It’s time for another rare LOUIE from the E.P. archives!
In the early-mid 1980’s, I was just getting started in the video biz. The LOUIE project began with the help of a local public access channel that allowed me to borrow a big 3 tube video camera with a 3/4″ Umatic portapack. I didn’t own any video gear back then, so I relied on whatever equipment I could borrow.
In 1985, not long after I began the LOUIE project, I was still involved with KFJC, a college radio station where this whole thing began. KFJC was sponsored a musical showcase in conjunction with I.B.S., a national college radio organization that had a convention in San Jose in November 1985. This special showcase event was held the Works Gallery, and it featured such bands as the Morlocks, Big Hair, Thin White Rope, and Tex & the Horseheads, who were the headline act for the evening.
I borrowed someone’s video camera, a “state-of-art” consumer VHS camera to document this special musical event. Other than a small handful of people in my immediate circle, nobody really saw my footage of that show. It wasn’t really great footage, as this camera didn’t handle low-light very well. There were some “comet tail” type smears that were typical of what you’d see with tube cameras used in low-light situations. I couldn’t imagine much of an audience for this stuff, so I threw it in a box of videotapes, and forgot about it.
Fast forward some twenty years later, and it turns out that I shot some fairly unique footage that’s extremely rare. Most, if not all of the bands broke up, and very little video material exists of these performers. One of the bands, Big Hair, achieved a certain degree of a cult notoriety as a groundsbreaking cowpunk band in San Jose that broke up way too soon. As folks expressed an interest in seeing this stuff, I’ve been going through this material and sharing with a worldwide audience on YouTube. I may not be getting any money for this, but it feels good to see people reconnect with the music they loved.
It turns out that I shot a performance of “LOUIE LOUIE” by Tex & the Horseheads at this show. It wasn’t the greatest performance I’ve ever heard of the song, and it certainly wasn’t a great video, but it’s extremely rare, and it’s yet another version song that could be added to the ongoing list of the “World’s Most Recorded Song.”
This is what you call an definite out-take, because I don’t think I’ll be using it in the big documentary.