How about the Mouth on that Beast? JGB at the Stone, February 2, 1980, as recorded by Bad Bob Menke

LN jg1980-02-02.jgb.all.aud-menke-motb-0038.105635.flac1644

I recently revisited an old favorite, 2/17/80, and surprised myself by not noting anything about the "After Midnight -> Eleanor Rigby -> After Midnight" medley, to say nothing of an old favorite of another kind, "Positively 4th Street". I have vowed to revisit these. Someone was also extolling old favorite 3/8/80 on its recent anniversary, claiming that this last AMERAM was the best, and we speculated that maybe the band hung it up after that because, really, where else was there to go with it? Always leave 'em wanting more, amirite? It would indeed have been sad if AMERAM had become just another thing, like MAMU -> Mexicali over on the dark end of the street. I vow to revisit that one, too, though I have held a candle of hope out for the emergence of that master tape, ready for a fresh clean transfer, for coming on 25 years, to no avail. Why do you forsake me, tape goddesses?

Anyway, let me here touch on a charming third old favorite from this period, 2/2/80 at the Stone. As was typical in the Freddie Herrera - affiliated stable of clubs, old times bluesers Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker played the soft open Thursday night, and then Jerry headlined the first weekend under the new management. (I seem to recall this being pretty much the same billings as opened the seemingly ill-starred Keystone Stockton back in '74.)

John Angus pulled a remarkable tape from the Friday show, I think in the company of his brother Harry, who is the venue guru extraordinaire (a.k.a. JGBP) of our little corner of the blogosphere and who enjoyed the white linen tablecloths and vased red roses classing up the joint on that first Friday. I have not revisited that tape in many years - add another to the to-do list. But the legendary, enigmatic HOF taper Bad Bob Menke pulled an all-time great tape the next night. The Powers That Be (TPTB) even released a track of it, "When I Paint My Masterpiece", on a 2005 Dylan homage / money grab. I hope Bob got paid for it. Because, man, what a recording! The Mouth of the Beast, indeed.

And this is a characteristically killer early 1980 Garcia Band performance. Update: five years ago the first set did nothing for me. That tells you the scientific worth of my quality assessments, heh heh.

Lossless pioneer Danny Metz, who used to do the math to be sure to cut tracks on sector boundaries to ensure Red Book CD-audio compatibility before the programs automated that process, once said that "Jerry's solo in Train To Cry [from] 5:30-7:10 may be the sickest bluesy guitar work I have ever heard." Danny also praises Johnny D's drum work. I can't argue. One of the things I have noticed in some of these shows, too, is that Ozzie Ahlers doesn't take any shit from ol Jer. Here, in TLEO, Mr. Eponymy starts throwing elbows about 4 minutes in, and Ozzie just plays harder for a while. Yeah! All kinds of good glassine guitar work throughout, some of it Mutron-smooth like leaded cathedral fare and some of it sharp and shardy. For me, the real highlights arrive in Masterpiece, well-released not least because it features the longest scrub in the history of rock and roll, and then, of course, AMERAM. So much Mutron, so much killer jamming, such a killer medley. Ozzie even does a little "Riders On The Storm" descent 13:40ish, headed to the Beatles by way of the Doors. All in all, a wonderful listen!

Oh yeah, how about some color from the flamboyantly fabulous Bay Area Reporter (via archive.org):

Garcia's local club dates have long been one of the special joys of this burgh. Some will tell you that here resides the true wonders of The Dead, without all the hocus-pocus. Others will tell you it's just a boring old fart. Let those who have ears hear [!]

