Thursday, February 13, 2014

JGB 9/15/76 S.S. Duchess, New York City Harbor, New York, NY

The relationship between the Grateful Dead and the Hells Angels has been pretty well discussed, though I am sure there's tons more to say. That's for others to do.

Here I'll just note that Garcia also worked with the Angels outside the GD framework. I have made a few posts with Hells Angels content. I don't have time to work it all out, but I am not going to let that stop me saying something, anyway.

In 2009 I briefly discussed the Hells Angels benefit at the Anderson Theatre in NYC on 11/23/70, NRPS-GD, mostly to update the setlists.  In 2011 I mentioned 3/25/72 at the Academy of Music in NYC, including this great picture of Bo Diddley and the Dead (billed as Jerry Garcia and Friends), at least parts of which were released as Dick's Pick's 30 (2003).

Jerry Garcia and Friends, 3/25/72, Academy of Music, NYC; photo by Chuck Pulin, published in Carr, Patrick. 1972b. One Full Week Running With: Grateful Dead. Grapevine (Toronto) no. 14, May 17, 1972, p. 15.

At some point I'll write up 9/5/73, on the S.S. Bay Belle, Jerry and Merl's first east coast performance.

Right now, I just want to pick my jaw up off the floor at the video that has just hit the streets: The Jerry Garcia Band aboard the S.S. Duchess, New York City Harbor, 9/15/76 [Jerrybase] in high quality color video:
Amazing. Thanks to all involved in getting this to where a schmoe like me can see it, from pretty much anywhere pretty much at any time. Like so much other great stuff, this was seeded by "Voodoonola". A tip o' the cap to you, sir or madam.

(Also of note: video of JGB playing "Not Fade Away" on the Jersey Shore, 7/9/77, also shared to Youtube. I have noted an audio listen to that, as well as the night before at the Calderone Concert Hall. I can't wait to watch it.)

This show offers awesome triangulation possibilities.

There are posters (IM's amazing poster site had one, but is no longer updated past 1976).

There are live action stills and other eye candy:


Pirates' Ball 9/15/76 photo spread, photogs Craig Silverman, Patricia, Ron Gaiella, Yipster Times, October 1976, p. 24.


Naturally enough, this being the Garciaverse, there's also tape. The legendary Ohr Weinberg had a cassette copy of unknown provenance, which Anne Cohen digitized and shared (shnid-86326).

Finally, there's also a great review:

! review: Moore, Jerry. 1976c. 6 Hours Before the Mast. Relix 3, 6 (October): 14-16. [pdf].

Moore tells us all kinds of neat stuff. This was a Hells Angels party, but adventurous public could join in at $15 a head. That would explain the posters. 2,000, including a couple hundred Angels, took part. By the way, this is the same vessel they cruised in 1973, just rechristened, and it reflects a second triple-crossing of the Garciaverse, Bo Diddley and the Angels (after the aforementioned 3/25/72, and penultimate to the Sandy Alexander Benefit crossing of 6/25/82).

More Jerry color (Sard Thee Well!):
In all that freaky crowd, the Angels were the freakiest. The first thing that hit you was that most of them were pretty big, inspiring awe by size alone. Their garb ran mostly to oily denim and leather, the kind of clothing that makes your nose wish it were in some other state. Naturally, they all wore their colors. Tattoos seem to be almost as popular among the Angels as motorcycles. Scars, missing limbs, and prosthetic devices (hooks and such) were very much in evidence, as were weapons ranging from knives to brass knuckles and chains. One Angel in particular, I wish I had a picture of. He was well over 6 feet tall, and must have weighed over 300 pounds. He was wearing only a·vest over his oily denims, and, wherever he went, his stomach preceded him by feet. He was so festooned with chains that he clanked with every step he took. He was so greasy and ugly that he was beautiful, a veritable human tank.
Moore describes four decks set up with nitrous tanks (free if you could fight your way in), packed bars and food services, speakers everywhere, and TV monitors "with a phenomenal color picture of the performance" (video - check!).

Moore narrates a few things which are confirmed by the video. (Indeed, one wonders if ol' JM didn't have a copy of the video? He always did have a remarkably good memory for stuff, though.) He notes "a rather stoned Angel stumbled onto the stage during the Garcia Band set, seizing control of a microphone long enough to drawl out 'Hey folks some cookin' music. Get it on with that boogie beat there,'" which we do get on the video. He also says, cheekily, "Jerry has a funny little trick of rotating his ass in circles to cue" the amazing, upbeat gospel "Mighty High" [Allan | deaddisc | Jerrybase], and there Garcia is on video, shaking his tail.

The order was an apparently forgettable Bay Area band called Cheyenne, Elephant's Memory, then Bo Diddley backed by EM, then, from 11:55-2:05 or so (actually 2:07 am), the Garcia Band. Jerry mentions a hot "Midnight Moonlight", which is not on the video. I need to revisit that.

