Big Gigs, Little Ex Post Trace

Garcia and Saunders mostly played Bay Area clubs. But every now and then, usually in connection with multiact benefit concerts, they played larger theaters, auditoriums and arenas. Examples include BCT for the United Farmworkers on 9/22/72, Winterland for unspecified Hells Angels on 10/2/73, and BCT again for Ethiopian famine relief (8/23/74) and, on 10/12/74, for Padma Jong, a performing arts center on the Eel River.

Two that seem likely to have happened, but which have yielded zero expost trace took place on June 2, 1973 at the Marin Civic and on June 15, 1975 at the SF Civic. The first, especially, has always drawn me, because JGMS shared the bill with the brand-new Pointer Sisters and a Herbie Hancock aggregation transitioning from its Mwandishi to its Headhunter periods. Given the chance, I'd be awfully tempted to set my time machine back to this night to check out the action.

Let me just briefly drop some breadcrumbs on each.

June 2, 1973: Marin Civic Auditorium

An organization called Sausalito Is Spring organized three shows June 1-3, landing some major talent. The Saturday, June 2 gig was a benefit for the autistic classroom of the Henry C. Hall Elementary School in Larkspur, with the killer bill identified above. I have gathered up the following ex ante materials:

! preview: "Concerts Will Aid Autistic Children Class," Independent-Journal [San Rafael, CA], May 29, 1973, p. 11;
! ad: San Francisco Examiner, May 31, 1973, p. 25;
! listing: "Scenedrome," Berkeley Barb, June 1-7, 1973, p. 22;
! listing: San Francisco Chronicle, June 1, 1973, p. 48;
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, June 2, 1973, p. 10;
! ref: handbill.

 The 5/31 ad in the Examiners bills "Jerry Garcia & Merle [sic] Saunders," with Pamela Polland following in the same font, and then the Pointers and Herbie Hancock in smaller print.

Did this gig happen? Was anybody there? Was Gaylord Birch drumming for the Pointer Sisters? Did the Headhunters do what I imagine they must have, which would be drop down some deep, thick, funky fusion?

June 15, 1975: SF Civic Auditorium

This was a marathon, all-day boogie billing the following: JGMS / Country Joe McDonald and The Energy Crisis / Van Morrison / Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show / Larry Coryell / Chi Coltrane / Barefoot Jerry / Brother Mouse Band / Hoodoo Rhythm Devils / Soundhole / Brotherly Love / Pegasus / Caesar's Band / Lyons & Clark.

! ad: SFSECDB19750525p11;
! preview: "Marathon of Boogie," San Francisco Examiner, May 27, 1975, p. 30;
! preview: "The All-Day Boogie," San Francisco Examiner, June 13, 1975, p. 25;
! listing: SFSECDB19750615p07;
! ref: Wasserman 19750817.

It was a benefit for the Community Fairs Broadcast Foundation. Wasserman 19750817 doesn't mention JGMS, leading with CJ, and says the whole event was put on by amateurs and was an unmitigated disaster - BASS sold only 227 tickets. Since JLW didn't mention JGMS, I have some doubt as to whether they played. update: Selvin 19750622 gives a similar ex post analysis: 800-1200 "customers rambled about in the 7,000-plus seat hall" and the charitable beneficiary lost a ton of money. He doesn't exactly say he saw Garcia and Saunders playing, but if they hadn't shown I think he or JLW would have said so.

I reproduce my extremely low-res scan of a flier below.

Book on Nightstand at Serenity Knolls

I thought I remember that one of the big Garcia/GD auctions of some years back offered a copy of the book that was found on Jerry's nightstand at Serenity Knolls. Does that ring a bell for anyone? Anyone remember what book it was?

Good Old Boys at Margarita's Cantina!

https://homegrownmusic.net/store/cd/good-old-boys-live-2cd

John Cutler taped these shows from February 20-21, 1975, and they are now up for official release. Wow!

Cryptdev saw one of these shows.

See also: Corry, "The Good Old Boys: Jerry Garcia, Producer (and some banjo)"

My goodness, can't wait to hear these.

Round Reels, Incorporated August 1, 1974

Round Reels is the company Ron Rakow created for film projects, not least the Grateful Dead Movie. As with many of Rakow's business activities, it's really hard to find any solid information about the company. So when the corporate stamp came up for auction over the summer, I was very excited to see it! This image was associated with the auction, but I guess the seal was pulled under threat of legal action, or at least in light of legal questions.

August 1, 1974. Happy Birthday, Jerry! I have always held that Garcia made the decision to Hiatus right in this time frame, August 1974. I imagine that The Movie, and thus Round Reels, was bound up with the Hiatus. If that's right, then the decision would have been at least a little bit before August. It could have been even earlier, but I don't think so. Thoughts?

Morse Codes as Light, Sweet and Lyrical: JGB at the Worcester Centrum, November 13, 1991

LN jg1991-11-13.jgb.all.aud-mutterperl.81368.flac1644

I can't believe this is my first write-up of a Fall '91 show. I haven't really dug into this tour the way I need to. It's good.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Centrum
50 Foster St
Worcester, MA 01608
November 13, 1991 (Wednesday)
Mutterperl MAD flac1644 shnid-81368

-- set I (8 tracks, 69:00)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [7:01] [1:12]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:06] [1:01]
s1t03. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game [7:05] [0:30]
s1t04. Dear Prudence [12:19] [1:12]
s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:46] [0:46]
s1t06. Money Honey [6:05] [0:19]
s1t07. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) [5:57] ->
s1t08. Deal [8:36] (1) [0:06]

--set II (7 tracks, 60:01)--
s2t01. [0:15] The Way You Do The Things You Do [11:42] [1:35]
s2t02. You Never Can Tell [6:58] [0:12]
s2t03. Waiting For A Miracle [5:38] [0:10]
s2t04. Shining Star [12:56] [0:50]
s2t05. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [9:08] [0:14]
s2t06. My Sisters And Brothers
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19911113-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/16377 (Schoeps shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/87502 (Carpenter MAC); https://etreedb.org/shn/81368 (this fileset).

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/wa6DgDz7wmq

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/centrum-50-foster-st-worcester-ma.html.

! Review: Morse 19911114; Fusaro 1991. Morse: "If the ever-mutating Dead are draining some of Garcia's energy lately, as he has said in recent interviews, then you can see why he's refortified by his solo band. They're a comfortable, even-keeled quintet that played a sublime oldies party for a near-sellout 12,000 fans last night. ... The band is a lighter, more sweetly lyrical forum for Garcia, who avoids space jams in favor of tight, to-the-point soloing and deft rhythm chops. It's the same modus operandi as the Dead: no talking, just music. But it's a smaller band and he has less to compete against."

! note: video of set II circulates and is visible on youtube.

! R: field recordist: John Mutterperl

! R: field recording gear: FOB Schoeps CMC 44 blue dot cards with 90 degree capsule offsets > 6' Monster M1000 cable -> Oade PS -> 1' Monster M1000 > Oade mod'd Panasonic Sv-255.

! R: field recording location: FOB;  Mics were hung from a necklace, just under chin height with roughly a 4 inch spread and 90 degree angle.

! R: Transfer:  MAD > B. Fried DAT > B. Koucky DAT > Sony PCM-R500 playback > S/PDIF > Presonus Firebox > Firewire > PC, XP Pro > Wavelab 5 (recorded as 24 bit/48 KHz WAV) > Waves L3 Multimaximizer, high res CD rendering settings (Waves IDR type I dither/ultra shaping) > 16 bit/44.1 KHz WAV > CDWAV 1.9 > WAV > FLAC (level 8). Transfer and encoding by C.Ladner. Seeded @ bt.etree.org by the Green Mountain Bros, 1/2007.

! seeder comments: This recording is the same source as the shn set I circulated 4 years ago from a CDR source.  This flac fileset is derived from a higher bit/sample rate digital transfer of a lineaged DAT without the EAC/DAE generation.  The sound quality is spectacular for an audience recording and the performance is arguably one of the best of '91 outside the Warfield homebase.  Also this show features a rare live performance of "When The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game" (#8 [sic: 12] of only 10 [sic: 14] ever [sic: known versions]).

