Early Jaffe & McGee Tape 6
When I attempted to digitize this tape it was unplayable due to the felt contact tab having fallen out of the cassette. Scott Colburn ("The Viscera Dude") repaired the tape in March 2015, and I am very happy that he did because Jaffe & McGee Tape 6 contains the earliest extant recordings in the archive.
Tape Specifics:
Side A of the cassette was labeled by Debbie in black magic marker ink, "HD JAM". Side A of the tape bears the markings "73B Side 2", and Side B, "73B Side 1". Side B also bears writing that would indicate its earlier use as a data or word processing cassette. Debbie wrote big black X's on both sides, which probably was a sign that we should keep what was on the tape and not erase or record over it.
Side A: Listen in audio player above
No recording dates are given for Side A but I am going to guess that it was recorded in mid-October 1981.
- 00:05 - Recording starts. I am not exactly sure what these first sounds are. It sounds like some kind of feedback manipulation. This might be a vocal microphone plugged into my Marlboro brand guitar amplifier.
- at 00:31 - The sound of a harmonica. This is no doubt me (Hal) playing it, as I am pretty sure that I owned one at the time, and Debbie almost certainly would not have owned or played one. The harmonica is played with a repeating pattern of blowing in and out, then the pattern is varied starting at about 01:20. Recording stops at 02:11.
- 02:13 - Recording resumes, again with the feedback and harmonica.
- at about 04:45 it becomes obvious that the feedback is being consciously manipulated in patterns. This makes me think that Debbie was probably kneeling or sitting near the amp and moving the microphone nearer and closer to the amp to create the feedback patterns (as I played the harmonica). Recording stops at 05:23.
- 05:26 - Recording resumes, again with the microphone in use.
- at about 05:37 there is a repeating percussive pattern, such as an object being spun against another, or a stick being dragged over an uneven surface that maybe has a regular pattern (such as a broiler pan grate).
- at about 05:50 what sounds like an electric box fan is turned on, the speed setting of which is changed.
- at about 06:41 Hal and Debbie start talking indistinctly as the fan and percussion continue.
Not sure, but it seems like we are talking about using the fan as an "instrument", that we can work with it as a soundmaker by changing the speed. Recording ends at 07:05.
- Music previously recorded on the tape peeks through for about four seconds.
- 07:09 - Recording resumes. Box fan is heard, some banging sounds, a little bit of feedback. Recording stops at 07:42, and resumes immediately. Recording stops at 08:36. Debbie or Hal might be holding the microphone near the box fan, trying to pick up the sound that it is making.
- Music previously recorded on the tape again peeks through, and then more feedback, fan, harmonica and broiler grate. Recording ends at 10:23.
- 10:24 - More of the same, this time with some kind of object with a flat, flexible surface being struck.
-----
- at 11:23, a new recording and Hal starts playing a set of cheap bongo drums that he owned at the time. No feedback, box fan or other sounds, except for tape hiss.
- at 12:28 Debbie starts reciting the words of a poem as Hal plays the bongos:
I can see invisible shadows
moving across the room
People walk in heavy traffic
[...] double door entrances
four feet wide
four feet beyond
- with numerous variations of the same words
- recording ends at 14:31
NOTE: the above words were later incorporated into the lyrics of the song "Failing" by Viscera on A Whole Universe Of Horror Movies.
- recording resumes at 14:39, with Hal playing bongos, and Debbie starts reciting the same words as before. This time Hal answers each line recited by Debbie with improvised interjections, in a sense answering or replying to Debbie's words. The first line of text is varied to "ideas stream from invisible shadows". Then Deb and Hal start improvising the words, developing the interplay of words. Recording ends at 16:50.
Tape Specifics:
Side A of the cassette was labeled by Debbie in black magic marker ink, "HD JAM". Side A of the tape bears the markings "73B Side 2", and Side B, "73B Side 1". Side B also bears writing that would indicate its earlier use as a data or word processing cassette. Debbie wrote big black X's on both sides, which probably was a sign that we should keep what was on the tape and not erase or record over it.
Side A: Listen in audio player above
No recording dates are given for Side A but I am going to guess that it was recorded in mid-October 1981.
