Playing on the radio builds an audience, part the millionth: OAITW April 1973

I was just revisiting a little item in Todd Tolces's early 1970s column in the Berkeley Daily Gazette. From May 3, 1973:

Picking a very nicely at at banjo all weekend was Jerry Garcia with his new bluegrass group, Old and in Way.

The acoustic quintet played through two nights at the Keystone to a very crowded house each time. The word got out. Either that or everybody beard them on KSAN's 'live'' weekend where Old and in the Way did a smashing one-hour set from the Record Plant in Sausalito.

Also on hand that day and the Friday and Saturday nights at the Keystone was Richard Greene, Seatrain's former fiddler. Greene's presence makes two refugees from Seatrain. The other is Peter Rowan, their lead singer and guitarist.

Greene's presence may finally fill Garcia's desire to ''find a fiddle player and play the bluegrass festivals this summer." However because of the Greatful Dead's heavy work schedule he may not be able to. Let's wait and see.

So, a few things.

First, Tolces somehow got the idea that Greene was there to stay. But as far as I know he'd play the Pacific Northwest shows May 8 in Eugene and May 9 in Portland, and that would be all she wrote.

Second, Corry gets some nice capillary-level confirmation. He had said in re the 4/21/73 KSAN broadcast "Any doubts about Old And In The Way's strategy to popularize themselves like the Stanley Brothers are erased by this broadcast." And here we are the next weekend, packed house through buzz from the broadcast.

Third, I think my putative 4/28/73 Record Plant KSAN Broadcast *must* be a phantom, right? I think Richard Greene had himself at the Plant this date, and remembered doing a KSAN broadcast from there, and he and I conjured this event in the recollecting. Instead, I think RG was at the Plant doing some session work (I don't know for whom) on 4/28, and we both just mixed it with 4/21.

Can I get a collective ruling on that question?

Fourth, Tolces hearkens back to what Jerry had told him on March 13th, very early in the band's run, that he wanted a fiddle player.

Fifth, Tolces is also being communicated some doubts about how much time he'll really have for Old And In The Way. I can imagine three pathways to that. 1) It was just sort of "known". 2) GD sources (e.g., Cutler) planted that, as a shot across the bow to Jerry and his little buddies that they ate last. 3) Jerry planting it to start setting expectations among his bluegrass buddies. He wouldn't want to disappoint them, and he was averse to directly communicating anything even vaguely unpleasant. So maybe Tolces proved a useful conduit to soften the reality.

Sixth, whatever all that is, the whole thing nicely illustrates the burden of being Jerry Garcia (Gans).

San Francisco Sessions, 1969

update: changed title 20160319

San Francisco Sessions Series

• San Francisco Sessions, 1967-1968
• San Francisco Sessions, 1969
• San Francisco Sessions, 1970
• San Francisco Sessions, 1971
• San Francisco Sessions, 1972 

Moving through the Garciaverse, I pick up lots of pieces that are more degrees of separation out from Jerry than I can ever have real occasion to write-up, except purely on grounds of the shedding necessary to free up scarce cognitive resources. Thus was born my series San Francisco Sessions, which will run through 1972, I think.

/update

I just posted some random gatherings from SF (mostly studio) sessions, 1967-1968, mostly involving people who cross the Garciaverse in some way or who just interest me (e.g., QMS).

More of the same, 1969, with some half-baked effort to put in bold the names of folks with whom Garcia shared a stage.

A few fun ones, for me:

• I love that the Mule and the Bloomfielders did a radio commercial for Country Club Malt Liquor. I am sure that stuff went down smooth.
• A Howard Wales sighting! Ever the obscurity, even the union doesn't know his address.
• I notice Richard Greene and Kahn working a Brewer & Shipley session together on December 1st - I am not sure I knew that Greene had crossed into the Kahn-o-verse in this way.
• Question: is James Cooke of the Steve Miller sessions a.k.a. Curley Cooke, or is that someone different?

Anyway, please do leave name corrections, random thoughts, hoots and jeers in comments.

San Francisco Sessions, 1967-1968

updated title 20160319

San Francisco Sessions Series

• San Francisco Sessions, 1967-1968
• San Francisco Sessions, 1969
• San Francisco Sessions, 1970
• San Francisco Sessions, 1971
• San Francisco Sessions, 1972 

In the course of my research into Jerry Garcia’s musical life outside the Grateful Dead, I have gathered up, well, an awful lot of stuff. Sometimes I can’t resist, especially if I find myself in amongst papers that others might not get around to, but that might contain good information.

The following is just a rough list of some of the union contracts I came across. You’ll see that this is biased toward names that I know from the Side Trips Social Network – that has been my research purpose. But sometimes there’s stuff that’s very peripheral that just catches my eye.

 I am trying not to transcribe too much information, since it’s so peripheral to my interests. I am putting it out here for other researchers who might be interested. The documents of course contain all kinds of other information I am just listing date/venue, artist/project/names, employer, and a six-digit number that will help me find the document in question. If you are curious about a particular document, drop me a line.

update: I have now posted a similar list for 1969.

