New Riders of the Purple Sage and Acoustic Grateful Dead: Lion’s Share, San Anselmo, July 30-August 1, 1970

(This is an updated version of an earlier post,
“GD/NRPS19700731-19700801: Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA, 4/20/2011.)

Some time back, I reported listings for "New Riders of the Purple Sage & Grateful Dead, Lion's Share, 9 pm" for both July 31, 1970 and August 1, 1970, in the calendar section of the Berkeley Tribe. Here’s the scan (click to enlarge). (FWIW, the Tribe calendar’s name was commonly “George”. This day, it was “David” [at the tag end of the question “how about George David?”.)

Calendar section of the Berkeley Tribe v3 n4 (no 56) (July 31 - August 7, 1970), back page.

I have just uncovered a few more tidbits, so I am updating the whole original post. The tidbits are a calendar listing and a preview ‘blurb’ establishing to my satisfaction that the New Riders of the Purple Sage and Acoustic Grateful Dead played the Lion’s Share, 66 Red Hill Avenue, San Anselmo, CA, 94960 on Thursday, July 30, 1970, in addition to the previously-established shows the next two nights.

“Datebook/Opening Today,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1970, p. 41;
“’Purple Sage’ At Lion’s Share,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1970, p. 41.

Let me go through some of the points that come up out of this little bit of material, in no particular order.

1. The New Riders of the Purple Sage and Acoustic Grateful Dead played the Lion’s Share, 66 Red Hill Avenue, San Anselmo, CA, 94960 on Thursday, July 30, 1970, in addition to the previously-established shows the next two nights (July 31-August 1, 1970).

2. Michelle’s Mc’s Midsummer 1970 Memories of Acoustic GD at Lion's Share seem confirmed.

With the addition of the Thursday night to our understanding of this run, we can now confirm four of the five confirmable assertions made by Corry's informant "Michelle Mc", as relayed by him at LLD:

The acoustic Grateful Dead played a number of shows at the Lion's Share. They played two or three nights in a row, on a weeknight in the middle of the summer of 1970. She knows--she went. These shows were utterly unpublicized, and only friends of the band were given the heads up.

• Acoustic Grateful Dead: confirmed.
• “two or three nights in a row”: confirmed.
• “weeknight”: confirmed.
• Midsummer 1970: confirmed.
• No publicity: disconfirmed. The idea that these shows were mostly for GD family insiders is supported by the fact that the Saturday show was Jerry Garcia’s 28^th birthday. If it appeared in the Chron –and more importantly, given that there was an item in the Chron—it was no secret. However, it’s possible that the Share staff called the papers, but weren’t supposed to.

3. Acoustic Grateful Dead

The item and Michelle’s memory make it clear that the Grateful Dead played acoustically (AGD). This brings the 7/30/70 and 8/5/70 tapes to mind, the only two all-acoustic GD nights –billed as such—that I can think of.

4. What About The Tapes?

By the tapes, I refer to the New Riders tape and an Acoustic Grateful Dead tape (shnid 17077), both dated 7/30/70 and said to be from the Matrix. First, given the relative reliability of an “Opening Tonight” item in the Chron and a Matrix tape label, I propose that our lists (i.e., The List) be updated to list GD at Lion’s Share this night, and not at the Matrix.

Second, I had actually offered some analysis and speculation about all of this in the 7/30/70 installation of my still-unconcluded NRPS-Matrix-1970 series. Let me just quote myself at length.

Note that the first NRPS piece (I'll call it set I) runs only 23 minutes. Normally, we would conclude that it's incomplete (and probably missing the material at the start of the set, since there's a set break announcement over continuous tape after Lodi). I do think it's probably incomplete. But it could also be that this night was different, and ended up including the mini GD acoustic set. That might have substituted for at least some part of the expected additional NRPS material.

The tapes do suggest that there was a three-part show on 7/30/70: (I) NRPS, (II) AGD, (III) NRPS. I think the billings fit hand-in-glove with this structure, because …

5. ... The NRPS Appear to Have Been Headliners Above the GD

I think this newly-discovered evidence supports the view that these tape fragments are of a piece, insofar as NRPS seem to be headlining over the Grateful Dead. As far as I know, this is the only time such an arrangement, a kind of inversion of the “An Evening With the Grateful Dead” set structure (see my discussion in connection with a 5/1/70 analysis), ever materialized.

In my post “NRPS-Matrix-1970 05 of 7: LN19700730: Thursday, July 30, 1970”, I had run the discovery of the Tribe listings for 7/31 and 8/1 through evidence provided by the tapes, and said this:

I am intrigued by the possibility that the order in which the acts are listed for those shows might reflect that NRPS was "first billed" over the GD, which might be consistent with NRPS doing two sets and GD just a little acoustic one.

The discovery of another (partially independent) piece of data from the Chron reinforces this connection between these shows and these tapes, in my mind. Both of the calendar listings put the New Riders first, and the Grateful Dead second. If I understand how such listings came about, this correlation is partly spurious: presumably the same person from the Share or from the GD offices called the item into both the Tribe and the Chron. But there may be at least some independence among these observations, insofar as the staffers at the two separate newspapers did not turn the order around and put the GD first. That would have been the obvious, natural thing to do. As far as I know, this is the only time the New Riders are billed over the Grateful Dead. I think the fact that things are billed this way in both papers is no accident. I believe (pure conjecture, of course) that these were quite explicitly and consciously listed as NRPS-GD.

The headline of the preview item, “’Purple Sage’ At Lion’s Share”, especially, reinforces this. It is, I think, incredible to imagine that, under usual circumstances, this would not have said “Dead At Lion’s Share”. Woe betide the Chronicle lackey who should make the mistake of headlining the second act instead of the Grateful Goddamned Dead! No. This was quite consciously constructed with the New Riders at the top of the bill, and the Grateful Dead at the bottom.

I view this as just one more incremental step in the gradual speciation of the New Riders from the Grateful Dead.

David Torbert had been around as NRPS bassist (I said, NRPS bassist. Or, NRPS personnel more generally!) since probably April. They had done a number of high-profile gigs in the An Evening With the Grateful Dead format. I don’t have precise dates for when they started working on the first New Riders album in the studio, but it is certainly right around this time. Dryden said that Tolbert was brought for the express purpose of making an album (Kahlbacher 1974, 27). By mid-1970 the cognoscenti are starting to ask about the Riders’ studio plans (Hard Road interview, took place on 6/22/70). In October 1970, Garcia says that the NRPS record is “about 50% underway” (Goodwin 1971).

We also know, conventionally, that on the Festival Express train a month or so prior to 7/30/70, Garcia had spotted a hotshit pedal steel wizard named Buddy Cage and appeared immediately to have conceived the idea of bringing the Canadian on as his own full-time and permanent replacement. This seems only to have put flesh on the bones of a general plan that he harbored all along, to help found and launch the Riders, help his friends out financially by getting them a record deal (and the attending patch of land in Marin or Sonoma or wherever) and making them famous, and then stepping out gracefully. He was already public with a desire to step back by late 1970: “I think eventually it would be groovy if they auditioned other steel players so they could go out and tour, without having to depend on the Dead” (12/27/70 KPPC-FM interview, shnid 26583).