- 00:05 - Recording starts. I am not exactly sure what these first sounds are. It sounds like some kind of feedback manipulation. This might be a vocal microphone plugged into my Marlboro brand guitar amplifier.
- at 00:31 - The sound of a harmonica. This is no doubt me (Hal) playing it, as I am pretty sure that I owned one at the time, and Debbie almost certainly would not have owned or played one. The harmonica is played with a repeating pattern of blowing in and out, then the pattern is varied starting at about 01:20. Recording stops at 02:11.
- 02:13 - Recording resumes, again with the feedback and harmonica.
- at about 04:45 it becomes obvious that the feedback is being consciously manipulated in patterns. This makes me think that Debbie was probably kneeling or sitting near the amp and moving the microphone nearer and closer to the amp to create the feedback patterns (as I played the harmonica). Recording stops at 05:23.
- 05:26 - Recording resumes, again with the microphone in use.
- at about 05:37 there is a repeating percussive pattern, such as an object being spun against another, or a stick being dragged over an uneven surface that maybe has a regular pattern (such as a broiler pan grate).
- at about 05:50 what sounds like an electric box fan is turned on, the speed setting of which is changed.
- at about 06:41 Hal and Debbie start talking indistinctly as the fan and percussion continue.
Not sure, but it seems like we are talking about using the fan as an "instrument", that we can work with it as a soundmaker by changing the speed. Recording ends at 07:05.
- Music previously recorded on the tape peeks through for about four seconds.
- 07:09 - Recording resumes. Box fan is heard, some banging sounds, a little bit of feedback. Recording stops at 07:42, and resumes immediately. Recording stops at 08:36. Debbie or Hal might be holding the microphone near the box fan, trying to pick up the sound that it is making.
- Music previously recorded on the tape again peeks through, and then more feedback, fan, harmonica and broiler grate. Recording ends at 10:23.
- 10:24 - More of the same, this time with some kind of object with a flat, flexible surface being struck.
-----
- at 11:23, a new recording and Hal starts playing a set of cheap bongo drums that he owned at the time. No feedback, box fan or other sounds, except for tape hiss.
- at 12:28 Debbie starts reciting the words of a poem as Hal plays the bongos:
I can see invisible shadows
moving across the room
People walk in heavy traffic
[...] double door entrances
four feet wide
four feet beyond
- with numerous variations of the same words
- recording ends at 14:31
NOTE: the above words were later incorporated into the lyrics of the song "Failing" by Viscera on A Whole Universe Of Horror Movies.
- recording resumes at 14:39, with Hal playing bongos, and Debbie starts reciting the same words as before. This time Hal answers each line recited by Debbie with improvised interjections, in a sense answering or replying to Debbie's words. The first line of text is varied to "ideas stream from invisible shadows". Then Deb and Hal start improvising the words, developing the interplay of words. Recording ends at 16:50.

Side B: Listen in audio player above (under the pic of the tape)
- on Side B recording resumes at 00:05. More of the same variations of bongos, Debbie reciting the words of the poem, and Hal improvising replies. Debbie is easier to hear now. Maybe she is closer to the recorder now. Recording ends at 03:58.
- at 3:59, after some kind of distortion, Hal starts speaking, and the volume is much louder:
"Well, uh, I looked here in the Random House College Dictionary on, uh, page 879... and it says: 'Music. The art of combining and regulating sounds of varying pitch to produce compositions expressive of various ideas and emotions.' "
- Debbie and Hal make non-verbal replies such as "hmmmm" or "ohhhhh", as if mocking the definition.
--- That dictionary was a high school graduation gift that I used in my college years at Indiana University. I can clearly remember the red cover of the hardback book. I no longer have it because it fell apart decades ago due to extensive use and abuse.
This is followed by rattling sounds, and then laughter, and then Hal and Deb talking about addiction to cigarettes (which Hal smoked at the time).
Hal resumes playing bongos at 5:23 and Debbie rattles something. At 5:40 Debbie tells Hal to repeat the definition of "music", which he does. And then various goofing comments about "music" and "creativity".
And then at about 07:15 Hal starts talking about "hot potato" and "rotten potatoes".
