The Romanesque Church Design Was Based On The Roman Basilica: Discuss (JGB at the Knick in Albany, November 3, 1993)

I just marveled at the almost 90-minute second set offered up on 12/22/90, and got to wondering about post-coma others that might match or beat it in duration. I recalled some long sets on the 11/93 tour, recalled that I had unposted (because not very informative) notes on 11/3/93 (my 23rd birthday, though I was somewhere in the vicinity of Monterey, CA), and checked them out.

Indeed, 89+ for this set II. We are envisioning being able to analyze real data on set and show durations via Jerrybase at some point in the not-too-distant future.

The show is maybe below average for the tour overall, with a few guitar highlights that I mention in the notes below. The real interest lies in the impromptu version of  Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train", which Garcia plays with an acoustic sound as a 'quippie fixes a string on John's bass. First, he lets the crowd know what's going on: "We've gotta change a string on the bass. You can all talk amongst yourselves." This latter formulation absolutely, positively echoes Mike Myers' contemporaneous SNL skit "Coffee Talk" - I use it myself when equipment challenges interrupt my teaching. I may also give a topic, as Linda Richmond does in the skit. In my case, it's something on-topic like "Vladimir Putin: strong man, or the strongest man? Discuss." In hers, the title gives a sample subject.

Then, without further ado, Our Man in Albany starts picking the tune. Melvin Seals accompanies extremely well on piano, so well that it makes me wonder how he knew the tune, since it is not associated with the "Band Electric". Maybe they had worked it up? I certainly would have liked to hear it more. Anyway, Melvin's great, and he weaves in a few bars of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" for good measure, last heard (by me) in the JGB being done by the great (if very drunk) Nicky Hopkins on 12/31/75. Jerry gets the verses mostly sung, if a little imperfectly (see my rough transcription just below), and this whole thing is just a stone cold fucking delight.

1- (chorus) Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Please don't tell what train I'm on | They won't know what route I'm gone
2- When I'm died oh bury me deep | Down at the end ol' Chestnut Street | Place the stones at my head and feet | Tell 'em all I'm gone to sleep
3- (chorus) Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Please don't tell what train I'm on | They won't know what route I'm gone
4- When I'm dead and in my grave | No more good times here I'll crave | [mumblyverse] | Tell 'em all I'm gone to sleep
5- When I'm died oh bury me deep | Down at the end ol' Chestnut Street | So I can hear ol' number nine | as she goes rollin' by
6- (chorus)

Here are Elizabeth Cotten's lyrics:

Source: Cohen and Seeger 1964, 136

At 4:30, John drops a note of electric bass to signal that he's ready to play, one of his few contributions on this night, in the era when he mostly fluttered around pretty inaudibly.

The song is one of my favorites, a perfect choice for Garcia and Grisman's then-recently-released masterpiece Not For Kids Only (Acoustic Disc ACD-9, 1993), and something Garcia had played since the pre-Dead period (see Jerrybase for the overview). In the GD era (and so the GOTS era) it showed up in the studio around 1975-1976. Jerry played it live 4/10/82a, his only "modern" solo acoustic date, but it was pretty cursory, just two and a half minutes without a good handle on the words, before running into the Cotten tune he did a lot more and in a range of contexts, "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie". After this impromptu version eleven years later, it came up twice more in the 1994 Garcia-Grisman live sets before ol' Jer landed at the end ol' Chestnut Street himself.

For more on this tour, the Garcia Band's last out east, see also "The Reedman vs. the Gunslinger at at the Garden" (11/12/93), "Good Clean Fun" (11/14/93), the sweet little BS passes for this "Slack Tour" featuring Church of the SubGenius prophet J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, and take a gander at the crew tourbook.

Listening Notes below the fold.

