It’s all so familiar. An old, grizzled white guy, once considered a maverick but now an entrenched member of the establishment, is challenged by a younger, popular African-American upstart . . . in assless purple pants.
If there are any McCain vs. Obama political tea leaves to parse from the Phoenix's admittedly much-less-important DYLAN VS. PRINCE showdown, it could spell trouble for B-rock supporters in the fall. Luckily, our contest is simply a reader-voted run-off for ALL-TIME BEST MINNESOTA SOLO-ARTIST supremacy, and has no such greater implications for oil prices, global warming, or immigration policy (as far as we know).
As of press time (Tuesday evening), Dylan holds a substantial lead, in both the online and mobile-texting voting precincts. The one-time Robert Zimmerman is crushing the one-time Glyph guy, capturing 70 percent of your tallies.
The fight is far from over, of course, as polls will stay open for you until midnight this Sunday, July 13. And there are two other campaigns being waged simultaneously. In the battle for ALL-TIME BEST NEW HAMPSHIRE SOLO ARTIST, RONNIE JAMES "DEVIL HORNS" DIO holds a somewhat comfortable 56 to 44 percent lead over JON "PUSSY GALORE" SPENCER. And in the Scrapple Next to the Apple fracas to determine the ALL-TIME BEST NEW JERSEY BAND, Glenn Danzig's MISFITS are spanking Frankie Valli's FOUR SEASONS 61 to 39 percent.
The three races are part of the Boston Phoenix's July 4th "50 States, 50 Bands" musical blowout, for which the staff picked 150 fights by selecting the all-time best band, all-time best solo artist, and best new band or act from each state. (Bonus! We ran down the best of DC, too.) We left the aforementioned three contests up to our readers. That means you!
To vote, go to thePhoenix.com/50States. Do it for your country.
