First let me tell you about this momentous day - then we'll discuss the recording itself.
How Ted pulled this off, I can only imagine. All I know is that at some point during the summer of 1990, after only playing a grand total of two gigs together (Southampton, and Lauterbachs), a full two and a half live broadcast of Life Out Of Balance was to be our next public performance. I don't remember much about when this materialized - or about preparing for the show. I remember Brother Nick Capozzi (no relation to Billy Capozzi, but Nick is a relation to Brother Bill Capozzi......I know it gets confusing.....there were two William Capozzis known to us, and a Nicholas to boot)...anyways, I remember Brother Nick coming to the Rocky Point Studio and recording an interview with us. I remember Nick really grooving to our stuff, and particularly digging Frank's playing. ("He could be one of the greats" were his exact words, delivered in solemn sincerity). I also remember the reporter who wrote the above article, Kathy Esseks, coming to the studio and interviewing us. That was a weird day - Frank and I decided to pop mushrooms in our mouths beforehand, don't ask me why - so he and I were useless and left all the talking to Ted & Hubie, which was probably for the best anyway! I also remember Ted handling tons of logistics with the radio station.
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| Newsday, August 1, 1990 |
We decided to structure the show like the Southampton gig a few months before: an electric set, an acoustic set, and another electric set. In between the electric set and the acoustic set, we'd take a break and they'd run the pre-recorded interview Nick had done with us. The broadcast was to begin at 9pm and end at 11:30. Two and a half hours with Life Out Of Balance. Wasn't Suffolk County lucky!
On top of that (or should I say, at the bottom of the flyer...above!), a daytime gig was added for 4:00 pm, downstairs in the Student Union. This had a few benefits: we would be warmed up, and also we could perhaps attract audience members to come upstairs and attend the broadcast. Most bands would scoff at playing a show before they had to play a 2 1/2 hour radio broadcast; we, on the other hand, were psyched! Might as well get another gig under our belts before taking to the airwaves!
All I remember about this daytime show is that it was a big stage, that we played "Sailing", and that this is where Dave Engelhardt and future LOOB member Lawrence Krauser first saw us. Dave tells me that we opened with "Don't Let Me Down", and that sounds about right! We'd usually use that as a soundcheck song, and then launch into our show.
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| Setting up for the radio broadcast. I still have that china cymbal which is heard on practically every LOOB recording! |
I'm not going to say much about what happened from here on in, since Kathy Esseks' article gives a really thorough account of what happened both onstage (or, in this case, onfloor!) and behind-the-scenes technical difficulties. Kathy must have been bounding from room to room, because it seems as though she didn't miss a thing that was going on that night! The short story is that moments before 9pm, when the broadcast was to begin, the radio engineer lost all sound from the soundboard (in the room we were performing in) and had to do a last minute/second repatching of cables and what not....and had to do the mix on the fly, even though we had soundchecked everything.The results of this would impact the mix that went over the airways and, by extension, the recording; more on this later.
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The broadcast begins.
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| Click to enlarge: A view of the audience reveals future LOOB member Lawrence standing right in the middle with his hands on his hips, behind him is future LOOB member Steve Goodman. In front of Lawrence, looking fabulous as usual, old friend Leighton Coleman. Other audience members include LOOB's good friend, and later publicist, Jim Giargiana, I see my Pops Goodman sitting behind Leighton, I also see my high school music teacher and two classmates - they had been driving and happened to catch the beginning of the broadcast. Hearing my voice, they said "That sounds like Michael!", and drove right to the station. I also see Jaime Russell. I'm sure I'm missing people, for instance I know Stephen Marchese was there!
What I remember about the electric sets is that we couldn't hear ourselves very well. Looking at the above photo, I don't see any monitors. But what could we do? We were live on the radio. Some songs went over well, some were near-train wrecks, to our mortification! But we did have an enthusiastic audience - that was drenched in sweat. Talking to my Pop recently (he was in attendance), he definitely remembered it being super hot and humid. More about this in the Kathy Esseks article.
