Sunday, September 28, 2014

Contradictions Are Fun

The human spirit ... is the favorite home of contradictions, indeed they do not seem to prosper or even find viable living conditions outside it.
José Saramago, All the Names, p. 228
Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders were advertised to play the Matrix at 3138 Fillmore on Wednesday, March 3, 1971. But as far as I know, GD played a benefit that night at the corner of Van Ness and Market.

Indeed, the same-day SFC listed both, which is a neat reminder that maybe whoever was taking the calls for the "Something Else" listings under Wasserman's byline might not have known that Garcia was in the Grateful Dead. Occam's Razor suggests just a basic mistake, but the former idea tickles me more.

I wonder if Merl played the Matrix anyway? He had played there a week and a half prior with Carlos Santana, but Carlos was already in Ghana for the big gig in Africa. I wouldn't have minded hearing what Saunders-Kahn-Vitt would do as an organ trio, had I been down in the Marina this particular midweek. But there are lots of other interesting possibilities, which I invite you to speculate about in comments.

1 comment:

  1. The way the Chronicle worked in those days, various underlings would compile the listings for the major columnists. I know that Ralph Gleason's daughter(s) played a part in compiling his listings, though I don't know if they were then run through a Chronicle copy desk, too. Still, as you point out, it was probably an assistant of John Wasserman who would have made a mistake in the listings, not Wasserman.

    Of course, by 1972, I think Wasserman's assistant was one Joel Selvin, and he wouldn't have made that mistake, so it's hard to say. Maybe Selvin wasn't yet employed by the Chron or maybe it wasnt his deay. In any case, Wasserman may have barely glanced at the listings.

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