! R: really nice tape.

! P: Solid overall, though he (or I) ran out of gas toward the end.

! P: s1t03 THGCBTG excellent version, almost no lyrical flubs. See my "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" for more on this great tune.

! s1t08 (1) JG: "We'll be back in a few minutes."

New-to-The-List from the Examiner, 1973-end

This is a followup to New-to-The-List from the Examiner, 1970-1972. I include new-to-The-List dates, some that were advertised and seem to have been canceled, a few other weird things I uncovered. The Examiner was quite a task. If the Chronicle were digitized, that'd be the last frontier for me. At this point, returns are diminishing, so if it comes online after 2018 I might skim it, but will certainly be less thorough in entering stuff into my spreadsheet than I have been with the Examiner. There's only so much time.

New to The List

It's possible that some of these didn't happen, of course. But I found these and couldn't find disconfirming evidence of them.

1/30/73 (Tuesday): JGMS at Keystone
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 30, 1973, p. 21.

8/12/73 (Sunday): JGMS at the end of Magellan Road, El Granada. "Jazz-rock concert featuring Merl Saunders and friends (including Jerry Garcia) at the end of Magellan Road" in El Granada, presented by Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society.
! listing: SFSECDB19730812p07.

1/3/74 (Thursday): JGMS at Keystone
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 3, 1974, p. 29.

3/30/74 (Saturday): JGMS at Keystone Stockton. Of course they played Freddie's shortlived venture out in the sticks!

Jerry Garcia and Merle [sic] Saunders, plus Paul Pena, at the Keystone Stockton, Saturday, March 30, 1974. Ad in the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, March 24, 1974, p. 27.

! listing: SFSECDB19740324p04;
! ad: SFSECDB19740324p27.

6/3/74 (Monday): JGMS at Keystone. One can wonder if, like the rest of the shows this week, this gig featured Tony Saunders on bass.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, June 3, 1974, p. 32.

6/15/77 (Wednesday): JGB at Keystone Palo Alto
! ad: SFSECDB19770529p39.

4/13/79 (Friday): Reconstruction at the Rio Theatre. I had already concluded that Reconstruction did not play the Denver Rainbow on this date, despite tape labels to the contrary. Here's more evidence against a Denver gig.
! listing: SFSECDB19790401p14.

7/16/80 (Wednesday): JGB at Keystone
! ad: SFSECDB19800713p10.

6/10/82 (Thurday): JGB at the Stone. Ad says "note new SF date". Earlier ads had JGB at Stone on 6/13. So I suspect that show was canceled and this one replaced it.
! ad: SFSECDB-19820606p28.

7/10-11/84 (Tuesday-Wednesday): JGB at Keystone Palo Alto. Hard to imagine a show this late not having imprinted itself, but it was a midweek down south, before the internet.
! listing: SFSECDB-19840708p14.

CXL

6/10/75 (Tuesday): JGMS at Keystone. I wonder if this cancellation had to do with Jerry being occupied by the United Artists deal, which I date to the next day?
! ad: SFSECDB19750525p29;
! ad: [contra] SFSECDB19750608p29.

12/16/79 (Sunday): JGB at Keystone. This was rescheduled for the next night.
! ad: SFSECDB19791209p24.

12/20/81 (Sunday): JGB at Keystone
! ad: SFSECDB19811206p14;
! ad: [contra] SFSECDB19811213p10.

6/13/82 (Sunday): JGB at Stone. This in earlier ads, then later ads show late addition on 6/10 at Stone, and this show gone. So I suspect this was cxl and replaced by that one. See entry for 6/10/82 above.
! ad: SFSECDB-19820530p22.

10/29/82 (Friday): JGB at Keystone. This is a weird one, listed as late as the day of the show. But Garcia left LA on PSA #348 dep 2:55 PM arr 4 PM in Arizona, and was supposed to check into the Fiesta Inn in Tempe for the next night's gig in Mesa, AZ. He might have flown home instead, gigged, and then gone from home back down to the southwest, I guess. But for now I will list this as canceled.
! ad: SFSECDB19821003p19;
! ad: SFSECDB19821010p24;
! listing: SFE19821028pE2.

2/25/83 (Friday): JGB at Keystone. I have this as canceled and re-scheduled for the 28th.
! ad: SFSECDB19830213p19.

Confusing

8/6/73 (Monday): Keystone. The same set of listings show both Herbie Hancock and Steve Head, on the one hand, and JGMS, on the other, playing for Freddie in Berkeley.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, August 6, 1973, p. 28.

1/21/83 (Friday): JGB at KPA, or Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma? Contradictory info out there. On the one hand, there's an announcement of the Petaluma show in a Norcal paper the day of the show, and Jerry gave an interview to a Norcal radio station that day. He is known to have played Petaluma the next day. On the other hand, an earlier listing in the Examiner had him at Keystone Palo Alto.
! listing: [contra] San Francisco Examiner, January 20, 1983, p. E2;
! preview: "Jerry Garcia performs tonight at the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma", Ukiah Daily Journal, January 21, 1983, p. 8.

Jam Session Celebrating Dick Clark

Joel Selvin's "Lively Arts" column in the Chronicle/Examiner pink section on September 6, 1981 contained this little oddity:

Evergreen TV host Dick Clark celebrates his 30th anniversary on live television Thursday [9/10/81] with a program that will include a jam session featuring Duane Eddy, Gregg Allman, Stanley Clarke, Bo Diddley, Nigel Olsson, Dickey Betts, Charlie Daniels, Billy Preston, Mick Fleetwood, Lee Ritenour, Larry Graham, Junior Walker, Ray Parker, Jr., Tom Scott, George Thorogood, and Jerry Garcia.

File this one under "Hm."

While I am at it, I also learned from a pink section earlier in the year that George Thorogood was in the house for the JGB show at the Stone on 2/23/81, and the band and the crowd sang him happy birthday.

Hm again.

With and Without Maria: JGB at Keystone, August 6-7, 1977

If "without and with" rolled better off the tongue, that'd be the more accurate title, because here we have a pair of summer '77 JGB shows, the first admittedly only partially available, on which Maria Muldaur respectively does not and does make an appearance. I guess I am working toward pinning down her appearances throughout the year, leading up to the fall east coast tour, at which point she was unambiguously part of the band.

These aren't as sleepy as I had feared. I generally don't love '76 and '77 JGB, but these show some pep, and the tapes --Betty's, I presume, though as I note on 8/7/77, where these tapes came from and where they currently live remains a bit of a mystery to me-- the tapes sound great.

Listening notes below, not much to report.

update: of course, the bigger personnel news here is that these are Ronnie Tutt's final live JGB gigs until fall 1981.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
August 6, 1977 (Saturday)
s2 MSC Miller shnid-106922

--set II (5 tracks, 4 tunes, 46:59)--
s2t01. tuning [1:43]
s2t02. Sugaree [12:35] [2:36]
s2t03. Mystery Train [7:52] [2:12]
s2t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [11:37] [1:54]
s2t05. Don't Let Go ... [6:31#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - keyboards, backing vocals;
! lineup: Donna Godchaux - vocals;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/1977-08-06

! db: all of these derive from the same source cassette: https://etreedb.org/shn/4448 (shnf), https://etreedb.org/shn/83754 (flac1644), https://etreedb.org/shn/106922 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html

! band: JGB #3 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html). Maria Muldaur makes an appearance during set II the next night, but I don't hear her here.

! setlist: not sure if this is the complete set II (save for most of DLG) or not. Probably, I guess, as next night's set II ran about 45 minutes.

! ad: BAM, August 1977, p. 60.

! ad: SFSECDB19770731p43.

! R: Recording Info: SBD > Cassette Master (Nakamichi 350/Maxell UDXLI90)

! R: Transfer Info: Cassette Master (Nakamichi DR-1) > Sound Devices 744T (24bit/96k) > Samplitude Professional v11.03 > FLAC/16 (1 Disc Audio / 1 Disc FLAC). All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller, charliemiller87@earthlink.net, February 22, 2010.

! R: nice recording. Betty.

