Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Mr. T Experience At Gilman St. 1990


In my early days of tape trading I came across some great collections of live shows. I didn't have a lot to trade in exchange so I was lucky enough to connect with traders that were willing to sell me tapes for the minimum cost of a blank tape and postage paid. Some traders were also willing to do a "2 for 1" where you would send two blanks for the show I wanted, they would fill one and send back, while the other tape is for them as compensation for their time. This was a fabulous way to build a collection to trade with others and around the same time I began to record concerts broadcast on the radio and I got some recording equipment to tape local shows. I later discovered that the shows I recorded were of value and very tradable because they were masters and I would be trading the first generation and on top of that they were pretty rare since I haven't seen many (if any) other recording from shows I attended. 

A couple of my first trade partners were based in the Bay area and I acquired several shows from bands from that region and in the surrounding area. One of the most popular venues in the scene was 924 Gilman St, an all-ages, non profit collectively organized music club. At this time the club mainly featured punk rock bands NOT on major labels. Many of the bands that played there have gone onto bigger prominence and yes, major labels. Some of the more well known bands include, Green Day, The Offspring, AFI, Jawbreaker, Fugazi, Sleater-Kinney, Born Against, Against Me and the Mr. T Experience. Through these traders, I acquired a good amount of shows from Gilman St. which hopefully I'll share in upcoming posts.

Today's featured recording comes from the Mr. T Experience. It's a personal favourite of mine and it's another recording I freshly transferred from cassette. This was recorded when the band was a four-piece when Jon Von was still in the band. Though I have only seen MTX as a trio, the stage presence and banter between Dr. Frank and Jon Von is priceless, with Jon Von usually in the comedy relief role. I'm always on the lookout for more shows when Jon Von was in the band, which seem to be harder to come across and fortunately I have a few more recordings on tape to share, both pre and post Jon Von. This recording from Gilman St. has excellent sound and most likely it's from the soundboard (listen to the soundboard  "tape change" during Up And Down). A fun and enjoyable show, the band is top notch! Stay tuned for more.
Enjoy!

MR. T EXPERIENCE
Gilman St.
Berkeley, CA
December 15, 1990

soundboard (?)

01. Intro
02. What Went Wrong
03. What's In The Cuckoo Clock
04. History Of The Concept Of The Soul
05. End Of The Ramones
06. Love American Style
07. Velveeta
08. She's No Rocket Scientist
09. Last Time I Listened To you
10. Pig Latin
11. Up And Down
12. Make-Up
13. Psycho Girl
14. Sex Offender
15. Zero
16. So Long Sucker

MR. T EXPERIENCE- 1990-12-15 Gilman St., Berkeley, CA FLAC. rar

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