So, why would NRPS have been top-billed at a local show in a little Marin club that held like 212 people? It’s not like this was their big break. I don’t think they were planning on this being the launch of a national tour in this configuration, of course. Most plausible seems to be just that they wanted to keep things low key, and probably especially the GD guys. These quiet acoustic sets, with loads of wonderful spirituals and such (Jordan, A Voice From On High), along the lines of show known as 8/5/70 San Diego, are profoundly relaxed. From my listen to the NRPS set dated 7/30/70, I said “sounds like just a good old time foolin' around at the bar. It seems to run quite late." Here are Cousin Ace (Bob Weir) and Marmaduke to a sparse and shrinking late-night crowd:

Cousin Ace: “Well the rats are desertin' the sinkin' ship. And, uhh, in the meanwhile we're gonna do a ...” [interruption by Marmaduke: "Welcome to the campfire folks... "] “... hot lead and bloodshed ballad ...” ["... this is story time ..."] “...sad story time ...” ["... here on the plains"] …

All of the tapes in the NRPS-1970-Matrix nexus (feels redundant, but better than NRPS-1970-Matrix matrix!) have that kind of feel. More of alcohol vibe (a la the Festival Express train) than an acid- or coke-fueled one.

So, putting this all together, I think it was probably just a fun, low key, local trial balloon designed to try on what it would look like to have the New Riders go first.

6. What About The Tapes? Part II

So, do the tapes that circulate come from the Lion’s Share? I don’t know. I am honestly pretty stumped.

Everything I know about Lion’s Share tapes has pretty much been posted. Garcia shows are overrepresented since Betty taped so much. Outside of those the only period in which I know tape was regularly spinning at the Share was June 1971-January 1972, when soundman Lou Judson made an impressive batch of recordings. Unfortunately, the pride Mr. Judson seems to take in having taped some of this material does not seem to translate into a willingness to share it, in my experience.

I cannot explain why the “7/30/70” material comes out of “Matrix Tapes”. The likeliest possibilities, it seems to me, are

1. that the material is from the Matrix, and is mis-dated (though not by much), and the similarities of the tapes and these Lion's Share shows is spurious. Maybe the tapes really are from 7/27/70, as "Mickey Hart and the Hart Beats, with Jerry Garcia", a billing I have just confirmed at LIA's place, also from the Chron (7/27/70, p. 37); or
2. the material is correctly dated, but comes from the Lion’s Share (e.g., taped by the GD folks), and somehow eventually made it into (or became conflated with) the Matrix Tapes; or
3. the 7/30/70 show was moved from the Share to the Matrix.

I doubt #3, but #1 and #2 seem about equally plausible to me.

7. NRPS : GD :: Hot Tuna : Jefferson Airplane

Just wanted to note that the Chron item draws this analogy. It’s true for a time, and interesting. Around the same time that Jack and Jorma are branching out from well-known “day-bands” to play some American roots music on the side (alongside, early on, some really hot rock jamming) –which seems to begin in earnest ca. January 1969—Garcia and others in the GD are doing the same thing. It’s obvious, but since I have Jerry and the Jeffersons on the brain I thought I’d bring it up.

Of course, after the initial period, the arcs of Hot Tuna and NRPS diverge. NRPS ends up completely speciated from the GD in terms of personnel and, eventually, organization. Garcia builds it up and then walks away from it. Hot Tuna, of course, always has and always will include (no, really, "be") Jack and Jorma.

8. Summary

Summarizing, six take home points.

1. This began as a way to just put another event into The List: NRPS/GD at Lion’s Share on Thursday, July 30, 1970, based on evidence from the San Francisco Chronicle.
2. It seems to confirm the recollection by Corry’s informant Michelle Mc of Acoustic GD sets at Lion’s Share in midsummer 1970.
3. It is suggestive of one of the only all-acoustic GD sets, ever (alongside San Diego, 8/5/70).
4. It dovetails almost perfectly with the tapes we have that are dated 7/30/70, though said to be from the Matrix: two NRPS sets sandwiched around a homey AGD set that also features David Nelson and Marmaduke.
5. It seems to be a rare (perhaps the only) instance of the NRPS headlining over the GD, a kind of reversal of the “An Evening With the Grateful Dead” format (AGD, NRPS, EGD) of 1970. I have argued that this is a small milestone in the gradual (over two year!) differentiation of the NRPS from the GD, which culminated in Buddy Cage taking over Garcia’s pedal steel bench in November 1971.
6. I don’t know how to reconcile the tapes (said to be from the Matrix) with the rest of the evidence.

There we have it. Why say it in 50 words when you can say it in 2,300?!?

SOURCES:

• Arnold, Corry. 2011. John Kahn Live Performance History 1970 (John Kahn IV). Lost Live Dead, March 20, 2011, URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/03/john-kahn-live-performance-history-1970.html, accessed 2/21/2012.
• “Datebook/Opening Today,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1970, p. 41.
• Goodwin, Michael. 1971. Jerry Garcia at 700 MPH: Incidental Music at the Celebration of Life. Flash no. 0: 32-39.
• “Jerry Garcia,” Hard Road 1, 1 (July 20, 1970), pp 1-4 (unnumbered).
• JGMF. 2011. “GD/NRPS19700731-19700801: Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA.” Jerry Garcia’s Middle Finger, April 20, 2011, URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/04/gdnrps19700731-19700801-lions-share-san.html, accessed 2/21/2012. Deprecated as of 2/21/2012
• Kahlbacher, Gene. 1974. Aquarian Interview: New Riders of the Purple Sage. Aquarian, January 29-February 12, 1974, pp. 14, 27, 31. Annotated at http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/03/reading-notes-kahlbacher-gene-1974.html.
• Light Into Ashes [LIA]. 2011. The Hartbeats - July 1970. Grateful Dead Guide, March 30, 2011, URL http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2011/03/hartbeats-july-1970.html, accessed 2/12/2012.
• “’Purple Sage’ At Lion’s Share,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1970, p. 41.

The List Tradition: Chronicling Infinity

There's some mumbo-jumbo in here, but also some interesting thoughts. h/t Sully.

Digression on Data

Let’s pause for a minute and reflect on how fortunate we are to have such high quantity and quality of materials to exploit. Posters, handbills, advertisements, previews, blurbs, mentions, reviews, ledgers, contracts, calendars and other sources overwhelm us. (By the way, where are the personal diaries/journals, a la Faren Miller's amazing chronicles of QMS? If anyone reading this kept any notes relating to GD and Garcia, please send me an email at jgmfblog@gmail.com!)

