Christopher J. Eberhart

ceberhart@lohud.com

Ken Lee carried Led Zepplin’s drummer, John Bonham, off the stage after he fell asleep following a 1969 show in the State Pavilion in Queens. Several years later, that became a bar story he told to The Who's drummer, Keith Moon.

Janis Joplin, lead singer of the band Big Brother and the Holding Company, called Ken and his then-girlfriend (now wife), Judy, after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination and asked them to gather a crowd for a musical tribute in New York City.

The couple rocked with Jimi Hendrix in a New York City cafe before he left for England and returned a legend.

But their nickname — the "mysterious tapers" — didn't come from any of these stories. It came from their recordings of historic rock and roll performances, particularly in Port Chester's Capitol Theatre and New York City. As college students, the couple worked security for The Capitol in the 1970s and taped hundreds of performances in 1970 and 1971, including 18 Grateful Dead shows.

In a Q&A with The Journal News/lohud.com, Ken Lee of New York City explained why he recorded the performances, how he and his wife did it, and talked about the time his brother-in-law broke into his home to steal the tapes.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

Question: Why did you record these shows?

Answer: We did it to preserve history. I never sold any of my tapes. Although we were offered, we declined. It was a promise I made to (Capitol Theatre promoter) Howard Stein. I used to drive him home when his limo didn't come on time. I was playing one of the tapes in a tape deck in my car one time and told him it was a recording from one of the Dead's shows. He said it was OK as long as I didn't sell them. I gave him my word, and he gave us permission. And I kept my word.

Q: You were recording these shows in the 1970s. Technology wasn't as advanced as it is now. What equipment did you use and how were you able to get clean recordings?

A: We used a Sony TC-124S portable stereo recorder, a Sony S95 stereo microphone and Sony extension wires.

We arrived at the theater in the afternoon before the show. We watched the band have sound check. Other employees came in and got ready. During that time, I set up our recording equipment. I had technical expertise. I loved electronics, and the one thing my recordings are known for is the ambiance. I put my microphones precisely where they had to be to capture the shape and tone of the room. It gives the full experience of the Grateful Dead.

Once the show started, we pressed record and did what we had to do for our jobs. Judy was central to the recording. She kept an eye on it. It was 45 minutes of recording time a side. Judy flipped the tape, which was crucial because you don't want to flip the tape during the song. So she had to keep an eye on this watch thing, which was just a mechanical device around her wrist. We were able to produce a lot of high-end recordings. It’s strong stuff.

Q: What happened with your brother-in-law?

A: For many decades, I was known as a (jerk) because I wouldn't release the copies of the tapes. See, when you make a copy, there were more and more noises that are added to the master copy and every tape physically suffers when they're played. I didn't want anything to happen to them. Even I only listened to the copy. I never listened to the master tapes.

But I used to let my brother-in-law listen to them. He was really the only one that knew of the tapes. About 25 years ago, when my family and I were in Florida for a trip, he broke into my house and ransacked the place looking for the tapes. I came home a day early and saw what he was doing. A number of tapes were broken when he was replicating them.

I used to worry at night about them. If there was a fire, what would I go after first? My dog? My cat? The tapes? It used to keep me up at night.

Q: When did you decide to release the recordings online?

A: It was at my brother-in-law's funeral (in 2002) when I met a guy that convinced me to release the tapes. He was able to convert them from the tapes to digital, and they were slowly released on the Web. Now a lot of them are found at archive.org.

Q: Are you doing anything now with rock 'n' roll?

A: This Grateful Dead tribute band Half Step came to us and said we know who you are and we like what you’ve done and we’d like you to help the band. They're astonishingly good. To our ears, we think they’re untouchable. ​And I've got to tell you, it’s what a retired person needs. They comp us. We make suggestions. We tell them things like, you’re going to play a concert without merchandise? Then you're leaving money on the table. And they follow our suggestions. We’re respected and seemingly loved by a bunch of people. We’re either the crazy aunt and uncle or the grandma and grandpa.