The Roving Gambler: JGJK, Orpheum Theatre, Boston, February 2, 1986

Nine days after kicking off a lucrative little acoustic tour with the D.A.R. in D.C., Garcia and Kahn closed things off at the Orpheum in Boston. The main point of interest is "The Roving Gambler", which makes its only known public appearance in the GOTS era (what some might call the Grateful Dead era) of Garcia's career. It's well-rehearsed and peppy. I don't know what inspired it - maybe Bill Walton, who attended, requested it. No idea why they dropped it, either.

LN jg1986-02-02.jgjk.all.aud-koucky.79935.flac1644

Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
Orpheum Theatre
1 Hamilton Place
Boston, MA 02108
February 2, 1986 (Sunday)
Koucky MAC flac1644 shnid-79935

--set I (6 tracks, 33:42)--
s1t01. [0:38] It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry [6:47] ->
s1t02. Friend Of The Devil [6:27] (1) [0:07]
s1t03. I've Been All Around This World [5:13] (2) [0:06]
s1t04. The Roving Gambler [2:57] ->
s1t05. Valerie [6:37] ->
s1t06. Run For The Roses [4:29] (3) [0:21]

--set II + encore (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 50:25)--
--set II (7 tracks, 6 tunes, 42:36)--
s2t01. tuning [0:28]
s2t02. Deep Elem Blues
s2t03. Spike Driver Blues
s2t04. Jack-A-Roe
s2t05. Gomorrah
s2t06. Bird Song
s2t07. Ripple
--encore (1 track, 7:49)--
s2t08. Goodnight Irene

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - ac-g, vocals;
! Lineup: John Kahn - ac-bass.

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/19860202-01

! JGC: jerrygarcia.com/show/1986-02-02

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/15881 (unk aud, shn); http://etreedb.org/shn/79935 (this fileset).

! metadata: the text file called these early and late shows, but the review in the Boston Globe clearly identifies two "40-minute sets that ranged from fairly good to fairly terrible" (Morse 1986).

! review: Morse 1986. "Garcia was all over the place, hitting a few highs... but some pronounced Jerry-atric lows that not even the presence of that ultimate Dead Head, the Celtics' Bill Walton, could prevent. And as a flatpicker, Garcia was no threat to Doc Watson, though his soul and improvisational ability occasionally saved the program. Still, one expected more from the Captain Trips of the '60s than this." Steve Morse had been covering the Dead steadily for a long time, and this is pretty significant criticism. "Jerry-atric lows" is a well-turned phrase.

! R: field recordist: Bill Koucky

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sennheiser 441 > D5 (Steve Adelman's gear)

! R: field recording location: orchestra

! R: field recording media: Maxell MX-S

! R: transfer: playback on Nakamichi DR2 > Presonus Firebox > firewire/PC XP Pro > Wavelab 5.0, recorded as 24 bit/96 KHz PCM WAV > Waves L3 Multimaxmizer (threshold -3.5, ceiling -0.1, type I dither, ultra shaping) > 16 bit/44.1 KHz PCM WAV > CDWAV 1.9 > FLAC (level ). Transfer / mastering by C. Ladner.

! R: solid tape.

! R: s1t02 FOTD burp of some kind around 1:20.

! s1t02 (1) JG: "Thank you."

! s1t03 (2) JG: "Thank you."

! song: "The Roving Gambler" (s1t04): played in early '60s. I like Ramblin' Jack version essential RJE. This is a #singleton inside the GOTS empirical frame. Clearly rehearsed it, but played it this one night only.

! P: s1t04 Roving Gambler is a little cursory, but it's punchy.

! P: s1t06 RFTR sounds very lucid, with nice energy.

! s1t06 (3) JG: "We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be back pretty soon." Sounds like a set break announcement, not a show-closer. update: indeed, Morse confirms single two-set show.