 

Personal memories remain alive and frequently (if imperfectly) captable by those who might seek to document them. They’re often pretty good memories. I’d suggest that levels of intelligence and education among those who remember these things, these “subjects” whose memories we seek to record, explore and understand are generally a way north of the population mean. This is a smart and often articulate bunch. The consciousness that one was engaged in something special or unusual seems to have quite often produced reasonably conscious memory as well – a good thing.

A final point on personal memory, a very meta point that I’ll nevertheless indulge. In comments on my listening notes for May 6, 1983, Corry discussed his ca. late April 1983 data generating process in his role as Keeper of The List, which is very helpful. I produced a nicely anchored memory, one that’s bound up in other important or noteworthy or otherwise salient events, in a kind of syndrome or complex. In the case of the venue for 5/6/83, I find myself persuaded by the participant recollection (i.e., that it was at the Keystone in Berkeley, not at The Stone in The City).

Finally (not really finally, but finally for my purposes here), are events for which there is neither paper nor memory, the shows that happened and that we know about only because of tape recordings. How many were not taped and hence remain unknown? I do not know and I prefer not to think too long on it. Instead, I want to use the lifetimes-worth of taped material we do have as best I can. My listening notes are an attempt to recode the raw data from tapes into other useable (for my purposes) forms. These data, like all of them, have their limits. In a view that Corry has been articulating (e.g., about GD Matrix Tapes from late 1966) and that I suspect is correct, it’s possible that the taped record systematically biases against the quotidian and in favor of the unusual and/or excellent. Recognizing this only reinforces why we need to practice convergent operationalism, i.e., triangulation across sources. We all already do this, but I want to recognize it explicitly as a valuable part of the enterprise.

April 1975 Legion of Mary tapes

Some brave souls at Lossless Legs are wading into the waters of the April 1975 Legion of Mary tapes.

I fear that, like all those who have come before, these tapes will defy our collective ability to pin down what's what (correct dates and such). Most importantly, this shit seems to have come in bits and pieces of tape that got all jumbled up somewhere along the way. Ryan's old notes on 4/9/75 spoke to all of this, as he tried heroically (and, I think, ultimately unsuccessfully) to make sense of what was what. Another long time Garcia collector had the following listed for 4/12/75a in Scranton:

04/12/75a Scranton, PA - Masonic Temple                          MS?>?>CD        Partial 35                      

          *LOM*

          This material is extremely confused, and may actually be from 4/8/75b, or some other date.

          Set One: on disc two of "4/15/75": 2. [0:04] Tough Mama [7:47] [0:08], 3. [0:05] Wondering

          Why [15:47] [0:04], 4. [0:17] I'll Take a Melody [9:50] [0:05]

Note here that the material at the time of that last was thought to be 4/12/75a, but it was feared to be 4/8/75a (notwithstanding that it came off a source labeled 4/15/75!). The 4/12/75 Scranton material continues to be confused and contested to the present day.

So, point #1 of this post: be careful following what's on tape labels!

Second, and this is really more of a note to myself, Ryan's old 4/9/75 notes contained some important Betty Board information that I had nearly lost track of. In his collecting, he had located three distinct sources, and made the following notes:

1. Master SBD Reel > 1st gen reel > PCM > DAT (44kHz)
2. Master SBD Reel > 1st gen reel > DAT (48kHz +emphasis)
3. Master SBD Reel > 2 cassette gens > DAT (48kHz)

Tapes #1 and #2 descend from the Marin Flea Market batch of Betty Cantor reels. These are reels that “fell out” from the infamous Betty locker auction that happened in 1985. 1st gen 15ips copies were made from the master 7.5ips reels [i.e., Master SBD reels (2-track Nagra SL11183 at 7.5 ips on 7" Scotch 206 reels) > 1st gen reel (2-track Otari MX5050 at 15ips on 7" reels] ... I believe Jeff Silberman and other long-time traders were very instrumental in getting copies of this show widely circulated.

Tape #3 comes from the early/mid ‘80s and appears to be from a completely different path than tapes #1 and #2.

I am intrigued by this, because I think it's a part of the Betty Board history that was almost been forgotten, at least by me. Is it correct that there was a Marin Flea Market batch in 1985? Is this a separate batch from the storage unit tapes that were digitized in late 1986/early 1987? Is the Third Batch that I have been discussing really the third batch, or is it correct that "A smaller batch of Betty Boards was discovered in 1990 and returned almost immediately to the GD” Vault (Harvey 2009), such that the "Third Batch" (the uncirculated Garcia stuff, which came into some light in late 1995) really a Fourth Batch? I am confused, and the existing histories (Dwork et al. 2000; Harvey 2009) don't answer my questions. I have got some 'splaining to do, just to myself.

RERERENCES:

1. Dwork, John, and Alexis Muellner, with Dougal Donaldson, Doug Oade and Mark Kraitchman. 2000. Outside the System. In The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, vol. III, An In-depth Guide to the Music of the Grateful Dead on Tape, 1986-1995 (New York: Henry Holt/Owl Books.), pp. 33-62.
2. Harvey, Katie A. 2009. Embalming the Dead: Taping, Trading and Collecting the Aura of the Grateful Dead. Master of Arts Thesis, Tufts University, August. URL http://www.scribd.com/doc/26367749/Embaling-the-Grateful-Dead, consulted 12/18/2011.

November 24, 1968: Jam with Jefferson Airplane, Grande Ballroom, Detroit, MI (POSSIBLE)

In connection with another post that is taking me a long time to finalize, I have been looking at the various crossings of Garcia and the Jefferson Airplane. Among the many sources I have been using is Scott Abbot's JABase volume 3, available online at http://home.myfairpoint.net/srabbot/airplane/jabase.htm.

There, I find a listing for the Airplane doing two shows at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, MI on Thursday, November 24, 1968. Abbot notes a "jam with the Grateful Dead after the second show".

Deadlists shows a GD show on this date at the Hyde Park Teen Center in Cincinnati, OH. However,  Deadlists's own notes point to a flyer at http://cincinnati.com/blogs/eyeontheeastside/files/2011/05/thedead.jpg, which, if legitimate, indicates the Hyde Park Teen Center show was on 11/30. Both dates can be made sense of in terms of the GD itinerary, which has them at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago on Wednesday-Thursday 11/27-28/68 (where were they on Friday, 11/29/68?). The 11/24 Cinci gig would presumably have had to be in the afternoon, if it's accurate, and if the location of the GD in Detroit that night is to be believed. More likely, I think, is that the Cinci thing was on 11/30. This leaves the GD free between 11/23/68 in Athens, Ohio and 11/27/68 in Chicago.

Here are the mileages from Athens to Detroit (e.g., after 11/23), from Detroit to Chicago (e.g., after 11/24). The map also shows the distance Athens-Chicago.