Jerry Garcia Band

The Stone

412 Broadway

San Francisco, CA 94133

February 2, 1980 (Saturday)

Menke motb-0038 shnid-105635

--set I (5 tracks, 49:13)-- 

s1t01. //It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry  [8:20] [0:02] %

s1t02. They Love Each Other [9:28] [0:12] % [0:18]

s1t03. Money Honey [8:19] [0:15]

s1t04. Sitting In Limbo [13:26] ->

s1t05. That's Alright, Mama [8:34] (1) [0:14]

--set II (6 tracks, 72:30)--

s2t01. [0:12] Harder They Come [16:53] [0:54]

s2t02. When I Paint My Masterpiece [13:51] [0:16] %

s2t03. [0:13] Russian Lullaby [14:57] [0:07]

s2t04. After Midnight [15:40] ->

s2t05. Eleanor Rigby Jam [4:28] ->

s2t06. After Midnight [4:49] [0:12]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #11a

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers - keyboards;

! lineup: John D'Fonseca - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19800202-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/4432; https://etreedb.org/shn/16681; https://etreedb.org/shn/85532; https://etreedb.org/shn/92372; https://etreedb.org/shn/92432; https://etreedb.org/shn/105635 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/Vr6EBXU6KvA2

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

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

! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, January 20, 1980, p. 22; San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, January 27, 1980, p. 13

! mention: San Francisco Examiner, January 25, 1980, p. 23;

! listing: Bay Area Reporter, January 31, 1980, p. 22. In characteristically cheeky style, the BAR writes "Garcia's local club dates have long been one of the special joys of this burgh. Some will tell you that here resides the true wonders of The Dead, without all the hocus-pocus. Others will tell you it's just a boring old fart. Let those who have ears hear."

! listing: BAM no. 72 (February 1, 1980), p. 41

! official: Jerry Garcia - Garcia Plays Dylan (Rhino, R2 73263, 2005) (d2t01-Masterpiece)

! recollex: Harry Angus recalls that the white linens and roses were on the tables again this night, as the night before, which was the hard opening of the Stone as such. See that date for the specifics.

! R: field recordist: Bob Menke

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi CM700 > Sony TC-D5

! R: field recording media: 2x Maxell UDXLII

! R: Analog Sound Preservation: 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

! R: MOTB Release: 0038 16/44.1

! R: Release Date: 2010-01-26

! R: Bob Menke pulled a truly amazing audience tape this night.

! R: s1t01 ITALTL, ITATTC clips in

! P: s1t02 TLEO Ozzie missed Jerry's not-so-subtle cue to step back early 4, Ozzie just asserts and plays. Good on ya!

! R: s1t04 SIL tape flip near end (patched?? with Nak300's > Sony 158 > MAC (Maxell UD XLII) source

! P: s1t05 TAM killer glassine guitar tone 2.

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a short break, be back in a little while."

! P: s2t02 WIPMM Jerry working the Mutron. Huge long scrubby segment through the 11 range. Whoa. Still at it over 12. Longest scrubbing run ever, until 12:15?

! P: s2t04 AM so much Mutron 10:15. Wonderful jamming here 11. Ozzie does a little "Riders On The Storm" descent 13:40ish. Man, this jam is stretchy-good.

! R: s2t05 tape flip patched with Nak300's > Sony 158 > MAC (Maxell UD XLII source

! P: s2t06 AM more big fanning. Great stuff.

Positively Killer: JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, December 21, 1979

I was recently surprised when I listened to JGB 12/17/79 and found the show totally lackluster. Jerry sounds listless, indifferent, tired, and he and Johnny D, the 21 year old Marin kid drumming live with Jerry for only the seventh time, seemed badly out of sync. So, I listened to the next show, 12/20, and found it to represent a considerable improvement. Deciding to carry on, I spun 12/21/79 here on its 41st anniversary. This was a relatively rare soundboard tape in early circulation back in the day, was widely traded (insofar as Garcia Band tapes were), and has long been a fan favorite for the arc'ing, soaring "Sugaree" and, especially, for the long version of a relative rarity, Dylan's "Positively 4th Street".

I am here to say that 40 years of crowds have been wise to revere this show. It kills. Let me just mark a few points, but urge you to check it out yourself, perhaps especially from shnid-138677, which sparkles.

First, I guess Johnny D and Jerry just needed a little work together --they hadn't played since 11/18, and I doubt they had practiced between time. Yes, I'm talkin' 'bout practice. So we see monotonic improvement in how these two are sync'd, and that makes everything else work. By 12/21, I do not notice any problems at all - not a one. And I hear Johnny D doing some killer stuff, e.g., in Sugaree, that validates why Garcia wanted him in the band. He's really, really good.

Second, Ozzie Ahlers plays masterfully here, going toe to toe with Garcia with tremendous confidence. This would be less and less the case over the years of Garcia's side bands - Melvin Seals was wonderful, a perfect complementary player who could take sparkling features when it was his turn, but was certainly very submissive vis a vis Garcia. Here, Ozzie occasionally steps forward over Jerry, Jerry keeps playing loudly, and, rather than backing down, Ozzie ups his attack and amplitude. They really feed off each other wonderfully this night. Nick pointed out to me that there is no synth here, just electric piano, so maybe that gives his playing a little more oomph or something, I dunno. Or, like Johnny D, having played a few gigs has him feeling warmed up. Or, it's just a great night. Whatever the case, a great night for Ozzie Ahlers, the best I can recall having heard.

Third, Garcia plays very mathematically throughout, and alternates between loud, grungy rock and roll lead guitar on the one hand and some much more gentle, patient plucking on the other. I can't explain why it feels mathematical except that it's both arithmetic (like an expanding cycle) and geometric (lots of loop and circles). He also comps as well this night for Ozzie as he ever did. See especially "After Midnight", which rocks hard.

Fourth this "Positively 4th Street" more than earns its reputation as the BOAT version. Checking in at 17 minutes, it starts with some beautiful instrumental work, as Jerry patiently sets everything up. I wasn't following along with the lyrics or anything, but I think he gets all of the verses almost entirely right, and sometimes he just barely remembers a line in time but offers it up off the beat and a little faster, providing some really nice syncopated texture. I think he even has the verse order mostly right. His guitar tone works throughout, and he comps aggressively for Ozzie, including some fanning that would normally just be him but here serves the whole unit. By the end I just wrote "I am actually pretty speechless at this point. WOW." Check it out.

Fifth, I seriously doubt that HTC was really an encore. In this period, a 35 minute second set would only have happened if they were running up on closing time. But then they would not have been able to play an encore. So I suspect it's just a four-song, 50-minute second set.

Sixth, I also seriously doubt that this comes from master reels. Maybe I shouldn't - the tape sounds absolutely fabulous, and it sounds even better, on a quick comparison, via shnid-138677, than the "Bertha" version I got with. It sounds light years better than the cassette master of the next night, which doesn't circulate but which I have heard. But all of that said, I am just not aware of anyone running reels at this point. The last Garcia Band reels I know about date from summer 1978. Betty ran reels for Reconstruction at least into July 1979, but the Garcia Band tapes from after that were limited to cassette. I dunno. It seems pretty certain there is a cassette gen here, based on cuts in After Midnight and Harder They Come. Older circulating versions have also tended to be a little bit hissy. But, I dunno. Happy to be proven wrong!

So let me just close this fun little exploration that I do think 12/17/79 was quite weak, but the band gets better each night of the three I have engaged over the last few days. The 12/21/79 show is absolutely outstanding, holding its own next to anything JGB did plus or minus a few years. I have seen folks say that they use it to introduce novices to the Garcia Band, and I can see why - the tape sounds great and the performance is outstanding. True, I can hear the limitations creeping in to Jerry's voice, which is still sweetly high but which is starting to bump into tighter range and volume constraints. It ain't perfect, but it is excellent.

Listening notes below the fold.

UMass 'Master of the Fretboard': JGB, February 20, 1980 (late show)

LN jg1980-02-20.jgb.late.aud-Sony_23F-Nak_550.131018.flac2448

The Jerry Garcia Band (JGB #11a) played 22 shows in the 29 days of February 1980, warming up locally and then touring college and off-campus theaters, reportedly to help pay for the film rights to Kurt Vonnegut's "Sirens of Titan". I have all kinds of information about John and Jerry's quest for those rights, and their ultimately fruitless efforts to make a movie, just need to find time to write it all up.