And then he tells a short story about how when he stayed in San Francisco for three weeks in 1979, he went to a show at The Mabuhay Gardens, and there was a young black dude warming up before the show, playing a guitar and singing (and Hal imitates him, singing the words and banging on the bongos):
"Black potato... Brown potato... etc.".
Debbie asks something about why the potato couldn't be purple. I seem to recall that at that time she was fascinated by the color purple, or maybe it was just the word "purple" that amused her -- in the same way that the word "potato" amused Hal. And then Hal and Debbie muse about the Mr. Potato Head toy.
- at 08:14 a telephone rings, and Hal enjoins Debbie to answer to which she replies in the affirmative. Debbie answers and hands the phone to Hal after the caller asked for him. Hal talks to his college buddy Dave Arrenson (who was from Merrillville, Indiana) on the phone about how "Mister Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) is going to be in Merrillville next Monday night". Research has shown that Bob Dylan played a concert in Merrillville at the Holiday Star Theater on Monday, October 19, 1981.
- Then there's some discussion about Dave asking Hal to go to a show (on a) Thursday night, and that Hal will have to ask for the day off. And then Hal complains about the price of a concert ticket being $15!!! - hahahahaha. Hal then complains about how he felt that a mutual buddy of theirs (Tim Swain) was not making adequate efforts to stay in contact, with the example that he had traveled to Indianapolis from Marion, Indiana on (the previous) "Sunday".
- at about 10:30 Hal says: "I'm over here on the West Side (of Indianapolis, in Debbie's apartment on West 38th Street), with a friend who seems to have the same attitude(s) toward(s) music that I do, so we've been making music ... and it's really interesting".
- Hal then says something about how "the 5th is on then", meaning the aforementioned Thursday night concert. Research shows that November 5, 1981 was a Thursday. And then he and Dave start talking about the song "Property Of Jesus" on Bob Dylan's Shot Of Love album (released in August 1981), the last of his trilogy of born-again Christian stuff. I definitely had reservations about the Christian stuff, although I still spoke of Dylan with admiration). And then Hal tells Dave that "there is going to be a big party at my house Friday night with lots of beer and videotapes, and all kinds of good stuff".
--- All of the dates mentioned above mean we can conclude that the recordings on this tape were made sometime from Monday, October 12th through Thursday, October 15th of 1981. I presume that it was not on Thursday the 15th because Hal would not have referred to the party at his house being on "Friday" -- he would have said "tomorrow" instead. This means that this is the earliest extant Jaffe & McGee recording, the date of which can be verified. The Dancing Invisibles recordings with Roger Vice occurred about a week and a half later, on Friday, October 23rd.
- Hal and Deb then discuss the $15 ticket price for the Dylan show in Merrillville. Hal tells her that the ticket price was only $9 when he saw Dylan in 1978 (October 25th of that year at Market Square Arena - Hal didn't like it very much, was disappointed, as it was "too busy", with too many band members, including a horn player and back-up chick singers).
- on Side B recording resumes at 00:05. More of the same variations of bongos, Debbie reciting the words of the poem, and Hal improvising replies. Debbie is easier to hear now. Maybe she is closer to the recorder now. Recording ends at 03:58.
- at 3:59, after some kind of distortion, Hal starts speaking, and the volume is much louder:
"Well, uh, I looked here in the Random House College Dictionary on, uh, page 879... and it says: 'Music. The art of combining and regulating sounds of varying pitch to produce compositions expressive of various ideas and emotions.' "
- Debbie and Hal make non-verbal replies such as "hmmmm" or "ohhhhh", as if mocking the definition.
--- That dictionary was a high school graduation gift that I used in my college years at Indiana University. I can clearly remember the red cover of the hardback book. I no longer have it because it fell apart decades ago due to extensive use and abuse.
This is followed by rattling sounds, and then laughter, and then Hal and Deb talking about addiction to cigarettes (which Hal smoked at the time).
Hal resumes playing bongos at 5:23 and Debbie rattles something. At 5:40 Debbie tells Hal to repeat the definition of "music", which he does. And then various goofing comments about "music" and "creativity".
And then at about 07:15 Hal starts talking about "hot potato" and "rotten potatoes".
And then he tells a short story about how when he stayed in San Francisco for three weeks in 1979, he went to a show at The Mabuhay Gardens, and there was a young black dude warming up before the show, playing a guitar and singing (and Hal imitates him, singing the words and banging on the bongos):
"Black potato... Brown potato... etc.".
