cbgb tape tree

[mg (Mitch Gart)]

OK, here it is, the cbgb tape tree.

I've got a good DAT tape from Tuesday's show.  I missed about 5 minutes
near the end, when I had to change tapes, but there's close to 3 hours
of good quality recordings.  The part I missed was the end of 
Abyssinians and beginning rap of Horses.  So the first thing to ask is
if there are any better tapes than mine out there.  If anybody has one
they think might be better or more complete, and would like to use it
to seed the tree, please speak now.  Did anybody make friends with the
sound guys who were recording each night?  Did anybody get a video?

Next, what is a tape tree?  Basically it's a not-for-money, informal
gathering where we start with a tape, and organize ourselves to 
make copies and trade them, getting a copy to everybody who wants one.
We try to balance the conflicting goals of not wanting to have
too many generations of tape copying versus not wanting to make any
one person be stuck with making too many copies.  We do a period of
sign-ups, and then organize the people who sign up into "root" and
"branches" and "leaves".  The root is the person at the top of the
hierarchy who makes the first generation copies.  A branch is a 
person who gets a copy, and makes more copies for other people.  A
leaf is a person who just gets a copy.

Ideally, to do a good job, the "root" of the tree should be a person
with a professional dat deck that can make non-copy-protected tapes.
I don't have this equipment, does anybody on the list have it?

At each stage, there is a trade.  The person making copies contacts
the people directly below them on the tree, and they trade something,
e.g. "I'll trade you a Ramones and a Television for the 2 Patti tapes" 
or something like that, whatever the individuals agree to.
There are no rules.  Money is discouraged, trading tapes of other
concerts or trading blank tapes is encouraged, but it's up to the 
individuals to make a deal.  Contacts are made via email but then of 
course when exchanging actual tapes something else like regular mail 
or face-to-face meeting is necessary.

So, please send your sign-up requests TO ME, NOT TO BABEL-LIST.
In your signup request please say which kind of tree member you
would like to be:

  digital->digital branch	(can make dat->dat copies)
  digital->analog branch	(can make dat->analog copies)
  analog->analog branch		(can make analog->analog copies)
  digital leaf			(would like to get a dat copy)
  analog leaf			(would like an analog copy)

"Analog" is a plain old kind of cassette, dat is "digital audio tape",
a newer highter quality format that requires a special recorder.  If 
you agree to be a branch, you will not be asked to make copies for more 
than 5 other people.  Being a branch is a great way to improve your 
tape collection!

So, send your tree requests to me, please, not to the whole list.

- Mitch
- mg