While some dislike the sound of this band, often because of Ozzie Ahlers' electric keyboard and synthesizer tones, I have big love for its, and especially Garcia's, playing during this period. The After Midnight release of the Kean College shows on 2/28/80 give an excellent representation of what the group was all about. Lots of very expressive Garcia guitar playing, by turns fast, fluid, cogent, energetic, inventive, plucky, pensive, burning and corrosive. His voice generally sounds pretty good, the repertoire mixes things up nicely, and everything cooks about as it should. I like lots of shows from the tour, with 2/15/80 (Orpheum Theatre in Boston) and 2/17/80 (SUNY Oswego) maybe topping the list, though they're pretty much all good. And, to repeat, it's mostly about energy and guitar playing.

The early (7 PM) show at UMass Amherst on Wednesday, February 20th has only a rotten multigenerated cassette tape in circulation. I must have listened to it at some point, but maybe not. Anyway, the 10 PM show is much better represented, by a recently-polished 1st gen cassette dubbed from an unknown taper's 2x Sony ECM-23f > Nakamichi 550 setup. It's a good tape. It's not great, cut up a little bit and with some overloading.

But it's worth a listen because it's a good show. I don't have a ton of specifics, see my listening notes below the fold.

I found archives for the UMass Amherst Daily Collegian, which naturally held a few ads, such as this one:

Garcia had his hair long like that during the Reconstruction era, in 1979. The picture is almost certainly from the Dead's May 12, 1979 gig in the UMass campus stadium. Ex-post, one of staff photog Wayne Rosenberg's Jerry snaps appeared the next day, and then there was a review the next week.

In addition to confirming that Robert Hunter opened (which I did not have pinned down), and though not a Dead/Garcia fan, the reviewer (Alvord 1980) is mostly pretty impressed. Garcia is a

master of the fretboard … mesmerizing … Garcia did not get involved at all with the audience, although there was dynamic interaction on the stage between the band members, trading off exquisite solos and jovial expressions of delight and amusement between Garcia and the keyboardist, blank expression by the bassist, and multiple expressions of estranged nature by the percussionist. The bass solo was the only low point of the concert ... it sucked!

I assume he saw the early show, since the bass solo in "Simple Twist" is presumably even more feathery and fluttery than the one in the late show's "Russian Lullaby" (which is, perhaps suspiciously, cut out of the tape under consideration). It is nice to hear that Jerry and Ozzie seemed to be having a good time, anyway.

Anyway, good show. "Sugaree", "Tore Up Over You", and even "Midnight Moonlight," which is too often Jerry starting to pack it in, especially impress me.


REFERENCE:

Alvord, Rick. 1980. The Dead's head plays it true to form. Daily Collegian (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), February 25, 1980, p. 7; via URL https://archive.org/details/massachuse19791980univ, accessed 11/9/2014.

Sebastopol Benefit: March 22, 1978

LN jg1978-03-22.jgb.all.sbd-ladner.19832.shn2flac

As a prelude to a review of the off-to-a-great-start GarciaLive 4 release of the Sebastopol 3/22/78 benefit show, here are some fragmentary listening notes from a year ago on the rough circulating sbd copy.

It appears that I engaged the question of the pianist on that very date over at Corry's post (probably now getting lots of traffic!) on the show - scroll down to comments.  I was clearly unclear on who's doing what. For I example, I was convinced that Keith was playing on LITA (s2t06), though the release belies this.

I plan on listening a little and then posting more extensively. Hate fragmenting conversations too much, but anyway.

Jerry Garcia Band
Veterans' Auditorium
282 S. High Street
Sebastopol, CA 95472
March 22, 1978 (Wednesday)
118 min degraded sbd shnid-19832 shn2flac

--set I (5 tracks, 46:43)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:45] [0:18]
s1t02. Catfish John [9:00] [0:08] %
s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [10:37] [0:13] % [0:02]
s1t04. I Second That Emotion [10:05] [0:08]
s1t05. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down// [9:27#]

--set II (8 tracks, 71:28)--
s2t01. Harder They Come [11:39] [0:27]
s2t02. Mission In The Rain [11:11]
s2t03. Cats Under The Stars [7:53] [0:06] %
s2t04. Gomorrah [6:27] %
s2t05. Mystery Train [8:22] [0:15] % [1:46]
s2t06. Love In The Afternoon [9:30] [0:03] %
s2t07. I'll Be With Thee [5:06] ->
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight// [8:42#]

! Band: Jerry Garcia Band
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano (xxx);
! lineup: ?Ozzie Ahlers - piano (xxx)?;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals;
! lineup: Maria Muldaur - vocals.

