Photos from the show by Michael Conen

This evening was one of my first shows to cover at Berkeley Square, and at the start of what would become a very busy year, free-lancing for BAM Magazine, and photographing “alternative rock” shows in the San Francisco Bay Area [mostly at The I-Beam in SF, and Berkeley Square, in the East Bay]. In fact, as noted in the above ad, I would return, just a few weeks later, and photograph David Thomas & The Wooden Birds “Where Were You?” – ‘April Fool’s Day’ 1986 – David Thomas & the Wooden Birds (with Tripod Jimmie opening) at the Berkeley Square, Berkeley Ca [4-1-86]. As you can see in the photos, I had to use a flash, and while it did “bleach” the skin-tone of the performers a bit, the results are actually fairly pleasing this time – principally because they were taken from the side of the stage, rather than directly facing the musicians in front of the stage. This situation would often cause problems for me at these shows in clubs, which often had limited stage lighting. In any event, I adapted my techniques, as I gained more experience….

Mr. Hitchcock was in the midst of a rising wave of exposure on the airwaves at this point in time; in particular, college radio stations in the States had been increasingly playing numbers from throughout his earlier career. I was a late-comer to the work of The Soft Boys, but as a result of working at Asta’s Records, in Oakland, in the mid-80‘s, and being around a couple of huge fans of his work, I was introduced to, and became much more familiar with, his recent output, as well as catching up on those earlier recordings before he went solo. Not long after this period of time, Hitchcock would sign to a major label, in the U.S., and his profile would grow considerably larger. Those releases would end up being played on my turntable quite a bit – “Globe of Frogs” and “Queen Elvis“, both of which were recorded with The Egyptians, who appear in these photographs: Morris Windsor, on drums; Roger Jackson on keyboards; and Andy Metcalfe on bass guitar (Messieurs Windsor & Metcalfe being former members of The Soft Boys).

As you can see from these photographs, there was quite a packed house to witness the proceedings, and from the looks on most of their faces, the audience was quite enjoying the show – and, indeed, so was I.