Old Garcia Running to the Rock for Rescue

LN jg1995-03-05.jgb.all.aud-michaelB-goodbear.79634.flac1644

I listened to the second set, and man did I love it. "Shining Star" isn't may favorite, but the call-and-response with the crowd is nice. Jerry drops on a dime --actually, John first hit the line-- into "Johnny Too Bad", which is very, very good. Wonderful. The return to SS is neat, and readers will know that such true invention and true segueing was very rare in the Garciaverse (as distinct from the GD).

"Don't Let Go" has some issues early on, but the jam is fascinating, including some scowling scrubbing at around 6:20 and a lonely wail at 11:20. I don't know how frequently "Gomorrah" was being played in this period, but it was pretty much *always* special. This one is pretty flawed, but it's a game effort. Midnight Moonlight feels perfectly reasonable.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
March 5, 1995 (Saturday) - 8 PM
Michael B goodbear flac1644 shnid-79634

--set I (7 tracks, 63:02)--
s1t01. Cats Under The Stars ~ 13:30
s1t02. They Love Each Other ~ 9:51
s1t03. Run For The Roses ~ 6:48
s1t04. Like A Road ~ 8:36
s1t05. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox ~ 11:02
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers ~ 4:01
s1t07. Deal ~ 9:14

--set II (7 tracks, 65:55)--
s2t01. Shining Star [23:38] ->
s2t02. Johnny Too Bad [7:51] ->
s2t03. Shining Star [1:12] [0:20] %
s2t04. Think [7:12] [0:13]
s2t05. Don't Let Go [13:35] ->
s2t06. Gomorrah [5:30] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [6:13] [0:12]

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! historical: The second set may be the best complete set of 1995. If this is damning with faint praise, I will also say there is some music being made. The Shining Star -> Johnny Too Band piece is subime, and this is the best rendering of that song I have heard from this band (also: 9/1/94, 9/10/94, this version, 4/14/95, 4/21/95). I have some sense that these shows weren't selling out as steadily as in previous years - no idea about this particular night.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19950305-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1995-03-05

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! db: shnid-79634 (this fileset); shnid-22194 (Ladner shnf s2 only)

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

! R: field recordist: Michael B.

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sonic microphones > DTR80P

! R: field recording location: floor, center

! R: lineage: WAV > Cool Edit Pro > CDWAV > FLAC.

! R: Teddy Notes: - Slight entire left channel amplify reduction -1db. - Slight entire overall eq to reduce booming bass and to increase the mid to high frequencies. - Downsample entire from 48 kHz to 44.1 kHz. Seeded 11/2006 by Teddy "GoodBear" Selby. Thanks go out to Dan Sisler for sending me the DATs in 10/2006!

! P: s2t01 (1) early on, woman in the crowd: "Jerry can you hear me? I love you!" I think he heard her. SS Jerry misses the obvious start at 2, then starts off the beat 15 seconds later. D'oh! This is the biggest pitch-bending he'd do, just noodling with a strikingly different attack, like he's coming at them from the top at a 90 degree angle, so it's more percussive, then allowed to bend and echo around. 23 John is the one who starts JTB, with the bass line.

! P: s2t02 Johnny Too Bad Garcia just jumps the line, the ladies do one more round of "Shining Star" as ancient Jerry canters into the reggae groove, hair solid white at this point, running to the rock for rescue (but "there will be no rock"). Donny @ 3 hitting real hard, and he and Jerry are locked in.  The segue back to Shining Star is true. That is some fine, fine, latter-day Garcia making music.

! P: s2t05 DLG requires a little more vocal power than these other ones, it just challenges him more. Donny Baldwin hits, but he doesn't set a pocket like Kemper did. 2 he should have come to a second verse, but I think he just blanks on it, so he steps back and picks some blues. Comes back to mumbling (should be "thunder lightning wind and rain") - he finishes off with "love is buzzing inside my brain". DB still not really setting the pocket that Jerry wants or needs. He remembers "hound dog" verse. 4:36ff he announces the exploratory part, and it's good. Jerry invents lots of neat call-resopnses stuff, but no one really responds. John is pretty absent and ineffectual to my ear. He hangs a huge note at 6:20, scrubs it, scrubs it some more 6:30, very interesting, totally unique to my ears. Lonely wail at 11:20, exploring some very sweet and interesting spaces late 11 a little darker turn, chunka chunka 12:05 back to the structure of DLG.

