This was not a true band, but a one-day, one-gig amalgam of members of The Stereotypes and The Wind that Swept Mexico.  The event was a town+gown event called Communiversity held on Saturday, April 26th, 1986 at Princeton.

As I recall, the original plan was for The Stereotypes to play, but some key members were going to be away (or studying), and so I invited my brother Matt to bring his group down to horn in on the gig, probably to the dismay of other local bands with a more rightful claim to the mike.

The Gig

The band platform was set up just north of Witherspoon Hall, and quite near our dorm room in Little Hall.  Blair Hall provided the final contextual cue that this was indeed a Princeton University event.

The gig location (click for larger image)

A good audio tape was also made of the performance, but since the videotape has a fairly nice audio track, I have chosen to simply present it as the canonical document of the day despite its poor tracking.

I believe that most of The Wind came down with some groupies the evening before and slept on the floor of our room in Little Hall (about 40 yards behind the outdoor stage we played on).  We practiced a little that evening, but mostly the night was spent agreeing on what songs would be performed and who would play what instrument in each.  The lack of extensive practice was probably what saved the event, as when the time came, it went pretty smoothly.

The composite band played just 4 real songs and a pair of television theme songs to break the ice before the stage was entrusted to The Wind who cranked out a series of R.E.M. covers which cast a pall over the affair and made the follow-up acts chafe a bit.

But then, something magical happened.  The Wind kicked into a cover of "Rock You Like a Hurricane", and Mark Glickman grabbed the camera to create a highly kinetic video rarely equalled in performance since.  It's not that it sounds all that good; it's that in the 2 minutes and 43 seconds before Tony Maxwell's guitar expires in a baleful moan atop his shoulders, the boys have trod upon every ambition and every folly in the world of Rock n' Roll.

The Video

Matt Lovell became the guardian of a VHS tape that was at LEAST one generation away from the original pair of mini-cassettes which I presume are lost to history.  I can't say at what stage the terrible tracking afflicted the tape, but I can recall that this early video camera did not impress me as a high quality instrument.  Specifically, it had to settle on a scene for awhile for it to focus, and a pan caused real blurring --- a deficiency seemingly unknown by the various persons charged with taping the event.  In March of 2006, I grabbed the tape while visiting and digitized it.  Now, 20 years later, it springs upon an unsuspecting world.

The Stereo-Hombres at Communiversity (19:41, 92 MB)

This is the entire tape of the Stereo-Hombres, and includes the Wind That Swept Mexico's closing number.  For me, the value of this version is the rockumentary introduction and the surprising number of school friends to be found in the margins.

A la Carte Song Excerpts

Andy Griffith Theme (1:03, 6 MB)

Tony Lovell on guitar, Mark on his DX-7, and The Wind turns in a blistering finger-snap solo.  Learning this song from the album of TV songs we had fell to Mark, as the chord changes are so eclectically chosen and so abruptly struck that a mere mortal cannot really tell how it goes.  That said, Mark's perfect pitch helps a lot, but I am clearly missing a few changes.

Respectable Street (3:35, 17 MB)

Tony Lovell and Randy Schloss on guitars, Mark on bass and vocals, Tony Maxwell on drums and singing the intro.  I'm shocked to hear how badly I play the bridge guitar figures and that I have the chord progression slightly wrong.  This song was always a staple of any band Mark and Tony were in (Mark made Tony an XTC fan, primarily by virtue of "Black Sea").

Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress (3:10, 16 MB)

A Hollies cover from the Stereotypes repetoire.  Tony and Randy play guitars, and Mark sings and plays drums while Tony Maxwell has switched to bass.  Not bad, but... meh.  Mark expresses disappointment that this song is clearly outside his vocal range.  The best is yet to come.

Just What I Needed (3:16, 16 MB)

A Cars cover.  Mark is back on keyboards and singing and Tony Maxwell now on bass.  Randy plays drums and shares the vocals on choruses.  Tony Lovell on guitar.  I hate playing lead guitar!

Break on Through (2:35, 13 MB)

A Doors cover.  Matt Lovell on bass, Randy on guitar, Tony Maxwell on drums, and Mark singing and playing keys.  It hurts to say it, as I am sitting this one out, but this is the sonic centerpiece of the show.  They flub the ending trick, but for a song they may never have played together before, this is nice stuff!

Batman Theme (1:05 6 MB)

Tony Lovell on guitar, Randy KICKING ASS on bass, Mark on keys, and Tony Maxwell going WILD on the drums.  Hard to complain about this one.  Television was never this much fun.

Related Videos

The Wind that Swept Mexico followed up with several numbers which are cataloged on their page.