Swan Song for JGB #15c: Philly, June 5, 1983

LN jg1983-06-05.jgb.early-late.aud-nak300-minches.76973.flac1644
LN jg1983-06-05.jgb.early-late.aud-peters.138199.flac1644

I consider 5/31/83 at the Roseland Ballroom to be one of the best Garcia Band shows of the 1980s. Six days later, this band, featuring the great and powerful Greg Errico on drums, would play its final two shows at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA. Surprisingly, only two tapes circulate as of mid-2017: an unattributed 1st gen copy of a Nak 300s master, and, now, Dave Peters's pulls of both shows have enter digitalia. Of historical note, as far as I know Jerry Garcia and Greg Errico would never play together again.

What follows are listening notes from the older source from at least a few years back, and then listening notes finished today from the Peters tape. Interesting to compare - they end up hitting a few points identically (6-7 minute range of LIR, circular patterns in TUIB, Errico's power), and are generally quite convergent.

LN jg1983-06-05.jgb.early-late.aud-nak300-minches.76973.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
Tower Theatre
19 South 69th Street
Upper Darby, PA 19082
June 5, 1983 (Sunday) - Early and Late (9:30 PM) shows
1st gen Nak 300 flac1644 shnid-76973

--early show, main set + encore (9 tracks. 70:31)--
--early show, main set (8 tracks, 60:12-0:07)--
a-t01. tuning [0:05]
a-t02. Cats Under The Stars [7:24] [0:08] %
a-t03. /They Love Each Other [#7:38] [0:07] % [0:19]
a-t04. Let It Rock [9:01] [0:04] % [0:14]
a-t05. Love In The Afternoon [7:46] [0:05] % [0:13]
a-t06. I Second That Emotion [9:20] [0:05] % [0:02]
a-t07. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:28] ->
a-t08. Run For The Roses [5:00] (1) [0:05] % pre-encore [0:07]
--early show, encore (1 track, 0:07+10:19)--
a-t09. Rhapsody In Red [10:17] [0:02] %

--late show, main set + encore (10 tracks, 87:19)--
--late show, main set (9 tracks, 79:21-0:05)--
b-t01. tuning [0:19]
b-t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:34] [0:02] % [0:17]
b-t03. I'll Take A Melody [15:27] [0:01] % [0:13]
b-t04. Cats Under The Stars [7:16] %
b-t05. Gomorrah [5:51] %
b-t06. The Harder They Come [14:13] %
b-t07. tuning [0:07]
b-t08. Dear Prudence [14:27] ->
b-t09. Tangled Up In Blue [12:20] [0:03] % pre-encore [0:05]
--late show, encore (1 track, 7:58+0:05)--
b-t10. Midnight Moonlight [7:53] [0:05] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15c
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-Guitar, vox;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-Bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - Keyboards;
! lineup: Greg Errico - Drums;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vox;
! lineup: Jaclyn LaBranch - vox.

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/19830605-01 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19830605-02 (late)

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1983-06-05 (early); http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1983-06-05-tower-theatre-upper-darby-pa-2/ (late).

! db: shnid-76973 (this fileset), shnid-138199 (Peters MAC flac1644). Only two tapes from a Philly show - surprising. The Nak 300s version runs slower, not sure which is correct.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/IBjq9

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/12/tower-theatre-19-s-69th-street-upper.html.

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html. Final show for JGB #15c. That makes this the last known time Garcia and the great Greg Errico would share a stage.

! R: field recordist: unknown

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi 300 > Sony D-5

! R: source: master cassette > 1st copy cassette

! R: transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: 1st generation cassette played back on Nakamichi Dragon > ART DI/O > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe soundcard > Cool Edit 2000 > flac encoding > FLAC.

! R: profoundly muffled, distractingly low vocals. a-t06 ISTE you can hear Jerry counting off the tune, perhaps spliced in from an alt. source? For a second there is sounded real real upfront. That would be consistent with low vocals.

! P: a-t04 LIR is quite good. A 6:25 some interesting patterning, then 6:45 some fanning, over 7, fan to pluck. More fanning early 7. Nice note around 7:28.

! P: a-t05 LITA some lyrics issues to start LITA.

! P: a-t08 RFTR this is a nice period for the song. Errico is much more heavily percussive than Kemper. Not evaluating in any way, just noting the stylistic difference. Errico is a banger.

! a-t08 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll see you later on. [inaudible]"

! P: b-t08 DP is quite good, with some extra vocal effort, some beautiful unhurried guitar work over the 6-minute mark, lovely. Throughout 9 over 10 he is really weaving lots of concentric circles, all the way to a great brief fan 10:32, now feels like he's unwinding the circles, speeding them up late 10, mixing punctuations with circles, some pulls 11:10-11:11. Lovely.

LN jg1983-06-05.jgb.early-late.aud-peters.138199.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
Tower Theatre
69th and Market
Upper Darby, PA 19082
June 5, 1983 (Sunday)- Early and Late (9:30 PM) shows
Peters MAC flac1644 shnid-138199

--early show, main set + encore (8 tracks, 68:50)--
--early show, main set (7 tracks, 59:19)--
e-t01. [0:26] Cats Under The Stars [7:12] [0:16]
e-t02. They Love Each Other [7:28] [0:10] %
e-t03. [0:19] Let It Rock :20-9:09 -9:15 % -9:26
e-t04. Love In The Afternoon 7:51
e-t05. I Second That Emotion 9:19
e-t06. Simple Twist Of Fate 12:08
e-t07. Run For The Roses 5:01
--early show, encore (1 track, 10:54)--
e-t08. [0:29] Rhapsody In Red [10:04] [0:21] %

--late show, main set + encore (8 tracks, 84:12)--
--late show, main set (7 tracks, 77:15)--
l-t01. How Sweet It Is 8:54
l-t02. I'll Take A Melody [15:06] [0:11] % [0:10]
l-t03. Cats Under The Stars [7:06] [0:05] %
l-t04. /Gomorrah [#5:38] [0:11] %
l-t05. /Harder // They Come [#13:#00 ][0:11] % [0:03]
l-t06. /Dear Prudence [#14:04] ->
l-t07. Tangled Up In Blue [12:05] [0:27] % pre-encore [0:04]
--late show, encore (1 track, 8:19)--
l-t08. Midnight Moonlight [7:41] [0:39] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15c
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-Guitar, vox;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-Bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - Keyboards;
! lineup: Greg Errico - Drums;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vox;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vox.

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/19830605-01 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19830605-02 (late)

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1983-06-05 (early); http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1983-06-05-tower-theatre-upper-darby-pa-2/ (late).

! db: shnid-76973 (1st gen Nak 300s Minches), shnid-138199 (this fileset). Only two tapes from a Philly show - surprising. The Nak 300s version runs slower than this one, not sure which is correct.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/IBjq9

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/12/tower-theatre-19-s-69th-street-upper.html.

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html. Final show for JGB #15c. That makes this the last known time Garcia and the great Greg Errico would share a stage.

! R: field recordist: Dave Peters

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi microphones > Sony D6C

! R: lineage: JVC TD-R462 playback > Audacity > TLH Flac8

! R: seeder notes: Tape paused between some tracks. Splice in late show t05.

! R: seeder notes: So the story goes: I answered an ad on Craigslist for 500 free Grateful Dead tapes. On picking them up from the taper, I'm also informed he and a friend recorded other bands through the 70's. These were never circulated, and deemed inferior in quality. When I inquired about digitizing his masters, he laughingly obliged. Most of the old Ampex and BASF tapes are in poor shape, several completely off the spool, and many squealing badly. I will be attempting to bake some of them. I will be presenting the ones of superior quality only, out of the initial batch he loaned me. I do believe these shows will be lovingly embraced by the Dime community, and will be shared here exclusively. Zombiwoof to Dime 2017 series.

! R: lots of room feel, vocals a little boomy. SBEs on every track should be fixed before burning to CD, if anyone still does that.

! P: e-t01 CUTS Philly crowd is singing along enthusiastically. This is a tight version, doesn't go 'round too many times at the end. Good start.

! P: e-t02 TLEO late 2 it's Melvin's turn, but he's inaudible. Up a little more 3:30ff, but he's still pretty low in the mix.

