On October 31, 1983 The Cheepskates, a four-piece group which spawned from the
"Garage / Psychedelic" movement of the time performed two forty-five minute sets at a midtown Manhattan nightclub named "The
Dive".
With the release of their first single titled "Run Better Run" the
group was set to embark on a project that would expose their band as well as a burgeoning (60's type) New York
club scene to a much wider video audience. Cable TV was in its infancy and a local New Jersey UHF channel catering solely
to music videos including "indie bands"(a kind of poor man's MTV named U68) was just getting started.
The performance was captured on three amateur VHS video cameras. The audio was
primitively recorded on a "home stereo" cassette deck putting all three vocals on one track, and all of the music (using only
one strategically placed microphone) on the other. Unfortunately because of these limited formats the project was scrapped,
put away, and forgotten. Lying dormant.....until now.
With the advancement of modern digital technology this "Cheeply" recorded performance can
now be fully realized. But even though the audio has been remixed the video footage is "raw" and up to now
had yet to be refined.
The footage is currently being edited and enhanced to produce various results.
A story to showcase this footage has been written and a screenplay is in the works.
An edited three-song DVD demo of this raw footage has been completed
and is currently being circulated within the "Garage / Psych" community. You can view a brief preview of
this demo below.
Along with the Cheepskates this website will try to relate some of the stories
and color that went on at a nightclub named The Dive, as well as the "scene" that seemed to develop around the Garage/Psych acts
that performed there. You can scroll down to the bottom of this page to be directed to the next. You can also go back
to the top and select a page from the tool bar on the left.
