Really? You got one too?

Wassapening, everyone (anyone?)! Time for some more words of wisdom. Or somethin'... Back on Halloween 1982, I sat at my girlfriend's apartment, mildly pissed off. The Who were 150 miles up the highway in Phoenix that night and I was not. As a consolation of sorts, there was a Clash concert being broadcast that night. I already had "Combat Rock" and the 'Train in Vain' ('London Calling' flip side) 45. Seeing as how the crowd I hung with was long haired hippie Rock before it became classic, I regulated myself to "closet" Clash fan. So, I recorded the concert on my girlfriend's sister's stereo and thus became the owner of a live Clash tape. This show, according to the announcers, was being broadcast "live from St. Louis". If I only knew...

As the 80's rolled by, this tape saw a LOT of play. It turned me into a fairly big Clash fan. I would acquire whatever albums I was missing, became a HUGE fan of Mick Jones' Big Audio Dynamite, collected various books and articles and pictures and the stuff fans usually acquire. I also got pumped a few boots and out take tapes from a friend that worked at a local record store. Then came the MTV Clash "Rockumentary". It was the usual history of the band with various interview bits and concert footage, what have you. Then, they started talking about the Clash's famous stint at Bond's in New York City. This was big stuff. Stopping traffic in Times Square isn't something usually done by masses of pedestrians without the aid of a traffic light. You got a feel listening to what was being said, these were very significant shows for the band.

So, time goes on and various interviews and videos drift by and, same thing; every time it gets to the Bond's part, queue the dramatic music, slow motion video (the Clash always looked cool no matter what speed you ran 'em), and watch the excitement build. I'm starting to feel, this footage, any audio, from these concerts is the Holy Grail for any self respecting Clash fan. Out comes more media, including the superb DVD "Westway to the World" from Don Letts. Same set up for the Bond's shows. Even better, a whole disc (!) called "Clash on Broadway". Alas, not an entire show but video none the less. It's pointed out that "this is all that's left". From other sources, a lotta the film had been lost. Still, Bond's footage!

Flash forward to this past weekend... Tim over at the Clash Blog (see previous post) came up with the great idea of everyone who reads his blog and is on Facebook, to change their status on Saturday to commemorate what would've been Joe Strummer's 58th birthday. I elected to pull videos offa youtube all day and post those. Tim was posting some videos as well and posted a mp3 video of a song from the Bond's shows. Cool! I looked at the poster of the video's page and he had an entire show! Yeah! Let us all drop down and give tanks and praises! So, I decide to do a little research on the show he's got up and find my self on a magnificent Clash site, Black Market Clash. Amongst the tons of info on the Bond's concerts, is the various boots from the concerts that have come out. One of them is entitled "Trick or Treat", culled from a professional recording done on the June 9th show, which was edited down and aired (minus 6 songs) by some FM stations across the country on, you got it, October 31, 1982. The Holy Grail has been in my hands for almost 30 years! Turns out, this is also a very popular Clash bootleg (and there are several other variations out there too). And that's not all! The video that you see from Bond's is also from this show. AND, some of the songs are also on the "From Here to Eternity" CD! So... so much for rare and hard to find! But, in my defense, the announcers at the time DID say "Live from St. Louis". I had no reason to think otherwise. Even as I would hear these songs in other places, mixes were different, and I had no reason to put the two together. Bands play songs similar alla the time.

So, in a way, I kinda feel like a goofball, not knowing what I had all these years. At the same time, how hip is that to be listening to one of the famed Bond's shows for the last 28 years?

'Til we groove again...