Chatty Cathy in the House: JGB at the Stone, December 18, 1981

LN jg1981-12-18.jgb.all.aud-martin.16379.shn2flac

I recently learned the term "chompers" to describe people who talk through shows. Well, this phenomenon is as old as time, with the triad of the drum, the chomper and the shusher perhaps very nearly co-constituting each other In The Beginning.

Bill Kreutzmann drums, the chomper talks all show long, and I don't really hear a shusher on the in-your-face ambient recording pulled by taper Steven Martin through modified Nak 700s at the Stone on December 18, 1981. A Whistling Wally appears briefly, but thankfully he rethinks or otherwise abandons his accompaniment. Nothing in the show draws particular comment. This one is all about the tape, which totally puts you there.

I still don't understand how Kreutzmann came to be in the JGB in 1981-1982. What sequence of events and decisions produced this outcome? I dunno.

Some stuff I have been going through recently really lays bare just how impossibly intermingled were the finances of the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia (an sich) in this period. Money big and small is moving on the regular, especially in the GD -> JG direction, partly through the practice of the O/A - an "on account" withdrawal that facilitated Jerry getting lots of cash, very frequently, in the days before widespread ATMs. But there were also much bigger loans, often in the low five figures. After every Garcia Band tour, there's a reckoning of income and expenses --we are moderns, after all, and must genuflect before Double Entry Bookkeeping--, and big chunks of what's left go to such things as paying Jerry's back taxes and paying back the GD. Ownership of assets such as the Neve console or the rest of the Front Street studio setup, which Jerry respectively bought and paid for with his Cats Under the Stars advance from Arista in 1977, was murky. Despite the heroic efforts of Bonnie Simmons and Sue Stephens and many other office folks, for many, many years it seems like Garcia just kept burning through wads of cash while Phil, inter alia, seethed. It's hard to blame the rest of the guys for worrying about all of this, though of course there would have been no "this" without Jerry, so they were in a little bit of a bind, limited in what they could do.

I know these thoughts are inchoate. I will say a lot more, and presumably more coherently, in Fate Music. But I do think that the story of 81-82 Jerry Band clearly expresses the mess of the man's life, financially and otherwise, in this period of time. They'd take in $107k on a tour like JGB in February 1981, and see $112k soaked up immediately, to say nothing of ongoing, longterm, lingering giant debts or everyday petty and not so petty cash needs. And I wonder if Billy being onboard after business was settled with Ronnie Tutt was related to all of this. Of course, it could just be that Rock had his number. Again: I dunno.

In the meantime, the band played on, and the people drank, danced, chatted, and taped, and it was kind of a hoot, all things considered.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
December 18, 1981 (Friday)
Martin MAC shnid-16379 shn2flac

--set I (6 tracks, 5 tunes, 46:33)--
s1t01. ambience [0:22]
s1t02. The Way You Do The Things You Do [7:42] [0:12] % [0:05]
s1t03. Sitting In Limbo [11:53] [0:09] %
s1t04. /Mystery Train [8:36] [0:08] %
s1t05. /Mississippi Moon [9:58] [0:08] %
s1t06. /Deal [7:22] (1) [0:04]

--set II (5 tracks, 4 tunes, 49:36)--
s2t01. ambience [0:32]
s2t02. Sugaree [10:31] [0:20]
s2t03. I'll Take A Melody [15:14] [0:13] %
s2t04. Russian Lullaby [12:47] ->
s2t05. Tangled Up In Blue [9:53] [0:03]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - electric keyboards;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums;
! lineup: Julie Stafford - vocals;
! lineup: Liz Stires - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: 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/19811218-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/16379 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/135462 (Ohr Weinberg MAC).

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

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/stone-mothers-412-broadway-san.html

! band: JGB #14a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html). We used to call this 14c, but it was born before b then came back, and we use the order in which they appeared to identify.

! R: such a fun tape! Jerry's vocals are low, but there's great ambience (including very chatty chomper nearby - it's not a new thing, folks!), and the backing vocalists are coming through strong, especially one of them. Chatty Cathy does keep distracting me, e.g., in Sugaree. Shush!

