Nico w/ Lutz Ulbrich - 1979-06-01, Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco, CA - AUD - CHTP 1
Nico w/ Lutz Ulbrich
Mabuhay Gardens
San Francisco, CA
1979-06-01 (Friday)
CHTP Release 1
Recording: Panasonic mono portable cassette recorder > Maxell UD 120-minute cassette
Archival Process: Vintage JVC cassette deck (Maxell UD 120-minute Mastercassette) > 17" MacBook Pro > Audio Hijack to capture the audio in uncompressed mono .aiff (768 Kbps, 16 bits) and 48000 Hz PCM, then passed through Fission to separate the tracks without edits, and then through xACT from .aiff to .flac.
Dime release processing: AIFF Master Files > Audacity (slight cleanups; export 16 bit FLAC 8) > tagging, cover artwork, checksums.
Recorded, preserved, and master AIFF files provided by: Clay Holden
This is the first time this Mono Master tape recording has ever been shared or released.
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Setlist:
01. Genghis Khan > Procession
02. Femme Fatale
03. I'll Keep It With Mine
04. All Tomorrow's Parties
05. Henry Hudson
06. No One Is There
07. Abschied > applause
08. Child's Christmas In Wales > applause
09. Secret Side > applause
Encore:
10. Das Lied der Deutschen > outro applause
Length: 50:56
Band:
Nico (Christa Päffgen) - vocals, harmonium
Lutz Ulbrich - guitar
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Comments (Clay Holden):
This was recorded on a cheap (but very trusty) mono Panasonic cassette recorder that I purchased in late 1977 for $65; it had no microphone limiter, so the recordings that I made using the built-in contact microphone didn't suffer from noise compression at all.
The downside of this is that some of the recordings I made are incredibly over-amped, but this doesn't happen to be one of them.
The upside is that there is no compression, audience response is at the same level as the performance itself, and there is very little noise, despite this tape being 41 years old.
In the case of this recording, it was the second time Nico performed at the Mabuhay Gardens within a week, and interestingly landed on June 1st, 1974, five years to the day after the recording with Kevin Ayers, John Cale and Brian Eno, which was released as "June 1st, 1974", with Nico performing "Das Lied der Deutschen".
I had recorded the performance on May 28th, and taken both color and B&W photos, several prints of which I brought with me to this show, which was announced only one day before the event, and which I was very lucky to be able to attend.
Having been largely un-promoted, the crowd this night was considerably smaller than the one on the 28th, and Nico performed a considerably shorter set.
Fortunately, this made her more accessible to approach by audience members during the evening, and I was able to show her some pictures I had taken at the earlier performance.
"When were these taken?", she asked me. "Last year?"
I told her they had been taken the previous week.
"I guess I must still look okay then..." she replied.
This is the complete performance. It actually sounds much cleaner than the earlier show, mostly because it was recorded on a better tape: a Maxell UD 120-minute cassette.
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Notes:
* We missed the split between Genghis Khan and Procession.
* Nico (born Christa Päffgen, b. 1938-10-16). RIP 1988-07-18
* Nico discogs: hxxps://www.discogs.com/artist/158676-Nico-3
* About Nico: hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico
"Nico.. was a[n Austrian] [not German as wikipedia states] singer, songwriter, musician, model, and actress. She had roles in several films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966).
At the insistence of Warhol, she sang on three songs of the Velvet Underground's debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967). At the same time, she started a solo career and released Chelsea Girl. Nico's friend Jim Morrison suggested that she start writing her own material. She then composed songs on a harmonium, not traditionally a rock instrument; John Cale became her musical arranger and produced The Marble Index, Desertshore, The End... and other subsequent albums.
In the 1980s, she toured extensively in Europe, United States, Australia and Japan. After a concert in Berlin in June 1988, she went on holiday in Ibiza to rest and died as the result of a cycling accident."
* If you are a Nico fan, the film "Nico Icon" is well worth your time to watch if you've never seen it.
* This performance came five years after the famous show with Kevin Ayers, John Cale and Eno. Shorter than the show four nights earlier (which [Clay] also recorded, and fortunately copied for someone who preserved and shared it [on dime] in much better shape than my original tape).
* Just her solo on harmonium for the first half, then Lutz Ulbrich joining her on guitar for the second half both nights.
* Lutz Ulbrich discogs: hxxps://www.discogs.com/artist/107936-Lutz-Ulbrich
"German singer, guitarist, songwriter, composer and actor
born November 30, 1952, in Berlin-Charlottenburg "
* Lutz Ulbrich, who played with Ash Ra, formerly Ash Ra Tempel, ended up being the one to take care of her gravesite after she died. Here's the Wikipedia page for AshRa: hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashra_(band).
