The Velvet Forum

Who was the Professor which taped all the great Boston Tea Party concerts?

Im really interestet abaut him if he still lives he can tell a lot abot the concerts and maybe he recorded more as the tapes that we all already have!


Thanks for your help papaya

Oh yes, I would also like to get more information about the professor and his recordings.

I read somewhere that he recordet the concerts under his poncho with a normal tape deck!

I can provide some anecdotal info, some of which was the basis of the comments on Olivier's website.

In the late 1980s/early 1990s I did a lot of Lou Reed/VU tape trading. One guy I was in contact with supplied me with what were "claimed" to be 4th generation copies of the 12/12/68 and 10/01/69 BTP shows. His source for these was a guy who knew a guy who had obtained copies from the original reels. From my source also came the story that most (but not all) the BTP tapes had been made by a guy known as "the professor" - he had apparently smuggled a reel-reel tape deck into the Tea Party under his poncho. The female voice which can often be heard in between songs on the BTP tapes is apparently his girlfriend.

I've no idea how accurate this story is, but the "4th gen" tapes he sent me were very much better quality than the copies I previously had (and not that much poorer than those on the recent Scorpio 4CD boot.)

When Polygram were scouting around looking for material for the "bootleg series", they obtained the professor's "master reels" and were mastering/preparing them for release when the "Quine tapes" showed up. Presumably those plans have now been shelved.

In total, my understanding is that the "professor" taped the following shows:
Tea Party 12/12/68
Tea Party 10/01/69
Tea Party 13/3/69
Tea Party 11/07/69
Hilltop Rock Festival 02/08/69

(note: NOT the 15/03/69 "guitar amp" tape. It has long been rumoured that a "normal" tape from 15/03/69 exists, but in 25 years collecting, I've never seen or heard any evidence of it)

Here's a guess: the boys from Scorpio used the Polygram "remastered" versions of the above tapes for their 4CD set. I still wonder why they didn't include 12/12/68 - still my favourite of the lot. If it doesn't show up soon from them I'll torrent my "4th generation" copy to keep us all going until they do.......

Wow thank you Gordon!

interesting

Hey, Gordon...

Thanks for the great bit of information!!! PLEASE seed the 12/12/68 BTP show! I know we'd all love to have it!!!

Has anyone heard the story that "the Professor" is actually Jonathan Richman?

I have to admit I've never heard that one! Did you read it somewhere?

gordon wrote:I have to admit I've never heard that one! Did you read it somewhere?

I do not recall now. I believe that it was a conversation with P. Milstein back in the old days. Has anyone else heard this? I remember that Jonathan used to go to all the Tea Party shows.