Jerry Garcia Band Electric

**update 1: final paragraph, 8:47 Eastern 20111212**

Jerry Site administrator slipnut just updated the venue name for a show given as Jerry Garcia Band, California Theatre, San Diego, CA, on Friday May 23, 1986. Handbill follows:

Handbill for Jerry Garcia Band Electric, California Theatre, San Diego, CA, 5/23/86. Possibly courtesy of Iver McLeod.

The venue appears to be an old movie palace originally known as the New California Theatre, and while the handbill says “4^th and C Street”, neither the Google Street view for that location, nor for the one given by the San Diego History Center webpage (1122 4th Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101 – am I violating their terms of use by reproducing that address?) makes it obvious to me where the theater is/was. A Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO) site (a San Diego-area British expat, I presume) entry for the California Theatre does not give an address. The fact that this show took place in a fabulous old movie house is awesome and I am sure the venuologists would have a field day with this one. Perhaps I can egg Jerry Garcia’s Brokendown Palaces to do an entry on what looks to be a groovy, funky old place. ;-)

I am more interested in the billing, as “Jerry Garcia Band Electric”. Some small number of people knows the importance I place on institutional formalities, such as the names of bands. Many would dismiss these as mere trivia, and for certain purposes they might be right. But not for my purposes. My purpose is to understand Garcia on the Side as an institution, or a set of them. From that perspective, band names are really important. Names in recollections; on tape boxes; in newspaper listings; on handbills, fliers, posters, tickets; in published reviews, etc. etc. are some of the key data. To take one macro view on how I can use them, consider the following very simple descriptive statistic: variance across the names listed in those eight kinds of sources (recollections, tape boxes, newspaper listings, handbills, fliers, posters, tickets and published reviews). Hypothesis: cross-source band name variance reduces over time. Now I know that time is not a cause. I’d say that what this simple descriptive actually provides is one measure of the degree of institutionalization. Time is just the simplest proxy, for expository purposes. But if the data could be gathered—and I am not saying they can, to my satisfaction—I think you could show a much wider standard deviation in early years, closing almost monotonically over time. Just a hunch.

But I digress. For two out of town (Southern California) shows in May 1986, the one I am discussing and one on Saturday, May 24, 1986 at the Wiltern Theatre, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90010 –Jerry’s first at the Wiltern, I think—Garcia’s outfit was billed as “The Band Electric” by Bill Graham. I think this has always stuck in my mind a little bit because of the clever bit of headlining over a negative review of the May 23^rd show: “Band Electric Plays at Pace Languid” (Toombs, 1986). Toombs goes on at some length about how dull the Band Electric is, how tedious the Band Electric’s languid pacing, how pedestrian the Band Electric's song selection, and so forth. Heh heh. It's clever, and I don't doubt it's a totally reasonable evaluation of the show. A review in the L.A. Times of the next night’s show is only slightly more positive (Strauss 1986), and doesn’t mention the billing, although the handbill (below) shows it was the same.

What’s strange about this, of course, is that it prefigures a distinction that would come about over a year later, with the acoustic-electric shows of August-December 1987. Those would feature, first, the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band (JGAB), called by some (e.g., Jimbo Juanis of Relix) the Black Mountain Boys, comprised of Garcia on acoustic guitar, David Nelson on guitar, Sandy Nelson on dobro and mandolin, John Kahn on string bass, Kenny Kosek on the little fiddle and David Kemper on the snare drums. Second, the acoustic-electric shows featured the Jerry Garcia Band (JGB), i.e., the electric band comprised of Garcia, Kahn, Kemper, Melvin Seals on organ, and Gloria Jones and Jacklyn LaBranch on backing vocals.

I don’t doubt the canonical history of the JGAB, told by inter alia Sandy Rothman, that the thing started (quasi-publicly) with the GD’s Thanksgiving Party at the Log Cabin in San Anselmo on 11/23/86, when Sandy, David and a newly-hungry-to-play, post-coma Garcia sat around and regaled the gathered party goers with some old favorites. When Garcia, Nelson and Rothman got back together for the Artists’ Rights Today benefit at the Fillmore on 3/18/87, the story goes, Bill Graham came in raving about taking he show to Broadway, which is, of course, precisely what he did. Hence, the acoustic-electric shows. For more on this, see Silberman 2010.

But Graham’s May ’86 branding of the JGB as the Band Electric strikes me as foreshadowing this later distinction. I am not saying he was planning the acoustic-electric thing, per se, though in the limit it’s possible. But I had heard that some kind of product differentiation was important to John Scher out on the east coast, which is what brought us the famous (or infamous) solo acoustic shows on April10, 1982 in Passaic and, eventually, the Jerry Garcia/John Kahn acoustic duo. In short, after many years of touring as the JGB out in Scher’s territory, mixing it up with some different product would make it easier to sell tickets. At least that’s one thing I was told by somebody.

I wonder if Graham was after the same thing, i.e., some product differentiation, so he could sell separate acoustic and electric Garcia experiences to the SoCal audience? It would put a slightly different context on the canonical history of the JGAB, if so, making it seem a less spontaneous and a more cultivated Bill Graham strategy. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but I have always had the notion that these “Band Electric” billings earlier in ’86 were anachronistic unless we viewed them in this way, as trial balloons around a Graham marketing strategy that had to be put on hold a few months later when Jerry got sick, and really only took shape with the inspiration of the March 18 ART benefit. Again, I want to be clear: I don’t think this sullies the wonderful little history of the JGAB one bit, just puts it into a slightly longer causal chain.

The rival (really, probably complementary) hypothesis is that Wolfgang was after some product differentiation, but only because of the clusterfuck from Garcia’s previous (non-GD) visit to SoCal, with John Kahn at the Beverly Theatre, 9404 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA, 90212, on May 31, 1985. As related at the JB's entry for the early show, Graham et al. sold this night’s entertainment as two separately-ticketed (i.e., early and late) shows, rather than the two-set single show that Garcia would typically put on. Folks felt ripped off. According to Ben Kamelich (cited at TJS), one attendee brought a sign reading "Jerry Sells Out L.A. Deadheads". Erik VanO recounts that the crowd started up with a “Bullshit! Bullshit!” chant when Jerry announced that the show was over. And why not, after only six songs running a paltry 35 minutes? Apparently Angry Jerry came out for a three-song “second set” just to prevent a riot (or, knowing Deadheads, some hooting, jeering and reproachful looks).

Leaving aside the big question of how such a talented, usually professional (really!) and prideful man could act this way –and, while big, it’s easily answered with a word that starts with ‘d’ and ends with ‘rugs’, I think—it might have been simple good business sense for Graham to signal to the ticket-buying crowd that this was not going to be a Garcia-Kahn acoustic nodfest, but rather the Band Electric. The Toombs review of May 23 and the Strauss review of the LA show on May 24 suggest that the musical results were far from electrifying, but that has to be the subject of some listening notes. The commercial results, by contrast, seemed to have worked out just fine – not a sellout, but not a bad day at the office, either:

The fact that there were newspaper reviews (including, not trivially, the Los Angeles Times), the fact that it grossed pretty well and got this mention in Billboard ... the notion that Bill was also courting Jerry on his home turf, getting him to switch his local playing allegiance from Freddie Herrera and the Stone to Bill Graham and the Warfield (which would be accomplished by June 1, 1987) ... the new billing (what we'd now call an attempt to "rebrand" or maybe "reposition", right?) .... it all seems to suggest to me that the JGAB didn't emerge fully formed from Bill Graham's head, like Athena from Zeus's, on March 18, 1987. And the acoustic-electric structure would seem, at least, to have been a gleam in Bill Graham's eye before the coma ... much for me to chew on.

One last proposition: The JGAB contains the arc of Garcia On The Side (GOTS) in very concentrated dosage, something I hope further to unpack moving forward.

REFERENCES:

Silberman, Steve. 2010. The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, The Definitive History: It’s a Long, Long Way to the Top of the World. Essay accompanying Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band [Almost Acoustic and Ragged But Right] (Rhino, JGCD-1004), 11 pp.

Strauss, Duncan. 1986. Garcia Shorts Out. Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1986, p. SD_D2.

Toombs, Mikel. 1986. Band Electric Plays at a Pace Languid. San Diego Union, May 24, 1986, p. D11.

Third Night Out with Tony Saunders: JGMS, Keystone Berkeley, June 6, 1974

**updated 21:18 Eastern 20111213, mostly up front with some more historical context**
LN jg1974-06-06.jgms.all.aud-falanga.6375.shn2flac

A wonderful tape and a wonderful performance. Tony Saunders on bass, Billy K on the drums.

We get to hear what I presume to be Freddie Herrera a time or two, interesting given how central was the Herrera-Garcia partnership over the years.

Get it for the rarity "Darben The Redd Foxx" (formerly known as "Ptah, The El Daoud", FKA "Bag's Groove"). Love it for most every note.

This three-night, midweek run of shows (Tues., June 4 and Wed., June 5, 1974 at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo, then Thursday at Keystone Berkeley) is part of a jam-packed week of shows.

I have written about the Inn of the Beginning shows on May 31-June 1, 1974, which may have had a quite different set of players (Tony Saunders on bass, whoever was drumming for Merl On The Side [MOTS] on the drums). Shows at the Great American Music Hall always seemed to be special, and I'd bet that 5/30/74 show (which exists on tape in the Third Betty Batch) is interesting. On the other end is the huge GD show in the Oakland Athletics' centerfield at the Oakland Coliseum, about which Corry has an important post that I have barely had time to engage. Mix in a little studio work, and you've got Jerry Garcia, vintage May 30-June 8, 1974, the slacker who only works nine out of these eleven nights.