! P: s2t06 DLG drops right into Gomorrah, almost certainly the only time he ever did this. Jacks up the verse 4:35 ish, but lands on "wife of Lot got turned to salt" and succeeding "because she looked behind me" admonition.

! P: s2t07 Mid Moon disjointed in second half of 3, Garcia off key.

JGB at the Warfield: April 21, 1995

LN jg1995-04-21.jgb.all.aud-vasseur-ladner.21900.shn2flac

Third to last JGB gig, on the home court. A little bit of historical background, some analysis of the musics figuring in the setlist, and a brief note on "Johnny Too Bad" ("my God, this is just great, so full of feeling") will figure in the listening notes below.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
April 21, 1995 (Friday)
Vasseur shnid-21900 shn2flac

--set I (7 tracks, 56:08)--
s1t01. The Way You Do The Things You Do  [10:10]
s1t02. Forever Young  [10:38]
s1t03. Money Honey  [07:35]
s1t04. Run For The Roses  [05:26]
s1t05. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox  [08:48]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers  [04:52]
s1t07. Deal  [08:36]

--set II (5 tracks, 59:00)--
s2t01. Shining Star ->  [22:39]
s2t02. Johnny Too Bad ->  [7:07]
s2t03. Don't Let Go  [13:32]
s2t04. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)  [09:36]
s2t05. Midnight Moonlight  [06:04]

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19950421-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1995-04-21

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! db: shnid-21900 (Vasseur shnf, this fileset)

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

! historical: This is Garcia's third-to-last Garcia Band GOTS gig, and knowing this, and that he'd be dead in three and a half months, naturally biases the llistening experience. Blind randomization of listening would be the way to do it, but who was time to genuflect before the infererence gods? Anyway, it's good to do. Chris Ladner's misSHN comments also informed my listen. I only listened to set II, featuring the 40 minute Shining Star -> Johnny Too Bad -> Don't Let Go medley. It's not great in any conventional sense. Garcia can't sing very powerfully, and his whole body is frail, his wrists are sore. He probably doesn't weigh as much as you'd think, because he's bloated and his muscles have atrophied. He was still diving as of February, whether or not you believe he last-minute canceled the February 10th show from an encounter with a jellyfish, and Bay Area Deadheads of the day harbored some doubts, and diving would be like the only physical activity he'd engage in to confuse his muscles from playing, sitting around, driving around in his day-to-day. He was mostly struggling against an enlarged heart, diabetes, a forty-year several-pack-a-day smoking habit, etc. etc.

! P: Garcia gives the fans an honest's night music, especially in view of the fact (that we only know for sure ex post) that the man is dying. He offers up a tasteful selection of postwar American music. The Garcia Band gave Jerry the chance to play R&B, which the Dead just didn't do. The show opens with TWYDTTYD, the scrappy Great Migration lament "Money Honey" gives the old man a chance to belt a little, while the second set-opening "Shining Star" calls forth the rituals of the Warfield and of the Garcia Band at the end, church is in service, nice and easy call-and-response, Jerry gets the chance to sit back, lovingly play with sound, make some music for the assembled, trusting the band to frame it while he paints. "Don't Let Go" was JGB's "jam vehicle", such as it was. This one shows plenty of verve, nothing really to complain about (except maybe the singing, but I discount very heavily since it's near the end).

! setlist: So: 4 R&B (TWYDTTYD, Money Honey, Shining Star, Don't Let Go); 3 white contemporary Americana (Dylan-Forever Young, Norton Buffalo - Breadbox, Pete Rowan's Midnight Moonlight); 2 Garcia originals: Run For The Roses, Deal; 1 traditional gospel: MSAB; 1 reggae: JTB; 1 other: "That Lucky Old Sun". Written by white guys (Haven Gillespie and Beasley Smith), first done by Frankie Lane, lots of black and white greats did it. Written 1949 - what would we name the musical genre? answer: Tin Pan Alley.

