Tom Constanten solo
The Fore 'n' Aft
White Plains, NY
1984-10-23

Source:  3x Nak 701s > MX-100 > D5 by Bruce Barnum
Transfer Info: Cassette Master > Nakamichi DR-1 > Tascam DA-3000 (DSF 1-bit/5.6 MHz) > dBpoweramp (24/96)
Lineage:  Wav24/96 > Wavelab 9.5 (tracking, levels +10 dB, remove DC offset) > FLAC 2496

Thanks to Charlie Miller for the C > D transfer.

Note:  channels unbalanced for the first 30 seconds, then they even out.

01. Hesitation Blues
02. Rose Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin)
03. American Beauty Rag (Joseph Lamb)
04. Fastime Rag #4 (Artie Matthews)
05. Fastime Rag #5 (Artie Matthews)
06. Cold Rain & Snow
07. Boogie Woogie Blues (Albert Ammons)
08. Paralax (Terry Ryan)
09. Tappy Cat Walk (William Bolcom)
10. Dead Man Blues (Jelly Roll Morton)
11. Dark Star
12. banter
13. Dejavalse (TC)
14. Take The Cake Walk (TC)
15. New Rag (Scott Joplin)
16. The Entertainer (Scott Joplin)
17. Scriaban etude Opus 42 No. 3

The Fore 'n' Aft was one of those bar / rock venues that took over old buildings built  for something else, which dotted the landscape until the late 1980s when the 21 year old drinking age killed them.  The kind of place where the Ramones and the Radiators played, people talk too much, and you can hear beer bottles being tossed into the trash between songs.

There were actually four Fore 'n' Afts dotted around Westchester County, and if you're the right age you remember drinking there in high school with a fake ID.  The White Plains location was the flagship locations.  You can find some pictures of these places here:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/Werockedyourmother/ (classy).

This set is almost entirely ragtime, which is probably why TC was getting razzed for playing a solo "musical odyssey of deliberately wide horizons" on a Tuesday night in small Westchester venue.  The crowd seems to thin towards the end, after a few efforts at "play the Grateful Dead" and so forth.  TC even says that "if I have a next time," he'll perform some Dead tunes that he has under development.  Whether anyone was satisfied, I don't know, but it's nice to hear some of these old songs played by a great musician rather than the soundtrack to a cartoon clip.  Plus there's some nice TC material in here, too.  The last track is what "a butterfly after ingesting an interesting chemical" would sound like.

Bruce Barnum was a Deadhead and an avid taper from the early 1980’s until his death in 2017 at age 48.  Over the years, he taped dozens of Dead shows throughout the Northeast, and other concerts, some of which have not been heard since then.
After his death, about 60 of his master cassettes turned up in a used record store in Hudson, NY.  Some were bought by random people nostalgic for the days of cassettes.  The rest were purchased by a fellow Deadhead and archivist.  Bruce’s daughter, Jessica, had more, and was kind enough to lend them to be digitized.  Many of these recordings sound excellent for their age.  They are Bruce's legacy.  Thanks to Charlie Miller, Scott Clugstson and others who have helped bring them to light.

Enjoy!

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