Stray Cats & Eddie Van Halen 8-18-88 NYC performance

The Stray Cats bring on Eddie Van Halen (at the 2:35 mark) for a NYC performance, joined later for a finale with star bassist Tony Levin, keyboardist Jan Hammer, David Gilmour, Waylon Jennings, Les Paul, BB King, Stanley Jordan, and Steve Miller. Broadcast on a pay cable TV network 8-18-88.

The BetaGems channel also has "Les Paul 10-1-87 late night TV performance," "The Teenagers with Les Paul 1947 Sarge Goes to College film short," "Van Halen 9-5-91 1st live TV performance with Sammy Hagar," "Stray Cats 4-14-89 television award show performance," "Stray Cats 10-17-81 late night TV performance," "Dickey Betts & Brian Setzer 11-20-84 late night TV performance," "Brian Setzer & Dickey Betts 11-20-84 PT 2 late night TV performance" "Brian Setzer 11-20-84 late night TV performance," "Stray Cats New Year's Eve 12-31-83 Savoy Theater NYC Part 1 of 2," "Stray Cats New Year's Eve 12-31-83 Savoy Theater NYC Part 2 of 2," and "Brian Setzer & Dave Edmunds 11-20-84 late night TV performance."

BetaGems are culled from an archive of over 1000 beta video tapes recorded from the early 1980s 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.