Live Recordings
Recorded : July 21 1982
Venue : Old Waldorf, SF CA
Radio Broadcast : July 21 1982, KFJC Los Altos, CA
Lineup : Craig Gray - guitar
Paul Hood - guitar
Jonathan Henrikson - Bass
Tim Mooney - Drums
Ricky Williams - Vocals
Live Mix : Tom Mallon
Cover Art : Kim Seltzer
Release : Bandcamp download Dec 7 2012 buy here
Vinyl LP Ektro Records Sept 20, 2013
Side One
1. India
2. Trauma Girl
3. Shooting Gallery
4. Again
5. Destiny
Side Two
1. Before Trust
2. Wishful Thinking
3. DJMC
4. Big Surprise
5. Walk On Jesus
6. General Echo
My girlfriend was in jail and I was driving a hot car. The previous week had involved an Iranian prince, fake cops, real cops, extortion
and illicit substances. We were opening for Nico who showed up with no money for her cab. I lost to her playing pool. Ricky arrived halfway through the first song with a stack of magazines under his arm, dropped them on the stage and started singing.
1. Wishful Thinking
2. Dream On Jesus
3. Trauma Girl
4. DJMC
5. Shooting Gallery
6. Again
7. Before Trusting Ricky
8. Big Suprise
9. Dreary
10. Seattle
Recorded : August 1982
Venue : Golden Crown, Seattle, Wa
Lineup : Craig Gray - guitar
Paul Hood - guitar
Jonathan Henrikson - Bass
Tim Mooney - Drums
Ricky Williams - Vocals
Cover Art : Kim Seltzer
Release : Bandcamp download Dec 2 2012
buy here
We drove up to the Northwest for 2 shows in Portland and Seattle. The band went in Jonathan's VW bus with all the equipment, Ricky drove up with his nurse at the time and our "manager" Terry. We were well fueled for the drive and the Portland show was at the end of that drive with no sleep. We hung out in Portland for a couple of days recovering then drove up to Seattle. Paul had to drag Ricky from his motel, he didn't want to do the show, he wanted to sleep more. On the way back we were pulled over in Oregon because pot smoke was coming out of the top of the van. We ran out of gas and money 100 miles from SF.
1. Mr Spine
2. West
3. Mr Foster's Shoes
4. Nadine
5. The Brush
6. Faux Pony
7. Fabric
8. Golden Frog
9. Clinging Fire/Clams
10. To Die
1. Faux Pony
2. Wolf Blitzer
3. Slaughter on Sumner
4. Little Charlene
5. Mr Foster's Shoes
6. Listen
7. Golden Grog
8. Screen
9. Opus
10. Fathom
11. Do the Incendiary
12. All the Girl's Cry
13. Mr Spine
1. Sea of Unrest
2. Trauma Girl
3. Wolf Blitzer
4. Pumice
5. Opus
6. Vampire in Chains
7. Big Suprise
8. The Orther
9.Get Away/Fathom
This was Mark's first show with us. A couple of the songs were fairly new. We had already recorded most of the music for the LP. The audience slowly thinned as we played and by the end of the set there were probably ten people left.
By the time of this show Mark had a routine with us. He would show up just before we went on. The songs he sang on, usually 3 or 4, would be lumped together mid set when he would come on and do his bit. After he was done he would leave the venue. Very little or no interaction with the band except Tim and maybe Joe. It felt like a favour I didn't want.
Shows with Ricky were always unpredictable as you never knew what substance he might or might not be on. This one might have been crack, might have been nothing (small chance).Luckily he was on pretty good form if a bit smelly. Jonathan Henrickson was in the the audience and can be heard yelling "Take a shower! You smell!". Tim was not very happy playing with Ricky or Paul and I. Tim was already playing with AMC and would quit the Midgets in 6 months along with Joe.
A Toiling Midgets live show was a unique thing, no 2 ever the same for the players as well the audience. Paul never played the same thing, Tom might change the tempo midsong, a riff might be expanded on, the silence might be longer, a song might be destroyed, the lyrics changed or all of the these and more. Sometimes the audience was with us, sometimes not. Some of the dates of the shows below are probably wrong but close enough.