So, they had a super-long drive from Athens to Chicago between 11/23/68 and 11/27/68, as well as the implied several free nights. Why the hell not pass through Detroit and jam with the Airplane? Check out the room in advance of their own billing the next week. Now, I note that this makes the 11/30/68 Teen Center thing seem less plausible -- why drive 430 miles for such a gig? I am not sure how all of this fits together.

I am really inclined to believe that members of the GD were at Grande Ballroom on 11/24/68 with the Airplane.

Oh yeah, one other thing (which would also cause problems for the 11/30/68 Teen Center thing), based on looking at the posters for the 12/1/68 GD date at Grande Ballroom linked from Deadlists. Can the posters be read to say the GD are playing 11/29, 11/30 and 12/1/68 at the Grande, with opening acts on Friday night (BS & T) and on Saturday (The Rationals), playing without an opener on 12/1? This would account for the open Friday night, which the late 1968 GD would absolutely abhor if it could be avoided in favor of a payday.

Rabbit's Epistemology: If It Says So, Then It Is So

Lyrics:

A map is not a guess
An estimation or a hunch
A feeling or a foolish intuition
A map is a dependable
Unwavering, inarguably accurate
Portrayer, of your position

Never trust your ears
Your nose, your eyes
Putting faith in them
Is most unwise
Here's a phrase you all
Must memorise
In the printed word
Is where truth lies

Never trust your tummies
Tails, or toes
You can't learn a thing
From any of those
Here's another fact
I must disclose
From the mighty pen
True wisdom flows

If it says so
Then it is so
If it is so
Well so it is
A thought's not fit to think
'Til it's printed in ink
Then it says so
So it is

Never trust that thing
Between your ears
Brains will get you nowhere fast
My dears
Haven't had a need
For mine in years
On the page is where
The truth appears

If it says so
Then it is so
If it is so
So it is
A thought's not fit to think
'Til it's printed in ink

Never differ from or doubt it
Or go anywhere without it
Thank goodness we've got this
So we don't need to fret about it

If it says so
So it is

2012 KPFA GD Marathon

http://cloudsurfing.gdhour.com/kpfamarathon_2012

Blogger Q: individual comment links

Am I the only one who no longer sees links to individual comments? I don't see them here or on any blogs, anymore. So have they killed this useful (no, crucial) piece of functionality, or am I missing something?

LN jg1983-05-06.jgb.all.aud-CC.xxxxxx.flac2448

Nothing much to hear here.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
May 6, 1983 (Friday)

--Set I (6 tracks, 50:39)--
s1t01. crowd and tuning [0:38]
s1t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:17] [0:10] % [0:31]
s1t03. I'll Take A Melody [13:12] [0:08] %
s1t04. That's What Love Will Make You Do [10:58] [0:07] %
s1t05. Mississippi Moon [10:39] ->
s1t06. Run For The Roses [4:50] (1) [0:07]

--Set II (6 tracks, 58:18)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [0:09]
s2t02. Mission In The Rain 9:50] [0:06] %
s2t03. The Harder They Come [12:42] [0:03] %
s2t04. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [13:24] ->
s2t05. Dear Prudence [13:59] ->
s2t06. Midnight Moonlight [7:56] [0:06] %

Lineup:
Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
John Kahn - el-bass;
Melvin Seals - organ;
Greg Errico - drums;]
Jaclyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
DeeDee Dickerson - 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.
! TJS: http://www.thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1701
! db: none as of 12/21/2011.
! R: Audience tape > 2nd gen cassette (Maxell XLII90, no Dolby) > Nakamichi BX-300 playback (Dolby off) > Pyle Pro cables > WaveTerminal 2496 > Samplitude 10.1 Download Version (record @ 24 bits/48kHz, normalization (98%, set II only) > CD Wave 1.98 (tracking) > Trader's Little Helper v2.4.1 (FLAC encoding) > foobar2000 (tagging).
! R: the tape is hissy. Nor great.
! P: nothing of much note here to my ears. This iteration of the JGB would get really, really hot for a week or so from late May into early June. It could be the poor tape quality, but I really don't have much to say.
! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back in a few minutes."
! Disclaimer: This is part of a "Closet Call" project aimed at getting missing Garcia dates into the digital realm. These are "warts and all" ... straight transfers of the source cassettes with editing only of the most offensive tape transitions and such. If you don't like hiss, possible speed problems, etc., etc., then move along. And, to anticipate a FAQ: no, I don't plan on doing 16/44s of these. Thanks to wk for supplying these tapes!

B.B. King, Lawrenceville School, November 20, 1970

B.B. King
The Lawrenceville School
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
November 20, 1970 (Friday)
Early and Late Shows

--Early Show (14 tracks, 59:19)--

-Sonny Freeman and the Unusuals-
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t01. //Title? (instrumental) {4:02}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t02. Title? (instrumental) {3:42}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t03. Title? {6:48}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t04. band thanks and B.B. King introduction {2:37}

-B.B. King and Band-
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t05. Every Day I Have The Blues {1:41}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t06. Downhearted {5:24}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t07. Just A Little Love {4:43}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t08. Title? (instrumental) {3:05}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t09. So Excited {5:13}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t10. Chains And Things {5:25}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t11. Humming Bird {4:17}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t12. The Thrill Is Gone {6:13}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t13. band introductions (1) {2:11}
king-bb-1970-11-20-early-t14. Why I Sing The Blues {3:58}


--Late Show (16 tracks, 90:49)--

-Sonny Freeman and the Unusuals-
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t01. Title? (instrumental, Latin feel) (2) {4:42}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t02. Title? (lyrics: "I refuse to let you worry me") {3:47}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t03. Title? (instrumental) {5:09}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t04. talk (3), B.B. King introduction and plaque presentation {4:45}

-B.B. King and Band-
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t05. Every Day I Have The Blues {1:51}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t06. Downhearted {5:18}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t07. Just A Little Love {5:06}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t08. Title? (instrumental) {1:16}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t09. Title? (instrumental) {2:23}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t10. So Excited {5:27}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t11. Worry Worry {11:01}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t12. Humming Bird {5:29}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t13. Sweet Sixteen {4:32}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t14. The Thrill Is Gone {6:43}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t15. band introductions (4) {2:29}
king-bb-1970-11-20-late-t16. Why I Sing The Blues ... {4:01}


Band:
B.B. King, guitar, vocals;
Ron Levy, piano;
Weber Freeman, bass;
John Browning, trumpet;
Joseph Burton, trombone;
Earl Turbinton, alto saxophone;
Louis Hubert, tenor saxophone;
Sonny Freeman, drums.

Notes:

! 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.

! R: Master soundboard reels > 7" first gen reels > Revox B77 playback > Alesis Masterlink CD/0 > EAC (extraction) > CD Wave (tracking) > Trader's Little Helper (flac encoding).