1967

May 4, 1967 Golden State Recorders, 655 Harrison Street (TV)

Steve Miller (SM, Jim Cooke, Tim Davis, Lonnie Turner)

(illegible)

110942

May 12, 1967 KQED Studios, SF (TV - Replay of May 10 program)

BBHC

110231

May 12-13, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium (live)

Jefferson Airplane

RCA Victor

110309

June 28, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium (live)

Steve Miller (SM, Jim Cooke, Tim Davis, Lonnie Turner, James Peterman)

Mercury Records

110919

June 29, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium (live)

Steve Miller (SM, Jim Cooke, Tim Davis, Lonnie Turner, James Peterman)

Mercury Records

110900

June 30, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium (live)

Steve Miller (SM, Jim Cooke, Tim Davis, Lonnie Turner, James Peterman)

Mercury Records

110813

July 7, 1967 KQED Studios, SF (TV)

Country Joe and the Fish

KQED

111717

July 26, 1967 The Cheetah, Santa Monica (live)

Steve Miller (SM, James Cooke, Tim Davis, Lonnie Turner, James Peterman)

Pacific Radio – KPFK

111407

July 31, 1967 Golden Gate Park (live)

Mimi Farina

Bay Area Educational Television Association (KQED)

111114

July 31, 1967 Golden Gate Park (live)

Steve Miller (SM, Jim Cooke, Tim Davis, Lonnie Turner, James Peterman)

Bay Area Educational Television Association (KQED)

111133

September 18, 1967 unknown location (but see QMS for this date) (live)

Dino Valente

Epic Records

111501

September 18, 1967 New Committee Theater, 836 Montgomery St., SF (live)

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan)

Columbia Record Company

111520

November 8, 1967 Commercial Recorders, 149 Natoma, SF

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore, Nick Gravenites, Harvey Brooks)

Capitol Records

113510

November 10, 1967 Commercial Recorders, 149 Natoma, SF

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore, Nick Gravenites, Harvey Brooks)

Capitol Records

113544

1968

March 18-19, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

James Cotton (JC, Edward Adams, James Patrick Cooke, Raphael Martin Fierro, Larry Wayne Talbert, Jose Emilio Rodriguez

Vanguard

113426

May 7, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Wayne Talbert [leader], Dough Sahm, Mack Rebbenack, Martin Fierro, Joe Rodriguez, Eddie Adams, Bill Atwood, Mel Martin, Lee Charlton)

Mercury Records

120715

May 8, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

“Joyce Dunn” (Dough Sahm [leader], Wayne Talbert, Martin Fierro, Frank Morin, Bill Atwood, Whitney Freeman, Mack Rebbenack)

Mercury Records

120654

May 9, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Wayne Talbert [leader], Martin Fierro, Joe Rodriguez, Eddie Adams, Bill Atwood, Mel Martin, Lee Charlton)

Mercury Records

120654

May 11, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Sir Douglas Quintet “Honky Blues” (Dough Sahm [leader], Hewlett Crist, Frank Morin, George Rains, Whitney Freeman, Martin Fierro, Wayne Talbert, Bill Atwood, Mel Martin)

Mercury Records

120645

May 18, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene, Norman Bellas)

MGM

113624

May 19, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene, Norman Bellas)

MGM

113643

May 21, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene)

MGM

113653

May 22, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene)

MGM

113702

May 23, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene, Harvey Brooks)

MGM

113715

May 28, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene)

MGM

113715

May 29, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene)

MGM

113735

June 4, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene)

MGM

113806

June 8, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene)

MGM

113756

June 10, 1968 Sierra Sound Laboratories, 1741 Alcatraz Ave., Berkeley

Blues Project (Andy Kulberg, Roy Blumenfeld, John Gregory, Richard Greene)

MGM

113747

June 11, 1968 Avalon Ballroom 1:30 pm

Harvey Mandel (HM [leader], Armando Peraza, Frank [Lalo] Varela, Edward F. Hoh, Arthur Stavro)

Mercury Records

120548

June 24, 1968 Commercial Recorders, 149 Natoma Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Wayne Talbert, Mack Rebbenack, Edward Adams, Jose Rodriguez, Martin Fierro)

Mercury Records

120737

June 25, 1968 Commercial Recorders, 149 Natoma Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Wayne Talbert, Mack Rebbenack, Edward Adams, Jose Rodriguez, Martin Fierro)

Mercury Records

120119, 120130

June 27, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Martin Fierro [leader], Bill Atwood, Mike Ropec, Melvyin Martin, Richard T. Washington

Mercury Records

120027, 120309

June 28, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

“Wayne Talbert” (Martin Fierro [leader], Mike Ropec, Mel Martin, Frank Morin, Richard Washington, Wilfred Sache, Lewis Davis, Bennie Harris)

Mercury Records

120042

June 29, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

“Wayne Talbert” (Martin Fierro [leader], Mike Ropec, Bill Atwood, Mel Martin, Frank Morin, Richard Washington)

Mercury Records

115239, 120257

July 1, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Martin Fierro [leader], Wilfred Sache, Melvyn Martin, Mike Ropec, Lewis Link Davis, Frank Morin)

Mercury Records

120620, 120631

July 3, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Martin Fierro [leader], Wilfred Sache, Melvyn Martin, Lewis Link Davis, Alfonso Molino Jr.)

Mercury Records

120017, 120319

July 9, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Wayne Talbert and the Melting Pot (Martin Fierro [leader, address is c/o Brian Rohan], Wilfred Sache, Melvyn Martin, Lewis Link Davis, Alfonso Molino Jr.)

Mercury Records

120058, 120610

July 12, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (Powell St. John [leader], Martin Fierro)

Mercury Records

120522

July 15, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (Powell St. John [leader], Martin Fierro, Bob Arthur, John Andrew, George Rains, Mark Naftalin)

Mercury Records

120511

July 16, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (Martin Fierro [leader], L. Link Davis, Bob Salisbury)

Mercury Records

120500

July 17, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Roy Head (Doug Sahm [leader], Martin Fierro)

Mercury Records

120340

July 19, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Roy Head (Frank Morin [leader], Martin Fierro)

Mercury Records

120359

July 31, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (John Andrews [leader], Link Davis Jr., Martin Fierro, Robert Salisbury, Spenser Perskin)

Mercury Records

114118

August 1 (?), 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Mother Earth (John Andrews, George Rains, Robert Arthur, Mark Naftalin, Link Davis Jr., Frank Morin, Ronald Tourmina, Tracy Nelson [leader], Martin Fierro, Robert Salisbury)