! P: e-t03 LIR is just smoking. Late 6 into 7, boy oh boy can this boy play his guitar. Even more 7:17 just head down and charging, very high in the register late 7.

! P: e-t07 RFTR John sounds great on this.

! R: e-t08 RIR levels come up late 2, but the guitar is pretty buried in the mix. The bass sounds great, by contrast.

! P: e-t08 RIR Jerry sawing 3:20ff, very good molten tone and sensible note choices. Hits the next verse perfectly right at 4. His voice is scratchy-fragile, but he's giving it his all. "I sing the blues | where has it led" (as he sang it) is always a great line. Oh my gosh, late 6 over 7 Garcia is absolutely on fire. Very good RIR, as expected.

! P: l-t02 ITAM Jerry is really feeling it, and the tape does a great job of capturing the crowd responding to him. Nice, nice feeling performance. John has missed a cue or two. @  6:30 one of the ladies goes a turn too many, Jerry circles back to pick her up, all is well. 8:40 ish he is doing some kind of pitch-bending which foreshadows the sustained work in this vein he'd undertake a decade later.

! P: l-t03 CUTS gotta learn how to end it. Like, someone just keep count, define a limit?

! R: l-t04 Gomorrah clips in

! R: l-t05 HTC clips in, splice @ 8:53

! R: l-t06 DP clips in DP

! P: l-t06 DP 9ff long circular progressions.

! P: l-t07 TUIB great energy on vocals and now guitar 6-min range. Exceptionally long phrases 8+ min mark, over 9 just sailing, and the band sounds great. More Garcia guitar pyrotechnics to close the tour. Nice landing to close.

JGB: Halloween 1981 - LN jg1981-10-31.jgb.early-late.aud-levene.88958.flac1644

Late Jerry loved playing on Halloween. In the last fifteen years of his life, the only years he is not known to have gigged on Halloween are 1982 and 1994.

Table xxx. Garcia on Halloween, 1980-1994. Orange is GD, blue is GOTS.

As indicated in the table, things were distributed across the GD (6 dates/shows) and JGB (7 dates, 9 shows). From 1985 forward Garcia played Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London", and a good time was generally had, as at the 1989 (a very good JGB show) and 1990 (a raggedy Dead show) iterations, which I attended.

On October 31, 1981, the Jerry Garcia Band played two Halloween shows to open its 18-show-in-20-night "Return of Ron Tutt" tour. Since Garcia had actually been in London at the start of the month, it seems plausible that he might have given "Werewolves" a shot, but it was not to be.

Nevertheless, any start-of-tour is interesting to examine, and this one has some of the telltale signs, including a burst of adrenaline in the early show followed by a shorter and more uneven late show. I have not directly A-B'd his vocals here against vocals later in the tour (I have addressed myself to 11/10/81b Palladium, 11/13/81 Boston, 11/15/81 Provy, and 11/17/81 Chicago), but my unsurprised sense is that they sound better here at the front end than they do at the back end. Update: 11/19/81 has a bone to pick with this idea. Obvious enough, but aAnyway, always nice to see how they sound, take JGB #14b's temperature.

The Tutt angle is especially rich. In 1981-1982, as he descended deeper into a drug haze when not playing, Garcia nevertheless, rather ironically, started getting his business affairs in order. It seems that one early order of business was to square up with Ronnie Tutt, one of the three principals dba Jerry Garcia Band from the very beginning of the JGB and who  for many years faced liens earned by Jerry and John well after Tutt's 1977 departure from the touring band. In later years, as his income grew, Garcia expanded this practice of engineering a payday or few for a collaborator he had done/allowed to be done wrong -- see Saunders, Merl and Grisman, David. Here, in late 1981, both Peter Rowan (who opened a number of shows on the tour) and Ronnie Tutt get to set the precedent. I don't hear anything that seems particularly emotionally resonant here - more typically, I hear Jerry and the band, perhaps particularly Tutt, getting themselves together a little bit.

Two more small pieces of preface. First, I grabbed this to put some context around 11/4/81, which I have revisited pursuant to Weiner (2014, pp. 67-76), and on which I hope someday to report. Second, in terms of tape archaeology, this is the only tape in circulation as of this writing (4/11/2015). I figure several masters must have sauntered into the Philly morning, but this is the only one to have come into the digital light. Thanks to John Levene and all involved in bringing these very nice tapes forward.

