Ronnie's Return, Pete's Payoff: JGB in Provy, November 15, 1981

Ticket stub for JGB 11/15/81, contributed by Doc Gillespie to TJS.

LN jg1981-11-15.jgb.all.aud-stankiwiecz.127050.flac2496

Ron Tutt is a great drummer, but am I biased?

Ron Tutt is a beast. Check out the little one-minute fragment discussed in note #1. No biggie, just fun. Then pick some of the other songs I note and hear him play.

Question: Is my perception of Tutt's greatness here perhaps driven by a subconscious desire that it should be so? From a Garcia-on-the-side perspective, his presence is the most interesting thing about these shows, and this could bias my listening.

Tutt's Return and Garcia's Affairs

After two and a half years and a lot of gigs (I could try to count it, probably will when the time comes), Ron Tutt walked --I have no evidence that he was pushed-- away from the gigging/touring Garcia Band in summer 1977. He seems not to have left on bad terms, or otherwise is such a pro that he kept working with these guys, because I am pretty sure I have him in Club Front in September. I need to check the Cats Under The Stars credits, though my sense is that they won't clarify much. Either way, from, say, Fall 1977 they appear to part ways (except for the occasional joint appearance on a tax lien slapped on the Jerry Garcia Band and the three partners in it - Garcia, Kahn and Tutt).

So The Return of Ron Tutt, as Steve Marcus billed this tour on the Grateful Dead Hotline, wants to feel like a Good Thing to me. Why? I think it represents Jerry starting to get on top of his long-blighted financial affairs. I believe that this tour represents an early step in a multistep process of Garcia getting his business affairs together in the first half of the 80s. This feels like closure for Garcia and Tutt, and that's something that Jerry achieved all-too rarely in his relations with others, personal or professional. His biggest character flaw, if I had to pin it down, was that he lacked the courage/capacity to give people bad news, like "I am leaving you", to their faces. He either just ran away and tried to avoid it or he had Parish do it. Really chickenshit stuff, with folks like Merl Saunders, who deserved better.

But maybe here, in late '81, with Tutt and with presumed (but not confirmed) opener Peter Rowan, Garcia is getting in front of something and trying to make it right. I am not saying he wasn't a kind, generous and righteous dude in all kinds of other respects. He could do crazily random, generous things. But if you had had a relationship with him that he had fled, he usually didn't come clean about it. He was just not emotionally equipped to confront hard interpersonal things.

Is this guilt money? Probably. The late work with Merl (e.g., Blues From The Rainforest) feels for all the world like Garcia leveraging his name to sell some records for his friend. The albums with Grisman clearly reflected their rediscovered joy in playing together and shared love of American music, but they also set Grisman, and his record company Acoustic Disc, in good financial stead. But guilt money is better than the silent treatment, the cold shoulder, not Jerry's, but the decidedly uncuddly Parish's; never mind a steel-toed boot in the ass. It's good to help old friends (à la Rowan opening on this tour, I conjecture). It's good to clean up old loose ends (à la Tutt playing on this tour, I hypothesize).

(Aside: if I am correct, that the "function" of this tour was to generate some paydays not just for Jerry and John, but also for Ron Tutt and Peter Rowan; and, if in turn, that suggests that Garcia is tying up some old unfinished professional business, maybe with some personal feelings involved; then I find the timing amazing. As he descended into opiate addiction he also settled some very unsettled (and unsettling) money and personal matters. Persian is like an institution, a variance-suppressing device, in principle a calming and settling (and, if you like, deadening) force. Marx on religion as the opiate of the masses and all that. Making sure you are on a sound financial footing does take some of the thrill out of life, though the alternative is the kind of ride that'll kill you. Who needs the stress? If the Persian "helped" get his mind around stabilizing his affairs, then that would be a positive, and even a possibly intended, in a very diffuse sense, consequence of his drug use. Of course, that ride'll kill you, too, but then again, they all do, eventually.)

Back to my question, reframed and disposed of

Because this tour might represent a small moral and personal victory for Garcia, with whom I obviously sympathize, I might be hoping, needing to hear musical excellence, giving my listening a kind of valence bias. But I don't think that's what's going on. Two other things seem more likely. First, my interest in the topic generates an attention bias. I am listening to and for Mr. Tutt, and I hear him. And what I hear is freaking outstanding. Second, and I think this explains most of the variance, it could just be that the man could and can play the drums.

