It had been a long time since Barbara has played with a band in this area, so it was a nice surprise when she played a couple of shows with a “one night band” in the bay area back in 2017. This was the second of those shows. Some of these angles are not perfect (sorry for cutting off your head Melanie) but I don’t think another multicam of Barbara exists, so good enough.
Video recorded: Shayne Stacy
Equipment used: Canon HFG40, Canon HFG10, Gopro Hero 4 silver.
Audio recorded by: Anonymous(see “about” section of sac music archive)
Equipment: Sbd + Schoeps MKIV into a Denon R44(I think).
Edit by Tromster
Man, I can’t believe it has been 3 years since this happened. Barbara played 2 shows in the bay area in 2017- she would gather up some musician friends to play a show- hence the “one night band”. I think they practiced once. This one came off a lot better than the Ivy Room show, pretty tight performance for 1 practice! I don’t know all of the musicians on stage, but Barabra’s sister Terri does some harmony vocals and Melanie Clarin (Yard Sale, Donner Party, SF Seals, Harm Farm) plays drums and adds some vocals. It was nice to see them playing/singing together again. The Make-Out room has some funky lighting. They have the type of lights that make my cameras freak out(tungsten?) and on top of that, they have a fan in front of them which exaggerates the flicker. The show sounded great and I’m pretty happy with the video despite all of that.
Recorded by: Shayne Stacy Equipment used: Canon HFG30 w/Rode Videomic Pro Stereo, HFG10, Gopro hero 4 silver Edit: Tromster
I remember this show well- I helped Barbara book her 2001 tour with the Go Luckys, and then did not hear much from her after that. I think this was her first Sacramento show after that tour, which ended in Sacramento. I went across the street to Simon’s to visit and she looked totally different than she did a year and a half before- and very happy.
Recorded by: Shayne Stacy
Equipment Used: Sony TCD-D7 DAT and Coresound mics (battery box bass rolloff)
Here’s the last Old I post for now. Thanks again to the Kanelos family for transforming Old I into an essential local music venue in the early 90’s with well-curated touring acts occasionally. Again, I hope it continues under the new ownership. Here is another Roland MX5 mix that I did, and this one probably requires a little context. I had been friends with Barbara for a couple years at this point and was helping her find shows in the Sacramento area. She was preparing to tour the U.S. with her band The Go-Luckys over the summer of 2001. One day I was contacted (maybe by Pat and Russ from her label at the time)- Barbara’s booking agent had backed out of booking the tour and they needed urgent help. This was already Spring of 2001 and no shows were booked. I had never booked a tour before, but I didn’t let that stop me. I reached out to my friend Laurie Higashi and she loaned me her rolodex of booking contacts, as she was a booking agent at the time. I started making calls (during my lunch hour at work) and ended up booking a pretty decent 6-week tour using 1 cellphone and a fax machine, despite us being SUPER late in booking. Only one show did not happen due to flaky promoters, so I consider that a success! This was the final show of the tour, in Sacramento, on my birthday. Barbara and the band bought a birthday cake and brought me up right after the first song of the set. The venue sang happy birthday to me. That was so nice. So, that’s why the mix on this one is pretty lousy at the beginning. I did not even start mixing until the second song. I get it really dialed in about 30min into the set. PS: This lineup is one of my favorite incarnations of Barbara- SF Seals and this lineup. They were a well oiled machine by the time they finished the tour.
Recorded by: Shayne Stacy Equipment used: Sony TCD-D7 and Roland MX5 Mixer into soundboard Transfer Equipment: Sony PCM-R500 and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card Rebalance in Izotope RX8: Vocals +3, Bass +4, Guitar +1.5db
I think this is one of my only recordings from the True Love. What a cool place. I did eat the waffles that Barbara was encouraging people to eat. For Kevin Seconds and Allyson- I don’t know if you have any documents from the place, but here’s one for you! Mix improves a couple of songs into it.
I’m posting this one for 2 reasons- 1. I see ZERO recordings from Pugz Records in Sacramento and 2. Some of my friends were talking about the place. This is a good quality recording of Barabra Manning playing an in-store… but NO ONE was there. I felt so bad for her. She played well and powered through anyway. Recorded with a Sony TCD-D7(I think) and coresound mics with bass rolloff.