JGMF:

! R: symbols:

! TJS: http://www.thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1362

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1978-03-22-veterans-hall-sebastopol-ca/

! db: http://db.etree.org/shn/19832 (this fileset)

! map: http://goo.gl/maps/JJgfV00

! venue:

! band:

! preview: Mason 19780320

! ad: Press-Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA), March 3, 1978, p. 8B


! expost: Scully 1978

! seealso: Corry, "March 22, 1978 Veterans Hall, Sebastopol, CA: Jerry Garcia Band (Ozzie Ahlers-piano?)," Hooterollin' Around, http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/07/march-22-1978-veterans-hall-sebastopol.html.

! historical: Garcia attended Analy High School in this off-the-beaten-path Sonoma County town, and I guess we think he gigged a little during that time. Benefit for the Sonoma County Stump. and for the Slide Ranch, a Marin retreat for Bay Area ghetto kids run by the GD's extended family.


! R: source: SBD > CM(x) > CDR > WAV > SHN.

! R: shn2flac conversion by jgmf 7/12/2013.

! R: seeder Comments: "Multiple analog generations with a significant amount of hiss.  Sound quality is a bit spotty and gets even spottier by the end of the second set.  End of last song of each set is clipped."

! R: I'd add the there are surely speed fluctuations all over the place.

! P: seeder comment: "Very primitive and open-ended jamming sounding 'Cats Under the Stars' in its lucky #7 performance.  Sounds like a band having a great time."

! R: seeder comment: "Thanks to H.Angus for source CDRs. DAE (EAC 0.9b4, offset corrected, secure mode) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN (shorten 3.4) > FTP via C.Ladner/candyman FTP. MisSHN ITR, 10/03." shn2flac jgmf 7/12/2013.

! P: s1t02 CJ these harmony vocals are not very together.

! R: s1t05 TNTDODD ctuts out, maybe a half minute or a minute missing.

! P: s2t04 Gomorrah, DJG says at the start "This is a true story."

! R: s2t05 the tape wow and flutter is really, really painful to hear.

! P: s2t05 MT noticing the drummer's insistent steel horse rhythm.

! s2t05 interesting long tuning, piano ... my brain delights to think it could be them sitting Ozzie down at the piano bench ... maybe KG passed out. Sounds like drummer is working on tempo, too. Why, if they just came off xxx gigs in xxx nights? But it still sounds like Keith playing piano, too bad.

! personnel: Keith definitely playing on LITA(s2t06)

//notes end

Ozzie and Johnny D

LN jg1979-10-07.jgb.all-2.aud-angus-hart.106528.flac1644

First night out for Ozzie Ahlers and John d'Fonseca (and hence, of JGB #11a). Sunday night is consistent with pattern of breaking in new guys on off-nights, but the Garcia fans don't worry about work on Monday morning.

Probably not surprisingly, this performance is not a world-beater. They are feeling each other out.