Anyway, a few bullets, in no particular order.

1. The tapes sound great.
2. The early show is very long (over 90 minutes), and is outstanding.
3. The late show is much shorter (just over an hour and a 10-minute encore, still not bad), but more importantly, it just doesn't light me up, finding Garcia having to pull the e-brake on as both "Valerie" and "I'll Take A Melody" fall apart. The one exception is "Russian Lullaby", which is stellar, a smoky sensorial mix of Django Reinhardt and Irving Berlin.
4. Jimmy Warren sounds absolutely fine. People have been way too hard on the guy.
5. "Valerie" is not quite together, but boy oh boy do I love this song.
5. Late 1981, JGB #14b, is a fascinating period. Garcia's voice is still present here at the start of the tour, but with just enough weary crackle to give songs like "Simple Twist Of Fate" and "I'll Take A Melody" the ballast they really need.

Listening Notes follow.

Jerry Garcia Band
Tower Theatre
19 S. 69th Street
Upper Darby, PA 19082
October 31, 1981 (Saturday)
Levene shnid-88958

--early show (8 tracks, 93:53)--
e-t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:15] [0:08] %% [1:08]
e-t02. Catfish John [11:29] [0:10] % [0:58]
e-t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [10:48] [0:36] % [0:14]
e-t04. [0:21] Simple Twist Of Fate// [13:22#] %% [0:29]
e-t05. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [16:20] [0:10] % [0:18]
e-t06. (I'm A) Road Runner [9:01] [0:15] %
e-t07. [0:14] Deal [8:17] [-0:05] ->
e-t08.  Tangled Up In Blue [+0:05] [10:08] (1) [0:06] %

--late show + encore (8 tracks, 73:57)--
--late show (7 tracks, 64:44)--
l-t01. //The Way You Do The Things You Do [#7:28] [0:08] % [0:08] %
l-t02. They Love Each Other [6:56] %% [0:15]
l-t03. [0:10] Valerie :11-7:04 [0:04] % [0:36]
l-t04. I'll Take A Melody [11:47] %% [0:21]
l-t05. Russian Lullaby [10:14] [0:04] %% [0:30]
l-t06. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:02] ->
l-t07. Dear Prudence [10:40] (2) [0:12] %% [0:16]
--encore (1 track, 9:12)--
l-t08. Sugaree [9:07] [0:05] %

! 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; [ ] = 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/19811031-01 (early), https://jerrybase.com/events/19811031-02 (late).

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/88958 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/IBjq9

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/12/tower-theatre-19-s-69th-street-upper.html

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

! seealso: 11/10/81b, Palladium, NYC (http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/03/ln-jg1981-11-10jgblateaud.html);  11/13/81, Orpheum, Boston (http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/03/ln-jg1981-11-13jgbearly-lateaud.html); 11/15/81, Provy (http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/03/ln-jg1981-11-15jgballaud.html); 11/17/81, Uptown, Chicago (http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/03/ln-jg1981-11-17jgballaud.html).

! data: Billboard, 11/21/81, p. unk, via Google Books: two sellouts, gross $58,276 on 5,960 tickets sold.

! R: field recordist: John Levene

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi 300 (cp4 shotgun) > Marantz CD330

! R: field recording location: taper: "I seem to recall that I taped the early show in the back of the floor seats, but no recollection of where I was for the late show?  I think it was the balcony."

! R: Transfer: Yamaha K-1020 > Sony SBM-1 > Nomad JB3 > Creative Play Center > Soundforge v6e > CDWav. reative Play Center software used to copy to laptop. Soundforge used to prep file for tracking. CDWave used to track and flac at level 8 compression.