Midweek runs are always worth looking at, it seems like. Just not the modal gig, and interesting things are often involved, including better paydays for club owners than they'd normally get on a [fill in midweek day here] night. Things maybe a little looser, guests are called up, etc. On my view, the three night run at hand got better as it went along, so that 6/6/74 P 6/5/74 P 6/4/74. Where on 6/4 it sounded like Jerry wasn't listening (or hearing) very well, by this night everyone is together and they're all bringing their A game. Maybe the Berkeley juice is different than the San Anselmo juice ... either way, a top-notch show. Listening notes follow.

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
June 6, 1974 (Thursday)
Falanga aud shnid-6375 shn2flac

--set I (7 tracks, 90:43-2:22, ca. 88 mins)--
s1t01. talk (1) and tuning [0:24]
s1t02. Someday Baby [12:10] (2) [2:15]
s1t03. Expressway (To Your Heart) [20:15] [1:49]
s1t04. He Ain't Give You None [13:28] [0:36]
s1t05. My Funny % // Valentine [21:#12] [0:17] %
s1t06. tuning [1:34]
s1t07. I Second That Emotion [14:09] (3) [0:09] % pre-set II tuning, talk [2:22]

--set II (3 tracks, 2:22+53:23, ca. 56 mins)--
s2t01. My Problems Got Problems [20:58] [0:18] %  (4) [1:15]
s2t02. Darben The Redd Foxx [19:52] [0:10] % (5) [0:25]
s2t03. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [10:15] (6) [0:10] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone;
! lineup: Tony Saunders - el-bass;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - 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/19740606-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/6375 (this fileset). There are no other known recordings.

! R: Field Recordist: Louis Falanga [possibly with Bob Menke]

! R: Field Recording Equipment: Sony ECM-270 + Sony ECM-250 microphones > Sony TC-152 cassette deck; [JGMF note: I think this is two early for that setup. I think that setup was probably for ca. May-June 1975 Falanga/Menke tapes, or maybe even later (e.g., 1976). I am really just speculating. Might have been a TC-110.]

! R: Field Recording Location: from front tables, microphone onstage, one mic directly in front of Jerry's amp, the other pointed stage center to catch the rest of the band;

! R: Subsequent lineage: unknown transfer to DAT x1 > CD > EAC > CD > EAC > SHN. Probable chain of Bob Menke to Jim Powell to Jack Warner to jjoops. Extraction and compression using EAC and mkwACT by jupillej@mediaone.net. shn2flac conversion by jgmf 9/13/2009.

! R: What a breathtaking recording. It's hard to imagine that Louis (and maybe Bob) set up at the table in front of Jerry (R of center) and put their mic(s) onstage, one near his feet pointing into his monitor and the other aimed to center-stage. The sound quality is breathtaking, and the vocals aren't even as low on this tape as on other onstage recordings. This is one of the best, to be sure. Puts you right there.

! P: Overall, I think this is an outstanding show, combining the tightness and upbeat temps of the '73 band with the more exploratory band of August 1974 and the increasingly sluggish unit of thereafter. For example, I note that Expressway [Allan | Scofield]  is very long, but it never drags. Over and over throughout this show, I find myself marveling at how coherent, energetic and expressive Garcia is. Hell, the whole band is on. I am not sure if the bass player is John Kahn or Tony Saunders. There's no reason to assume it's anyone but John, but if it is him then his playing is exceptionally inventive, his bottom thicker and fatter than just about any other time. If this is John Kahn, he's positively on fire. Merl also has a lot going on this night, as he did the two nights' prior. He's got a really nice tone working and mixes up the brighter, more carnivalesque Jimmy Smith stuff (which I hear more in these June shows than in your typical show), with the slightly darker and more downmarket sounds characteristic of Merl's own compositions. He's doing it all. Martin Fierro plays with exceptional tastefulness, maybe really in the sweet spot of his time with Garcia and Saunders. In '73 and early '74 he's feeling his way around. By August 1974 he's doing more honking and squawking as things really stretch and lengthen out. Here, he's right there with everyone, dropping some straight jazz and lots of his original licks that are delivered with some restraint. Very nice. Finally, I have no idea who the drummer is. I guess we'd traditionally say it's Bill Kreutzmann. I can't tell. But whoever it is, the guys is a freaking monster. This tape really captures the drumming crisply, but I think it's also that this guy, is really hitting and always right where he should be. Overall, an A+ show from my perspective. @@

! personnel: upshot: I can only confirm Garcia, Merl Saunders and Fierro. I am about 99% sure this is Tony Saunders on bass.

! s1t01 (1) JG: "Whoever's got control of the light dimmer ... it's the light dimmer that's making that buzzing sound. It increases the intensity of this stuff. It's nice."

! s1t01 @ 12:58 (2) Freddie Herrera: "You guys need some kind of help up there, man? What's happening?" @ 13:15 Garcia: "What are we doin'?", strums Expressway @ 13:31.

! P: s1t03 Expressway The bassist and drummer are both in the pocket. The bassist does some nice fat funky stuff, including that distinctive little run @ 0:46, 1:18, a little six-note descent that I heard on the 6/4/74 version (s1t02 of that tape, about 40 seconds in). Is this Tony? This version is a little slower and more elaborated than earlier versions, over three minutes longer than the one from two nights before. Merl nice solo in the 8-9 min mark, very tasteful, while Garcia strums rhythm underneath. Martin gets his CTI on @ 10:40ff with a little bit of Red Clay. This is a long version of Expressway, but it doesn't feel like it meanders. By 16-minutes in I am telling myself that this is one of the hottest versions of @@ Expressway they ever did. I think the Soul Survivors would dig it.
! R: s1t03 ETYH a little muffling @ 1:35ish. Digi-chirp @ 16:22.

! personnel: s1t04 Is there a second guitarist audible @ 3:56 of HAGYN? Sometimes the more closely I listen, the less I hear.

! s1t04 @ 13:38 almost sounds like we can hear a cash register - cha-ching! Nice contextual color from the tape.

! s1t05 MFV Garcia calls the tune.

! R: s1t05 My Funny Valentine gap @ 8:53-8:58

! R: s1t05 My Funny Valentine skip/pop/click @ 10:10-10:11

! s1t05 MFV @ late 19-min mark, the drummer starts doing some nice march stuff. He's great!

! P: s1t07 ISTE @ 9:20 ish Jerry is doing some very tasteful picking, very expressive all the way through the 9-min mark, and into early 10-min mark.

! s1t07 (3) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while, we'll be back a little later."

! R: s2t01 Problems Got Problems drop @ 19:40

! s2t01 MPGP Garcia doing some fantastic twangy soloing in the 10-11-12 minute mark ... Steely and glassy at the same time. In the 12:30 mark he does some inventive syncopated upwards progressions that I really like.

! s2t01 (4) Garcia calls the tune, "Oh hey, let's do that [inaudible, but strumming the chords]".

! s2t02 Darben The Redd Foxx: As of 1/24/2015, that's how we know it. These old notes pertain to the notion that it was "Ptah, the el Daoud": It's amazing how well they perform this relative obscurity. Alice Coltrane's album of the same name [wiki | discogs] was released on Impulse in 1971 (AS-9196; my CD version is Impulse IMPD-201, 1996). I am sure I am copping from some of the reviews I just eyeballed (see Stacia Proefrock's Allmusic entry), but the titular composition and the whole record are indeed rich and lush. Garcia and Saunders are only known to have performed this song twice, on June 4th and June 6th, 1974, and both performances are quite memorable.

! s2t02 @ 20:17 (5) ?Freddie Herrera?, over the PA, but to the band: "We're startin' to run in to the after hours [inaudible]", at which Garcia starts strumming How Sweet It Is, right on cue.

! s2t03 (6) JG "Thanks a lot. See y'all ... later."

Is Jimmy Here? JGB, Keystone Palo Alto, January 23, 1981

LN jg1981-01-23.jgb.all.aud-latvala.97205.flac1644

Well, I hear some electric piano here (see notes), but I think it's Melvin. So, as Corry indicated, this (along with 1/22/81) might be a hitherto unknown quartet configuration of Garcia, Kahn, Seals and Shaw -- no Jimmy Warren on second keys, as traditionally believed.

Otherwise, nothing to write home about, to my ears.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 South California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
January 23, 1981 (Friday)

--Set I (5 tracks, 53:57)--
s1t01. Sugaree [12:36] [0:07] %
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:03] [0:07] % [0:05]
s1t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [11:57] [0:09] % [0:05]
s1t04. /Mississippi Moon [10:56] [0:04] % [0:06]
s1t05. Deal [9:30] (1) [0:09] %

--Set II (5 tracks, 57:19)--
s2t01. The Harder They Come [12:35] [0:02] % [0:12]
s2t02. When I Paint My Masterpiece [10:10] [0:05] %
s2t03. Russian Lullaby [14:03] [0:05] %
s2t04. Dear Prudence [12:06] [0:04] ->
s2t05. Midnight Moonlight [7:47] [0:09] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #12a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! 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/19810123-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/97205 (this fileset). There are no other known recordings.

! band: JGB #12a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-
1995.html). This is a quartet, very rare. Only these two shows (1/22-23) in this configuration. Then Jimmy Warren comes in, and later they add backing vocalists to turn it into a septet.

