Hello again on this perfectly stormy Monday night. I’m tired of hot weather and no rain. There….I’ve said it. Apart from that you could tell me ‘what do you expect, you live in a desert?’ to which I’d reply something bitter and dust storm inspired. Just you wait though, in sixty days you’ll be saying goodbye to summer just as it gets nice here, he who laughs last and all that.

I’m going to start my A-Z of Clash cities next month, I’ve decided it can’t wait any longer so if you know your way around a city and especially the old music halls and The Clash played there during their history then I would love for you to participate. I’ll be putting the full list together over the next two weeks so this can be somewhat organised as a work of reference. We’ll look at the times The Clash played in each city, the venues and other particularly insightful pieces of Clash related information for each town. Yes it sounds ambitious, but I also think it could lead to a Clash inspired travel book and of course you’ll all share in the credits of such a venture. It doesn’t mean that The Clash Cup has been shelved either, in fact look for a return of the internet’s longing extended election in the coming days.

Right then, on to some odds and ends that keep piling up. If you’ve ever fancied yourself as the next Mick Jones or even another Mick Jones this may be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. As you know there are a fair few Clash cover/tribute acts who regularly find gigs and some of them are rather good all things considered. One of them ‘London Calling’ is looking for a new Mick Jones so if you’re interested here is the link. Now they know exactly how Joe and Paul felt in 1984. Here is a clip of ‘London Calling’ playing London Calling and some other tracks.

If you’re someone who has more time than they know what to do with then Listal might be a good website for you. The proviso is that you list the things you love and then rate them accordingly. Surely if you love it enough to list it then it scores high. A strange site but growing in popularity as a way to catalogue your music collection or just connect via social media with people who like the music or films that interest you. You also assign a score out of 10.0 to artists and albums you like, worth noting is that The Clash have a score of 7.6 that needs to be improved although I was happy to see that Coldplay registered a 6.8. Individual members need differing levels of support; Joe has a 7.5, Mick a 7.0, Paul a 7.3, Topper a 7.0. The site also reveals that Topper is just 5’6 tall, is that correct? Each of the albums and DVDs are also rated with London Calling taking top spot with an 8.4 which seems low if you ask me.

Unlikely lists part one (there may have been others but I forget). Check this link to the Hymie’s Vintage Records blog (an independent purveyor of vinyl in Minneapolis) to see an interesting list of ‘The Best Songs about Car Crashes’ which The Clash appear on. Bonus points if you guess the song before you check the link.

Finally today from the Jason Jack Miller blog – here’s a link to a great concert by The Clash at The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago (excellent venue) from September 14, 1979. Free download and decent audio quality, interesting to see that although London Calling was just a few months from release the 19 tracks featured just 5 (if we include Armagideon Time) that were still in the construction phase.

That’s me done for now, more to follow all things being even. If you’re attending any of the forthcoming B.A.D. concerts in the coming weeks and wish to submit a review please let me know. Until then I hope to see you in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter. You can also have a daily update sent direct to enjoy with your mineral water by subscribing to my RSS Feed here

Rudie Rudie Rudie Rudie Rudie… Rudie can’t fail. Just had to get that out of my system, it’s traditionally been my comeback song or ‘get me revved up a bit’ Clash tune and after a few days feeling far less than adequate I was just listening to it with my very tasty chicken caesar salad for lunch. Exciting stuff eh? Welcome back to the blog on this very warm and sunny afternoon, the coffee is hot so pull up a chair and stay for a little while. I’ll have another Clash Cup for you tomorrow I think and also wanted to provide advance warning that next week marks the 2nd birthday of The Clash Blog. If you’ve been with me since the beginning I thank you and if you’re newer then welcome aboard there is a lot of reading to catch up with – about 500,000 words worth by my best guess.  Start at the beginning, it’s funny to read some of it now.

I don’t know what has come over the fine people at Dangerous Minds this week but they’ve obviously got their Clash hats on which is fine with me. It’s led to another fine feature on the band focusing on the anniversary of their legendary run by The Clash at Bonds International Casino back in 1981. Perhaps the most glamorous name ever given to a former department store in the history or renamed venues. Sadly there’s nothing left of the venue now but the memories and as many I’ve spoken to over the years have told me that run of gigs was simply life changing. I’ve always loved the idea of a band taking up a residency for a week at a venue but you don’t see it much these days, I guess if a band were to play six consecutive nights now in Chicago for example you’d be left with a collection of pissed off fans in Minneapolis, Detroit, Indianapolis and St Louis as a result. Although the Bonds run by The Clash famously was overbooked (or the NY Fire Department were having a laugh) so the band were running on fumes halfway through the extended run of 17 (!!) appearances in New York, the concept of having a fully refreshed band not facing night after night of 7 hour bus rides is a good one. Anyway, read the post – tis good. I had planned an anniversary feature but my planning was once again similar to David Cameron…rather shit.

