VKTMS @ San Francisco, CA 1982-04-17

LIMITED TIME / LAST TIME 
 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hsLdLxkF


VKTMS
On Broadway - KUSF - FM
San Francisco, CA
1982-04-17 (Saturday)

THTP Radio Release 2006

Lineage: FM > unknown generations trade cassettes > Trade CDR > Terry

Dime release processing: AIFF > FFMPEG > 16 bit FLAC 8 > tagging, cover, checksums.

Setlist:
01. KUSF > Dirk intro >
02. Too Bad
03. Midget
04. Aged And Cured > band noises >
05. Ballad Of Pincushion Smith
06. Teenage Alcoholic
07. A Woman Scorned
08. Tonguelasher
09. Municide
10. I'm A Roadrunner
11. Boys And Booze
12. Soviet Man
13. Dead Serious (?)
14. Hit Me
15. > Dirk outro > KUSF outro

Length: 46:11

Band:
Nyna "Napalm" Crawford - vocals, harmonica
Steve Ricablanca - bass
John Binkov - guitar, keyboards
Louis Gwerder - drums

Notes:
* Audio Quality: Good
* This is probably a sounboard mix, it's missing most of the bass and drums, mostly vocals, cymbals, and guitars. Or KUSF just didn't do a very good job mixing their broadcast signal.
* Nyna Crawford RIP 2000.
* I'm not sure about track 13 title, sorry Nyna.
* This is an older, more mature VKTMS, you can hear the direction they were moving in pretty clearly. This would have been one of their later shows before they disbanded.

* Band facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Musician-Band/VKTMS-532392423437889/
* Band page: http://binkov.tripod.com/
"VKTMS got together in 1978 when Mohammed Obead introduced Louis Gwerder (drums) to Jay Davis (guitar). After rehearsing for a while with various people and using a different name they added George Ritter (bass) and began searching for a singer. Nyna Crawford answered a bulletin board ad placed at Aquarius Records. Her intense energy (she cracked a solid concrete floor) and already developed lyric skills impressed them immediately.
The band began gigging and shortly after put out what has become to be called the "Midget" EP , a fairly collectible 4 song record including My Baby’s a Midget which has been often covered and unfortunately bootlegged.
Not long after that friction arose with George and Steve Ricablanca (another friend of the gregarious Palestinian Mohammed) was brought over. His more developed skills brought a higher level of musicianship and songcraft to the VKTMS. His introduction to recording with the band also occurred within a short time span on the legendary SF Underground EP (on Subterranean Records) with other bands Flipper, Tools, and No Alternative.
Jay Davis left the band and after some auditions Steve remembered a guitarist, John Binkov, that he had also met in a roundabout way through (another) bulletin board note. Using John's background in various styles, as well as his tough attitude, the finishing touch was added to the project. This line-up has remained intact since 1980. John fit right in and soon the band found itself playing more often than most of the other bands in town." [see the included doc file bio.txt for the rest, or just visit the web page.]

* About band (discogs): https://www.discogs.com/artist/313927-VKTMS
"American punk band from San Francisco, California. VKTMS were active from 1978 to 1982. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the VKTMS were a fixture at the legendary Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco.
The band was reformed in 1994 and are still together today (although they no longer perform). Nyna Crawford passed away in 2000, a victim of cancer."

* The 7" EP 'SF Underground' was certainly extremely influential, it introduced these bands to a wider audience. I believe I still have that one somewhere or other.
* 'Ballad of Pincushion Smith' was on the 'SF Underground' EP.