! R: Field Recordist: Dick Latvala;

! R: Field Recording Equipment: Nakamichi CM-300 microphone(s) > Technics 686 cassette
recorder;

! R: Field Recording Location: front tables;

! R: Post-Master Lineage: 1st generation cassette played back on Tascam 112mkII > Manley SLAM! > Anagram ADC (16/44.1) > HHB CDR 850 >  CD > EAC > WAV > tracking (CDWave) > flac encoding (FLAC Frontend, level 8). All transfers and edits by df.

! Notes: “- A huge thanks to Jeffrey Knudsen for supplying the analog tapes”

! Notes: “- Time between songs was either edited out by Latvala or recorder was off between songs"

! R: Recording is fine.

! P: not much to write home about.

! Q: s1t01 Do I hear piano @ 3:52 of Sugaree?

! P: s1t01 Sugaree Jerry's solo @ 6:59 is uninspired

! s1t03 TWLWMYD there's an electric piano solo @ 9:05-9:38 ... can I hear the organ behind it? I am not sure. I think I can.

! R: s1t04 MM clips in

! R: s1t05 Deal pop at track marker

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be right back."

! s2t01 @ 1:00ish, crowd guy gives a big ol "Yay Jerry!" Do y'thing, mang.

! s2t01 @ 7:31 Jerry starts in with the really round wah that would characterize his playing for the rest of his life. Think of his style on the GD's "Fire On The Mountain", big, fat, round and reggae. HTC did not used to sound like this (I say having just spent some time with June 1974). When did that round wah pedal really come in? Melvin is stepping up around 12:20 ish, but Jerry thinks discretion is the better part of valor and he shuts it down. I think Melvin was ready to tear it up. Before too long, I'd be this song has another several minutes on it, the delta comprised by Melvin Seals-lead interludes. Dude was born to play organ on "Harder They Come".

! personnel: I hear no electric piano in set II.

Redd and Blues

LN jg1974-06-04.jgms.all.sbd-gmb.90003.flac1644

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Lion's Share
60 Red Hill Avenue
San Anselmo, CA, 94960
June 4, 1974 (Tuesday)
133 min Betty Cantor-Jackson soundboard shnid-90003

--set I (5 tracks, 75:29)--
s1t01. Darben The Redd Foxx [17:24] [0:16] % [0:02] {17:42}
s1t02. Expressway (To Your Heart) [16:50] [0:07] % [0:10] {17:07}
s1t03. I Second That Emotion [13:59] [0:13] {14:12}
s1t04. Wondering % // Why [17:#31] [0:30] {18:01}
s1t05. Soul Roach [8:17] (1) {8:27}

--set II (4 tracks, 57:30)--
s2t01. All Blues [23:03] (2) [2:25] {25:28}
s2t02. New York City [7:13] (3) [0:14] % [0:28] {7:55}
s2t03. The % // Harder They Come [17:#06] [0:32] {17:38}
s2t04. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [6:20] (4) [0:09] {6:29}

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals (Wondering Why);
! lineup: Tony Saunders - el-bass;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums;
! guest: Alice Stuart - vocals (s2t02 New York City only)

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19740604-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/90003 (this fileset); http://etreedb.org/shn/6379 (older version, same source tape).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/uTCwRCdomAUSS1zC6

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/lions-share-60-red-hill-avenue-san.html

! R: Eaton: "06/04/74 The Lion Share, San Anselmo Ca - complete; 4.8, 144min, Sbd, A0D1, Reel M->PCM 0->Dat 0, 44k; 10inch Master Reels@7.5ips 1/2trk->PCM x 0->3700 x 1".

! R: Source: MSR > PCM > DAT; Transfer: Panasonic SV-3700 > Edirol UA-5 > USB > WaveLab 5.01a; Mastering with: iZotope Ozone 3 > CD Wave > TLH > FLAC; Transfer and Mastered by Bill Koucky. Green Mountain Bros. February 13, 2008."

! R: seeder notes: "Glitches removed from [Darben The Redd Foxx], Harder They Come and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

! Historical/personnel/setlist: The shows on June 4-5-6, 1974 (first two at Lion's Share, last at Keystone) hold a lot of historical interest. Most obviously, there are a number of setlist rarities and one-offs (on this night: Darben The Redd Foxx; All Blues; New York City) and some personnel fluidity (on this night: guest Alice Stuart on guitar and vocals, Tony Saunders on bass).

! R: s1t01 some bad static in the first few minutes of DTRF. A little staticky in 6-min mark, with glitch @ 6:18.

! R: this recording is absolutely gorgeous.

! setlist: s1t01 This is the first of two known versions of what is currently thought to be the Alice Coltrane composition "Ptah, The El Daoud" we now know is "Darben The Redd Foxx". The next occurs two nights later, and they are reasonably different from each other in tempo and such. This used to be identified as "Bag's Groove", which is manifestly not what it is. This one swings really hard, and Jerry's playing is free and inventive. All through the 7-8 min mark he is soloing vigorously. Merl is soloing absolutely gloriously in the 9-minute mark. Really high up the register, while Jerry vamps behind him, Tony clicks some strings, and Bill the drummer is practically building handrailings around the whole thing, so everyone can *groove*. @@ This is really quite a wonderful performance. Martin really sweet lead around 10:35ff ... very, very clean stuff.

! P: s1t02 Expressway: not sure the little bass run @ 0:40 sounds like John. [edit: right - It's Tony Saunders!]  This is big, fat fucking bass here. Ow! Another little run @ 1:08. @ 2:10 they stumble on a clam, but this bass player is a sick motherfucker, 'cause he just fills in some runs whenever he needs to. @ 2:40 as part of the recovery process from the hole they fell into, Garcia is bending and twisting like mad ... Merl comes up nice and loud in 3-minute mark, Martin solo @ 3:18, nice. Still rolling around 4:15, and doing well. He's not really squonking on this night. @ 9:30 it's Garcia who quotes Red Clay ... that's usually Martin's territory! He picks it up @ 9:49, gettin' his CTI on. But y'know, he doesn't overdo it. This jam is very tasteful, everyone playing within themselves. @ 10:20 I start listening to the bass player and I think that Tony is great. Listen @ 11:15, Tony again making himself heard and bouncing buzzy twang against a Moto Moto-sized bottom ("name so nice, ya got to say it twice"). Big and thick and funky and everywhere it should be. Tony has seriously got this song down.

! P: s1t03 ISTE is a remarkably, anomalously upbeat version. Garcia is giving extra care to his vocals, and everything just sounds a little tighter. He does some interesting pulls @ 3:42-3:53 that are quite distinctive, then he stacks it up higher, loses the one, and then starts doing like a 9 for 8 tempo thing to get back on with everyone else. Highly expressive, exploratory playing here. And I am almost always bored to tears by Second That Emotion.

! Q: I wonder if they were recording this for a possible release? I see from Eaton's list that this is only 7.5ips, while the next night is 15ips, which really makes you think they had something special in mind. Maybe Jerry is just feeling frisky, but he's really trying to get the singing right.

! random: The third Betty batch --of which this may *not* be one, given the PCM gen-- is like Betty's private fucking reserve. I am coming to think that these tapes were recovered separately because they were kept separate, and that they were kept separate for professional and/or personal reasons. Specifically, I think these are tapes that Betty thought were the prime goods ... interesting songlists, unusual guest sit-ins, tight performances. I think they were being collected for an early Garcia live bands compilation ... Jerry in all of his genres. How many square feet of tape for 133 minutes' worth of 10" tape running at 7.5ips (less still 15ips, natch)? Someone or something has gotta pay for that shit, man. As it turns out, it was Betty paying out of her own pocket.

! personnel: s1t03 ISTE @ 10:25 Tony again doing his thang

! R: s1t04 WW horrific warble/phasing ... not sure if it's master tape or PCM tape or DAT tracking problems or something else. I guess I hear it associated with the flute ... maybe it's a blown tweeter or something? In the 11-min mark it becomes associated with Garcia's guitar, and now I am wondering if it's digital. I dunno.

! R: s1t04 WW splice/drop @ 6:50. Doesn't sound like there's much missing, but there's some.

! P: s1t04 WW @ 15:26 Jerry starts doing some really glassy plucking and bending, through around 16:07 ... absolutely gorgeous. His following work, including some brief fanning interludes around 16:20, continues to soar, great tone, power, clarity all the way through to the end. @@ These last few minutes of guitar work are absolutely outstanding.

! P: s1t05 @ 3:44 Martin hits a swingin' thing that I can't put my finger on, almost like "Help Me Rhonda". I wonder if he was preparing for the arrival of the Beach Boys (who would play a Day on the Green four days thence, June 8th at the Coliseum).

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while, as usual, and we'll be back a little bit later."

! setlist: s2t01 is the only known Garcia version of "All Blues". It comes in with a big, thick, fat bass.  @ 7:30 Merl blows some ear drums out with a massive Hammond blast, his very best Jimmy Smith, for sure.