Yes, I think that's it. Ronnie Tutt is a monster.

Show and Tapers

Oh yeah, there's a guitar player, and he's pretty good on this night, too. Love his energy, tone, power, articulation on this tour. Excellent playing. There are some newly-emerging vocals limitations, but it's in a place where he can still manage it, and often does so through inventive inflections and so forth. I am not saying his voice is better than it had been earlier in the year, rather that his singing is sometimes more interesting.

Richie Stankiewicz made some really nice tapes. Thank (Tetragrammaton) for the tapers! Tim Friend, Steve Rolfe, and probably others walked into the Providence early morning with great pulls from this show.

A nice tape of a nice show. Check it out.

Jerry Garcia Band
Ocean State Performing Arts Center
220 Weybosset Street
Providence, RI 02903
November 15, 1981 (Sunday) - 7:30 PM
Stankiewicz flac2496 shnid-127050

--set I (7 tracks, 67:16-1:15)--
s1t01. crowd [0:32]
s1t02. Sugaree [10:34] [1:46]
s1t03. Catfish John [9:48] [1:52]
s1t04. [0:06] I Second That Emotion [9:41] [0:03] % (1) [1:04]
s1t05. [0:05] Valerie [6:54] [1:10]
s1t06. [0:07] That's What Love Will Make You Do [9:30] [0:24] % [1:02]
s1t07. [0:13] Tangled Up In Blue [11:03] (2) [0:12] % pre-set II [1:15]

--set II (6 tracks, 70:39+1:15)--
s2t01. Mission In The Rain [11:40] % [0:04]
s2t02. The Harder They Come/ [12:11#]
s2t03. [0:49] Russion Lullaby [15:54] [0:27] % [0:27]
s2t04. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:30] ->
s2t05. Dear Prudence [13:50] ->
s2t06. Midnight Moonlight ... [6:35#] %

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

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19811115-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/20609 (Steve Rolfe shn); http://etreedb.org/shn/97806 (Tim Friend, flac2496); http://etreedb.org/shn/97807 (Tim Friend, flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/127062 (Stanki flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/127050 (Stanki flac2496, this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/urA9i

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/01/palace-theater-ocean-state-theatre.html. The text file called it "Ocean State Theater", which is how I have it in my head. TJS via JGBP lists "Performing Arts Center". I am using the venue name on the ticket stub.

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

! R: field recordist: Richie Stankiewicz

! R: field recording location: 1st row balcony

! R: field recording gear: 2x Beyer M-88 mics > Sony TCD-5M

! R: Transfer MAC > Sony TCKA-3es and 1st gen > Sony TCKA-3es (s1t01-s1t03, s2t02), by Richie Stankiewicz.

! R: this is a splendid audience recording.

! historical: Lots of tapers (Rolfe, Friend and Stanki known to have walked out with great pulls), so awesome to see Provy represented. I'd bet there were others. Did Peter Rowan open?

! P Like this show a lot.

! P: s1t03 CJ @ 4:30 Jerry gets some really neat tone, again, sharper, 7:50 ff over the 8 min mark.

! P: s1t04 (1) Wow. The first minute of this material is Tutt leisurely pounding the shit out of his kit, doing some nice runs. I am not sure if they're having technical issues, so he's giving them something to work with, or if he's just moved to play. He's incredible, what a player.

! P: s1t05 Valerie not super high energy.

! R: s1t06 TWLWMYD sounds so nice!

! P: s1t06 TWLWMYD has good energy. Vocal limitations newly discovered on "trying hard to 'spress myself, 'cause baby, that's the way I feel". Beautiful liquid picking around 3:15. 3:40 takes another lovely turn, somehow feels rotated sideways, the show biz trick favorite of heavy metal guitarists, axe slung low and horiztonal to the ground. Melvin took a nice solo. JG solo great tone 7:30, some nice insistent playing, another run around 8-min mark, great peaks 8:01ff, some nice tight guitar work, complementing voice.

! P: s1t07 TUIB has some really nice energy in the 10-minute mark. Even John steps up and plays loudly for a while. Ronnie is right on the '1' just over 11-minute mark. Tight.

! s1t07 (2) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a few minutes, we'll be back in a little while."

! P: s2t01 MITR the vocal arrangement, or maybe it's just the delivery, feels a little barren. It's not a bad emotional register for the song, but Jerry sounds rather exposed vocally, which is a little weird to say with a septet.

