost to the better team on the night and 4-3 over two legs isn’t abysmal although tonight’s referee was. Nevertheless I still want to get the taste of the champions cup out of my mouth so I thought it would be a good time to revisit The Clash Cup. Short explanation if you’re new to the blog; we began with nearly 200 songs and are now deep into round two where songs are picked at random and you vote for your favorite all the way through until we get down to a final 32, 16, 8 etc. The winner of tonight’s pairing in round two will make it through to the final 64 but first we have to review our last battle from February 8th which wasn’t any closer than I had anticipated.

The Guns of Brixton defeated Deny 72-17

Thanks so much for an excellent turnout in the voting even though the famous Paul Simonon track took an impressive 81% of the votes to end the short run of Deny. I don’t think there will be that many complaints as it looked like a bit of a mismatch before we even got started. So let me turn your attention to the random number generator and pick out two more Clash songs to pit against each other:

Clash Cup Round 2 Match 16

Broadway versus The Street Parade

Usually when the two songs are selected they come from very different times in the history of the band and/or you can almost instinctively predict which song will win as it may appear in your preordained vision of what the 20 best Clash songs are before you even get started. This is not one of those occasions although if you are like me a great lover of Sandinista! and all of its different flavours then this makes for quite the pairing. I also usually have my own personal preference even when I’m writing the blog but again this is another situation entirely. I have a very sentimental reason attached to Street Parade as for no apparent reason it was the first song I played on my stereo the sad day that I learned Joe Strummer had died (followed after consecutive plays by Nitcomb).

Form Book

Round 1 – Broadway defeated Do It Now with 91% of the vote

Round 1 – Street Parade defeated Stop The World with 71% of the vote

As you can see both songs were paired with lesser-known Clash tracks in round one so it’s a little difficult to imagine how they will fare against tougher opposition in each other. Just based on conversations with Clash fans over the years I think that Broadway tends to get slightly higher recognition of these two and as a result I think it will probably win a very close vote. Of the round two matches I think this might be one that goes all the way until its conclusion which will be next Monday and as I write I’m not sure which way I’ll vote although my sentimental side will probably choose the runner-up which in this case I predict will be The Street Parade.

Stuff

Although Sandinista! has 36 songs I have a feeling that deeper in the competition you’ll see many of those fall foul of stronger songs, we may even only have six or seven left in the final 32 by the time we get there. Part of that might be the very nature of the diversity of Sandinista! You can find people who will like almost any individual song on the album while at the same time there’s plenty of people who say this track or that track should’ve been omitted from the original triple album in the first place to make it a stronger double. That’s a debate for another day but I do have a strong argument for another day that suggests the best 19 songs on Sandinista! might even have been as good of an album as London Calling ended up being. Honestly….

As for these two songs both demonstrate that by 1980 Joe Strummer was a better vocalist than ever before and also that his lyrics were as versatile as Mick’s songwriting. There are probably 50 or 60 Clash songs that I can never think of a bad time to hear (okay exclude funerals and sex perhaps) and these two would both be on that list. Before you vote I encourage you to think this one through and listen one last time to both songs. No special versions for you just the standard studio recordings of each Broadway here and Street Parade , also if you are a Clash historian I wondered whether either of these songs performed live with any regularity? I think they were only featured right around early-mid 1981. I’m guessing that Broadway would be the more likely of the two, if either.

SOME LATE NEWS JUST IN…..Big Audio Dynamite added Roxy (Los Angeles) April 14 and Roseland (New York) April 18….more details tomorrow…and more info on the Clash Blog Facebook page.

Thanks for voting the polls are open now and will close next Monday by which time I’ll have recovered from today’s Arsenal’s result and hopefully celebrating a win over Manchester United. Cheers – Tim

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Coachella....no room at the inn

Good afternoon everyone and thanks for again stopping by the blog or indeed for your first visit in which case welcome you’re amongst friends (said in my best creepy Reverend voice). I’m surprising myself this morning by bringing to you the second edition of the Clash Blog podcast or if you prefer The Clashcast. The first version of this monstrosity took place a week ago and is available here.

I know many of you in the UK are now happy owners of tickets to see Big Audio Dynamite – you lucky boys and girls – I expect full details from each and every one of you. On today’s podcast I talk about that in addition to Coachella selling out (in just six days) and tips for how to get tickets below face value nearer the time. There are other reasons to listen as well as I  have a bit more information on B.A.D. , the forthcoming Strummerville event, the Sandinista! reissue and some future interviews for the blog so please press play beneath if you’d be so kind.

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Clashcast 2 – The Clashblog Podcast

Near the end of the podcast I spoke a little bit about the recent events in Tucson and a special concert taking place shortly in Phoenix which I wanted to share the details of. The video below is a friend of mine named Kimber Lanning who owns Stinkweeds (arguably the best independent record shop in the country) talking to Joey from Calexico about the concert on February 4th. I realise only a handful of you might be able to make it along due to the location I wanted to mention it regardless. Tickets and more info available via this link.

Finally for RSS Feeds, if you’d like to subscribe for the direct blog feed URL here is the link for that.  I’ll be back tonight or in the morning I’m sure. Cheers -Tim

Calexico in Phoenix (Corona Ranch Promo)

Good evening and welcome back to the blog, hope that your Christmas (*insert name of any chosen holiday or none at all here) went well and that you managed to spend some time with people you liked or at least limited the time spent with those you don’t.  Weather wise I’m glad to have spent it here but that’s about the extent of it really…it’s not a terribly good place to try and feel like it’s Christmas and the lack of a Boxing Day football fixture today really was the final straw. I’ll be back to full daily Clash blogging effective tomorrow and will start by finishing  the review of some of the pieces written about Joe Strummer on the 8th anniversary of his death earlier in the week. Incidentally we have had an Joe Strummer tribute night here in Phoenix (of all places) which is always well attended – this year it got deferred to January 15th at the George and Dragon pub in Phoenix if anyone is reading in Arizona (more details to follow).

It’s been an active year for Clash fans with of course the highlights being Mick and Paul on stage across the globe with Gorillaz (rumoured more gigs in 2011) continued growth by Strummerville and more recognition of the band than arguably ever before. 2011 should have plenty in store too with Carbon Silicon back to active ways, the anniversary edition of Sandinista! finally getting a delayed release and at least two Clash related films in the works (and a third is made and scheduled). I just took a few days away from writing this week so regret the lack of new posts.

I wanted to thank you for following the blog all year long – I’m happy to say it’s been lots of fun and has seen loads of growth all year long with over 200,000 visits to the blog in 2010. Thank you for reading, for contributing stories, photos and news and most of all for (hopefully) enjoying the blog. Next year should be good fun and strange as it sounds I think we are just getting started. Have a happy New Year wherever you are and I hope 2011 brings a bit of a smile to your collective faces. I’ve met some great people via the blog this year and your friendships and support are appreciated. Keep on keeping on…I’ll be back tomorrow.