! P: historical: Cognitively, we are drawn to variation, a point I discussed in "James Booker,  Classified". Methodologically, my day-job sistren and brethren like large random samples, and preferably Randomized Control Trials under asymptotically-approaching-the-experimental ideal conditions. Given the impossibility of that kind of construction in re my study of the Garciaverse, we'll have to select strictly *unrepresenentative* moments, informed by strong priors. For example, I am listening to this show precisely because it's got some unusual features from which I hope I might learn some things. Most obviously, this is the first night of the "Return of Ron Tutt" tour, 18 shows in 20 days on the road. In 1981-1982, as he descended deeper into a drug haze when not playing, Garcia nevertheless, rather ironicallym, started getting his business affairs in order. It seems that one early order of business was to square up with Ronnie Tutt, one of the three principals dba Jerry Garcia Band from the very beginning of the JGB and who  for many years faced liens earned by Jerry and John well after Tutt's 1977 departure from the touring band. In later years, as his income grew, Garcia expanded this practice of engineering a payday or few for a collaborator he had done/allowed to be done wrong -- see Saunders, Merl and Grisman, David. Here, in late 1981, both Peter Rowan and Ronnie Tutt get to set the precedent. Beyond that historical context, there's just the chance to hear the first night of the tour, see how they sound, take JGB #14b's temperature, and also to put some context around 11/4/81, which I have revisited pursuant to Weiner (2014, pp. 67-76). Oh yeah, one more thing: this is the only tape in circulation as of this writing (4/11/2015). I figure several masters must have sauntered into the Philly morning, but this is the only one to have come into the digital light. Thanks to John Levene and all involved in bringing these very nice tapes forward.

! EARLY SHOW NOTES

! R: this is a really nice tape - outstanding! There are some singers around, there's lots of ambience. There's also someone nearby who is quite knowledgeable, cheering John by name during his STOF feature.

! P: early show: I don't recall being lit up by the first three tunes when I listened to them spring break 2015. In returning 4/10/2015, a couple weeks later, I find this to be absolutely smokin. The band sounds great, everybody - Melvin a little buried in the mix but ethereal, Jimmy Warren playing well, the ladies singing powerfully for white chicks.

 ! P: e-t01 Weird little "ooh-ooh" backing vocal in HSII, a little arrangement variation to start the tour, but I think they'd drop it - wonder if they were asked to do so, or instructed to do so by Melvin?

! R: e-t01 HSII @ 3:48-3:56 real time gap. Listening to the crowd clap is just a joy - this tape sounds great.

! R: e-t04 STOF cuts in

! P: e-t04 STOF I am picking this back up a month or so after the notes from the first three tracks. Here I note Tutt sounding totally in the pocket, and Garcia singing well. The tape is great. Around 2:10 he hits a nice vocal thing, letting himself sound world weary, in a delivery that really suits the song. Huge long phrasings over 4. More long Jerry passages. John picks up his feature at 8.

! P: e-t05 KOHD Jimmy Warren takes a totally respectable solo late 7 to 8. Kahn sounds great, the whole band sounds great. As this songs ends after 16 minutes, I find myself reminded why I love this song during this era. Unlike the dirge of 1976 (which admittedly could clock in over 20 minutes, IIRC), this just hops really nicely along. I love how they arranged this with the organ, giving it a nice little lilt that it never had before. Awesome.

! P: e-t06 IARR so great! He doesn't get the lyrical progressions right, but it pops pretty nicely. Note that this is a real punchy tape and I find the music sounding punchy.

! P: e-t07 Deal this is real nice as Jerry takes another turn late 1 over 2, and he is playing very creatively and enthusiastically. 2:30ish "since you poured the wine for me", then a little vocal flub before "composin' loneseome blues". Big long 1981 vintage pull as he starts ramping Deal up ... that's a good thing. Nice feedback 4:15, great sustain, now picking up his action, characteristically great 1981-Deal-guitar. Pedals in some more raunch, dials up a little, 4:55 and over 5 he's starting to get his wail on. I can't believe he's going to play TUIB after this. Recall that 11/17/81 Chi and maybe 11/19/81 Denver are long. No shortchanging the early show ticket holders here on the opening night of the tour. 6:10 they are being treated to some serious rock and roll guitar, way up the neck 6:25 ish, mixing up long sustains and fast descending scales. Very nice guitar late 6. Doing a little Carlos thing start of 7.

! P: e-t08 TUIB first solo right from 2. Nice, sounds great. Very stringy (that's a good thing) 2:27. Another go 2:40ff, excellent. @ 2:57 Tutt hits a high hat that is perfection itself. Mid-7 just some great long TUIB expressions, very fluid and fluent. 7:58 big rock chord, faster rounds 8:07, huge feedback 8:15, wow, that is a keeper piece of feedback right there.