! s2t01 All Blues in the 12-minute mark Martin is trying to bring it to a close and he gets Merl to join him. But Garcia is oblivious. Things unravel for a bit around 12:30 or so, and Garcia just has his head down and ploughs right through it. Merl's organ tone is really high, and/or up in the mix. Things almost fall apart again @ 13:38 ... they are lost. @ 13:42 Jerry wandering around with just the drummer. Jerry letting himself get spaced out, totally oblivious. Merl is still on the theme, but Jerry is completely ignoring him (and it). By the 18-minute mark Jerry is back on earth, and Merl is, again, really doing the Jimmy Smith thing here. It's nice. Late 19-min mark we get a little bass-drum interlude, the others really quietening down for 15-30 seconds. In the 21-minute mark Martin and Jerry are caught up in a nice little theme, totally swinging. It almost comes to a close late in 21-min mark, but then it drops into Jerry doing some nice jumping lead work, Martin coming back to their shared theme @ 22:35 and Merl is with it ... then draw it to a close. Fascinating.

! s2t01 (2) @ 24:19 Martin Fierro: "Can you send some water to the mariachis, please?"

! s2t02 NYC I had always assumed that Alice Stuart played guitar as well as singing, but I don't think I hear a second guitar, and I think this has always been noted as only a vocal performance. The next night she'd play guitar and sing (on "Kansas City Blues"). Her singing is terrific, by the way. She does these blues really well. Hate to say she sounds like a young Bonnie Raitt, but that's how I hear it.

! s2t02 (3) Alice Stuart: "Thank you. Thank you, thank you." Crowd member: "All right Alice!"

! R: I love how loud up in the mix Merl's organ is on this recording. Great tone.

! s2t03 HTC splice/drop  @ 0:17

! P: s2t03 HTC is kind of a trainwreck in the 15-16 minute mark. Jerry doesn't seem to be hearing Merl and Martin very well as they very reasonably suggest a wind-down.

! R: s2t04 TNTDODD drop/skip @ 5:01, 5:17

! s2t04 (4) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll see y'all later."

Where Was Paul Humphrey on June 5-6, 1974?

Ad for Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music, Oakland Coliseum, June 4, 1974. Hayward Daily Review, May 24, 1974, p. 38.

Lawrence Welk and His Champagne Music, "With All 40 T.V. Stars!", appeared On Stage! In Person! at the Oakland Coliseum on June 4, 1974.

I wonder if Paul Humphrey was with them? By October, for sure, Paul Humphrey is in the JGMS drummer's chair, which he occupies for these guys' first-ever east coast tour in November. Exactly who is drumming on which dates throughout 1974 seems quite arbitrary. Who knows, maybe he drummed the next night or the night after his Welk gig with Jerry and Merl? (I can't get enough of these shifts, from Champagne Music to whatever the hell you'd call JGMS of the June 1974 vintage.) I.e., titularly, Where Was Paul Humphrey on June 5-6, 1974?

These June 4-5-6, 1974 shows are out of pattern in a lot of ways. First, that's Tuesday-Thursday, which is really unusual at this point. Second, these (4th and 5th; 6th was at Keystone, Berkeley) are among the last times that Garcia would play the Lion's Share, I think. He spent a lot of time there from about 1971-1974. Third, there are several setlist oddities from this three day period: Alice Coltrane's "Ptah, the El Daoud" (4th and 6th, only two known versions), a loping "All Blues" from the 4th (singleton), "New York City Blues" on the 4th (singleton) and "Kansas City Blues" on the 5th (singleton). Fourth, probably not unrelated, there is personnel fluidity: Alice Stuart guests on the 4th and 5th, while a pretty credible source puts Tony Saunders on bass on at least the 5th.

I don't know if there's any connection, but this particular moment is a fluid one, as my discussion of the Aunt Monk listings from a week earlier engages at a little greater length. In many ways, this window feels like a last hurrah for the loose, I-can-play-any-club-any-night-of-the-week period of Garcia's life. I'll add June 4 and 6 to the To Listen To Pile to see if I can hear about who is drumming, though my ears for drummers are bad. What a grind, anyway. :)

Go Ask Alice: JGMS at the Share, June 5, 1974

LN jg1974-06-05.jgms.s2.sbd.8062.shnf

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Lion's Share
60 Red Hill Avenue
San Anselmo, CA 94960
June 5, 1974 (Wednesday)
sbd set II shnid-8062

--set II (7 tracks, 76:57)--
s2t01. ambience [0:27]
s2t02. La-La [20:30] [3:22]
s2t03. Finders Keepers [7:43] [1:44]
s2t04. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [5:58] (1) [1:31] %
s2t05. //Kansas City Blues [6:54#] [1:32]
s2t06. Harder They Come [13:52] (2) [0:30] % repeated section [0:19]
s2t07. That's Alright, Mama [12:26] (3) [0:07]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - flute, saxophone;
! lineup: Tony Saunders - el-bass [confirmed];
! lineup: ?Bill Kreutzmann? - drums;
! guest: Alice Stuart - el-g, vocals (last four songs).

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/19740605-01.  There is a first set setlist, from Eaton's transcriptions: That's What Love Will Make You Do; Instrumental -> Space -> Instrumental; I Second That Emotion. Gaaaahhhhhh.....

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/8062 (this fileset). There are no other sources in circulation, though a complete recording exists from the third batch of Betty reels. Per Eaton: "06/05/74 The Lion Share, San Anselmo Ca - complete; 4.9, 154min, Sbd, A0D0, Reel M->Dat 1, 44k; 10inch Master Reels @ 15ips 1/2trk -> 3700 x 0 -> 3800 x 1." There were probably recorded by Betty on her Nagra machine ... and at 15ips, I bet they sound unbelievable!

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/uTCwRCdomAUSS1zC6

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/lions-share-60-red-hill-avenue-san.html

! R: unknown sbd recording > CD; "Extraction (EAC), slight re-tracking (WavMerge
and CD Wave), sector boundary verification (shntool), and .shn encoding (mkwACT) by jupillej@mediaone.net." The story behind the entry of this tape into the lossless realm (on 12/13/2001) is one of a million such stories in the history of tape collecting. An obsessive is scouring the internet for Garcia recordings to trade for. Unceasingly. 6/5/74 II figures on the list of a Japanese trader, who agrees to a trade of CDs. The material is distinct, special, and has still never turned up in any other collection. I am sure there's an interesting story behind how our Japanese friend got it, too. It's very nice soundboard recording. I don't guess it's as clean as the previous night's tape, but it's not far from it.

! P: The material is quite good, more clean than adventurous (which is OK). I would love to hear the first set instrumental(s). I also hear Garcia hint at "The System" before a tape splice here, which would have been interesting.

! Historical: The main thing of interest here is the guest shot by Alice Stuart, which has been long-established and is confirmed by the tape. See my brief notes on her below. She brings with her the setlist oddity of "Kansas City Blues", which is real nice. Jerry exclaims after in considerable satisfaction. Right on.

! Personnel: Tony Saunders on bass, Bill Kreutzmann on drums.

! Personnel: Alice Stuart is an interesting guest. She also sat in the night before (JGMS, Tuesday, June 4, 1974), also at the Lion's Share. I will revisit that tape in light of this one [edit: Done], but here she shows herself to be really talented musician, both picker and singer. She gets a nice, almost hollow-body sound on her rhythm playing and is always super tight and tasteful. She leads a time or two and, again, girl can play. I won't write up a ton about her here, but she's an old folkie. Here's how the program for the 1964 Berkeley Folk Festival describes her: "a 22-year old girl from Seattle, is the most important young artist to come out of the folk music movement in years, and the Berkeley Festival represents her first major appearance anywhere. Heavily influenced by blues, country music, ballad singing and the contemporary songwriters, she sings in a unique and beautiful style, accompanying herself on guitar and banjo." Ms. Stuart is all over the Bay Area club listings in around 1974, often billed as "Alice Stuart and Snake". I don't know where Snake is on this night, but Alice is in the house and she plays very, very well. Wonder if any of the mystery guitar players from '74 (2/16, 7/12) are her?

! R: s2t01 Kansas City Blues cuts in, not much missing?

! (1) JG: "Alice Stuart sitting in on guitar, here." Alice: "Merl, can you give me an 'E'? 'E' as in 'elephant'."

! s2t04 @ 7:05 Jerry hits the notes for "The System". I wonder if they played it before "Kansas City Blues", because those two numbers are in, shall we say, rather different spaces.

! setlist: s2t05 Kansas City Blues is a singleton, as far as is known. I can't identify one blues style from another (e.g., how many bars is this? How would one describe the blues subtype?). It's a nice performance, and Jerry seems to enjoy himself with it.

! P: s2t06 Alice Stuart's chunka-chunka rhythm is really nice, and she ain't shy. Then she takes a nice lead in the 5-minute mark. Nicely done! She is really good.

! s2t06 @ 14:10 (2) JG offstage: "One more easy one." He mumbles more stuff, but it would take a very close listen to discern it. Anyway, a neat tidbit. "That's Alright, Mama" certainly fits the bill for this group of people.

! s2t07 (3) JG: "See y'all ... later."

Listening Notes

If I've remembered to tag everything, the Listening Notes label should get you to all of my listening note posts. Otherwise, for reasons that aren't clear to me, I have decided to keep a running list going over at db.etree.org at http://db.etree.org/jgmf. My thinking is that perhaps I need to use that site to keep specific date references, since I guess they'd be really unwieldy as blogger tags (i.e., labels).

Thoughts? In the meantime, it's good for me to be able to just check where I have listening notes.

Melvin in the House: JGB, Keystone Palo Alto, January 22, 1981

LN jg1981-01-22.jgb.partial.aud-latvala.97266.flac1644

Corry listened to this and said he didn't hear two keyboards (in comments to his main post on Jimmy Warren). I don't think I do, either, but I'd love for someone to check the 2-minute mark of I'll Take a Melody and the 6-minute mark of Like a Road.