Mercury Records

114100

August 4, 1968 Frost Amphitheater, Palo Alto, CA (live)

Don Ellis (too many other people to list, no names familiar to me)

Columbia Records

114300

August 5, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Mother Earth (John Andrews [leader], George Rains, Robert Arthur, Mark Naftalin, Link Davis Jr., Frank Morin, Ronald Tourmina, Tracy Nelson, Martin Fierro)

Mercury Records

114050

August 8, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (Martin Fierro [leader], James Cooke, Frank Morin, Lewis Link Davis, Ronald Tourmina, Louis Gasca, Spenser Perskin)

Mercury Records

114031

August 9, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (Martin Fierro, Frank Morin [leader], Lewis Link Davis, Ronald Tourmina, Louis Gasca)

Mercury Records

114217

August 14, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Mother Earth (Powell St. John [leader], John Andrews, Terry Anderson, Robert Arthur, Mark Naftalin, Frank Morin, Ronald Tourmina, Martin Fierro, Luis Gasca, Cox [?] Rodriguez)

Mercury Records

114138

August 15, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (Powell St. John [leader], Martin Fierro, Luis Gasca)

Mercury Records

114207

August 16, 1968 Columbus Recorders, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mother Earth (John Andrews [leader], Martin Fierro, Luis Gasca)

Mercury Records

114157

August ??, 1968 Korty Films Inc., Stinson Beach, CA (film “Riverrun”)

Richard Greene (leader), Peter Berg

Korty Films, Inc.

114413

August 27, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

“Junior Parker” (Frank Morin [leader], George Rains, Link Davis, Ron Tourmina, Martin Fierro, Terry Hensley, Henry Angeli Jr., Whitney Freeman, Charles Pritchard, Doug Sahm, Hewlett Cris)

Mercury Records

120843

September 14, 1968 Coast Recorders, SF

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115733

September 16, 1968 Coast Recorders, SF

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115743

September 17, 1968 Coast Recorders, SF

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115752

September 23, 1968 Coast Recorders, SF

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115004

September 24, 1968 Coast Recorders, SF

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

114951

September 26-27-28, 1968 Fillmore West, SF (live)

Al Kooper [leader], Mike Bloomfield, Skip Prokop, John Kahn

Columbia Records

120756

October 5, 1968 Coast Recorders, 960 Bush Street, SF

Amigos de Musica Band (Doug Sahm [leader], Whitney Freeman, Terry Alan Hensley, Ron Taormina, Jose Rodriguez, George Rains, Martin Fierro, Frank Morin)

Mercury Records

120414

October 10-11-12, 1968 Winterland (remote session)

Dino Valente

Epic Records

115900

October 24-25-26, 1968 Fillmore West (live)

Jefferson Airplane

RCA

114750, 114800, 114810

November 4, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Shades of Joy (Martin Fierro [leader], Edward Adams, Jose Rodriguez, Jackie King)

Mercury Records

1145354

November 5, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Shades of Joy (Martin Fierro [leader], Edward Adams, Jose Rodriguez, Jackie King, Jymm Young)

Mercury Records

1145544

November 6, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Shades of Joy (Martin Fierro [leader], Edward Adams, Jose Rodriguez, Jackie King, Jymm Young)

Mercury Records

1145601

November 7, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Mitch Greenhill (Richard Greene [leader], Peter Kleinow)

Mercury Records

114641

November 7, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Shades of Joy (Martin Fierro [leader], Edward Adams, Jose Rodriguez, Jackie King, Jymm Young)

Mercury Records

1145552

November 7, 1968 Fillmore West (live)

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115818

November 8, 1968 Columbus Recording, 916 Kearny Street, SF

Shades of Joy (Martin Fierro [leader], Edward Adams, Jose Rodriguez, Jackie King, Jymm Young)

Mercury Records

1145612

November 8, 1968 Fillmore West (live)

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115843

November 9, 1968 Fillmore West (live)

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115828

November [between ca. 6 and 12], 1968 KQED-TV studios (TV: West Pole II)

It’s a Beautiful Day (David LaFlamme [leader], Mike Holman, Patricia Santos, Linda LaFlamme, Val Fuentes, Harold Wagenet)

Bay Area Educational TV Association

114515

November 10, 1968 Fillmore West (live)

QMS (John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan, Greg Elmore)

Capitol Records

115807

November 23, 1968 Pacific Recording Studios, San Mateo, CA

Wayne Ceballos (WC, Kenneth Newell, Larry Martin)

Sire Records

114905

Big Daddy: "This is Old And In The Way, and I'll let 'em stay all night if they want to."

LN jg1973-04-21.oaitw.early.fm-FlyingM.125747.flac1644

Old And In the Way
Record Plant
2200 Bridgeway
Sausalito, CA 94965
April 21, 1973 (Saturday)
57 minute Flying M FM shnid-125747

--(15 tracks, 57:29, basically complete)--
t01. (1) ... Going To The Races [0:15] [0:09]
t02. (2) The Willow Garden [3:57] (3, 4) [0:18]
t03. Katy Hill [2:19] (5) [0:16]
t04. Till The End Of The World Rolls Round [2:13] [0:49]
t05. Panama Red [2:14] [0:45]
t06. Hard Hearted [2:31] (6)
t07. Soldier's Joy [2:16] [0:05]
t08. Wild Horses [4:10] [0:15]
t09. Lost [3:11] [0:32]
t10. Knockin' On Your Door [2:27] [1:12]
t11. Lonesome L.A. Cowboy [4:04] [0:24]
t12. Fanny Hill [4:05] (7, 8) [0:51]
t13. White Dove [4:05] [0:56]
t14. Land Of The Navajo [6:30] (9) [1:42]
t15. false start [0:22], Blue Mule [3:47] (10) [0:08]

! ACT1: Old And In The Way
! lineup: Peter Rowan - ac-g, vocals;
! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin, vocals;
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, vocals;
! lineup: Richard Green - fiddle;
! lineup: John Kahn - ac-b.