! P: s2t02 HTC Jerry some very nice playing in the 3-minute mark. 6-min range, maybe some PA problems? Can't hear the keyboards at all. Crowd starts clapping along. Jerry: "Well, guess I'll take a solo." And a nice solo it is. The tempos are a little variable. Late 8, some nice fanning. Tutt is a beast.

! P: s2t03 RL off to a great start! Deep and familial. Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Jerry Garcia. He misses the start of the lyrics, but cuts his losses to "hear him croon". Reaching really high on the frets 5:45, risk-kay. Bass feature over 8. By 11:30 he is still playing, takes an extra turn or two even though Jerry has signaled that he's ready. This is not a bad RL bass feature for ol' John. In fact, the playing is nice. By 12:30 Jerry is quite clearly inviting John to step aside, which he does at 12:40. Long solo for John, about 4:40. Jerry's following solo is nice and high up the register.

! P: s2t05 DP nice work in the 7-min mark, again over the 11min mark. Nice playing.

! R: s2t06 MM fades out

jg1981-02-09.jgb.all.aud-streeter.123532.flac1644

This show, on this listen, didn't move me. The tape is nice.

Jerry Garcia Band
Ocean State Theater
220 Weybosset Street
Providence, RI 02903
February 9, 1981 (Monday)
Frank Streeter complete MAC shnid-123532

--set I (7 tracks, 74:48)--
s1t01. tuning [1:03]
s1t02. Sugaree [12:27] % [0:13]
s1t03. Love In The Afternoon [9:33] % [0:25]
s1t04. That's What Love Will Make You Do [10:04] % [0:11]
s1t05. Simple Twist Of Fate [17:32] % [0:08]
s1t06. Sitting Here In Limbo [11:54] [0:04] %
s1t07. Tangled Up In Blue [10:53] (1) [0:20] %

--set II (8 tracks, 70:47)--
s2t01. tuning [1:00]
s2t02. I'll Take A Melody [12:40] % [0:33]
s2t03. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:30] % [0:33]
s2t04. The Harder They Come [10:44] % [0:10]
s2t05. Mission In The Rain [10:38] % [0:19]
s2t06. Dear Prudence [12:09]
s2t07. -> [0:03] % ... Deal [#6:29] ->
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight [6:33] [0:25]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #12b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - el-piano;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Daoud Shaw - drums.

JGMF

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19810209-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/20608 (Steve Rolfe aud shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/83745 (Jim Vita aud flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/98865 (Tim Friend aud flac2496); http://etreedb.org/shn/98866 (Tim Friend aud flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/102008 (Bob Morris aud); http://etreedb.org/shn/123532 (Frank Streeter aud flac1644, this fileset).

! map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=220+Weybosset+Street+Providence,+RI&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=220+Weybosset+St,+Providence,+Rhode+Island+02903&gl=us&t=h&z=16

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/01/palace-theater-ocean-state-theatre.html

! band: JGB #12b (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! historical: Sue: capacity 3,198, GP of $29,390. $7,500 flat guarantee plus 85% gross receipts over $25,949.75 after taxes plus 100% difference between estimated non-variable expenses and $22,565 and actual expenses, plus $3,650 production. Billboard (February 28, 1981, p. 32): 2,798 sold for gross of $24,839.

! R: field recordist: Frank Streeter

! R: field recording gear: AKG D330BT -> Sony TC-D5M

! R: field recording media: Maxell MX90

! R: Transfer Info: Cassette Master (Sony TC-K677ES) -> Sound Devices 744T (24bit/48k) ->
Adobe Audition v3.0 -> Samplitude Professional v11.2.1 -> FLAC/16 (2 Discs Audio / 1 DVD FLAC). All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller, charliemiller87@earthlink.net, January 18, 2013.

! R: seeder note: "Thanks to Frank Streeter for lending me his masters."

! R: seeder note: "Thanks to Joe B. Jones for his help with the pitch correction."

! tags: 1981, JGB, Frank Streeter, Ocean State Theater, Providence, RI

! R: quite a nice recording. The splices are all tastefully cross-faded.

! P: Overall, I am unmoved. Not sure why. Things aren't perfect, but what is? More relevant, I just don't find myself groovin' in listening to this. Could be "set and setting", and all that, for all I know.

! P: t03 Jimmy takes a solo @ 5:00 and surrounding that's not terrible. He gets one little go-'round, then Jerry's turn. One for you, one for me. One for him. One-two for me. etc.