It’s Paul McCartney’s birthday today and while that should fill me with glee and reverence it really doesn’t. Perhaps if he didn’t give interviews it would.

I’m not really good at looking after my very small collection of autographs of ‘famous people’ that I’ve met. This dawned on me when I was cleaning out the boot of my car the other day

image courtesy http://www.flickr.com/photos/recklesscountrysoul/

and came across two items I had signed by different musicians that had been sitting in there for quite some time instead of in a frame or something. Don’t worry it wasn’t Mick Jones and Paul Simonon, I did put that somewhere safe. I appreciate that some people take autograph collecting quite seriously indeed so I’d like to offer mine I’d like to link you to this website that has a number of reasonably priced Mick Jones’ autographs plus one from Paul. Each are sold in a mounted display with an appropriate Clash photograph. If you happen to know of a better resource with perhaps some Joe, Topper and Terry signatures be sure and let us all know.

If you fancy a laugh these comments and the poll asking who is the better guitarist Mick Jones or The Edge will make you grin I hope. Apart from the obvious ‘Which Mick Jones?’ comments some of it is good reading. I’ve never really forgiven The Edge for this ridiculous name (did you know during early sessions he was known The Circumference?) but any lasting malice towards him was removed in 2002 when he had this to say about The Clash.

Right then, I need to get my act together as I’ve got some football to play this afternoon. Thanks for reading and please say hello in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter. You can also have a daily blog fix mailed direct to enjoy with a nice pint of Lucozade by subscribing to my RSS Feed here. Cheers – Tim

Good evening planet Clash, and how are things in your corner of the world then? I’m hoping your day was a little more normal than here at Clash Blog towers which after a session that began before the birds were fully awake has now ended and HQ now has a brand new roof. Perfect for blogging beneath. Nothing special in that as virtually every house on the street has had the same after a large hailstorm wreaked havoc on the town. We all needed new (Guns on the) roofs. I’ve never seen people work so hard in my life in bloody warm temperatures, Arsenal should watch a video of that team effort for inspiration. Anyway I filled the day with blogging from a remote undisclosed location (like Dick Cheney when things are dicey) before returning home to a newly shingled abode. As a result I’ve little left in the tank to write with but I did want to make sure you caught the new Paul Simonon video that has been making the rounds since around the same time when they started hammering this morning.

The video (beneath) is brought to you by Fender who are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Precision bass and features a really enjoyable 5 minute interview with Paul obviously put together during last years stint with Gorillaz. It’s especially good as we’re left with just Paul talking skipping the questions from the other end as Simonon discusses his original desire to be a guitarist, how he views his instrument and his changed playing style. As you’d expect the circumstances behind a particular album cover also are touched on. Nice video though and as it was only uploaded yesterday I hope it will be new to some of you. As for those in the comments comparing Paul with Hugh Laurie….shut up. Thanks to the many people who emailed me about the video today.

Paul Simonon talks bass guitars with Fender

Oh before I forget, voting on the Clash Cup remains open for another day or so. While the vote is a bit lopsided at present there is still time to change the course of history.

Glastonbury flags under a sunny early evening sky

Suddenly we’re sitting in the middle of June which means B.A.D. appearances in Bournemouth and at Glastonbury are just around the corner, if you happen to be attending either concert and would like to submit a post for the blog retelling your point of view please get in touch. In fact I’ll say it again, if you’d like to contribute a guest post to the blog about The Clash or related matters please don’t hesitate as I’m keen to share other stories and points of view beyond my daily rambles.

Speaking of Glastonbury be sure and stop by the Strummerville site where they have set the stage for the Strummerville campfire, if you’ve never been before make sure you wander over and spend some time. Happily every time I’ve been to Glastonbury Joe was still around (and perhaps even there?) with Pulp being a highlight whenever that was. Sadly I’ve not been back since, one of these days I’ll have the cash to do so again just as soon as the fucking money pit house stops needing repairs.

There’s certainly more to write about and for those that have emailed ideas recently I promise to catch up as soon as I can (and thank you), but I’ll need to drop the old laptop for a few hours kip now. Thanks for visiting and don’t forget to say hello in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter. You can also have a daily blog fix mailed direct to enjoy with a nice bottle of Old Peculiar by subscribing to my RSS Feed here. Cheers – Tim