LEO KOTTKE

Wednesday, 14 June 2023 8:00PM

City Winery
Main Stage
25 11th Ave
New York, New York 10011
USA


FLAC master, 8 September 2023, by elegymart:
Digital audience recording (stereo) {recorded by Gene Poole}: Sony stereo one-point mic > Roland R07 (16/96) > WAV {from the Gene Poole collection} > Cool Edit Pro 2.0 (audio cleanup, convert to 16/44) > SHNtool (fixed SBE) > CD Wave (track splits) > TLH (WAV > FLAC8).
Created this text file.


Total running time [1:25:25]
-------------------------------------------------------------
01 Disco [2:16]
02 Living in the Country [3:26]
03 From Pizza Towers to Defeat [9:20]
04 Tiny Island [3:58]
05 Julie's House [6:32]
06 Four Cents [4:17]
07 Ojo [3:10]
08 Oddball [1:01] >
09 Last Steam Engine Train [7:22]
10 Wonderland by Night [3:52]
11 Twice [5:32]
12 Standing in My Shoes [3:41] >
13 Busted Bicycle [6:28]
14 Pamela Brown [3:52]
15 Crow River Waltz [6:45]
16 Gewerbegebiet [5:36]
17 Medley: June Bug / Vaseline Machine Gun [5:33]
-- encore --
18 Little Beaver [2:36]


Solo line-up:
Leo Kottke – acoustic guitar, vocals


Notes:

THE GENE POOLE COLLECTION VOL. 217

Here's the latest installment of the Gene Poole Collection, a random wellspring of recordings which surfaced during the pandemic. To paraphrase Lou: This is gonna go on for a while, so we should get used to each other, settle back, pull up your cushions, whatever else you have with you that makes life bearable in what has already been the start of trying decade...

Some of Gene's handiwork has probably been heard by your very ears before, for the most part via the Stonecutter Archives, but this is the first major unearthing of tapes direct from the legend himself. As promising as that may seem, it's best to let the surprises hit as they are shared. The trade-off to the prolific taping on Gene's part is that the expectations for a perfect track record would be unrealistic and unfair. There will be instances of incomplete recordings, caused by late arrivals to gigs, recorder and microphone malfunctions, and other assorted foibles as would befall any mortal taper. There will be times where a master from another source exists which could be superior. For the most part, Gene recorded with a variety of mics and recorders, and many shows suffered from wire dropouts, so that only one channel was extant in the capture. Due warning about the past imperfect given and out of the way, credit should be given where due as well -- for many shows thought lost forever, it's exciting to discover that many of these even in incomplete form have now cropped up.

The transfers, the audio fixes, and the research all have required some lead time -- many tapes had scant info (sometimes just the name of the artist/band, with no date listed for the performance). Needless to say, gear documentation is virtually nil -- if we wait around for that precise detail to be forthcoming, nothing from the collection would probably see the light of day.

To balance out the time-space continuum, we're resetting the wayback machine this time to the present year, to present a solo set from Leo Kottke -- last seen in these parts in Volume 109. How do you get away from Carnegie Hall and the Violent Femmes? Age.

Gene arrives at the venue with the recorder engaged after the start of the first song >sigh<. Taping for almost a half century, and the bad habits are still hard to break. The City Winery, now over in Chelsea, has a much more spacious performance stage than its former location in Hudson Square. Still, it's essentially cabaret, and the wait staff can't be bothered about the clinking of plates and wine glasses or other extraneous noises. Some of the diners are attempting to eat quietly, others less so.

Leo is in good spirits, as he approves of the new location. The classic numbers are played a little slower but no less effectively, and Leo's wit is still on point and humorous as ever. Wisdom is shared here that you won't get from Taylor Swift (that's not an opinion, just a stated fact from Leo).

Give this one a listen with the dining activity consigned as part of the ambience and you oughta be fine. The bursts of applause between numbers and the most obstreperous flatware clangs have been attentuated as much as possible without butchering the integrity of the recording. At one point it sounds like our taper and guests are given the chance to move to another table presumably closer to the stage, and there's still shifting about during the move there, but this capture is still better quality than the audio off the YouTube clips of this show, and an easier listen than Volume 109.

Enjoy,
elegymart