Tape Talk - Yes, I Love Technology

Vids Part One, “Yes, I love technology”

Thanks to those enterprising students and budding techies of long ago who got their hands on early video gear to make these great tapes. Here’s a survey of what’s available in terms of early concert footage (not TV broadcast).

The earliest known footage (not video in this case) of TH was shot by Ivan Kral at CBGB’s in mid-1975, probably during the “CB’s Rock Festival” that summer, for his film “Blank Generation”. The silent footage has dubbed-over live audio of Psycho Killer and First Week Last Week Carefree(with Chris heard on vibes).

Thanks to Metropolis Video  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_Video  there’s excellent early TH video tape, mainly a 33-minute segment from either October or December 1975, some of which was used for Chronology. Here’s a track:

On January 26^th 1977, both early & late shows at Syracuse University’s Jabberwocky were video-taped by Synapse, a student-run production company. The shows were taped onto half-inch open video reels. So far, the only surviving part to circulate is audio from reel #2 (part of the early show). Here's hoping the video surfaces someday…

So far, no complete video from 1977 has circulated. We’re patiently waiting for the apocryphal January 1977 video from Toronto to see the light of day! Here’s a photo from the first week of March 1977 at CBGB’s, Jerry’s first official gigs as a member. Note the guy up front taping video.

A crew of NYU students recorded both audio & video of all three nights, but it’s not clear what became of all that footage. Here’s a montage video showing different versions of Psycho Killer over the years 1975 thru 1982. Buried inside are bits from March 1977 at CBGB's. Would be lovely to see this not all chopped up!

Video shot at TH performance at the Kitchen, March 13th 1976. Stylish duds & Chris on vibes!

Here’s a pic of TH playing on one the very first public access cable shows, “TV Party” from the artist collective Cable Soho, in autumn or late 1976. Hopefully this video survives somewhere…

Brian Eno was quite the taper, having recorded TH at the Rock Garden when he first saw them, plus other shows. Eyewitnesses placed him at the mixing board for the show at My Father’s Place on May 10th, 1978. It’s a good guess that he had something to do with making video tape of that show.

The shows at Entermedia Center (Lower East Side NYC) were taped for a short TH promotion video. The tape comes from the first night, August 10th. This is an early MTV-style documentary, with great musical performances, but also some priceless late-70’s crowd commentary…