This was not listed in BAM no. 65 (October 5, 1979), p. 10. That makes me think it might have been a relatively late booking. We don't really know how Reconstruction ended. Recall that Reconstruction was listed at least in BAM (no. 63, September 1, 1979, p. 14) for a 9/29/79 gig, though we don't know if that was supposed to have involved Garcia. What's more, the Keystones ad at TJS just lists "Jerry Garcia", which is a little ambiguous. I am not sure it means anything, but it could. It's all kind of consistent with the possibility that JGB #11a was put together even more hastily than we have thought.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
October 7, 1979 (Sunday)
Angus-Hart all-2 flac1644 shnid-106528

--set I (6 tracks, 51:05, missing one song)--
s1t01. tuning [0:09]
s1t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [7:54] [0:02] % [0:27]
s1t03. Catfish John [8:13] [0:05] % [1:11]
s1t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [8:33] [0:12] % [0:46]
s1t05. After Midnight [9:31] [0:24] % [0:17]
[MISSING: Friend of the Devil]
s1t06. Harder They Come [13:00] (1) [0:19] %

--set II (6 tracks, 48:25, missing one song)--
s2t01. tuning [1:03] % [0:04]
s2t02. Money Honey [9:49] [1:16]
s2t03. They Love Each Other/ [8:33#] % [0:14]
s2t04. Sitting In Limbo [7:53] [0:26] % [0:16]
s2t05. Russian Lullaby [12:00] [0:10] % [0:12]
s2t06. That's Alright Mama [6:14] [0:13]
[MISSING: Tore Up Over You]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #11a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers - keyboards, synthesizers;
! lineup: John d'Fonseca - drums;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass.

JGMF:

! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [x:xx] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19791007-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/14081 (s2 partial, same master, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/32616 (same master, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/106528 (this fileset).

! map: http://goo.gl/maps/z22BN

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html; Arnold, Corry. 2010. 2119 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA: The Keystone Berkeley. Lost Live Dead, December 31, 2010, URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html, consulted 4/22/2012.

! band: JGB #11a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! expost: "Newsreels," BAM no. 66 (October 19, 1979), p. 17.

! tags: 1979, JGB, John Angus, Scott Hart, Keystone, Berkeley, CA, tapers, listening notes, Ozzie Ahlers, John d'Fonseca

! R: field recordist: John Angus and Scott Hart;

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sony microphones > Technics cassette deck

! R: transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nakamichi Dragon > Grace Lunatec V3 (24/96) > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe > Adobe Audition 3.0 (dither/downsample) > FLAC encoding.

! R: Pitch Correction by Joe B. Jones

! R: seeder notes: Thanks to Harry Angus for providing the master tapes.

! personnel: First show for Ozzie Ahlers and John d'Fonseca. Consistent with the pattern of breaking in new guys off-the-beaten path, and/or on off-nights, this is a Sunday show, as is the second gig a week later in Palo Alto.

! R: John Angus and Scott Hart pulled some amazing tapes during the 1978-1981 period, very often the only tapes of any given show. They are rather randomly distributed across this timeframe, a show or two a year. They're not all great, but a few of them (11/18/79, 2/1/80, 2/22/81) are masterpieces. I really mean this. Next time you go to a show, bring your microphones (2x!) and tape recorder and record it. No? No. It's a bitch. I tried it a few times (Grateful Dead 8/22/87, JGAB and JGB 11/28/87) and I nearly died of stress and confusion. A great ambient recording of this kind of event is the quintessential human accomplishment. We are such freaks! This is not one of Angus's best tapes, but I think that's down in part to the sound coming out of the speakers at 2119 University this night.

! P: sluggish, uninspiring. I know it's their first night out, and the sound doesn't sound great.

! R: s1t02 HSII the mix takes a while to come in, not sure how much of this is tape and how much is tape. Sounds muddy. Taper talk "put this right by the wall, man", implies that they are still positioning?

! P: s1t02 HSII around 5:09 they have a little hiccup to get to a little Ozzie run in the 5-min mark. I don't like the sound of these keys, but he plays well. Late 5-min mark Garcia steps up, perhaps a bit rudely, and starts soloing. I would say he cut Ozzie off. But let's be charitable and say that they are just trying to learn to play together, and one needs to send clearer signals, perhaps, at this stage of a professional collaboration. Here are the limits.

! P: s1t03 CJ, pretty good, nothing to write home about.

