Weeklyleaks, sound by Martin.

Weeklyleaks is non commercial and based on mutual trust. All of the artists that I have recorded back in my day as a sound man have recorded material for sale, and I urge you to buy their music by following the links I provide. By signing up for the weeklyleaks/MartinHagfors newsletter and obtaining access to the live streaming concerts you agree not to copy, reproduce, “rip”, record, or distribute any part of these live streams.
Thanks & enjoy
Martin Hagfors
Click on the name of the artist to hear their music and read my blog.

YOU MIGHT NEED TO INSTALL ADOBE FLASH PLAYER

Delbert McClinton Cruise Cafe Nov. 13th 1989 


Folks, it's celebration time!
This week is the 25th anniversary of the opening of the now long defunct Cruise Cafe in Oslo Norway. Cruise had a 10 year ++ run at booking some of the hottest bands in Oslo and making the best burgers. The owner and main booking honcho, Svein Eriksen was a huge fan of Delbert McClinton, so this leak is for you Svein.
Listening back through this tape, I'm amazed at how good it was! What I remember from the gig, from a house soundmans point of view was not quite so rozy. The band brought in a large venue production to a small club, we had to make the stage bigger, bring in an additional monitor mixer that I wound up running, sitting cramped in front of the subwoofers, yeah, it sounded like hell from where I was sitting, but I managed to tweak this mix off the monitor board and it's not bad!
Anyhow Delbert is still rocking, he's won three grammy's and is an act to catch if you happen upon a town the man is in. Do it!



Read about Delbert here

Buy his music here

Delbert McClinton  Vocals & Harmonica
Steve Hermann Trumpet
Don Wise Sax
Jimmy Johnson Bass
Nick Connolly Keys 
Dave Millsap Guitar
Wesley Starr Drums






Etta James 8.14/15 1987 Nightstage, Cambridge, Etta calls Martin " a bright eyed bushy tailed cat"  

 

Etta played four shows at Nightstage and it's with fond memories I listened through these tapes. Etta James is one of the most powerful performers I have ever seen. She could belt out a song like nobody else. Even though you can't hear it on these tapes, Etta was literally rolling down on the stage floor on a couple of numbers, no small feat as this was in the petite plus stage of her life. Etta was gracious, witty and smart, she also gets a kick out of teasing the audience. As far as I remember, her band was a LA based group of musicians and as was the hip ticket of the day, added their DX-7 sounds, direct electric strat, bass slapping and all the other spices that the local Berklee College of Music students used to dig.
Etta cancelled a previous gig at Nightstage and mentions it in her ramblings to the club owners Richard Lizotte and Sam ? who owned the club along with Chloe Sachs.
I can't remember the circumstances... 

I also got a kick out of reliving her kind words to me, complementing me for the sound and calling me a bright eyed bushy tailed cat...


Etta's new homepage

Read about Etta here

Buy her music here

Bobby Martin keyboard, piano, saxophone

Joshua Sklair guitar

Andre Fischer drums

Nicky Daniels bass


Loudon Wainwright III-Cruise Cafe-Oslo 10.13.1992 

 

I'm a fan, no doubt about it, this guy is a true performer and an inspiration. He writes great songs and thrives on stage, besides that he he has a wonderful name, third time around.
I've done sound for Loudon a few times and have always stood behind the mixer grinning and lapping it up. I believe he hung out with the Norwegian artist Lars Lillo before the gig, they both write quirky lyrics. He struggles with a jet lagged guitar and jokes through a totally enjoyable evening down in this weird shopping center club on the waterfront.
Give him a listen and then buy his music!


Read about him here

Buy his music here

Loudon Wainwright III homepage

Loudon Wainwright III discussion group



Dizzy Gillespie-Nightstage Oct. 23rd 1987 

 

My old friend and co-worker from Nightstage Laura Tennyson jumped out of cyberspace and down onto weeklyleaks with a really nice comment on this page where she mentions Dizzy Gillespie, so I decided to dust off Dizzy's cassette for Easter.
Now as I mention in my "about weeklyleaks ramblings, recording was not a priority, live sound was, well, this time around all I found was a UR46 cassette(46 min total!) now, try'n get a long concert on that...
Anyhow these shows (he played two nights) were billed as his 70th birthday, well, reading up on Dizzy proved this to be streching the truth, his birthday was the day before on October 21, but yes he did turn 70 and what I remember best from these shows was actually a mid afternoon press conference which I really wish I had recorded because Dizzy was smart and funny, he had a unique approach to verbal art as well. I also remember Nightstage supplied him with a cake, with a copy of his signature trumpet on top.
I don't know who was in his band at the time, feel free to enlighten me.

Turn the sound up for the start ( the slider to the left ), he quietly gives an introduction where he mentions his Bahai beliefs...


Read about Dizzy Gillespie here

Buy his music here






Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, Ronnie Earl & co. Nightstage 1.27.1988 

 

A crazy night at Nightstage featuring the recently deceased Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Ronnie Earl, Jerry Portnoy, Luther Guitar Jr  Little Mike and band.
Ronnie Earl and Little Mike do their best trying to contain the beast consisting of huge loveable personalities and out of tune guitars. I don't know how many people were on stage, I can hear some amps in the background that didn't go through the PA, loose but entertaining!
Hubert is still around gigging, I guess everyone is except Pinetop who just called it quits at the ripe old age og 97, being the oldest performing bluesman.
You should follow the links on these guys, read up on them, I'll get back with some more tapes of Ronnie Earl and Jerry Portnoy, I have have some really sharp shows with these guys showing off their great talents. This tape doesn't really do them justice, but hang in for some great vocal performances and highly original guitar work by Hubert. I had to cut a couple of the songs with Pinetop, the band just didn't follow him well enough to justify it. You had to be there...Which reminds me, I found a link on youtube of Luther Guitar Jr playing at Nightstage, it gives you an idea of the venue..., check it out 
Yepp.


Buy Hubert Sumlins' Music here

Buy Pinetop Perkins' music here

Buy Ronnie Earl's music here

Buy Jerry Portnoy's music here

Buy Little Mike's music here

Buy Luther Guitar Jr Watsons' music here

American Music Club-Cruise Cafe-10.14.89  

 

Here's another show from Cruise Cafe in Oslo. American Music Club was a very hot band with frontman Mark Eitzel causing quite a stir. Rolling Stone named him songwriter of the year back in 1991.
This was from their first tour of Norway and the night seemed kind of quiet, well not that quiet, the regular crowd often prone to being pretty talkative seemed to be an aquired taste for the band. They actually seemed pretty surprised by the enthusiasm near the end of the set demanding a couple of encores. 



Mark Eitzel  Lead vocals/guitar
Vudi  Lead guitar
Danny Pearson  bass
Mike Simms  drums

Read about them here

Buy their music here


Michelle Shocked Nightstage, Cambridge, Ma. May 14th 1988 

 
Sorry! Michelle doesn't want this music made public so I took it down. Check her out anyhow.

As far as I remember Michelle Shocked walked into Nightstage barefooted and had hitchiked her way to Cambridge with her guitar, due to play the opening set before Rick Danko and his band.
She had quite a buzz going at the time, having gained instant fame with her first release called The Texas Campfire Tapes, an album recorded on the little brother of the tape machine these weeklyleaks were recorded on, The Sony Professional Walkman.
Michelle Shocked turned out to be an excellent story teller, musician and activist entertainer and really hit the sweet spot with the Cambridge folk crowd. Mr Bones came up and played his bones near the end of the first set, he was a regular at the Nightstage, played with all sorts of people, his real name was John Burrill and died in 1993. Michelle has released a pile of great albums and is frequently on the road, try and catch her if you can.


Read about her here

Buy her music here

Follow her on Facebook





Stan Getz Nightstage April 4th 1988 

 

Stan Getz offered me a job as his live soundman after doing this gig with him. I was flattered but turned him down, I always wondered where I'd have been if I took him up on his offer. Unfortunately Getz would only tour for another year or so after this gig before finally giving in to liver cancer in June 1991. Had I had the opportunity I would have loved to have worked with him as he was such an excellent musician, being one of the all time best tenor saxophone players. 
Stan Getz was famous for his bossa nova hit The Girl From Ipanema but his career was long and varried playing with Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Horace Silver, Oscar Peterson, Dizzy Gillespie and Chick Chorea among others. 
I was at a party at my friend/producer/arranger Lars Horntveth's house the other day and there I wound up talking to one of Norway's finest musician; Håkon Kornstad. Kornstad told me that Stan Getz was the reason he picked up the saxophone in the first place...


This tape is from the second show, I'll publish the first show at a later date.

Read about Stan Getz here

Buy his music here

Stan Getz Saxophone
Terri Lyne Carrington Drums
Anthony Cox Bass
Peter Madson Piano


James Blood Ulmer Nightstage 9.9.1987 

 

James Blood Ulmer has one of the most distinct voices of any performer I have heard, be it his guitar playing or his singing voice.
Besides a blistering solo career James Blood is famous for his collaboration with Ornette Coleman
I got a chance to work with James Blood on two occasions and he was an absolutely fascinating performer. 
James Blood Ulmer always drew an interesting crowd, music lovers for sure, pushing him along with swaying bodies, bobbing heads and gigantic grins.  
I'm a fan myself, a couple of my favorite albums are his Tales Of Captain Black  and his 1984 release Odyssey
This board recording is from the second show which was fairly loose and from what I can hear from the mix, his guitar must have been loud on stage.
I got the old Delta Lab Effectron  adding some slap, I don't know why the high hat is so loud, maybe the drummer had a vocal mic that I left on..
Anyhow, the vibe is cool. 
Enjoy



James Blood Ulmer Guitar and vocals
Amin Ali Bass
Warren Benbow Drums

Read about James Blood Ulmer here

Buy his music here





Lonnie Mack Cruise-Oslo- 5.5.1991 

 

Here's a concert with the legendary Lonnie Mack, Lonnie had a huge influence on early guitar players due to his speed and aggresive use of the whammy bar. He spent most of his years squeezing his music out of a Gibson Flying V guitar.  He played Cruise a couple of times and had a very distinct tone, his amp of choice (as was Roy Buchanan's) was a Roland JC 120 stereo chorus. I miked up both speakers for the full effect on this off the board recording. Lonnie had a great band and drew a good crowd having fans both in the rockabilly, rock, country and blues scenes. 
Reading up on Lonnie Mack I read that he played bass on The Doors Morrison Hotel, and when asked by a journalist about Jim Morrison he answered; He was definitely out there, what can I say, I don't think he was a genius or anything, I think he was just ripped out of his tree... Lonnie was credited for playing bass on Roadhouse Blues but rumours have it he played the guitar solo as well.



Read about Lonnie here

Buy his music here

Dumpy Rice Piano
Bucky Lindsey Bass, buy his music here
Jeff McAllister Drums

Dr. John Nightstage Aug. 18 1987 

 

Dr. John is an old favorite of mine, I have lots of his old albums where favorites like Gris Gris and Desitively Bonnaroo are on regular rotation on my Thorens TD 316.
This concert from Nightstage is from a double bill with The Rhode Island band, Roomful of Blues, I'll get back to two alumnis from Roomful later, most notably Ronnie Earl and Duke Robillard. This tape catches the Doctor in great voice and making the Kawai Baby Grand piano dance around the stage like a feather on the Big Chiefs headdress , great crowd too. I also got a chance to work with Dr. John a couple of years later at the Cruise Cafe, I'll get there... Anyhow I remember Dr. John had a woman travelling with him that was a tour manager of sorts and she carried with her the same Sony TCD 5 tape deck that I used, we daisy chained them, I ran into her once in NYC but have forgotton her name...anyone? Doctor John is still active, do catch him live if you can.



Read about him here

Buy his music here


Tracy Chapman Nov 20th 1987 Nightstage, Cambridge, Massachusetts 

 

7.7.2011 Sorry folks, this concert is no longer available due to lack of permission from her legal staff.

Update, thanks to Aurelie@
About Tracy Chapman for a setlist

What a gem this concert is! I worked with
Tracy Chapman a couple of times before the release of her brilliant self titled debut album Tracy Chapman on Elektra Records.
Just months later her career skyrocketed after the albums release and her subsequent performance at
The Nelson Mandela 70th birthday tribute concert at Wembley Stadium.
On this show she was opening for
Jessie Colin Young and Tracy had just come back from LA where she had finished recording her debut album. She was talkative and incredibly charming during this performance for her home crowd in Boston. I think it was this night that I was introduced to her new manager Elliot Roberts, I couldn't help but ask him if he was indeed the Mr. Roberts of Bob Dylan and Neil Young fame, and indeed he was. No doubt Tracy was at this time heading places. I also remember an incident where Tracy had just recieved a new guitar with a built in pickup and when the show started the volume on her guitar was turned down so I had to make my way down from the balcony, through the crowd and on to the stage to turn the volume up with Mr Roberts frantically waving his hands. I can't hear that on this recording though..it might have been on a later date that I believe could have been in May 1988. Anyhow enjoy this brilliant songwriter from a truly memorable night back in 1987.

Buy Tracy Chapman's music
here

Read about Tracy Chapman
here

Oh, and check out the lineup at Nightstage that week!



 

Mick Taylor Nightstage 6.19.1988 


 Mick Taylor played Nightstage several times and he brought with him some really exquisite players most notably Bernard Purdie on drums, a legend and a totally together guy. He always drew a good crowd, Rolling Stones fans or not.
This is the second show except for the song Blind Willie McTell  which is from the first show. Mick Taylor had just recorded this song in NYC with Bob Dylan for the Infidels album, it didn't make the album..why?  I really love that song and it stuck out in the set. The next time that song popped out of some speakers at me was through my old Advent speakers on The Bands strong comeback album Jericho. My friends in The Respatexans also recorded a nice version of it. Mick was plagued by radio interference that his guitar was picking up, listen to the opening of part B of the show, pretty hilarious, some latin station was jamming the airwaves that night. Mick took it all in stride. Mick Taylor loved the house Fender Twin and wanted to buy it, it was very clean and sported a couple of JBL's. This second show was pretty loose but very enjoyable, some people had stayed for both shows and the crowd was totally into it.
Mick Taylor guitar & vocals
Bernard Purdie drums
Max Middleton Fender Rhodes & keys
Shane Fontayne guitar
Wilbur Bascomb bass


Buy Mick Taylors music here



Tish Hinojosa Cruise Cafe Oslo 1990 



 This concert with Tish Hinojosa is a request from the eminent bass player and a fine songwriter in his own right Jørun Bøgeberg. I dug into the suitcase and fetched this one out for him, unfortunately I hadn't written the date down on the cassette so feel free to update me, what I do know was that this was in 1990 shortly after her major label debut album Homeland on A& M records. You can hear from the tape that she had a great crowd and I can hear from the monitors that the system was cranking to be heard...
Tish had a big media buzz going in Norway at the time and it was her first tour of Europe. She was traveling with her long time accompanist Marvin Dykhuis who is still with her and also has an album of his own out available at Cd Baby.



Tish Hinojosa guitar & vocals
Marvin Dykhuis guitar, mandolin & vocals

Read about Tish here

Buy her music here

Rick Danko-Nightstage 14 Dec 1988  


I have been a Band fan ever since I was in my early teens so that day in May was a real treat for me. Rick Danko and his band came in an hour early for soundcheck raving about how beautiful the drive from upstate NY and over the Berkshires had been. Rick and the boys giggled through most of the soundcheck which was easy, Rick had just bought a new DI box and he wanted his guitar to sound like a bass. The lineup was unique to say the least, drums, acoustic guitar, harmonica and pedal steel. This opened the field for some pretty creative harmonies. Michelle Shocked was the opening act and if my memory serves me well she arrived barefoot. I will post Michelle Shocked's show at a later date as a separate leak. As Rick might have said, it was quite a crowd. The show was entertaining, fun and at times beautiful. I also remember buying new wind screens for the Shure Sm57's I used on vocals, halfway through the set Rick proceeds to tear the brand new windscreen off his mic mentioning that he might get AIDS... 


Steel guitar Buddy Cage
Harmonica Sredni Vollmer 
Drums Andy Robinson

Read about Rick here
Buy his music here

When Rick died I wrote a song called You Made A Difference that I released with my band Home Groan, I will include the song as a bonus for members of the mailing list. I dug up an audience tape from a show I did with Motorpsycho's alter ego The International Tussler Society of The Band song It Makes No Difference. 



Stephen Bruton-Cruise Cafe 12. Dec.1995  

 

One of the last things Stephen Bruton managed to accomplish before he died in 2009 was co writing the music with his long time buddy T Bone Burnett  for the multi Grammy Award winning movie Crazy Heart staring Jeff Bridges. From what I hear he also taught the songs to the guitar playing Jeff Bridges. The first time I became aware of Stephen Bruton was through his work as guitarist and songwriter for Bonnie Raitt & Willie Nelson. They both had hits with Stephen Bruton compositions  and Stephen used his momentum to release his first solo album What it Is which is an out of print gem. This concert from Cruise Cafe is a request from my buddy Lars Håvard Haugen. Lars is the worlds second best guitar player and worked with Stephen on several occasions. I was also inspired by Stephen and quoted one of his lines in a song called Paranoia on the HGH Pignoise album what makes you grow old is replacing hope with regret. Lars Håvard played on that song along with me and Håkon Gebhardt.
This show is from a relatively quiet Tuesday in December and even Stephen mentions during the show that it is at times incohesive. But it was great hearing him again and he does most of his biggest hits. 
Drums Tom Fillman 
Bass Terry Wilson


Read about him here  Buy his music here

Listen to T-Bone Burnett remember Stephen on NPR


Townes Van Zandt-Cruise Cafe 30 October 1990  





Townes Van Zandt
was a brilliant songwriter who played on at least three different occasions down at the now defunct Cruise Cafe. From a soundman's point of view he could be a challenge to project through a PA system as he was so quiet, that being said he had such a mesmerizing impact on the often rowdy audience that people just kept their mouths shut, their ears tuned and lost themselves in his storytelling. Townes was an amiable guy. Listening to these tapes of Townes was a sad but fascinating blast from the past. I really feel this concert shows what a great performer he was and how warmly the audience took to him. He hit it off really well with my old compadre from that era, house DJ and local chef Devo. I'll include a picture of Townes with Devo. Oh yeah and I discovered a little thanks to me near the end of the first part of his show..
Working with Townes was a treat and in later years I've covered a couple of his songs live and really come to terms with his greatness.
Townes Van Zandt passed away in 1997 at the age of 52


Read about Townes here . Buy his music here.
Listen to Steve Earle doing Townes on NPR.


Astor Piazzolla Nightstage Cambridge, Ma. 26 August 1987   


When I showed up for my daily 12 hour shift at Nightstage on August 25 1987 I had no idea what I was about to experience. I hired fellow sound person Myrna Johnston to bring in more equipment for monitor mix and got ready for the band. When the 5 distinguished gentlemen arrived, set up on stage and started playing I was totally blown away. I had never heard anything like it, their music was intricate, fascinating, emotional and above all beautiful. I have been a fan ever since. Those four shows on those two nights are probably the best shows I've ever experienced. I went to see the band at some other venue the following year in Boston and that was the last time I got to hear Astor Piazzolla before he died in 1992. I remember the band bickering over details during sound check, try'n to better their performance and I was impressed by their dedication to improve even after all those years of playing together. The icing on the cake for me during the end of the last show was Astor announcing on mic, " I think it's the best sound on all my tour".