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| Getting ready for the acoustic set. Other than the newspaper photo (with view of audience), all of these pics were taken by Lawrence. |
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| Ted shortly before performing "Windstorm" |
After the acoustic set, we played an exhausting second set in the sweltering room.
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| Brother Nick and Brother Bill Capozzi after the broadcast - these guys were/are great on the air. |
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| Packing up after the show |
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| Post-show, Ted talking with Dave Engelhardt. My guess is that Dave just asked Ted what's next for the band... |
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| Future LOOB member Steve Goodman photographed by future LOOB member Lawrence Krauser! |
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| Waiting in the parking lot for us to come down - Steve, Lisa, Dave, photographed by Lawrence |
"Ha! I remember that show, it was milestone in my life - the very first day i saw LOOB! Dave Engelhardt and i drove out to see you guys. Were totally floored. Fucking exhilarating music made by the loveliest people (little did i know what monsters lurked within) (SMILEY FACE BUT NO RETRACTION). Loved it, loved it. For me this was the Golden Age of LOOB, the apotheosis of its purest incarnation, the magical Hellenic moment before Frank quit and i entered the picture like some raging inbred Roman parliament member running rampant over your glorious harmonies . . . But this Stonybrook day- a wonderful day. We'd seen the afternoon show - totally great - and then this radio broadcast - i remember a very intimate setting, small room, a real sense of you guys as people, up close . . . this was the set that clinched it, my heart was lost to y'all. Love at first hear, that day. Almost afraid to listen to it, a bit teary i feel!"
Beautifully said (though I think he's being a little hard on himself!)
Lawrence says he's almost afraid to listen to it....he may have a point there....
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| This tape does not exist |
THE RECORDING
I must have had a copy of this show at some point but I don't have it now. Maybe one of you has it? What I do have is a highlights tape that we used as a demo. Ted must have/had reels or a DAT or some master tape. I also have Tape 2 of the above recording, the end of the show. Our old friend Cindar (Cindy Mistler) taped this off the air. The first tape was I believe lost or destroyed in a car accident involving a deer. I personally have never heard the interview Brother Nick did with us. The second tape, however, was in the LOOB box. Unfortunately, aside from the static, the sound mix is horrible, and we're a little off. Because they had to repatch everything on the fly, moments before the broadcast began, we couldn't hear ourselves, and there is all this effects that gets put on our voices intermittently. We do (in my opinion) not particularly good versions of "Sailing" or "Island Music", both pretty long songs, and we blow the changes on other songs as well. "I'm So Tired" and "Gimme Fun" are the only exceptional numbers, and they are included on the "highlights" demo. So.....enjoy the highlights.........but don't get your hopes up about the last set!
Hopefully, the first half will materialize....someone's got to have it! I want to hear that "Return Britain"!
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| Other than a few songs that were used as our demo, only the end of the show has survived - and that wasn't necessarily the best part of the show! |
WUSB radio concert, Stony Brook University, 8/3/90 (highlights/end of show)
WUSB radio promo
Wintertime
What You Say
Windstorm
Babaloo
I Know Your Name
Sailing
Island Music
Spotlight Shining
Beating A Dead Horse
Gimme Fun
I'm So Tired
post-show interview
Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal, percussion
Frank Russell - guitar, vocal, percussion
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal, acoustic guitar, percussion
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal, percussion, cuartro
Brother Nick & Brother Bill Capozzi - hosts
Live Mix - Don Fisher
Radio mix - Rich Koch
There are two recordings being used: one is a pristine copy that Ted used as a demo, the other is the taped-off-the-air cassette from Cindy, only the last part of the show surviving. Included in the zipped folder are two versions of "Gimme Fun" and "I'm So Tired", one from each tape.
download here:
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| NY Times 8/3/90 |
