The tape traders of old, lets catch up thread

given2fly23

Some of the tapers and traders are still around and in touch, though many gave it up. CS has actually been uploading a lot of non-PJ tapes over the past couple years to YouTube and sharing direct links. PJ20 was a reunion of sorts, as were the 2018 Seattle shows. Looking forward to the next one. 

hrd2imgn

locked said:

Op.. Didn't you meet ME at the ten club tent at PJ20? You were wearing the tape trader t- shirt? I was a trader ( no where near as famous as these guys) we talked trades for a while and you declared our meeting a success! "No J cards please , No Dolby!" Scotty from Boston

Hahah Scotty, yes I had on a homemade shirt just for the occasion.  You and Chrisbwere the only two humans that came, Chris the only 1%'r as far as tapers.  PJ20 was one hell off an odd mix or rendezvous and man I hope this dude is not a serial killer momemts.  I appreciated our moment, I was pretty let down until you and eventually Chris showed up( at least 7 confirms to meet with only you and Chris coming).  So I apologize if I was less than excited to hang out.  I felt like a first date getting stood up.

Now we have to tell our kids what a casette tape is.....an 8 track , a CD, a physical. Componenet,  digital changed it all.

hrd2imgn

I remember Chris had connections and they led to JR John from TFT and 5H....he was like the magic man, he was the source of the rarest stuff at the time. Many thanks to all of you helping me survive living in Enos Indiana.

OceansJenny

Got some B&Ps from some folks on synergy when I was just getting into the band in the early 2000s. Some of the nicest folks. I think I told one of them I only had Riot Act and Ten and he sent me some burned albums. I later bought them of course.

Also the VCDs - so cool to see some fan tapings!! Somehow ended up with the Bad Radio concert, one of the Lolla Shows, Indo 93 shoe the shoeless, I think a few others. I ended up tossing a few clips from these on YouTube when it first started and got a message from one of the Bad Radio members.

Will have to check my letters to see if it was any of you fine folk sending me my B&P.

hrd2imgn

Bad Radio guys were always cool.  I remember one of them Dave Silva? I think was always cool when we emailed him about Ed....somehow his email got out and all us stalker fanboys were emailing him. He had a new band something with head in the title or something.  He was cool answering bad radio questions too of course.

gregoryield

I haven't thought about tape trading in so long. Wow.

That was the best. And so funny to think about, in hindsight, waiting weeks to hear a show/song we can now pull up in seconds. I don't miss the lag, but I do miss the appreciation.

I distinctly remember waiting what felt like a year for my copy of Full of Code & Surrounded by Bullshit. I wish I had kept that one.

cp3iverson

Probably my favorite time period of being a PJ fan.  

My mailman used to say “another day another set of cassette tapes sir”

a lot of good friends.  A lot of fun.  I think i only got ripped off once in those 2 or 3 years of tape trading.  Everyone was really cool.  Its funny to think about how exciting it would be to even get a “C graded” tape of a show you hadnt heard yet 

PB11041

The tape and CDR day trees were the most fun time.  Things were particuarly great from 1995 to 2000.  Even when the offcial boots came out that year was a great year for trading. 

Ledbetterdays

I was not a taper but I was definitely a spreader back in the day. In retrospect, I think releasing all of the shows took so much of the charm out of what was special about trading and the magic of shows that became legendary because they had soundboard quality--takes something really unique for a show to be special these days, but it is great people can always have a high-quality copy of the shows they attend. We probably kept Maxell in business for a good five years or so!

Lost In Ohio

Here's a blast from the past:

http://www.fivehorizons.com/feature/trading.shtml

100 Pacer

Ironic when a trader throws his fellow traders under the proverbial bus.

Oops…said too much! 😬

2-feign-reluctance

Jessica L. from Two Feet Thick sent me MSG 98’ and someone on Synergy sent me Bridge School 99’ back when I was in college. I was recently on a Zoom call with her and a few other folks for the Deep project. Should have said something to her! Wish I still had those. They were pretty wore out on my portable AIWA stereo I had back then. 

PeterED

demetrios said:

Callaway wrote:

I use to burn probably 100 dvd's a week for people. I can't remember the last time I did a B&P for someone....makes me feel old.

I still keep doing that to this today, and I started offering DVD B+P's since '03. :oops:

Pretty sure you set me up with most of an entire tour!

demetrios

PeterED said:

demetrios said:

Callaway wrote:

I use to burn probably 100 dvd's a week for people. I can't remember the last time I did a B&P for someone....makes me feel old.

I still keep doing that to this today, and I started offering DVD B+P's since '03. :oops:

Pretty sure you set me up with most of an entire tour!

Sweet! Ah B+P's. Good times!

