Minutemen
The Stone
San Francisco, CA
1985-03-01 (Thursday)
MYTP 26
Source: SBD > Sony D5M > Cassette Master > CD
Cassette > Digital Transfer: Mike Singal
Original extraction (Mike Singal): CD > EAC v0.99 prebeta 4 (secure mode) > WavMerge 2.1 > DCWAV 1.97 > Audacity 1.2.6 > FLAC 8 / Align SBE
Rerelease extraction: CD > rubyripper 0.8 (cdparanoia secure rip, cdrdoa TOC) > FLAC
Processing: Audacity (level adjusts, soft limit -0.1db to remove clipping, gap fixes, splits) > FLAC 8 > acxi (tagging, checksums, FLAC data)
Recorded, preserved, shared by micgram
Release processing by teetering
FLAC: 16/44.1 (2 channels)
Quality: 3/4 (17khz, very good, some cuts/gaps, level issues)
Time: 46:54.07
Size: 302.5 MiB
Average kb/s: 902
Tracks: 23
Setlist:
01. //King Of The Hill
02. Retreat >
03. Toadies >
04. The Big Foist
05. Corona (aka "Jackass" theme)
06. Take Our Test
07. Hey Lawdy Mama (Steppenwolf) >
08. Mr. Robot's Holy Orders >
09. Don't Look Now (Creedence)
10. Ack Ack Ack (The Urinals) >
11. Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love (Van Halen) >
12. Beacon Sighted Through Fog >
13. The Only Minority
14. Badges
15. The Cheerleaders
16. Green River (Creedence)
17. This Ain't No Picnic
18. History Lesson - Part II
19. Little Man With A Gun In His Hand >
20. Tour Spiel
Encore:
21. encore applause >
22. The Red And The Black// (Blue Oyster Cult)
23. //Lost//* (Meat Puppets)
* with Kurt Kirkwood (of the Meat Puppets, who played right before them).
Band:
D. Boon - guitar, vocals
Mike Watt - bass, vocals
George Hurley - drums
Recording notes:
* King Of The Hill start missing, small pop where recorder was turned on.
* Levels inconsistent around 0:00-25. This would be Mike adjusting the recording levels I assume.
* Small pop around 3:00. It's possible the recorder was turned off briefly, then turned on, because the next song starts somewhat abruptly.
* There is what sounds like a fadeout/in gap at around 23:47, but it's not too noticeable.
* Levels spiked up at around 41:25-45, significant clipping at ~41:40. Probably another board issue, like we saw on Meat Puppets MYTP 25.
* Very end of The Red And The Black is cut off, and the start and end of Lost is cut off. I'm going to guess the tape ran out. There may have been another song as well, but no way to know.
Processing notes:
* Tiny fadein on King of the Hill, cleaned up recorder start pop.
* Smoothed levels at 0:00-25.
* Smoothed out pop at 3:00.
* Shortened gap at 23:48.
* Adjusted levels at 41:25-45 to soften level spikes.
* Fade out cut at end of The Red And The Black, shortened gap between the cuts, fade in cut off start of Lost, fade out cut off end.
Notes:
* See included flyer from 1985-03-02, UCLA, it's an SST tour! Husker Du, Minutemen (MYTP 26), Meat Puppets (MYTP 25), Saccharine Trust, and SWA. Those would be the 5 bands playing this night. No flyer from this night, sorry.
* "Now here's a song our dad's wrote..." (breaks into CCR's Green River).
* This set features songs from their recently released SST album "Double Nickels On The Dime".
* Saccharine Trust was also mining these jazzier waters, in fact, Joe Baiza, Saccharine Trust's guitar player, went on to form a fairly out there punk/jazz group, Universal Congress Of. In other words, this bill made a lot of sense.
* The Minutemen are very tight tonight, while technically most of the songs don't directly merge into eachother, there is so little time between them that they might as well be almost continuous.
* Fun fact: CCR's Green River was about Putah Creek, by Winters, CA, not a river in the south. Putah Creek was and remains notoriously algae filled, thus, 'Green' River. Winters is about 60 miles from San Francisco, off I-80.
* This show would be about 9 1/2 months before D. Boon's untimely passing.
* Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/artist/28963-Minutemen
"The Minutemen were a band from San Pedro, California, formed in 1980 by childhood friends Dennes "D." Boon (vocals, guitar) and Mike Watt (bass, vocals) following the break-up of their previous band, The Reactionaries. Although technically considered a punk rock band, the group frequently added elements of funk and jazz into their songs and would also incorporate classic rock covers into their records and live sets, most notably covering Steely Dan, Van Halen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Blue Öyster Cult (the latter two were huge influences on a young Boon and Watt). The band was known for the brevity of their songs, freeing them from solos, choruses, breakdowns, and fade-outs. Also, D. Boon was known for his very trebly guitar tone, believing in a "democratic" sound, in which all instruments would sound distinct and be equally represented."
* Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minutemen_(band)
"Following Starstruck's disbandment, Boon and Watt met drummer George Hurley and formed The Reactionaries with vocalist Martin Tamburovich.
...
After the Reactionaries disbanded, Boon and Watt formed Minutemen in January 1980. Watt has said their name had nothing at all to do with the brevity of their songs; rather, it was derived partly from the fabled minutemen militia of colonial times and partly to lampoon a right-wing reactionary group of the 1960s that went by that name. In the documentary We Jam Econo, Watt also states that the name was a play on "minute" (/maɪˈnjuːt/ my-NEWT). After a month with no drummer, during which Boon and Watt wrote their first songs, the band rehearsed and played a couple of early gigs with local welder Frank Tonche on drums. The group had originally wanted George Hurley to join, but he had joined a hardcore punk band called Hey Taxi! with Michael Ely and Spider Taylor after the Reactionaries disbanded. Tonche quit the group, citing a dislike of the audience the band initially drew, and Hurley took over as drummer in June 1980. (Early rehearsal recordings with Tonche on drums later became the georgeless EP.) Their first live gig was as an opening band for Black Flag.
...
Greg Ginn of Black Flag and SST Records produced Minutemen's first 7" EP, Paranoid Time, which solidified their eclectic style. Like most punk bands at the time, the band sold the EP at their shows and at a few local record stores. It became a minor hit with the hardcore scene.[5]
They settled on their music style on their first LP, The Punch Line (1981), and toured constantly around America promoting the album. Their third EP and fourth overall release was Bean-Spill. Their second LP, What Makes a Man Start Fires?, gained attention from the alternative and underground press.[citation needed] They continued touring extensively, which included a double bill with Black Flag in Europe. This tour strengthened their place as one of the most well-known acts in the hardcore scene.[citation needed] In 1983 they released their third LP, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat.
Minutemen's anti-rockist eclecticism was perhaps best exemplified on 1984's double album Double Nickels on the Dime.[original research?] Though still somewhat obscure to mainstream audiences, Double Nickels has been cited as one of the more innovative and enduring albums of the 1980s American rock underground.[citation needed] On Double Nickels, they co-wrote some songs with other musicians, notably Henry Rollins, Chuck Dukowski, and Joe Baiza. In 1985 they released their most commercial-sounding recording, Project: Mersh. Though the album sounded more mainstream, it sold poorly compared to Double Nickels due largely to the negative reaction to such a commercial album from within the underground community.
...
On December 22, 1985, Boon was killed in a van accident, putting an end to Minutemen.
...
Following Boon's death, Watt and Hurley originally intended to quit music altogether. But encouraged by Minutemen fan Ed Crawford, they formed fIREHOSE in 1986 and have both formed solo projects since Minutemen disbanded."
* On Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation (1989), there's a very poignant moment where they simply play a recorded phone answering machine message left to one of Sonic Youth from D. Boon. A quiet homage, quite touching once you realize who it is, and why they are using that recording.
* About SST Records:
https://www.discogs.com/label/9335-SST-Records
"SST Records is a record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by Greg Ginn. It was originally an electronics company called SST (Solid State Tuners) Electronics (one of the employees was Black Flag's bassist Chuck Dukowski); Ginn converted it to a record label so he could release Black Flag's Nervous Breakdown EP. The label was a prominent figure in the L.A. punk scene around 1980 and 1981, releasing more albums by Black Flag as well as Minutemen, Descendents, and Stains), and has since remained a major symbol of the city's underground culture. SST quickly branched out in its early years to release albums by bands outside of the southern California area, notably Soundgarden, Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, Bad Brains, and others."
* About the Stone clubs:
The Keystone Berkeley, The Stone (San Francisco), and Keystone Palo Alto were all linked somewhat.
Keystone Corner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Korner
Keystones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_(Berkeley,_California)
- Keystone Korner (750 Vallejo Street, SF) was jazz club in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, which opened in 1972 and continued operation until 1983. Many live recordings were made at the club. Jessica Williams was the house pianist for a number of years. Keystone Korner's Freddie Herrera opened Keystone Berkeley (2119 University Avenue, Berkeley, less than 1 block away from UC Berkeley campus), a larger venue, then sold the Keystone Korner to Todd Barkan. The Keystone Berkeley closed in 1984.
