George Thorogood 7-5-84 Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Elvin Bishop, John Hammond

George Thorogood talks with several blues masters and then invites them onstage to jam, including Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Elvin Bishop, and John Hammond, in a performance filmed 7-5-84 and later broadcast on television. The BetaGems channel also has "John Lee Hooker 6-1-92 Ry Cooder, Robt Cray, Albert Collins," "John Lee Hooker unreleased Baby Lee video 1990," "John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt 1-13-90 San Francisco," "John Lee Hooker & Carlos Santana 1-13-90 San Francisco," and "Van Morrison live 1992 St. Patricks Day TV special with John Lee Hooker."

BetaGems are culled from an archive of over 1000 beta video tapes recorded from 1983 into the 1990s. Most feature live music performances broadcast on television in San Diego CA, though there are also rarely seen commercials, comedy clips, and other material that doesn't seem to be anywhere else on Youtube or online. Most of the tapes were recorded on a Sony SL-HFT7 Super Beta Theater Hi-Fi Stereo - the same model was refurbished and is being used for these digital transfers and uploads.

In rare occasions where a BetaGems clip does appear elsewhere, we're only uploading if our own beta master is better quality or contains material not seen previously. Much footage comes from public television and public access broadcasts that the taper, who worked for a local cable TV production company in the 1980s, monitored nightly for several years. Some of the programming is strictly regional, mostly from the San Diego area.