E-G-A-G

elwayvedder said:

hrd2imgn wrote:

Was reading through an old address book and saw some real old names I have not seen in years from the tape trading days. Our PJ20 meetup was a huge failure, I met one (Chris Doerr). So in honor of the past post some old buddies and post what the hell you are up to these days. My list
Luke Adolph
Rick Bosso
Jeremy Dummer (UK)
Brad Halvorsen
Mark Senderak (kingsneech)
Rick Posey
Carl Sylvester
Gavin Connaty

I Mike Freitag (h2i, hardtoimagine and hrd2imgn) am a Junior High Art Teacher and live in Illinois. Just married about a year and a half ago, and have a little jammer on the way. I attended Purdue University where the whole obsession began, and moved from town to town in Indiana and Illinois back in the day.

I hope all of you are doing well, as I think the trading community is really one of the main reasons this band has such a fanatical following, and tight easy to get along with fanbase.

Carl was my savior back in the mid 90's while I was in college. Before I found him and is site, I used to pay $ thru this ridiculous catalog where the tapes would come with a crappy construction cardboard photo copy insert and a tape. This was before the $25-$50 bootleg imports which I was also buying until I found Carl. I remember sending him blank tapes to his specifics and then pacing back and forth at the mailbox in college every day in hopes of receiving what he was sending me. I have a stack of tapes up to the ceiling thanks to Carl, all PJ!!

Carl is the best. 

RS65573

I think chasing Pearl Jam bootlegs and being 17 when 10 came out made me. I went to college, started a band, learned everything about recording and computers, and failed miserably. 

And now I manage enterprise networks. 0 credentials. Trying to be Pearl Jam taught me I can do anything. Maybe not well. In 95 at constitution hall Eddie showed us how to play not for you. You don’t even have to move your hand! 

HailHailVitalogy

I had probably over 100 VCDs I obtained through trade on the old board in 2003-2005. I ripped them all to an external hard drive…and then it crashed around 2007. Never tried to replace them, as a lot of them are on YouTube now, but there’s also A LOT missing. 

RS65573

I think I still have most of these vcd if anyone needs anything specific. The quality is…90s.  

cp3iverson

Still my favorite time being a PJ fan.  Waiting for the latest cassettes to arrive every week and then blasting them for two hours (even the ones graded a “C”)

hrd2imgn

The hunt was far better than most of the dubs.   Long live Utrecht and Groningen 92!

BettrMan21

Matt Aucoin, Lori Hester, John Mastrangelo, Brian (Zod), Chaim, Mirella, Jett Karma, Alessiana, The Happy Squid, oshuns, sherm - so many more made it a blast back in the 90's-early 00's. 

on2legs

BettrMan21 said:

Matt Aucoin, Lori Hester, John Mastrangelo, Brian (Zod), Chaim, Mirella, Jett Karma, Alessiana, The Happy Squid, oshuns, sherm - so many more made it a blast back in the 90's-early 00's. 

That was a great group… Don’t forget Caryn Rose from 5 Horizons.  She was part of that AMP-J group above too.  

YourDirtisMyfood

I used to be on another Pearl Jam site and I think it got shut down.  Not sure if it was Synergy or another one but I believe that my username on it was Igivesuchgoodparadigm or something like that.  I don't think it was red mosquito forum.  Was there another Pearl Jam fan site that the 10 Club ran that shut down and just have this one?  I feel like there was another one that fans went to before coming over here.

OceansJenny

YourDirtisMyfood said:

I used to be on another Pearl Jam site and I think it got shut down.  Not sure if it was Synergy or another one but I believe that my username on it was Igivesuchgoodparadigm or something like that.  I don't think it was red mosquito forum.  Was there another Pearl Jam fan site that the 10 Club ran that shut down and just have this one?  I feel like there was another one that fans went to before coming over here.

This used to be the Synergy board before they changed over to the current format. Sometimes I still type forum.pearljam.com your name didn’t carry over?

pjtradeking

I still keep in touch with Carl and Doerr to this day.  2 of my favorite people.  Been a few months, I need to reach out.

Of The Aggie

cp3iverson said:

Still my favorite time being a PJ fan.  Waiting for the latest cassettes to arrive every week and then blasting them for two hours (even the ones graded a “C”)

Yep!

YourDirtisMyfood

OceansJenny said:

YourDirtisMyfood said:

I used to be on another Pearl Jam site and I think it got shut down.  Not sure if it was Synergy or another one but I believe that my username on it was Igivesuchgoodparadigm or something like that.  I don't think it was red mosquito forum.  Was there another Pearl Jam fan site that the 10 Club ran that shut down and just have this one?  I feel like there was another one that fans went to before coming over here.

This used to be the Synergy board before they changed over to the current format. Sometimes I still type forum.pearljam.com your name didn’t carry over?

Maybe it did and I'm getting another Pearl Jam fan forum mixed up?  How many were there anyway?  I'm pretty sure that was my username on some Pearl Jam message board within the past 15 to 20 years ago.

E-G-A-G

pjtradeking said:

I still keep in touch with Carl and Doerr to this day.  2 of my favorite people.  Been a few months, I need to reach out.

That you, Scottie L?

It's Rich. Did you catch any of the shows in september?