I have a much longer post about all of this, but for now I thought I'd post my listening notes.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 South California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA, 94306
January 22, 1981 (Thursday)
partial show

--(5 tracks, 58:36)--
jg1981-01-22-latvala-partial-t01. Let It Rock [8:04] [0:03] % {8:07}
jg1981-01-22-latvala-partial-t02. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:53] [0:06] % {12:59}
jg1981-01-22-latvala-partial-t03. Like A Road [13:27] [0:04] %
jg1981-01-22-latvala-partial-t04. … Sitting Here In Limbo [9:09] [0:07] %
jg1981-01-22-latvala-partial-t05. [0:04] I'll Take A Melody [14:29] % [0:07]
[MISSING -> Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #12a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn – el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals – keyboards (Hammond B3);
! 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/19810122-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/97266 (this fileset). There are no other known recordings.

! band: JGB #12a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-
1995.html). This is a quartet, very rare. Only these two shows (1/22-23) in this configuration. Then Jimmy Warren comes in, and later they add backing vocalists to turn it into a septet. See further notes below.

! R: Field Recordist: Dick Latvala;

! R: Field Recording Equipment: Nakamichi CM-300 microphone(s) > Technics 686 cassette recorder;

! R: Field Recording Location: front tables

! R: Post-Master Lineage: 1st generation cassette played back on Tascam 112mkII > Manley SLAM! > Anagram ADC (16/44.1) > HHB CDR 850 > CD > EAC > WAV > tracking (CDWave) > flac encoding (FLAC Frontend, level 8). All transfers and edits by df.

! Notes: “ - A huge thanks to Jeffrey Knudsen for supplying the analog tapes”

! Notes: “- Dick put this as fill on the 01-23-81 tapes sent to Jeffrey.”

! R: This is a really nice recording. Everything is there. Keys, bass, drums also captured very nicely.

! Setlist: my sense is that this is the end of set II (one can faintly hear Midnight Moonlight starting up). This fragment of tape supplies the only setlist information for the show.

! Historical: Personnel: I have noted that this is probably the great Melvin Seals’s debut with the Jerry Garcia Band, with which he’d play nearly without substitute for the next 15+ years. Melvin enters the taped record of his time with the Jerry Garcia Band with a nice, full, sweeping, on-key, sufficiently loud drop into this version of Let It Rock, about 25 seconds in. He is right there with everything to start Let It Rock. An impressive debut. This is also the public debut of Daoud Shaw with the JGB. On current understanding, he would play through June 1, 1981, though I’d want to widen my confidence bands around that estimate. Finally, as of December 2011, this has also been considered the public debut of Jimmy Warren, who played a Fender Rhodes electric piano. For almost a year and a half (into June 1982), the JGB would feature a twin keyboard attack almost unique in Garcia’s entire musical career. Yet it is not clear to me whether Jimmy Warren is here. Corry noted at Hooterollin’ Around that he is not present. I thought I heard a piano twice in listening to this, around 2: If that’s the case, then this is a previously-unknown quartet –Garcia, Kahn, Seals, Shaw—a relatively rare formation for Jerry. I guess now I need to listen to the next few shows, to learn more.

! P: t01 Let It Rock @ 2:20 he just does a second solo right away, and by 2:30 it's fanning like a motherfucker. Then he runs another bar of solos at 2:50ish formed not of malevolent fanning, but of aggressive, brassy picking and bending. Second verse comes in maybe 3:25 and Jerry is positively *enthused*. Melvin had been a little forward for a bit prior to this second verse, but we aren't really doing the Everything-I-Needed-To-Know-I-Learned-In-Kindergarten thing (to wit: “Share your toys”) thing here. Jerry’s just gonna keep soloing. That’s great. This is a brand new band. These other guys have maybe just been learning their charts and haven’t had time to think (nor reps to practice) soloing. And, hell, “When in doubt, let Garcia solo” is not a bad rule of thumb. Garcia is shredding like a motherfucker here, very much akin to what we’d hear on, say, February 4, 1981 at the start of the east coast tour.

! P: t01 LIR JG solo @ 6:50 just filthy. Not surprising that the only shows that sound remotely like this are also first-half of 1981. In fact, I’d say that there is a distinctive sound to the first half of 1981 (and obvious historic reasons for which they should sound of a piece).

! R: t02 enters with more hiss. There are a couple of indeterminate little clicks in the first 0:45, but give the picture that one can paint of taping this gig at this time/place (see the gloriously mindblown narratives that attach to the contemporary Jeff Knudsen tapes), and so one can infer that it’s from the master, its true nature is probably indeterminate, and it’s to be enjoyed as another artifact, brought to the future, of the glorious space-time confluence of the Keystone Palo Alto, on this night.

! P: t02 STOF @ 12-min mark is kind of a clusterfuck. It’s good that Jerry is trying to be assertive in signaling to these new guys that he wants to wrap it up, but it just comes off a little abrupt. And, for this era, it is pretty abrupt. This may well be one of the shorter pre-coma versions of STOF out there.

! setlist t03 This is the first “Like A Road” since March 14, 1974 (TJS).

! t03 Audience member calls out Like a Road while they are warming it up. What a knowledgeable audience! (I know it was released on Live at Keystone.) That’s gotta feel great to Garcia, to play to these people who know him so well, even in Palo Alto. I’d bet Freddie Herrera is on the peninsula when Jerry’s there. A nice, friendly, comfy crowd.

! P: t03 LAR Melvin Seals is a genius.

! P: t03 I think I can hear the electric piano in the 2-min mark of LAR. Piano playing while Melvin has got two hands, making his Hammond testify to us that there is, indeed, “a road leading home”. He is right there. I am not 100% sure it’s not Melvin playing organ with one hand and a little keyboard with the other … I just don’t know.

! P: t03 Like A Road is nice. It’s a little shaky, a little fragile. But think about what a genius choice it is when you have Melvin Seals, who has been spending 15 years of Sundays in Oakland churches, on the bench over there.

! R: t04 SIL enters in progress, not much missing. First 30 seconds sound is low (levels, loose cable, I dunno), more hiss and so forth, but things click in @ 0:32 or so and we’re back to a nice tape.

! P: t04 SIL @ 4:30 Garcia does repeats a nice little upward three-note run maybe three times. It’s pretty, not something I recall hearing him do much. @ 5:15 Melvin does a powerful blast off, where the Hammond is really vocalizing and says to the audience “I’m here!”. An aggressive, confident, and picture-perfect note. And you can feel the crowd jump back a little bit, and cheer. And even at this remove, that note gave me a little jolt. Well, guess what … Jerry heard it too! And they double-time it (not quite, maybe time-and-a-half-time it) for just a little bit. Really nice interplay between Melvin and Jerry, and I have to say that Daoud Shaw is right there in the pocket. That guy’s a pro.

! P: t03 LAR @ 11:57 Jerry shows a little vocal strain on “you travelin’ on” … it’s a little rough, but someone in the audience claps a little bit to pick him up. And in the context of the song (“and the road \ you’ve been travelin’ on \ doesn’t seem to be goin’\ anywhere”), it’s powerful. Not much sense speculating too deeply about people’s personal lives and proclivities, so that’s not the point. The point is just that that snapshot in time (Jerry feeling it, trying to get there but falling short, audience member picking him up and dusting him off, and Jerry gamely picking it up) is really evocative. The crystal of that moment embodies a lot of truth, tells us a lot. If the arc of anyone’s life is a series of moments, and if the idea of prosopography is that, given the time, energy, data, measurement technology and so forth, we can know things in ways approximating “truth”, then we could hold the jewel of that moment up, spend a long time with it, and learn an awful lot. The meaning of life might be hidden in that moment if we care to unlock it.

! Q: t05 Are there two keyboards @ 6:08 of ITAM, or is that all Melvin?

! P: t05 ITAM Daoud Shaw jumps onto a little double-time thing for awhile and gets Jerry to put his cape on. John keeps reasserting a slower pace (which I guess is his job), and after galloping around for a few bars Garcia digs deep and loud into a slightly more deliberate pace. But it’s a neat 30-second speed interlude in a song that almost never featured such a thing. @@ May well be unique (or I could find that it was always there, I just never noticed it until now).

! setlist: one can clearly hear the first notes of Midnight Moonlight coming out of ITAM.

The April 1975 Legion of Mary Tour

LN jg1975-04-10.lom.early.aud-moore.117250.flac2496

In April 1975, Legion of Mary (Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders, Martin Fierro, John Kahn and Ronnie Tutt) went on its only tour, performing, by my count, twenty-five shows in the seventeen days between April 4^th and April 20^th (inclusive). They started in Brooklyn, spent a bunch of time in the core Northeast (New York, Boston, Philly), down a bit further south (Washington, Atlanta) and up to the upper Midwest (Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison), mostly playing mid-size clubs and theaters.

