London Calling?

[Ted Alkins]

I'm going to delurk for a moment to come forward as another Pyncheon lover
who has also been a Clash fan for -- dear God, over 20 years now.

I first heard them on BBC Radio One when they released 'London's Burning'.
The interviewer teased one of them -- Paul probably -- for having sticky
labels on his fretboard to tell him where to put his fingers. I remember Joe
being totally excited and saying that he didn't care about anything apart
from playing -- the roof could fall in and kill the audience and he wouldn't
notice.

I saw them live just once in January 1980 on the London Calling tour. They
came on disguised as their own back-up band with Mikey Dread as lead singer
and virtually got bottled off stage. Still, it didn't seem to bother them
and they played what was pretty much the best gig I've ever seen (though I'm
sure I'm romancing it all these years on).

The BBC recently showed a documentary about the Clash, in which a worn-out
looking Joe Strummer nearly broke down when he recalled how he and Paul had
thrown Mick out of the band. He was, of course, the big loser as B.A.D. did
some excellent albums, just as Joe was putting together that horrendous
pseudo-Clash thing, including 'We Are The Clash'.

Ted Alkins
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Freelance translator
*	Dutch/Flemish and French to English
*	Art/History/Finance
*	Tel.: +32 16 40.05.69
*	Fax: +32 16 40.17.76
*	Website: http://users.skynet.be/ted.alkins/