- Keystone Palo Alto, at 260 California Avenue, opened 20 January 1977. The Keystone Palo Alto closed in 1986. The club became the Vortex in the mid-1980s, then The Edge in 1989, and closed in April 2000 to be remade into a restaurant, finally as Illusions, a restaurant and nightclub. The building was at various times during the last 50 years, a Purity Market, a Natural food store, a German restaurant, called the Zinzanatti Oom Pah Pah Lounge, a club called Sophies, it then was demolished in October 2013.
- Marty Balin's Matrix at 3138 Fillmore Street closed in early 1971. Peter Abram, along with John Barsotti and Dave Martin, re-opened the club at 412 Broadway, previously Mr D's in late summer 1973 but it was not really a success. The New York Dolls played September 4-6. Bob Marley and The Wailers played October 19-20, October 29-30. Iggy and The Stooges, The Tubes and Sugardaddy played Halloween 1973.
412 Broadway, San Francisco, then hosted the play Bullshot Crummond, then, from 1980 to 1990 it was The Stone, later it was the home of Broadway Showgirls Cabaret.
Terry Hammer: The Stone was only about as big as the Old Waldorf I think,but, it had a high stage compared to the Old Waldorf or Mab. Also the Stone was like the Old Waldorf in that it also had tables & chairs. the bar was on the right when you came in the door.
[Note that The Stone (SF) was basically right across the street from the Mabuhay Gardens, and I used to look at all the hippies lining up to see the Garcia Band play one of their endless gigs there. while hanging out outside the Mab I've frequently wished I could get a time machine and tell young teetering to just once skip that night's punk show at the Mab, and check out the stuff across the street.]
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No distribution in lossy formats!!
No selling!!
No bootlegging!!
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 MYTP releases and keep it seeded for as long as you can, particularly the lesser known groups. That will really help out long term.
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About Michael Young and the MYTP:
Michael: "I lived in the bay area 1980-92. Being a Deadhead I had a lot of friends who recorded shows, so when I got a nice Sony D5M (in 83, I think it was) I would bring it with me to the Mabuhay Gardens and On Broadway and other places as well. I would ask the sound man if I could plug in and they usually said yes. I did this mostly in 1984 a few in 85. My first punk show was in my hometown of Philadelphia at a place called the Hot Club in 1978. I was hooked on the high energy and the fun of slamming around... I think my first SF hardcore punk show was Flipper at Kezar Pavilion in May of '81. I might have seen some other bands around town before that but that one sticks out for sure."
[teetering: I was also at that Kezar TG/Flipper show. Flipper was great that night.]
TECH:
Michael used a Sony D5M portable cassette recorder, plugged into the soundboard outs, to record most of these shows. This was for the time a very expensive unit, with some advanced features, which probably accounts for why these recordings are so good in general.
* D5M manual: https://transom.org/wp-content/uploads/2005/02/om.tcd5m.pdf
* About D5M: https://transom.org/2005/sony-tc-d5m/
All metal, reliable, simple, and fixable, it runs on two D-cells
* More on the D5M: https://www.cassettedeck.org/sony/tc-d5m
This Sony TC-D5M is a stereo cassette deck with Dolby B noise reduction, it was first sold by Sony in 1979 with a recommended retail price of USD $680 [about $2500 in today's dollars] and discontinued a year later.
The main features of the Sony TC-D5M are: 2 heads, mechanical 3 digit tape counter, manual tape type selection and capable of handling normal, chrome, ferro-chrome and metal tapes, belt driven single-capstan transport.
Typical of this deck is the 70's top loading layout with the cassette compartiment located on the left side of the deck. Tape eject is operated mechanically and the cassette needs to be placed with the side to be played facing forward in the cassette well.
Level meters used on the TC-D5M are analog needle VU reading meters. Mechanical transport controls for reliable TC-D5M transport function selection.
The Dolby-B system reduces tape hiss on tapes recorded on the TC-D5M by as much as 10 dB at the highest frequencies. The 19kHz multiplex pilot slgnal present in FM stereo broadcasts can cause false triggering of the noise reduction system. The switchable MPX filter of the TC-D5M filters out the pilot signal, and assuring proper Dolby processing of FM stereo programs.
To make live recordings this deck has 2 microphone inputs to connect microphones with a jack connector.
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- teetering