! s1t07 (1) JG "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back in a little bit."

! R: s2t02 ITAM some L-channel static.

! P: s2t04 HTC tempo picks up, not on purpose I don't think, around 9:40ish.

! R: s2t06 some digiscratch in DP 5-minute mark that is no fun to hear. Haven't heard that sound in years. It's not too loud, but it's vexatious.

! P: s2t06 DP Jerry has a nice thing he's found, but I worry he overdoes it, over late 6-minute mark and into 7-, now 7:15 he's still doing it, but he's changing the end of the sentence, or rather has added a declining phrase to the tail, now weaving in the DP melody, walking up to that theme he had hit a bunch, but walks away the first pass, then suggests it twice next time around, then three times, in little expanding circles. It's good, but I don't get liftoff from it.

! R s2t07 - I am trying to capture that I think there's what I would call a reverb segue from Dear Prudence -> Deal, but there's a little tape splice through it, and then Deal comes in without much missing.

One of the Great Interviews of the Garciaverse

jg1978-03-11.interview.45mins.fm-gefen-goodbear.retracked.shn2flac

Remember, I am on hiatus until at least March 2013. Having taken this opportunity to remind you of this, as a PSA, let me also leave you something to read.

This is truly one of the great, hilarious interviews in the Garciaverse, chock full of great stuff.

Jerry Garcia Band Interview (by Andy Gefen)
WBRU-FM Studios
75 Waterman Street
Providence, RI 02912
March 11, 1978 (Saturday)
45 minute FM via Gefen-Goodbear shnid 76444 JGMF shn2flac

So, this interview has been circulating forever, but I don't recall seeing a transcription anywhere. So, I did it. It ain't 100% transcribed, but it has the stuff that interests me.

Lots of good direct quotes from Jerry about Cats, Garcia Band per se (and vs. GD, and vs. Weir's side projects), etc. Some snorting and such. Good times.


--(41tracks, 44:34)--
t01. Reuben And Cherise (album version) [5:08]
t02. Andy Gefen Introduction [1:38]
t03. Buzz Buchanan Introduction [1:01]
t04. Ten Grand And A Year in Jail [0:21]
t05. Cats Under The Stars Release Date [0:55]
t06. Is Keith Around? [0:16]
t07. Maria Muldaur [0:44]
t08. Jerry's Day Job and Trouble With Flooding [0:46]
t09. GD Plans [1:01]
t10. GD Movie, TV  [1:10]
t11. GD Tour [0:13]
t12. Let's Talk About The Record [0:23]
t13. We Built The Studio [1:50]
t14. I'm Happiest With This Record [0:44]
t15. Jerry Garcia BAND [0:27]
t16. Rhapsody In Red (album version) (fragment) [0:#50]
t17. Mistakes [0:42]
t18. Tour So Far [0:31]
t19. Album Personnel [1:53]
t20. French Horn [0:35]
t21. Scaly And Weird [1:36]
t22. Being Great Is Your Own Thing [1:30]
t23. Stop Looking At That Thing, If It Gives You The Creeps [0:33]
t24. Rain (album version) (fragment) % [0:14]
t25. SNORT [0:45]
t26. Not Too Hard [1:42]
t27. Playing Together Purely Randomly [1:07]
t28. Garcia V. Weir [1:29]
t29. Keith Olsen [1:32]
t30. Station ID [0:54]
t31. Doing Interviews [1:24]
t32. Another GD Question Goes Nowhere [0:32]
t33. It's That Important To Me [1:27]
t34. What Career? [0:12]
t35. JGB Concrescence [3:04]
t36. You Want It To Move You [0:40]
t37. The Taoism And The Path, Featuring Buzzy Buchanan
t38. Amenhotep's Wine [1:35]
t39. The Invisible Landscape [1:33]
t40. Goodbyes [0:28]
t41. The News [0:08]

! Interview: people present:
! personnel: Andy Gefen
! personnel: Donna Jean Godchaux
! personnel: Jerry Garcia
! personnel: John Kahn
! personnel: Buzz Buchanan

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: none.

! db: part of shnid 76444 (Gefen > Goodbear).

! R: PREFM-SBD > ? > Gefen Master ? > GoodBear CD (late 1990s) > shn, part of shnid 76444.

! R: shn2flac via TLH, tracking via CDWave, tagging in foobar2000 by JGMF, 8/6/2012.