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/19730421-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/11860 (shn, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/125747 (this fileset)

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

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/record-plant-2200-bridgeway-sausalito-ca.html

! ref: Arnold, Corry. 2012. Old And In The Way FM Broadcasts, 1973 (FM VI). Lost Live Dead, April 12, 2012, URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/04/old-and-in-way-fm-broadcasts-1973-fm-vi.html, consulted 4/22/2012.

! R: source: stereo FM radio broadcast > Unknown > R2R > Teac 4070G (1970s);

! transfer: Pioneer R2R > Audigy 4 Pro @ 24/44 (2010);

! preparation: Audacity (clean up a few flat spots and dropouts) > AudioGate (16-44) >
Audacity (patched missing segments as noted from shn 11860 source) > CD Wav > Flac (Level 8) > Stamp ID3 tag editor.

! R: seeder notes: "This one is from the Record Plant in Sausalito, California (across the Bay from San Francisco). For this live radio show Richard Greene replaced Vassar Clements [ed: this is incorrect, as Clements came in later] and joins with the new boy, Jerry Garcia on the banjo. [ed: the band never existed w/o Garcia, this is a reference to Grisman's joky characterization in introducing Jerry.] Tom Donahue, the father of FM radio is the DJ and engineer for this broadcast. The lineage prior to my tape copy is unknown. The quality is very good, with a slight hiss noticeable in the quietest sections. My tape did not have the opening portion and included a cut in "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy". Patches were inserted using the shnid-11860 source to complete the show. "'till the end of the world" has a squiggly spot in it. there is a slight speed difference between the tape and the SHN 11860 patch source. Someone with a better ear than mine can figure out which pitch is correct and tweak as needed. Hope this makes some people smile. For historical reference only and not intended for resale or any commercial use. Enjoy what may be an upgrade for some -M- (September 2013) FLYING M PRODUCTIONS  FAN RECORDINGS FOR COLLECTORS TRADE FREELY BUT PLEASE DO NOT BUY OR SELL"

! R: t01. GTTR fades in. This is patched in from shnid-11860, which is decidedly inferior to the present recording. Thank you, sharer!

! setlist: I need to check, but my sense is that Going To The Races was the set opener for OAITW, and given how short the songs were, we are probably missing almost exactly (only) the two and a half minutes suggested by the 57:29 run time of the tape. The broadcast must have been 60 minutes, and we are just missing the very start. Update: actually, given how fast this is running, it was probably recorded to 60 minutes, and the missing front of GTR just reflects the startup of the FM broadcast.

! t01 (1) DJ voice over "Old And In The Way".

! t02 (2) PR: "Here's a old-timer called 'The Willow Garden'".

! t02 (3) Big Daddy, Tom Donahue: "Old And In The Way. Live from the Record Plant."

! t02 (4) Peter Rowan: "We're gonna call on Richard Greene, with that little fiddle, to fiddle out one for us. [Greene, calling the tune to the band: "'Katy Hill'".] 'Katy Hill'." Sweet to hear the fiddle player call the tune and everyone start playing.

! P: t02 Jerry sounds really good. He'd been working up his chops during this week. Grisman takes first solo (after the fiddle, of course), after a few measures Garcia doubles behind him. How Richard doubles and Jerry triples. Richard pulls some wicked shit @ 1:35, Garcia plucking louder 1:40, it's a train! It's a train! Great playing by everyone.

! t03 (5) DG: "Fiddlin' Richard Greene." PR: "And here's David Grisman. He's gonna sing a song called 'The End Of The World Rolls Round"."

! P: t04 Garcia first solo.

! t06 R: Grisman's voice sounds Chipmunky. This is running really much too fast.

! t06 (6) DG: "We've got a new boy on the 5-string banjo, just been with us about two months. Jerry Garcia." Let's hear it! Crowd applause.

! song: "Soldier's Joy" (t07): This is *the* canonical Scotch-Irish fiddle tune, now known and played for more than 250 years. The fileset circulated with a parenthetical reference to "Bonaparte's Retreat", but I think that's a different tune.

! P: t08 WH Rowan botches the lyrics.

! R: t08 definitely running fast. Rowan's vocals are just way too high. Chipmunks!

! R: t11 end patched in from shnid-11860.

! P: t12 FH John Kahn plays some really nice lead acoustic bass here for a few spells. Nice. This is good number.

! t12 (7) time for our gospel show. Time for the gospel part of our show.

! t12 (8) Richard Greene is our lonesome LA cowboy. We import him for all of our radio shows.

! t14 (9) JG says "That's it?" Tom Donahue comes over the PA: "Now listen, man, I don't know if anybody can hear me in there, but if you wanna do another song, go ahead and do another song. [crowd: yeah!] This is KSAN in San Francisco, and this is part of our live weekend. This is Old And In The Way, and I'll let 'em stay all night if they want to."

! t15 (10) Big Daddy: "OK, we'd like to thank Old And In The Way ..." (fades out).

somewhere toward the end of the show: ! t?? (??) DG: "We wanna send this one out to all our sick and shut-in friends in radio land."

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.

Listening Notes around the material mistakenly traveling as OAITW 4/16/73 early show at the Boarding House

update 20240718: this material is not from 4/16/73. Nothing from that date currently circulates. I have not yet determined the correct date for this material.

/update

Updated LN jg1973-04-16.oaitw.a.fm-nfagdtrfb.100404.flac1644

Man, I have been busy.