I'll just finish with a few quick thoughts on what I got out of watching this incredible video, bullet-style.
  • John Kahn mostly can't be heard, which would be familiar from later years. This is basically intended as a criticism.
  • Nice to see Ronnie Tutt banging the start of "Mighty High"
  • Nice to see Donna Jean singing the beautiful stuff she was doing this period behind "Stir It Up", her groove on "After Midnight", and her power on "Mighty High".
  • "Mighty High" (Crawford, Downing) was, per Allan, "originally recorded by The Mighty Clouds of Joy and later covered by Gloria Gaynor". JGB only played it in 1976, it is my favorite song of 1976, and this video is breathtaking. It cuts out only a minute or two in, and as much as I want to lament the Cut Of Death, I must celebrate the couple of minutes that we do get. It's not present on Ohr's old tape, and here we get to listen and watch. Wonderful, amazing, glorious stuff. Thank you, Jay-zuss!

18 comments:

  1. Interesting (to me, at least) that the Yipster Times photo spread includes a pic of Keith singing. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of Keith singing before...

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  2. agh, the video is now private! I got to watch a little bit, but was going to back to watch some more.

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  3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGkFhSOPw4 Here it is!

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  4. An upgrade is here
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYZ2hOWWyv8

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  5. video updated (more than a year later) - thanks!

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  6. Ah New York in 1976. Basically nothing left of it, culture most of all.

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  7. I remember. And I've put to print parts of this rememberance prior to seeing this account in this blog. Picked up a good friend from Newark Airport as he flew in from New Mexico where he was framing a retirement home for a friend's parents. Don't recall the ducat being $15 which was extremely steep for the time - but it was for Jerry, and a boat ride, Manhattan, and the Angels. It was going to be a party. We parked my Orange Pumpkin (a 74' Orange Volvo) in St. George S.I. and took the ferry over. Fortuitous serendipity that I found a script bottle (dropped by another show goer??) that had nice chunks of black hash in it. As the ferry begins it's approach to Manhattan Island, that September sun is illuminating what are probably 50? or was it 75 chromed Harleys parked in a row along the Battery.

    Fast forward to show...the set up, just as Jerry Moore described, though I only remember the nitrous tanks being up on the top deck - and while I wasn't champing at the bit for a balloon, when I was up there, it was impossible to get anywhere near there with all the chicks clamoring for it. Loved the video screens (probably the first time we're seeing them on the other floors). What a party. Couples fucking in the life boats (that were davited away from the deck). The occasional empty tank being 'winged' off the top deck to the cries of 'Man Overboard!!!!'. An Angel falling on his ass from the wet floor (right in front of us) only to get up, dust himself off, with a hearty laugh (no menace as some have reported elsewhere). An ease of just walking up to the front of that impromptu stage (what stage????), Angels notwithstanding.

    The best part??? Having the Dutchess turn around (somewhere far up the Hudson - I'm really curious where we did this turnabout - Croton? Haverstraw? a small bridge I recall was nearby prior to this turn), but the band was in the middle of 'After Midnight' (technically it was, yuppers, well beyond midnight), that the boat turned into it's own wake. That's when the fun began. It seemed like the crowd was able to attenuate that 'rocking' by shaking, jumping or cosmically 'willing' the Dutchess into rocking port to starboard and vice versa for what seemed like the longest time (straight out of a Popeye movie). All the while Jerry singing, 'After Midnite, We're going to let if all hang out' (check out the audio of this recently released video - listen to the crowd giddly getting off).

    There are other things that I'd love to bring here. I've been long winded enough. Just love that I was here that night. Such a night.

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    1. Oh man, that is fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your recollections! Sounds like a great party.

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  8. I was there. The tanks *were* on the top deck. Would like to see vid of Bo Diddly. Jerry played with him for a bit. The Angels were piled up on top of each other near the tanks... Jerry, as you can see in the vid played tortuously S L O W... Bo Diddly played to the rocking of the boat... which had no stabilizers, so it rocked from side-to-side. Quite a thing that. The whole boat was wired for VIDEO, which in 1976 was BIG DEAL!! Very peaceful and calm event, btw. Been hoping to find this video for decades! Now all we need the the Bo Diddly part - ZERO recollection of Elephants Memory (no John Lennon, regardless), if they were there, they must have sucked. :(

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  9. Jerry played with Bo Diddley? Whoa. Any more specific recollection than that? Thanks for sharing!