! P: s1t04 STOF I was just thinking that it's cruel of me to so frequently listen to the first show, or other very early shows, of any given band. They are just getting it together! Here, they don't quite hit the  1 of the first verse, which Garcia typically started in on right away. So they set themselves up, and we get a pleasant little waltz for a minute or so. Not bad. @ 1:09 crowd guy yells "Louder!", telling me it's the PA that's a problem. And I totally agree with him. I don't know if this tape is picking up PA or stage monitors, but the vocals are low, the whole volume is low relative to the crowd. Late 7-minute mark, Garcia has to be pretty terse in bringing things to a close. I think Johhny D. and the tempos are where he's mainly signalling: Ozzie seems pretty tight with Jerry.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back a little bit later." Or something like that.

! P: s2t02 MH meh

! R: s2t03 TLEO clips out

! P: s2t05 RL John bass feature late 6 over 7.

! P s2t06 TAM totally uninspired.

Dealin' on Johnny D's Third Night: JGB, Keystone Palo Alto, October 14, 1979

LN jg1979-10-14.jgb.s1s2p.aud-unk-moore-berger.122979.flac1644

Understood second third show for Ozzie Ahlers and John d'Fonseca. Update: I had this as the second show for this outfit, a week after its 10/7/79 debut, but it turns out they also played the Monday night, 10/8, in Berkeley.

Excellent Sugaree and After Midnight, songs which this band made its own right from the get-go. Good show overall.

Understood public JGB debut of Deal.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 South California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
October 14, 1979 (Sunday)
99 min (all-2, s1s2p) 2nd gen Moore-Berger cassette flac1644 shnid122979

--Set I (6 tracks, 61:00)--
s1t01. [0:05] Sugaree [12:48] [0:10] %
s1t02. [0:10] They Love Each Other [7:19] [0:17] %
s1t03. Let It Rock [8:56] [0:05] % [0:15]
s1t04. Deal [7:00] [0:08] %
s1t05. After // Midnight [11:#06] [0:07] %
s1t06. I'll Take A Melody [12:11] (1) [0:23] %

--set II (4 tracks, 37:57, missing last two songs)--
s2t01. Money Honey [7:14] 0:12] % [0:40]
s2t02. Love In The Afternoon [8:33] [0:26]
s2t03. That's Alright Mama [7:09] [0:23] % [0:03]
s2t04. Russian Lullaby [13:10] [0:07] %
[MISSING: Positively 4th Street]
[MISSING: The Harder They Come]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #11a (First show-October 7, 1979 Keystone Berkeley | Last show-March 27, 1980 Keystone Berkeley)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers - keyboards, synthesizers;
! lineup: John d'Fonseca - drums;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass.

JGMF:

! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19791014-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/122979 (this fileset).

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/keystone-sophies-260-s-california-ave.html
 
! map: http://goo.gl/maps/Zx14m

! band: JGB #11a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! personnel: understood third public show for Ozzie Ahlers (keyboards) and John d'Fonseca (drums) with the JGB (10/7/79 debut).

! historical: This is the third known performance of the Ozzie Ahlers Era Jerry Garcia Band, the JGB that ran from October 7, 1979 through March 26, 1980 with John d'Fonseca drumming. They did one very lucrative little east coast college and theater tour from February 12, 1980 through March 1, 1980, with a few more hometown gigs after that before Greg Errico comes in for a few lucrative dates out east in July. The birth of the band is rather mysterious. Jerry's last sustained live gigging fling with Merl was in Reconstruction, starting 1/30/79, last known show of 9/22/79, with an advertised show (not mentioning Garcia) for 9/29/79. Little more than a week after that, Garcia and Kahn have formed a new Jerry Garcia Band, a quartet, and are out playing the same clubs. The band debuted on a Sunday night (10/7/79), which is in keeping with Garcia/Kahn's pattern of breaking new guys in on off-nights. update: they played again the next night, an unadvertised Monday night show in Berkeley. A second piece of the pattern isn't in place: they usually kept the new guys away from the Keystone Berkeley (and, later, the Stone) for a few gigs, let 'em loosen up away from the super-knowledgeable regulars. This gig, by contrast, this 10/14/79 gig, a Sunday night in Palo Alto, looks more like  a classic JGB warmup show.