Anyway, some time ago I did a half-assed "listening notes" on the circulating set (set I) of OAITW 4/16/73. This is one of the "Four Nights at the Boarding House" that seem so incredibly, richly evocative of what a relatively healthy, happy, loose and jamming Garcia wanted out of his side projects. It's an important moment, too, the first known recording with Richard Greene (unless I am right in my speculations, initial and more elaborate, about a 4/12/73 show in Santa Barbara). [update: yes, indeed!] As we have witnessed time and time again, Garcia liked to work in "new members" of his bands on off-nights and/or off-the-beaten path. I don't think the Boarding House qualifies in the latter sense, but this Monday show surely does in the former.

So, I have revisited the tape and I have a slightly more detailed set of notes. Still not super-detailed -- maybe I'll make a third post on it someday.

One other point: the chatter transcribed as note 2 really interests me. Rowan (I think) says Garcia should introduce the band, and Garcia pretty clearly doesn't want to. The Burden Of Being Jerry: Man can't go down to the club on a Monday night, pick some banjo without some kind of star trip imposing itself on him.

Old And In The Way
Boarding House
960 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
April 16, 1973 (Monday) - A (set I or Early Show)
Rex reels > RE > WBAI-FM > DAT > flac1644 shnid-100404

--set I or early show (14 tracks, 49:35)--
a-t01. (1) [0:06] Goin' To The Races [2:24] [0:17]
a-t02. Tragic Romance [3:40] [0:12]
a-t03. Katie Hill [3:27] [0:09]
a-t04. The Willow Garden [4:57] [0:34]
a-t05. 'Til The End Of The World Rolls 'Round [2:25] [0:11]
a-t06. band introductions (2) [1:19]
a-t07. Pig In A Pen [2:36] [0:05]
a-t08. Panama Red [2:17] (3) [1:43]
a-t09. Lonesome L.A. Cowboy [4:25] [0:36]
a-t10. Hard Hearted [2:30] [0:51] (4)
a-t11. Wild Horses [4:37] [0:27]
a-t12. Lost [3:22] (5) [0:15]
a-t13. stage banter (6) -> Blue Mule false start [1:22]
a-t14. Blue Mule [4:36] (7) [0:12]

! ACT1: Old And In The Way
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, vocals;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle.
! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Peter Rowan - guitar, vocals.

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: http://www.thejerrysite.com/shows/show/931.

! JGC:

! map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=960+Bush+Street,+San+FRancisco,+CA&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x8085808d89ff49b9:0xebab856481e4d520,960+Bush+St,+San+Francisco,+CA+94109&gl=us&ei=f2SUTsn3I-zEsQLXpNDvAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CB0Q8gEwAA

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/boarding-house-960-bush-st-san.html

! db: shnid 18422 (runs slow, deprecated); shnid 100404 (this source).

! "Source: SBD > ? > WBAI-FM Broadcast > SAE-2 Receiver > Sony DTC-670."

! "Transfer: MFD > Sony D10P > Coax SPDIF > Audiophile 2496 > Wavelab > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644. Transfer by Andrew F. 08/2009"

! R: seeder Note: "The DAT was recorded from the WBAI Morning Dew radio program on 07/31/1999 during their JG birthday special. Pitch is correct on this recording (ID-18422 is approx 90 cents slow). There's some low end fuzziness, and other minor FM artifacts in the recording."

! R: I suspect that Rex recorded this, not Betty.

! Personnel: This is the earliest OAITW tape with Richard Greene. The Santa Barbara show on 4/12/73 was probably his debut. Otherwise, this is, since he is not present on 4/15/73.

! R: I love that you can hear the band talking things over between tunes, though wish we could hear just a little bit better!

! a-t01 (1) DG: "We're gonna go to the races, folks."

! a-t05 DG sings a few verses of Til the End of the World Rolls Around

! a-t06 (2) Richard Greene: "Thank you very much." Grisman: "I'm gonna introduce the members of the band." [cross-talk] Unknown speaker: "Jerry gets to do that." Grisman: "Uh, all right." RG: "Why don't you do it?" Grisman: "Why don't you do it?" Unknown speaker: "I don't know, man." Garcia: "Fuck you, man." Grisman: "Well, neither does he." [cross-talk] DG: "This here is Peter Rowan on the gi-tar. Over on the big fiddle, John Kahn. Fiddlin' Richard Greene. And on the five-string banjo, Jerry Garcia." Band cross-talk: "Jerry Garcia ... Jerry Garcia!" [NB JGMF] RG: "Who's on the mandolin there?" Garcia: "That's Dave Grisman playin' the mandolin."

! a-t08 JG is singing echo refrain of "Panama Red" during chorus ... I don't remember hearing this.

! a-t08 (3) DG: "That was one of Peter's songs, and here's another one." Crowd gives a cheer. DG: "You folks sound like you're havin' a good time tonight."

! a-t08 During this tuning after Panama Red there's a lot of stage talk, but it's inaudible to me. Note also the room size here: it doesn't sound tiny.

! a-t09 JG's solo @ 2:15 of Lonesome LA Cowboy is just not very good.

! a-t10 (4) DG: "Here's a tune that may be familiar to most of you."

! a-t11 P: This is a pretty nice workup of Wild Horses.

! a-t12 (5) stage stalk, JG: "Maybe we should just play a long set." RG: "Or take a break."

! a-t13 (6) DG: "We're gonna have a big gospel portion on our second set. That's what we're deciding right now. So stick around and get your r'l'gion. ... We're gonna take a short leave of absence ... right after this next song."

! a-t13 Blue Mule false start is funny. They are off-key. Lady in the crowd says "Do it again!" and they do.

! a-t14 (7) PR: "Thank you." RG: "Thank you, we'll be back."

Four Nights at the Boarding House: April 13-16, 1973

"Scenedrome," Berkeley Barb, April 13-19, 1973, p. 18

Update 20240414: we now know these were all -- including the Merle [sic] Saunders Experience run-- had early-late show structure - separately ticketed, not two sets. Jerrybase metadata have been updated to reflect this.

