Bruce Springsteen
Shrine Auditorium
Los Angeles, CA
November 16, 1990
Mike Millard first gen via JEMS
The Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone Tapes Vol. Eight

Recording Info: Nakamichi CM-50 microphones > Nakamichi 550 cassette recorder

JEMS 2015 Transfer: First-generation cassette copy made by Mike Millard for BC > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted transfer > Sound Devices USBPre 2 > Audacity 2.0 (24/96) capture > pitch correction > iZotope RX MBIT+ resample 16/44.1 > Peak Pro XT (volume smoothing / edit / index) > xACT 2.21 > FLAC

01 Brilliant Disguise
02 Darkness On The Edge Of Town
03 Mansion On The HIll
04 Reason To Believe
05 Red Headed Woman
06 57 Channels (And Nothin’ On)
07 My Father’s House
08 Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
09 Atlantic City
10 Wild Billy’s Circus Story
11 Nebraska
12 When The Lights Go Out
13 Thunder Road
14 My Hometown
15 Real World
16 Highway 61 Revisited (with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt)
17 Across The Borderline (with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt)

Known Faults:
None

JEMS is pleased to resume our Lost and Found Mike the MICrophone series, presenting recordings made by legendary taper Mike Millard, AKA Mike the MICrophone, best known for his masters of Led Zeppelin in and around LA circa 1975-77. For further details on how other tapes in this series came to be lost and found again, as well as JEMS' history with Mike Millard, please refer to the notes in Vol. One: http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=500680

Installment No. 8 is another surprise: Millard’s excellent recording of one of the most significant Springsteen shows of all time, night one of the acoustic benefit for the Christic Institute on November 16, 1990.

Springsteen, along with Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt, played back to back nights in Los Angeles to raise money for the organization. The appearances were Springsteen’s first true concerts since the end of the Amnesty tour October 1988. They also marked only his second solo performances since he formed the E Street Band, following a somewhat “safer” set at the 1986 Bridge School Benefit Concert.

As such, anticipation for the shows was extraordinarily high. And in a pre-internet era, all of us, myself included, walked into the show with no idea what Springsteen was going to play. The set was nothing short of jaw dropping: four world premieres, Bruce’s first solo piano performances since 1978, a deep dip into Nebraska and stunning new interpretations of songs like “Darkness on the Edge of Town” and “Brilliant Disguise.” It was a show for the ages.

Christic One has long circulated in three primary recordings: the first made by RT and found on the bootleg CD Springsteen, Raitt and Browne (Templar); the second recorded by the legendary Mark Persic; the third taped by Slipkid68 and released five years ago via JEMS. Millard’s recording, done on his trusty Nakamichi mics and recorder, is up to his usual standards. While all three extant tapes are good to very good, to my ears, Millard’s moves to the front of the pack. But you should judge for yourself. Samples provided.

This is the first of three previously unknown and uncirculated Millard recordings of Springsteen provided to JEMS by BC, a longtime friend of Mike the Mic who attended dozens of concerts with him through the years. It, along with MM’s recording of the next night, are also the first confirmed tapes made by Millard as late as November 1990, later than it was believed he had lived.

BC cannot remember exactly when he learned of Millard’s death, but he believes it could have been a year or even two after this show, which contradicts internet stories that claim he died in 1990. Pinning his death to 1990 may simply have been the result of there being no known Millard recording after that year.  BC also told me that, contrary to legend, Mike was not an introvert or a loner at all, nor paranoid or distrustful, but someone who had a close group of friends with whom he shared a love of music and to whom he graciously and frequently gave copies of many of his recordings.

Other insights from BC:

Mike taped many more shows than we know and years earlier than we know, though his own high standards may have prevented “lesser work” from being given out.

Through the help of one of his friends, Mike was typically able to get exactly the seats he wanted and get security to look the other way when the gear came in.

Millard was anti-bootlegging and was in fact offered a significant sum for his Christic tapes, which he turned down.

BC confirmed that he was with Millard on occasions where he did indeed record with two sets of mics on two recorders, which provides provenance for the two distinct recordings we posted earlier in the series of Bob Dylan at Universal Amphitheatre, June 7, 1978.

The tape JEMS transferred was dubbed for BC by Millard himself and bears his signature tape-labeling style, including the bubble letter Mike the MIC logo. An image of the tape case is included.

If you'd like to learn more about Mike the MICrophone, the links below offer a glimpse of his story albeit with some questionable and incomplete information.

Millard's Wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Millard

The best article written about Millard has been deleted from the original website but is reprinted here:
http://www.classicrockforums.com/forum/f6/led-zeppelin-official-thread-6185/index164.html

JEMS is deeply thankful to BC for reaching out and not only loaning us his Millard first gens but for sharing stories and helping fill some gaps in the story of this legendary taper. BC says that the Mike Millard he knew would have loved the sharing community on DIME and Jungleland and the continuing interest in his work. Thanks also to mjk5510, who helped make the connection to BC and, as usual, drove this one around the final curve.

Here's to the late, great Mike the MICrophone and to finding more lost tapes.

BK for JEMS