There is a great deal to say about this tour, and I’ll only be able to scratch the surface here. My overarching point would be to remark on the degree of institutionalization represented by this tour by this band. Not only is there a set tour (which the innominate Garcia-Saunders aggregation had test-flown in November 1974), but it’s with a band with a name and fixed membership. It’s not really that surprising – the GD was on hiatus, and there was space for a formalized alternative Garcia outlet—but it is noteworthy. Remember that Garcia had only toured outside the Grateful Dead three times prior to this: January 1972 behind Hooteroll?, briefly (and I think abortively) with Old and In the Way in June 1973, and the November 1974 Garcia-Saunders tour. Looking through the other end of the telescope, this would be the final time Garcia would tour behind a non-GD band that wasn’t eponymous --$5 word … “bearing his name”. When next he returned to the Northeast, he’d be in front of the newly-christened Jerry Garcia Band, which, with tiny variations (e.g., Jerry Garcia and John Kahn) is the name under which he’d cross time zones for the rest of his too-short life when not playing with the Grateful Dead.

The core of the tour, to my reckoning, was a three-night, six-show run (April 8-10) spent at the Bottom Line, 15 West Fourth Street, New York, NY, 10012. I should certainly say more about this venue, but Corry has said more than I could, anyway. [see also Jerry's Brokendown Palaces entry for the Bottom Line.] The shows were promoted by Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowsky, as indicated by this ticket for the Thursday (April 10) late show, which I believe has been shared at the Merl Saunders Facebook page.

Jerry and Merl had played the Bottom Line twice before, with the July 1-3, 1974 standalone shows (i.e., not part of a tour), and the full November 1974 tour, which had featured the great Paul Humphrey on drums. Somewhere I came across something that said the July shows were envisaged as a dry run for the November tour, but now I can’t find the source. I have more to say about the November tour as well, which features some naming and billing variations that interest me (to say nothing of some pretty decent music). I have already discussed it once in terms of when it ended, but there’s lots, lots more to say.

What fascinates me about the April Bottom Line shows, for whatever reason, is that, as far as I can tell, they went totally unadvertised. If the Grateful Dead have come to be seen as pioneers for what we would now call viral marketing, it’s worth noting that the first extensions beyond that group may have been to Garcia’s side projects. The Bottom Line’s standing ads in the Village Voice just sort of skipped over these three nights (see the issues of March 31, 1975, p. 114, and April 7, 1975, p. 106). Yet the shows quickly sold out (can’t find a cite for that, but I think there is one) and one of them, the Tuesday (April 8) late show, was even reviewed in the New York Times (John Rockwell, “Legion of Mary Fans Cheer Band’s Winning Music,” New York Times, April 10, 1975, p. 47). Again, it’s no big deal, but it just fascinates me as a slight deviation from the otherwise pretty straight institutionalization of the whole affair.

My own judgment has long been that these April 1975 shows are not that great, and revisiting this April 10^th early show as taped by the late, great Jerry Moore does little to dissuade me from that view. Stevie Wonder’s “Creepin’” [Allan] is an interesting novelty, and this version shows some promise, but it never really takes off. Two of the Garcia selections on this night, “It Ain’t No Use” and Jesse Winchester’s “Every Word You Say” [Allan | Schofield], are among my least favorite tunes from the period and just don’t do much for me. The Merl Saunders vocals, “My Problems Got Problems” [Allan | Schofield] (credited on Fire Up+ to Saunders and Carrier) and another great Stevie song, “Boogie On Reggae Woman” [Allan | Schofield] are both a little off, especially the former. It starts off with all kinds of whacked out tempos, way too fast for Merl to keep up with lyrically, and it never really settles in. It ends with kind of a thud after Merl tries, unsuccessfully, to improvise some lyrics to fit the unfamiliar tempo. They pull BORW together a little bit better, albeit after a rough start.

(Aside: I love how Merl got Jerry to play Stevie Wonder tunes. Both “Creepin’” and “Boogie On Reggae Woman” appeared on Fulfillingness’ First Finale [1974]. A propos of nothing, that album also has a track titled “It Ain’t No Use”, but it’s not the same as the Jerry Williams / Gary U.S. Bonds / Don Hollinger track played by Garcia and figuring in the present show’s setlist.)

The only real standout, to my ears – and it is a standout—is Dylan’s “The Wicked Messenger” [Allan | Schofield]. I have no idea where Garcia got the idea to turn this song into a raunchy, grinding, wailing electric guitar dysphony … had someone else covered it this way before? If Dylan’s album version featured a country lilt to contrast the grim lyrics, Garcia’s version met darkness with darkness. It’s a biting, metallic display of anger and virtuosity, not quite the equal of the version from the Great American Music Hall on May 15, 1975 (featured on the bonus disc Absolute Mary), but still a show-stealer and well worth ten minutes of anybody’s time.

All right, listening notes follow. Thanks again to Jerry Moore (RIP, STW), Rob Berger and David Minches for getting this great recording into the ears of the masses.

Legion of Mary

Bottom Line
15 West Fourth Street
New York, NY, 10012

April 10, 1975 (Thursday) Early Show

Moore Minches shnid-117250

(7 tracks, 85:29)

t01. ambience [1:08]

t02. It Ain't No Use [12:20] [1:38]

t03. Creepin' [13:36] [1:07] % [0:33]

t04. My Problems Got Problems [14:42] [2:06]

t05. Every Word You Say [7:24] [0:11] % [2:37]

t06. The Wicked Messenger [10:10] [1:44]
t07. Boogie On Reggae Woman [15:45] [0:24]

! ACT1: Legion of Mary
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;

! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;

! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone;

! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;

! lineup: Ron Tutt - 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/19750410-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/14209 (earlier transfer of same tape).

! R: field recordist: Jerry Moore

! R: field recording gear: 2x AKG D1000E > Sony TC-152

! R: Transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nakamichi Dragon > Korg MR-1000 (DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo]) Korg AudioGate > WAV [24/96] > Adobe Audition 3.0 > FLAC encoding. Speed/pitch Correction by Joe B. Jones. Thanks to Rob Berger for supplying the master cassettes.

! R: this is the only known recording of this show as of 11/2011. It's a characteristically excellent Jerry Moore tape.

! t03 Creepin' they find a nice little groove from 4:53 around Garcia's solo. This has real promise. It's better than the 2/14/75version I just listened to. It even swings a little bit.

! t04 PGP they have the tempo way too fast for Merl, and generally. Around the 12-minute mark they are completely lost, Merl trying to improvise through a tempo that he just doesn't have a handle on, not that successfully.

! P: t06 WM I love the raunchy tone Jerry gets on this during his first solo, late 1-min to early 2-min mark. And he is still shredding in the early 3-min mark. Wow, this is very heavy stuff.

! P: t07 BORW starts off a little rough again, things just out of sync.

! R: t07 some bumping of the microphone early in BORW.

Merl's Birthday Generosity: Aunt Monk, February 14, 1975

LN jg1975-02-14.aunt-monk.142mins.aud-castelli-motb-0149.108896.flac1644

Thought I'd throw in my 2/14/75 notes too, having just done 5/9/75.

MOTB Release: 0149 16/44.1
Release Date: 2010-07-10
Band: Legion of Mary
Date: 1975-02-14  (Friday)
Venue: The Generosity
Location: San Francisco, CA
Analog Audience Source: FOB Master Cassettes (MAC)
Medium Stock Brands: MAC = 2 x Maxell UD C120's
Analog Lineage: Sony ECM 270 >> Sony TC 110(mono) >> MAC  
Analog Sound Preservation: MAC >> Nakamichi CR7a => Korg MR-1000 >> DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo] >> Korg MR-1000 => Korg AudioGate >> WAV [24/96] [>> FLAC1644]
Taped By: Robert Castelli
Transfer By: Bob Menke
Mastering By: David Minches

--Disc One (5 tracks, 70:41)--
d1t01: tuning [0:35]
d1t02: Little Bit Of Righteousness [17:50] [0:10] % [0:28] %
d1t03: Favela [16:15] [0:08] %
d1t04: Pennies // From Heaven [18:#14] [0:07] %
d1t05: When I Die [16:44] [0:08] %

--Disc Two (4 tracks, 71:05)--
d2t01: Valdez In The Country [16:51] ->
d2t02: People Make The World Go Round [21:55] [0:04] %
d2t03: Boogie On Reggae Woman [14:55] [0:11]
d2t04: Creepin' [17:00] [0:09] %

! ACT1: Aunt Monk
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone;
! lineup: Tony Saunders - el-bass;
! lineup: Bob Stellar - drums;
! guest: Jerry Garcia - el-g.

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.

! Jerrybases: https://jerrybase.com/events/19750214-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/17371 (older, generated copy of same source tape[s]); http://etreedb.org/shn/108896 (this fileset).

! R: MOTB Notes: "This is a compilation of 2 different sources.  Both sources may emanate from the same master but I would guess 2 masters were made.  Tracks 1 through 6 and the first 5:25 of track 7 are from source 1.  The cross fade in track 7 begins at 5:22.  Source 2 provides the remainder of the show. Speed correction by Joe B. Jones."

! Notes from shnid 17371 fileset (jjoops): "Amazing material!!! Essence of Legion of Mary [ed-- not really] -- nothing but pure, unadulterated instrumentals.  Among many, many highlights, I will simply note that this version of People Make the World Go 'Round is about five times longer than any of the many other versions in circulation.  It really takes the tune places you always thought it should have gone, but never seemed to.  I felt similarly at many points during this material."

! personnel: The MOTB info file lists this as Legion of Mary with Garcia, Saunders, Kahn, Fierro and Tutt. But the Generosity was Merl's gig, the band is probably Aunt Monk, and the personnel is probably different. [edit: Tony Saunders has confirmed that this is him playing bass and Bob Stellar playing drums and that the band is Aunt Monk.]