! R: early-t01 cuts in

! early-t13 (1) BB: "How 'bout a light over to the piano, there." ... piano ... bass ... trumpet ... trombone ("Lil' Joe from Chicago") ... alto saxophone ... tenor sax ... drums: "Young man who's been with me, this month it'll be thirteen years. And, you know, usually I say it's hard for a man and a woman to stay married that long. So a lot of you might wonder how two men manage to work that long together. Well, don't look at us funny. It's because the guy's a good drummer, he's a good friend, a great guy, ladies and gentlmen, Sonny Freeman."

! late-t01: (2) "We thank ya. The name of that little tune is called [inaudible -- oogla boogla?]."

! P: late-t03 nice instrumental work all around. Nice jump.

! R: late-t03 R channel back in @ 3:42

! late-t04: (3) [applause] Unidentified School Headmaster: "Thank you. Have I got a mic? Well that's a great beginning for a wonderful concert. And I have to match in words the tone and quality of those initial numbers. First of all, I welcome all our campus guests to this first concert of the Robert Thiele Center. A Center for American popular music, established with a goal of filling a vital need for comprehensive library resources and research archives for all forms of popular American music and the data relating to it. When equipped as envisioned by its founders, the collection will consist of ..." Etc. Invites Directors of the Center to the stage. Introduces B.B. King. Presentation of plaque to B.B. commemorating inauguration of the Robert Thiele Center for American Popular Music at the Lawrenceville School, November 20, 1970." Great provenance for the tape.

! Historical: Robert Thiele Center for American Popular Music: http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cg16.php: "Bob Thiele, one of the more reliable good guys in the record industry (he was head of Impulse, ABC's excellent jazz division, before starting his own Flying Dutchman group) has started something called the Robert Thiele Center for American Popular Music at his old prep school in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, by donating his own collection of records and books. Anyone who's into that sort of thing should understand that gifts are tax-deductible. Write checks to the Lawrenceville School with a notation about where you want the money to go." --Village Voice, Mar. 11, 1971.

! Historical: From the supplier of the recording: "The shows were at the Lawrenceville School theater in what is called the [700-seat] Kirby Arts Center. As you can hear from the headmaster's comments, these shows were to be the inaugural shows for what was to be the Robert Thiele Center. Thiele was a famous jazz producer, having produced John Coltrane and Gato Barbieri, amongst others. [He was head of Impulse, ABC's excellent jazz division, before starting his own Flying Dutchman group.] At the time [of the shows] he headed up Flying Dutchman Records and his son attended the school. The Thiele Center never came to fruition and these were the only shows."

! late-t15 (4) BB: "Thank you so much. How 'bout a light at the piano over there? How 'bout a hand for Ron Levy at the piano. Ron Levy. Thank you. On bass: Weber Freeman. How 'bout it for Weber Freeman. Thank you. Thank you very much. To my far right, on trumpet, John Browning, John Browning. Thank you. On the trombone, Lil' Joe from Chicago, Joseph Burton. Thank you. Alto saxophone, Earl Turbinton. Earl Turbinton. Thank you. Thank you so much. Tenor saxophone: Louis Hubert. Louis Hubert. Thank you so much. And on the drums, ladies and gentlemen, a young man that's been with me ... this month makes thirteen years. Sometimes I say it's hard for a man and a woman to stay together that long. Some of you might wonder how two men manage it. Well, don't look at us funny. It's because the guy is a good drummer, he's a good friend, a great guy, ladies and gentlemen, Sonny Freeman on the drums. Sonny Freeman. Sonny Freeman! Thank you. Thank you so much. And, of course ladies and gentlemen, this is Lucille."

! R: late-t15 fades out near end.

! Preview: Billboard, October 17, 1970, p. 6 [available via Google Books]; brief review: Ian Dove, Billboard, December 5, 1970, p. 28 [available via Google Books]; brief review/mention: Cordell S. Thompson, "New York Beat," Jet, December 10, 1970, p. 63 [available via Google Books].

jgmf.blogspot.com

Arnold, Corry. 2012. The Janet Soto List Manuscript Tradition

The Janet Soto List Manuscript Tradition

By Corry Arnold

For some reason that is unknown to me, GDP employee Janet Soto made a typewritten list of every Grateful Dead performance from January 1, 1970 to December 31, 1980. I have no idea why this list was created, but I'm glad it was. I received my copy in early 1981 (thank you Mike N), as it was being Xeroxed and circulated amongst the taper types who had suddenly found a Rosetta Stone. The source of the list appeared to be band contracts. The list seems to have been largely complete, with a few exceptions:

• last minute cancellations and additions were sometimes missing (or added)
• Bay Area shows from the early 1970s, BGP included, were missing

I assumed that the missing Bay Area shows were because the Dead had a different contractual arrangement with Bill Graham, at least up through the early 70s. This was generally confirmed by Dennis McNally in the mid-80s. He said that for a long time, while the Dead always had some sort of agreement with Graham (both entities were professionals after all), the specific contracts were a lot simpler, as both sides knew what was expected in terms of contract riders, etc. This might explain why the BGP agreements were presumably not in the same file drawer as the other band performance contracts. I assume that one reason for the absence of pre-1970 shows was a paucity of contracts, but I also suspect there was some reason for the list that had a specific timeframe, like tax records or something like that.

I immediately set about updating and correcting the Soto list. So did everyone else who actually cared about what they wrote on the index cards to their cassette tapes. The Soto list was the starting point to all the Grateful Dead performance lists that were subsequently promulgated: the list in Paul Grushkin's Book Of The Deadheads (ca. '83, which I think was actually McNally's list) a list produced by John Dwork that circulated for a while and finally the list that became Deadbase I in 1987. Information about Grateful Dead shows prior to 1970 was initially sketchy and often wrong because there was no Soto list to begin from; the community had to piece together the entire sixties list one show at a time. For my own part, as I added, subtracted and corrected information to and from the Soto list, I eventually started re-typing the list (yes, on a typewriter). Since typing was time consuming, I would handwrite other changes in pencil, since I might erase them, until I felt it was worth the effort to retype the pages. As a result of my re-typing, I no longer have the first several pages of the original Soto list, as I replaced them with my own list.

Once I had the Soto list in my possession, I immediately decided to keep it up. As a result, every time I called the Grateful Dead Hot Line (415-457-6388) to see if any new Grateful Dead shows were advertised, I would write down whatever was being announced, whether the show was in Syracuse or San Rafael. More or less on a whim, I started writing down all the other shows being announced, whether for the Jerry Garcia Band, Robert Hunter, Mickey Hart, Bob Weir or anyone else. At the same time, I noticed that many Bay Area shows by Grateful Dead spinoffs were not listed on the Hot Line, so any time I saw a Grateful Dead related show advertised in the Bay Area, usually in the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Datebook (the "Pink Section") or BAM, I wrote that down too. As a result, I had an extensive if not quite complete list of Jerry Garcia shows as well as all the other members' spinoff bands from January 1981 onwards. Soon I started calling the Hot Line every week or so, just to keep up my lists.