! historical: Keith is playing electric piano.

! P: old notes: overall: Utter mediocrity, to my ears. Great, amazing tape, dull-as-hell music. New note: that's too harsh.

! P: s2t02 Sugaree comes in a little thin. Nothing like the big full swagger the Dead gave it, especially on the bottom end. Scrubbing over 10, it's nice. Not rushed.

! P: s2t04 STOF is rather a mess. Jerry is a little lost. Not good. The only plus for this SFOT is that there is no bass feature (though, to be fair, in 1977 Kahn could, at times and typically on other songs, be amazing).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
August 7, 1977 (Sunday)
GMB sbd s1ps2 shnid-86045

--set I (4 tracks, 3 tunes, end of set, missing 4 tunes, 37:47)--    
[MISSING: The Way You Do The Things You Do]
[MISSING: Catfish John]
[MISSING: Stop That Train]
[MISSING: Let It Rock]
s1t01. tuning [2:06]
s1t02. Russian Lullaby [11:49] [1:55]
s1t03. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [11:50] [1:57]
s1t04. Midnight Moonlight [7:55] [0:16] %

--set II (4 tracks, 45:27)--
s2t01. They Love Each Other [7:25]
s2t02. Tore Up Over You [9:26] [2:05]
s2t03. Simple // Twist Of Fate [10:#33] [1:34]
s2t04. The // Harder They Come [12:#11] (1) [0:22]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3*
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - keyboards, backing vocals;
! lineup: Donna Godchaux - vocals;
! guest/lineup: Maria Muldaur - vocals (set II only);
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1977-08-07-keystone-berkeley-ca/

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/6371 (incomplete MSC shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/86045 (incomplete MSC, this fileset); 106923 (complete MSC via Miller).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html;

! venue: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html;
 URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html.

! band: JGB #3 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html). * Note that Corry shows Maria coming in with JGB #4 on 11/15/77. We now have her showing up on 2/5/77, 7/2/77 and 7/3/77 (the latter without DJG, IIRC), and this show.

! personnel: Maria Muldaur comes in around 7:20 of TLEO, stays on board for all of set II. Hard to know if she is a member of the band at this point.

! ad: BAM, August 1977, p. 60.

! ad: SFSECDB19770731p43.

! R: Source: Soundboard Master Cassette > DAT

! R: Transfer: Panasonic SV-3700 > M-Audio Audiophile 2496 to Wavelab 5.0; mastering with iZotope Ozone 3 > CDWAV1.9 > FLAC (level 8); Transferred, Remastered by B. Koucky and Seeded by Green Mountain Bros. June 2007. 

! R: I wonder where this tape came from? It would seem associated with the Betty Boards, but by 2015 the presumed full collection of BB cassettes did not have these 8/77 tapes.

! R: sounds beautiful.

! R: s1t02 RL level drop ca. 3:25

! P: s1t02 RL bass feature 6:15ff-8ish. Good.

! P: s1t03 KOHD peppy for the period. KD some nice pie-anner 6 min range.

! P: s1t04 MM Garcia plays with great fluidity this whole night. MM also has a nice pep in its step.

! s1t04 weird that there is no setbreak announcement

! R: s2t01 TLEO the bass sounds so great!

! R: s2t03 STOF splice @ 5:38

! P: s2t04 HTC Tutt is drumming like he was born to play this tune. Stellar.

! R: s2t04 splice @ 10:58.

! s2t04 (1) JG: "[inaudible: maybe "so long"] - thank you."

JGB in Chumash Country: Campbell Hall, UCSB, February 5, 1977

In my writeup of the Garcia Band's 11/20/76 gigs at the Pismo Theatre, I noted that Jerry urged the crowd to come see ol' Hoyt Axton in a couple of weeks. "He'll be down here doin' a benefit for Redwind, which is just a good scene, about forty miles from here, a lot of good people workin' real hard."

I elaborated:

The RedWind Medicine Camp was a Native American community, chiefed by the last full-blooded Chumash, Semu Huaute, located in rugged San Luis Obispo County. In correspondence, Bob Sewana Saenz explains: "Jerry visited me in SLO after a show at the Pismo Beach Theater in late 1976. I drove him and a few band members to Semu Huaute's (Chumash) Red Wind Medicine Camp. I showed him a school project that we were in need of funds to develop for the many children there." I presume they went up on Saturday, and came back down in time for Jerry to play his shows. He must have been moved, because he speaks. Even more importantly, he puts his money where his mouth is, headlining a benefit for the RedWind Foundation at UCSB on February 5, 1977 - but I'll get to that later.

Later is now. On 1/19/77, the UCSB Leg. Board approved the benefit gig, to be put on by Bob Sewana Saenz's Band Aid in support of Red Wind. The pre-show publicity doesn't mention this - nothin' in re benefit status of this event. But the documents are clear that the Garcia Band not only played the gig, but lent the promoter $1,000 to help put it on, a pretty righteous thing to do and part of a small inflection in benefits Garcia played in '77 (see also 6/23/77 for the Forest People of Camp Meeker and 8/12/77 for Greenpeace).

The shows don't move me all that much, though the late show "Don't Let Go" has some interesting passages. I find the sociometry more interesting, on three fronts.

First, there is a second guitar player present, playing country style backing licks. As noted on the 11/20/76 post, I know who this is but am holding it back for the book (major scoop! - not really). But, this player was present on nearly every known show from the first half of 1977, raising the question of whether this was a distinct band configuration as opposed to just a guest shot. These are academic questions also impossible to answer, but it's nevertheless interesting that a heretofore unknown aggregation appeared regularly as late as 1977.

Second, Chris Sobik drew my attention to a second female vocalist, and indeed we find Maria Muldaur providing backing vocals for both shows. This is the earliest Maria engagement with the JGB. update: that lasted for almost a day.  I have now heard her on 9/12/76. She had sat in with Jerry and Merl several times in '74 (and one night, 10/12/74, the Garcia-Saunders-Fierro-Kahn-Humphrey aggregation backed her for a whole set), and at least once with the Legion of Mary in '75. (This post seems to cover the bases.) But, while Corry has JGB #4, with Maria a full member, emerging on 11/15/77, she had already joined the band onstage at least 9/12/76, this night (February 5th), July 2-3 (without Donna Jean), August 7, August 12 (Greenpeace benefit), and maybe others from this slow period for the JGB.

Oh yeah, one last thing: Deborah Koons made this trip with Jerry. FYI.

Listening notes after the jump.

Popper on Ignorance

"The more we learn about the world, and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific, and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know, our knowledge of our ignorance" (Popper 2002 [1963], 38).

"our knowledge can be only finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite"  (Popper 2002 [1963], 38).

"while differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal"  (Popper 2002 [1963], 38).

we must "admit that all knowledge is human; that it is mixed with our errors, our prejudices, our dreams, and our hopes; that all we can do is to grope for truth even though it be beyond our reach"  (Popper 2002 [1963], 39).

"truth is beyond human authority" (Popper 2002 [1963], 39).

! ref: Popper, Karl. 2002 [1963]. On the Sources of Knowledge and Ignorance. In Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, 3-39. London: Routledge.

RIP to the Legendary Marty

Martin Weinberg has passed away. LIA gives a rundown on the ur-Deadhead taper.

Dangerous-Looking Young Man at the Edge of the Western World

Anyone know who the dangerous-looking young man is? I know I should know, but I don't know.

See also, of course, Corry.

New-to-The-List from the Examiner, 1970-1972

In addition to the tantalizing May 20-21, 1969 Garcia gigs at the Matrix, the newly-digitized Examiner has yielded a good number of previously unlisted, mostly-midweek Garcia gigs. A little list  from 1970-1972 follows.

update: see also a subsequent list from 1973-end

11/2/70 (Monday): Jerry Garcia / BBHC / Ice / Cleveland Wrecking Company. Harding Theater. Benefit for A Learning Place. I don't know if this would have been NRPS or JGMS; I am listing as JGMS for no particular reason.
! Listing: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, November 1, 1970, p. 27;
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, November 2, 1970, p. 35.
! seealso: https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2019/11/ca-november-1-2-1970-fragments.html.

