Back in 1983 Fuzztones guitarist Elan Portnoy and I were discussing the idea of putting on a multi-band Garage/Psych show at some point. So later on he and his brother Orin who played bass in the Outta' Place actually facilitated and put
one together. It was done the following summer and titled "Fuzzfest '84." Along with their respective bands they asked my band the Cheepskates to come on board, as well as The Tryfles, The Vipers, and The Mosquitos. The venue was near Central Park South (not far from where they both lived) and was called 240 West. We pooled all of our equipment together to cut down on set-up time and the whole evening came off without a hitch. Outta' Place gutarist Jordan Tarlow's neighbor had a professional 3/4" video camera and filmed the whole thing. And unbeknownst by many while forgotton by all was the fact that a recording of the evening was made directly from the sound board. 

Later on that same year all of the same bands were asked to be interviewed for a local cable TV show called Video Wave. Orin supplied the producers with a video clip of Fuzzfest from that same 3/4" camera (which had it's own microphone) for each band's interview. Since everyone always took themselves so seriously I wanted to have some fun. The host played along and later in the interview you can actually hear Orin laughing off camera. You can view the show below......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG3XijgDbA

In the spring of '85 we were asked to do another show called New Music Plus. When the interview started I tried to use the same kind of dead pan comedy but the host was having none of it. He literally stopped the camera and asked me to be straight with him. Consequently I couldn't wait to get it over with and the whole thing was cut short. The Fuzzfest clip they used was a different song titled "Shadows of Loneliness" and a few years ago I came across the Cheepskates sound board mix which contained that track. So after uploading the video I was able to add the better audio track for the performance. You can check the whole thing out below.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R63L9s8r7ms

The reason I was not able to add audio to the first clip is that it does not exist. At Fuzzfest the Cheepskates went on second after The Tryfles. The recording was being done on one 1/4" four track reel to reel. Our first two songs were on the end of the first reel and our third song ("Run Better Run") was performed during a reel change. As far as I know the 3/4" master video tape is lost forever. A few years ago I actually tracked down the guy who filmed it and he informed me that was the case. There were VHS copies floating around but I have never seen one. 

Later on the song "Shadows of Loneliness" sort of became the tune the Cheepskates would do some long improvised jamming on. There is a terrific version that clocks in at 6:59 and is posted first at: www.myspace.com/cheepskates . 

Enjoy your spring,