Michael Hedges
20 Mar 81
Singer's Alley
Ellicott City, MD
Michael performs on the first day of Spring. This show was at a very early
date in his career and before Windham Hill had signed him. Guitar luthier
Ken DuBourg, maker of one of Michael's guitars heard on this recording and
on his studio albums, is in the audience.
01 - Silent Anticipations
02 - Baby Toes
03 - Captain Kennedy (Neil Young)
04 - Wondering Where the Lions Are (Bruce Cockburn)
05 - The Unexpected Visitor
06 - Vital Signs (unreleased)
07 - Out on the Parkway (original lyrics)
08 - Watermelon Man (Willis Ramsey)
09 - Face Value (unreleased)
10 - Blackbird (Lennon/McCartney)
11 - Missile Command (unreleased)
12 - The Funky Avocado
13 - Layover
14 - Head and Heart (John Martyn)
15 - Two Days Old
16 - Breakfast in the Field (on electric 12-string)
17 - Watching My Life Go By
18 - Running Blind
19 - Lenono
20 - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (Lennon/McCartney)
Encore~ 21 - The Happy Couple
return
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Source:
Two unknown omni-directional Audio Technica mics* >> Unknown Technics
home component cassette deck >> TDK-SA-X cassette tape @ High Bias &
no Dolby NR >> HDD via unknown soundcard >> CD-R (directly
from the taper) >> DAE via EAC secure mode with 100 percent track quality
and no errors (the only DAE in lineage)
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Taper Notes:
Set in the upstairs of a makeshift lounge/bar in the historic district
of Ellicott City, Maryland, the virtually unknown talents of one Michael
Hedges were to grace the walls of this small pub which seated about 75 people
comfortably. The stage area was dimly lit, the room had four big support
beams in the middle of it which obstructed the view if you sat towards the
back of the room. The floors were old and wooden and would creak in spots.
The white paint on the walls was peeling and cracked. The beer was cold as
was the draft coming up from the staircase, but the air was charged, and
the room was warm whenever Michael would play and sing.
This was easily a typical setting for this Peabody Conservatory music student
endeavoring to be a part of the music scene in the Baltimore area. Michael's
talents gave him an exceptional advantage, and soon he amassed a cult following
that grew to thousands of diehard fans.
This recording represents the essence of Michael's musical seed. It features
songs that were considered too immature for release on the Windham Hill
label. They were too good to be omitted here, and their importance insures
their place in music history. Songs like, "Vital Signs," "Face Value," and
"Missile Command," are destined to become Michael Hedges classics.
Michael gave me personal permission (verbally) to bring in two microphones
and record his performance that evening. He was not yet signed to Windham
Hill Records, but he mentioned the label and that he had sent them a demo
tape and was going to a showcase in California with hope of being signed
to Windham Hill. He was signed to the label in April of 1981. This was my
4th or 5th attendance of one of Michael's gigs in the Baltimore area. I wanted
to tape this show because all the local music calendars showed this gig
to be the last Hedges gig in Ellicott City for awhile.
The show was recorded with two omni-directional Audio-Technica mics going
into a Technics xxx? home component cassette deck [all this was cleared
with Michael several days in advance] onto a single TDK-SA-X C90 cassette
at Hi Bias setting with the Dolby NR de-selected.
Set one the mics were placed for an ambient config, but after the first
set I had to move the stage right mic out of the way of the patrons who were
just creating too much noise for my taste, so I put the mic pretty close
to the PA cabinet just like the one on stage left. The result is a bit less
ambient as you can hear, but I felt I had to do something to cut down on
audience noise... Hindsight being 20/20 I wish I hadn't. It's not too bad,
just sounds like a different source starting the second set.
This representation is virtually untouched, meaning I haven't EQed the
lower frequencies to a proper level... The high end is as it was on the
original tape, kinda clipped at the peaks, but that was at the source [it
came out of the speakers like that].
In an effort to save tape I tried to cut down on the dead air as the most
important thing I felt was capturing the music. Sometimes the listener will
hear me cut into something Michael was saying... I would stop the tape if
I thought michael was taking too long between tunes, then rewind it to a
good spot and hit RECORD again.
He dedicated "Breakfast in the Field" to Pat Metheny, but all you can hear
Michael saying is "..Pat Metheny." Then Michael talks about the guitar he
used on "Breakfast.." as his "..Scorpion" guitar, and there again is a place
I was paused waiting for him to start talking or playing again. The guitar
was a slim 12 string electric, looked like an old Hagstrom with like 4 single
coil pickups and the old DPDT switches on it.
Anyways, Enjoy this for what it is. Michael Hedges at a very early date
and before Windham Hill had signed him.
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Seeder Notes:
Already have this recording? This show was circulated online in mp3 format
during the Fall of 2000. Many fans scooped it up then so there are lossy mp3
files and subsequent mp3 sourced CDr's floating around in the trading pool.
Upgrade now to this lossless source!
Upon its initial release into circulation, this material clocked in at 1hr:26mins:32sec
and spanned two CD's. Typically, I would not consider altering any recording
but two factors got me thinking about an adjustment for this show. First,
it was very close to fitting on one 80min CD. Secondly, the master recording
was already a little choppy in spots due to the taper trying to save tape
(read the "Taper Notes" for more info about this).
I took a careful look across this recording to see if any extraneous clapping,
extra tuning, or dead noise could be gently trimmed down to accommodate one
disc. For example, if Michael spent :50 seconds tuning a few of his strings
to the proper pitch (without talking) this was a candidate for removal. Or,
if there were :25 seconds of clapping this might of been trimmed to :10 seconds
and only claps would of been removed, if Michael said anything, like "thank
you"etc. during the clapping then that would stay.
I can appreciate that one of the joys of live recordings are listening to
what happens between songs. With this in mind, I made sure to only remove
clapping, extra tuning and dead noise. Those three aspects, that is it. Note
also that there still is clapping, guitar tuning and dead noise on this recording,
I just trimmed a little out. Edits were done with care and were not harsh
(although there are some harsh cuts as per the master tape). All in all,
about 7:00 minutes were removed.
This is explained here in detail to help clear up any confusion as to why
there are versions of this show circulating across two CD's and this version
tucked in on one CD and to describe exactly what differs between them.
On another note, when I listen to this show I'll usually give the low end
a slight boost. I choose to NOT apply any EQ adjustments to this source though
as I felt it was a little too subjective to warrant. Please tweak your listening
device to suit your tastes.
Also, the "Taper Notes" below help fill in some gaps regarding what Michael
was talking about when you hear him speak but get cut off in random spots.
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Give Back:
Enjoyed this footage? Please support The Children of Michael Hedges Fund.
More info is available here... http://www.nomadland.com/Fund_Info.htm
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Artist Links:
http://www.nomadland.com/
http://www.rootwitch.com/
http://www.stropes.com/index.php?fa=7&glbm=1
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Credit:
Thanks to Alan for taping this show. Great catch