United Nations Building, New York NY

The Recording:
Master - sony stereo mic > sony d6 cassette recorder
Copy - master cassette > nakamichi dragon > sony tcd-5m
1st gen cassette > nakamichi cr-7a > sony sbm-1 > HHB CDR recorder

FULL LINEAGE
Unknown format master (I suspect U-matic) --> VHS (NTSC) --> S•VHS (PAL) --> Panasonic NV-HS1000 --> Canopus ADVC-100 --> iMac (iMovie/Compressor/Toast) --> dvd files


EVENT BACKGROUND
The UN’s International Day of Peace is a global observance and not a public holiday. It is a day when nations around the world are invited to honor a cessation of hostilities during the day.
A UN resolution established the International Day of Peace in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the UN General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in 1982 and was held on the third Tuesday of September each year until 2002, when September 21 became the permanent date for the International Day of Peace. The assembly decided in 2001 that the International Day of Peace should be annually observed on September 21 starting from 2002. By setting a fixed date for the International Day of Peace, the assembly declared that the day should be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.
By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged people to work in cooperation for this goal. Since its inception, Peace Day has marked personal and planetary progress toward peace. It has grown to include millions of people worldwide and many events are organized each year to commemorate and celebrate this day.
(For further information: http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/)

VIDEO BACKGROUND
This came to me through a great friend, Marco L., whom I haven't seen for a long long time (except for a very brief meet up at the last PG show in Verona, in 2010). We probably first met in the late 80's, when we were both active fanzine makers (he with Wonderous Stories, I with Paperlate), but we did get on even more friendly terms in the summer of 1995, when Secret World, the band he was playing keyboards in (which as the name implies was a Gabriel cover band), played in Bologna for a PG Tribute event I was asked to organize and which turned out to be a great success for all involved with about 800 people showing up in the middle of a July week…
We met a few times afterwards: on one occasion, when I was in Rome for something else, we did go for a Pizza one night and he handed me these 2 VHS tapes telling me - but here my memory could be mistaken - he had come across the guy who filmed by absolute chance. For a few years I did not know what exactly to do with them: they were NTSC and the cost of transferring them would have been steep; also, the only thing I knew was that they were filmed during the 1986 UN show, of which I already had a PAL transfer. I must say I thought it was strange that these were 2 tapes, when one would have sufficed for the barely 30 minutes set, but I simply guessed the rest would be fillers from US Tv or things like that…

I only managed to finally see and transfer the tapes to a S•VHS PAL copy around the year 2000, and boy was I surprised!! Not only the footage from the day of show was far better than the amateur shoot, it was also done from on stage rather than from the audience pod, and it included all sorts of interesting and amusing bits and pieces from the day (check out the nutter chapter or the dove incident…).
Then there are the rehearsals… True: while there is in fact nothing really "new" or "unexpected" in this footage, nonetheless I believe that having a chance to "sneak in" on a such an occasion, even if just for one hour, is something quite unique. As unique is the band gathered for the occasion (as you probably saw from the musicians listed above). It appears from some of the musicians' different clothes that the rehearsals happened over a couple of days, so the date is actually just a guesstimate on my side.

Since I finally got a new 'steady' computer a couple of months ago, I thought this was one of the first things I wanted to transfer. I decided to scrap menus or anything fancy, as it would have taken me ages. But I don't think that will harm the enjoyment of watching it any way. Also, this seems to fit in quite well with the theme of the (belated) 25th SO anniversary celebrations…

So: here's to you, Marco! With many thanks to your friendship and kindness in letting me have this all those years ago. I hope to get in touch again and share a few memories & beers whenever the chance arises :-)

the intruder (2012)

Contains interesting versions of "Red Rain" (with a different intro using the chords you can hear during the bridge of the song) and "In Your Eyes" (very very cloth to the Bill Laswell extended special mix)with Youssou on vocals. Little Steven from the Bruce Springsteen "E-Street Band" sings on "Sun City". [peter]

International Day Of Peace (3rd Tuesday In September)