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Xavier Birtwich's Collection

Frank Zappa   03/15/1969

Titan Gymnasium, Fullerton, CA
Source SBD stage recording - 75 min - justinmsmith38@hotmail.com - outlook one drive 5GB
Media FLAC   1 disc
Notes SBD stage recording - 75 min - justinmsmith38@hotmail.com - outlook one drive 5GB
Tech Notes Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention
Titan Gymnasium
California State University
Fullerton CA
1969 03 15 (the date for this show was originally thought to be 1968 11 08, however, following excellent research by drdork (see below), 1969 03 15 is now believed to be the correct date)

~~ Stage Recording ~~

Upgrade to previously circulating versions (incl."Our Man From Nirvana" boot/BTB 2)

Upgrade to previous FZ Shows seed version by enggopah:
- speed corrected (between 0 and -70cts)
- phase offset fixed, now with a more centered stereo image, almost mono sounding
- several drop out spots fixed

Includes 2 small portions, originally missing in this version, patched in from two alternate copies of the same source:
- additional material around master tape flip in Valarie preamble, taken from robsam-doctorzap DR-1 transfer
- Outro (final chatter) taken from Mike Martin-Flying M copy

Current FZshows entry:
1969 03 15 - Titan Gymnasium, Fullerton, CA
75 min, Stage, B+
Ian Underwood is not present on this recording. With Wild Man Fisher (*).
This show is available on Our Man In Nirvana - BTB2.
intro, Bacon Fat, The String Quartet, The Wild Man Fischer Story*, I'm The Meany*, Valarie, King Kong

This copy: 73.20 min, Stage, A-/B+

Lineage: traded CD-R > previous FZ Shows seed flac > Soundforge 9: speed correction, phase offset & drop outs fixed, patched in fills from alternate dubline copies of same source > flac TLH lvl8 w/SBA (430 MB)

taped by: unknown
transferred by: unknown
CD-R rip & previous seed: enggopah
edited by: flambay

Fills from two alternate dubline copies:

1) robsam-doctorzap low gen tape (for additional material around master tape flip in Valarie preamble) (~72 min, Stage, B+, hissy)
Lineage: Maxell XLII GEN ? > Nakamichi DR-1 > Realtek HDAudio pentium i7 > Soundforge 10 Pro Highest quality setting Izotope 64 bit src downsampling / MBIT+dither> TLH > Soundforge 9: extracting patch & merging with main source
Taped by: unknown
Contributed by: robsam
Transferred by: doctorzap
Edited (patched) by: flambay

2) Mike Martin-Flying M low gen tape (for additional material at end of show: final EmCee words)
(38.40 min, Stage, B+/B, NRed)

Source:
soundboard > ?? > WM Fisher's cassette > Akaii GX-570 D2 w/ Dolby Transfer Nakamichi CR3A w/ Dolby > Audigy 4 Pro > Audacity > CD Wav > Flac (Level 8) > Soundforge 9: extracting patch, volume level adjusted, merging with main source
Taped by: unknown
Contributed by: Larry Fischer
Transferred by: Mike Martin (Flying M)
Edited (patched) by: flambay

The Mothers Of Invention, November 1968 - May 1969:

FZ, Lowell George, Roy Estrada, Jimmy Carl Black, Art Tripp, Don Preston, Bunk Gardner, Motorhead Sherwood, Buzz Gardner, Ian Underwood (not present in this show for virus affliction).

Setlist:

01 Intro [4:14]
02 Bacon Fat [3:50]
03 Preamble - Tuning [1:37]
04 Pound For A Brown (The String Quartet Part 1) [5:57]
05 Sleeping In A Jar (The String Quartet Part 2) [2:36] drop out flaw ('pause button' incident) at 1:51
06 Jam (The String Quartet Part 3) [16:55]
07 The Wild Man Fischer Story [3:44] feat. Wild Man Fischer
08 I'm The Meany [1:55] feat. Wild Man Fischer
09 Preamble [1:44] robsam-doctorzap patch {0:04,500-0:10} around master tape flip cut at 0:06
10 Valarie [0:42]
11 King Kong [29:23] cut at 14:17
12 Outro [0:38] entire track from Flying M tape copy

Total Time (patched version) 73.20 min

Unpatched tracks (enggopah copy only) in separate subfolder (10 MB):
09 Preamble (unpatched) [1:43] crossfade splice over master tf, at 0:05

Total Time (enggopah copy only) 72.42 min

Notes: Unpatched tracks SB aligned with remaining tracks in main folder.