! R: field recordists: Chuck Vasseur and Janet Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAT

! R: lineage: DATx > CDx > DAE (QPS QUE 2410 EAC0.9 offset corrected secure mode) > editing as above (SF6) > tracking (cdwav editor) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN (mkwact) via Chris Ladner. shn2flac jgmf 5/19/2017.

! R: seeder comments:  Highly listenable audience recording with relatively minimal close up chatting.  Rates a 2.4 on the "Hey Dude" index.  Charged first set with beautiful Forever Young with Jerry wailing it out, hard drivin' Money Honey (this is not your teleprompter Jerry).  Second set kicks off with a stellar Shining Star that instead of dying off into a lagging audience chant Jerry keeps Shining Star going with a reggae beat and drops perfectly into "Johnny Too Bad" which drifts right into the self-explanatory Don't Let Go - over 43 minutes of continuous jamming.  Not what you'd expect for the 3rd to last JGB show.

! R: seeder comments: Thanks to Jim Powell for the source CDR. misSHN in the rain, 1/2004.

! P: s2t02 JTB my God, this is just great, so full of feeling. John doing some interesting things 7, Jerry switches gear real fast to DLG.

! P: s2t03 DLG voice totally shot.

Hooteroll? with Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia - Crouse Auditorium, Syracuse University, January 22, 1972

Previously unknown gig. Thanks to carville for sharing!

Neumann KM 54

http://recordinghacks.com/microphones/Neumann/KM-54

Good, Clean Fun - JGB at the Onondoga County War Memorial, Syracuse, NY, November 14, 1993

LN jg1993-11-14.jgb.all.aud-SchoepsMK4.137896.flac1644

JGB plays two strong hour-plus sets on the November '93 tour. I love Señor, and he gets most of the lyrics on this version."The Maker" is nice and concise, and I swear I heard a little "Mountain Jam" in there.

Anyway, good, clean fun for your twenty-two-and-a-half 1993 dollars.

Jerry Garcia Band
Onondaga County War Memorial
800 South State Street
Syracuse, NY 13202
November 14, 1993 (Sunday)
FOB Schoeps MK4s flac1644 shnid-137896

--set I (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 68:13)--
s1t01. crowd/tuning
s1t02. Cats Under The Stars
s1t03. Stop That Train
s1t04. Let It Rock
s1t05. Run For The Roses
s1t06. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox
s1t07. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) [6:33] ->
s1t08. Deal

--set II (8 tracks, 65:20)--
s2t01. crowd/tuning
s2t02. I Second That Emotion
s2t03. And It Stoned Me
s2t04. Tore Up Over You
s2t05. Lazy Bones
s2t06. The Maker
s2t07. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: JGB #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing 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.

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1993-11-14

! db: lots of sources, I imagine

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/YXwuDY3RpsT2

! review: Bialczak 1993a. Show was a sellout, 7,500 at $22.50, which is over $168k gross potential more or less realized.

! expost: Bialczak 1993b, on refurbishments to the old shed.

! venue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncenter_War_Memorial_Arena.

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/03/onondaga-war-memorial-800-south-state.html

! seealso: JGMF, "The Reedman vs. The Gunslinger: JGB with David Murray, Madison Square Garden, November 12, 1993," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-reedman-vs-gunslinger-jgb-with.html.

! historic: venue was Onondaga County War Memorial. This was its grand reopening: "The Onondaga County War Memorial was rechristened for big-time concerts by The Jerry Garcia Band on Sunday night, and a capacity crowd of 7,500 enjoyed the new touches of the refurbishment" (Bialczak 1993b). Gross is estimated by me.

! R: source: (FOB) Schoeps MK4s > Dat (Panasonic SV-255/48k)

! R: Transfer: Dat (Sony PCM-R500) > Sound Devices 744T > WAV

! R: Lineage: wav > Adobe Audition 3.0.1 > iZotope RX4 Advanced > iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced > CD Wave > TLH > Flac16.