1/5/71 (Tuesday): JGMS at Matrix
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 5, 1971, p. 24.

2/4/71 (Thursday): JGMS at Matrix
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, February 4, 1971, p. 25.

3/30/71 (Tuesday): NRPS at Matrix. I interpret this as warmup for the east coast tour. BTW, they also played the next night, according to a redacted source, so we can add 3/31/71 (Wednesday), same band and room.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, March 30, 1971, p. 24.

11/24/71 (Wednesday): JGMS at Keystone Korner. Garcia's first-known gig for Freddie Herrera had happened the night before Thanksgiving the year before with the New Riders. Jerry and Merl reprise the gig on its first anniversary.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, November 24, 1971, p. 20.

1/18/72 (Tuesday): JGMS at Lion's Share
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 18, 1972, p. 21.

3/1/72 (Wednesday): JGMS at Keystone Berkeley (formerly New Monk). I now understand this to be the very first night for the so-named Keystone at the corner of University and Shattuck. It's a fitting indicator of the centrality of Garcia to Freddie's enterprises that he would play this opening night at the old Monk. (See also "Jerry and Freddie, mid-March 1972".)
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, March 1, 1972, p. 33.

6/3/72 (Saturday): JGMS at Keystone Korner
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, June 3, 1972, p. 10.

8/31/72 (Thursday): JGMS at Keystone Berkeley
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, August 31, 1972, p. 31.

12/26/72 (Tuesday): JGMS at Keystone Korner. This one puzzles me, because the KK would have been under Barkan's ownership at this point. Barkan has narrated that he once hosted Jerry and Merl (after he started booking the room on July 7th), but didn't dig the vibe and stuck thereafter with jazz. This could well be that very gig. I still don't know what to make of a listing for JGB at KK four years later, of course ...
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, December 26, 1972, p. 28.

A Party For Mother Earth

It's actually much, much prettier than it looks in this picture.

New Riders headlining "A Party for Mother Earth", benefiting the Bear Commune, Friends and Relations Hall, 660 Great Highway, June 3, 1971.

Jerry Garcia and Friends, Sanpaku at the Matrix: May 20-21, 1969

Fascinating.

I told you all that the Examiner would yield many interesting things. Well, this is one of the most interesting. Sometimes skimming cream is worth the price of later anticlimax.

Jerry Garcia and Friends and Sam Paku [sic: Sanpaku] at the Matrix, Tuesday, May 20 and Wednesday, May 21, 1969.

Garcia's first understood public pedal steel playing happened 5/14/69 at the Underground, supposedly a Hofbrau house in Menlo Park, understood just to be him and Marmaduke. The second instance was the second day of this listing, 5/21/69.

So, do we imagine this is Jerry and his pedal steel, and maybe Marmaduke and his songs?

If not, then what?

Examining the Examiner

The great sleuth David Davis of Grateful Seconds fame has alerted me to the fact that the SF Examiner has been digitized and is available through newspapers.com (pay to play, natch).

Mamma mia, what a treasure trove for someone like me. There will be a goodly number of shows new to The List reported on eventually, among many other things.

I am able to do in hours what would have taken me weeks of spinning microfilm to do, which could only have unfolded over years if it ever happened at all, presumably with a much lower error rate to boot. Ain't progress grand?

Now, if the Chron can show up, too, that'd help me even more. And if coverage from the Oakland Tribune and the Marin I-J could extend forward just a bit, that'd please me all the more. But, in general, I am feeling like I have pretty well covered the terrain, and there can't be that much more, in terms of advertised gigs, that we can be missing.

Anyway, thanks David!

p.s. Life becomes very busy again. Not that I have done much here this summer, but things are likely to be even slower until I finish a "real" (i.e., day job) book, and some other real work. But Fate Music will happen and be on shelves within two years, I hope!

TDIH: Wolfgang on Rack

8/13/75 was just about perfection, but I still love Bill Graham's burn on Rack's financial acumen best of all.

Digitization Makes Me Happy

Via https://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu, the UCSB Daily Nexus (and before it, the El Gaucho) has been digitized. Having sniffed around Santa Barbara a fair bit (UCSB being my alma mater), I am happy to see this, and found a few good things.

First, I have found a preview and a review of OAITW 4/12/73 at the Granada, which gave me another piece of evidence in favor of the proposition that the undated set found in shnid-99222 is indeed from this date (the late show).

Second, in addition to a very positive review of the 5/25/74 GD gig, one Stephen Westfall notes to my amusement that the first band was billed as Great American Music Band but announced as Great American String Band --I should just acronymize as GA_B-- and to my surprise that the band featured none other than Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp collaborator, the great Buell Neidlinger, apparently at this time teaching at Cal Arts in Valencia, on bass. I did not know that. If a tape would ever come into the light, I'd be mighty happy about that.

Third, I found a preview and a review of the 5/19/84 JGB show --a mighty good one-- which both mention DeeDee Dickerson rather than Gloria Jones, and seem to do so reasonably knowledgeably. This has led me to again revise my understanding of DDD's tenure. While we used to think it ended in mid-83, and I have recently extended it through that year, it now seems to have run at least into May of 1984. I would love to learn more about when Gloria Jones actually came in!

There were also various materials around 10/13/74 (JGMS), 6/26/75 (LOM), and 2/5/77 (JGB), now swept into my vortex. Good stuff.

Reading Notes: Greenfield 1996

I have read this book a few times, and it has clearly informed my thinking about a lot of issues without my really being aware of it. So I finally got around to transcribing some notes in the way that I do.

I guess this book was controversial (and maybe still is), but to me it reads like Greenfield was able to get people to be open and honest about a lot of things that generally went unspoken, and for that I am grateful. Too much dark is too much, of course. But more truth, understanding, clarity is very helpful to me as I try to understand this very complicated fellow whose name adorns the banner above.

So, reading notes below the jump.

Classical Music

I am trying together instances of Garcia engaging classical music, which are few and far between.

Alan Trist reports that ca. 1960-1961 one of their friends "John the Poet" had a great classical recording collection, and they listened to a lot of Bach. "Endless Bach," Trist said. Jerry and Trist and a few others went to see three or four performance by the Vatican organist playing Grace Cathedral (Greenfield 1996, 17).

Of course, there's Beethoven's "Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor", a.k.a. "Für Elise", played by James Booker on 1/9/76.

Nick has hipped me to brief GD engagements with Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" over the years, including 55 seconds into the 11/30/73 Dark Star, the last minute of the Other One transitioning into Stella Blue on 3/14/81, @ 5:25 of Space on 10/28/84, 6 minutes into Space on 12/13/90, and @ ca. 9:25 of Space on 2/20/91. Phil dabbled around aplenty, too, I gather.

Any others I should know about?

Related, Heather Garcia Katz, his daughter by Sara Ruppenthal, is a violinist, and ca. early 1993 (according to Greenfield 1996, 285), she and Jerry had been working on a project with the Redwood City Symphony Orchestra. I would very, very much like to learn more about that. If anyone knows Heather, please send her my way!

Naturally, Blair is on the case, after narrating spring 1991, he says "Later that year, Jerry and the conductor of the Redwood [Symphony], Eric Kujawsky, hatched a plan for Garcia to commission several short works for guitar and orchestra, which he would perform with the Redwood. With glee he told Sara. 'I let him think I was doing him a favor, but I've always wanted an orchestra!' … Although Jerry did contact some composers and Davies Symphony [403] Hall in San Francisco was tentatively booked for the performance, this was one of the great plans that Garcia never managed to complete" (Jackson 1999, 402-403).

Greenpeace 'No Nukes' Benefit at the Old Waldorf: Reconstruction, April 23, 1979

I wanted to love this, but I found very little that moved me. Maybe I was tired.

