Paul Stanley
Toad's Place
New Haven, CT
March 12, 1989
CBG Classic Master Video Series Vol. 57
Contrast Clause: This version is direct from my master tape through a firewire to a digital file. All previous single cam versions were from VHS tapes off the master tape.
video: (CBG) Ricoh R-600 (same specs as Sony CCD-V5) 8mm camcorder master 8mm analog tape; NTSC, 4:3 PAR, 29.97 fps; transferred to harddrive via a firewire using a Sony TRV-330 8mm digital camera w/ Time Base Correction; video capture, editing, and 2-pass VBR encoding done with Sony Vegas Pro 13 at 6.7K max, 6.5K avg, 1K min (both discs); authored to DVD in Sony DVD Architect Pro 6.
audio option #1: recorded w/ Aiwa-CM30A mic through the Ricoh R-600's external mic in jack; captured with the video from the master 8mm analog tape; audio tweaking done using Sony Vegas Pro 13's 10-band EQ plug-in; LPCM 1536 bit.
audio option #2: Soundboard recording captured from master VHS tape; captured using a JVC S-VHS HR-S8007UM VCR connected to a Canopus ADVC-110 via RCA cables; connected to the computer via firewire; capture done with Sony Vegas Pro 13; LPCM 1536 bit.
Video editing, audio synching and DVD authoring by Silver Stallion (AKA guitard on Dime).
1 hr 19 mins (full show)
disc 1 (48 mins)
1. I Stole Your Love
2. I Want You
3. Tears Are Falling
4. Tonight You Belong To Me
5. C'mon And Love Me
6. Wouldn't You Like To Know Me
7. Heaven's On Fire
8. Hide Your Heart
9. I Still Love You
10. Crazy Crazy Nights
disc 2 (31 mins)
11. Reason To Live
12. Lick It Up
13. Let's Put The X In Sex
14. Love Gun
15. Goodbye
16. Communication Breakdown
17. Detroit Rock City
Paul Stanley - vocals / guitar
Eric Singer - drums
Bob Kulick - guitar
Gary Corbett - keyboard
Dennis St. James - bass
Prior to "Crazy Crazy Nights" Paul plays a 40 second snippet of Ace Frehley's song "New York Groove."
I only have one request, that you don't take these files and post them on other torrent sites. I have many shows to upload. I will upload, let them get seeded by others and after a majority have downloaded the files completely, remove my files so I can seed something new. I prefer to manage my own shows on DIME and The Traders Den. I will upload to other sites when I wish to for select shows. Thanks for honoring my wishes in advance.
This is “CBG Classic Master Video Series Vol. 57”.
After fulfilling a dream to film one of my favorite bands, and really the band that I got into first as a kid, Kiss, two times on the Crazy Nights tour in New Haven, CT and Springfield, MA (previously posted) and then getting what seamed like a miracle chance to film Kiss in their hometown in a bar, The Ritz (previously posted), and feeling like I have acomplished enough in getting that Ritz show to be happy enough to retire from filming on that musical note (Haha), I would amazingly get a chance to film a Kiss member in a bar again in the start of the next year! Paul Stanley decided to do his first solo tour and was coming to play a few bars in the area. I had to go.
I didn't even think I would film one of these shows. That was just not my comfort zone to film in a small bar. I liked big arenas to get lost in the crowd. I just figured I would audio tape these shows I decided to go to. The first two shows I went to were at L'Amour in Brooklyn, NY, and then I went to the West Hartford Ballroom in Hartford Connecticut to see the show. I didn't go to the Chance in Poughkeepsie, NY as I knew the NYBG was going and he ended up getting 30 min of that show on video. There was no internet back then, so you couldn't really know about all the shows in the area because you didn't hear about them all on your local radio stations. The radio stations would only advertise the most local shows. So I was surprised at all the shows that were around the northeast way after the fact now where you can look at tour itinerarys everywhere online. They came back in March and played The Ritz in NYC. No way I was trying to film Paul there again.
The stars just aligned the time I was able to film Kiss there in August of 1988. I was caught 6 songs into that show filming on the floor, but I had a tour laminate, and the security guy looked at the front and back of it and said, 'OK'. That wasn't happening this time. I didn't have a laminate either. So I just audio taped. They were playing one other show in the area and what I thought was the last show of the tour. It was just the last show oln the east coast. Again, no internet to know for sure back then. Paul would end up playing some more shows on the west coast.
I wanted to try to film the show in New Haven in a bar called Toad's Place. I never had been there before so I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't getting my very large Ricoh R600 8mm camcorder into this show on my back. I needed help. So, because I wanted the show real bad, and the NYBG could sell it, he and his and my friend Tom came out to New Haven. Tom got that camera into Toad's Place by putting it down his pants. He was more heavy set at that time and he could do that. No way could I do that. So we were in. That was only half the battle.
