"Can You Hear Me? Music From The Deaf Club" Comp LP (1981)

Details: Live tracks from musicians and bands who frequented the independently thrown show-venue that was also a meeting place for members of the deaf community in San Francisco in the late 70s, early 80s. Featuring a compilation of live punk tracks from Dead Kennedys, Tuxedo Moon, Pink Section, Offs, and more. This is the reissue on Gammon/PVC records. See images for quality of album. This is a promo copy denoted by the slice in the bottom corner at right.

Description: The best description of music at San Francisco's punk house-like venue The Deaf Club is this description by Alice Bag who frequented and played the club herself: "

The loudest and most exciting club in San Francisco was The Deaf Club. It had been built as an actual club for the deaf in the 1930's. By the late 1970's it functioned as a rental hall for special events until punk rock entrepreneur Robert Hanrahan decided to rent the place to book punk shows. He had to complete the rental transaction by means of passing a notepad back and forth to the club owners. It seemed like a perfect arrangement because no one would complain about the loud music. I don't think anyone expected it, but what happened is that punk in San Francisco began to gain a large audience of deaf people who frequented the shows at that venue, bringing a wonderful new perspective to what we were doing. I started to notice the unique way in which the deaf reacted to our playing and energy onstage. I remember watching a young woman as I was performing one night. She clung to the P.A. speakers, absorbing the vibrations with her whole body. Her face never looked away from me as she reacted to the energy onstage with a full bodied bear hug of the speaker cabinet and her head swaying to the rhythm; she was at one with the music in a way most people would never experience.

Music speaks a language that needs no translation. It can convey what words cannot. It is a better vehicle for emotion because it literally resonates within us, like sound waves stirring water. I realized by watching the audience at the Deaf Club that they didn't even need to hear my words, the vibrations they felt and my body language alone were enough to convey my meaning. That's powerful." - Alice Bag (The Bags)

Grade: VG (Cover) / NM (Record)

TRACK LISTING SIDE A:

1. Dead Kennedys - Police Truck
2. Dead Kennedys - Short Songs
3. K.G.B. - Dying In The U.S.A.
4. K.G.B. - Picture Frame Seduction
5. Offs - Hundred Dollar Limo
6. Offs - Die Babylon
7. Offs - I've Got The Handle

TRACK LISTING SIDE B:

1. Mutants - Tribute to Russ Meyer
2. Mutants - Monster Of Love
3. Pink Section - Jane Blank
4. Pink Section - Francine's List
5. Pink Section - Been In The Basement 30 Years
6. Tuxedomoon - 19th Nervous Breakdown
7. Tuxedomoon - Heaven (From The David Lynch Film "Eraserhead")