! t02 Jerry interrupts him Jerry Garcia Band. JG "Under the stars. Not undah." They are wasted. For those of you who don't enjoy the show tonight, I'd like to apologize on behalf of myself and the members of the band. John Kahn. Let's apologize for Buzzy, too. And Buzzy.

! t03 Ron Tutt's been playing with us. Ron isn't playing with us anymore. The new kid in the band is Buzz Buchanan credit to his race, as far as drummers go. From Los Angeles. What happened to Ron Tutt? Kahn: He went back to Los Angeles unfortunately. Buzz who did you play with before? Studio stuff in LA. The Smothers Brothers, played back east with them at the Great Gorge Playboy Club.

! t04 Someone mutters "shit",  and the DJ sounds worried about the ramifications of broadcasting a swear word. "I need ten grand and a year in jail." Garcia, pulling up from an audible snort: "I do. I could use a year in jail. I really think it would straighten me right out. And the $10 grand [fine] would be helpful, too."

! t05 on CUTS release date: That's a good question. If Arista really cooks, they might get it out as soon as the next couple of weeks ... next week or so. Our last really important deadline which we were almost totally convinced we would make was September 10th ... of last year. Unfortunately, we ... slipped up a little right there." JK: "Well, we made the deadline, in a way." DJ: "In a way?" JK: "Yeah. We were mostly dead by then." DJ: "Gratefully ... dead?" JK: "Well, I wasn't all that happy about it, myself."

! t06 Keith Godchaux: This is really harsh. He asks if Keith is around, and they all start snickering. JG: "Not all of us can move, see [laughter] ... sometimes it just doesn't work out right. [hilarity]

! t07 re Maria Muldaur: DJG: "There's somebody else who isn't here. Maria Muldaur is not here. Call John Mr. Maria. JG: "She is now an official member [inaudible]." JK : "The original mistake was "mr." JG: "She is a permanent member of this band insofar as this band is a permanent organization." DJ: "And it's workin' out great." JG: "yeah. Real great." Maria has her own date.

! t08 JG: "We all have to work around each other, know what I mean? Otherwise, y'know, I work at a gas station during the day." John will come back and play with Maria when she comes back to town.

! t09 Q about GD plans. JG: "Yeah, we're gonna be workin' ourselves silly this year. But I don't have a rap to tell you.  I don't have any information that's gonna do you any good on the Grateful Dead right now. Right now this is what we're doin, and this is the most important thing that's happening as far as we're concerned." Bob Weir album recording. JF: "We're looking at recording in the May-June-July area, if things go right we'll have an album out in August." Kahn: Just like our album out in September". Jerry: "Well, yeah, right, we're all hippies. Crazed beatniks. Strange people. Foreigners." JK: "I have a junior beatnik card."

! t10 clips of the GD Movie on TV on "Rock Concert" TV people have been pulling on our legs for many years to go on television. William F. Buckley wanted me to go on Firing Line.
! t11 GD tour maybe early spring starting in Florida. JG doesn't really know about it. Garcia cuts this question off.

! t12 Most like to talk about the record. Record has been a great trip for us. "We started working on it last July. Because we're all doing all this other stuff."

! t13 DJG: "And we built the studio that we recorded it in." JG: "Yeah, we built the studio to do it. What was happening was, we were rehearsing, and all of a sudden ... and it's Tutt that plays on these tracks, not Buzz, unfortunately. [Buzz, wake up!] So we were playing in there and we were making cassettes for practice purposes as we were working on the material. And, uh, Tutt ... was he attracted to ... he liked the drum sound in the room. We hadn't really thought about it before. So we whipped the place into a recording studio, took about a month to do it, two months, maybe. This whole record is, fundamentally, on a technical level it's totally homemade. I mean everything that was done, it was done ... right ... it was all done in the same room." JK: "I remember when we were all splicing wires, we actually, literally, ourselves, put it together [inaudible]." JG: "We were cutting wires, and cutting lines and making cables and doing everything ... we actually built the place--" DJ: "From scratch." JG: "Yeah, from scratch."

! t13 @0102 DJ: "Do you intend to use this studio for future Garcia and Dead endeavors?" JG: "Whether the Dead decide to use it or not is a matter of ... that decisionmaking process ... you know, we don't decide like *that* ... for me, it's a thing that's been a long, slow progression of accumulation of equipment, and the desire to have a really good facility for recording. The neat thing about it is that the room we're workin' in, it just sounds beautiful. It sounds better than any studio I've ever worked in, in terms of the room sound. So, the vocal quality, the instrumental quality, the drum sound, all the sounds that are recorded in the room ...; there's horns and strings and things like that there as well ... and everything  just has a very articulate and nice sound."