LN jg1979-04-23.reconstruction.all.aud-composite.126927.flac1644

Reconstruction
Old Waldorf
444 Battery Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
April 23, 1979 (Monday) - Early and Late shows
composite auds flac1644 shnid-126927

--early show (10 tracks, 8 tunes, 92:26)--
e-t01. announcement/crowd/tuning [0:52]
e-t02. Get Up And Dance [11:42] [1:10]
e-t03. Nessa [16:55] [1:01]
e-t04. Someday Baby [8:30] (1) [1:35]
e-t05. I Just Want To Stop [4:22] [0:51]
e-t06. Fast Tone [13:15] [0:07] % [0:34]
e-t07. Ain't That Lovin' You [9:29] [1:18]
e-t08. Strugglin' Man [6:16] [1:13]
e-t09. Another Star [12:17] [0:10]
e-t10. announcement [0:47]

--late show (11 tracks, 8 tunes, 79:20)--
l-t01. announcement/crowd/tuning [2:11]
l-t02. What You Won't Do For Love [6:52]
l-t03. Do I Move You? [13:09] [0:43]
l-t04. Fast Tone [17:06] [0:28]
l-t05. band introductions [0:58]
l-t06. When The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game [5:00] [1:15]
l-t07. Tellin' My Friends [4:26] [0:54]
l-t08. The Mohican And The Great Spirit [9:48]
l-t09. Make It Better [6:47]
l-t10. It Ain't No Use [9:15]
l-t11. announcement [0:24]

! ACT1: Reconstruction (January 30, 1979 - September 22, 1979)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, synthesizers, vocals;
! lineup: Ron Stallings - saxophone, vocals;
! lineup: Ed Neumeister - trombone;
! lineup: Gaylord Birch - drums, vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19790423-01 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19790423-02 (late)

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1979-04-23 (early); http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1979-04-23-old-waldorf-san-francisco-ca-2/ (late).

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/9609 (Porray MAC shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/97899 (unknown aud); https://etreedb.org/shn/126927 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/8qEdy9Xq9cr

! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/old-waldorf-444-battery-street-san.html

! venue: The first two of seven Garcia shows at the Old Waldorf (4/23/79a, 4/23/79b, 5/18/79, 5/19/79, 1/27/81, 1/11/82, 1/13/82).

! historical: Greenpeace No Nukes Benefit, "with special guest Jerry Garcia". Photographer Chris Stone took some amazing pix this night. Follow link via JGMF, "Reconstruction Pix by Chris Stone" http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/11/reconstruction-pix-by-chris-stone.html.

! P: overall, I found this show less compelling than most Reconstruction.

! R: Main Source (SHN_ID: 9609): MAC > DATs > CDs > EAC > SHN; Taped by Eldon Porray, Nak CM-700s > Sony TC-D5; Extraction using EAC, re-tracking using CD Wave, .shn encoding using mkwACT, and sector boundary verification using shntool. Secondary [Patch] Source: MAC > standalone CD > unknown processing > CD-R; Taped by SL, unknown mono cassette recorder with unknown hand held mic. Noise reduction was applied by SL during his transfer to CD-R. Patched and FLAC'ed by PsyKies, March 2013

! R: seeder notes: "The secondary source was converted from CD-R to wave using EAC in secure mode and provides the following patches: Early show: d1t01 announcement/crowd/tuning: all; d1t02 Get Up And Dance: 0:00 - 12.20; d2t01 Fast Tone: 12:23 - 12:36; d2t02 Ain't That Lovin' You: 2:27 - 2:28; d2t04 Another Star: 8:31 - end; d2t05 announcement: all. Late show: d3t02 What You Won't Do For Love: 6:46 - end; d3t03 Do I Move You?: 0:00 - 0:07; d3t06 When The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game: 5:17 - 6:00; d3t10 It's No Use: 5:17 - end; d3t11 announcement: all. Patching was done using Adobe Audition. All individual patches were speed and level matched to the main source prior to patching with crossfades. As the patch source was recorded using automatic level control, level flucuations were present [particularly during the announcement/crowd/tuning sections]. These have been smoothed out as best as possible. In addition, a couple of digital clicks were filtered out: d2t01 Fast Tone: 12.15; d2t02 Ain't That Lovin' You: 1:53. Finally levels were raised by 2.2dB and the entire show retracked. Discs 1 & 2 are seamless. PsyKies - psykies@outlook.com - February 3, 2014.

! e-t04 (1) Eldon or someone close to the taper yells out "How 'bout 'Expressway To Your Heart'? ... Just once!"

! P: e-t06 FT nice bass-led interlude late 11 - John was playing so well in this period.

! song: "What You Won't Do For Love" (l-t02): Ron Stallings on vocals.

The Group Probably Will Be Short-Lived, Because Hopkins Has Other Contractual Obligations

The titular line comes from an interview Garcia gave ca. November 22, 1975 to a Twin Cities journalist, Jon Bream, and references JGB #1. It could be that this was true all along, and the plan was just to monetize the Jerry Garcia name in the new Band, as well as Nicky's name, for the couple of tours the band did in October and November 1975, and then to call it quits in the new year. That's not how the conventional narrative, deriving from Blair Jackson's interviews with John Kahn, has it. The conventional narrative has it that Nicky was just too much of a wreck and was cut loose, the implication being that the band ended before John and Jerry had initially planned.

The quote is consistent with either story. It could be that this was always the plan, but no earlier interviews elicit the information. But it's also possible that by Thanksgiving Jerry had had enough with Nicky, and the "contractual obligations" were the musical equivalent of "irreconcilable differences" in marriage settings and "spending more time with the family" in political ones.

Anyway, the November 22, 1975 show at the St. Paul Civic Center Theatre was a very long one, something like three hours of music, and was mostly captured in a totally beautiful recording by Greg Overlid which especially picks, without much beyond air in the way of mediation, the play of Jerry's fingers and strings. The "Let It Rock" shows off Nicky's virtuosity, "Russian Lullaby" benefits from a peppy tempo, and there's a singleton goof with "Blackbird" as well as either a single or rarity, noted in one of the reviews, of "Old Man River", composed by Jerry's namesake Jerome Kern.

But the show, on this listen, doesn't slay me. The closing medley of "Let's Spend the Night Together -> Edward the Mad Shirt Grinder" was the band's big, huge jam vehicle, and as it goes, usually so goes my assessment of a JGB #1 gig. In this case, it never really achieves escape velocity, so I find myself a little disappointed, overall.

LN jg1975-11-22.jgb.161mins.aud-overlid.141918.flac2448

Jerry Garcia Band
Civic Center Theatre
143 W. Fourth Street
Saint Paul, MN 55102
November 22, 1975 (Saturday)
Greg Overlid aud, unlineaged cassette copy flac2448 shnid-141918

--set I (8 tracks, 81:43)--
s1t01. //Let it Rock// [taper moves seats]
s1t02. Blackbird tuning jam -> Positively 4th Street [11:55] [0:07] %
s1t03. tuning [1:02], All By Myself [8:45] % [0:02]
s1t04. [0:09] They Love Each Other :10-
s1t05. Pig's Boogie
s1t06. tuning and Nicky Hopkins intro (1), Mississippi Moon
s1t07. Sugaree
s1t08. [0:17] Roadrunner [11:44] (2) [0:11]

--set II (7 tracks, 91:28)--
s2t09. tuning [1:30], How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:19] [0:09] %
s2t10. Catfish John [11:07] [0:07] %
s2t11. Russian Lullaby [8:35] [0:40]
s2t12. Friend Of The Devil
[MISSING: Lady Sleeps > Ol' Man River {suspected setlist location}]
s2t13. Mystery Train
s2t14. I'll Take A Melody
s2t15. tuning -> Let's Spend The Night Together ->
s2t16. Edward The Mad Shirt Grinder [11:15] [0:18]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #1
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Nicky Hopkins - piano, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums, vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19751122-04

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/nYdwPE5yV8J2

! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/st-paul-civic-center-143-west-fourth.html

! venue: Band itinerary calls it "St. Paul Civic Center Theatre". Contract cover page also says that, as does contract p. 1. That satisfies me: I am changing the last word of the venue from "Arena" to "Theatre".

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/20552 (s1p aud shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/138733 (3 source compilation); http://etreedb.org/shn/141929 (this source, flac1648); http://etreedb.org/shn/141918 (this fileset).

! band: Jerry Garcia Band #1 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html).

