Thursday, December 10, 2009

JGB on the Chuckie V

JGB, USS Carl Vinson (SF Bay), March 6, 1987

On March 6, 1987, the Jerry Garcia Band played a gig at probably its most unexpected location, aboard the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, which was apparently harbored in Alameda.

There's a tape of it, available in a basic version and a remastered version, done by sirmick.

etree user jg714829 comments on the basic version that
jerry had to play this show as part of his comunity [sic] service for getting arrested the year before in golden gate park. 

etree user STICKMON63 relates the following:
I have a friend of a friend, named Matt who was the photographer for "The Eagle" the ship's newspaper who took some photos of this show and had a hand held tape recorder that he had recorded the show with. He had sent us a copy of the tape but the quality was terrible. He said there were only 20-30 in attendance, mostly officers who were required to be there and most looked like they were not having a very good time. Matt said he had a blast & danced his ass off. He sent us a copy of "The Eagle" dated 3/10/87 that had a short interview w/Jerry and a couple of photos from the show......this show was supposedly part of Jerry's "comunity service work" as a result of his drug bust in SF back in 85
update: this contains at least two errors: 1) there were thousands in attendance, and 2) this had nothing to do with post-Bust community service, which Jerry undertook on 8/27/85.

I have just put in a Navy FOIA request and hope to learn more. I'll update if/when I hear anything, but in the meantime I am all ears for any info that might come up!

9 comments:

  1. I'm fairly certain I've seen one of the photos, Jerry and John in daylight with a steady wind blowing him back. The USS Carl Vinson was based at Alameda Naval Air Station (NAS) at the time.

    If you look at page 18 of the Official "1987 Command History" for the USS Carl Vinson (accessible as a PDF from footnote 4 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Carl_Vinson_%28CVN-70%29), there is a list of "1987 Distinguished Visitors and Media Visits In Port."

    For 6 Mar 87 it says "Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead, on board to give a daylight concert in Hangar Two." Well, close enough.

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  2. I found the official Navy history, at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c3/carl_vinson.htm. It says

    "6 Mar 1987: Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead played to a crowd packing Hanger Bay 2."

    I'm glad you put in an FOIA request, because this sounds distinctly like a military coverup! On the other hand, given the way the military operates, I hope Steve Parish submitted a bill for $147,000 for "expenses."

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  3. Very cool, Corry, thanks! I hope you don't less of me for putting in "placeholder" posts without always being able to research fully. My plan is to post a follow-up once I learn more about the FOIA request.

    And LOL re: the expenses. Guess they needed a hammer or something.

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  4. You want a photo of Jerry on the USS Carl Vinson ?

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  5. Yes, please. I will post it, if that's OK with you.

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  6. http://picpaste.com/pics/100MEDIA_IMAG2468_1_1_-6coBUtSm.1402649870.jpg

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  7. I have read that Mickey Hart played drums for this gig.

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  8. I was on the Carl Vinson and saw the show. Someone is correct their was 1,000 of people watched the show. When we are in port we have around 4,000 men on ship. (Out to sea we have 6000 people because we pick up air dals up in Seattle.) So I would say almost half attended the show. No one else could because inless you was a visitor. Unfortunately I didn't know and care for the band like I do today I was only 20 and just didn't love them like I do now. I even was asked to sit back stage due to being a electrician and our power center (load center) came out at 4160 volts so we built a transformer so they could power their equipment. It was already built because of previous USO tours. I sit back stage out to sea when Kansas Doobie brothers came out. Also Lyrette Lynn did usi tour. Anyways I watched two songs from them and left to go enjoy my day. Lol I could kick myself now. I was pretty sure the rest of the band was not original band members I believe they were just regular musicians but I could be wrong

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