! personnel: d1t02 the descending bass line around 5:00 of LBOR doesn't sound like John Kahn to me. I am guessing it's Tony Saunders. [confirmed]

! d1t02 @ 9:27 JG hits his "Dancin' in the Streets" lick from the Dead's disco version of that song, ca. 1976-1979.

! R: d1t04 PFH splice @ 11:00, not much missing

! R: d1t05 noticeable warbling about a minute and a half in

! P: d2t01 this is not the best version of VITC. It's a little disjointed, laconic.

! personnel: d2t03 BORW: again, this bass sounds to me like Tony Saunders rather than John Kahn [confirmed].

! R: d2t03 end of BORW the hiss really comes up

! This probably isn't the complete show, since they are tuning up when the tape ends after Creepin'.

Odes to Joy: Aunt Monk at the Generosity, May 9, 1975

LN jg1975-05-09.aunt-monk.84mins.aud-castelli-motb-0144.107829.flac1644

For a couple of years, the good people at Mouth of the Beast (MOTB) were dropping some ridiculously great and important listening material on the masses. Most important, from the perspective of Garcia on the Side (GOTS) were the Robert Castelli tapes, a handful of recordings made by the gentleman of that name who seemed to find his way into, and record, especially rare and special shows. The most important of these, for me, were a couple of recordings from The Generosity, traveling with dates of February 14, 1975 and May 9, 1975.

The Generosity

My notes tell me that The Generosity was located at 1981 Union St, San Francisco, CA 94123 (street view). I frankly do not know much about it beyond that. It is not discussed in Selvin's San Francisco: The Musical History Tour (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996). I don't recall ever having seen ads or calendar listings for it, nor posters nor anything else, quite frankly, except these tapes. Maybe we can get the maestro behind Jerry's Brokendown Palaces to dig up more information!

Aunt Monk

Though the tapes travel with the band name Legion of Mary, I believe it was probably actually Aunt Monk. This is almost certainly true of the Generosity gig dated 2/14/75, since that predates what I reckon to have been the first local usage of the Legion of Mary moniker on March 1-2, 1975. When that tape first emerged, Merl Jr. indicated that Aunt Monk (i.e., Merl Sr.) had a standing gig at the Generosity around that time. The 2/14/75 and 5/9/75 tapes are most definitely of a piece – all instrumental, less oriented toward songs (especially Jerry-centric ones) and more oriented toward long workouts of funk, soul and R&B numbers than even LOM would typically be. As I note below, there are some bass slides that sound utterly unlike John Kahn to my ears, and I have to think that’s Aunt Monk bassist Tony Saunders funking things up.

I have discussed Aunt Monk a few different times. To reiterate, the written record ("Rap-Up's Wrap Up," Oakland Tribune, August 25, 1974, p. 2-RAP) suggests that this band name emerged around August 1974, as I discussed in a post about the Garcia/Saunders/Fierro material that circulates dated “July 21, 1974” and “July 22, 1974” from the Keystone in Berkeley. The first billings I presently show are from the Tuckett Inn in September 1974, continuing well (if sporadically) into 1977.  As indicated in the Trib and my post, it seems that the band (name) replaced The Merl Saunders Band, which had been featured at least in ca. summer 1974 at the Sand Dunes down in the Sunset District, and with which Jerry apparently played with some regularity. I have also recently discovered a June 1, 1975 Aunt Monk w/ Jerry Garcia gig at the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati, which nicely brackets the May 9^th date I am contemplating.

GOTS Context

In a recent interview on the Jake Feinberg Show (promoting his new album, "Romancing the Bass"), Tony Saunders has discussed this time period a little bit. The relevant bit starts around 34:35 of the hourlong interview. I transcribe some of it here.

[Garcia] would show up at my Dad and my gigs with Aunt Monk. He was playing little places. He played on Union Street in San Francisco at this place called The Generosity. It was tiny. And he would just show up with his amp in his car, show up, come in and play. He never wanted any money. He just wanted to play. And when you talk about him learning … we played a Stanley Clarke song one night … but the song just went all over the place. And he came up to me and he shook my hand and he said ‘Tony, that was a good one, because I couldn’t just do what I thought that I could do. I couldn’t just play along and every time I went to go, when I felt comfortable, I really liked that. That was a great song.’ And a lot of the songs that they played in Legion of Mary, we played them at first with the Aunt Monk group. And Jerry … he would play them first there, and then he would transpose them over to the groups with my Dad.

When Feinberg asks (@ 35:35) who was in the group, Tony says “At first it was E.W. Wainwright, myself, my Dad and … most of the times Jerry would come sit in and be the guitar player. Another young guitar player, Chris Hayes, who went on to play with Huey Lewis and the News for twenty years.” (As an aside, Tony had earlier said that his first gig with his Dad and Jerry, when he was 18 (ca. 1974) was at the Inn of the Beginning, about which I have written a fair bit [see also the IOTB handbill collection at Chicken on a Unicycle]. I have a speculation about that, but it’ll have to wait for another post.)

Anyway, I love Tony’s description of Garcia’s involvement. “He just wanted to play”, indeed. And what we have on this tape, if not the precise Stanley Clarke song Tony was talking about, is Garcia waaaaayyyyy out on the edge of what he knew and could play. This ain’t “My Funny Valentine”, friends. The final two songs here, are one-offs of the Horace Silver's "Nica's Dream" and Stevie Wonder’s “Love Having You Around”. Wow! These stealth gigs with Merl would be among the last Jerry would ever do. I wouldn’t say this is Jerry’s best playing, but I would say it’s among his most interesting, and certainly among the last times he’d perform publicly utterly without a net.

Well worth a listen. Thank you Robert Castelli, Bob Menke and MOTB crew for getting this stuff out for everyone to hear. Pretty amazing documents of a fleeting phenomenon.

Listening notes ...

MOTB Release: 0144 16/44.1
Release Date: 2010-05-19
Band: Legion Of Mary
Date: 1975-05-09 (Friday)
Venue: The Generosity
Location: San Francisco, CA
Analog Audience Source: Aud Master Cassettes (MAC)
Medium Stock Brands: MAC = 2 x Maxell UD C90'S
Analog Lineage: Sony ECM 270's => Sony TC 152 >> MAC
Analog Sound Preservation: MAC >> Nakamichi CR7a => Korg MR-1000 >> DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo] >> Korg MR-1000 => Korg AudioGate >> WAV [24/96]
Taped By: Robert Castelli
Transfer By: Bob Menke
Mastering By: Derek McCabe

(6 tracks, 83:51)
t01: ... When I Die [11:59] [0:18] %
t02: noodling [0:34], Little Bit Of Righteousness [15:07] %
t03: Little Sunflower ... [18:53] %
t04: ... Wondering Why [2:29] [0:10] %
t05: noodling [0:38], Nica's Dream [18:38] [0:16] %
t06: Love Having You Around/ [14:45]

! Band: Aunt Monk
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! lineup: Tony Saunders - el-bass [confirmed];
! lineup: Bob Stellar - drums;

! guest: Jerry Garcia - el-g;

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/19750509-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/107829 (this source).

! This show is completely unknown except for this tape, which came into the light via the efforts of Bob Menke and the MOTB crew in the first half of 2010. Thanks to Rob Castelli for recording and sharing this, to Menke for his tireless work on behalf of the recordings, and the MOTB recordings for making it sing and getting it out to us, the masses. It is historically fascinating. I suspect that the band is actually "Aunt Monk", which was Merl's band of the time, with a regular gig at the Generosity [confirmed]. See also 2/14/75 for another instance of what I believe to be this band at the same venue. The material is more oriented toward long instrumental workouts of soul-funk-R&B numbers than the Garcia/Saunders aggregation, which featured more (i.e., more than no) Garcia vocals. This is not Jerry's band ... he is just a player. Who knows if they even have vocal mics? The performances are loose and out there, the setlists are fascinating (this one includes Garcia's only known engagements with the songs "Nica's Dream" and "Love Having You Around"), and the whole vibe of this is really special. It would not be long before Garcia could no longer play a stealth club gig (or, in any case, would no longer do so). Indeed, it's hard to think of any at all after about this point in time.

! personnel: Tony Saunders has confirmed that he is playing bass and Bob Stellar is on drums.

! R: t01 When I Die enters in progress

! R: t01 fade down/return @ 0:56

! P: t01 @ 8:30 ish Jerry sounds like he's doing a little Dancing in the Streets thing. Still/again @ 9:20ish.

! personnel: based on the bass work being done t01 @ 3:50-4:42, I am concluding that this is not John Kahn. I have never heard Kahn do those little funk slides in there. This is probably Tony Saunders playing bass.

! R: t02 fade to splice @ 0:49, undetermined amount missing, possibly substantial; fade down splice/return @ 6:07;

! P: t02 LBOR Garcia is raunching and tearing it up, e.g., in the 6-min mark. Indeed, this is some of the free-est Garcia playing of 1975, I think. Vigorous, hot, engaged, creative. Very, very nice.

