Jerry Garcia's Middle Finger

The GSCBF is turning out to be more and more of a ...

2012-06-01T09:22:36.620-06:00

The GSCBF is turning out to be more and more of a watershed event.

Nelson in Dead Relix ("DR") v3 n1 (1976)...

2012-05-31T16:22:13.432-06:00

Nelson in Dead Relix ("DR") v3 n1 (1976), posted by Jerry Garcia's Brokendown Palaces:
[QUOTE]
D.R.: When did the Good Ol’ Boys begin?
Dave: It started at the Vasser Clements California Bluegrass Festival, put on by Judy Lammers, at the Marin County Fairgrounds. The real biggies that were there were Jim and Jesse McReynolds, the Virginia Boys, Frank Wakefield, Vasser, Doc Watson, Ralph Stanley, Jimmy Martin, Maria Muhdaur, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Doug Dillard.
/QUOTE]

So, the Good Old Boys were born out of the GSCBF. Nice!

RIP, Doc!

2012-05-31T16:19:41.255-06:00

RIP, Doc!

I went to this one, I think I sat upstairs where t...

2012-05-23T21:14:55.507-06:00

I went to this one, I think I sat upstairs where the choir may have been if it were a church, after the show tearing a poster off a telephone pole nearby...lost it in a fire in 97'...

Seems I had a Config Control problem – the Dead pl...

2012-05-11T06:04:09.897-06:00

Seems I had a Config Control problem – the Dead played Vancouver according to a change made in my list in 2002 but somehow lost right away. Perhaps with a change of computer. I have checked McNally and he concurs pp457. YS

Also, YS, on what basis do you conclude that GD di...

2012-05-10T22:42:21.363-06:00

Also, YS, on what basis do you conclude that GD did not play the Paradise Valley Resort on 8/24/69?

American English and its treatment of collective n...

2012-05-10T22:39:10.804-06:00

American English and its treatment of collective nouns as singular be damned, it should be 'Were'.

I obviously don't know whether that gig happened, but let me suggest that some of your (YS and Corry's) skepticism is based, reasonably enough, on patterns that did not hold during this brief window. The Light Artists Guild strike was announced on 7/29/69, we know that it manifested at the GD show at the Family Dog on 8/1 (and I have some amazing reports on what actually went down!). YS speculated in connection with Corry's 9/6/69 post (I think) that that date (and the next night's anomaly) might have been a "makeup" for the canceled GD gig on 8/1. I think that's probably not quite correct, but that there is, indeed, a direct line from 8/1/69 to 9/6/69 and 9/7/69.

Just as those dates are abnormal, lots of stuff going on in between was just a little bit different. Maybe they played acoustic on 8/24/69. Maybe something else. Maybe, as you suggest, the show on "Hippy Hill" didn't happen. But it very well could have. And the fact that such an impromptu gig in the Park was even mooted in August 1969 already suggests, to me, that normal patterns don't hold here.

The Wild West Festival was canceled at the last mi...

2012-05-10T16:51:25.374-06:00

The Wild West Festival was canceled at the last minute, and everything associated with it was subject to change. I'm sure that Stephen Gaskin hoped the Dead would show up, and I'm also pretty confident it didn't happen. The whole weekend is rather murky, but escaping from a farm in rural Oregon is not like loading out of a Sports Arena that's near an airport. I don't see how the Dead and their equipment were ready to roll by Sunday afternoon, even if they bailed on British Columbia.

The page is fascinating, however. I had no idea that the obscure rock club Orion, which I was vaguely aware of, was at 40 Cedar Alley. A nice picture of Cold Blood, too. It must have been taken from a low angle, because Lydia Pense is 5'0 in high heels.

"Bring dope and good vibes." That shoul...

2012-05-10T13:37:46.880-06:00

"Bring dope and good vibes."

That should be printed on all concert tickets sold worldwide. Heck, it's great advice no matter where you're going.

Thanks, YS! I didn't know that they were no sh...