Here is the continuation of yesterday’s post. I moved my mics up right next to the PA for this set and it sounds much better in my opinion. The raw recording was almost all vocals with very little guitar but I was able to boost up the channel pointed toward Barbara and it made it sound a lot better! Unfortunately, 2nd set was only 30min. Again, a really great show in an amazing venue in the woods, with many long-time family in friends in attendance.
Recorded by Shayne Stacy Equipment Used: Sony TCD-D7 and Coresound Binaural mics with battery box bass roloff “rebalance” (channel volume adjustment) in Sony Sound Forge 10
Hey everyone, I hope you had a nice memorial day. Here is another Mediocre Monday post, but not due to the performance. This was a very special show- Barbara’s mom (and Barbara for a stretch) lived in this area and this was an amazing “hometown” show with Barbara’s Mom and other long time friends in attendance, up in the hills above Nevada City in this old schoolhouse. The ambiance reminded me of the Palms in Davis. Unfortunately, I decided to put my mics in the back of this huge, cavernous room and the tape suffers as a result. Just wait until you hear the 2nd set tomorrow. Mic placement matters, y’all. I got the nice surprise of seeing Barbara on Friday at Alex’ Bar in Long Beach at the Fear show. It was nice seeing her and her husband, and she gave me a big hug even though I was puked on (more on that later).. so I figured I would post another Barbara master. Enjoy!
Recorded by: Shayne Stacy Equipment used: Sony TCD-D7 and Coresound mics with battery box bass roloff Transfer with Sony PCM-R500 and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
Here’s a fun one for today- before the US tour that Barbara did with the Go-Luckys (that I booked!), we were able to get them on KDVS for a guest DJ spot the year before. They talk about their new album, 28th Day, the Press Club show that night (that is on this channel/website- Barbara gets electrocuted!). They go on to play their favorite bands and play songs from a bunch of albums. It’s a really fun listen.
Side note- nerd talk alert- today is a good day. A couple months back, Youtube stopped uploading my audio AVI’s. It would just bonk when it tried to process the .avi. So, instead of me using the EASY virtualdub workflow (2min of processing time), I had to use Vegas Pro which would take up to 2 HOURS and hog up my system’s time to do other stuff. Well, I decided to give virtualdub another try today, and Youtube must have fixed their issue. Thank goodness, that Vegas method was a huge pain in the ass. I’ll be able to get more stuff done now in my hour each day reserved for this.
Recorded by: KDVS DJ CD rip and track merge/normalize in Sony Soundforge 10 by Shayne
This is going to be long. The mix gets better at about 17:00.
I had transferred this DAT a few months ago and was planning to post it for a couple of friends who I know are big fans- Lane Campbell being one of them… but I wasn’t totally happy with the mix. Lane had been missing for a week from the Chicago area, and they found his body yesterday. I never met Lane, but he was the heart and soul of the Postcardfromhell email list that I have been part of for the past 20 years. He had a rough presence on the internet but he was always super cool to me(possibly because of our mutual love of Barbara Manning’s music)… and I have been told that in person, he was a totally different person than his online persona. He was a person who didn’t forget a name or face, and brought people together. I’m sorry that I did not get to meet him. I wish I got this posted for him a couple months back- he would have gotten a kick out of it. This recording was made in the era when I would go to the club and use a battery-powered 4 channel mixer to tap into, then boost the levels of the soundboard, live. I would have these HUGE Nova Pro headphones on my head inside the club or on the sidewalk, trying to hear the mix as I went. Apparently, I was having some difficulty with the setup. You can hear the raw mix at the start (all vocals), then I dink around with it forever (found the drums a few minutes in) to get it right. I finally get it dialed at about 17:00 in… then I lose the guitars for the encore. No idea why. This show is memorable because it was one of the first shows in the USA with her new band, the Go-Luckys… which is my favorite incarnation next to the SF Seals. She also gets totally zapped/electrocuted by the mic about halfway through the set, which sent her stumbling to the back wall of the stage. It was a scary moment. Anyway, raise a glass for Lane. I might just go on a Barbara Manning bender over here and post stuff for a week or so.
Recorded by: Shayne Stacy Equipment used: Sony TCD-D7 and Roland MX-5 Mixer Transfer equipment: Sony PCM-R500 and M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card
Sacramento Music Archive 