! R: seeder notes: Thanks to Charlie Miller for the transfer and passing this source to me. edited and mastered SIRMick March 2017.

! R: s1t02 CUTS overloaded to start, especially first minute.

! P: s1t02 CUTS love how much reverb he's already working in late 5.

! P: s1t03 STT very good and bouncy. 5:20 the ladies hit a backing vocal that isn't what the rest of the band was expecting. 6ff pitch-bending.

! P: s1t07 Señor I just love this song so, so, so very much. He hits almost all of the lyrics on this version.

! P: s1t08 Deal late 6 the guitar notes are as fulsomely elaborated as at any other time, but they lack the same old tensile strength. It's outstanding, incendiary guitar playing, but it's just not as aurally potent as it used to be.

! P: s2t05 LB John did a long feature through like 4-5 range, not all bad. 6:08ff Jerry sets out to work.

! P: s2t06 Maker big pitch-bends late 6. I see that this will only clock in at 8:49 - fascinating -- compare over time. I prefer this. Right around 8 he starts playing a "Mountain Jam", I swear.

A Rehearsed Post-Brent Garcia Band: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, November 15, 1990

LN jg1990-11-15.jgb.all.sbd-patched-miller.135953.flac1644

An all-time version of "The Way You Do The Things You Do", a top-shelf latter-day "Reuben And Cherise", and a tape with a story to tell - what's not to love?

Jerry Garcia Band
Wiltern Theatre
3790 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
November 15, 1990 (Thursday) - 8 PM
sbd-patched-miller shnid-135953

--set I (8 tracks, 60:13)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [5:54]
s1t02. Stop That Train
s1t03. Let It Rock
s1t04. The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down
s1t05. Someday Baby
s1t06. Run For The Roses
s1t07. Sisters And Brothers
s1t08. Deal

--set II (7 tracks, 62:55)--
s2t01. The Way You Do The Things You Do [11:02] [1:00]
s2t02. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [9:40] [0:24]
s2t03. And It Stoned Me
s2t04. Reuben And Cherise [7:46] [0:09] %
s2t05. Evangeline
s2t06. That Lucky Ol' Sun
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
!lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-guitar, vocals;
!lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;
!lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals;
!lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
!lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
!lineup: David Kemper - drums.

JGMF:

! R: 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/19901115-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/23228 (sbd shnf deprecated); shnid-23774 (DeTally MAC); shnid-135953 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/6c14vkBJBMT2

! venue: http://www.rockandrollroadmap.com/los-angeles-area-venues/the-wiltern/view-details.html;

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/09/wiltern-theatre-3790-wilshire-boulevard.html.

! band: THE Jerry Garcia Band, JGB #21b (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! historical: I have wrongly neglected post-Brent 1990 JGB, despite having big love for 12/22/90's burning "Let's Spend The Night Together". 11/15/90 is gig four of five at the Wiltern in a six-day span. This whole run would probably reward study, just to see how LA differed (and didn't), but there is no time. I find all-time interesting version of TWYDTTYD here, which is quite a claim. Note the 2x 60-minute set structure. Very nice pacing, content. Folks got their money's worth (contrast: "Bullshit! Bullshit! 5/31/85). Nice to see enterprising Deadheads patching out of speakers --generously run by Bill Graham out to hallways to allow people room to dance with nice fresh sound-- running tape in the bathroom. Some good sound on this!

! R: SBD -> ? -> Cassette; Sony TC-K677ES -> Sound Devices 744T (24bit/48k) -> Samplitude Professional v11.2.1 -> FLAC/16 (2 Discs Audio / 1 DVD FLAC). All Transfers and mastering By Charlie Miller, charliemiller87@earthlink.net, June 13, 2016.

! R: Patch Info: John Detally's TOA DM1200d -> FLAC (shnid-23774) supplies: How Sweet It Is (complete track), Stop That Train, Deal (5:05 - 7:24), That Lucky Ol' Sun (complete track), Midnight Moonlight (complete track).