Credits:
Thanks to the unknown taper.
Thanks to enggopah for contributing this version as per his previous FZ Shows seed (main body)
Thanks to all fill source contributors: robsam, doctorzap, Larry Fischer, Mike Martin
Thanks to all who participated in the discussions in the Shoebox seed threads, leading to this FZ Shows seed.

Enjoy !!

-- flambay

--------------------
Extract from drdork's research about the date of this show:

"Recently I noticed that two different Alice Cooper gig lists were more skeptical about the alleged 68/11/08 Fullerton gig. sickthingsuk asks, "Is there any other evidence that this show happened?" And the Alice Cooper eChive labels it "CANCELLED". So I decided to take another look at the question, with help from some of my fellow Zappateers.

1. Al_Fresco found three items in The Titan, the student newspaper at Cal State Fullerton, in March 1969: an ad and a preview article on March 14 and a captioned photograph on March 18. He found no such items in November 1968 issues.
2. Similarly, Si Halley of the sickthingsuk website found ads in the March 12 and March 15 issues of the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram. He found no such items in November 1968 issues.
3. In the full recording here (but not on the Beat The Boots version of Our Man In Nirvana), FZ makes multiple references in his opening monologue to a gymnasium and to Orange County. It's pretty clear that the tape was recorded in a gym in Orange County. Titan Gymnasium at Cal State Fullerton is not the only gym in Orange County, but it is one.
4. Earlier in that monologue, FZ says, "Due to an unfortunate circumstance, we will not have our normal ten-piece band here tonight. We have only nine pieces because Ian, our alto saxophone player and teen appeal member of the combo, was afflicted with a virus on the east coast and is now lying on his back, coughing and sweating and being fed chicken soup at his girlfriend s house in New York." If this was recorded on 68/11/08, that was the very first concert featuring Buzz Gardner and Lowell George. It's a bit odd to refer to "our normal ten-piece band" when that line-up hasn't performed a single concert. If, on the other hand, this tape was recorded on 69/03/15, then the full line-up (including Ian, Buzz and Lowell) would have played a handful of west coast gigs in late November, early December and mid January, followed by a month-long tour of the east coast (69/01/31 Boston through 69/03/02 Philadelphia). So the ten-piece band would have been well established (normalized, if you will).
5. Moreover, if this tape dates from 68/11/08, Ian Underwood must have stopped off in New York en route from Europe to Los Angeles and then got sick there and stayed with Ruth. (Which means that the ten-piece line-up might not even have rehearsed together yet.) But if it dates from 69/03/15, we know that Ian was on the east coast tour in February, so all he had to do was get sick and stay there. No special trip or stop-over necessary.
6. old zircon pointed out that in I'm The Meany, Wild Man Fischer sings, "The Beatles talk about me in their movie, movie." This is obviously a reference to Yellow Submarine, which was released in the United States on November 13, five days after the alleged 68/11/08 Fullerton show, but a full four months before the confirmed 69/03/15 Fullerton show.
7. old zircon also pointed out that before Pound For A Brown FZ states that Uncle Meat "is gonna be out in a couple of weeks". The album was released in April 1969, a month after 69/03/15 but five months after 68/11/08.
8. One more old zircon argument: the European tour lasted through 68/10/26 Paris. That leaves less than two weeks to fly back to Los Angeles and rehearse with the two new band members before the alleged 68/11/08 Fullerton show, followed by three weeks off before the next show, 68/11/29 Phoenix. On the other hand, if there was no 68/11/08 Fullerton show, then they have a full month to get back and rehearse before 68/11/29 Phoenix. (There was less than two weeks between 69/03/02 Philadelphia and 69/03/15 Fullerton, but that was the same line-up playing the same repertoire, so it's no problem.)

None of the arguments above is conclusive by itself. But taken together, they lead me to conclude that
a) no concert by the Mothers Of Invention and Alice Cooper was ever scheduled for Fullerton on November 8, 1968
b) this tape was recorded in Fullerton on March 15, 1969"
--------------------

Originally seeded to zappateers.com = August 2011
Seeded to Zappateers.com = 31 March 2021, updated with new date of show = 9 July 2021
Trades Allowed Yes
Ratings Show: B+    Sound: SBD
Reference / Generation justinmsmith38@hotma
Owned by Xavier Birtwich · Last Updated Feb 20, 2026