! R: field recordist: Steven Martin

! R: field recording gear: 2x modified Nakamichi CM-700 mics > Sony TC-D5 cassette deck

! R: field recording media: 2x Maxell XLII

! R: transfer: Nakamichi Dragon playback > Cardas audiophile cables > HHB CDR 800 master CD > Microboards QD2 CD clone > HP 9350i extraction (EAC v0.9 beta 4) > tracking (CD Wave v1.6) > patching (SF Studio 6.0) > sector boundary verification (shntool v1.01) > .shn encoding (mkwACT v0.97 beta 1). CD > SHN by Joe Jupille (jjoops@attbi.com). shn2flac jgmf 12/18/2021.

! R: seeder comments: This is a nice recording with lots of crowd ambience and energy, and most tunes barely clipping in.  In both respects it strongly resembles a different master of the same show made by Ohr Weinberg (Senn 421s > Sony TC-D5M Dolby B MAC, transfer by Jim Wise via Nakamichi Dragon > Sony PCM-R500 > HHB-800).  They are indeed different masters, though. Weinberg's master has a tape flip at the transition between Russian Lullaby and Tangled Up in Blue at the end of set II, while Martin's flips @ 7:24 of Tangled Up.  So I could have used Martin's to patch Weinberg's or Weinberg's to patch Martin's.  I chose the latter, and I think it was the right choice based on the 7:24-8:16 piece in Tangled Up. Besides the clipped starts of songs, no other flaws were noted. A MisSHN in the Rain Installment of the Music Never Stopped Project.

! R: s1t04 Mystery Train clips in

! R: s1t05 Miss Moon clips in

! R: s1t06 Deal clips in

! R: s2t03 ITAM @ 5:47 a guy whistled a measure, and I thought Whistling Wally was gonna join Chatty Cathy on this tape. But it appears to have been a momentary burst of enthusiasm.

! P: s2t03 RussLull John steps forward 5:48. The crowd seems to support and encourage this, for reasons that must forever remain mysterious. It's a full blown solo for quite awhile. Ends at 9, crowd gives John a nice round of applause. Note they have been drinking for hours by this time. (I keed, of course.)

! P: s2t05 TUIB gets nice and loud

! s1t06 (1) JG: inaudible set break announcement

A JGB drum solo by Bill Kreutzmann - Cape Cod Coliseum, June 18, 1982

LN jg1982-06-18.jgb.all.aud-craigl.138576.flac1644

For about a minute-twenty in "Don't Let Go," Billy K. solos. It's a little surreal.

I have historically loved this show, but nothing much jumps out at me on this listen.

JERRY GARCIA BAND
Cape Cod Coliseum
White's Path off Route 6
South Yarmouth, MA 02664
June 18, 1982 (Friday) - 8:30 PM
Craig L MAC flac1644 shnid-138576

--complete show (8 tracks, 85:36)--
--main set (7 tracks, 78:33)--
t01. [0:26] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:46] [0:02] %
t02. Valerie [7:10] [0:03]
t03. Dear Prudence [13:42] [0:02] %
t04. Mississippi Moon [9:58] %
t05. Don't Let Go [18:31] [0:19] %
t06. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:15] ->
t07. Run For The Roses [6:12] [0:05] %
--encore (1 track, 7:03)--
t08. They Love Each Other [6:57] [0:06] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14a/c
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards (organ);
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - keyboards (electric piano);
! lineup: Liz Stires - backing vocals;
! lineup: Julie Stafford - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] 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/19820618-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1982-06-18

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/18065 (MSC, shn); http://etreedb.org/shn/34071 (variant of shnid-18065); http://etreedb.org/shn/76599 (inferior of this source tape, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/108318 (Rolfe Nak 700s MAC flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/119077 (Morrone-Friend MAC flac2448); http://etreedb.org/shn/119095 (Morrone-Friend MAC flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/138576 (this fileset).

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/phdAsu6ouRP2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/cape-cod-coliseum-whites-path-off-route.html.

! historical: little tour with Bobby and the Midnites. This gig sold out 7,200, grossing $82,581 (Billboard, July 3, 1982, p. 39).

! seealso: JGMF, "Music Mountain Is All That," URL https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2020/05/music-mountain-is-all-that.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "Long Ago and Far Away: JGB at Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME, June 20, 1982," URL https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2019/08/long-ago-and-far-away-jgb-at-cumberland.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "Lizless Sextet: JGB at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh, June 23, 1982," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2013/03/ln-jg1982-06-23jgbs1s2paud.html.

! R: field recordist: Craig L.

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi CM300/CP4 shotguns > Sony TC-D5

! R: field recording location: mics secured to a railing in the side riser.

! R: field recording media: Maxell XLII

! R: Transfer: MAC > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transfer by Andrew F. 06/2017.

! R: seeder note: "Upgrade to shnid-76599 sourced from the master. Several songs clipped-in abruptly, covered with small patches from ID-119077."

! P: I have loved this show in the past, e.g., from the soundboard. On this listen, it doesn't move me. Billy K. provides perhaps the only drum solo in the history of the Jerry Garcia Band.

! P: t02 Valerie Garcia in a grungy space for so early in the show, a little bit of big chording happening.

! P: t05 DLG has a drum solo - Billy K! - 15:35-16:50. How weird - don't recall this.

! P: t06 STOF very brief Kahn solo, though I wasn't necessarily listening that closely.

! P: t07 very GD wah sounding guitar, round notes.

"Once in a while, ..."

.. you know the rest. Was just processing a 1975 article from Hit Parader, of all things. Yet a few things catch my eye:

• Gives working title for The Movie, soon-to-be released film There is Nothing Like A Grateful Dead Show. 
• Maybe this was out there, but I don't remember seeing this in print like this.
• More recently, they built a recording studio on a piece of land in Marin County called Dead Patch. 
• Again, I don't recall that particular appellation being made public at the time.
• "Garcia is now playing banjo [sic] with Merle [sic] Saunders in a band called Legion of Mary, and it wouldn't be surprising if he turned up with the New Riders of the Purple Sage … Bob Weir is working with a new band on a new album called 'Kingfish'. Phil Lesh is experimenting with bio-feedback (doing research with his bass and computers), and Kreutzmann is drumming with Commander Cody (for fun)".[i] 
• Obviously a little wire crossing on Jerry. When did it become public that Kingfish was doing an album? The BK thing is interesting because he didn't mention it in Deal and this is narrated as a very bad time for him.
• names names: Mickey Hart "left after it was discovered his father had put the band into over $100,000 worth of debts".[i]
• Again, I don't recall all that much that was said so publicly and directly making this connection. Since I just read BK's book, in which he's rather blunt about his feelings toward Mickey at this time, this again jumped out at me.

I guess the pattern I observe is that the author had some very inside information here. Surely he called the office and Rock or someone was being voluble. Am I mis-reading this, or do these kinds of details just seem anachronistically well-informed for Hit Parader. (This very article includes the line "Their records are excellent companions for LSD trips" (p. 39).

Anyway ..

Cohen, Scott. 1975. How to Live the Grateful Dead. Hit Parader (September), 38-40.

 

---

[i] Cohen 1975, 40.

---

[i] Cohen 1975, 40.

Reading Notes: Kreutzmann, Bill, with Benjy Eisen. 2015. Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

Kreutzmann, Bill, with Benjy Eisen. 2015. Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

This wasn't as bad as I had feared it might be.

You can see that I switched half-way through to endnotes. I have been thinking that works best, all things considered, but I have so much written with parenthetical notation that it's a bit daunting to switch. I may just do both for awhile. J

These are my "reading notes", just the stuff I cull and sort into my own thematic and chronological buckets, as appropriate.

Horses, cocaine and, 231

So many books. Took my Kreutzmann 2015, no time to really engage it, but wanted to commune with it a little bit, form some expectations. Glad there is an index, just opened to the back and my eye drew to the entry "horses, cocaine and, 231".

"hotels, destruction at, 314" sounds promising, too.

Sounds like this is going to be entertaining, at the very least.

Deal

Kreutzmann 2015 has landed. When will I be able to give it the time? Not sure, but at some point (if the FSM wills it).

I haven't even opened it, because no time. I don't know if I expect it to enter The Canon (Jackson 1999, McNally 2002, Lesh 2006, Richardson 2015, Arnold ongoing-A, ongoing-B, LIA ongoing-A, ongoing-B, perhaps eventually Browne 2015), but I hope it does.

So many words, so little time.

Arnold, Corry. Ongoing-A. Lost Live Dead. URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/.

Arnold, Corry. Ongoing-B. Hooterollin' Around. URL http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/.

Browne, David. 2015. So Many Roads: The Life And Times Of The Grateful Dead. Boston, MA: Da Capo Press [a member of the Perseus Books Group.

Jackson, Blair. 1999. Garcia: An American Life. New York: Penguin Books.

Kreutzmann, Bill, with Benjy Eisen. 2015. Deal: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

LIA. Ongoing-A. Grateful Dead Essays. URL http://deadessays.blogspot.com/.
LIA. Ongoing-B. Grateful Dead Sources. URL http://deadsources.blogspot.com/.

McNally, Dennis. 2002. A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. New York: Broadway Books.

Richardson, Peter. 2014. No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead. New York: St. Martin's Press.

 

Jim Nelson on the Drums and Several Great Rarities: JGMS at Keystone, October 4, 1974

LN jg1974-10-04.jgms.all.aud-falanga.8649.shn2flac

This is great to hear.

Three points of historical interest.

1) Louis Falanga's onstage audience tapes are great documents.

2) Lots of interesting material including, here, some great jazz ("Valdez In The Country", "People Make The World Go Round", "Freedom Jazz Dance"), and a great rare (in the Garciaverse) Motown, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

3) personnel: Bill Kreutzmann had been drumming with JGMS since about November 1973, by my reckoning, and then, after 9/2/74, JGMS goes in another direction. Here we have Jim Nelson on a tryout, it would seem. Paul Humphrey would be present in Santa Cruz on the 11th and Santa Barbara on the 13th, and is presumed to continue through October. I think it's pretty well established that he was drumming for the Fall 1974 East Coast tour, though truth be told I have never seen a shred of hard contemporary evidence for that. It's "understood". I don't doubt it, but wouldn't it be funny if Jim Nelson were really the drummer in some of these slots?

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
October 4, 1974 (Friday)
Falanga-Menke shnid-8649 retrack shn2flac

--set I (6 tracks, 58:27)--
s1t01. //That's What Love Will Make You Do [13:43] % [1:43]
s1t02. Valdez In The Country [12:56] ->
s1t03. Space [1:54] ->
s1t04. People Make The World Go// Round [4:#10] [0:33] % [0:32]
s1t05. (I'm A) Road Runner [10:59] (1) [0:40]
s1t06. /It Ain't No Use [11:01#] (2) [0:16]

--set II (6 tracks, 54:07)--
s2t01. tuning [0:57]
s2t02. Tough Mama [7:34] [1:00]
s2t03. Freedom Jazz Dance [14:42] [1:22]
s2t04. Sitting In Limbo [11:41] [0:09] % [0:30]
s2t05. Ain't No Mountain High Enough [6:26] ->
s2t06. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:37] [0:08]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Jim Nelson - drums.

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/19741004-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1974-10-04-keystone-berkeley-ca/

! db: shnid-8649 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html.

! ad: SFSECDB19740922p31

! listing: SFSECDB19740929p05

! ad: SFSECDB19740929p31

! listing: San Francisco Examiner, October 3, 1974, p. 35

! listing: Hayward Daily Review, October 4, 1974, p. 28

! seealso:  JGMF, "Finders Keepers: JGMS with Jim Nelson on Drums, Keystone, October 5, 1974."

! historical: Three points of historical interest. 1) Louis Falanga's onstage audience tapes are great documents. 2) Lots of interesting material including, here, some great jazz ("Valdez In The Country", "People Make The World Go Round", "Freedom Jazz Dance", and great rare (in the Garciaverse) Motown, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". 3) personnel: Bill Kreutzmann had been drumming with JGMS since about November 1973, by my reckoning, and then, after 9/2/74, JGMS goes in another direction. Here we have Jim Nelson on a tryout, it would seem. Paul Humphrey would be present in Santa Cruz on the 11th, BCT on the 12th, and Santa Barbara on the 13th, and is presumed to continue through October. I think it's pretty well established that he was drumming for the Fall 1974 East Coast tour, though truth be told I have never seen a shred of hard contemporary evidence for that. It's "understood".

! personnel: Betty's reel notes that this is Jim Nelson on drums! I note lots of hi-hat, lots of quick stuff, and find that in general this guy is great, even as the group tries to learn how to play together. It's not entirely successful, but it is super-interesting.

! R: field recordist: Louis Falanga (?and Bob Menke?)

! R: field recording gear: 1x Sony ECM-70 + 1 x Sony ECM-250 Sony TC-152

! R: field recording location: onstage from stage left/house right. The sought-for setup would have been seated at Garcia's feet, one mic pointed into his stage monitor and one mic aimed at the rest of the band.

! R: lineage: unknown cassette master transfer by Bob Menke, ca. late 1990s, unknown process to CDx (Jim Powell) > CDx (Jack Warner) > CDx; re-tracked, shortened, and seeded by jupillej@mediaone.net.

! R: Utterly breathtaking. The vocals are nearly inaudible. We are getting them direct from Jerry's mouth from about 8-10 feet away or whatever, with no amplification. But Garcia's guitar is crystal-clear: this is the best example so far of the technique that Falanga and/or Menke used for these tapes, which was to directly mic Jerry's stage monitor and point another mic toward the center of the stage soundfield. His guitar has incredible tone and volume. The bass is also pretty loud and direct-sounding. Is it possible that what we are hearing is a kind of monitor mix for Jerry? Sorry, summing up: guitar and bass crystal clear and loud, drums real nicely present, keys and horns real low in the mix.

! R: s1t01 TWLWMYD cuts in; drums come up a little @ 9:20

! setlist: s1t02 "Valdez In The Country" originally given as "Boss Martin", per old Jerry Site nomenclature, changed 9/13/2009.

! P: s1t02 VITC Martin takes the first solo, and he is blowing beautifully. This song really suits him. Do we know whether it was him who brought it in to the band? The little thing Jerry and the drummer get together in the 11-min mark is really interesting. The drummer is doing some syncopated percussive stuff with one hand and a nice tight snare in the other. And Jerry really seems to respond. He's noodling low, but check right at the start of the 11-minute mark for some really, really gorgeous musical ideas from the Great Barcia.

! setlist: s1t03 Space is well-placed here. This is completely unmoored from the song, Valdez In The Country, out of which it oozed.

! s1t04 PMTWGR This version is absolutely classic, just how you want it to be: Kahn announces and starts it. Garcia swoops in @ 0:48 with the roundabout strumming he does in this tune ... but Merl wants to keep it spaced out for awhile, and I gotta say the drummer is right there with him. And who is Garcia to say no to some noodly weirdness? Thet let it bounce around for a minute or so, Garcia coming back to his strum @ 1:48, then Merl joins in with the melody. It's really, really nice because it's still really echoey and vibey, Merl using lots of reverb patience. Then the splice, though, and we are winding up. And we don't know what we are missing. Could have been legendary!

! R: s1t04 PMTWGR splice @ 2:29

! s1t05 Road Runner again shows the distinctive style of the drummer, Jim Nelson. Not so much high-hat here, but lots of quick, tight rolls. Guy can hit, all right, and these Holland/Dozier/Holland rollers are presumably pretty well encoded in all the players' respective hardwiring.

! s1t05 (1) @ 11:29 Nelson (presumed): "You guys are treating me rough, man." I think that's Jim Nelson speaking, and he's probably referring to them throwing him out there with a bunch of songs and just telling him to keep up! That's how it sounds to me, anyway.

! setlist: s1t06 "It Ain't No Use" previously known as "It's No Use", changed 9/3/2011.

! R: s1t06 IANU cuts in

! s1t06 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. We're gonna take a great for a little while. We'll be back pretty soon."

! R: s1t08 there may be a brief splice during the tuning @ 4:28. Then the clear splice @ 4:43

! P: s2t02 There is some really grungy stuff happening off the keyboards, or is it saxophone? at the start of Tough Mama. Can't tell if someone's trying to get some of that, or if it's a bad cable somewhere. Goes away by 1:20. Jerry's vocals are also more audible on the tape here than they had been at the start of set I. Tough Mama gets a little loose for awhile toward the end. They are working on it.

! P: s2t03 old note: "I think they keep trying to end FJD, but they keep forgetting to tell the drummer." new note: That said, this FJD is profoundly interesting to me. I think this is outstanding. Yes, they should have ended it at 12:04. Everything from that point is a little wonky. Though the drummer is super-interesting, they just are not together 12:04ff. Try to end again 12:50, he misses it. OK! They all decide to do some stuff, Jerry playing some realyl plucky 13, Merl does a real nice run 13:08ff, very nice job Merl! Goes high 13:25, Jerry glassy sraping chunking behind him, Merl swirling up some goodies 13:45. Martin adding percussion 14:01. Then they hit it 14:42, so it was just those two misses in the 12 minute range, and then they made some lemonade with them in any case. Very good.

! R: s2t05 Ain't No Mountain High Enough static blip @ 2:40

! P: s2t05 ANMHE amazing to hear this. Great energy. Martin misses once early on, things are a little loose in terms of arrangement, but this has a great groove! 4:30 it is driving beautifully and Garcia does some incredible guitar work, splashy long threads on top of some killer rhythm with an amazing piece of American music at his fingertips. Great. Listen to Nelson drum 5:38! They pull a little minor decay to signal end ... I could have stood for it to go a little longer ... they let it melt and decay, lots of reverb, echoey space, closes to the echo that becomes HSII. Nice!

That warmish-dampish-Motel-6-towel feeling, without the hygiene - JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, February 4, 1982

LN jg1982-02-04.jgb.all.aud-CC.xxxxxx.flac2448

I have always found early 1982 to be an exceptionally weak period for the Jerry Garcia Band. Jerry's opiate use has really picked up, but in his side band he didn't seem able to get back up with blow or whatever. Indeed, to tell the truth I think January, February and March JGB shows are pretty dreadful between 1982-1987. I'll be checking out some March '83 soon, I think, partly as a test of the proposition.

Anyway, this show is lethargic. Here's a great point of contrast: compare this version of "Tangled Up In Blue" with the version from exactly one year prior, 2/4/81 [Jerrybase]. Now, granted, the '81 show was the first night of an east coast tour, at the Warner in DC. There would have been extra juice, and it's probably a totally unfair comparison to an off-the-beaten-path, off-night, haven't-played-in-a-few-weeks show. But the second solo on 2/4/81 (around 5:40) shredded *my* sinuses, after it worked my ears and speakers. 2/4/82's is more of the warmish-dampish-Motel-6-towel feeling, without the hygiene.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 South California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
February 4, 1982 (Thursday)
CC aud flac1644

--set I (5 tracks, 40:52)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [7:58] %
s1t02. Mississippi Moon [10:46] [0:07] % % %
s1t03. Mystery Train/ [8:21]
s1t04. Valerie -> // [6:35] %
s1t05. //Deal [#7:03] [0:02]

--set II (5 tracks, 49:42)
s2t01. I Second //That Emotion [8:#33] %
s2t02. Sugaree [11:30] % [0:13]
s2t03. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [7:58] ->
s2t04. Dear// Prudence [11:#15] ->
s2t05. Tangled Up In Blue [9:53] (1) [0:20]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14c
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - electric keyboards;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums;
! lineup: Julie Stafford - vocals;
! lineup: Liz Stires - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: 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/19820204-01

! jerrgarcia.com: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1982-02-04-keystone-palo-alto-palo-alto-ca/

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/4426 (MSC shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/83952 (MSC flac1644). No aud in circulation as of 1/25/2014.

! map: http://goo.gl/maps/mog23

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/keystone-sophies-260-s-california-ave.html;

! band: 14c (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html);

! R: 2nd gen aud (Maxell XLII90 no Dolby) > Nakamichi BX-300 playback (no Dolby) > Pyle Pro cables > WaveTerminal 2496 > Samplitude 10.1 Download Version (record @ 24 bits/48kHz) > CDWave 1.9.8 (tracking) > Adobe Audition 3.0 (cross-fades, etc.) > Traders Little Helper 2.4.1 (FLAC encoding, level 8) (flac2448).

! R: not great, not terrible. Vocals are quite low.

! P: s1t01 HSII Jerry really starts not sounding good during this period. He sounds tired when he's singing. Late 2 min mark he solos, but sounds like they are trying to get mix together. Electric piano after 3-minute mark. Some big PA sharts. He turns up around 4-minute mark and tries again. Guitar is a little louder.

! P: s1t03 MT Jerry usually started the vocals up right away, but here he misses it and they have to go 'round the bases. The tempos aren't quite together, in general. Kreutzmann with JGB during this period.

! R: s1t03 MT clips out

! R: s1t05 Deal cuts in on goes to show you don't ever know

! P: s1t05 Deal late 5-min mark Jerry is playing some nice chords with nice tone, but he doesn't sound very potent.

! R: s2t01 ISTE tape flip splice @ 5:46, unknown missing.

! P: s2t02 Sugaree is flaccid, and s2t03 vocals sound so weak and fragile. Blech.

! historical: here's a little color for you. The only real piece of between song tape we have (s2t02, after Sugaree) has a guy yell out for "The Wheel" from Garcia's first solo album. The taper and his friends give a Spiccoli laugh and say something like "fat chance". Here's what I hear (which is imagined, but may nonetheless be true): The tapers are locals. Sound like college-age men. Maybe the "Wheel" guy is an out-of-towner, or anyway not a regular. They sound like regulars, sharing an inside joke - they know Garcia's not gonna play "The Wheel" ... they are initiates, while he's a novitiate. Tribalism.

! R: s2t03-s2t04 taper was going to pause between songs, clipped the segue from TNTDODD to Prudence a little bit.

! s2t05 (1) taper: "That was 'Dead Air', February 2, 1982,  Keystone Palo Alto. Weird. Stuff." Indeed. So weird that you got the date wrong. They played Catalyst on 2/2/82. This was 2/4. But who can really keep track, after all? #methodological point: we would normally give great credience to this kind of evidence. In fact, it should be solid gold. But it's contradicted by multiple other facts. First, 2/2/82 is known from the Catalyst - there are master tapes and everything. Second, dude is more likely to lose track of date than location. I may not know what day it is, but I generally have a pretty good sense of where I am. Third, this same show circulates from master soundboard cassettes (part of the Kreutzmann soundboard tapes, I gather, but that could be wrong), dated 2/4/82 KPA. The guy was clearly confused: there's not very much weird about this show at all. It's pretty bland. (I keed: I know he seems to have had a surreal time this night.)

! Disclaimer: This is part of a "Closet Call" project aimed at making missing Garcia dates available for study. These are "warts and all" ... straight transfers of the source cassettes with editing only of the most offensive tape transitions and such. If you don't like hiss, possible speed problems, etc., etc., then move along. And, to anticipate a FAQ: no, I don't plan on doing 16/44s of these. Thanks to wk for supplying these tapes!

! URL: http://jgmf.blogspot.com

JGB: early 1980s drummers and backup singers

I posted some listening notes from the 10/13/82 JGB show at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA. A priori, two things are particularly interesting about that show. First, it's the public debut of drummer Greg Errico with the Jerry Garcia Band in this particular stint (he had done a mini-tour with them in July 1980). There's much more to say about him and that. Second, there are no backup vocalists, as this was a ca. four-show interregnum between the departure of two female vocalists after the June '82 east coast tour and the arrival of Jacklyn LaBranch and DeeDee Dickerson two unknown singers on 10/24/82 at the River Theater in Guerneville, CA. (I'll do a post or two on that show as part of this thread, I hope.) (For some more backing vocalists talk with data relevant to what I'll post here, see this discussion of the personnel working the late '83 JGB tour.)

As as so often the case, Corry replied with knowledge that far exceeds that which is the present public "state of the art". All of this has been known by Corry all along, mind you, but it just never made the various leaps from him to what's currently publicly "known". So glad he is blogging so we can recover and extend all of this!

Anyway, he left a series of great comments, which I am going to try to respond to ad seriatim before I try to summarize where I think we are in terms of the early 80s drummers and backup singers. It's more complicated that one might think. In fact, these are among the last reasonably consequential Garcia mysteries from the 80s onward.

Comment 1:
Do you know anything about Jimmy Warren? Where he came from, what he did before, whether he ever did anything after? I don't.

Warren wasn't a guest star, he was in the JGB for 18 months and played dozens of shows. One of the biographers (Blair?) said "he had problems," but who knows what that meant.

Not much to go on. I would love to be able to talk to him, to learn more.

Here's Blair: "Electric pianist Jimmy Warren was, to put it delicately, sympathetic to Kahn's and Garcia's offstage behavior ... even John Kahn admitted that 'things got kind of out of control around then. Jimmy Warren was just sort of a friend. It didn't work out and it went on too long ...'" (Jackson 1999, 321). I believe he mostly played a Fender Rhodes. He came in with Melvin in January of 1981 (I believe "12/20/80" is just a mislabel of 12/20/79). He and Liz Stires were an item, so this band initially had both the Liz Stires-Jimmy Warren couple and the Essra Mohawk-Daoud Shaw couple. I doubt he was especially "problematic" in terms of personal issues among those within Garcia's orbit at that particular time. Blair continues on pp. 321-322 about the fact that Garcia was in pretty deep at this point. I don't know anything about his tenure except that TJS lists his last gig as September 7, 1982. So, yeah, 18 months, no flash in the pan.

Comment 2:
Essra Mohawk and Liz Stires were the vocalists from June 25 '81 (Santa Cruz) through Aug 25 '81 (Keystone PA).

I don't list this 8/25/81 show. Should I? update: no, probably a phantom, and 8/23/81 is the last Essra show

I have just checked on 5/30/81 and 6/25/81, and indeed there are no vocalists on the former and two female backing singers on the latter. So I'd say 6/254/81 is, as far as we currently have evidence, the return of backing vocalists to JGB after 2.5 years of having none.

Comment 2: 
Julie Stafford replaced Essra Mohawk starting on September 7, 1981 (Concord Pavilion). Stafford and Stiles [sic] were the singers through June 24 '82 (Capitol Theater, Passaic). 

Julie Stafford is completely missed by TJS. I know that she is credited for background vocals on "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" from the Run For the Roses album. I never knew that Essra was in for such a short time, really just a handful of shows. In fact, I am a little bit skeptical of this. I have to go back and check some stuff.

What's more, I know that Liz Stires left after the Mosque (Richmond, VA) show on 6/22/82. She was not there for the rest of the tour. I need to revisit tapes, but a review of the 6/23/82 Stanley Theater (Pittsburgh, PA) show (1) says that there were two keyboard players and one female vocalist.

What's also strange is that an eyewitness to the 10/24/82 River Theater (Guerneville, CA) show, which we know featured the return of female vocalists after the brief four-show interregnum of 10/13 and 10/21-23, thought that "Julie" was one of the singers. This was how Julie Stafford first came to my attention as someone who might have sung onstage with JGB, something which another band member from this time has confirmed. Update: that appears to have been reference to 5/31/82.

Upshot, I have some doubts about this particular time period. Corry, can you say more about how you came to this understanding?

Comment 3:
David (Daoud) Shaw was the drummer for the Jerry Garcia Band starting in January '81, and he remained the drummer through Aug 23 '81. [ed: Comment 4 says this was 8/25/81, which was a phantom listing.]

I have always followed TJS and had Shaw in through June 1, 1981, which has always left open the question of who played the June-July-August shows. I am more than happy to fill Shaw's name into the drum slot here, but can I ask again about sourcing?

Comment 3:
The next JGB show [ed: after 8/23/81, implied by comment 2] was Sep 7 '81 at Concord Pavilion. Bill Kreutzmann played drums.For the three other Sept JGB shows (Sep 18 Keystone Berkeley, Sep 19-20 The Stone), Ron Tutt played drums. Tutt also played drums on the tour that started in Palo Alto on Oct 25 and headed East from Oct 31 (Philadelphia) through Nov 19 (Denver). On the Grateful Dead hotline, the tour was billed as "The Return Of Ron Tutt."

It absolutely blows my mind that it was billed this way, and that this has somehow been lost to history insofar as that is represented at TJS, etc. It also reconciles one little factoid which has been bugging me, which is that Ozzie Ahlers has said that Tutt played some shows after he left. These would be them, I guess.

I list Kreutzmann on 9/19/81 at the Stone, though that may have just been me following TJS. I did conclude that "[drummer] is an animal" in my listening notes.

Comment 3:
Bill Kreutzmann returned to the drum chair on Dec 17 '81 at Keystone Berkeley and seems to have held it through Jun '24 82. I have not absolutely confirmed that, however, and it's possible that there were subs at some show (Gregg Errico, Gaylord Birch, etc) or that someone else took over the drums entirely. I do know that Kreutzmann generally played drums at Bay Area shows during this period, because I asked anyone who went to a show. 

Yes, there is an old tape of 12/17/81 with audience chatter suggesting that Kreutzmann is in the house.  And, with you, I assume that there are some discontinuities or non-linearities kicking around from night to night.

So much for bullet-type responses to Corry's comments. What's the big picture?

First, we still have some meaningful gaps in our knowledge of who was on stage in the 1981-1983 period, especially. This is true in terms of drummers and backup singers.

Second, this is probably a case where lots of listening is required. I wish I were more perceptive in terms of being able to hear different drumming and singing styles, but I am not. Sometimes audience chatter and stage talk can reveal a thing or two.

Third, we may never be able to pin it all down. Much as I like knowing, not knowing is OK, too. Keeps some mystery in the whole thing.

Thanks for giving lots of food for thought, Corry!


REFERENCE:
(1) John Allison, "Garcia band hot at the Stanley," Daily Collegian (Pennsylvania State University), June 25, 1982, p. 13.