I then looked at the place when I got in and it is just a flat floor with a 2 foot high stage. UGH! What was worse was, there was a platform above the soundboard in the back of the place that the in-house camera was perched on and some of the band management and venue management was up there. They could look right down onto the floor and scope the crowd easily. Then, just to add some spice, there was one of Paul's security guys that stood on the right side of the stage by the amps all night. At least for the main set. And the Keyboard player Gary Corbett was elevated up behind the amps on the left side of the stage. Were do you film from?! Well, the stars aligned again.
I decided to go to the left side up front by the stage (Crazy Crazy huh?!) in front of the keyboard player and away from Paul's security guy on the right side of the stage. There were these two tall guys, like 6ft-6in, who were standing there right next to me. I told them I wanted to film the show and explained the situation and the layout of the security and management in the venue. I asked the guys if one could stand behind me to block the view of the elevated platform in the back of the place and the other could stand in front of me to block Gary Corbett from spoting me. They agreed. Once Paul came on stage, that strategy helped for the venue and band management on the platform in back and Gary over the left amps. But the strategy was out the window as the first song 'I Stole Your Love' played. Paul noticed me within the first and second verses. You can see him look at me multiple times. Well, I kept filming. I was squatting a little as I stood in the crush of the crowd. With the low stage, you basically could only get shoulders and head shots of Paul. So that is what I did. At one point, Paul is describing the intro to 'Reason To Live' and he just says, 'just watch the video'. It could have meant to watch the big video screen in Toad's Place against the left wall, but I think he was referring to my video. So we get through the whole show.
In between the encores, Paul's security guy moved over to my left side of the stage and the NYBG didn't want me to continue filming. I knew the motivation there, he could still sell the video minus the encores. And since they got the camcorder in where I couldn't have done that, they were going to get the show to sell it, and didn't want to go all the way to New Haven and now get the tape taken. I wanted the show for the show. Kiss was one of my favorite bands. And I already went to 4 previous shows so I knew the encores. One of my favorite Paul solo songs 'Goodbye', a Led Zeppelin cover song 'Communication Breakdown' and my favorite Kiss song 'Detroit Rock City'. There was no way I was stopping. I just squatted a little lower while standing and continued to film. Paul came over to my side of the stage and was looking over his shoulder at his security guy as if to warn me he was there. At the end of 'Detroit Rock City', Paul came to my side and shrugged his shoulders and gave an expression like 'you got it'. He saw me the whole night filming.
After that night, I was thinking that Paul Stanley was one of the coolest guys in Rock. He watched me film him right next to his mic stand the whole night. And he didn't turn me in to his guys. He was almost trying to warn me of his security guy moving close to me. How cool his he?! After that night, when the 1990 Hot in the Shade tour came, that factored into my positioning in some shows to go up front. Knowing if he saw me, he wasn't going to turn me in to his guys to go get me. The same would hold true for Gene, but that is another story. For now, I got to film Paul right next to his mic stand. Wow (at the time). People now with their iPhones cannot relate to that, but that was a hell of an accomplishment in a rock bar in 1989!
The following year or two, I went to a Kiss Konvention in northern New Jersey and the sound engineer who did sound on the Paul Stanley tour (and Aerosmith through the 70's), Night Bob (he was introduced in the show by Paul) had a table selling memorabilia at the convention. I struck up a conversation with him. My Paul video from New Haven was being sold at the video table by Marv (Marrrrvvvvv). I told Night Bob I was the one who filmed the Paul Toad's show. He tells me he collects these VHS video tapes and gives them to Paul. He gave my Toad's show to him. At the time, the in-house video had not surfaced yet (I previously mixed my angle with the in-house video and it was authored by BTB and posted). The thing Night Bob said to me that Paul said to him that stuck with me was, 'how can a guy sneak his camcorder into the show and get better sound than the soundboard?!' I didn't know what he meant at the time because I didn't have the in-house video then, but I took it as a compliment. Really it had nothing to do about me. Sometimes that Sony V5 (Ricoh R600) would just captured the sound real well. What also helped was the design of the Toad's Place in-house PA. It was hanging right above my head. So I was in the right spot right up front to get a direct sound overhead.
When the in-house video from the show finally leaked out, I can see what Paul meant. The soundboard on it had a lot of echo and reverb in it. Sometimes his voice was echoing considerably. On this production, we put the soundboard on track 2, just to include it. So enjoy Ace Frehley,
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