Check out Jerry for these four nights:

• Friday, 4/13/73: JGMS @ Boarding House. We know from tapes that George Tickner is on rhythm guitar. Update: there is now a show review. See "Friday Night at the Boarding House".
• Saturday, 4/14/73: JGMS @ Boarding House. Sarah and George again in the house, so "Merl Saunders Experience #2"
• Sunday, 4/15/73: OAITW @ Boarding House.
• Monday, 4/16/73: OAITW @ Boarding House. Probably one of the first shows with Richard Greene on fiddle. [ JB early | JB late | JGMF listening notes]

I sure wish I could have spent these four nights at the Boarding House. Thank goodness Betty was there!

Just sayin'.

Oh yeah, the Berkeley Barb's calendars are masterpieces.

OAITW 19730424 Inn of the Beginning, Cotati, CA

Tuesday, April 24, 1973: Old And In the Way featuring David Diadem (Grisman), Jerry Garcia and Peter Rowan played the Inn of the Beginning at 8201 Old Redwood Highway, Cotati, CA, 94931. George Edwards opened. This was billed as a "Special Show" (as 3/5/73 had been) and the $2.50 ticket price was just about the most expensive the Inn had ever offered.

April 1973 Inn of the Beginning Calendar, courtesy of Mark Braunstein.

OAITW had just come off their first weekend gigs, April 20-21, 1973 at the Lion's Share (60 Red Hill Avenue, San Anselmo, CA, 94960), and would do another Friday-Saturday in a few days, the 27th and 28th at Keystone (2119 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94704). (See Corry's post at LLD on the 4/27/73 billing, with broader analysis.) This is what I call the second period of OAITW's too-brief existence, during which they are trying to integrate fiddle into the band, working specifically with Richard Greene during this period. But Greene was and remains a very busy musician, and my imprecise reckonings suggest that he was around or not pretty sporadically. Here's how I currently code Greene's presence/absence during this period, though none of this is very firm.

4/12/73 Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara: present (stuff | listening notes)
4/15/73 Boarding House: present ("Four Nights at the Boarding House")
4/16/73a Boarding House: present (listening notes | "Four Nights at the Boarding House")
4/16/73b Boarding House: absent ("Four Nights at the Boarding House")
4/19/73 Lion's Share: present
4/20/73 Lion's Share: present
4/21/73 Lion's Share: present (listening notes)
4/23/73 Orphanage: absent (see below)
4/24/73 IOTB: absent (see below)
4/27/73 Keystone: present
4/28/73 Keystone: absent (I think)
4/30/73 Orphanage: absent
5/8/73 Eugene: present
5/9/73 Portland: present
5/18/73 Homer's: present
5/25/73 Bimbo's: present

Then Vassar comes in, and as far as I know Richard is done. For more on April 1973, see "Twenty-Four Performances in Twenty-Four Days: April 6-30, 1973".

The 4/23/73 gig at the Orphanage (807 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, CA, 94133) was reviewed by Philip Elwood in the San Francisco Examiner (1). Scan below.

Elwood, Philip. 1973. A New Country Ear-Opener. San Francisco Examiner, April 24, p. 26.

Among other things, he notes that the band needs a fiddle and that Greene occasionally sits in to fill that need, implying that he was not there on the night in question. So much for Monday 4/23.

How do I reach the conclusion that Greene was not present for this Inn gig on Tuesday 4/24/73? Well, Richard Greene and Friends would play the Inn on August 2, 1973, and in that month's Inn of the Beginning Flyer, we are told that "Richard Greene played the fiddle with Seatrain the last time he was at the Inn." I think Mark Braunstein wrote that blurb, and I highly doubt the remark was an oversight. If Richard Greene had played the Inn with OAITW on 4/24/73, the blurb probably would have told us so, and certainly would not have told us anything to contradict that. Combined with the fact that such a gig was not in Richard Greene's own contemporary datebooks, I am about 99.9% sure he was not there on the date in question.

REFERENCE:
(1) Elwood, Philip. 1973. A New Country Ear-Opener. San Francisco Examiner, April 24, p. 26.

LN jg1973-04-16.oaitw.s1.fm-nfagdtrfb.100404.flac1644

I have made an updated post on this fileset. This one is deprecated.

http://db.etree.org/shn/100404/

Not much time to get very elaborate, but a little more detail on this fileset.

OLD AND IN THE WAY
The Boarding House
960 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA
Monday, April 16, 1973
First Set

Disc Time 49:35
t01 (1) [0:06] Goin' To The Races [2:24] [0:17]
t02 Tragic Romance [3:40] [0:12]
t03 Katie Hill [3:27] [0:09]
t04 The Willow Garden [4:57] [0:34]
t05 'Til The End Of The World Rolls 'Round [2:25] [0:11]
t06 band introductions [1:19]
t07 Pig In A Pen [2:36] [0:05]
t08 Panama Red [2:17] (2) [1:43]
t09 Lonesome L.A. Cowboy [4:25] [0:36]
t10 Hard Hearted [2:30] [0:51] (3)
t11 Wild Horses [4:37] [0:27]
t12 Lost [3:22] [0:15]
t13 stage banter (4) -> Blue Mule false start [1:22]
t14 Blue Mule [4:36] [0:12]

Source: SBD > ? > WBAI-FM Broadcast > SAE-2 Receiver > Sony DTC-670.
Transfer: MFD > Sony D10P > Coax SPDIF > Audiophile 2496 > Wavelab > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644. Transfer by Andrew F. 08/2009

Notes: The DAT was recorded from the WBAI Morning Dew radio program on 07/31/1999 during their JG birthday special. Pitch is correct on this recording (ID-18422 is approx 90 cents slow). There's some low end fuzziness, and other minor FM artifacts in the recording.

Lineup:
Jerry Garcia - banjo, vocals;
David Grisman - mandolin, vocals;
John Kahn - bass;
Peter Rowan - guitar, vocals;
Richard Greene - fiddle.