* From Krautrock: hxxps://krautrock.fandom.com/wiki/Lutz_Ulbrich
"Lutz Ulbrich is a German multi-instrumentalist most famous for his work with Ash Ra Tempel and Ashra. He also records under the name Lüül."
* A transfer from the master mono tape of the 1979-05-28 show may also be released if the transfer works.
* Includes Mab gig flyer + Clay's photos of this evening, both very large original master quality, and 2000px slightly smaller versions.
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About Clay Holden:
Clay was an avid photographer of the scene during this era. Some of his photos were published in RE/Search publications and ZigZag magazine. Bands he photographed range from Throbbing Gristle (who included one of his photos as a band poster in '20 Jazz-Funk Greats'), to Cabaret Voltaire to Nico to The Sleepers.
He also took many photos of the Ramones, including one Dee Dee kept on his wall the rest of his life, and which Dee Dee's wife Vera King used as the back-cover to her bio "Poisoned Heart". Joey Ramone said about Clay's photos: "These are like the best pictures of us I've ever seen. It totally looks like World War II!"
Additionally, he took many photos of Tex & The Horseheads, Mark Pauline & SRL shows, Factrix jamming with Cabaret Voltaire on Halloween, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Lou Reed, Lita Ford, Twisted Sister (good lord!), Half Church, The Start (nee The Roommates) and even a post-Sleepers/pre-Sleepers Sleepers line-up with Roz from Negative Trend on vocals (while Ricky was singing with Flipper).
Wherever possible his photos, with his permission, are also used in these releases.
He recorded a variety of shows from this era using a remarkably effective Panasonic $65 portable mono cassette recorder.
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No distribution in lossy formats!!
No selling!!
No bootlegging!!
Yes sharing. Definitely share.
All photos: © 1979 Clay Holden, with permission granted for NON-COMMERCIAL sharing here.
All photos are distributed under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (share, noncommercial use, no-derivative works) license:
Plain text: hxxps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Legal: hxxps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode
Please correct any errors or oversights in this information in the comments section so the information can be as accurate as possible.
If you can find related materials like flyers, posters, ticket stubs, etc, please add them in a comment and I will add them to the main release folder, so that can be included on the next re-seeding. Every bit is welcome.
Please make an effort to pick at least one of these CHTP releases and keep it seeded for as long as you can. That will really help out long term.
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About Dirk Dirksen and the Mabuhay Gardens/On Broadway:
Dirk Dirksen (RIP 2006), aka 'The Pope of Punk', was the music promotor and MC (but really more accurately, the impresario) of the Mabuhay Gardens/On Broadway punk clubs. Dirk was an incredibly interesting, sharp-witted, biting, cutting element of the original San Francisco punk scene. His legendary introductions and post set commentaries are preserved in many of these recordings. Dirk was a nephew of United States Senator Everett Dirksen.
Shows at the Mabuhay started probably in 1977. The On Broadway was an upstairs night club right next to the Mabuhay that opened in summer 1981 and closed 1984.
The Mabuhay Gardens was originally a Filipino night club/restaurant run by Ness Aquino (RIP). One fateful day he was approached by Jerry Paulsen, who offered to try to fill the club on slow nights (Monday/Tuesday) with punk shows. Dirk took the booking and MC duties over from Jerry, and the rest, as they say, is history.
"...deliberately baiting and trading insults with audience and band members, which had the effect of raising the energy of audience and performers alike. In order to maintain the show's fast pace, he would move past an encore to get to the next band and tell the audience, "Eat it." Dirksen's abrasive persona (which was largely a performance) was a central part of the atmosphere of the Mabuhay.
...
Dirksen was the sole person responsible for connecting the English punk rockers with those in the United States. By creating an exchange program, punk bands for England and NY came to the Mabuhay and vice versa, staying in each city performing a few nights at a time."
"He believed in theatre and group participation that's why he was sarcastic. He wanted to get a rise in people and get them to participate. He was a really nice person if you got to know him." (Terry Hammer, of the THTP series)
Dirk was also active with the organization H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers), the organization started by Kathy Peck of the Contractions (also part of this THTP series).
It was hard to really know how diverse his interests were until I went to his memorial service in San Francisco, where his punk friends and connections were only a fraction of the people who spoke in his memory. He was involved in various charities, the Mission Recreation Center, the list was quite large.
Wikepedia: hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabuhay_Gardens
Wikipedia: hxxps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Dirksen
SF Gate obituary: hxxps://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Dirk-Dir ... 466523.php
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Nico w/ Lutz Ulbrich - 1979-06-01, Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco, CA - AUD - CHTP 1
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Re: Nico w/ Lutz Ulbrich - 1979-06-01, Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco, CA - AUD - CHTP 1
So, where is the link of the torrent?