The New York Nobody Sings - Clash at Bond's

reposted from my blog...

At 15, I saw the Clash at Bond’s International Casino on Broadway and 44th street. The space was a beautiful disco with lots of playful elements. There was a big staircase you walked up to get to the main room and each step made a sound when you stepped on it. I later saw the Ramones there(I am pretty sure) which is how I got to see what the palce looked like. On the night I saw the clash, the place was so packed I saw nothing, not even the band, really I went on the second night of the historic residency, before the fire marshalls shut it down, (due to over selling of tickets, which led the band to play 17 gigs, I believe, to honor all the fan’s tickets. Pretty interesting moment in new york rock history.)  

On the line to but the $10 tickets me and my friends met some guys and wound up hanging around with them a few times. The excitement on the line was amazing. It was cold and people were going crazy with fan-joy and everyone was playing Clash songs and having a great time.   

I saw the show on Friday may 29th, 1981. I wore my fav fiorucci heels and white calvin kline jeans that I made into super tight capri’s with zippers at the cuff. My girlfriend Susana’s mother actually tailored them for me, so they looked great. The show was oversold way beyond capacity and it was impossible to move around or see anything. I sat on the floor upstairs and listened to Janie Jones. I’m in love with Janie Jones, yeah! They opened with London Calling and closed with one of my favorites at the time, I’m so bored with the USA! I was young and into new wave, I didn’t yet appreciate the Sandinista funky or dark songs, I liked the poppy ones, and Bankrobber. The way I remember it, fire marshals arrive towards the end of the set and were trying to get people to leave.   

I do not remember the opening band, I read that it was the Modettes, who I am unfamiliar with. Unfortunately for me it was not the Dead Kennedys or the Bad Brains, or Lee Perry or some of the brilliant acts that played on the later nights.   

Shortly before or after that I was walking on eighth street with Susanna and low and behold, the Clash got out of a cab, Joe Strummer carried a Boom Box on his shoulder and danced his way into electric lady where they were recording Combat Rock I believe, or Radio Clash?   

There was another young girl there with her friend and she was really aggressively trying to get into the studio and kept ringing the bell fanatically and saying we had to go to the bathroom, she was probably 15, like us. Susana and I were walking away when we heard the buzzer ring, so we ran inside. We all used the bathroom and she boldly went into closed doors to find the band. I was tempted to follow but also a bit embarrassed to be associated with her fanatical-ness.   

Later that day as we were headed back to the subway and we spotted Paul Simonon on 6th avenue. We tried to approach him but he kept slipping away, making it very clear he didn’t want to be bothered.  

It always felt like the Clash were a New York band in a funny kind of way, maybe because of Bob Gruen’s photos and the way they popped up in The King of Comedy, and probably just because they loved NYC so much. I chalk it up to living in NYC, when many years later that I went to see Casino on Christmas night at the Ziegfeld with Juliette and a party of five that included Mick Jones. And one night I got a call from a friend asking if I was free to babysit for Joe Strummer’s kid. Lightening strikes not once but twice, a song about NYC recorded live at Bonds.