Within a year or so, despite the absence of an internet thingy, it was clear to me that I wasn't the only person trying to update the Soto list. I was very scrupulous about my own copy, but I considered it essentially for my own use. Since I hadn't met anyone making any kind of effort to track Garcia dates (much less Weir or anyone else in the band), I had an inkling that I had better do a good job of it, since it appeared that maybe no one else was doing it. As a result, as I accumulated information about Jerry Garcia Band performances, I typed them up in a facsimile of the Soto list. My one significant departure from the Soto list was that I would put the list of band members in the group as a header--they were usually announced on the Hot Line list--and insert a new header when the band members changed. Obviously, this wasn't necessary for the Grateful Dead since their membership was considerably more stable. At the end of each year, I would type up my list of Garcia Band shows for the year. I then did the same for Bob Weir, Robert Hunter, Mickey Hart and so on. If I learned about another date, or an opening act, or a different drummer, I would write it in pencil (because it might change), but the lists were basically fixed at the end of the year. I think that I typed them up when I had at least a page's worth of material, but it was more or less annual, although not exactly.

As part of my recognition that no one seemed to be collecting dates for Garcia or any of the spinoffs, I started to write down dates prior to 1981 for any Garcia Band, Garcia-Saunders, Kingfish or any other tape, or any time I found a poster or old advertisement. This was rather scattered, but it was better than nothing. I did fairly well with late 1980, since there will still hard copy sources laying around (literally--probably in my room) but before that it was kind of random.

Cut to about 1984. By a chain of events I no longer recall, I was in touch with Blair Jackson (I had probably sent a letter to the Golden Road). Through Blair, I met Dick Latvala and Dennis McNally. McNally at the time was the official Grateful Dead Historian, but he was working for Bill Graham Presents on cataloging the BGP Archive. Dennis was great, as I was just some nobody, but he was incredibly nice to me. About the second time we met--possibly the last, I don't recall--Dennis gave me his own extensive Jerry Garcia list. This was a byproduct of his research into the Grateful Dead, but I think he was discovering that chronicling the Grateful Dead was an impossible task, so he was simply passing on trying to do Garcia as well. As a result of Dennis's research--which was a great list, but did not have specific sources--I interpolated his information into my sketchy pre-1981 data, and then I had a kind of working Jerry Garcia list.

Cut to the early 1990s. In late 1985, I had started a job that would consume me for the next 15 years, and my life changed in many ways. I was as big a music fan as ever, but work was so self-enveloping that I generally only talked about music with people I worked with. Although I continued calling the Hot Line and writing down dates from the Pink Section, it was a kind of solitary activity. I had let all my nascent Grateful Dead contacts, like Blair Jackson, Dennis McNally and Dick Latvala, slide away. Nonetheless, when Deadbase had come out in 1987, I was as thrilled as anyone. The Soto list was one thing, but here was a performance list complete with songlists to boot--wow! At some point, I wrote Deadbase a letter with some bits and pieces about dates and venues, which was my area of expertise. I was in some kind of correspondence with Stu Nixon in New England, but remember this wasn't email--we probably exchanged a letter a year or something. At some point, probably around 1992, Stu Nixon called me. I think I had said in some letter that I had a list of Garcia shows, and I think Stu was in touch with Blair, who had presumably confirmed that I was linear (in late 80s Deadhead world, this was a more crucial question than it might appear today).

Anyway, Stu Nixon called me and said they were planning to introduce a "GarciaBase" and maybe a "WeirBase" into the next edition of Deadbase, and asked me what I had to offer. I don't know what he was expecting, but I suspect he was pretty surprised when I told him I had a list of every Garcia show from 1981 onwards, a lot of them before that, and every Weir show from 1981 as well. Plus they were typed and mostly legible. Now, Stu's thing was Setlists, and I don't do setlists, so I couldn't help him there, but I gave him a baseline for Garcia and Weir from 1981 onwards, and thanks to McNally and some of my own work I had a pretty good taste of the Garcia 70s as well. Stu and his co-editors did a great job editing in all the setlists that were floating around from tapes and reviews and other sources, but the core list of Garcia dates was mine, including the format where the band iterations have their own paragraphs. All the mistakes were mine, too.

The Jerry Site built its original core list on the GarciaBase list from Deadbase IX, and replicated the process. This is why I'm so confident in rejecting or correcting TJS info when it says "Deadbase lists such and such" as the only source--that's me, and I can see through many of my own blind spots as more information comes to light. Conversely, if there's some information about bandmembers, like Gaylord Birch playing drums, its because I wrote it down when it was on the taped message of the Grateful Dead Hot Line, so I don't wonder about the provenance of the information.

LN jg1975-04-12.lom.late.sbd-gems.117832.flac1644

Legion of Mary
Masonic Temple
420 North Washington Avenue
Scranton, PA 18503
April 12, 1975, 11 p.m. late show (Saturday)

(7 tracks, 91:36)
--Late Show, 11 pm--
t01. Let It Rock [12:27] [0:16] % [0:04]
t02. tuning [0:38], La-La [12:44] (1) [0:38]
t03. tuning [0:20], Boogie On Reggae Woman [16:18] [0:12] % [0:47]
t04. Mississippi // Moon [8:#20] [0:08] % [0:46]
t05. tuning [0:18], Going, Going, Gone [14:08] [0:51]
t06. Beer Barrel Polka [0:11] -> Mystery Train [12:49] (2) [0:58]
--Encore (late Show)--
t07. crowd [0:03] % dead air [0:07], tuning [0:42], Tough Mama// [7:43#] % dead air [0:04]

Lineup:
Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
Merl Saunders - keyboards;
Martin Fierro - flute (t02, t05), saxophone, percussion;
John Kahn - el-bass;
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.

! TJS: http://www.thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1144. Ryan Shriver's Note: "This is probably the most confused Legion of Mary show in circulation. The setlist above is what I believe to be the correct setlist for the Late show." Shriver was a pioneer in many things, including trying to sort out the mess of the tapes with this date. The setlist on this tape matches the TJS setlist until the alleged encore.

! db: shnid 4484 ("MSR > 1R > P > D > ZA/2 > SHN"); shnid 31479 ("sbd > reel > dat > cdr > cdwave > flac > wav > flac"); shnid 117832 (this fileset). The notes for shnid 31479 say "Unlike the other source in circulation (shnid 4484), there is no splice in Lala and Mystery Train does not cut at the end". Neither of these earlier sources has the Tough Mama that appears on the present fileset, though as elaborated below I am not persuaded that that song is actually from this show.

! Seeder Notes: "Lineage unknown, some imperfections and dropouts remain but this seems different than the other sources.  I hope listeners sort out the extra song, which sounds to my ears to be the band coming back for an encore, but I could be wrong. Happy Holidays 2011. *gems*"
! Seeder: "Fresh transfer of Archived SBD DAT from Thrak; Mastering by Jamie Waddell; TDK DAT > Tascam DA20 > Lynx2 > Wavelab7; WeissSaracon for 16bit 44.1kHz FLAC8 SBE Free."