! t14 JG: "I'm happiest with this record, of all the ones we've done. It's neat because it's all original material, all the material is our own stuff." DJ: "Can I who produced this album?" JG: "We all" [crosstalk] DJ question about Keith Olsen and production. JK: "I don't know that we have such a specific plan on that level. Things are changeable, always." JG: "Yeah, right, that's the thing, is that no decision is final, and that no operating ... no way of operating is ever completely always gonna be the thing." Jerry really doesn't want to go onto GD terrain, while Gefen really does.

t15 RIR introduction. DJ: "Give us a chance to relax a little bit, with microphones off." JG, laconically: "That'd be swell." DJ introduces song as by "Jerry Garcia", and Garcia insists "Jerry Garcia BAND".

! R: t16 spliced

! t17 silliness

! t18 tour so far, only two gigs. DJ: "How long have you been rehearsing for the tour?" JK "None". JG: "About twenty minutes." JK, laughing: "That's right, it was twenty minutes." JG: "We try to approach this stuff professionally." JK: "Yeah, right. I do remember that twenty minutes, now that I think about it."

! t19 CUTS album personnel: Kahn mentions harmonica player Dave Burgin on "Palm Sunday". Steve Schuster horn player on "Rain". Two string players one was named Brian (Brian Godchaux and Candy Godchaux, Keith's brother and sister-in-law). Then there was that guy whatshisname from the ... [Kahn: "Musicians' union?" [general mirth]. French horn player his name was whatever it says. Stewart somebody from the Oakland Symphony. JG: "Wonderful player. French horn is a really difficult instrument, this guy ..."

t20 John Kahn writing instrumentation wrote the out about five minutes, on the floor, with manuscript paper, scribble scribble scribble for this french horn player ... and he just played it immediately. He's a remarkable player, remarkable." JG, sound a little grumpy: "Uhh, yeah, we have. We've been movin' each other along and I think an awful lot of what's happening in music is just dull as dishwater, man." DJ: "You're not into any disco or New Wave or anything?" JG: "Of those things, of those choices, the New Wave... the whole punk rock trip, I like it best. I like it best, I think. I like it because it has some energy, it has some spirit." JK: "There's the thing of, new music, people are tyring to play [crosstalk] there's thing, in San Francisco, 'cause that's where I was then, when everybody was just learning to play, there was a thing that was missing --" JG: "The thing of people tryin' real hard. JK: "Tryin' to figure out how to make it work." JG: "Yeah, yeah. It's got the spirit, y'know, that's the thing. The nature of the spirit, if you had to describe the spirit, you could describe the spirit as being a little bit edgy, y'know, maybe sort of a Violent spirit, y'know, sort of scaly and weird, maybe, but it's a spirit, and almost anything else lacks spirit of any sort."

! t21 DJ: "I just want to ask a question about your musical influences. Anybody been moving you along lately?"

! t22 JG: "Who is there around to say what being really, really good on an instrument is. There are guys who don't play ... who can't play many notes, that can move you tremendously with what they do play. Then there are guys who can play gazillions of notes, and nobody can even dig it." JK, sounding very strange: "There isn't any best in the world anymore." JG: "No, it's not like that anymore." JK: "There can't be a best guitar player in the world anymore. There's twenty now. JG: "Say, eighty." [cross-talk] DJG: "Being the greatest is no longer the incentive." JG: "Being great is your own trip." More from JK.

! t23 general weirdness, then DJG asks DJ "Do you want us to stop talking?" He says "No, no", and Garica replies "Well then stop looking at that thing, then, if it gives you the creeps." Too funny! "Play something so *you* can relax." General mirth. "Rain" intro by JG

! t25 DJ mistakenly identifie the song as "Gomorrah", not sure. JG, dismissive: "Uh, it's called 'Rain'. It's the one that Donna wrote?" DJ: "I am getting confused in between--" [--SNIFF-- chuckles] "--John Kahn just noticed his own name on Jerry Garcia's Reflections album." JG: "He's into his name because it rhymes." DJ: "With what?" JG: "With itself. John Kahn. John Kahn." He sounds a littel patronizing.

