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

Propagandhi- Gilman St. 1995

Last Friday and Saturday night, Winnipeg's West End Cultural Centre celebrated it's 25th anniversary with a pair of shows featuring several prominent Manitoba performers. On Saturday, over a dozen performers took the stage to play covers by other Manitoba singers or bands. The sold out show on Friday night featured local punk icons, Propagandhi who kicked off the celebrations with their usual brand of intense hardcore punk/thrash/metal-core sound. The WECC has seen a wide array of acts over the years, everything from rock to country, folk and punk, practically every style of music and since it's not a bar often shows are all-ages, offering kids, adults and old people a place to watch and listen to music. The venue is a comfortable size (300-350-ish?), the sound is always good and the semi-recently renovated lobby makes for a clean and friendly venue to see a concert. It ranks up there as my favourite live music venue in the city.

Recently, I've been transferring some of my live shows on cassette to the computer, so I thought it would be good timing to share an early Propagandhi show from Gilman St. in Berkeley from 1995. I received this tape back in my tape trading days in the early-late 90's, but I noticed recently it might have been the same show as a bootleg that was released in 1999, titled, Curse of The MTV Punks. I'm almost positive I had this cassette a few years before the bootleg came out. The sound is great, probably a soundboard recording and the show is intense with the band at their confrontational best.

both photos by Chris Bellew

Here are the reasons this recording is essential to any Propagandhi or Winnipeg music fan:

• John K. Samson (pre-Weakerthans) is in the band and plays bass. This is the earliest live recording I have of Samson who leaves the band in 1996 to form the Weakerthans. This recording is historic for this reason alone, but also gives us a listen to one of the songs he penned, Gifts with Samson on lead vocals. It's apparent that Samson's songs didn't really fit the sound and musical direction of Propagandhi and these musical differences are what prompted Samson to split from the band.
• The crowd baiting and political rants by the band are met with much hostility with fans spitting and screaming at the band. They even allow members of the audience to participate in an "open mike" to vent their hate and anger towards the band. I must admit despite the threats and craziness, the members of Propagandhi (mainly Chris Hannah) hold it together, they push the envelope, but don't let it get out of hand. Man, these guys are brave, cocky as hell, and they get their message out to their audience (fans) without any compromise...gotta admire them. There's more talk, than rock, but it's entertaining and at times scary!

In the most recent issue of Exclaim magazine (a free giveaway paper in Canada), there's an excellent "timeline" article about Propagandhi. The story tracks the band year by year from their forming in 1986 to the present with the release of their new album, Failed States. A well written, detailed article with much information I didn't know. Read it here @ exclaim.ca.
Enjoy!


PROPAGANDHI
Gilman St.
Berkeley, CA
June 17, 1995
soundboard
(tranferred from my cassette copy)

01. Apparently, I'm A P.C. Fascist
02. Nailing Descartes To The Wall (Liquid meat is murder)
03. ...And We Thought That Nation-States Were A Bad Idea
04. Less Talk, More Rock
05. Middle Finger Response
06. Resisting Tyrannical Government (It's dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it)
07. Gifts / open mike
08. America Rules
09. Stick The Fucking Flag Up Your Goddamn Ass, You Sonofabitch
10. Mutual Friend

PROPAGANDHI- 1995-06-17 Gilman St. FLAC. rar