! preview: Minneapolis Star, November 7, 1975, p. 9B

! listing: Minneapolis Star, November 18, 1975, p. 4C

! preview: Minneapolis Star, November 20, 1975, p. 6C

! review: Bream 1975, Anthony 1975

! historical: Price $5.50 pre-show/ $6.00 day of show. Cloudy day, high temperature of 37 degrees. JGB guarantee of $5,000 plus $1,250 for lights and sound. Anthony identifies capacity crowd, ca. 2,900, but boxoffice says 2,628, a sellout, gross of $14,454. I had a larger capacity for the room, over 4k, but no source for that info. Promoter John Ballard/Edgewood Agency had taken a bath on the 4/75 Legion gig in Milwaukee, I think, asked for good terms; Zippy didn't want him to cry over spilled milk.

! R: field recordist: Greg Overlid

! R: field recording gear: 2x Shure 545 microphones > Nakamichi 550 cassette deck

! R: field recording location: front row

! R: first digital circulation of 3 songs from set2- CFJ, RL and ITAM (27 mins of new music)

! R: missing first notes of Mystery Train patched with SHNID-138733

! R: taper notes: "The Jerry Garcia Band / Garcia / Hopkins / Kahn / Tutt / St. Paul Civic Theatre / Saturday, November 22, 1975 / Nakamichi 550 w/Shure 545's / Sandy / "Tex" / Joey / Greg / Rhesa  / Dikel / S & Ggg get stage passes / get in before general admission crowd /  get us front row seats / not 10-15th / pulled out at end of first number by usher / talked to John Ballard, prom. / missed 1 to 1-1/2 min. Let It Rock / 1 to 1-1/2 limbo / Nicky Drunk!! /  DUBS: Buddy & Nancy / Stu K. / Rhesa / Jeff S./ Russ F./ Dave P. / Jeff C./ Joe S. / Steve B."

! R: lineage: From the collection of Jeff Knudsen. Recorded by Greg Overlid. Archived & Transferred by Tom Markson. Critical Assistance by John Wenzel, Andrew F. and Joe Jupille. Speed Correction by Jason Chastain. Edited and Mastered by Jamie Waddell, 24 bit 48 kHz.

! R: provenance: Jeff Knudsen has been an avid Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead and San Francisco Sound music fan for over 40 years. From a letter to Dead Relix Magazine asking for help cultivating a tape collection, Jeff developed a relationship with Dick Latvala and many other tapers, building an enormous music collection.  He also taped many Jerry Garcia shows at venerable institutions like the various Keystones. Jeff loved to share tapes in a twinkle of an eye.  He was a key player in leaking the Betty Boards back in the day.  A few years ago, he decided he should pass his collection on to someone who could properly archive and transfer.  After a few years of offering it publicly, there were no takers. In 2008,  Arizona LL members Jamie and Tom felt the Knudsen collection was too valuable to let go.  After a flight so bumpy that we almost cried, and a great visit, albeit too short, with Jeff... 1200 lbs of tapes, gear and cds were lovingly packed at his Florida homestead.  The next era of his beloved collection summer camp for the tapes in the desert... an ongoing process of cataloging and transferring the contents to share.  Born from decades of Jeff's passion for live music collecting and the archival efforts of many, it's an honor and a privilege to share the Knudsen Tapes with you.  Enjoy! originally shared at www.shnflac.net"

! R: this is a really pretty tape. The finger-string interplay is directly audible, and it sounds sweet! Over and over again, strings directly recorded, nothing between them and the mics but air.

! R: s1t01 LIR clips in, cuts out; taper moves seats after the tune. Nicky very prominent - love it! The end cut is a COD.

! P: s1t01 LIR comes in amazing, Nicky truly doing the virtuoso thing right out of the gate. Jerry is filligreeing a lot, matching Nicky who continues to just play some beautiful stuff.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Nicky Hopkins on piano".

! s1t08 (2) JG "...take a break"

! P: s2t10 CJ some great glassy picking by ol Jer.

! P: s2t11 RL I love this peppy tempo.

! P: s2t15-16 LSTNT > Edward never really achieves escape velocity. Tutt does a little drum feature late 7 of Edward, which is uncommon and neat.

No Sellout on Cape Cod: JGB, May 28, 1983

LN jg1983-05-28.jgb.all.aud-huston.141978.flac2496

I have a bunch of listening notes to catch up on, but I have been holding back maybe because I don't find myself with much to say.

Saturday night, May 28, 1983 at the Cape Cod Coliseum, JGB #15c lays down a characteristically strong show. It doesn't knock my socks off like 5/31/83 does, but is of a piece with its characteristically hot, fluid, dextrous guitar playing from our sweaty hero, over the band's solid groove. Nice tape from a taper I hadn't heard of before, Rudy Huston. Almost $60k gross on 5k tickets in a room that could have held 7,200.

Jerry Garcia Band
Cape Cod Coliseum
White's Path off Route 6
South Yarmouth, MA 02664
May 28, 1983 (Saturday)
Huston MAC flac2496 shnid-141978

--set I (6 tracks, 52:49)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:09] [0:05] %% [0:29]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:00] [0:42]
s1t03. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [13:20] [0:10] % [0:10]
s1t04. I Second That Emotion [10:49] [0:02] % [0:10] %
s1t05. /Gomorrah [#5:49] ->
s1t06. Run For The Roses [4:42] (1) [0:11]

--set II + encore (6 tracks, 77:35)--
--set II (5 tracks, 69:36)--
s2t01. [0:06] Rhapsody In Red [9:43] [0:27]
s2t02. The Harder They Come [13:58] [0:07] % [0:06]
s2t03. Don't Let Go [16:33] [0:43]
s2t04. Dear Prudence [13:51] ->
s2t05. Tangled Up In Blue [12:47] (2) [1:16]
--encore (1 track, 7:58)--
s2t06. Midnight Moonlight [7:52] [0:06] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15c
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards (Hammond B-3 organ);
! Lineup: Greg Errico - drums;
! Lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals;
! Lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19830528-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1983-05-28

! band: JGB #15c (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/phdAsu6ouRP2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/cape-cod-coliseum-whites-path-off-route.html.

! ref: Billboard, June 18, 1983, p. 48. 5,144 tickets sold on 7,181 capacity (no sellout), tickets $11.50, gross $59,829.

! seealso: JGMF, "I sing the blues, where has it led?," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/06/i-sing-blues-where-has-it-led-ln-jg1983.html.

! R: field recordist: Rudy Huston

! R: field recording gear: 2x Beyer M160 > Nakamichi 550

! R: field recording media: Maxell UDXL-XLII

! R: Transfer: Cassette Master  > Nakamichi CR-7A >  > wav 24/96 - Transferred by Charlie Miller

! R: Lineage: wav 24/96 > Adobe Audition 3 > iZotope RX6 Advanced > iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced > CD Wave > TLH > Flac 24

! R: seeder notes: Tape pauses and flips patched, I also patched on some crowd at the end of each set as they ended rather abruptly.  Source used shnid 108657 - Thank Steve Rolfe and Charlie. Thank you Joe B. Jones for help with pitch correction, I used the above mentioned source on which Joe advised to correct this one. Thanks to Rudy Huston for this source. Thanks to Charlie Miller for yet another fine transfer. edited and mastered SIRMick May 2018

! R: this is a truly excellent tape.

! P: s1t01 HSII great enthusiasm. Hard to pinpoint specific moments, but this is just strong all the way through.

! R: s1t05 Gomorrah clips in.

! P: s1t06 RFTR is going a mile a minute. Compare this to the 4/20/94 version I listened to not long ago, which is super sludgy.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a few minutes. We'll be back a little bit later."

! P: s2t01 RIR voice is already a little shot, but late 4 he leverages some extremely thick guitar tone, and starts shredding 5:20 or so, absolutely piling notes on top of each other e.g., 5:40. Man, this is another strong guitar performance from our hero, who is in bad physical shape but playing like a man possessed. Still making really inventive choices 6:30ff, plenty of vision and power.

! P: s2t02 HTC pretty extraordinary fluidity in this guitar playing - remarkable.