! t26 question about how the decision was made to have Donna and Keith tour with this band and with the Dead. Gets no response, says "OK ... they don't like that question." Then they affirm him a little bit. Donna: "No, no, I just don't understand it." JK "These things happen more than a decision [inaudible]." JG: "See, here's the thing, I mean, I think it best ... in terms of clarity, I think it's easiest not to confuse the Grateful Dead with *this* band . This band really has its own identity, its own evolution." DJ: "I'm only making the comment because there are three members of the Dead in it, as opposed to one [garbled]." JG: "That is an interesting ..." JK: "Well," [cross-talk DJ, something about Bob Weir] "it's coincidental, that's all." JG: "It's coincidental, almost, yeah." JK "We didn't have a piano player, and Keith was the best guy we could find, and Donna's a fabulous singer." JG: "Yeah, actually, this started quite awhile ago. I mean, Keith and Donna have been with us for two years." DJG: "And they needed a piano player, and another singer would be nice. Keith and I live together. It'd be cheap." [laughter] JG: "Not too hard ... and we're all freaks." [crosstalk] DJG: "--just fell into it really naturally." DJ: "May I ask how you originally got involved with the Dead?" JK: "They probably needed a piano player, too." DJG: "They did. That was exactly what was happening."

! t27 JG: "It's a matter of timing, really." JK: "Those things happen. It's not heavy decisions or anything. That kind of stuff just happens ... somebody shows up, and it's right, and everybody knows it's right." DJ question about Bobby and Kingfish. JG: "I guess, so, that's the way it worked out with him. But for me it's always been the thing of, that, decisionmaking is always, always ... I don't dig it, I'm ... It's more a matter of luck. Like, John and I really were thrown together in a gig. We started playing together purely randomly. And we played together for a looong time before we started even talking very much. But we got along musically." JK: "I had known you for about three years--" [crosstalk] "--the first time I ever really talked to you is when you gave me a ride home from the airport once from somewhere." JG: "Yeah. It's just one of those things. Something happens in your life."

! t28 DJ spoke with Weir the day before (3/10/78), asking about parallels. JG: "He was in a situation where he had a created band. He'd done a record, and the record had a certain musical personality ... and he was really in the position, since Weir, Bobby doesn't spend a lot of time playin' around with other musicians, except when he was working with Kingfish and stuff like that, y'know. So, he went down there [LA] and for him it was a good experience because he was exposed to a lot of good players, met a lot of people, and put himself into that situation of, 'OK, now I have to have a band.'."  JK: "He has to cover his album." JG and Donna affirm. JG: "This is a little different." DJ: "What do you think of that album?" JG: "Weir's album?" DJ: "Yeah." JG: "Slick as can be.  Weir has always been a very interesting writer to me. He writes the kinds of things that I would never, ever think of writing, musically I mean. And his development as a composer is gettin' to be more interesting and more resolved as the years go by. He's always been an interesting composer. His ideas are ... they're unique. Whether other people are gonna like it or not, I really haven't the slightest idea, but it really sounds smooth, and it sounds nice and finished. Keith Olsen is a very careful and meticulous producer."

! t29 Keith Olsen: "He showed up and didn't freak out." "he's a good cat. He really doesn't belong in LA. He's a good guy to work with. He's the pick of the litter."  , Dead with outside producer everybody has their own opinion so firmly, it's like imprinted on yourselves. Very hard for us to all. .. it's helpful to have an objective ear. Dealing with ourselves we can hang ourselves up for months and months and months and months and months. "It's not that we don't dig it, but that's what it is."

! t31 random chatter. Running out of things to say. Now, general mayhem. All talking about things. "Being on the radio beats lying around in the gutter, in the snow. ... It also beats things like taking a shower."

! t32 Jerry directing. JG: "Hey, I know, why don't you play nother cut. ... In that case, do what you want." DJ prods him again about asking about the Dead. Jerry sounding a little grouchy "I am just not into it that much right now." GD we're workin'.

