Larry Norman 1980 "Closet Tapes"#1

My name is Lynne Whelden. My other videos are found at lwgear.com I shot this February of 1980. The 3/4" tapes have been in my closet ever since. Except for a couple of edited songs, no other footage from this concert has ever circulated. Why? This was the first concert I'd ever shot and it was, let's say...challenging.
Back then video cameras were huge 3-tube plumbicons weighing 30 pounds with something like Coke bottle glass for a viewfinder. They needed a ton of light to look decent. I had to use a (5-pound) Sun Gun portable light and (10-pound) battery belt for the first 10 minutes or so. After that battery died it's only a dim spotlight illuminating Larry.
The VCR was a separate 20-pound metal monster, connected to the camera by a thick ropelike cable. It used 3/4" cassettes of 20 minutes' length. I didn't own any for personal use (the ones I had were designated for news) so I had to borrow some from a friend.
The tripod was a WW1-era wooden "stick" with no screws to lock anything down. Nor did it have any means of holding its legs in place. So the tripod took to constantly sliding apart on the cement floor.

Are you starting to get the picture? The lights are out, it's pitch black, I'm doing this solo, I have no flashlight. I can't tell how much tape is left, I'm trying to monitor sound and shoot at the same time. I'm trying not to make a scene.
Amazingly, Larry didn't seem to mind. You can tell he's a bit puzzled at the start when he sees not two but four microphones on his stands. He taps one mic to try and figure out which is live. I'm only 20 feet away, right below the front of the stage because that's how long my mic cords are.

So please forgive me when the camera wanders or the framing is off. Consider this "basement video" from a time when nobody had video cameras except news cameramen like myself and production companies with deep pockets. I had only been on the job a few months. I was very wet behind my ears. Maybe I told WBRE-TV28 I was going to shoot this concert for a proposed christian news magazine program I was going to do for them free of charge. But to be honest, I don't think I told them anything. I just snuck out of town early one Saturday AM with the gear and the news van (I was in charge of the gear since Williamsport was a news outpost the station had just established), hoping nothing bad would happen between Williamsport, PA, and Paterson, NJ.

This is everything Larry played for the first half of the concert (except when the tapes ran out and I had to pop another one in the clunky, slow VCR). I didn't shoot the 2nd half because I had exhausted all my batteries, tape supplies and myself, as well as Larry's patience, I'm sure.

This was the start of a long-running appreciation of Larry's music. I went to a number of his East Coast concerts, usually asking him afterward if I could ever do a documentary on his life. He always turned me down. I finally gave up asking. Shortly thereafter my name, Lynne Whelden, appeared in the liner notes of "Stranded in Babylon." When I contacted his manager to ask why, he said this was Larry's way of thanking me for my dogged persistence over the years. Sadly, it was at his final NYC concert in August of 2007 Larry asked me if I was still interested in putting some documentary together. I dragged my feet, partly because I didn't have the right gear and partly because I had always wanted the freedom to do an independent video. A few months later it didn't matter anymore.
My other videos can be found at lwgear.com