Jerry Garcia Band
Knickerbocker Arena
51 S. Pearl Street
Albany, NY 12207
November 3, 1993 (Wednesday)
Brennecke flac1648 shnid-84867

--set I (8 tracks, 61:59)--
s1t01. //How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You [#1:23] [0:10]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:09] (1) [2:13]
s1t03. Freight Train [5:25] [0:18]
s1t04. I Shall Be Released [9:14] [0:23]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [5:42] [0:13]
s1t06. Dear Prudence [11:43] [0:18]
s1t07. My Sisters And Brothers [4:03] ->
s1t08. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love [12:30] (2) [0:16]

--set II (8 tracks, 89:09)--
s2t01. tuning [3:37]
s2t02. Shining Star [24:41] [0:06]
s2t03. The Maker [10:10] [0:11]
s2t04. Money Honey [8:26] [0:10]
s2t05. Russian Lullaby [10:46] [0:03]
s2t06. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [14:45] [0:10]
s2t07. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:31] ->
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight [5:54] (3) [0:39]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals.

JGMF:

! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [x:xx] = 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/19931103-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/84867 (this fileset) + lots more

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/H9Kg7

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/03/knickerbocker-arena-51-s-pearl-street.html

! band: JGB #21b (THE JERRY GARCIA BAND): http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! R: field recordist: Clay Brennecke

! R: field recording gear: 2x Schoeps MK4 > Custom Oade Pre Amp > Panasonic SV-255 MAD

! R: field recording location: FOB, floor section 2, Row 13, Seats 8 & 10

! R: transfer: by John Herold, Master SV-255 DAT > Sony PCM-2800 > PCM-R500 > Sound Devices 722 > Soundforge 8.0 > WAV [flac1648]

! s1t02 (1) JG: "We've gotta change a string on the bass. You can all talk amongst yourselves." This absolutely has to be derived from Mike Myers' SNL skit "Coffee Talk" - I use it myself when equipment challenges interrupt my teaching. I may also give a topic, as Linda Richmond does in the skit. In my case, it's something on-topic like "Vladimir Putin: strong man, or the strongest man? Discuss."

! song: "Freight Train" (s1t03): The Elizabeth Cotten tune, which Jerry and David Grisman put on their wonderful 1993 release Not For Kids Only. Seeder notes: "A string had broken on Kahn's bass, so after informing the audience about the situation, Jerry led Melvin and Kemper through a soft, sincere reading, with Jer on his acoustic patch and Melvin on piano." See also http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/05/elizabeth-cotten.html.

! P: s1t03 Freight Train: My goodness, this is LOVELY. I wonder how Melvin knew the tune? John steps in 4:31 to announce that his string is fixed. Melvin is doing wonderful stuff, including riffing on Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer". This whole thing feels absolutely wonderful.

! P: s1t04 ISBR vocal flubs

! P: s1t05 RFTR just doesn't work as well alte-era for me, because it's supposed to be a 4 minute horse race, not a 6 minute jog.

! P: s2t06 DP 8:25ff some excellent guitar work, crowd appreciates.

! P: s1t08 ENSTL late 6 over 7 Jerry is playing GREAT. His tone is also interesting. 8:16 crazy Tigerish tone, WOWOWOWOWOW. Very good, Gar. Very, very good.

! s1t08 (2) inaudible "we'll be back in a few minutes"

! P: s2t02 Shining Star 13:50 Garcia gives himself a slide/dobro feel. Amazingly expressive picking.

! P: s2t04 Money Honey has a new little arranged piece of singing at the end, "if you want to get along".

! P: s2t07 TNTDODD flubs opening lyrics with "like my father before me", somehow. Voice is a little shaky. He sounds tired now. Very bad vocal clam 2 on "Virgil quick some see".

! R: s2t07 TNTDODD someone is singing enthusiastically very close to the taper.

! P: s2t08 MM some tempo fluctuations (band, not tape), he flubs a lyric before "brightest you've ever seen". Song started off too-slow tempo, but by 2 it's cooking.

! s2t08 (3) "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."