! R: s2t03 DLG brief tape munch near start

! P: s2t03 DLG messes up first verse. Late 4 over 5 is good example of him giving the vocals some oomph, in interplay with his guitar. Contrast 4/20/94. 14:30 Jerry does a totally unique little progression. Very good DLG.

! P: s2t04 DP also messes up first verse of this one. But some very nice guitar work 8ff, among other places. Huge weaving figures over 9, crowd appreciative, moving up the fretboard 9:20, some stellar guitar work here.

! s2t05 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot"

! R: s2t05 somewhere this turns to pre-encore tuning, etc., but it's cross-faded, and I don't care to time it

True Confessions in Hartford

In November 1977 and January 1978, Relix published a two-part interview with Garcia. I am looking for copies of these interviews. Anyone got 'em? Your list gets mine.

Hall, John. 1977, 1978. Jerry Garcia: True Confessions in Hartford, parts 1 and 2. Relix vol 4, n.6 (November 1977), pp. 20-24 and January 1978.

While I am at it, I have a long list of sources I am looking for, which follows the jump.

Update:

RoG and LIA have both provided tons of help - thanks gents!

Let me here just ask about a few particular publications.

The Aquarian - anyone familiar with this? Looks like a New Jersey alt-weekly, around since 1969. There must be some Dead and Jerry content in there.

Good Times - this is the Long Island entertainment paper, not the San Francisco Good Times (counterculture newspaper). The New York version looks very promising from the two pieces I list below, both ex post accounts or reviews of Garcia shows. Looks like it has been around since 1970. I'd love to gain access to a trove of these, older than what I find online.

Fare Thee Well

I just read Joel Selvin's latest, Fare Thee Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead's Long Strange Trip. I have seen many Deadheads bashing it, but I thought it was just fine.

For better or for worse, but probably not surprisingly to readers of this blog, I haven't paid much attention to the post-8/9/95 goings-on. I saw one Phil and Friends show in Sunrise, Florida, ca. 2002, for which I had great seats, like 5th row center, and found it utterly uninteresting. I saw half a RatDog show at some point at the Tower Theater in Philly, but we got sleepy and bailed. As a result, I don't have any particular emotional investment in any of this, and no real baggage - I think that's to the good, allowing me a dispassionate assessment of what Joel has written.

Phil and Jill Lesh of course are the real villains of the story. Weir seems like he just wants to play music, and I am frequently struck by how Garcialike he is in that regard, and in terms of having (possibly somewhat corresponding) substance demons. Mickey is a mad polymath, Kreutzmann likes to chill in Hawaii and play with good players, but he's kind of a slacker with a temper. None of it particularly moved me.

Joel sort of constructs a triumphant ending to the whole thing, which is fine. Again, I don't really care about any of this except insofar as it sheds light on Garcia, and it does some of that. We knew he was the center of the whole GD operation, but without reading this it's not clear how much his gravitational pull kept everybody else away from each others' throats, sublimated their own petty rivalries within the greater benefit of being able to keep being near Jerry. I suspect there were a lot of petty jealousies toward Bob's especially close relationship with Garcia, but we don't really get any particular insight into each man's relationship with him. That's fine, that's not what the book is about, and few who remain (even fewer willing to talk) probably have any particular insight into those relationships, in any case.

The GD scene was ugly and petty enough with Garcia around, and, while it may have gotten even uglier and more petty after his death, it's not obvious to me that that's true. These are a bunch of incredibly talented men with their own ambitions, a number of them probably bona fide geniuses in their own rights, with amazingly deep connections that are profoundly human, with all that implies. I wish them all well, and hope they get to keep doing what they love to do for a long time to come, independently, together, or anything in between.

Mother American Night

Barlow, John Perry, with Robert Greenfield. 2018. Mother American Night: My Life in Crazy Times. New York: Crown Archetype.

This was an awesome read. By "hanging around with intent" (p. 71), Barlow managed to play a role in many of the most seismic changes to shake the postwar West, Forrest Gump with brilliance, vision and agency. In unadorned prose, he drops like a dozen lines that just had me marveling at his (and presumably Robert Greenfield's) way with words, and even more impressively his way with ideas.

His relationship with Garcia was rather fraught, and he doesn't pull any punches with him or the Grateful Dead scene. There's plenty here for the cynic. But this is the farthest thing from a tell-all or an exercise in score settling. He touches everything deftly, lightly, frankly and, it feels to me, the way it was (as JPB lived it).

This is a nice read, another reminder that the social world of the Grateful Dead (and the hippies, and the Sixties) was disproportionately populated with brilliant, amazing people who lived full lives doing important things. Two snaps up.

Enter Tom Fogerty

update 20230712

I have no idea why I inferred Tom Fogerty saw JGMS at Keystone Korner on 5/20/71. It seems more likely to have been 5/22/71, and his arrival may mark why they made tapes of the next two nights.

Further, I have no idea why I inferred he first joined in Berkeley on 5/26/71, when Tuesday 5/25 is even more likely, based on the "off-night" clause of The Iron Law of Breaking in New Band Members.

So, as of 7/12/2023, I am calling 5/22 the visit and 5/25 Tom's debut.

/update 20230712

A couple of years ago I discovered this youtube content called "Goodbye Media Man", featuring video of Tom Fogerty, Merl Saunders, Bill Vitt, various studio engineers and others unknown to me, working on a track by that same title.

Here is the description (published October 9, 2013):

Tom was the original singer of the Blue Velvets and the Golliwogs, both of which evolved into Creedence Clearwater Revival. Tom Fogerty had the chops to be a star in his own right. Within the band (Doug, Stu, Tom and John), Tom was overshadowed by younger brother John, who's talent was clearly evident. "Goodbye Media Man", recorded in 1971, was Tom's first solo single after leaving Creedence. A great track with solid musicianship and hooks. To my knowledge, this is the first time this video has been posted. Tom left us far too soon, passing on September 6, 1990. Back in the day, he was a friend, and I miss him - Ken Levy, Brooklyn NY / Addlestone, Surrey England

Wow.

I continue to be amazed at the material that continues to crawl out of the woodwork. It gives me hope for the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival (GSCBF) film, among many other things. This post will pin down the metadata but also talk about how remarkable is the wealth of material we have available to study, across many different media - and why we get to enjoy that wealth.

Metadata
Location

Appears to be Berkeley, both at Fantasy Studios and at Tom Fogerty's professorial manse with a bunch of kids running around.

Date

The video is only dated 1971. Recall that Tom Fogerty had announced on February 2, 1971 that he was leaving the lucrative Creedence Clearwater Revival over differences with the band's dominant force, his little brother John, and to spend more time with his four children.[1] We also know that the House That Creedence Built, the new Fantasy Studios facility at 10^th and Parker in Berkeley, had come online right around this time. Local journo students Kathie Staska and George Mangrum ("KG") ran an amazingly rich column in the Hayward Daily Review starting in February, and got a tour of the new facility from the one and only Ralph Gleason, now working full time for Saul Zaentz at Fantasy.[2]

KG reported on March 11 that Tom had started work on his solo album.[3] Just after the solstice, on June 24th, KG reported that the record was done and was set for release the next week,[4] also noting that he'd be part of Merl Saunders's band for a release on the same label. On June 29th, Robert Hilburn noted in the LA Times that "Goodbye Media Man" was set for imminent release. So the video presumably features material from this late-winter to early-summer span. Intriguingly, a youtube posting of the "Goodbye Media Man" single associates a date of "the 17th of June 1971" with it:

With all of this, the studio film could come from anywhere between March and June, but I strongly suspect that the home material is from closer to June, as the single neared or achieved completion. Update: John Wasserman mentioned that Tom was cutting "Goodbye Media Man" in his Chronicle column of June 21st, so this is very much in the nearing-completion stage - right around the solstice.

