The Blasters
Mabuhay Gardens
San Francisco, CA
1980-04-26

THTP Release 19

Recording chain: Stage snake > splitter > dedicated snake >
Peavy MkII 12 channel mixing board (11 channels snake, 1 channel audience mic) >
Technics RS-1500 Reel To Reel (mostly TDK Audua L-1800 & LB-1800 tape with back coating or Scotch 206 / 207 with back coating. Maybe a few Maxell UD-XL)
Archival Process: Reel to Reel > Transferred to DAT in 1999 using Tascam DA-30 DAT Recorder > DAT tapes transferred to 100 year archival quality CDRs in 2002 using HHb CDR-850 Professional CD Recorder (in real time) > Transfered to HDD in AIFF file format 2005.
Recorded, preserved, and master AIFF files provided by: Terry Hammer
Dime release processing: AIFF > FFMPEG > 16 bit FLAC 8 > tagging, images, checksums.

Setlist:
01. Dirk intro > Go Cat Go
02. I Fell in Love
03. Cry For Me Baby (Elmore James/Eddie Tayler)
04. Blue As I Can Be
05. I Love You So
06. American Music
07. I Wish You Would (Billy Boy Arnold 1954)
08. Marie Marie
09. Crazy Baby
10. Lonely Wolf (Ray Harris) > Dirk outro

Length: 32:22

Band:
Dave Alvin - guitar
Phil Alvin - vocals, guitar
John Bazz - bass
Bill Bateman - drums

Notes:
* It's the very young Blasters. But you're already grabbing it, so no need to say more.
* This is the first gig the Blasters ever did in San Francisco. And they kick it into high gear at the first note.
* Dirk: "Ok, are you about ready? I mean, you're one of the most laid back, flakey audiences we've had in a while... We do want you to participate instead of being asleep at your tables"
* If this doesn't get you moving, you're probably dead!! "I've gotta go, cat, go!!"
* Dirk: "Just because you act like animals trying to intimidate me... is not going to result in an encore!"

===========================================================

No distribution in lossy formats!!
No selling!!
No bootlegs!!
No remastering!!
Yes sharing. Definitely share.

Support the artists when or if they play, and buy their records/merchandise.

Please correct any errors or oversights in this information in the comments section so the information can be as accurate as possible.

If you can find related materials like flyers, posters, ticket stubs, even photos, etc, please add them in a comment and I will add them to the main release folder, so that can be included on the next re-seeding. Every bit is welcome, and as I am time constrained on this project due to the amount of material, I cannot spend as much time on each release doing research as I would like, so if we can add to and improve the information and release contents during this series, that would be great.

Please make an effort to pick at least one of these THTP releases and keep it seeded for as long as you can, particularly the lesser known groups. That will really help out long term.

===========================================================

Someone put my feelings very well about these recordings in the following quote. I can't really improve on their words beyond noting that these recordings sound absolutely and utterly stunning, and I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to present these to you here in their original, first generation, lossless hi-fidelity versions, for the first time ever.

"[These recordings were] recorded and preserved by collector/engineer Terry Hammer, for broadcast over the UC Berkeley station KALX and several others from the 1979 -1981 period. Anyone who spent a night at one of these clubs knows how chaotic the atmosphere was. That he was able to, not only get a decent feed from the sound mixing board, but was also able to get clean recordings was something of a miracle. And the fact this guy did it over and over again is pure dedication to the cause of preserving history for decades to come. Fortunately for everyone, he’s been making these gems of history available and their value as historic documents is inestimable. This is really exciting stuff and I am grateful for Terry’s foresight and deft skill."
src: https://pastdaily.com/2014/06/25/gang-four-live-american-indian-center-san-francisco-1980-nights-roundtable-concert-edition/

If you've ever been looking for an excuse to upgrade your sound system, these recordings certainly should provide you with some motivation, because they have incredible sound. And if you already have a quality sound system, you are in for a treat!! The audio goes straight to 20k hz, no losses I can detect. Due to the reality of tapes, even high end as used here, the low end starts at 47 hz.

And if you want to learn more about this incredible musical era, listen to the stuff you haven't heard, there are amazing gems in there.

Do we call these soundboards? Technically not precisely because this is not the house mix, these shows were mixed using a dedicated mixing board, with an additional 1 to 2 audience mics in the mix. But I call it the Terry Hammer Tape Project (THTP) to make sure there is no doubt about the project's creator.
- teetering



Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show: