Via https://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu, the UCSB Daily Nexus (and before it, the El Gaucho) has been digitized. Having sniffed around Santa Barbara a fair bit (UCSB being my alma mater), I am happy to see this, and found a few good things.
First, I have found a preview and a review of OAITW 4/12/73 at the Granada, which gave me another piece of evidence in favor of the proposition that the undated set found in shnid-99222 is indeed from this date (the late show).
Second, in addition to a very positive review of the 5/25/74 GD gig, one Stephen Westfall notes to my amusement that the first band was billed as Great American Music Band but announced as Great American String Band --I should just acronymize as GA_B-- and to my surprise that the band featured none other than Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp collaborator, the great Buell Neidlinger, apparently at this time teaching at Cal Arts in Valencia, on bass. I did not know that. If a tape would ever come into the light, I'd be mighty happy about that.
Third, I found a preview and a review of the 5/19/84 JGB show --a mighty good one-- which both mention DeeDee Dickerson rather than Gloria Jones, and seem to do so reasonably knowledgeably. This has led me to again revise my understanding of DDD's tenure. While we used to think it ended in mid-83, and I have recently extended it through that year, it now seems to have run at least into May of 1984. I would love to learn more about when Gloria Jones actually came in!
There were also various materials around 10/13/74 (JGMS), 6/26/75 (LOM), and 2/5/77 (JGB), now swept into my vortex. Good stuff.
Showing posts with label GAMB/GASB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GAMB/GASB. Show all posts
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Nick on GASB
Check out Nick's awesome post on GASB in June '74, emphasizing Garcia's work on acoustic guitar - great work, Nick!
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Great American String Band - May 5, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley
Sunday, May 5, 1974 found Garcia at the Keystone (typical), but in the background, picking some banjo in the Great American String Band behind its featured front line of Richard Greene (fiddle), David Grisman (mandolin), and David Nichtern (guitar and vocals).
Rather remarkably, we know a fair bit of very interesting stuff about this gig, despite the fact that there is no tape in circulation.
First, the band was billed as Great American String Band (GASB), which wasn't always the case - it sometimes traveled as Great American Music Band (GAMB), and it doesn't appear that things were particularly consistent in that regard. This testifies to the rather fluid nature of the enterprise, always of interest in the Garciaverse, which would become increasingly institutionalized as time went on. Garcia is listed first, natch - capitalists gotta capitalize - but that's pretty standard.
Second, an anonymous commenter at Hooterollin' reports special guest appearances, including, a week after Old And In The Way's abortive swan song --"no sweeping exits"-- at the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival, the last known stage shared by Garcia and the great Peter Rowan:
Fourth, between the Hooterollin' commenter and Sam Silver's review, we can also reconstruct some of the setlist. The show started around 11 pm with what the reviewer called "Dog's Bone", which I assume was "Dawg's Bull", a Grisman original. They played "Bud's Bounce" ("mistakenly credited to Buddy Emmonds, really belongs to Buddy Spiker"), "Midnight at the Oasis", at least one Carter Family tune, and Django Reinhardt's "Swing '42" (about which Silver raves). Anonymous commenter adds "Midnight Moonlight" and "Hobo Song" to the mix.
update: Anonymous, in comments, adds the David Nichtern compositions "I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal the Cards" and "My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid" to this night's setlist, and that "there was another Grisman song or two"
Fifth, Silver took and the Barb published a picture of the GASB in action, one of only two of which I am aware (the other from 5/25/74 in Santa Barbara - h/t Bob Murphy).
Silver is over the moon about the band, with "the best of all possible pickers for the unique job of creating a new music". The review is well worth a read, really capturing the vibe of a show where Garcia is the draw but the other players are the virtuosi, and the audience seemed ready to rock but proved able to appreciate acoustic brilliance.
All of this raises a few essential questions. Are these tapes in possession of the Owsley Stanley Foundation? If so, who can spare whatever it would take to sponsor their preservation? Why didn't the GASB record ever materialize? Most importantly, given the amazing musical direction the band was taking - it was an early germ of Dawg Music, Grisman's brilliantly distinctive alchemical blend of dozens of traditional musical forms - why didn't the String Band last as a Garcia proposition, but morph into the David Grisman Quintet (DGQ)?
! listing: Oakland Tribune, May 3, 1974, p. 30;
! listing: Hayward Daily Review, May 3, 1974, p. 44;
! listing: Oakland Tribune, May 5, 1974, p. 2-R;
! ad: Oakland Tribune, May 5, 1974, p. 2-R;
! Ref: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/10/april-10-1974-record-plant-sausalito-ca.html?showComment=1329237485261#c7438213843279921015;
! review: Silver, Sam. 1974. Waiting for Jerry Garcia. Berkeley Barb, May 10-16, 17, via Independent Voices.
Rather remarkably, we know a fair bit of very interesting stuff about this gig, despite the fact that there is no tape in circulation.
First, the band was billed as Great American String Band (GASB), which wasn't always the case - it sometimes traveled as Great American Music Band (GAMB), and it doesn't appear that things were particularly consistent in that regard. This testifies to the rather fluid nature of the enterprise, always of interest in the Garciaverse, which would become increasingly institutionalized as time went on. Garcia is listed first, natch - capitalists gotta capitalize - but that's pretty standard.
Second, an anonymous commenter at Hooterollin' reports special guest appearances, including, a week after Old And In The Way's abortive swan song --"no sweeping exits"-- at the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival, the last known stage shared by Garcia and the great Peter Rowan:
I saw Great American String Band show at the Keystone on May 5, 1974 and can attest to the fact that Peter Rowan and Jack Bonus were brought out for two songs - Midnight Moonlight and Hobo Song and the show was recorded professionally for what folks at the gig were hearing would be a future album.Third, as the commenter said, the gig was being recorded for release, one presumes on Round Records, the "side band" companion company to Grateful Dead Records. While the Dead outfit had been up and running since the previous autumn, Round was incorporated 1/22/74. A review of this show that I have just discovered (Silver 1974) confirms that Bear (Augustus Owsley Stanley III) was recording the show with a female assistant, I presume the same Vickie Babcock who helped him record Old And In The Way the previous October.
Fourth, between the Hooterollin' commenter and Sam Silver's review, we can also reconstruct some of the setlist. The show started around 11 pm with what the reviewer called "Dog's Bone", which I assume was "Dawg's Bull", a Grisman original. They played "Bud's Bounce" ("mistakenly credited to Buddy Emmonds, really belongs to Buddy Spiker"), "Midnight at the Oasis", at least one Carter Family tune, and Django Reinhardt's "Swing '42" (about which Silver raves). Anonymous commenter adds "Midnight Moonlight" and "Hobo Song" to the mix.
update: Anonymous, in comments, adds the David Nichtern compositions "I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal the Cards" and "My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid" to this night's setlist, and that "there was another Grisman song or two"
Fifth, Silver took and the Barb published a picture of the GASB in action, one of only two of which I am aware (the other from 5/25/74 in Santa Barbara - h/t Bob Murphy).
 |
| Sam Silver's photo of the Great American String Band, live at Keystone Berkeley, May 5, 1974. Published in the Berkeley Barb, May 10-16, 1974, p. 17. |
Silver is over the moon about the band, with "the best of all possible pickers for the unique job of creating a new music". The review is well worth a read, really capturing the vibe of a show where Garcia is the draw but the other players are the virtuosi, and the audience seemed ready to rock but proved able to appreciate acoustic brilliance.
All of this raises a few essential questions. Are these tapes in possession of the Owsley Stanley Foundation? If so, who can spare whatever it would take to sponsor their preservation? Why didn't the GASB record ever materialize? Most importantly, given the amazing musical direction the band was taking - it was an early germ of Dawg Music, Grisman's brilliantly distinctive alchemical blend of dozens of traditional musical forms - why didn't the String Band last as a Garcia proposition, but morph into the David Grisman Quintet (DGQ)?
! listing: Oakland Tribune, May 3, 1974, p. 30;
! listing: Hayward Daily Review, May 3, 1974, p. 44;
! listing: Oakland Tribune, May 5, 1974, p. 2-R;
! ad: Oakland Tribune, May 5, 1974, p. 2-R;
! Ref: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/10/april-10-1974-record-plant-sausalito-ca.html?showComment=1329237485261#c7438213843279921015;
! review: Silver, Sam. 1974. Waiting for Jerry Garcia. Berkeley Barb, May 10-16, 17, via Independent Voices.
Sunday, September 07, 2014
David Nichtern and the Nocturnes
http://www.concertvault.com/david-nichtern/record-plant-november-09-1974.html
What an interesting looking little fragment. I wish I could hear it.
In All GSCBF All The Time news, I suspect that Nichtern hooked up with his band, including Hot Band pedal steel player Hank Devito, as well as Nicolette Larson, through the GSCBF. They were all there.
What an interesting looking little fragment. I wish I could hear it.
In All GSCBF All The Time news, I suspect that Nichtern hooked up with his band, including Hot Band pedal steel player Hank Devito, as well as Nicolette Larson, through the GSCBF. They were all there.
Monday, December 10, 2012
GAMB: July 7, 1974, CXL'D?
So, these showed up on ebay a few months back.
Poster advertising a "Freak Fair" from July 4-7, 1974 at Shorebird Park on the Berkeley Marina. The red-and-white line drawn poster features illustrations of a native American, a hot air balloon "Enterprise", a geodesic dome, and mintrally-inspired freaks dancing. Listed attractions include jugglers, belly dancers, theatre, fireworks, clowns, body painting, minstals [sic], mime & magic, natural energy displays, craft booths, natural foods, an alternative lifestyle forum, native American village, geodesic dome. General public $2.50 donation.
The "Great American Music Band with Richard Greene & Jerry Garcia" is advertised for Sunday, July 7, but the second line, with Greene and Garcia's name, is blotted out in red, while the band name is not.
Why do I care? As of 12/10/2012, this is the latest known mention of any connection between Garcia and GAMB/GASB. There were certainly shows around June 12-14, 1974, and then that's it. The next known GAMB listing I have --after Garcia's "departure", insofar as he was ever a "member" of the "band" at all during its infancy-- comes on November 7, 1974, with a gig at the Keystone, Berkeley. This is the first dedicated "Dawg Music" band which would briefly include both Grisman and Richard Greene before morphing into the first David Grisman Quintet (DGQ).
So, I find both the late date and the crossing out of the Richard Greene and Jerry Garcia feature to be illuminating. What we might have here, in short, is a rather precise window --between the printing of the poster and whenever someone took the time to cross out those names-- within which Garcia's involvement in the GAMB/GASB went from "in" to "out". Empirical evidence of a pivot point, in short. Neat.
I also wonder if GAMB did, in fact, play, as Grisman and others. But the evidence is ambiguous, since the band name is not crossed out, just the featured players.
Oh yeah, and there's a relatively early Good Old Boys gig on the bill, same day as GAMB.
Anyway, pictures and such.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (Castelli MAC)
Having just posted on the sbd recording from this show, I'll post my notes from the newly circulating audience recording by Robert Castelli (1644-shnid 110663, 2496-shnid 110798). I'll start with a few analytical points, then produce my listening notes based on the 24/96 version.
- Not a ton to say about this, except that this is the same show as the sbd and the same show (and baseline tape) as the "Louis Falanga 6/12/74" tape (shnid 83232).
- Garcia is pretty hit or miss with his banjo playing. Some clams (cf. end of Bud's Bounce), some pretty nice solos (Dawg's Bull).
- Russian Lullaby, with Garcia on acoustic guitar, is pretty darn excellent. Note the banter by DG about how they helped Garcia out on this song for his latest LP (Compliments). Was the album released by this date? It was awfully close. As I have noted, I have the release date as Friday, 6/21/74. Nick runs down Garcia's June 1974 acoustic guitar playing, his last in public until 11/17/78, at his blog.
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
June 13, 1974 (Thursday)
Castelli MAC MOTB-0159 shnid-110798 flac2496
--set I (8 tracks, 41:29)--
s1t01: [0:11] Colored Aristocracy [3:30] [0:08]
s1t02: (1) [0:12] Cedar Hill [3:53] % band introductions (2) [1:30]
s1t03: (3, 4) [1:43] I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal The Cards [2:37] % [0:51]
s1t04: My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid//% [3:#22]
s1t05: (5, 6, 7) [1:16] Moonlight Waltz [4:33] [1:12]
s1t06: Swing '42 [5:58] (8) [0:50]
s1t07: Methodist Preacher [6:08] [0:08] % [0:19]
s1t08: Limehouse Blues [3:06] (9) [0:06]
--set II (10 tracks, 56:17)--
s2t01: ambience [0:01]
s2t02: noodling [0:49], Bud's Bounce [4:22] [0:53] % [0:03]
s2t03: Dawg's Bull [2:23] [0:10] %
s2t04: banter (10) [1:01]
s2t05: Russian Lullaby [8:27] [0:09] % [0:33]
s2t06: Maiden's Prayer [7:14] [0:11] % [0:29]
s2t07: Swing '42 [10:23] [0:11] % (11)
s2t08: Drink Up And Go Home [3:11] [0:02] %
s2t09: [0:12] Dawg's Rag [8:36] %
s2t10: Sweet Georgia Brown// [4:59#]
! ACT1: Great American String/Music Band
! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle;
! lineup: David Nichtern - acoustic guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, vocals, acoustic guitar (s1t05 Moonlight Waltz, s1t06 Swing '42, s2t05 Russian Lullaby s2t07 Swing '42, s2t10 Sweet Georgia Brown);
! lineup: Buell Neidlinger ("Flame Bombadine") - acoustic bass.
! guest: Bob Gurland - mouth trumpet (s2t02 Bud's Bounce, s2t06 Maiden's Prayer, s2t07 Swing '42, s2t10 Sweet Georgia Brown).
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.
! db: URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=13768 (sbd); URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=110663 (Castelli 1644); URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=110798 (Castelli 2496); URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=83232 (Falanga "6/12/74").
! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43
! JGBP: URL http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html
! venue: URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html; URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html
! ad: Oakland Tribune, June 2, 1974, p. 5-RAP
! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook 19740602p19
! listing: [silent] Hayward Daily Review, June 7, 1974, p. 44
! ad: Oakland Tribune, June 9, 1974, p. 4-RAP
! listing: "Rock and Jazz," San Francisco Chronicle, June 12, 1974, p. 62
! listing: "Datebook," San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 1974, p. 44
! Nick: "June 1974: Garcia on acoustic guitar," URL https://deadthinking.blogspot.com/2018/01/june-1974-garcia-on-acoustic-guitar.html
! JGMF: "Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (Castelli MAC)," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/listening-notes-gasb-thursday-june-13_26.html
! JGMF: "Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (sbd)," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/listening-notes-gasb-thursday-june-13.html
! JGMF: "Great American String Band: June 12-14, 1974 (update)," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/great-american-string-band-june-12-14.html
! R: field recordist: Robert Castelli
! R: field recording gear: Sony ECM-270 > Sony TC-110
! R: field recording media: Scotch C120
! R: lineage: MAC >> Nakamichi CR7a => Korg MR-1000 >> DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo] >> Korg MR-1000 => Korg AudioGate >> WAV [24/96]. Transfer By: Bob Menke. Mastering By: Derek McCabe & David Minches. Speed correction by Joe B. Jones.
! R: MOTB Release: 0159 24/96, 10/18/2010
! s1t02 (1) DN: "Here's one written by David Grisman, our mandolin player, it's called Cedar Hill." RG: "'Say-der' Hill." DN: "'Say-der Hill', I've just been corrected."
! s1t02 RG talking to sound booth: "//mandolin and monitors. Would that be alright? This is David Grisman on the mandolin."
! s1t03 DN: "That last song was written by him. It's called 'Cedar Hill' and it's going to be the title song for a new movie, I'm told?" RG: "Yes, who told you that?"
! s1t03 (3) DN: "It's nice to see you all in such a good mood."
! s1t03 (4) @ 1:36, DG references "page 37", so they are using songbooks.
! s1t04 MPBIS cuts out
! s1t05 (5) DN: "It's called Moonlight Waltz. It's in the key of D-minor.
!s1t05 (6) RG: "That guitar is probably older than anyone in this building." DN: "The guard at the door told me he was sixty-two. He asked us how old we were when we were coming in. So we asked him how old he was." DG: "That guitar's just a young'un compared to that bass, though."
! s1t05 I infer that Buell Neidlinger is the bassist based on talk about the bass, ca. 1:00
! s1t06 (8) DN: "Django Reinhardt thanks you."
! s1t08 (9) RG: "Thank you. We'll be back in a little while." This is clearly a *set break* announcement, not the end of an early show.
! s2t02 the noodling before Bud's Bounce is kinda neat, evokes for me the feeling of some old black & white 'B' horror film.
! s2t02 JG misses the ending of Bud's Bounce
! s2t03 Dawg's Bull, JG takes a pretty good solo
! s2t04 (10) DG: "[inaudible] He's got this on his latest LP. We helped him out on it."
! s2t04 Russian Lullaby Garcia on acoustic guitar? Sounds great! Really playing nicely.
! s2t07 (11) DN: "I think we're gonna do a song with a moral next." RG: "What are we doing next?" DN: "Yeah, this is a song with a moral. I hope you don't take it too seriously, considering this is a bar and we're not finished yet. It's called 'Drink Up And Go Home.' So, have a slow drink up." JG: "What's the moral?" DN: "The moral is Drink up and go home." DG: "The moral is you lose your audience, if they drink up and go home." That until about track 11:18, then stage setup changes for the rest of the track.
! s2t08 JG lead vox on DUAGH
! s2t10 SGB cuts out
Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (sbd)
Low-gen soundboard tape of Thursday, 6/13/74, Keystone, Berkeley (shnid-13768). Note the listing as Great American String Band, though the naming issue is one I am avoiding for now. I'll just go with GASB for this post.
A few analytical points:
--set I (9 tracks, 41:14)--
1t01. //Colored Aristocracy [#3:12] (1) [0:22]
s1t02. Cedar Hill [3:42] [0:17]
s1t03. Band Introductions (2) [3:02]
s1t04. I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal The Cards [2:30] [1:10]
s1t05. My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid [3:14] [1:29]
s1t06. Moonlight Waltz [4:22] [1:09]
s1t07. Swing //'42 [5:#50] [2:22]
s1t08. Methodist Preacher [4:17] [0:44]
s1t09. Limehouse Blues [2:58] [0:30]
--set II (7 tracks, 46:09)--
s2ts2t01. //Bud's Bounce [#1:48] [1:44]
s2t02. Dawg's Bull [2:19] [1:41]
s2t03. Russian Lullaby [8:11] [1:50]
s2t04. Maiden's Prayer [6:52] [0:55]
s2t05. Swing '42 [10:20] [2:03]
s2t06. Drink Up And Go Home [3:04] [0:27]
s2t07. Dawg's Rag// [4:32#] [0:18]
[MISSING: s2t10. Sweet Georgia Brown]
JGMF:
! R: Don't be frightened by the uncertain lineage--this sounds very nice. I would not be surprised if this turned out to be MSR > cassette > DAT > CD, like the night previous and as this one sometimes circulates.
! R: The Castelli tape could be used to patch the start of Colored Aristocracy, the splice in the set I Swing '42, the start of Bud's Bounce, the end of Dawg's Rag, and all of Sweet Georgia Brown.
! mono recording
! R: s1t01 Colored Aristocracy fades in
! (1) s1t01 DN: "Here's one written by David Grisman, our mandolin player. It's called 'Cedar Hill'." RG: "Say-der Hill." DN: "Say-der Hill, I've just been corrected."
! (2) s1t03 "Can we hear some more mandolin on the monitors? Would that be all right?" Movie talk, band introductions same as from Castelli aud. NB introduction of Flame Bombadine, after previous night when he insists on being called Flame.
! R: s1t07 Swing '42 tiny splice @ 5:41
! s1t09 The Jerry Site has listed Limehouse Blues as starting set II, but I hear continuous applause and tuning from the end of Methodist Preacher into Limehouse Blues, and continuous applause and tuning from Limehouse Blues into the set break announcement. Also, I would not be surprised if more tunes were played after Dawg's Rag, since it sounds like the band is tuning up for another song. [2010 note: the Castelli tape confirms this: Sweet Georgia Brown closes the show.]
! R: s2t01 Bud's Bounce fades in
! R: s2t01 Bud's Bounce tiny splice @ 1:16
! (3) s2t02 @ 3:01 after Dawg's Bull, DN after being told by JG that they'll do Russian Lullaby: "Oh boy, are you in for a treat." DG: "This is an Irving Berlin number. We're gonna get ... we're gonna get Spudboy to render this one for us. ... He's got this on his latest LP. We helped him out on it."
! s2t03 JG on guitar on Russian Lullaby
! (4) s2t03 RG: "Flame likes to call this tune 'Virgin's Lament'."
! R: s2t07 Dawg's Rag fades out
- The setlist issues have been clarified by the Castelli tape, notes on which I'll post before too long. But Limehouse Blues definitely ends set I, and there is indeed a song ("Sweet Georgia Brown") after "Dawg's Rag" cuts out on this tape. The Castelli tape could be used to patch in the start of Colorado Aristocracy, the splice in Swing '42, the end of Dawg's Rag, and all of Sweet Georgia Brown.
- As the night before, Garcia plays acoustic guitar on Russian Lullaby and a few other tunes. Nick has the skinny.
- Bob Gurland on the "mouth trumpet" is interesting.
- I may have noted more of the banter on the Castelli recording.
- As I noted in my update post on this run of shows, the "Louis Falanga 6/12/74" tape is actually this show, and the same baseline tape as the Castelli aud.
Great American String / Music Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
June 13, 1974 (Thursday)
all-1 sbd shnid-13768 shn2flac
--set I (9 tracks, 41:14)--
1t01. //Colored Aristocracy [#3:12] (1) [0:22]
s1t02. Cedar Hill [3:42] [0:17]
s1t03. Band Introductions (2) [3:02]
s1t04. I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal The Cards [2:30] [1:10]
s1t05. My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid [3:14] [1:29]
s1t06. Moonlight Waltz [4:22] [1:09]
s1t07. Swing //'42 [5:#50] [2:22]
s1t08. Methodist Preacher [4:17] [0:44]
s1t09. Limehouse Blues [2:58] [0:30]
--set II (7 tracks, 46:09)--
s2ts2t01. //Bud's Bounce [#1:48] [1:44]
s2t02. Dawg's Bull [2:19] [1:41]
s2t03. Russian Lullaby [8:11] [1:50]
s2t04. Maiden's Prayer [6:52] [0:55]
s2t05. Swing '42 [10:20] [2:03]
s2t06. Drink Up And Go Home [3:04] [0:27]
s2t07. Dawg's Rag// [4:32#] [0:18]
[MISSING: s2t10. Sweet Georgia Brown]
! ACT1: Great American String/Music Band
! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle;
! lineup: David Nichtern - acoustic guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, vocals, acoustic guitar (s1t05 Moonlight Waltz, s1t06 Swing '42, s2t05 Russian Lullaby s2t07 Swing '42, s2t10 Sweet Georgia Brown);
! lineup: Buell Neidlinger ("Flame Bombadine") - acoustic bass.
! guest: Bob Gurland - mouth trumpet (s2t02 Bud's Bounce, s2t06 Maiden's Prayer, s2t07 Swing '42, s2t10 Sweet Georgia Brown).
! 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/19740613-01
! db: URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=13768 (sbd); URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=110663 (Castelli 1644); URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=110798 (Castelli 2496); URL http://etreedb.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=83232 (Falanga "6/12/74").
! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43
! JGBP: URL http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html
! venue: URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html; URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html
! ad: Oakland Tribune, June 2, 1974, p. 5-RAP
! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook 19740602p19
! listing: [silent] Hayward Daily Review, June 7, 1974, p. 44
! ad: Oakland Tribune, June 9, 1974, p. 4-RAP
! listing: "Rock and Jazz," San Francisco Chronicle, June 12, 1974, p. 62
! listing: "Datebook," San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 1974, p. 44
! Nick: "June 1974: Garcia on acoustic guitar," URL https://deadthinking.blogspot.com/2018/01/june-1974-garcia-on-acoustic-guitar.html
! JGMF: "Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (Castelli MAC)," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/listening-notes-gasb-thursday-june-13_26.html
! JGMF: "Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (sbd)," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/listening-notes-gasb-thursday-june-13.html
! JGMF: "Great American String Band: June 12-14, 1974 (update)," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/great-american-string-band-june-12-14.html
! R: MS? > ? > CD > EAC > SHN. Source CDs from Ryan Shriver; extraction (EAC), .shn encoding (mkwACT), and sector boundary verification (shntool) by jjoops, 12/13/2002. This copy a SHN to FLAC conversion. Two steps using TLH: shn > wav and wav > FLAC8. Done 12/21/2008.
! R: Don't be frightened by the uncertain lineage--this sounds very nice. I would not be surprised if this turned out to be MSR > cassette > DAT > CD, like the night previous and as this one sometimes circulates.
! R: The Castelli tape could be used to patch the start of Colored Aristocracy, the splice in the set I Swing '42, the start of Bud's Bounce, the end of Dawg's Rag, and all of Sweet Georgia Brown.
! mono recording
! R: s1t01 Colored Aristocracy fades in
! (1) s1t01 DN: "Here's one written by David Grisman, our mandolin player. It's called 'Cedar Hill'." RG: "Say-der Hill." DN: "Say-der Hill, I've just been corrected."
! (2) s1t03 "Can we hear some more mandolin on the monitors? Would that be all right?" Movie talk, band introductions same as from Castelli aud. NB introduction of Flame Bombadine, after previous night when he insists on being called Flame.
! R: s1t07 Swing '42 tiny splice @ 5:41
! s1t09 The Jerry Site has listed Limehouse Blues as starting set II, but I hear continuous applause and tuning from the end of Methodist Preacher into Limehouse Blues, and continuous applause and tuning from Limehouse Blues into the set break announcement. Also, I would not be surprised if more tunes were played after Dawg's Rag, since it sounds like the band is tuning up for another song. [2010 note: the Castelli tape confirms this: Sweet Georgia Brown closes the show.]
! R: s2t01 Bud's Bounce fades in
! R: s2t01 Bud's Bounce tiny splice @ 1:16
! (3) s2t02 @ 3:01 after Dawg's Bull, DN after being told by JG that they'll do Russian Lullaby: "Oh boy, are you in for a treat." DG: "This is an Irving Berlin number. We're gonna get ... we're gonna get Spudboy to render this one for us. ... He's got this on his latest LP. We helped him out on it."
! s2t03 JG on guitar on Russian Lullaby
! (4) s2t03 RG: "Flame likes to call this tune 'Virgin's Lament'."
! R: s2t07 Dawg's Rag fades out
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Listening Notes: Great American String Band (GASB), Lion's Share,San Anselmo, June 12, 1974
**update 20140823 - Elwood 1974 is clear that GASB played the Lion's Share on Wednesday, June 12, 1974. Thanks to Blair Jackson!**
Here are some thoughts based on my notations from this recording (shnid-7331). I'll start with a few analytical points, then reproduce the raw notations below.
Great American String Band
Lion's Share
60 Red Hill Avenue
San Anselmo, CA 94960
June 12, 1974 (Wednesday)
sbd shnid-7331
--set I (8 tracks, 39:15)--
s1t01. Colored Aristocracy [3:42] [0:07]
s1t02. Cedar Hill [3:35] (1) [2:21]
s1t03. I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal The Cards [2:19] (2) [1:17]
s1t04. My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid [3:07] (3) [1:33]
s1t05. Lonesome Moonlight Waltz [5:51] [0:07]
s1t06. Swing '42 [5:12] (4) [1:04]
s1t07. Methodist Preacher [4:29] (5) [0:55]
s1t08. Limehouse Blues [3:25] (6) [0:08]
--set II (9 tracks, 51:54)--
s2t01. introduction (7) [0:09], Bud's Bounce [3:05] [0:30]
s2t02. Dawg's Bull [2:27] [0:02] % [0:58]
s2t03. Russian Lullaby [7:06] [0:20]
s2t04. Maiden's Prayer [5:29] [0:36]
s2t05. Sheik of Araby [5:31] (8) [0:41]
s2t06. Billy Of The Lowgrounds [3:23] [0:55]
s2t07. Dawg's Rag [6:59] [0:26] % [0:16]
s2t08. Sweet Georgia Brown [4:52] [0:08] % (9, 10) [1:43]
s2t09. Swing '42 [6:06] [0:12]
! ACT1: Great American String Band
! Lineup: David Grisman - mandolin;
! Lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle;
! Lineup: David Nichtern - guitar, vocals;
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, ac-g (s1t05, s1t06, s2t03, s2t04, s2t06-08), vocals;
! Lineup: Buell Neidlinger (a.k.a. "Flame Bombadine") - ac-bass.
JGMF:
! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [mm: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 [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
Here are some thoughts based on my notations from this recording (shnid-7331). I'll start with a few analytical points, then reproduce the raw notations below.
- It sounds like a single two-set show to me. That fact that Swing '42 was played twice in one night is just an anomaly. They probably had a pretty constrained repertoire worked-up. And the fact that Richard Greene calls them "Great American Music Band" and the pre-set II emcee (Freddie Herrera?) calls them "Great American String Band" just reflects the fluidity of the name in this moment, I think. That'll be a long, separate post at some point.
- Buell Neidlinger is Flame Bombadine, to answer Corry's query in comments back in July.
- Garcia plays acoustic guitar at least on Russian Lullaby, and possibly also the two songs following it. This version of Russian Lullaby is sublime. I'd have to think harder, but is this Jerry's only documented public performance on acoustic guitar until the 11/18/78 Rambler Room thing?
Great American String Band
Lion's Share
60 Red Hill Avenue
San Anselmo, CA 94960
June 12, 1974 (Wednesday)
sbd shnid-7331
--set I (8 tracks, 39:15)--
s1t01. Colored Aristocracy [3:42] [0:07]
s1t02. Cedar Hill [3:35] (1) [2:21]
s1t03. I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal The Cards [2:19] (2) [1:17]
s1t04. My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid [3:07] (3) [1:33]
s1t05. Lonesome Moonlight Waltz [5:51] [0:07]
s1t06. Swing '42 [5:12] (4) [1:04]
s1t07. Methodist Preacher [4:29] (5) [0:55]
s1t08. Limehouse Blues [3:25] (6) [0:08]
--set II (9 tracks, 51:54)--
s2t01. introduction (7) [0:09], Bud's Bounce [3:05] [0:30]
s2t02. Dawg's Bull [2:27] [0:02] % [0:58]
s2t03. Russian Lullaby [7:06] [0:20]
s2t04. Maiden's Prayer [5:29] [0:36]
s2t05. Sheik of Araby [5:31] (8) [0:41]
s2t06. Billy Of The Lowgrounds [3:23] [0:55]
s2t07. Dawg's Rag [6:59] [0:26] % [0:16]
s2t08. Sweet Georgia Brown [4:52] [0:08] % (9, 10) [1:43]
s2t09. Swing '42 [6:06] [0:12]
! ACT1: Great American String Band
! Lineup: David Grisman - mandolin;
! Lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle;
! Lineup: David Nichtern - guitar, vocals;
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, ac-g (s1t05, s1t06, s2t03, s2t04, s2t06-08), vocals;
! Lineup: Buell Neidlinger (a.k.a. "Flame Bombadine") - ac-bass.
JGMF:
! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [mm: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 [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! map: https://goo.gl/maps/CDctD
! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/lions-share-60-red-hill-avenue-san.html
! venue: has sometimes been listed as Keystone Berkeley, but Elwood 1974 is clear that it's the Share.
! review: Elwood, Philip. 1974. From country to jazz – a snap. San Francisco Examiner, June 14, 1974, p. 27.
! seealso: Nick, "June 1974: Garcia on acoustic guitar"
! venue: has sometimes been listed as Keystone Berkeley, but Elwood 1974 is clear that it's the Share.
! review: Elwood, Philip. 1974. From country to jazz – a snap. San Francisco Examiner, June 14, 1974, p. 27.
! seealso: Nick, "June 1974: Garcia on acoustic guitar"
! R: MSR > cassette > DAT > CDx1 > EAC > SHN > FLAC. Source CDs from Ryan Shriver; extraction (EAC), .shn encoding (mkwACT), and sector boundary verification (shntool), 2/13/2002. Mono recording.
! s1t02 @ 3:41 (1) RG after Cedar Hill: "Thank you. Can we have a little more mandolin in the monitors. We're the Great American Music Band. A nice humble title. ... We'd like to do a song next that's written by our multitalented guitarist, David Nichtern. It's called 'IBAGIYDTC'.
! P: s1t03 Neidlinger is bowing during IBAGIYDTC. This is a great, tight version of that song.
! s1t03 @ 2:58 (2) DN: "Who's doing the sound? Raise your hand? Can you bring up the treble in the guitar, at least in the monitor?"
! s1t04 (3) RG: "Might as well introduce the band. On bass we have, special from Los Angeles, Buell Neidlinger, a fine ...Buell is one of these 'peace, love' cats, with his ... groovy, Buell. David Nichtern on the guitar - he wrote that last tune, also. Jerry Garcia on banjo ... 6-string ... we'll have to turn that mic up, it's a ... softer instrument. David Grisman on mandolin. This is something written by Bill Monroe. [DN: "And, Richard Greene on fiddle."] It's called 'Moonlight Waltz'."
! s1t06 Swing 42 is there a banjo? Jerry gets called for solo in 3-min mark and it sounds an awful lot like acoustic guitar to me?
! s1t06 @ 5:37 (4) DN: "This one's gonna feature Richard and David, and it's called 'The Methodist Preacher'."
! R: s1t07 Some tape glitches after Methodist Preacher
! s1t07 @ 5:05 (5) DG: "I wanna send this out to Lanny. This is for Lanny. My dope dealer."
! banjo def. in Limehouse Blues
! s1t08 (6) RG: "Thank you, we'll be back soon." Definitely a set break announcement.
! s2t01 (7) unknown speaker intro: "[inaudible] everybody else and I guess it's time we get this thing underway. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back the Great American String Band."
! s2t03 JG on acoustic guitar on Russian Lullaby ... beautiful. Nick: "Unlike all later JGB performances, it's played here in the Hot Club style arrangement used on Compliments (after Oscar Alemán's 1939 recording)."
! s2t04 is JG still on guitar for Maiden's Prayer? Yes, per Nick.
! s2t04 after Maiden's Prayer, hear Jerry say I wanna play banjo, then on banjo for Sheik
! s2t05 (8) RG "We're gonna play an old-timey, kinda mountain ..."
! instruments: JG on banjo for BOTLG, DR
! P: s2t08 Neidlinger bowing again on SGB
! d2t08 @ 5:15 (9) RG: "That's Buell Neidlinger on bass." BN: "No it's not, no it's not. That's a rotten lie. My name is Flame Bombadine. I was named that by Iggy of the Stooges, just prior to his smearing himself with peanut butter. This is a clean set, so we won't talk about any 'rock-n-roll'." RG: "Flame Bombadine?" BN: "I certainly appreciate your applause. It's the .. it's the, uhhh ... that plus money is what I live on."
! d2t08 @ 6:16 (10) DN: "This tune that we're doing now was written by Django Reinhardt. ... written in the year of Richard Greene's birth." DG: "And yet it's a great tune." DN then asks Jerry "Why don't you say something?" JG: "Fuck it."
! s1t02 @ 3:41 (1) RG after Cedar Hill: "Thank you. Can we have a little more mandolin in the monitors. We're the Great American Music Band. A nice humble title. ... We'd like to do a song next that's written by our multitalented guitarist, David Nichtern. It's called 'IBAGIYDTC'.
! P: s1t03 Neidlinger is bowing during IBAGIYDTC. This is a great, tight version of that song.
! s1t03 @ 2:58 (2) DN: "Who's doing the sound? Raise your hand? Can you bring up the treble in the guitar, at least in the monitor?"
! s1t04 (3) RG: "Might as well introduce the band. On bass we have, special from Los Angeles, Buell Neidlinger, a fine ...Buell is one of these 'peace, love' cats, with his ... groovy, Buell. David Nichtern on the guitar - he wrote that last tune, also. Jerry Garcia on banjo ... 6-string ... we'll have to turn that mic up, it's a ... softer instrument. David Grisman on mandolin. This is something written by Bill Monroe. [DN: "And, Richard Greene on fiddle."] It's called 'Moonlight Waltz'."
! s1t06 Swing 42 is there a banjo? Jerry gets called for solo in 3-min mark and it sounds an awful lot like acoustic guitar to me?
! s1t06 @ 5:37 (4) DN: "This one's gonna feature Richard and David, and it's called 'The Methodist Preacher'."
! R: s1t07 Some tape glitches after Methodist Preacher
! s1t07 @ 5:05 (5) DG: "I wanna send this out to Lanny. This is for Lanny. My dope dealer."
! banjo def. in Limehouse Blues
! s1t08 (6) RG: "Thank you, we'll be back soon." Definitely a set break announcement.
! s2t01 (7) unknown speaker intro: "[inaudible] everybody else and I guess it's time we get this thing underway. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back the Great American String Band."
! s2t03 JG on acoustic guitar on Russian Lullaby ... beautiful. Nick: "Unlike all later JGB performances, it's played here in the Hot Club style arrangement used on Compliments (after Oscar Alemán's 1939 recording)."
! s2t04 is JG still on guitar for Maiden's Prayer? Yes, per Nick.
! s2t04 after Maiden's Prayer, hear Jerry say I wanna play banjo, then on banjo for Sheik
! s2t05 (8) RG "We're gonna play an old-timey, kinda mountain ..."
! instruments: JG on banjo for BOTLG, DR
! P: s2t08 Neidlinger bowing again on SGB
! d2t08 @ 5:15 (9) RG: "That's Buell Neidlinger on bass." BN: "No it's not, no it's not. That's a rotten lie. My name is Flame Bombadine. I was named that by Iggy of the Stooges, just prior to his smearing himself with peanut butter. This is a clean set, so we won't talk about any 'rock-n-roll'." RG: "Flame Bombadine?" BN: "I certainly appreciate your applause. It's the .. it's the, uhhh ... that plus money is what I live on."
! d2t08 @ 6:16 (10) DN: "This tune that we're doing now was written by Django Reinhardt. ... written in the year of Richard Greene's birth." DG: "And yet it's a great tune." DN then asks Jerry "Why don't you say something?" JG: "Fuck it."
Great American String Band: June 12-14, 1974 (update)
**update 20140823 - definitely Lion's Share 6/12/74 and Keystone 6/13-14/74, per Elwood 1974. Thanks to Blair for providing the raw materials!**
So, awhile back I posted on the mid-June 1974 recordings of the Great American Music Band / Great American String Band. I have to leave the name issue alone for now, but for the purposes of this post let me refer to it as the Great American String Band (GASB). My purpose here is to come back to the conclusions I drew in that post, on the basis of new information reflected in Robert Castelli's audience recordings of some of these shows.
Let me start by reiterating what I had previously concluded:
#1 was, effectively, wrong. Until the last month or so, circulating tapes came from only two shows. Serendipitously, Robert Castelli's recordings have recently come into the light thanks to him, Bob Menke and the crew at Mouth of the Beast. Thank you Robert, Bob and MOTB crew for bringing these forward! With these new recordings, there are indeed three distinct nights/pieces in circulation.
This gets me to point #2, which I believe to be correct. I am 99% now 100% sure there were GASB shows at the Keystone, Berkeley on Thursday June 13 and Friday, June 14, 1974. I am about 75%
100% sure there was a gig on June 12, 1974 and that it was at the Lion's Share.
This is what we now have in terms of recordings:
First, most narrowly, the "Louis Falanga" tape of "6/12/74" is actually a tape of 6/13/74. The material is the same material going under that date in both sbd and, now, from Robert Castelli's master audience cassettes. Indeed, the Castelli is the same underlying recording as the "Falanga"; whether Louis was patched out of Castelli's setup, or vice versa, or whether one or the other is a copy of the other or the one, remains a mystery to me. Anyway, this stuff is 6/13/74. The other two tapes of this material, from separate sources but with the same dates, trump whatever was written on tape labels at some point in history.
Second, we now see that there are three distinct pieces: 6/12/74 (two sets) from the soundboard, 6/13/74 (two sets) from soundboard and the Castelli/Falanga audience tape(2), and set I of 6/14/74 from the Castelli audience tape.
Third, there shouldn't be much doubt about the Thursday-Friday, June 13-14 shows at Keystone. Here's the ad I posted earlier:
Castelli's tapes have pretty clear provenance and capture these shows, including the Good Old Boys sets. Not sure why he didn't get set II of the Friday night (6/14) show. Anyway, there shouldn't be any doubt about 6/13-14 at the Keystone, Berkeley.
Fourth point: there used to be questions about the 6/12/74 venue, but it is now confirmed to have been at the Share.
There are other bits and pieces relevant to all of this that would come from a more detailed reporting of the tapes, but let me follow up, first, by just posting some listening notes with scattered analysis. I'll try to round it all up afterword (no promises).
Eventually, I'll get to the name. I think I am just going to have to live with some non-linearity with that one, so I am pre-mourning the loss of the modern dream.
So, awhile back I posted on the mid-June 1974 recordings of the Great American Music Band / Great American String Band. I have to leave the name issue alone for now, but for the purposes of this post let me refer to it as the Great American String Band (GASB). My purpose here is to come back to the conclusions I drew in that post, on the basis of new information reflected in Robert Castelli's audience recordings of some of these shows.
Let me start by reiterating what I had previously concluded:
In sum, regarding the mid-June 1974 GASB/GAMB gigs:As I now understand it, I was half-right.
- despite what appears to be lots of confused and conflicting information on the tapes, I think we have evidence for three separate shows’ worth of music;
- despite what’s on the tape labels, I think there were shows at the Lion’s Share on 6/12 and at Keystone Berkeley on 6/13-14.
#1 was, effectively, wrong. Until the last month or so, circulating tapes came from only two shows. Serendipitously, Robert Castelli's recordings have recently come into the light thanks to him, Bob Menke and the crew at Mouth of the Beast. Thank you Robert, Bob and MOTB crew for bringing these forward! With these new recordings, there are indeed three distinct nights/pieces in circulation.
This gets me to point #2, which I believe to be correct. I am
This is what we now have in terms of recordings:
- Low-gen soundboard of Wednesday, 6/12/74, "Keystone, Berkeley" [sic; actually Lion's Share] (shnid-7331 | listening notes). I now believe that this is a single two-set show (I had previously thought it might be separately billed early and late shows, or different dates entirely).
- "Louis Falanga master" audience tape from Jerry Moore's 1st gen reels of "6/12/74, Keystone, Berkeley" (shnid-83232), transferred and shared by Rob Berger. This is a different performance from the identically-dated sbd one just-above;
- Low-gen soundboard tape of Thursday, 6/13/74, Keystone, Berkeley (shnid-13768 | listening notes)
- Robert Castelli master audience tape of Thursday, 6/13/74, Keystone, Berkeley (1644: shnid-110663 | 2496: shnid-110798 | listening notes)
- Robert Castelli master audience tape of Friday, June 14, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley, set I (shnid-110664);
First, most narrowly, the "Louis Falanga" tape of "6/12/74" is actually a tape of 6/13/74. The material is the same material going under that date in both sbd and, now, from Robert Castelli's master audience cassettes. Indeed, the Castelli is the same underlying recording as the "Falanga"; whether Louis was patched out of Castelli's setup, or vice versa, or whether one or the other is a copy of the other or the one, remains a mystery to me. Anyway, this stuff is 6/13/74. The other two tapes of this material, from separate sources but with the same dates, trump whatever was written on tape labels at some point in history.
Second, we now see that there are three distinct pieces: 6/12/74 (two sets) from the soundboard, 6/13/74 (two sets) from soundboard and the Castelli/Falanga audience tape(2), and set I of 6/14/74 from the Castelli audience tape.
Third, there shouldn't be much doubt about the Thursday-Friday, June 13-14 shows at Keystone. Here's the ad I posted earlier:
Castelli's tapes have pretty clear provenance and capture these shows, including the Good Old Boys sets. Not sure why he didn't get set II of the Friday night (6/14) show. Anyway, there shouldn't be any doubt about 6/13-14 at the Keystone, Berkeley.
Fourth point: there used to be questions about the 6/12/74 venue, but it is now confirmed to have been at the Share.
There are other bits and pieces relevant to all of this that would come from a more detailed reporting of the tapes, but let me follow up, first, by just posting some listening notes with scattered analysis. I'll try to round it all up afterword (no promises).
Eventually, I'll get to the name. I think I am just going to have to live with some non-linearity with that one, so I am pre-mourning the loss of the modern dream.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Birth of the Great American Music Band
Editor's Note: I should point out that the timing of this post was inspired by Corry, who has recently posted on the misty origins of OAITW and who earlier had posted on what might have been the "public debut of a very important band," the GAMB. While I think this post casts a different light on the "public debut" question, I am of course indebted to Lost Live Dead!
I am going to offer and try to defend the hypothesis, just articulated, that the Great American Fiddle / String / Music Band was "born", as recognized by David Grisman at least, on Saturday, March 9, 1974 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA. I will try to post separately on the convoluted tale of the band's name.
I am going to offer and try to defend the hypothesis, just articulated, that the Great American Fiddle / String / Music Band was "born", as recognized by David Grisman at least, on Saturday, March 9, 1974 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, CA. I will try to post separately on the convoluted tale of the band's name.
Let me start by reproducing a calendar listing for the show from the Hayward Daily Review:
We see the following two listings:
- Saturday, March 9, 1974: Richard Greene, David Grisman, Vassar Clements and Skunk Cabbage; Great American Music Hall, SF, CA; two shows.
- Sunday, March 10, 1974: Richard Greene, David Grisman, Vassar Clements and Skunk Cabbage, Great American Music Hall, SF, CA (NB 6 p.m. to midnight)
I believe the first listing is effectively the first GAMB show, and the second is the first with Garcia. Let me lay it out for you.
First, let's recapitulate David Grisman's various tellings of the birth of GAMB.
A gig came up at the Great American Music Hall which was supposed to be Richard Greene and Vassar Clements, each with his own band. Richard asked me to play with him, so we got Eric Thompson on guitar, Sandy Rothman on banjo, and Bing Nathan on bass. Some promoter got a local group called Skunk Cabbage to back Vassar, and on the afternoon of the opening night both bands played a radio show. After Skunk Cabbage heard us play they said “We can’t play with Vassar; he belongs with you guys.” … So they opened the show for us, and we had Richard and Vassar and called it the Great American Fiddle Band. The second night Jerry Garcia played banjo, and Sandy Rothman switched to guitar. Bing Nathan couldn’t make the second night, so Taj Mahal played upright bass. Another musical friend of mine, David Nichtern … had been interested in my stuff … So he showed up the second night (ref 1, p. 34).
Richard Greene and I had a gig at the Great American Music Hall with Vassar Clements and his band, so we called it The Great American Fiddle Band (ref 2, p. 26).
The first quote establishes that Greene, Vassar and Grisman were at the GAMH together for two nights, with Vassar slated to play with Skunk Cabbage. That looks an awful lot like the March 9-10 listings. He also says that Garcia didn't show up until the second night, which is consistent with Jerry and Merl being in Berkeley on the Saturday night (March 9th).
Second, note the 6 pm - midnight billing on Sunday night. This was clearly something special.
Third, I have independent evidence that Grisman and Vassar were interacting with Jerry at precisely this time. There was a Round Records recording session at Columbia Studios, San Francisco, on Friday, March 8, 1974, from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. involving Vassar and Grisman working on "Lonesome Town", "Indiana," and "Russian Lullaby". The first and last of these appeared on Garcia's Compliments, while the middle one is probably "Back Home in Indiana," which appeared as a Compliments outtake on the incredible All Good Things boxset.
Fourth, there is the tantalizing little 7-minute snippet of Stinson Beach rehearsals featuring David Grisman, Richard Greene, Jerry Garcia, Eric Thompson, Bill Wolfe, and maybe others, that is dated March 8, 1974. They work through "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Limehouse Blues," both of which were staples in the (too brief!) GAM/SB repertoire. Related, there is independent reason to believe that there are four reels' worth of materials labeled "Grisman's House", with this date, in the Garcia vault.
Fifth--and this to me is just the sweetest batch of evidence-- there is a fascinating set of fly on the wall recordings, a few hours' worth, labeled only "Bluegrass at Grisman's," that I think is relevant here. It's a mix of material, including some work-throughs of OAITW material (presumably from ca. early 1973) and some other stuff that sounds more like OAITW. But there's at least 20 minutes, and maybe more, of stuff that is clearly proto-GAM/SB, including very early run-throughs of Grisman's (eventually, but not yet!) amazing "Dawg's Rag." Sandy Rothman seems to be present for some of this, and Grisman, Greene and Garcia are omnipresent.
Now, here is the real kicker. At one point during this GAM/SB-ish material, we have the following exchange between what sounds like an older southerner and Garcia.
Older southerner: "Jerry, everybody, I'll see you bright and early tomorrow. You're playin' a gig tomorrow night, then?"
JG: "Yes I am, yeah."
Older southerner: "Sunday you'll be there."
JG: "Yeah, Sunday I'll be there."
Ladies and gentlemen, I am prepared to call it QED on this basis. This material is from March 8, 1974. Grisman and Vassar do a morning studio session for Garcia for a little payday. Then everyone heads over to Grisman's in Stinson Beach. We already know, from point three above, that a bunch of guys are playing proto-GAMB in Stinson Beach, and uncirculated tapes suggest it's at Grisman's house. It sounds for all the world like someone's living room, including side conversations, phone calls, etc. The southerner gives us days of the week: "tomorrow", a Saturday, when Jerry cannot be there because he has a gig, and then a Sunday when he will be there. Those are clear references to March 9 and March 10. When we circle back to Grisman's account (first quote above), it all fits together perfectly. Note that he mentions both Sandy Rothman and Eric Thompson as being involved with the GAMH gigs. Well, here we have Sandy with these guys on the "Bluegrass at Grisman's" recording, and Thompson listed on the 7-minute snippet that David Gans shared with the world on the amazing (if perhaps presently a bit troubled) KPFA. Way too much coincidence not to be correct, IMO.
In conclusion, the evidence overwhelmingly points in favor of the proposition that GAMB was born on March 9, 1974, and Garcia first joined in on March 10th.
One last thing: it sounds like it was a helluva a great show. One account based on interviews with Grisman refers to the legendary 1974 GAMH gig with a "monumental jam" featuring Grisman, Greene, Vassar, Garcia, Fierro, Nichtern, and “from these jams, the Great American String Band was born" (ref 3). Having Fierro in with those guys would have been interesting, to say the least. I hope he just brought the flute and left the sax at home! I have also heard tell of an incredible rendition of "Wild Horses" played by the GAM/SB with Sandy Rothman around this time frame, taped by Betty but with no tape in circulation, which I believe must be from this night. Sounds like fun! Set time capsule ..
REFERENCES:
- Forte, Dan. 1979a. David Grisman: Taking the Mandolin Beyond Tradition. Frets 1, 1 (March): 30-36.
- Juanis, J.C. 1992. Dawgwood Revisited. Relix 19, 6 (December): 25-27.
- Sharpe, Ted. 1977. David Grisman: Mad, Marvelous Mandolinist. Blue Sky Review no. 7: unpaginated.
March 1974
update: this post mostly doesn't serve any purpose anymore, but here it is
- Saturday, March 2, 1974: JGMS @ Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA (JB)
- Monday, March 4, 1974: Compliments work at Heider's (JB)
- Wednesday, March 6, 1974: Compliments work at Heider's (JB)
- Friday, March 8, 1974, 11 AM: Compliments session at Columbia Studios w Vassar, Grsiman, Sandy Rothman (JB)
- Friday, March 8, 1974: Rehearsal at Grisman's house, Stinson Beach, CA. David Grisman, Richard Greene, Jerry Garcia, Eric Thompson, Bill Wolfe, maybe others (JB | 7-minute recording info)
- Saturday, March 9, 1974: JGMS @ Keystone, Berkeley (JB | sbd recording info)
- Birth of GASB here
- Thursday, March 14, 1974: JGMS @ Keystone, Berkeley (JB)
- Friday, March 22, 1974: JGMS @ Chateau Liberté, Los Gatos, CA (JB)
- Saturday, March 23, 1974: GD at Cow Palace (JB)
- Sunday, March 24, 1974: Compliments work at Columbia (JB)
- Monday, March 25, 1974: GD Mars Hotel work at Columbia (JB)
- Tuesday, March 26, 1974: GD Mars Hotel work at Columbia (JB)
- Tuesday, March 26, 1974: Compliments work at Columbia (JB)
- Wednesday, March 27, 1974: Compliments work at Columbia (JB)
- Thursday, March 28, 1974: Compliments work at Columbia (JB)
- Friday, March 29, 1974: Compliments work at Columbia (JB)
- Saturday, March 30, 1974: GD Mars Hotel sessions at CBS Studios, 829 Folsom Street, SF, CA (JB);
- Saturday, March 30, 1974: JGMS @ Keystone Stockton (JB)
First, TJS used to list a 3/1/74 JGMS gig at GAMH, but I am now about 99.9% sure it was a phantom.
Second, never mind.
Third, re: Vassar he played with Skunk Cabbage 3/1 at the GAMH. I had noted in my post on the Skunk Cabbage set at the GSCBF that Vassar played around with them. Here are a few other dates I have managed to pick up for Skunk Cabbage, with and w/o Mr. Clements:
- Sunday, 11/18/73: The Cashews, Skunk Cabbage; New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA; (note Rowan Brothers billed there on 11/20, FWIW)
- Monday, 11/26/73: Juice, Jango, Skunk Cabbage, and others; Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA.
- Tuesday, December 11, 1973: Byron Berline, Country Gazzette, Vassar Clements, Skunk Cabbage; Great American Music Hall, SF, CA.
- Friday, March 1, 1974: see above.
- Sunday, March 3, 1974: Skunk Cabbage with Vassar Clements and Western Union; Keystone, Berkeley, CA.
- Saturday, March 9, 1974: Richard Greene, David Grisman, Vassar Clements and Skunk Cabbage; Great American Music Hall, SF, CA; two shows.
- Sunday, March 10, 1974: Richard Greene, David Grisman, Vassar Clements and Skunk Cabbage, Great American Music Hall, SF, CA (NB 6 p.m. to midnight)
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Great American Music Band: Wednesday, April 24, 1974, Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA
Clearly identified as the Great American Music Band by the emcee at the end, this is the quartet of Grisman (mandolin), Greene (fiddle), Nichtern (ac-guitar, vocals) and Taj Mahal (ac-bass). The performance doesn't light me up the way some of them do. The tape, via 'fstop', is quite nice, though I'd guess that the Will Boswell/Matt Smith version may be even better. I'd have to do a side-by-side comparison. No Garcia Content, but since I mentioned this in GSCBF9 I thought I'd lay this out here.
Arlington Theatre is amazing, by the way. I saw the Allman Brothers there in the early 90s and it was one of the finer musical experiences I have had.
Great American Music Band
Arlington Theatre
1317 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
April 24, 1974 (Wednesday)
49 min sbd tape via fstop
(19 tracks, 49:09)
--main set (16 tracks, 44:21)--
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t01. crowd and tuning [0:31]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02. Katy Hill [2:39] [0:37] (1)
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t03. Limehouse Blues [3:11] [0:11]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t04. banter (2), tuning [0:42]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t05. I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards [2:27] [0:14]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. banter (3), tuning, banter (4) [1:25]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t07. Swing '42 [4:46] [0:21]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t08. Dawg intro (5), song intro [0:26]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t09. Dawg's Bull [2:02] [0:10]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t10. "Tex" Mahal introduction [0:37]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t11. Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms [2:56] [0:42]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t12. David Nichtern intro, song intro [0:45]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t13. My Plastic Banana Isn't Stupid [3:13] [1:06]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t14. Midnight At The Oasis [3:46] [0:18]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t15. Dawg's Rag [5:38] [1:22]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. Sweet Georgia Brown [3:50] [0:32] %
--encore (3 tracks, 4:47)--
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t17. pre-encore crowd and tuning [0:10]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t18. Orange Blossom Special [4:08] [0:09]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t19. outro (6) [0:19]
! band: Great American Music Band
! lineup: David ("Dawg") Grisman - mandolin;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle;
! lineup: David Nichtern - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Taj ("Tex") Mahal - 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.
! TJS: n/a
! db: http://db.etree.org/lookup_show.php?shows_key=389520
! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/arlington-theater-1317-state-st-santa.html
! map: http://goo.gl/maps/U3Bfh
! R: fstop's unknown (low) gen sbd reel > CD > EAC > CD Wave > TLH (16/44 FLAC8).
! song: "Katy Hill" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02): a traditional popularized by Bill Monroe (Allan).
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02. (1) RG: "OK, here's a little something Hot Club style. ... Django Reinhardt ... It's called Limehouse Blues."
! song: "Limehouse Blues" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t03): (Lyrics: Douglas Furber; Music: Phillip Braham) (Allan).
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t04. (2) RG: "I'd like to introduce David Nichtern on guitar. He's also a very prolific and successful songwriter, and this is one of his songs. It's called 'I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards'."
! song: "I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t05): I am using the title as given here, on the 6/13/74 GASB show, and perhaps another time or two. Deaddisc calls it "I'll Be A Gambler", noting "Registered title is 'I'll Be A Gambler'". I am not sure if, by this, the curator means has registered it that way, or it's officially registered that way somewhere.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. (3) RG: "This is something called 'Swing 42', named after the very successful year of my birth."
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. (4) requests for soundman
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t07. R: Swing 42 SQ anomalies @ 2:45.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t08. (5) RG: "This here's Dawg. I'd like to present Dawg. [Grisman laughs] Dawg is permanently trapped in The Zone."
! song: Dawg's Bull (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t09): a Grisman instrumental, released in 1979 on Hot Dawg.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t15. R: Dawg's Rag @ 2:40 some overload, mostly from the bass.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. R: SGB more bass overload
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. P: SGB is all-instrumental, whereas on other occasions (4/20?) Taj also took vocals.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t19. historical: emcee twice calls the band "Great American Music Band", including in note (6), the outro.
Arlington Theatre is amazing, by the way. I saw the Allman Brothers there in the early 90s and it was one of the finer musical experiences I have had.
Great American Music Band
Arlington Theatre
1317 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
April 24, 1974 (Wednesday)
49 min sbd tape via fstop
(19 tracks, 49:09)
--main set (16 tracks, 44:21)--
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t01. crowd and tuning [0:31]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02. Katy Hill [2:39] [0:37] (1)
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t03. Limehouse Blues [3:11] [0:11]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t04. banter (2), tuning [0:42]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t05. I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards [2:27] [0:14]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. banter (3), tuning, banter (4) [1:25]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t07. Swing '42 [4:46] [0:21]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t08. Dawg intro (5), song intro [0:26]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t09. Dawg's Bull [2:02] [0:10]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t10. "Tex" Mahal introduction [0:37]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t11. Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms [2:56] [0:42]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t12. David Nichtern intro, song intro [0:45]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t13. My Plastic Banana Isn't Stupid [3:13] [1:06]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t14. Midnight At The Oasis [3:46] [0:18]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t15. Dawg's Rag [5:38] [1:22]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. Sweet Georgia Brown [3:50] [0:32] %
--encore (3 tracks, 4:47)--
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t17. pre-encore crowd and tuning [0:10]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t18. Orange Blossom Special [4:08] [0:09]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t19. outro (6) [0:19]
! band: Great American Music Band
! lineup: David ("Dawg") Grisman - mandolin;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle;
! lineup: David Nichtern - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Taj ("Tex") Mahal - 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.
! TJS: n/a
! db: http://db.etree.org/lookup_show.php?shows_key=389520
! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/arlington-theater-1317-state-st-santa.html
! map: http://goo.gl/maps/U3Bfh
! R: fstop's unknown (low) gen sbd reel > CD > EAC > CD Wave > TLH (16/44 FLAC8).
! song: "Katy Hill" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02): a traditional popularized by Bill Monroe (Allan).
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02. (1) RG: "OK, here's a little something Hot Club style. ... Django Reinhardt ... It's called Limehouse Blues."
! song: "Limehouse Blues" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t03): (Lyrics: Douglas Furber; Music: Phillip Braham) (Allan).
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t04. (2) RG: "I'd like to introduce David Nichtern on guitar. He's also a very prolific and successful songwriter, and this is one of his songs. It's called 'I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards'."
! song: "I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t05): I am using the title as given here, on the 6/13/74 GASB show, and perhaps another time or two. Deaddisc calls it "I'll Be A Gambler", noting "Registered title is 'I'll Be A Gambler'". I am not sure if, by this, the curator means has registered it that way, or it's officially registered that way somewhere.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. (3) RG: "This is something called 'Swing 42', named after the very successful year of my birth."
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. (4) requests for soundman
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t07. R: Swing 42 SQ anomalies @ 2:45.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t08. (5) RG: "This here's Dawg. I'd like to present Dawg. [Grisman laughs] Dawg is permanently trapped in The Zone."
! song: Dawg's Bull (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t09): a Grisman instrumental, released in 1979 on Hot Dawg.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t15. R: Dawg's Rag @ 2:40 some overload, mostly from the bass.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. R: SGB more bass overload
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. P: SGB is all-instrumental, whereas on other occasions (4/20?) Taj also took vocals.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t19. historical: emcee twice calls the band "Great American Music Band", including in note (6), the outro.
Saturday, November 06, 2010
GSCBF9: Great American String Band: Saturday, April 27, 1974, ca. 23:15 ("Where's Jerry?")
Part of a series of back-of-the-napkin thoughts about the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival (GSCBF), held in San Rafael, CA from Friday, April 26th through Sunday, April 28, 1974.
So I am breaking the continuous look at Sunday. Probably not a good idea, but here we are.
The festival schedule has "Great American String Band & Vassar Clements" closing both Friday night (22:30) and Saturday night (23:15). A few things to note about this. First, the name issue is one that will require a lot of time and a separate post. It's probably more complicated than interesting. Second, as the man to whom the Festival was dedicated, Vassar was all over the place (and the schedule). That said, as far as I can tell he does not play on either GASB set. Third, the fact that Garcia-associated bands would close all three nights of the festival (GASB on Friday and Saturday, OAITW on Sunday, though this last was not billed in advance) is consistent with the view that things were at least somewhat Garcia-centric. (In truth, it's probably more the case that they were Vassar-centric, but I'll have to leave that aside for now.)
Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival
Marin County Veterans' Auditorium Building and Grounds
San Rafael, CA
<--Doc Watson precedes-->
Great American String Band
Saturday, April 27, 1974 ca. 23:15
Source: Berger sbd seed from Jerry Moore's reels, "4/27/74" d1t22-24 and d2t01
Provenance: unknown sbd recording > ?? > Jerry Moore's reel.
Transfer: Sony TC-765 playback > sbm1 > dat > cdr > soundforge > cdr > eac > flac by Rob Berger, originally transferred in 1999; from the FLAC fileset I decoded, joined the wavs in Wavelab 5.0, and cut tracks as below in CD Wave;
Lossless encoding: TLH (FLAC level 8).
Tagging: Foobar 2000.
(6 tracks, 20:15)
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t01. Banter (1), Tuning [0:24]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t02. My Plastic Banana Isn't Stupid [3:19] [0:06] % [0:25]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t03. Dawg's Rag [7:22] [0:31]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04. Talk (2,3,4) [1:04]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t05. I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards [2:27] [0:04] %
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t06. ... Sweet Georgia Brown [#4:27] [0:04]
Lineup:
Richard Greene - fiddle;
David Grisman - mandolin, harmony vocals;
David Nichtern - guitar, vocals (I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards);
Taj Mahal - guitar, vocals (Sweet Georgia Brown).
Notes:
! % = tape discontinuity; # = truncated timing.
! There are occasional pops in the recording, which is overall quite good.
! The source tape for this is the "soundman" reels acquired in 1st gen by Will Boswell. So the Matt Smith transfers of the Boswell tapes are probably going to sound better than this, though we'll have to see. Because of the heavy editing of this tape source (there are recording discontinuities before and after every song, unlike the "Debbie" source, which is pretty continuous except for master tape changes), we can really have no idea how much of the GASB set this represents. We can be pretty sure that this is Saturday night, but we can't know much more than that. As noted below, Sweet George Brown is the (expected) last song of the set.
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t01: (1) Richard Greene: "... David Nichtern. It's called Plastic ... my ... something about my plastic banana. I don't really remember it." DG: "Well the thing is, that it's not stupid." RG: "Oh." DG: "His plastic banana is not stupid."
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t03: this version of Dawg's Rag is smokin' hot!
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04: (2) Richard Greene: "It's really far out. It's very far out. We're really tickled that you like original stuff. It's great. Another original for you, it's by David Nichtern. It's called 'I'll Be The [sic] Gambler If You Deal The Cards'. ... Dawg broke a string ..."
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04: (3) crowd member yells for "Wild Horses". Nichtern: "We don't do that tune."
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04: (4): crowd member asks "Where's Jerry?"
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t05: David Nichtern lead vocals.
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t06: SGB enters in progress, probably a good chunk missing. This sounds like the (expected) last song of the GASB based on the "thank you"s at the end.
<--end of Saturday, April 27, 1974 festival program-->
Previous installments:
So I am breaking the continuous look at Sunday. Probably not a good idea, but here we are.
The festival schedule has "Great American String Band & Vassar Clements" closing both Friday night (22:30) and Saturday night (23:15). A few things to note about this. First, the name issue is one that will require a lot of time and a separate post. It's probably more complicated than interesting. Second, as the man to whom the Festival was dedicated, Vassar was all over the place (and the schedule). That said, as far as I can tell he does not play on either GASB set. Third, the fact that Garcia-associated bands would close all three nights of the festival (GASB on Friday and Saturday, OAITW on Sunday, though this last was not billed in advance) is consistent with the view that things were at least somewhat Garcia-centric. (In truth, it's probably more the case that they were Vassar-centric, but I'll have to leave that aside for now.)
I put a parenthetical at the end of this post title: "Where's Jerry?" That is the question posed by an audience member, and it's a good one. Garcia is not playing with GASB here, even though he participated in a workshop on the Festival grounds earlier this very day, had played with GAS/MB the night before, lived in town, and would be all over the place the next day. I had always assumed he was on this, but he isn't. So where was he? Partying back at the hotel? (Apparently the festival organizers took every care to cater to the desires of the talent, including running limos back and forth between the festival site [Marin County Veterans' Auditorium Building and Grounds] and the hotel, and the musicians made great use of this to have a high old time.) He could have been in some other social setting, though taking a Saturday night off would be really uncharacteristic at this time.
I have to believe that our friendly music junkie must have had a really good reason not to be there, and let me offer a conjecture: maybe he was in LA working on what would become Compliments? Here's the timeline. We know that at least some of the album work was done in LA, and that it was happening right around this time. I have information on a session at Heider's Studio A (LA) on April 23rd. Let's assume that Garcia's presence for the Pilgrimage Theater gig on April 20th was related to him being down south for album work. The GAMB/GASB made its way north with a gig at the Arlingon Theater in Santa Barbara on the 24th, sans Jerry. I figure he just stayed back in LA to work on the album. Then he flies up for Friday night at the Festival, but flies back down to LA for studio work on Saturday, April 27th.
Remember that back in these days you could just walk up to ticket counter at SFO, hop a plane, and be in LA less than two hours after walking into the terminal. So I think he played the workshop midday and then caught a plane. I think the pressure was really on to complete the album, which gets to Jerry's personal financial stake in Round Records. Round had sent out invitations for a May 1, 1974 release party for "Compliments" and Robert Hunter's Tale of the Great Rum Runners.
 |
| deadnetcentral.com |
Gotta love the p.s. ("Come over and get wasted, and listen to some good music"), but anyway.
Again: there's evidence of studio work on 4/23, and there's an album release scheduled for May 1st. I just think it's plausible that Garcia had to finish things up on Saturday, 4/27, and that's why he didn't play with GASB.
Anyway, notes on the GASB fileset circulated by Rob Berger, from Jerry Moore (RIP)'s reels, are below. Thanks, Rob and Jerry!
Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival
Marin County Veterans' Auditorium Building and Grounds
San Rafael, CA
<--Doc Watson precedes-->
Great American String Band
Saturday, April 27, 1974 ca. 23:15
Source: Berger sbd seed from Jerry Moore's reels, "4/27/74" d1t22-24 and d2t01
Provenance: unknown sbd recording > ?? > Jerry Moore's reel.
Transfer: Sony TC-765 playback > sbm1 > dat > cdr > soundforge > cdr > eac > flac by Rob Berger, originally transferred in 1999; from the FLAC fileset I decoded, joined the wavs in Wavelab 5.0, and cut tracks as below in CD Wave;
Lossless encoding: TLH (FLAC level 8).
Tagging: Foobar 2000.
(6 tracks, 20:15)
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t01. Banter (1), Tuning [0:24]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t02. My Plastic Banana Isn't Stupid [3:19] [0:06] % [0:25]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t03. Dawg's Rag [7:22] [0:31]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04. Talk (2,3,4) [1:04]
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t05. I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards [2:27] [0:04] %
GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t06. ... Sweet Georgia Brown [#4:27] [0:04]
Lineup:
Richard Greene - fiddle;
David Grisman - mandolin, harmony vocals;
David Nichtern - guitar, vocals (I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards);
Taj Mahal - guitar, vocals (Sweet Georgia Brown).
Notes:
! % = tape discontinuity; # = truncated timing.
! This performance is very hot.
! There are occasional pops in the recording, which is overall quite good.
! The source tape for this is the "soundman" reels acquired in 1st gen by Will Boswell. So the Matt Smith transfers of the Boswell tapes are probably going to sound better than this, though we'll have to see. Because of the heavy editing of this tape source (there are recording discontinuities before and after every song, unlike the "Debbie" source, which is pretty continuous except for master tape changes), we can really have no idea how much of the GASB set this represents. We can be pretty sure that this is Saturday night, but we can't know much more than that. As noted below, Sweet George Brown is the (expected) last song of the set.
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t01: (1) Richard Greene: "... David Nichtern. It's called Plastic ... my ... something about my plastic banana. I don't really remember it." DG: "Well the thing is, that it's not stupid." RG: "Oh." DG: "His plastic banana is not stupid."
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t03: this version of Dawg's Rag is smokin' hot!
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04: (2) Richard Greene: "It's really far out. It's very far out. We're really tickled that you like original stuff. It's great. Another original for you, it's by David Nichtern. It's called 'I'll Be The [sic] Gambler If You Deal The Cards'. ... Dawg broke a string ..."
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04: (3) crowd member yells for "Wild Horses". Nichtern: "We don't do that tune."
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t04: (4): crowd member asks "Where's Jerry?"
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t05: David Nichtern lead vocals.
! GSCBF-1974-04-27-2315-GASB-t06: SGB enters in progress, probably a good chunk missing. This sounds like the (expected) last song of the GASB based on the "thank you"s at the end.
<--end of Saturday, April 27, 1974 festival program-->
Sunday, August 22, 2010
GSCBF2: Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival: San Rafael, CA, April 26-28, 1974
I am going to probably do a series of posts on the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival, which was held in San Rafael from April 26-28, 1974.
I have become rather obsessed with this festival. It barely gets mentioned in most Dead-/Jerry-ology, but I think it provides a fascinating glimpse into all kinds of things: 1974, bluegrass, rednecks-meet-hippies, hippie business practices, GD, Bay Area, Garcia, Northern California/SF in their relations to "America", etc. etc. Folks who have read Gans and Simon's still wonderful Playing in the Band [Amazon link, 1996 updated version] might recall the iconic picture by John Sievert of John McEuen, Steve Martin, and Garcia "pickin' and grinnin'" together at the festival (1):
I don't have a clear plan in mind for this series, which is probably really dangerous. It's been many years since I've written something of any length/continuity without a very tight outline, so this could meander. That's fine. I'll just kind of post things as they come, and since I have mentioned it once already I'll call this post GSCBF #2. I hope to at least make posts about the business side of things, the performers, and the recordings. This post is a quickie that mixes the first and third.
Let me just make five empirical observations.
1) The festival was to be recorded for an album release on a "major label" and there were plans for "a major motion picture company [to be] filming the Festival with the production of a theatrical feature being the objective" (2).
2) Judy Lammers, who organized the festival with her then-husband Paul, says that film was conferred on someone, unremembered, right after the festival, and has been lost to her since.
3) another person closely involved with the festival (3) says that things started to get organizationally crazy, especially surrounding recording and filming, when the GD organization took over these aspects. Another view might hold that cause and effect ran the opposite way - that things started falling apart, and existing instances mobilized.
4) I have been under the impression that a set of these tapes resides in Grisman's vault, and maybe that another resides in the GD (?Garcia?) vault.
5) There are various quite nice sbd recordings in circulation (i.e. among collectors) of many of the festival acts. At least one and maybe two very low gen sets of tapes, slightly different sbd tapes, are out and about a little bit. I will be analyzing the tapes and posting about them separately.
What's the point of this post?
Not quite sure, but let me spitball one or two speculations and other ideas.
1) I have already posted about how Garcia was half-owner --with Ron Rakow his equal partner ... yikes!-- of Round Records. It makes sense to imagine that a festival recording might be a Round release. Hardly a "major label", but I wouldn't put it past the promotional materials to be willing to gild the lily just a tiny bit.
2) Re the filming, we know Jerry would eventually do the GD movie. He might have liked the idea of doing the festival film. What's more, this is music he loved in the area he loved, bluegrass in Marin County. I can see how portraying that combination would have been especially rewarding for Jerry.
3) If #1 and #2 are true, this might explain why the "GD organization" came in on the festival - not per se, but various of its many subsidiary operations such as the sound folks. It became something of a Garcia/GD production, despite the facts that 1) every living bluegrass icon (less Bill Monroe) and many of the hottest folk and country acts were present (and, coincidentally, playing their asses off); and b) others had worked long and hard on planning this thing. If Round was involved, Garcia had a tremendous personal stake in making any release a commercial success.
4) Putting all of this together, I would suppose that the tape and film is all in GD-family hands, and that an eventual release could be foreseen. I rarely get normative, but he's a hope: How's about a festival film and soundtrack, David Lemieux! And while they are at it, I am sure the Lammers would love to see some fruits of their labor of love in putting this thing together, after dealing with financial ruin at the time. Win-win-win: fans and historians get to see some presumably great footage of some incredible music and musicians, we all get to hear great music in the best possible sound, and the people who deserve to might see some much-deserved reward.
REFERENCES:
(1) Gans, David, and Peter Simon. 1985. Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of the Grateful Dead. New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 147. Updated memorial version, with new last chapter, published 1996.
(2) "The Hills Around the Bay to Resound With Music: Country Music, Bluegrass Music, Old-Time Music, and Much More American Folk Music; The Bay Area's First Bluegrass Festival -- Last Weekend in April." Jewell Productions and Communications Assistants, April 11, 1974. Southern Folklife Collection Festival Files, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, folder 54; 8 pp., information from p. 4.
(3) Lest anyone draw the wrong inference, this is not Paul Lammers. I haven't spoken to him, though I would very much like to.
I have become rather obsessed with this festival. It barely gets mentioned in most Dead-/Jerry-ology, but I think it provides a fascinating glimpse into all kinds of things: 1974, bluegrass, rednecks-meet-hippies, hippie business practices, GD, Bay Area, Garcia, Northern California/SF in their relations to "America", etc. etc. Folks who have read Gans and Simon's still wonderful Playing in the Band [Amazon link, 1996 updated version] might recall the iconic picture by John Sievert of John McEuen, Steve Martin, and Garcia "pickin' and grinnin'" together at the festival (1):
I don't have a clear plan in mind for this series, which is probably really dangerous. It's been many years since I've written something of any length/continuity without a very tight outline, so this could meander. That's fine. I'll just kind of post things as they come, and since I have mentioned it once already I'll call this post GSCBF #2. I hope to at least make posts about the business side of things, the performers, and the recordings. This post is a quickie that mixes the first and third.
Let me just make five empirical observations.
1) The festival was to be recorded for an album release on a "major label" and there were plans for "a major motion picture company [to be] filming the Festival with the production of a theatrical feature being the objective" (2).
2) Judy Lammers, who organized the festival with her then-husband Paul, says that film was conferred on someone, unremembered, right after the festival, and has been lost to her since.
3) another person closely involved with the festival (3) says that things started to get organizationally crazy, especially surrounding recording and filming, when the GD organization took over these aspects. Another view might hold that cause and effect ran the opposite way - that things started falling apart, and existing instances mobilized.
4) I have been under the impression that a set of these tapes resides in Grisman's vault, and maybe that another resides in the GD (?Garcia?) vault.
5) There are various quite nice sbd recordings in circulation (i.e. among collectors) of many of the festival acts. At least one and maybe two very low gen sets of tapes, slightly different sbd tapes, are out and about a little bit. I will be analyzing the tapes and posting about them separately.
What's the point of this post?
Not quite sure, but let me spitball one or two speculations and other ideas.
1) I have already posted about how Garcia was half-owner --with Ron Rakow his equal partner ... yikes!-- of Round Records. It makes sense to imagine that a festival recording might be a Round release. Hardly a "major label", but I wouldn't put it past the promotional materials to be willing to gild the lily just a tiny bit.
2) Re the filming, we know Jerry would eventually do the GD movie. He might have liked the idea of doing the festival film. What's more, this is music he loved in the area he loved, bluegrass in Marin County. I can see how portraying that combination would have been especially rewarding for Jerry.
3) If #1 and #2 are true, this might explain why the "GD organization" came in on the festival - not per se, but various of its many subsidiary operations such as the sound folks. It became something of a Garcia/GD production, despite the facts that 1) every living bluegrass icon (less Bill Monroe) and many of the hottest folk and country acts were present (and, coincidentally, playing their asses off); and b) others had worked long and hard on planning this thing. If Round was involved, Garcia had a tremendous personal stake in making any release a commercial success.
4) Putting all of this together, I would suppose that the tape and film is all in GD-family hands, and that an eventual release could be foreseen. I rarely get normative, but he's a hope: How's about a festival film and soundtrack, David Lemieux! And while they are at it, I am sure the Lammers would love to see some fruits of their labor of love in putting this thing together, after dealing with financial ruin at the time. Win-win-win: fans and historians get to see some presumably great footage of some incredible music and musicians, we all get to hear great music in the best possible sound, and the people who deserve to might see some much-deserved reward.
REFERENCES:
(1) Gans, David, and Peter Simon. 1985. Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of the Grateful Dead. New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 147. Updated memorial version, with new last chapter, published 1996.
(2) "The Hills Around the Bay to Resound With Music: Country Music, Bluegrass Music, Old-Time Music, and Much More American Folk Music; The Bay Area's First Bluegrass Festival -- Last Weekend in April." Jewell Productions and Communications Assistants, April 11, 1974. Southern Folklife Collection Festival Files, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, folder 54; 8 pp., information from p. 4.
(3) Lest anyone draw the wrong inference, this is not Paul Lammers. I haven't spoken to him, though I would very much like to.
Friday, July 23, 2010
GASB/GAMB: mid-June 1974
update 20140907: June 12 was Lion's Share, June 13-14 was Keystone Berkeley. This post mostly deals with stuff that has been clarified by Elwood (1974), but there's still some good analysis of things other than date/venue in the old text /update
The Great American String/Music Band is one of my favorite Garcia-involved aggregations. It was short-lived by almost any measure, but especially insofar as Garcia’s involvement was concerned. By the latter yardstick, it lasted barely three months. It is still shrouded in some degree of mystery, even regarding fundamentals such as the precise name at various points in time. I have read and thought a lot about that issue, but it’s too convoluted (and still too unclear) for me to post about here – that’ll be a future post. It was a watershed group (along with closely-related Muleskinner) in terms of David Grisman’s musical development, representing, gross modo, the pivot that would turn him decisively toward “Dawg Music” over the next several years. In that sense, I think it’s important more generally in any account of the development of various American musical forms, especially bluegrass.
So, I’ll have a lot to say about GASB/GAMB at some point. For now, putting the cart before the horse, I just want to comment on the dating of two of the shows that circulate, going under the dates of June 12-13, 1974, from the Keystone in Berkeley.
We have three tapes that circulate with these two dates:
I believe that there were three shows in this time period: June 12th at the Lion’s Share in San Anselmo and June 13-14 at Keystone, Berkeley [ed: correct!]. I have no idea what the tapes actually portray. In an optimistic vein, I might conjecture that all three of these dates are represented on the tapes we have, but there's no evidence to that effect.
Let me start with the question of the tapes first.
The key to thinking we have three dates represented here, and not just two, resides in tape #2. I think this is actually two separate shows, based on the following:
These could, of course, be early and late shows from the same date. However, I am not aware of any other early/late billings at either the Lion’s Share or the Keystone Berkeley around this time, so I am inclined to think these are two separate dates. Tapes #s 1 and 3 are the same show, but whatever its date this show is distinct from the two shows I think are present on tape #2. In brief, I think we have three distinct shows represented on these tapes: the one identified as set I of 6/12/74 on the sbd tape; the one identified as set II of 6/12/74 on the sbd tape; and the one that is available to us through both an aud copy and a sbd copy, respectively dated 6/12 and 6/13/74.
In my current state of thinking, I imagine that one of these sets is from the Lion’s Share on June 12, and one each is from the Keystone on June 13 and 14, respectively. I wouldn’t hazard which might be which, and this particular attribute goes way beyond what the evidence rightfully allows.
Why do I say that there was a Lion’s Share (not Keystone) show on 6/12, and a Keystone show on 6/14?
1) 6/12/74: Lion’s Share, San Anselmo
2) 6/13/74: Keystone, Berkeley
In sum, regarding the mid-June 1974 GASB/GAMB gigs:
The Great American String/Music Band is one of my favorite Garcia-involved aggregations. It was short-lived by almost any measure, but especially insofar as Garcia’s involvement was concerned. By the latter yardstick, it lasted barely three months. It is still shrouded in some degree of mystery, even regarding fundamentals such as the precise name at various points in time. I have read and thought a lot about that issue, but it’s too convoluted (and still too unclear) for me to post about here – that’ll be a future post. It was a watershed group (along with closely-related Muleskinner) in terms of David Grisman’s musical development, representing, gross modo, the pivot that would turn him decisively toward “Dawg Music” over the next several years. In that sense, I think it’s important more generally in any account of the development of various American musical forms, especially bluegrass.
So, I’ll have a lot to say about GASB/GAMB at some point. For now, putting the cart before the horse, I just want to comment on the dating of two of the shows that circulate, going under the dates of June 12-13, 1974, from the Keystone in Berkeley.
We have three tapes that circulate with these two dates:
- a Louis Falanga audience tape (shnid 83232) dated 6/12/74.
- a sbd tape (shnid 7331) dated 6/12/74.
- a sbd tape (shnid 13768) dated 6/13/74.
I believe that there were three shows in this time period: June 12th at the Lion’s Share in San Anselmo and June 13-14 at Keystone, Berkeley [ed: correct!]. I have no idea what the tapes actually portray. In an optimistic vein, I might conjecture that all three of these dates are represented on the tapes we have, but there's no evidence to that effect.
Let me start with the question of the tapes first.
The key to thinking we have three dates represented here, and not just two, resides in tape #2. I think this is actually two separate shows, based on the following:
- "Swing ’42" appears twice, once in each “set” that is identified.
- There is an emcee introduction before “set II” saying “Welcome back to the Great American String Band.” This sounds more like a separate show than a return from an intermission, but of course this is not entirely clear. (As an aside, Greene introduces the band as Great American *Music* Band before “set I” on this tape, while the emcee says *String*. But, again, the naming issue is too opaque to get into here.)
These could, of course, be early and late shows from the same date. However, I am not aware of any other early/late billings at either the Lion’s Share or the Keystone Berkeley around this time, so I am inclined to think these are two separate dates. Tapes #s 1 and 3 are the same show, but whatever its date this show is distinct from the two shows I think are present on tape #2. In brief, I think we have three distinct shows represented on these tapes: the one identified as set I of 6/12/74 on the sbd tape; the one identified as set II of 6/12/74 on the sbd tape; and the one that is available to us through both an aud copy and a sbd copy, respectively dated 6/12 and 6/13/74.
In my current state of thinking, I imagine that one of these sets is from the Lion’s Share on June 12, and one each is from the Keystone on June 13 and 14, respectively. I wouldn’t hazard which might be which, and this particular attribute goes way beyond what the evidence rightfully allows.
Why do I say that there was a Lion’s Share (not Keystone) show on 6/12, and a Keystone show on 6/14?
1) 6/12/74: Lion’s Share, San Anselmo
- I don’t know what the Keystone Berkeley’s Wednesday night booking policy was around this time, but I note that there is no KB item in the Berkeley Barb’s Scenedrome section (June 7-13, 1974, p. 24) for this date. Similarly, the Hayward Daily Review’s calendar from June 7th shows nothing, though I should note that it only seems to cover through June 9th. Insofar as these illuminate, they cut against a Keystone Berkeley gig for GASB on this date.
- The Hayward Daily Review calendar from June 7th covers the Share’s bookings from the 7th through the 16th, but the 12th and the 13th show no listing. This cuts against GASB being at the Lion’s Share on this date.
- However, Richard Greene’s 1974 datebook shows him at the Lion’s Share in San Anselmo on this night. While it’s not 100% clear that this was GASB, it seems very likely. Since most of the other evidence is of the dog that doesn’t bark variety, and since Greene’s datebooks strike me as very reliable, I am willing to go with this as the sovereign datum at this point in time.
- update: Elwood 1974 confirms 6/12/74 at the Share.
2) 6/13/74: Keystone, Berkeley
- There is an ad in the June 9th Oakland Tribune for Great American String Band shows on 6/13-14 (see right). Note that Garcia is featured and that Kahn is listed, though as far as I know Kahn didn’t play bass with the GASB. (That, in itself, is interesting, given the GASB’s genetic connection to Muleskinner and Maria Muldaur’s band, both of which would have cut toward Kahn being involved.)
- There is also an ad in the same Barb cited above, which showed nothing for 6/12, providing a listing for 6/13.
- Elwood 1974 confirms. He was in attendance. He also confirms the Good Old Boys and gives personnel.
- point 2, first bullet, also supports this date.
- There is a calendar item in the Fremont Argus (June 14, 1974, p. 9) for this date.
In sum, regarding the mid-June 1974 GASB/GAMB gigs:
- despite what appears to be lots of confused and conflicting information on the tapes, I think we have evidence for three separate shows’ worth of music;
- despite what’s on the tape labels, I think there were shows at the Lion’s Share on 6/12 and at Keystone Berkeley on 6/13-14.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival
Gotta whole mess o' discs from this festival, which I am going through pretty methodically. Lots of neat stuff.
There's a four CD version going around, but there's more material that I'll try to get moving around.
There's a post at Keep on Truckin' with the setlist of the circulating material.
edit 8/22/201: now going to be the first of a series, I think.
There's a four CD version going around, but there's more material that I'll try to get moving around.
There's a post at Keep on Truckin' with the setlist of the circulating material.
edit 8/22/201: now going to be the first of a series, I think.
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