! R: t02 fade down splice/return @ 9:36

! P: t03 Martin plays an Eleanor Rigby quote @ 4:35

! R: t03 Little Sunflower fades out

! R: t04 Wondering Why is fragmentary

! R: t05 splice @ 1:34

! song: Nica's Dream (t05). This is the Horace Silver composition, done by all kinds of people. Here's a nice clean (and hot-as-shit) take from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, The Jazz Messengers (1956): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLAbozQz4T0. This track is not obscure, but there are a lot of possibilities from within the jazz canon, and there's always more to hear and learn! It was first labeled simply "untitled 19750509a". Then etree user diethylether proposed on 8/27/2011 "I'm fairly convinced that untitled 19750509a is 'Bahia' by Ary Barroso. Compare it to the the version that Aunt Monk/Merl recorded on their 1976 album You Can Leave Your Hat On (Fantasy 9503, June 1976) ...  the arrangement is similar, though on this LoM recording Fierro is playing the melody where Merl plays it on the album. The break between the original groove leading into a more swinging section at the chorus is another point of similarity." At some point I listened closely, did some A-B comparison, to check this thesis, and came away saying "I have confirmed that this is Ary Barroso's 'Bahia, sometimes also written 'Baia'." Yet now (2/18/2013), a knowledgeable anonymous commenter has indicated that it's "Nica's Dream", and I agree. Diethylether agrees. We all want to get it right, and it's wonderful when more knowledgeable folks chime in. Thank you! So, for those keeping score at home, this is the third and hopefully final appellation for this track, which is a singleton performance of the song.

! setlist: t06 was originally labeled "untitled 19750509b", but DNC user Santos L. Halper proposed, and A-B comparison confirms, that this is an instrumental of "Love Having You Around", the first track on Stevie Wonder's 1972 album "Music of My Mind" (DNC Garcia Folder, Aug 8, 2011 10:55 am (#39795 ***39796)).

! R: t06 Love Having You Around fade/return @ 9:45; fades out as ending.

NRPS were best when Marmaduke was focused and sober (LN jg1971-10-27.nrps.all.fm-weiner.18357.shnf)

The New Riders of the Purple Sage opened for the Grateful Dead for most or all of its October-December 1971 touring. Happily, a lot of the shows were broadcast and there are pretty good tapes.

This one, from the Onondaga War Memorial in Syracuse, NY on October 27, 1971 is an above-average tape of a well-above-average performance. I can't say I've listened forensically to tons of late 1971 New Riders, but the band represented here is really, really hot. The vocals are tight and correct, with no drunken Marmaduke silliness on, e.g., Honky Tonk Women. He sounds sober and focused. David Torbert sings lead on "Hello Mary Lou" [Allan | Scofield], made famous by Ricky Nelson, and "Willie and the Hand Jive" [Allan | Scofield], which had been a top-ten single for its author, Johhny Otis, in the summer of 1958 [wikipedia]. Nelson is great, as usual, and Garcia is good and tasteful, with the awesome, rusty buzz-sawing steel in "Dirty Business" that I really love.

Anyway, good clean fun, and a very favorable review in the next day's Syracuse Post-Standard (see reference in notes, below).

New Riders of the Purple Sage
Onondaga County War Memorial
800 South State Street
Syracuse, NY 13202
October 27, 1971 (Wednesday)
FM shnid-18357 shn2flac

--complete set (12 tracks, 62:20)--
t01. {03:40} //Six Days On The Road [#2:09] [1:21]
t02. {04:34} I Don't Know You [3:32] [1:02]
t03. {03:30} Down In The Boondocks [3:04] [0:26]

t04. {13:58} Dirty Business [11:03] [2:55]

t05. {04:04} Rainbow [3:11] [0:53]
t06. {07:34} Garden Of Eden [6:41] [0:53]
t07. {03:27} Hello Mary Lou [2:59] [0:28]
t08. {03:58} Henry [3:39] [0:19]
t09. {03:10} S//ailin' [#1:59] (1) [1:11]
t10. {03:57} Sweet Lovin' One [3:10] [0:47]
t11. {06:00} Willie And The Hand Jive [5:55] [0:05]
t12. {04:28} Louisiana Lady [4:00] (2) [0:28]

! ACT1: New Riders of the Purple Sage
! lineup: John Dawson - rhythm guitar, vocals;
! lineup: David Nelson - lead guitar, vocals;
! lineup: David Torbert - bass, vocals;
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - pedal steel guitar;
! lineup: Spencer Dryden - drums.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19711027-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/18357 (FM broadcast, this fileset)

! review: John Wisniewski, "6,500 Rock to ‘Dead’ Sounds; Riders Superb in Warmup," Syracuse Post-Standard, October 28, 1971, p. 8.

! R: "FMMR(C?) > ? > R > DAT > WAV > SHN"

! R: "A > D transfer by Noah Weiner - June, 2003 from Jimmy Warburton's 7" Reel."

! R: "The recording is mono, and the left channel had a great deal more hiss and noise than the right. Thus, the right channel was copied over the left in Sound Forge to produce a more clean and strong signal for the final digital project.  Also, throughout the reel there are occasional static pops, fuzz, and crackles."

! R: "Reel playback on Pioneer RT-701 > Teac AN-180 Dolby decoder > Fostex D5 DAT (A>D only) > Turtle Beach Montego II Digital I/O > Soundforge (wav edits and track IDs) > SHNTOOL (SBE fix) > MKW (shn)."

! R: this has a gen or two on it, and as Noah notes it has some warts, but overall it is quite good, a fine listen.

! historical context: NRPS opened for the Grateful Dead for all of the out-of-town gigs in October-December 1971, with a great many of the sets broadcast on FM radio. The FM broadcasts are nice because I think Marmaduke and the rest are just a little more careful when they think they are being broadcast: things are nice and tight, everything is pretty good. If you wanted to hear what NRPS sounded like at this stage, this set is totally representative. This would be one of Garcia's last gigs with the New Riders, with the last known one being four nights later in Stony Brook, NY. There were apparently no NRPS sets at the Harding on November 6-7, and by Atlanta on 11/11 Buddy Cage had taken over the pedal steel chair.

! NB Torbert lead vocals on Hello Mary Lou (t07) and Hand Jive (t11).

! R: t09 Sailin' has a splice a few seconds in, not sure if there's a verse missing. Cuts in on "//My lady is lovely and she carries no comb".

! t09 (1) station ID: "WAER, Syracuse".

! t12 (2) ?McIntire?: "Yeah, the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Thank you, New Riders. OK, this is what we're gonna be doing for the next twenty minutes. We're gonna have a quick change-around, so we can get the Grateful Dead//"

What else, today?

http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-11-10.sbd.sacks.1612.sbeok.shnf

I love the Archive's This Day in History feature. And on November 10, it's '67 that comes up first. This here is the fire-breathing psychedlic 12-armed beast version of the Grateful Dead. Play it loud!

An Echo at Reconstruction's Ending

JG19790929: Reconstruction: Saturday, September 29, 1979, Keystone Palo Alto (UNCERTAIN)

Listing for Reconstruction at Keystone Palo Alto, 9/29/79, from BAM no. 63 (September 1, 1979), p. 14.

Like lots of us, I have been really busy. I'll resist temptation to say a whole lot about this, but will try hard to just put it out there.

I have said before that BAM would be a treasure trove of information for Bay Area music prosopographers whose interests run to the late 1970s and beyond. I just got a stack of many dozen copies from late '78 into the mid-1980s (thanks, friend!) and have been pawing through them a little bit. Sure enough, there's really just a treasure trove of information. Anyone writing about New Wave or lots of other things definitely needs to soak some of this in.

So, just flipping through these, making some notes, and find a listing for Reconstruction at Keystone Palo Alto, 260 South California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA, 94306 for Saturday, September 29, 1979. See the scan above. A few points about this.

First, the current last-known Reconstruction date is 9/22/79 from the Keystone Berkeley. This would extend the band's known (too short!) history another week.

Second, a week is just a week, but it would also truncate the time between the end of Reconstruction and the start of the next iteration of the Jerry Garcia Band, featuring Ozzie Ahlers on keyboards and John D'Fonseca on drums, which is conventionally dated to October 7, 1979 (Keystone, Berkeley).

Third, I'll just say none of us has ever really dug into the end of Reconstruction. WTF happened? Obviously I could do a long post on that, and will unless someone scoops me, but for now I'll just raise the question (and happily invite the scoopage).

Fourth, of course Garcia might not have been present at all. It is said that some Reconstruction shows featured ex-Moby Grape Jerry Miller, but very little is known about this. I can say I didn't find many listings going through these BAMs. update 20150509 - I have added some more dates from various sources, and I now list the following non-Garcia, or Garcia-questionable, Reconstruction shows.

• Friday, August 3, 1979, Keystone Berkeley [Gar could have been there, though I'd bet his GD bandmates would not have been thrilled at the thought]
• Saturday, August 4, 1979, Keystone Palo Alto [GD play Oakland Auditorium] 
• Sunday, August 5, 1979, Keystone Palo Alto [GD play Oakland Auditorium]  
• Monday, September 3, 1979, Frenchy's, 29097 Mission Blvd., Hayward, CA, 94544 [GD play Madison Square Garden]
• NB: subtitled "Merle [sic] Saunders and Friends" ... I thought this was John's band?
• NB: venue contrast with and without Garcia.
• Tuesday, September 4, 1979, Sleeping Lady Cafe, 58 Bolinas Road, Fairfax, CA, 94930 [GD play Madison Square Garden]
• NB: off-night, tiny room
• Saturday, September 29, 1979, Keystone Palo Alto [this post]
• Thursday, November 29, 1979, Rancho Nicasio [GD play Cleveland Public Hall]

Fifth, and in connection with my fetish for formal institutions, we know very little about Garcia's "true" status in Reconstruction. Was he a band member (insofar as that concept applies), or just a “special guest” (as he was sometimes billed)?