Merl Saunders & The Rainforest Band
March 5, 1992
Loco Ranchero
San Luis Obispo, CA
Soundcraftsman Soundboard; Sony WM-D6C (Maxell MX-S w/Dolby C)
Master Cass Transferred: *WM-D6C (Dolby C Engaged) >HHb CDR 800 PRO
CD Masters >FLAC (Level 8) + Tags Via xACT 2.53
Recorded, Transferred, FLAC’d, Tagged, & Front Cover Artwork By OldNeumanntapr
*Original Record Deck
Set I
Disc I:
- Save Mother Earth
- Hi Heel Sneakers
- The Harder They Come
- Blues From The Rainforest
- The System
- Sunrise Over Haleakala
- Feel Like Dynamite
- Sugaree
Set II
Disc II:
- Boogie On Reggae Woman
- Do I Move You
- Finders Keepers
- Gee Baby Ain’t I Good To You
- You Can Leave Your Hat On >band intros >
- Instrumental
- Imagine
- Confusion
OldNeumanntapr Notes;
I remember this show well. Some friends of mine played in a local SLO County band called ‘Midnight Rider’, an Allman Brothers / Grateful Dead cover band, and they were opening for Merl Saunders at Loco Ranchero. I’d never seen Merl before but had heard that he allowed board recording, and I’d never been to Loco Ranchero before. Well, actually I’d been in the building before, but that was when the venue was called ‘The Spirit’. I saw Country Joe MacDonald there in the late 80s. The club up on the hill, which is now the home of KSBY TV Channel 6, started out as a seafood restaurant called ‘The Breakers’ in the 1960s. It went through several names,(Yancy McFadden’s, The Hill Top, etc), and actually sat vacant for a few years. Supposedly, the land was owned by Wayne Newton and I heard a story that there is a Chumash Indian burial ground up there. Someone else told me once that the place was haunted, or had a curse on it. I guess the main ‘curse’ was that no one could make a go of it, and whatever business was there never made any money. (One reason might have been because there is only one road up to the top of the hill, and the cops would sit at the bottom at 2:00 am and bust drunk drivers as they left the club.)
Anyway, this particular night, since my friends were opening the show, I wanted to plug my Sony D6 into the board. This was also the night that I met Kip Stork, who was then the Loco soundman and would go on to be the house soundman at SLO Brew for years until it closed. I found the ‘master output’ of the board and asked to plug in. Kip was kind of confused, but allowed me to tape Midnight Rider. He pulled my cables at the set break until Merl personally gave the OK for me to record. Kip was shocked that Merl would allow a soundboard recording but allowed me to plug back in. I used Dolby C that night with MX-S metal tape because I wanted the best possible recording. I think it still sounds pretty good, even today. (At that time Merl would only allow cassette recorders to be plugged into the board. No DAT.) It was a fun show, and Merl was very generous to let me record. I met Marina, his wife and manager, that night and got her business card so I could record Merl in the future.
DO NOT Convert To MP3!
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