The Original Crickets w/Steve Forbert
Lone Star Cafe
New York City, NY
April 28, 1987
(Two Of Us Master Volume 36)

Recording: Shure Mic > Sony WM-D6C

2021 Transfer: D6 Master Tape > Nakamichi DR-01 (azimuth adjusted) > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity > iZotope RX / ozone 5 (mastered) > Peak Pro 6 (post production) > xACT 2.39 > FLAC

THE ORIGINAL CRICKETS
01 Rock 'n' Roll Ruby
02 I'm Wild About You Baby
03 Devil's Right Hand
04 Instrumental
05 Baby Please Don't Go
06 Slippin' And Slidin'
07 I Hear You Knocking
08 Oh Boy
09 Maybe Baby
10 Everyday
11 Summertime Blues
w/STEVE FORBERT
12 Rave On
13 Well Alright
14 Heartbeat
15 Love's Made A Fool Of You
16 Brown Eyed Handsome Man
17 Not Fade Away

Known Faults:
-Rock'n' Roll Ruby: joined in progress
-Well Alright: first few notes cut

Welcome to Volume Thirty-Six of the "Two Of Us" Master Series.

Between 1983 and 1999 there was likely not a taper or taping duo more active than the "Two Of Us". For the better part of a decade and a half they taped over 250 artists with an array being taped multiple times.

If you collect Springsteen then you are already familiar with some of their work, "fmcleanboots" has posted a half dozen or so of their "Tunnel Of Love" tour shows but has decided to pass the baton.

What you don't know is their passion was not just for Springsteen but for music and that passion runs deep. It is astonishing how many artists they taped.

They followed tours taping club shows, theater shows, arena shows, big artists, mid-level artists and local artists. If they were following a tour and the tour had an off night they'd see who else was playing that night to tape.

Always focused on enjoyment of the show as the priority, tickets were for the most part acquired outside of the venue as they worked to obtain the best possible seats, continually trading up until the correct seats were acquired.

The results of this were the captures are uniformly excellent but on occasion the start of the show was sacrificed as a trade-off for the seats. The heavy lifting was done by the Sony WM-D6C and an external Shure Mic before moving to DAT for the last couple of years.

None of their masters have ever been circulated and have been safely stored for the past three to four decades in a climate controlled environment. Tapes transferred so far are in pristine condition.

Though we may do some mini releases of a series of shows in order for one portion of a tour for the most part shows will not be released in order, there are just too many of them.

This will be a very exciting series and we hope along the way we upgrade existing circulating audio and offer up shows that do not have any circulating audio.

We hope you enjoy the ride, this is definitely not a dark ride.

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The Original Crickets w/Steve Forbert @ The Lone Star Cafe - NYC April 28, 1987

Or

"A legendary support band that defined Rock & Roll, an artist on the skids and an E Streeter meet at the Lone Star Cafe".

Here's one of those "only in New York City" shows I thought was lost to history and we'd never hear.

In 1987 The Original Crickets played a series of shows paying tribute to Buddy Holly and their place in the development of Rock & Roll, two of those shows took place at the Lone Star Cafe in NYC.

At the same time Steve Forbert was about as low as an artist could get. After breaking on the scene with his brilliant debut LP "Alive On Arrival" and increasing his stature with the follow up and minor masterpiece "Jackrabbit Slim" that produced the Top 20 hit "Romeo's Tune" things turned quickly and his rising star fell as fast as it had risen.

His early 1980's follow up releases both failed miserably, after a falling out with his record label, he was blocked from recording for the next six years. Rolling Stone ran an article in the early 1980's titled "Hit and Myth: Searching For Steve Forbert".

Having not recorded in five years and playing the grinding club circuit to make ends meet, this was the circumstances he found himself in when The Crickets asked Steve to join them for two shows at the Lone Star Cafe playing as a de-facto Buddy Holly stand-in.

Unbeknownst to Steve at the time, E Street bassist Garry Tallent was in the audience for at least one of the shows. Approaching Forbert after the show Garry asked Steve if he had any new music and would be be interested in doing some recording. They entered the recording studio which led to a new deal with Geffen and the release of what Steve calls his second debut, the excellent "Streets Of This Town" and the chance at a second career.

Though Forbert has never hit the big time, through the musical vision of a legendary support band that defined Rock & Roll and a chance meeting with an E Street legend I believe he's done alright.

Is this a to die for performance? Probably not but, Forbert's love for Buddy Holly's music clearly comes shining through. This show was also a pleasure for me to work on being a big Holly fan myself, I was fortunate enough on business trips to check a couple of things off my Rock & Roll bucket list, visiting Buddy's final resting place in Lubbock, TX and the site of his final performance, the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. I hope enjoy this show as much as I enjoyed working on it.

Thanks to "Two Of Us" and their dedication to capturing all these great shows as well as trusting me to be the caretaker of their work. Also, a big thank you to my friend "fmcleanboots" for putting me in touch and laying the groundwork that has resulted in this release and finally to professor goody for always being "on call" to ensure we're at the correct pitch...we've only just begun to scratch the surface.

Artwork included...

mjk5510 & Two Of Us

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

Images for this show: