Grateful Dead - Frost Ampitheater - Stanford Campus April 30, 1988 & May 01, 1988
David Lindley and El Rayo-X Catalyst Theater - Rasta Cruz, Ca April 30, 1988
Three Shows in under 40 hours - Another sleepless weekend.
Wake up early, hit airport early saturday morning, from O.C. -> San Jose airport, with hopes of connecting with friends for a ride to the Frost Ampitheater.
Hook up with friends, accomplished. We arrive at the legendary Frost Ampitheater.
Some back trackin,....
Prior to this concert run, there was rumor of an FM broadcast from the college campus at Stanford. So, I came prepared with a newly purchased FM tuner by Sony, a Walkman; my other portable FM tuner was a Realistic, from the 08-87 Mtn Aire Fest., from the Angels Camp recordings. I felt that the Realistic tuner, a true analog dial tune, had channel drift ism's, based on the drift experienced at Angels Camp. So, I bought this new-fangled Sony Walkman FM tuner, as it had a step-locked "digital" tuner, that locked to each .1 step in the radio, and lockable presets, rather than landing on some looser, wandering tuning stages with the analog tuner; the Sony tuner was not truly digital, just digitally-stepped tuning.
We still experienced some channel drift, or, just plain FM isms; not bad, but not perfect either. But, what they represent is a massive part of the experience, as there were tons of DeadHeads in the Eucalyptus tree stands outside of, and around the venue, who were there, and, just intending on partying to the concert via this broadcast.
And the recordings carry a lot of heft, sonically speaking.
Upon arrival to pick me up at the airport, our friend, and host, Leigh McK., announced that he had purchased tickets to go see David Lindley, and El Rayo-X in Santa Cruz, at the Catalyst Theater, this show was after the Dead 04-30, day one.
Lee and I are rabid Lindley heads.
While fun, I knew this trip was going to be an all-dayer, and, an all-nighter, literally. And, quite correctly, the Mr. Dave set started near midnight on saturday night, 04-30
So, I decided early on, that there was no way that I was going to get through this day with the Dead, if I went up front to record, and, cover a mic stand, and, battle the crowd. So, I decided to just go with the FM broadcast recordings for this run of concerts. My compatriots in this day, they joined in, and we laid around on the lawn, inside the Frost, at the back of the OTS, and we were plugged into the FM tuner. We had the tuner on its own small mic stand, strapped to the top, with the headphone jack serving as line-out, and the cable acting as an antennae.
Reality,.. I was in the Bay area for probably 36 hours, and, attended and recorded three show in those two days.
Sleep?
Not on the 30th; no way. I might have napped on the lawn, in the Frost, on sunday, 05-01 Then, show over, dropped at airport all nasty and stinky, and home I flew on the last flight into OC airport that evening, like 10:30pm, and a taxi ride home.
Grateful Dead Frost Ampitheater 1984-30_&_05-01 - KZSU 90.1 FM Stanford Campus radio live broadcast - recorded in-house, in concert.
> This is these tapes first time into digital circulation.
I looked at LMA, and no FM's were present. So, I dug the tapes out, and, ran them through the digishizzer thingie.
I was actually looking for the Lindley recording, which I thought was from Oct. 87, during the GD Shoreline run. But, it was not that run. It was from the Frost '88 run that we also did the LIndley gig. So, finding the Lindley, caused me to look for the Dead, where I found these tapes, as of yet, not transferred to digital.
I guess its a good thing to find uncirculated GD recordings in buried boxes under the storage bed?
David Lindley and El Rayo-X - Catalyst Theater - Rasta Cruz, Ca 1988-04-30 MKE2002 AB stereo "Hat Trick"
Yep, I'm a fan. I think the guy is utterly amazing.
El Rayo-X was a rather short-lived variation on the theme of Mr. Dave. It was definitely the hard-rockin' loud version.
They were a band from around 1986->1990
I was fortunate to see them at least a half dozen times. I totally dig his variation on reggae, and, how he delivers a solid Dub. But it is not limited to his reggae. His style also consists of so many world beat styles, and, is played on those same native world stringed instruments, but, with many twists away from traditional.
Example: 5-string Banjo played with a cello bow, and like a cello, to imitate bag pipes.
This might sound annoying, but it is totally amazing to see.
And just when you think you've nailed down his style, he pulls out something else.
This band, they played in hard-drinking, hard-partying bars, with rowdy audiences. Don't expect chamber music audience ethics. This energy drove Mr. Dave. And, his theme in this, his personality, was,
Mr. Dave for President (because I'm scared shitless of G. Bush).
So, it was a crazy whirlwind adventure.
I do hope you'll enjoy!
peace love wellness
Mike
to the good stuff, below,...
good for 7 days, from now.
GD 04-30 Frost Ampitheater - Stanford KZSU 90.1 FM - First circulation
2444:
gd1988-04-30_kzsu.fm_2444/04-30.jpg and 25 more files
1644:
gd1988-04-30_kzsu.fm_1644/04-30.jpg and 25 more files
Lindley and El Rayo-X 04-30 Catalyst MKE2002 AB omni ambient stereo "Hat Trick" -> Sony WM-D6C cassette,...... yep, a whole $9.45
2444:
lindley1988-04-30_catalyst_2444split/DL1988-04-30_catalyst_mke2002_2444.ffp.txt and 22 more files
1644:
lindley1988-04-30_catalyst_1644split-sbeok/DL1988-04-30_catalyst_mke2002_1644.ffp.txt and 22 more files
GD 05-01 Frost Ampitheater - Stanford KZSU 90.1 FM - First circulation
2444:
gd1988-05-01_frost_fm_2444/05-01.jpg and 24 more files
1644:
gd1988-05-01_frost_fm_1644/05-01.jpg and 24 more files