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  10. I was at (on) this show. It was kinda billed as Jerry's birthday party. Elephants Memory was supposed to open. They either didn't show up for their part in the show or that was just another one of the unusually high dosage of high strangeness and ugly rumors surrounding this event. Also around that era, John & Yoko Ono Lennon had become known to appear together, spontaneously and previously unannounced on the stages of local NYC Elephants Memory shows. So then you go ahead and bake all of that extra Fake News up and then you try and stuff all of that Hype into a willing venue.
    See where I may be kinda going with all this?
    In this case the "willing venue" turned out to be that inadequate boat. It was in deplorable condition. Apparently for decades it had acted as a sparsely manned "Lightship", anonymously anchored somewhere in the Long Island Sound shipping routes located just outside the entrance to New York City's harbor. At some point during it's long, inglorious career, it was struck by a large shipping container vessel which basically ran directly over her so fast and soaked it with seawater so swiftly that she immediately sank to the bottom, doing so relatively intact, apparently.
    Nobody died.
    I think.
    Her leaking, rusting and collapsing carcass had quickly become classified by the United States Coast Guard as "A Hazard To Navigation" and as such she would have to be dealt with accordingly. Either to be detonated down to the level of the sea's floor OR be raised back up to sea level and then be sold for scrap.
    Scrap Won.
    Finally back at her berth on Lower East Side , just a few blocks away from the Hell's Angels NYC Headquarters building, apparently. The next twist in her history is ummmm, vauge but within a year she'd been slightly "refurbished", made to float again and slipped into the waters surrounding all five boroughs of NYC. In the 1970's. You ever see the "French Connection" movie? Well I guess our born-again angel, the Duchess, had found herself plodding about the backwaters of those surrounding waters. Making all kinds of quick trips back and forth to so many secret harbors.
    By the time we got to sail on her rotten carcass the one bathroom onboard didn't function as such, it immediately converted into a heroin and speed shooting gallery with a distant looking Hells Angel draped across the door that they had to pass. Hells Angels were all over the place and none of them had paid to get in and neither did their girlfriends and all of their friends too. This rusting scow had reached its Legal Occupancy Limit long before any of us paying, ticket-holding customers were permitted onboard just 6 or 7 minutes before our scheduled departure time. The AngelPD were busy “working" by running “security". This meant them getting so out of hand that people were fukin scared shitless. You had no place to run from their sudden outbursts of violence. I just tried to make myself as small and imperceptible as possible while tripping my brains out. The vibe was definitely not a psychedelic one though, it was NYC China White heroin, which had been killing junkies up and down Manhattan that whole year.
    I kept wondering what was splashing into the Hudson River shortly after we embarked North towards the George Washington bridge. Surely there can't already be that much trash? Finally I realized that it was fellow concert goers that had somehow run afoul of the HA's.
    That didn't take much.
    Any perceived stare, not moving out of their way fast enough or maybe they simply didn't like your look and you were hustled topside and thrown overboard. Honestly, I couldn't wait for this show to end and to be safely back at the dock

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    1. The band , Cheyenne, which was a local NYC band opened the show.
      Last minute invite to play from one of the roadies who ask Cheyenne if they'd play at a concert that featured Jerry Garcia band.
      Of course who wouldn't jump at that opportunity.
      Cheyenne band was never noted on poster as it was like I said last minute.
      , Elephants Memory Did play as did BoDiddly who was joined by the Conga player from opening band, Cheyenne.
      Jerry Garcia don't think played with Bo that night.
      Keith & Donna were also in the mix
      There's a post or so that mentions a band who wasn't on the bill which was Cheyenne, They were a good starter .
      Other than that. Faded memories.

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    2. Yeah, we list Cheyenne at Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19760915-02

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  11. Goodness, sounds harrowing. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Hey, thanks for the article post. Will read on…
    Really enjoyed this blog.Thanks Again.

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  13. I was at this show. Hung out waiting and partying with my friends in Battery Park. Suddenly, over the noise and chaos of rush hour lower Manhattan, you could hear the growing roar of the Angels caravan of bikes. Handing over my ticket I was told "Ya better keep your ticket stub or else you get a free swimming lesson!" I spent most of the cruise on the top deck and did manage to procure some nitrous balloons. I heard an interview a long time ago where Garcia talked about a film crew running around Manhattan filming the boat during the show. Anyone else ever hear that one?

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  14. So cool! Thanks for sharing.

    I think them running around filming refers to the 9/5/73 event on the same vessel, albeit when it was the SS Bay Belle. I vaguely recall the interview you mention of him talking about it, but only vaguely.

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  15. I, too, was on the boat. We dropped a lot of acid in the West Village and passed around a bottle of whiskey on the subway ride to the Battery. The choppers mentioned above were there and HA were taking the tickets. Later, I a crew member
    said that a lot of the crew were beaten up before they let paying customers on as the Angels didn't want to beat up the musicians as they had already been paid. Right after boarding, I was blindsided in the face for no apparent reason, and, in a stunned state, found a friend and went to the bathroom where we got the blood on my face cleaned of. Not feeling much pain, though. The stage was on lowest deck and it was solid angels so we mostly hung on the upper decks. They had the new at the time Advent video system with large monitors - awesome for the time. The sound was very good, piles of PA speakers on each deck. The nitrous tanks (sponsored by High Times magazine) on the top deck were the only place that you didn't have to watch your back since an unconscious Angel was a safe Angel. Bar areas were pretty scary, bartenders were all Mommas.
    After the initial excitement, it was a wonderful time, watching NYC glide by while listening to Jerry. I do remember Keith was positioned at side of stage and he kept nervously looking over his shoulder..

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