! e-t08 JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later on."

! LATE SHOW NOTES

! R: late show: I suspect stage right/house left a little bit. Organ more audible late show than early show. It's very nice instrumentally, bass a little indistinct to start, now coming in l-t04 ITAM. As of ITAM I'd say the bass is still overloaded a little bit, unfortunate. This is the only circulating pull of a night that must have seen at least several tapes saunter out of both shows. Overloading again on "Sugaree".

! R: l-t01 TWYDTTYD cuts in. It sounds a little oversaturated, levels come down 0:17. Jimmy's piano very forward, way more present on the than Melvin's organ playing.

! P: l-t01 TWYDTTYD Jerry's first solo 1:44 he has turned up a little, comes in with enthusiasm and the tape picks up the crowd, pleased.

! P: l-t02 TLEO not my favorite choice, but I can be surprised sometimes. Here, because the tape has Jimmy Warren's electric piano so far forward, you can really hear what he could do, and I will say here that I think he sounds absolutely fine. It sounds like Jerry hasn't quite pinned down all of these arrangements with his band out on its first night of a very long tour. On TLEO, Tutt and Jerry don't seem sycn'd up to start, easy to say since it's just the two of them to start. But Jimmy picks up his part right on time. Melvin follows and they are providing a nice bass of support for the rhythm section to get together. I can't really hear John very well, so maybe he was responsible for the thudding start. It gets more together, but it never really goes any where for me.

! R: l-t03 Valerie taper has his levels way up and things overload until 0:16, when taper dials down.

! P: l-t03 Valerie, by contrast to TLEO, is a song I love, and this is a very early version that I look forward to hearing. On this tape, so from wherever we are in the room, we'll get a nice perspective on the early take of a great song in its too-brief place in the Garcia Band repertoire. My take is that it's what you'd expect for a new song on opening night of the tour in Philly. They are clearly pinning it down, but it's mostly fine and at times very good. Late 4 Jerry has stacked up some nice guitar and the crowd perks up its ears. Jerry delivers this song, with its shoulder shaking, finger-wagging, mane-shaking defiance, with the appropriate attitude. But then, whoops, early 6 he mumbles through a forgotten verse and is pulling the rip chord ... run away! John became audible there for a moment. So, it's a mixed bag, but interesting to hear. I love this song and you can already tell it has great promise from the get-go.

! P: l-t04 ITAM: This song sounds great in late 1981. Jerry can still sing, but he's already taking on and making good use of a weary scratch. He can still, just barely, sustain his notes, and he warbles his weariness with just enough remaining lung and force to get it a great swinging groove. He sounds confident, he's still moving ontstage with some swagger. Soon enough, heroin would trump cocaine and place the swagger with mooby, withdrawn stationarity, but not yet. On 10/31/81 in Philly Garcia can still bring it. Late 10 there is a nice scrub that sounds promising but then, in 11, and like Valerie, it just falls appart at some point ca. 11, and Jerry leads the close, preempting other trouble.

! P: l-t05 Russian Lullaby: "Russian Lullaby", how do I love thee? I love thee lots. I am really looking forward to hearing this, based on the start. Jerry and John are have constructed a bar scene in a Django Reinhardt - Irving Berlin suspensorium, to the drinker's soaked delight and amazement. This is careful, attentive music, totally respectful of the traditions, standing with and bheind them, spinning threads 3:20 and after 3:30, Tutt all gentle highhat, Melvin was playing so beautifully in this period, calm and spacious. Jerry 4:20 breaks off a shard, Jimmy feature 4:30ff and he sounds just fine, still fine over 5 and sounding great, with a glissando 5:11, cool and sounding very nice as he hands it off to John, 5:33ff. Tasteful piece. By 8:10 Jerry has bent in a little minor urgency, everything takes on a different color, John skipping lightly, Melvin and drums super tasteful.

! P: l-t06 TNTDODD This works well in this late 1981 Jerry voice. I worry about hearing this at the end of the tour, but here at the start it works well.

! l-t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."