! R: Very nice Betty Board. I do not know the provenance of these April 1975 tapes. I suspect they were in the First Betty Batch, but I am not sure. I also suspect (not unrelated) that the lineage given on shnid 4484 is closer to correct than the alleged sbd reel > DAT label on the (later-created and -circulated) 31479.

! P: t01 LIR some nice fanning descents in the late 10-min mark, some bending and running around, brief flurries @ 11:25. Nice, Jer!

! t02 La-La, can hear Martin counting it off to start. Nice.

! R: t02 drop @ track 4:07

! P: t02 La-La: The cheek-shaking screaming in the 4-minute mark strikes me as consistent with the proposition I have articulated re: Martin Fierro, namely that he got more forward, more or less continuously so, over the course of his time playing with Jerry and Merl. We talk a lot, directly or indirectly, about the respective personal, musical/artistic, professional and other circumstances/goals/ambitions/hopes/dreams of Jerry, John Kahn, Merl, the OAITW guys and so forth. But we rarely talk about Martin. OAITW struggled and reasonably quickly failed to integrate [the circumstances/goals/ambitions/hopes/dreams of] Grisman, Rowan and Garcia. Corry has analyzed post-1972 JGMS as an equilibrium between Garcia, Kahn and Saunders. But Fierro has been largely overlooked. I'll try to elaborate and speculate at some point.

! t02 @ 13:50 (1) Merl vocal mic check "Testing. Testing"

! t03 BORW: Martin on guiro at start, but blowing saxophone right in the first verse.

! P: t04 Mississippi Moon: tempos are off at first, because Jerry wants this to be really, really, really, really slow. They're on the same page by the lyric, but the first half-minute involves everyone else successively (repeatedly) cutting their tempos inhalf to slow down with Jerry. It's amazing how sweet Garcia's voice still sounded at this point.

! R: t04 MM brief drop/clip @ 6:37.

! setlist: Playing Mississippi Moon and GGG back-to-back really anchors the languid pacing of this set.

! t06 (2) JG: "Thank you. We'll see y'all later on." House music comes up @ 13:28 or so. Stage announcements, crowd cries out in dismay. This is a show-closing announcement, so it's correctly placed regardless of the status of Tough Mama.

! setlist: t06 Mystery Train is intended as the last song of the set.

! setlist: t07 Tough Mama: This Bob Dylan composition was first released on the album Planet Waves. I have contended about Going, Going, Gone --also from Planet Waves-- that Garcia liked the sound of the song (as played on record by The Band) as much as the lyrics. Wild speculation, but Robbie Robertson's guitar work is just so striking, so obviously worthy of listening to (repeatedly) and playing with ... and Garcia picked these songs up off the album and put them in his side-band repertoire so quickly ... this song just has a nice feel to it.

! setlist: The Lossless Legs seeder (*gems*) opened the question of whether "Tough Mama" is indeed an encore of the late (11 pm) show held at the Masonic Freaking Temple at 420 North Washington Avenue in Scranton, Freaking, PA 18503 on Saturday night, April 12, 1975. Let's evaluate, quickly. Pro1: here it is, labeled that way. Pro2: the room and recording, to my useless ears, sound very similar. Con1: Tough Mama is not on other tapes. Con2: Ryan Shriver (TJS) went forensically through all of these April 1975 tapes years ago. He said of 4/12/75b "This is probably the most confused Legion of Mary show in circulation", and his findings did not include a Tough Mama encore for thos show. Con3: Unless they took like 10 minutes warming back up for the encore and *really* got the crowd settled down, I cannot believe the minute or so of tape leading up to Tough Mama captures a Legion of Mary encore in April 1975. Now Scranton ain't NYC, but there were probably at least a few Deadheads in the audience who had taken the time to see Legion of Mary on this present tour or, as something like Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders (JGMS), during the November 1974 tour. Passaic 112 mi., NYC 121 mi., Upper Darby 122: not next door, but not impossible. Travel aside, many local Deadheads would be familiar with the Garcia-Saunders-Kahn-Vitt Live at the Keystone album from Fantasy. Things are way too sedate to believe that it's a late night encore of a tune from Dylan's Planet Waves. The Grateful Dead were "retired", or whatever they called it. The crowd sounds pretty rabid in the time after Mystery Train (t06), when the show appears to be ending. Folks are pretty worked up, and now they're really calm and quiet-like for the encore?. Long story short, the quietude of the crowd before Tough Mama (i.e., at the start of t07) seems incompatible with this being an encore for this show, at this time of night. It just doesn't ring true. In sum, while we are just dealing with a 9 minute tape fragment, I feel reasonably confident that this is not the encore for the 11pm LOM show on 4/12/75 in Scranton, PA.

! R: t07 Tough Mama cuts out.

LN jg1974-11-06.jgms.early.aud-moore.117248.flac2496

Garcia’s first professional tour as a named headliner outside the Grateful Dead comprised twenty-one performances over the thirteen days between Tuesday, November 5, 1974 and Sunday, November 17, 1974, inclusive. The first three nights of the tour unfolded at the Bottom Line, 15 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012, two shows per night. So much to process, I can only do the raw “listening notes” dump without much analysis.

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders

Bottom Line

15 West 4th Street

New York, NY 10012

November 6, 1974 (Wednesday), early show

flac2496 of Jerry Moore audience recording

--Complete Early Show (8 tracks, 97:01)--

t01. crowd and tuning [2:08]

t02. Think [9:04] (1) [2:33]

t03. Valdez In The Country [12:58] (2, 3) [2:38]

t04. (4) I Second That Emotion [16:45] [0:22] % [2:49]

t05. You Can Leave Your Hat On [13:12] (5) [1:50]

t06. Someday Baby [9:32] (6) [1:02]

t07. Mystery Train [13:00] [0:15] % (7) [1:16]

t08. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [6:55] (8) [0:39]

Lineup:

Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;

Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;

Martin Fierro - saxophone;

John Kahn - el-bass;

Paul Humphrey - 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.

! TJS: http://www.thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1021

! db: shnid 6613 (uncertain provenance of same master tape); shnid 16807 (Moore's Masters 2003 seed of same master tape).

! R: "Recorded by Jerry Moore; 2x AKG D1000E > Sony TC-152; Transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nakamichi Dragon > Korg MR-1000 (DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo]) Korg AudioGate > WAV [24/96] > Adobe Audition 3.0 > FLAC encoding. Speed/pitch Correction by Joe B. Jones. Thanks to Rob Berger for supplying the master cassettes."

! R: Provenance. Perfect provenance for a quite wonderfully wonderful recording. Quite simply, Jerry Moore was doing it right out on the East Coast. Garcia / GD fans owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Jerry and everyone whose scene he shared. Thanks to all involved in getting this into my ears. Sard Thee Well, JM.