! t33 DJ: Are there plans for another Jerry Band album, this is a permanent entity? JG: "Yeah. This is. It's been going on for some time. It's an idea we have been pursuing for some time. John and I have been involved in developing this thing over this long period of time in a kind of crazy way. It's serious. As a personal, as an individual apart from my relationship with the Grateful Dead, which is an important thing to me, this record, this music and this band is the same thing to me. It's that important to me. I care that much about it. I'm that serious about it. I think that this record is the best record that any of our various scenes --if you want to be thinking in those terms, y'know, sub-groups and all the rest of that stuff, if you want to be thinking in those terms, this record is, I think, the best of any of them so far. I mean, in terms of us feeling really good about it. The material is really good. The lyrics are beautiful, the musical ideas, the performances, the sound ... everything is the way we would want for people to hear it."
t34 DJ: "How do you feel everything is at this point in your career." JG: "what career? I don't care about a career."

t35 Kahn: "I'll tell you, of significant importance [sic] is that we've really become a band. It's not like something that Jerry does in his spare time, or that I do in my spare time, or anything like that. It started out that way." JG, to John: "Gimme that drink." JK: "Oh, no." JG: "Go ahead."  [pause all around] JK: "What was I saying? We're a *band*, that's really what's  important to know." @0:32 JG: "But that's like a real thing. It's like a marriage, or something. Not only is it a band, but it's a band that has that ... it has thing of of, ummm, consonance. [That's] the best way I can describe it. In other words, we all think similarly musically." DJG: "The hippest folks out there will know what we man by concrescence .. but only the hippest, y'know." JG: "Probably only the hippest, that's right. All you lame people [crosstalk]." DJ: gives him choices. John Kahn wants to do the news, presumably to take another "break". Jerry says they'll go until Robbie freaks out. !1:35 DJ: "Where were we?" JG: "Where, indeed?" JK: We're into something new." JG: "We're into the music having a personality and a life of its own that is something which we all recognize we're a part of.  It's like you imagine a music in your head, and you don't even imagine it perfectly, it's not even something ... it escapes your imagination ... it's provocative. And then you run into somebody and you see that what they're doing has some part of that vision. And you recognize it. Y'know what I mean? It's not like you invent it, you recognize it. 'Yeah, that, that, that's it, that's it!" JK: "Right. There's there's the possibility of that dream. And you go further." JG: "Yeah. And then you go further, you go further." [crosstalk: DJG: --that has the same dream."] JG: "That's right, that has the same --[crosstalk]. Dynamically, the interesting difference in this thing is that this band represents a kind of amazing agremement, where, by contrast, the Grateful Dead represents this amazing disagreement, in terms of, that everybody has tremendously different ideas about music, just a ... but that's interesting for other reasons. That's interesting for completely other reasons. This is ... this gets us all off in the same way. The Grateful Dead, when the Grateful Dead gets off, everybody gets off differently. But we all get off."

! t36 Kahn's idea about music: "I don't have any idea about music. What to me it means 'good' which is, it has an effect on people. That's what good means to me." JG: "Yeah, me too." JK: "And, other than that, I don't have any idea. We could play bluegrass music, or jazz, or--" [JG: "Yeah, style doesn't have anything to do with it."] --"it doesn't matter. It's all music. It's just music." JG: "And as long as it has an effect on you. When you hear music, you want it to move you. You want it to ... communicate." DJG: "And this band has expanded on that level." JG: "Yeah. We've been hittin' some ..."

! personnel: Buzz Buchanan: t37 Donna brings up Buzzy how John Kahn found Buzzy Buchanan. "He's allowed us to go into spaces in music that we've never gone to before. He's great." Discussion about how John found Buzzy through a Kmart thing, John says it was the 'Best Hits of the Chinese Fifth Dynasty Greatest Hits'. And the particular track I heard was "The Taoism and the Path, featuring Buzzy Buchanan, and because of that I decided that I thought he'd really work well with us. And, oddly enough, it turned out that he was still alive."

! t38 Kahn: wine bottles in Amenhotep's grave ... 1400 BC ... they are drinking ... DJG: "We found this bottle uncorked it and there was Buzzy." ... SNORT ... DJ: herbicides on dope in Mexico ... JG: "What about that clone story?"

! t39 DJ: "What kind of stuff have you been into, as far as--" JG: "Ideas? There's a fantastic book called The Invisible Landscape, that anybody that wants to have their brain turned inside out should read, that is by the McKenna Brothers, who are ... Terrence and Dennis McKenna, who are a pair of scientists ... and in the book they propose a theory ... a holographic theory of mind and the Universe. They talk about the mechanical and electromagnetic way that psychedelics affect the mind, and the DNA and RNA specifically ... [crosstalk] Then they talk about the I-Ching ..."

! t40 even Buzz says goodbye ... network news.

! t41 the news about a Ku Klux Klan rally