Forging The Garcia-Fogerty Connection

Our Hero comes up in the interview, and I think this comment sheds some light on the Tom Fogerty version of the Garcia-Saunders band.[5] Tom says

I only want to jam around right now and perform with as many people as possible. I’ve learned more about music this last month [i.e., May-June] from meeting other people than during the whole time while I was with Creedence ... One night, I just happened to go over to Keystone Korner. Merl Saunders had invited me over to hear him and Bill Vitt and Jerry Garcia, and within a week I was up on the stage with 'em. And, uh playin' with 'em, and at that point I decided that that was ... the kind of music that I wanted behind the song. It was within about three days that the thing came together with Merl.

When might this have been, exactly? Let's investigate. Jerry and Merl had played the following Keystone Korner gigs from the first Freddie Herrera - Jerry Garcia Joint through mid-1971:

Table xxx. Garcia at Keystone Korner, 11/25/70-6/16/71. Follow this link for a more complete table of Garcia's Keystone Korner gigs. Click image to enlarge.

Tom's narrative and the overall evidence best fits Tom having seen JGMS on 5/20/71,[6] and sitting in with them on Wednesday 5/26/71. This frame fits "within a week" from Tom's filmed reckoning, and I am pretty confident about the interval, if not the specifics. "Three days" from Tom is a little unclear to me, certainly could suggest it was other nights than the ones I pinpoint. So, why these?

This is going to get really convoluted, and, despite my best efforts, I assume it will be somewhat hard to follow. You can just take my word for it, or you can try to follow me into the data.

First, there is tape of 5/20/71 and 5/21/71, the first out of the Garcia Vault and the second locked away there until its 2020 release. May 11, 1971[7] and these tapes represent the earliest-audible Garcia-Saunders performances (perhaps as many as eight months after they started gigging![8]), and they precede a four-month gap that audibly ends when Lou Judson becomes the second Marin County soundman to run PA tape of The Group in late September. The 5/20/71 tape escaped into the world because Garcia had it amongst his stuff when, ca. Christmas 1975, MG threw him out of Sans Souci --on which the couple had closed on ... May 5, 1971!-- and he shuffled off to Deborah's for the first time. Debbie took possession of the tape, someone found a way to copy it, and now anyone can hear it.

Second, I submit that the fact that Jerry had this tape amongst his personal stuff is not innocent with respect to the very question we are considering. I think he had the tape "pulled", either initially recorded or pulled out of wherever most of his tapes were kept, or both, precisely so Fogerty could give it a listen. We know the Dead were in the habit of pulling recent tapes to prepare their incoming members, e.g., the "Houseboat Tapes" of August 1971 that they gave Keith Godchaux to listen to. I think Jerry lent it to Tom or dubbed it for him so he could come up to speed with the band and its material.

Third, and with respect to the late boundary, I glean one other possible tidbit of information from the table above, in the advertising patterns. I am almost certainly over-reading this, but the Thursday-Friday-Saturday 5/20-22 run looks like Big Nights - advertised in the Chron, weekend shows, some real buzz. Even Tuesday 5/25 gets a Wasserman mention, which may well have been enough to sell the gig out. But 5/26, Wednesday, gets a measley mention in the Trib's "Bay Sounds" items, which usually ran more toward jazz and soul. Probably a much quieter night for Tom to step up and play some for the first time, dontcha think? I can't adduce all of the evidence here, but it is as close to an Iron Law as exists in the Garciaverse that new players are broken in off-nights, off-the-beaten-path, or both.

Art and Commerce

For Garcia of this vintage, the aesthetics of any musical choice should go without saying. He wanted to play more music with good players than the Dead could afford him (especially in this very fallow period between the closing of the Fillmores East and West). As Corry and I have elaborated, Tom Fogerty advened alongside huge changes in The Group's approach and repertoire, from spacey organ jazz to all kinds of Americana, white (The Band's "Dixie Down", Jesse Winchester's "Biloxi", some good ol' rockabilly), black (Stevie Wonder, Motown, etc. etc.) and everything in between, mostly more or less contemporary stuff. In short, I think Fogerty came in because Jerry wanted to sing some tunes, wanted to bring in more white contemporary, and Fogerty could sing, play rhythm guitar, and bring in some new material. [update: the release of the pre-Tom 5/21/71 Garcia-Saunders gig gives the lie to the idea that it was all space jazz pre-Tom, with white-roots-flavored stuff coming in with him. Dixie Down, Mystery Train and arguably a few others were already in the repertoire. This is a case where fragmentary tape evidence led us {at least me} a little astray.]

But there were almost surely also commercial logics operating here, too. Whether they came from Jerry, from Merl, from Tom, from Saul Zaentz (or Ralph Gleason), and/or others, I can't know. But Fantasy Records stands at the center of this.

Indeed, I want to revise my conjecture above about why the May 20-21, 1971 JGMS tapes were made (and recorded in 4-track, no less). This was long before Rex and then Betty started taping Jerry, so why is there this one pair of shows? I said a few paragraphs ago that it was so Tom could bone up. I think that's half-right – it was so Tom could bone up, and Tom joining this operation cannot be separated from Tom making records for Fantasy, Merl making records for Fantasy, etc. etc. Remember that Merl invited Tom down to the club. He might have had a purpose in mind - say, to make a Group for Jerry that would record on Fantasy and make them all rich, what already wasn't, and them richer what already was. Corry and I have concluded that Fogerty's arrival served a sea change in the Garcia-Saunders aggregation, taking it from space organ to Dylan, Band and Motown numbers. (update: we overstated the discontinuity here. The 5/21/71 show has "Dixie Down", for example.) Why this big artistic shift? Quite possibly, to work up some more commercially viable material than the "out-there" jams they had been doing. Hooteroll? (Douglas 5, December 1971) would cover the space-organ piece of the market for the jazz heads, while The Group could do some white and black contemporary tunes for the dormitory set. It's all made to order, including an eager press. Indeed, two days after writing about Fogerty's upcoming release, our intrepid collegians K and G found themselves at the New Monk in Berkeley, where Tom, Merl and Jerry were holding forth for a standing-room-only crowd, just blocks from Fantasy.[9]

Conclusion

I feel quite confident, though not certain, that Tom Fogerty first sat in with JGMS on May 26, 1971. I also think Fantasy Records was the Prime Mover behind this partnership.

Now, Garcia and Tom did end up on Merl's Heavy Turbulence (Fantasy 8421, 1972), which looks to me like it could have been recorded in 1971, and Fogerty's Excalibur (Fantasy 9413, October 1972) which, though seemingly released later, feels roughly contemporary. Merl's Fire Up (Fantasy 9421, 1973) feels more like 1972, though of course it's pretty hard to say. But Fantasy's big golden goose feast, 1973's Live at the Keystone (Fantasy F-79002), featured the Fogertyless quartet of the aforementioned goose plus Merl and the Kahn-Vitt rhythm section. As best we can tell, Tom left the fold at the end of 1972 after eighteen months with The Group. What happened? I dunno, but I welcome your speculations in comments.

---

[1] “Tom Fogarty [sic] Leaves Creedence,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 3, 1971, p. 42.

[2] See also Staska and Mangrum 19710225.

[3] Staska and Mangrum 19710311.

[4] Staska and Mangrum 19710624.

[5] I have written at length around all of this. See "Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders at the Matrix - A Dialogue" (with Corry Arnold), URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/09/jerry-garcia-and-merl-saunders-at.html; "Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders & Tom Fogerty Sat-Sun, New Monk", URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/09/jerry-garcia-merl-saunders-tom-fogerty.html; and "Tom Fogerty, Merl Saunders and Friends - June 25, 1971 Keystone Korner", URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/09/tom-fogerty-merl-saunders-and-friends.html.

[6] See "'JGMS 5/20/71' is probably really JGMS 5/20/71," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/09/jgms-52071-is-probably-really-jgms-52071.html.

[7] See "JGMS: Matrix, May 11-12, 1971," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/09/jgms-matrix-may-11-12-1971.html; "'Hey Merl, you wanna do that tune in 'G'? Get spaced out a little?' LN jg1971-05-11.jgms.partial.aud.28784.flac1644," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/09/hey-merl-you-wanna-do-that-tune-in-g.html.

[8] "When did Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders first play together?" URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-did-jerry-garcia-and-merl-saunders.html.

[9] Staska and Mangrum 19710701.