At the Shellac show in San Francisco (the weird bicycle rodeo affair, lots of fire, broken glass, etc.) some years ago Steve announced that the rubber stamp being used to track admission was missing and pleaded for it's recovery/return. It was said that the stamp was actually used for the cover of the Uranus/Rude Gesture 7"s.

I thought this a typical Albini ploy for attention, but in glancing through the 7" section at a record store a while ago I noticed that the later pressing Uranus singles don't have the "SHELLAC" stamp, but a sad, singular stroke of paint.

So what happened? Has there been a ransom demand? What's been used to track admission at subsequent Shellac gigs?

I think it still exists (unless they made a new one). I helped Todd stamp a bunch of those 7" jackets about a year ago. In fact, I even got pretty creative on some of them and smudged rather than stamped...
mike

On a totally unrelated note, did anyone record any of the shellac shows from last fall? They played this amazing new song that steve called the radio song and im dying to hear it again. Maybe even steve, bob or todd knows or not. Maybe though.

Yeah, and I saw a show in Paradiso, Amsterdam where Bob Weston was trying to locate his ugly green coat that someone took as memorabilia...
I bet it was never found...

[obsessivefan]I was trying to find some recent Shellac recordings on Soulseek because I had heard they'd played new material, but had no luck. If someone could get some mp3s to me it would be super. I'm not sure how the band members feel about live bootlegging. If you are against it, I'm sorry.[/obsessivefan]

Just to point few things...
I am strongly against ANY violations of anyones rights, but once you step on that stage people will just grab anything you want to give them, but also what you don't want to give them.
Somehow they take that right from you as a performer/composer/whatever and transfer that right to themselfs, then it's called having fun..."it's there" and "everyone is doing it!"
That's just reflection of whole world...grab,grab,grab.
Reasons for this are unknown for me and people are keep surprising me with their actions...
Is it normal to steal something just because you can?
Even if you know that you are stealing from people you actually like and relate to musically?
To be quite clear, I don't give a fuck how big companies will survive...
Just I would not steal from them either.

I think it's wrong to sell bootlegs for a profit, and I have never actually bought any, or wouldn't, unless it was something I really really want. As far as sharing them on the internet for free goes, I respect that some (most) artists are probably against it, but some of the bootlegs I have are worth temporarily being morally wrong for.

As long as nobody except the artist is making money off of it, I don't have THAT much of a problem with it. If anything, the artists could take it as a compliment that people are so excited about the band that they would go to great lengths to hear the new Shellac song or some unreleased Neutral Milk Hotel stuff, or whatever. Either way, file-sharing live bootlegs is better than sharing the band's albums, because a person who has a dozen Shellac bootlegs will probably own all of Shellac's records, or at least most of them, and it's not like the person could support the band by going out and buying the bootlegs.

I am sorry, but I can't dissagree more!
If you record someone without their permission you are an asshole.
If band/club is selling tickets, they do not sell you the right to capture that moment with any tool out of any reason you may find amusing/important.
Some things are meant to happen and stay in that particular moment in time...Who are you to change that?!
Even if it's for your "personal use" - it sucks!

I suppose, since I am not actually in a band, that my opinion wouldn't mean as much as someone who was in one. But if I WERE in a band and I saw someone selling bootlegs of one of my shows for their own personal profit, I'd get pissed- after all, they didn't make the music they were selling, they're making money off of my sweat. However, most tape traders don't operate off of profit, they operate off of even trades out of a love of the music. If I broke into Electrical and stole a bunch of Shellac demo tapes or what have you, and then started trading them, even if it was not for a profit, Shellac has every right to get pissed- they never meant for the contents of the tapes to see the light of day. But if I were to go into a club and tape a Shellac show, what I'm recording is supposed to be for public consumption anyway. The only exception for this would be if they played a friends only show or something to that extent, where tickets were not publicly available. If the band would have a problem with taping the show because they don't think that the material is up to snuff with their recorded material and wouldn't want it to smudge their reputation, they probably shouldn't be playing said material live.

Then, on the other hand, some bands feel that selling live albums is a ripoff and don't do it (or only release it in Japan, etc.). So then, if live material is UNOFFICIALLY released, I would think that it would be a good way to spread the word about your band at zero cost to the band without infringing on record sales. I mean, that's how the Grateful Dead got most of their following.

With all that said, I still respect that some artists wouldn't want to have their shows taped. I have never taped a show myself, but then again, that's more out of a lack of means and not wanting to get caught than having a problem with doing taping in the first place.

Whoo hoo, someone's taking my side!

Rock!