JGMF:
! I love that you can hear the band talking things over between tunes, though wish we could hear just a little bit better!
! t01. (1) DG: "We're gonna go to the races, folks."
! t05. DG sings a few verses of Til the End of the World Rolls Around
! t08. JG is singing echo refrain of "Panama Red" during chorus ... I don't remember hearing this.
! t08. (2) DG: "You folks sound like you're havin' a good time tonight."
! t09. JG's solo @ 2:15 of Lonesome LA Cowboy is just not very good.
! t10. (3) DG: "Here's a tune that may be familiar to most of you."
! t13. (4) DG: "We're gonna have a big gospel portion on our second set. That's what we're deciding right now. So stick around and get your r'l'gion. ... We're gonna take a short leave of absence ... right after this next song."

LN jg1973-xx-xx.oaitw.88mins.sbd-PNW.99222.flac1644

This is shnid-99222, a somewhat degraded soundboard tape of Old And In The Way (OAITW) with Richard Greene on fiddle. I had mentioned it when it first came out.

update: I surmise that this is Thursday, April 12, 1973, Granada Theatre, 1216 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA. It's not certain by any stretch, but that's what I figure. Indeed, now based on an expost account in the UCSB Daily Nexus (Haight 19730419), which confirms Greene and that the 4/12/73 late show ended with Orange Blossom Special, I am prepared to say that I am 99.99% certain that's what we have here.

I have made lots of notes, so I'll just mention that note 15 contains a little exchange that really underscores the "Burden Of Being Jerry".

Old And In The Way
Unknown Venue (probably Granada Theatre)
Unknown City, Unknown State (probably Santa Barbara, CA)
ca. April-May 1973 (probably April 12, 1973)

--Disc One (13 tracks, 51:02)--
d1t01. (1) [0:05] //Going To The Races [#2:25] (2) [0:11]
d1t02. (3) [0:09] I Wonder Where You Are Tonight [2:19] [0:08]
d1t03. (4, 5) [0:28] Down In The Willow Garden [4:19]
d1t04. (6, 7) [0:29] Old And In The Way Breakdown [1:59] [0:10]
d1t05. Land Of The Navajo [7:40] [0:03] %
d1t06. [0:23] 'Til The End Of The World Rolls Around [2:18] [0:09]
d1t07. (8) [0:32] Panama Red [2:18] [0:11]
d1t08. [0:22] I'm Knocking On Your Door [3:50] [0:11]
d1t09. (9) [0:48] Soldier's Joy [3:06] (10) [0:32]
d1t10. (11) [1:14] Down Where The River Bends [4:43] [0:06]
d1t11. band introductions, talk (12, 13) [1:41]
d1t12. Blue Mule [4:35] [0:13]
d1t13. (14) [0:45] Love Please Come Home [2:20] [0:08] %

--Disc Two (9 tracks, 33:15)--
d2t01. [0:49] Lonesome L.A. Cowboy [4:02] [0:12]
d2t02. (15) [0:37] Pig In A Pen [2:33] [0:11]
d2t03. banter (16) [1:21]
d2t04. Hard Hearted [2:43] [0:08] %
d2t05. (17) [0:47] Turkey In The Straw [1:56] [0:13]
d2t06. % [0:38] White Dove [4:02] % [0:11]
d2t07. (18) [1:12] Thirsty In The Rain [3:02] [0:09]
d2t08. [0:09] How Mountain Girls Can Love [1:53] (19) [1:20]
d2t09. Orange Blossom Special [4:28] (20) [0:34]

--Rehearsal Filler (2 tracks, 3:57)--
d2t10. talk (21), Blue Mule workouts// [3:28]
d2t11. Cedar Hill// [0:29]

! ACT1: Old And In The Way
! lineup: Peter Rowan - ac-g, vocals;
! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin, vocals;
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - ac-bass;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle.

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/19730412-01 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19730412-02 (late)

! db: shnid-99222 (somewhat degraded sbd; this fileset).

! R: Source Tape: MR > ? > R @ 7.5 ips

! R: Source Tape digitization: AKAI GX 625 playback > Apogee Mini Me (24/96) > Apogee MiniDac (monitoring/mastering) > Wavelab 5.0 (dithered to 16/44 via Apogee) > CD, by Matt Smith. Subsequent digital realm: EAC > WAV (TLH confirms no sbes) > FLAC (TLH), by GEMS.

! R: seeder notes: - The presence of Richard Greene on fiddle suggests this show was between March and May 1973. - wow, thanks Will Boswell and Matt Smith for this "new to general circ." show.  you guys rule! - and, as of now, we don't have OAITW doing a number of these songs! - there is slight distortion in a few places. This tape warbling, however, is a bit harsh from d2t06 white dove on.

! d1t01 (1) dead air, layer of hiss starts @ 0:03 until 0:05

! d1t01 (2) RG mic check, lots of reverb. Garcia "No, wait a minute, wait a minute man. Don't put it high [inaudible]."

! d1t02 (3) JG: "Oh hey, how about IWWYAT"

! d1t03 (4) DG: "'Willow Garden', you wanna do 'Willon Garden'?" JG: "Sure."

! d1t03 (5) @ 0:24 DG song intro: "A little traditional murder ballad for ya."

! R: d1t03 DITWG warbles in 2:30 mark.

! d1t03 P: Garcia takes a solo @ 3:12-3:37. I know some would not want to countenance the possibility, but I hear his banjo limitations.

! d1t04 (6) ?Rowan?: "Why don't we do [inaudible]?" There's a chuckle and some cross-talk and JG says "Because you don't know it." Guy: "I can fake it!"

! d1t04 (7) @ 0:31 DG introduction "This is the, uh, Old And In The Way Breakdown."