2012-05-10T08:49:50.283-06:00

Thanks, YS! I didn't know that they were no shows at Vancouver and will update my lists accordingly.

I have been entering these various things in the spreadsheets. I'll try to post updated copies to you soon so you can see what I have entered.

The reportages by "Verne" in the SFET around The Common are absolutely fantastic. The WWF was tied up in all of this, of course, too. But August 1969 turns out to be a kind of last gasp attempt to make these public trips work out. All of this is really interesting context for the Jerry and the Jeffersons post I am sitting on (though I am glad I have, given that I have found some really interesting new stuff around The Common, the 9/6-7/69 shows, etc.).

In the 1950s and into the early '60s, the trad...

2012-05-10T07:54:28.150-06:00

In the 1950s and into the early '60s, the traditional jazz clubs were indeed dark on Mondays, and bookings generally ran from Tuesdays through Sundays. But this began to change in the 1960s; the Blackhawk began a "locals night" on Mondays, Outside at the Inside started with a "folk night" on Sundays and Mondays. The Blackhawk changed its policy completely in September 1962, with split acts sharing a week: initially Guaraldi's trio on Mondays, the Ramsey Lewis trio on Tuesdays, and both combos sharing the stage for the rest of the week. In late 1965, a critic mentions that the Guaraldi/Bola Sete combo did better business at El Matador "on a frigid Monday night" than all the other clubs combined.

Once rock and folk clubs began to replace jazz clubs, the "Monday dark" policy vanished completely. As you know, the Matrix had a "jam night" on Mondays. In July of 1968, Guaraldi's trio was at the Trident for three weeks, but on Mondays the club offered the Dick McGarvin Trio. As for El Matador, I can say that, as of late 1970, it had music on Mondays, with the Guaraldi trio there Mondays through Wednesdays, and Tjader's trio there the rest of the week.

So no, I'd have to say that it's not "generally true" that any clubs -- including El Matador -- were closed on Mondays, in the late 1960s and beyond. It's more likely true that the featured acts were given the night off, and somebody else filled in for them ... but even that can't be stated with certainty.

I certainly have the Grateful Dead as a no show fo...

2012-05-10T03:46:40.648-06:00

I certainly have the Grateful Dead as a no show for the Vancouver Pop Festival but I have never been convinced by these Wild West related ads in the SFET. The following ads to the quoted one list Wild West Benfits at the Family Dog and Fillmore West and I would need to do some checking on these - but they may be spurious. I do know that the Family Dog had a "Light Show Jam" scheduled for the 24th and it has been mooted that this was a similar deal to that on the 26th when a number of light shows "performed" to taped recordings from the primamry SF bands playing at the Matrix.

re Both/And, yes, I have coded it that way in spre...

2012-05-09T18:37:53.520-06:00

re Both/And, yes, I have coded it that way in spreadsheets, precisely because the Marathon '70 event (NRPS at Harding, by Both/And productions, a 52-hour marathon) has piqued my interest (found a few more pieces on it) and because the Harding has a pretty interesting history, as we have discussed over the years.

Marathon '70:
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2009/11/nrps-ca-1111970.html

Harding:
http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/03/gd19710903-4-harding-theater-sf-ca.html

I did not look at the "Opening Today" bo...

2012-05-09T18:33:02.628-06:00

I did not look at the "Opening Today" box on Tuesday, December 8, and I don't know who played Matrix that day. Your conjecture makes perfect sense to me.

My own theory is that the El Matador was usually c...

2012-05-09T17:12:53.440-06:00

My own theory is that the El Matador was usually closed on Mondays, a fact I believe I learned from Derrick Bang's new book on Vince Guaraldi, which is very informative about San Francisco nightclubs from the 50s through the early 70s (among other topics).

My theory is that someone from El Matador called the Chronicle and said "Merl Saunders Trio all week" and some copyboy--remember them?--put Merl down for opening Monday, when the implied term for El Matador would be opening Tuesday. Thus the conflict was created by the Chronicle, not reality. Monday was musician's night off in San Francisco, so everyone could get together and jam.

Incidentally, for the prosopographically minded, the group Naked Lunch, who are opening for Elvin Bishop at the Keystone Korner, are a predecessor to the fine band Malo. I think they featured guitarist Abel Zarate and keyboardist Lu Stephens, though I would have to look it up. They are also another in a long line of bands whose name was inspired by writer William Burroughs.

Note that Garcia/Saunders played Tues-Wed December...

2012-05-08T17:12:41.368-06:00

Note that Garcia/Saunders played Tues-Wed December 1-2 and Monday-Wednesday Dec 15-17 (with Crosby et al), so this fits right in. any idea who played the Matrix on Tuesday Dec 8? If there wasn't a contrary listing, I wouldn't rule out yet another show.

This is indeed a fascinating find for any number o...

2012-05-08T17:09:28.471-06:00

This is indeed a fascinating find for any number of reasons. Clearly the first Herrera/Garcia booking.

I very much like the notion that this is a secret warmup gig for Spencer Dryden. Dec 12 '70 was the first Spencer sighting--since we didn't know about this, we couldn't have a "sighting."

In passing, note that "Opening Today"incudes Ali Akhbar Khan and Pharaoh Sanders at the Harding, under the name "Both/And At The Harding."

That's a good point, Scratchie. I don't kn...

2012-05-08T16:06:27.331-06:00

That's a good point, Scratchie. I don't know what times the Matrix shows would start.

It's possible that "Merle" could hav...

2012-05-08T13:19:16.671-06:00

It's possible that "Merle" could have been playing an early or late gig at another club. Do you know what the typical schedule was at the Matrix?

This definitely appears to have happened, though t...

2012-05-07T23:45:36.352-06:00

This definitely appears to have happened, though there's no specific confirmation of NRPS. A few more bibliographic entries:

listing: San Francisco Chronicle, October 30, 1970, p. 45;
postscript: Wasserman, John L. 1970. On the Town: Marilyn Maye--Zing in the Anthem. San Francisco Chronicle, November 4, 1970, p. 58.

Anyway, I guess I'd conclude that NRPS probably did play this on 11/1/70.

Thank you for sharing this, anon. Does your friend...

2012-05-07T22:38:07.547-06:00

Thank you for sharing this, anon. Does your friend have any other recollections about this show?

I found another James and the Good Brothers listin...

2012-05-07T22:12:30.018-06:00

I found another James and the Good Brothers listing "courtesy of the Grateful Dead" for the Matrix on Thursday, 10/15/70. Unless I am mistaken, this is also new to the Matrix list.

A friend of mine was at these shows and I asked hi...

2012-05-05T15:39:25.465-06:00

A friend of mine was at these shows and I asked him a while back why Jerry would let Sarah sing. Neither of us thought much of her voice. His response was simple, "She was beyond gorgeous and Jerry just stared at her a lot."

"Such grudges are, sadly, not uncommon among ...

2012-05-02T14:48:04.033-06:00

"Such grudges are, sadly, not uncommon among some old-time tapers who preferred to keep their recordings to themselves... "Leaks" like this could sometimes have the effect of having the original tapes locked up inaccessibly, & permanently, by the offended taper."

Considering what tapers had to go through back then to record a show and the fact that you needed "trade bait" until the 21st century I'm not surprised at all that tapers didn't want to give away their hard-earned treasure. I'm a taper, and I have recordings that I won't share for one reason or another (usually because of a jerk in the audience), so I completely understand where guys like Abram are coming from.

A very interesting analysis indeed. With respect t...

2012-04-26T19:06:27.143-06:00

A very interesting analysis indeed. With respect to George Tickner, one thing we often forget is that Garcia projects were inherently part time. Guys like Saunders, Kahn and Vitt had experience and plans to work in the studio as players and producers. Tickner was younger and had less experience (having apparently frittered away the latter 60s on going to college).

The nascent version of Journey was already extant at this point. The early history of Journey is pretty murky, but I have a feeling that Tickner rolled the dice with a full time band rather than a part time one.