Bandoneon, Astor Piazzolla
Violin, Fernando Suarez Paz
Guitar, Horacio Malvicino
Piano, Pablo Ziegler
Bass, Hector Console 
Read more about Astor Piazzolla here . Buy his music here

About Weeklyleaks

For the last twenty years I've been sitting on two old suitcases full of original live cassette recordings from my tenure as a sound man from the mid 80's to the 90's.
The tapes are mainly from two music clubs where I ran sound and lights, Nightstage in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and Cruise Cafe in Oslo, Norway. I used to make these recordings for reference, I'd usually listen to them the next morning to relive psycho acoustic phenomena's from the night before, besides that, I'm a music buff.
I have never copied nor distributed the tapes before and will only make them available for streaming via this page and stored on my weeklyleaks.net web hotel. They are not for sale and I will not make copies nor make them downloadable. At times bands and road managers linked up to my recorder and made their own copies but most of these are believed to be unique recordings.
Technically speaking these tape are not of broadcast quality as the musical mixes are balanced for the PA and do not take into account stage volume levels, house eq or system balance..  Also none of them are complete performances, recording was not a priority, getting the house sound right and the performers comfortable was. Some tapes start up in the middle of a song , run out in the middle of the song etc. Bear with me.
Most tapes are right off the board but some are recorded with a mono mix to one channel and a microphone (most likely a Shure SM57) picking up the room in the other.
I will publish links to official recordings where you can purchase the music of the recorded artists, please help me out here so I can link to releases where the performer actually sees some money. Hopefully these live recordings will inspire you to do so.
I had a great time working with these artist and I look forward to listening to them again. I'll try and write a few words, not reviews just ramblings about each concert and I hope to publish one every other week depending on my tour/work schedule. Hopefully this project  won't be too overwhelming as its all of my doing and a labor of love.
Look forward to concerts with,Mose Allison, Mick Taylor, Tracy Chapman, Townes Van Zandt, Dizzy Gillespie, Tom Russell, Eek A Mouse, Dr. John, Giant Sand, Loudon Wainwright, Astor Piazzolla, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Carl Perkins, Bill Monroe, Etta James, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, American Music Club, Albert King, Michelle Shocked, Duke RobillardDelbert McClinton and a bunch more, it should keep me busy... 


Please contact me if you as an artist or their legal estate do not want these recordings made public.
A high bit rate wave file copy will be made available to the artists upon request. The audio available for preview on this site is only at 96kbps.

Thanks
Martin Hagfors

The concerts will be transfered from my old Sony TC-D5, the same deck that I recorded them with. 

Legally speaking on a personal level

Weeklyleaks is my fan page to some of the great musicians I happened to work with back in my day as a soundman. 
The tapes are getting old and the time is right to digitalize them in a library before they are gone forever. They are not of broadcast quality and are uploaded to my weeklyleaks web host at a meager 96kbps. They are kind of like red wine on the rocks, the smell is right but for the full flavor you have to go for the real thing. So buy the official full fidelity recordings. 
I have never encountered a web page quite like this before and once I got the idea to pursue weeklyleaks I gave the pros and cons a lot of thought. Weeklyleaks is non commercial and as a a musician/songwriter with 17 albums and hundreds of songs under the belt I take these matters very seriously. In our new media environment including free streaming of official recordings, free downloads at youtube etc. I thought I would try to approach this differently providing links to official releases and hopefully turning new fans on to the great artists I intend to present. FYI, these music files do not reside on this web hotel.

Please contact me if you as an artist or their legal estate do not want to be promoted on these pages.

List of artists who do not allow public streaming here
 
Bandzoogle: band websites that work