! R: d1t05 LOTN bad speed issues @ 5:50

! R: d1t05 LOTN bad tape much @ 6:48

! d1t07 (8) @ 0:13 DG: "This boy over here on the git-tar, his name is 'Panama Red'. 'Panama Pete'."

! d1t08 IKOYD starts with Rowan knocking on his guitar, simulating door, replying to himself "What's that noise? C'mon in" as the song starts.

! d1t09 (9) DG: "I'd say it's time for a banjo & fiddle tune."

! d1t09 (10) Richard Greene: "Thank you, thank you." JG: "Thanks a lot."

! d1t10 (11) @ 1:10 JG: "It's time for the Old And In The Way patriotic moment. This is it coming right up."

! d1t11 Personnel: David Grisman: "I'd like to introduce the members of the band. Peter Rowan here on the guitar. Lil' John Kahn on the bass. Fiddlin' Richard Greene back there. On the 5-string banjo, Spud Garcia." JG: "Playing mandolin tonight we have David Dawg." Note for the evolution of nicknames in OAITW.

! d1t11 (12) DG: "We're gonna render one now called "The Blue Mule."

! d1t11 (13) @ 0:56 PR: "How many people here have heard of Bill Monroe? [applause] This is the song of Molly and Tenbrooks."

! d1t13 (14) DG: "We got a brand new number here for ya. We were just workin' it out in the car." PR: "Actually we got a brand old number."

! P: d2t01 LLAC again I can hear JG's banjo limitations in the solo @ 2:50ff.

! d2t02 (15) DG: "Any requests?" Chick: "Let Garcia sing!" JG to DG: "You had to say something." THIS IS EXTREMELY REVEALING. Chick yells out again: "Let Garcia sing!" Rowan, in a sort of an east coast accent: "Awright, we'll let'im. You don' think he can sing, huh?"

! d2t03 (16) RG: "We've have a lot of requests for the 'Orange Blossom Special' .. But, wait ... I myself haven't played it in years." Band: "You lie!" RG: "And furthermore, these boys here, on the stage tonight, don't know how the tune goes." Lots of laughter.

! d2t05 (17) RG: "We'd like to honor a request right now -- 'Turkey In The Straw'."

! R: from d2t06 "White Dove" forward, these are quite bad speed problems.

! d2t06 WD Garcia vocals

! d2t07 DG: "We're gonna do a little Peter Rowan number called 'Thirsty In The Rain'."

! R: s2t08 is practically unlistenable (even for me!) because of speed problems. We are aural witnesses to the demise of a set of batteries. RIP, old friends.

! d2t08 (19) JG: "See y'all later." Encore calls, including some close-to-the-mic urgings suggestive of a possible audience tape? Then when you hear the room there's a lot of room sound ... definitely recording ambiently. Re: venue, sounds like a moderate-sized auditorium to me. More room echo than you'd get in a club like the Lion's Share, for sure. Doesn't sound like Keystone, either. Auditorium, or theater.

! d2t09 (20) @ 4:52 Emcee: "That's it, folks, g'night. Thank you very much. G'night." I don't recognize this voice, so it doesn't shed much light on the venue.

! d2t10 filler (21) JG: "I don't have any of them numbers." Other guy: "I think I have the office's." JG: "Oh, call them up and tell them - ?Ned?, who's Parrish's old lady, to tell Parrish to get serious. That'd work." That followed by some goofiness, microphone talk, some runs through the harmony introduction to "Blue Mule", and some running through that song.

! I am not going to get into what the rehearsal material might be. There's a need to go through the OAITW rehearsal material with a fine-toothed comb, and I don't want to tackle it here and now.

! Given the provenance of the recording (Will Boswell to Matt Smith), my best guess as to what this really is would be as follows: Thursday, April 12, 1973, Granada Theater, 1216 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA. (update: yes, I really do think so.) First, we know that Boswell acquired some tapes from a Santa Barbara soundman, including the 4/24/74 Great American Music Band tape. SB soundman, maybe this tape was also from his collection. Pat Lee suggests that the fact that the reels were on BASF tape stock is consistent with the Santa Barbara soundman idea. (Note that while this April 12, 1973 OAITW date is generally unknown and undocumented, Richard Greene's datebooks show him at the Granada on this date) Second, we also (think we) know that Richard Greene was only playing with OAITW, perhaps only intermittently, in ca. April-May. We know the band started without fiddle, the John Hartford played in a time or two, that Richard was around, and that Vassar enters for the Boston show on June 5. Third, the more I reflect on this the more it seems like a relatively spacious room, and the more this indicates an out-of-town show. I see the following local venues played by the band at this time: Boarding House (San Francisco), Lion's Share (San Anselmo), Orphanage (San Francisco), Homers Warehouse (Palo Alto). There was a show at Bimbo's 365 Club on May 25, but Richard was not there. How big was Homers Warehouse? The other places were small clubs, ca. a couple hundred seats as I understand things. Out of town, by contrast, they played the Granada, Churchill High School (presumably the gym) in Eugene, OR (Tuesday, May 8, 1973) and the Paramount Theatre in Portland (Wednesday, May 9, 1973) during this period. Upshot: large room suggests out of town; provenance suggests Santa Barbara, for which there is a theater date that includes Richard Greene.

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.

Let me start by reproducing a calendar listing for the show from the Hayward Daily Review:

We see the following two listings:

1. Saturday, March 9, 1974: Richard Greene, David Grisman, Vassar Clements and Skunk Cabbage; Great American Music Hall, SF, CA; two shows.
2. 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:

1. Forte, Dan. 1979a. David Grisman: Taking the Mandolin Beyond Tradition. Frets 1, 1 (March): 30-36.
2. Juanis, J.C. 1992. Dawgwood Revisited. Relix 19, 6 (December): 25-27. 
3. Sharpe, Ted. 1977. David Grisman: Mad, Marvelous Mandolinist. Blue Sky Review no. 7: unpaginated.