Debbie asks something about why the potato couldn't be purple. I seem to recall that at that time she was fascinated by the color purple, or maybe it was just the word "purple" that amused her -- in the same way that the word "potato" amused Hal. And then Hal and Debbie muse about the Mr. Potato Head toy.
- at 08:14 a telephone rings, and Hal enjoins Debbie to answer to which she replies in the affirmative. Debbie answers and hands the phone to Hal after the caller asked for him. Hal talks to his college buddy Dave Arrenson (who was from Merrillville, Indiana) on the phone about how "Mister Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) is going to be in Merrillville next Monday night". Research has shown that Bob Dylan played a concert in Merrillville at the Holiday Star Theater on Monday, October 19, 1981.
- Then there's some discussion about Dave asking Hal to go to a show (on a) Thursday night, and that Hal will have to ask for the day off. And then Hal complains about the price of a concert ticket being $15!!! - hahahahaha. Hal then complains about how he felt that a mutual buddy of theirs (Tim Swain) was not making adequate efforts to stay in contact, with the example that he had traveled to Indianapolis from Marion, Indiana on (the previous) "Sunday".
- at about 10:30 Hal says: "I'm over here on the West Side (of Indianapolis, in Debbie's apartment on West 38th Street), with a friend who seems to have the same attitude(s) toward(s) music that I do, so we've been making music ... and it's really interesting".
- Hal then says something about how "the 5th is on then", meaning the aforementioned Thursday night concert. Research shows that November 5, 1981 was a Thursday. And then he and Dave start talking about the song "Property Of Jesus" on Bob Dylan's Shot Of Love album (released in August 1981), the last of his trilogy of born-again Christian stuff. I definitely had reservations about the Christian stuff, although I still spoke of Dylan with admiration). And then Hal tells Dave that "there is going to be a big party at my house Friday night with lots of beer and videotapes, and all kinds of good stuff".
--- All of the dates mentioned above mean we can conclude that the recordings on this tape were made sometime from Monday, October 12th through Thursday, October 15th of 1981. I presume that it was not on Thursday the 15th because Hal would not have referred to the party at his house being on "Friday" -- he would have said "tomorrow" instead. This means that this is the earliest extant Jaffe & McGee recording, the date of which can be verified. The Dancing Invisibles recordings with Roger Vice occurred about a week and a half later, on Friday, October 23rd.
- Hal and Deb then discuss the $15 ticket price for the Dylan show in Merrillville. Hal tells her that the ticket price was only $9 when he saw Dylan in 1978 (October 25th of that year at Market Square Arena - Hal didn't like it very much, was disappointed, as it was "too busy", with too many band members, including a horn player and back-up chick singers).

- Then at about 12:16 Hal and Deb start goofing on bongos and doing obviously fake put-on "beatnik/hipster" talk, and talking about Pink Floyd in a mocking tone.
At about 13:10 Hal reads another definition on page 902 in the dictionary (Debbie remarks "Good page!" and then enjoins Hal to read definition a:
"Noise: Sound, especially of a loud, harsh or confused kind".
Hal and Debbie then laugh at this with much mirth.
Then Hal says something about how "I think we oughta call our group 'Noise'", which is then varied to "Black Noise" and then "Pink Noise" (riffing on Pink Floyd)...
At 14:05 they "turn this silly thing off"...
At 14:06 on the tape we hear Yoko Ono's song "Walking On Thin Ice", which had previously been recorded on the tape -- [NOT included in the audio player above].
At about 13:10 Hal reads another definition on page 902 in the dictionary (Debbie remarks "Good page!" and then enjoins Hal to read definition a:
"Noise: Sound, especially of a loud, harsh or confused kind".
Hal and Debbie then laugh at this with much mirth.
Then Hal says something about how "I think we oughta call our group 'Noise'", which is then varied to "Black Noise" and then "Pink Noise" (riffing on Pink Floyd)...
At 14:05 they "turn this silly thing off"...
At 14:06 on the tape we hear Yoko Ono's song "Walking On Thin Ice", which had previously been recorded on the tape -- [NOT included in the audio player above].