! R: quality: This is quite an excellent audience recording.

! Historical: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders undertook their first out-of-state tour in November 1974. Opened with three nights, six shows at the Bottom Line in NYC. This is third show (second night, early show). NB Paul Humphrey drumming.

! t02 (1) crowd requests for Positively 4th Street, Expressway. 4th Street would be well-known in all kinds of ways to the crowd, not least Dylan and the fact that it appeared on the Live at the Keystone album (Fantasy F-79002, 1973). As the crowd member reminds Jerry @ 10:27, "You're playin' on 4th Street." Expressway To Your Heart [Allan | Scofield] is a little less obvious, though of course it did appear on Merl Saunders's Fire Up (Fantasy 9421, 1973). My point is that this is your typical smart (or at least knowledgeable), engaged NYC audience.

! P: t03 VITC comes out at a breakneck pace, much faster than it was played on other occasions. Merl's lead in the 8-minute mark is very nice. The high-hatting @ 8:26 is something that I think might distinguish Humphrey from any other contemporary drummers, as we try to sort out who's who on any given night. All of these guys were good --they *always* had good drummers-- but I love Humphrey's style.

! t03 @ 13:20-13:30 (2) taper talk: "turn 'em over" "90" ... Jerry and someone else (maybe Harvey Lubar?) are discussing the tape flip.

! t03 R: maybe a tape flip @ 14:13?

! t03 @ 15:10 (3) crowd guy, loud: "Jerry, is it really ovah?" @ 15:19 Jerry: "It's always been over, man."

! t04 (4) crowd member identifies "I Second That Emotion" right in time, and everyone gets a little extra jolt, band included.

! P: t05 You Can Leave Your Hat On: Garcia is playing powerfully and inventively in the 9-10 min range. This is some of the better deep jamming to have occurred in this song by this band. I also like the relatively brisk pace at which they play the song here. It took them awhile to figure tempos on the Merl lead vocals.

! t05 (5) notice the rambunctious crowd. Calling songs, all that. I hear calls for "Bertha" and "Like A Road", inter alia. “Like A Road” request suggests to me that this guy has spent some time with Garcia-Saunders-Kahn-Vitt Live at the Keystone.

! t06 (6) crowd requests: The Harder They Come, Turn On The Bright Lights (from the second Garcia album, colloquially known as Compliments [Round RX 102, released June 1974]).

! business: They certainly weren’t “touring behind” any particular record, except in Garcia’s rather circuitous way. But someone (not necessarily excluding Garcia, but presumably including Ron Rakow), somewhere, at some point, or several of each of these, conceived of this tour as a way to sell records. Notes (5) and (6) above remind me note only that Garcia had a stake in Round Records, but of Corry’s important recent work on the economics of the Garcia-Saunders-Kahn relationship.

! P: t07 Mystery Train the drummer messes up the tempo at the start, so Jerry has to play his 'lectric guitar for a few measures to get them set up for the verse, which comes in around 52 seconds in. It’s a nice minute of playing as they try to get things together.

! t07 (7) tune requests: Like a Road.

! t08 (8) JG: "Thank you. See ya all later."

jgmf.blogspot.com

LN jg1983-05-21.jgb.all.aud-unk.xxxxxx.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
Rainbow Music Hall
6358 East Evans Avenue
Denver, CO 80222
May 21, 1983 (Saturday)

--Set I (6 tracks, 52:29)--
s1t01. [0:17] Sugaree [10:54] [0:07]
s1t02. [0:01] % [0:10] I Second That Emotion [9:25] [0:13]
s1t03. [0:02] % [0:12] Simple Twist Of Fate [11:19] [0:10] %
s1t04. [0:05] That's What Love Will Make You Do [9:07] [0:13] %
s1t05. /Gomorrah [#5:06] ->
s1t06. Run For The Roses [4:52] (1) [0:10] %

--Set II (4 tracks, 43:19)--
s2t01. [0:14] I'll Take A Melody [12:58] [0:06] %
s2t02. [0:09] Tore Up Over You [9:37] [0:08] % [0:03]
s2t03. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:49] ->
s2t04. Tangled Up In Blue [11:05] (2) [0:07] %

Lineup:
Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
John Kahn - el-bass;
Melvin Seals - keyboards;
Greg Errico - drums;
Jaclyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
DeeDee Dickerson - 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.
! TJS: http://www.thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1693
! R: Field Recordist: unknown; field recording equipment: 2x microphones embedded in the bandana around the brim of a cowboy hat > unknown cassette deck, unknown media; field recording location: unknown, presumed pretty close up; tape source: Ken MacKenzie 1st gen cassettes, acquired from taper ca. one year after the concert; subsequent genealogy: unknown cass/1 transfer to FLAC.
! R: Tape Story, from Ken MacKenzie: "The actual taper’s name is lost to history – I met him in line the morning of the show, sat next to him inside, listened to the tapes with him and his friend in their van after the show, groveled a bit, and received the tapes in the mail, like a year later.  The only other thing I remember about him was that his friend was wheelchair-bound and the wheelchair was their means of sneaking the recording equipment into the hall."
! db: shnid 91115 (1st gen cassette from Craig Johnson master); shnid 96908 (Bill Moran master).
! R: This master is distinct from and superior to both the Johnson and Moran tapes. Some of the superior (to my ears) sound may have to do with higher levels, possible speed differences, the brightness that comes from improperly decoded Dolby, or what have you. But this is fundamentally a better (and quite good) tape, seemingly made from a nice upfront spot. The Johnson master sounds more distant. This taper and Bill Moran were very close to each other. For example, in the run-up to I Second That Emotion (s2t02), you can hear the same exclamations, but from different locations. On the Moran tape, s1t01 @ 11:24, you can hear a guy say "All right" from a few feet away. On this tape, at the start of s2t02 (as tracked), you can hear the same guy, but he's speaking more or less right into the microphone. In brief, this is the best-sounding tape of the three.
! P: s1t01 Sugaree @ 7:45 some nice raunchy, metallic shredding by Mr. Garcia.
! P: s1t03 STOF: The bass solo in the 6-7 min mark is pretty good, and sounds really clear on this tape.
! P: s1t04 TWLWMYD is very punchy.
! R: s1t05 Gomorrah clips in.
! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a few minutes. We'll be back in a little while."
! personnel: Greg Errico is an animal.
! P: s2t01 nice fanning flourish around 12:05.
! d2t04 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya around."
! Observations: This is a really punchy show, as most are from this period (see 5/31/83 and 6/1/83 for the hottest examples). Garcia's voice is in decline, but not terrible; his guitar playing is absolutely torrid. Greg Errico is a monster, really a big hitter. Everyone else seems pretty well on their game. This second set is quite short for the period - four songs, a paltry 43 minutes. I don't know if they started late and were up on time, or whether this is all they had, but it would have been disappointing.