! historical: Jerry wisely invested in Betty Cantor Jackson's services for the last few road shows by this band in late winter 1980, resulting in FM broadcasts of at least two sets. It also means that there are geese laying golden eggs amongst the tour tapes, since they sound so good. There was a 2004 CD release of 2/28/80 (After Midnight: Kean College, 2/28/80, Rhino R2 76536), along with an associated bonus disc (Way After Midnight, JGBWAM-01, 2004) with material from 2/29/80 and 3/1/80. As of 12/24/2012, a release of of the complete 3/1/80 has been pushed back and is said to be forthcoming from 1/1/2013. Update: deaddisc says 2012, but, anyway, the 3/1/80 release happened.

! R: source: master audience cassette (unknown taper/location/gear) > 1st gen cassette > Jerry Moore's 2nd gen cassette (Maxell MX-110/Dolby B).

! R: transfer: Nakamichi Dragon (Dolby B) > Tascam hd-p2 24/96 > pc > Adobe Audition 2.0 > CD Wave > flac1644, transferred and seeded by Rob Berger Nov. 2012.

! R: I only know of one taper of this show, though that tape does not circulate and I don't have it. I know of one other person with access to that tape (presently and presumably "back in the day"), and it's possible that ol' Jerry Moore got a copy of it from that fellow, or via a separate friend of the taper, but I don't know. This could be a second master. It's a good, characteristic Keystone audience tape from late 1979. It's not like the historically good tapes made by John Angus and Scott Hart during this period (11/18/79, 2/1/80, 2/2/80, 3/7/80, 3/26/80), nor by Eldon Porray, Bob Menke, or others. It's got some wear and tear, but it's good.

! R: s1t01 Sugaree badly overloaded at start, comes down around 40 seconds in, still a little hot. What a great tape. Lots of crowd ambience, the room is there, a man (presumably) is standing with mics somewhere up-close. His girlfriend, or his friend's girlfriend, is talking to him @ 1:40, then his friend is, too. The Keystone freaking Palo Alto on an October night in 1979.

! P: s1t01 Sugaree: It's amazing how quickly this band's Sugaree became this band's Sugaree. Totally distinctive. If you like Sugaree, this version is worth checking out, as are many from the next couple of years. @ 3:00 Ozzie little synth run, but Jerry cuts him off for the next verse, "thought you was the cool fool", and all that. Ozzie takes anoher little run like late 4-min early 5-min range. They get together for a bit, then @ 5:30 Garcia is soloing. Build up to 6:40 is mighty mighty. Garcia's soloing in the 9-10 minute range, his fanning at 10:15 and thereabouts, I think really shows that Garcia intended this band to be a showcase for him playing his guitar. 10:46 he's still just blistering. @11:00 we hear that the October 1979 Garcia's voice is a little fragile, a little thin, reedier, less in the diaphragm than, say, 18 months earlier. CATS has flopped. The taxes are still due. Get a band together, play and work, but tear it up a little bit.

! song: Deal (s1t05): This is the understood public JGB debut of Deal. The crowd, appropriately, recognizes the occasion by clapping right along. A little vocal flub in the 2nd verse is OK, Jer. We have heard Deal so many times with a female backing vocalist that it's weird to hear the hole in the song where the harmonies go. Interesting to be attentive to Deal done by a quartet - quite a rarity.

! P: s1t05 AM another one that this particular configuration of Garcia really played hot, and evidently right from the get-go. The crowd is enjoying Jerry's pyrotechnics in the 3-minute mark. Ozzie's solo in 4-minute mark is totally fine. People don't like his sound because of the Fender Rhodes and the synthesizers, but Ozzie can play, IMO. And Jerry is digging in and tearing it up behind him. After Ozzie's solo, ca. 5:20 ish, Jerry wants to cruise around the melody again.

! R: s1t05 AM splice @ 8:59

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thank you. We're gonna take a [inaudible]."

! P: s2t04 Russian Lullaby bass feature over the 8-minute mark.

! P: set II songs are good, but nothing jumps out at me.