* About the On Broadway (433 Broadway, at Montgomery St., San Francisco, CA): 
The On Broadway was basically the 2nd floor of the Mabuhay Gardens. It was not quite as grungy as the Fab Mab in its heyday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mabuhay_Gardens
"The Mabuhay was in the lower level of the 435 Broadway building, which also housed the On Broadway Theater, known in 1984-1985 as "Rock on Broadway."
Dirksen had a unique style as emcee, deliberately baiting and trading insults with audience and band members, which had the effect of raising the energy of audience and performers alike. Dirksen’s abrasive performance was a central part of the atmosphere of the Mabuhay.
Dirksen and Aquino dissolved their agreement in the early 1980s over disputes concerning Dirksen booking all his higher profile shows at the venue directly upstairs from the Mabuhay, The On Broadway Theater."
* More on the On Broadway/Mab: https://oldpunkflyers.tumblr.com/mabuhaygardens
"After booking both venues for a period of time Dirksen moved his entire operation upstairs. Aquino brought in two young booking agents, Michael Reidy and David Kaplan who started "Punk Nights" on Monday's with free spaghetti featuring bands like Urban Assault, Fuck Ups, MDC, Code Of Honor and Sick Pleasure. In their 4 year tenure post Dirksen, Reidy and Kaplan soon started doing weekends as well with bands like Social Distortion, Agent Orange, Wipers, Richard Hell, Johnny Thunders as well as goth bands like 45 Grave and Specimen. The two venues engaged in booking wars, Reidy and Kaplan finally left in 1986.
The Mabuhay Gardens closed in 1988, at the very end Aquino attempted to move his operation upstairs to the On Broadway (by then vacated by Dirksen) under the moniker of “The Mab On Broadway."
* Even more about the On Broadway: https://acidheroes.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/the-on-broadway-theater/
"People still talk about the legendary Mabuhay Gardens and the Elite Club. But you rarely hear about the On Broadway Theater these days. Which is odd, because it was the primo venue for San Francisco punk bands back in the 1980s.
The On Broadway Theater was run by the legendary Dirk Dirksen.
...
The On Broadway Theater itself was a beautifully laid-out piece of architecture. It had the vibe of a decadent and decaying haunted mansion right out of the Addam’s Family. You walked up a narrow staircase to get into the place. The seating and the balcony was akin to the most cozy and comfortable, beat-up old movie theatre. Then there was a bar in the next room. And an outdoor patio where you could sit and drink around tables and clear your head with some fresh air. And if the bands sucked, you could always go downstairs and check out the more intimate setting of the Fab Mab. Outside there was the narrow alleyway where the roadies loaded and unloaded the bands, and where drugs were scored and beefs were settled (usually over cracked heads and bloody noses)."
* San Francisco renamed that small alley next to the On Broadway/Mabuhay "Dirk Dirksen Place" to honor Dirk's contributions to the cultural heritage of San Francisco. The alley next to City Lights Books (founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, at 261 Columbus, right by Broadway, a few blocks from the Mab... and somewhere the more literate people in the scene would have spent time) was similarly renamed Kerouac Alley to honor the famous beat writer. It was originally named Rowland Ave but Kathy Peck of the band Contractions and  founder of H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education & Awareness for Rockers) spearheaded a movement to get the name changed to dirk dirksen Place.
* To give you an idea of how much times have changed since then, the 433 Broadway building was recently listed at around $10,000,000!!!

* Nyna: "Take a ride on Muni... if you want to take your life! ... Take a ride on Muni... it's only fifty cents!!... they jacked up the fares... and they cut back..  on the service..." This is a reference to how dangerous some of the bus lines were in San Francisco at this time. She was not exaggerating.

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Support the artists when or if they play, and buy their records/merchandise.

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, even photos, 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, and as I am time constrained on this project due to the amount of material, I cannot spend as much time on each release doing research as I would like, so if we can add to and improve the information and release contents during this series, that would be great.

Please make an effort to pick at least one of these THTP releases and keep it seeded for as long as you can, particularly the lesser known groups. That will really help out long term.

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The 2000 series of releases are not Terry Hammer Mixing board/AUD recordings. They were recorded either off of FM radio (by Terry, or by other people), or, in a few cases, are sourced from pre-FM tapes.

Terry recommends these recordings very highly. The radio stations (like KSAN) recorded these with a full sound truck, and very high end gear, so the sound is usually very good quality.

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Note on sources:
FM - recorded using an FM tuner to cassette deck.
Pre-FM - source tapes were from the pre-broadcast tapes.

Note on quality:
Because these FM and PreFM shows come from a variety of sources, and have various qualities, I will list the relative qualities of each 2xxx series release.  These qualities refer ONLY to the actual audio quality, not to the performances.
* Excellent - sounds/looks like a first generation master, no degradation of sound, full frequency range.
* Very good - 2nd gen or maybe lower bias cassette used to record.
* Good - audible hiss or dropouts, likely higher generation.
* Fair - sounds ok, but has audio issues, either high gen, errors in processing, whatever.
* Poor - does not sound good, for whatever reason.

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 - teetering