! R: seeder note: Thanks to John Almirall for supplying that tape

! R: seeder note: This was made in the bathroom patched out of the speakers

! R: seeder note: This may not be perfect but I think it's still an upgrade

! P: overall, this show has a lot to recommend it. The second set contains, as it struck me in the moment, an all-time version of TWYDTTYD and a top latter-day version of Reuben And Cérise.

! P: s1t08 Deal: I FFd from after HSII to see how he does Deal. Interesting to hear from a sbd perspective.

! P: s2t01 TWYDTTYD this is really great, very far "out there" for this song throughout 7, over 8, very good. All through 8 Kemper is earning his keep, hammering out the floor like pounding out brass. Garcia picks up his pace 9:10 and Kemper is with him. This has to be one of the spaciest versions of this often-played song - check timings.

! song "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" (s2t02): The rare tune Garcia could do simultaneously with GD and JGB. I don't think I being too partial in saying that the JGB versions stand far superior to the Dead ones, because the organ and the female harmonies and the reggae arrangement all make it beautiful. The Dead version is all angles and elbows, in comparison, IMO, YMMV. This is the last JGB version until 11/12/91. 7:38 Melvin is leaning his ample self down to blast the B3, when Garcia turns to another verse (managing to get to "the sun is setting in western skies", which wasn't always the case). Melvin is light on his feet for a big fella, and rears it back like a horse, letting the vocal go first. Nice. I also like how he pulls it to a close at 9:30, makes it compact.

! P: s2t04 RAC Garcia is right on it vocally - this sounds nicely rehearsed. I think the tempos feel a little squirrely, but he's got the words. He flubbede some lyrics as far as the general public might hear it, but it's pretty remarkable that he gets the whole long narrative in order. http://www.whitegum.com/~acsa/songfile/REUBEN.HTM. Powerful chording, tight ending. Bravo! This is one of my favorite latter-day versions of RAC.

! P: s2t05 Evangeline: I usually dislike this song, but this version is good. Garcia does a lot of great country jukebox descents, very telecasterish.

Lots to Like About This Old Jerry

LN jg1994-09-02.jgb.all.aud-neumann.12254.shn2flac

SSIA.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
September 2, 1994 (Friday) - 8 PM
Neumann shnid-12254 shn2flac

--set I (7 tracks, 64:14)--
s1t01. Cats Under The Stars
s1t02. He Ain't Give You None [12:19] [0:06] %
s1t03. [0:27] Struggling Man -8:31] -8:35 %
s1t04. That's What Love WIll Make You Do [9:16] [0:08] %
s1t05. What A Wonderful World
s1t06. Sisters And Brothers
s1t07. Deal

--set II (5 tracks, 66:47)--
s2t01. Shining Star [22:37] ->
s2t02. Dear Prudence
s2t03. Lay Down Sally
s2t04. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
s2t05. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing 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/19940902-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1994-09-02

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! db: shnid-12254 (this fileset)

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

! R: AUD (2x Neumann KM54) > DAT > CDR > WAV > SHNv3

! R: seeder comments:  "For some reason, there's fade-outs at the end of every track with the majority of the intervening crowd noise removed, except for 10-30 seconds at the beginning of the next track preceding the start of the next song."

! R: seeder notes: "Thanks to T. Eliason for the show."

! R: details: DAE (EAC0.9 beta 4) > boundaries confirmed (shntool) > shorten 3.4 > FTP via neo_levo/candyman FTP, 9/02.

! P: I have to check my biases so much here. I want to think it sounds terrible, but here in Struggling Man I am finding much to like in this old Jerry. HAGYN didn't end quite right, but they'd worked the arrangement a little to give it a little more of a cabaret feel. Garcia's less aggressive guitar gives him a chance to mix textures, play around more with tempo. He can still do some really nice stuff, e.g., 2:45, playing with some tone even as they miss a mark here and there.

! R: s1t04 some kind of snit @ 0:34

! P: s1t07 there isn't much wrong with this Deal

! P: s2t02 Shining Star 8:25 ff features the note bending that frail-wristed late Jerry implemented. On the one hand, it's a bummer because it reflects the former gunslinger's loss of vitality over the last 20 months of his life. On the other hand, he continues to challenge himself technically, exploring what he's able to do within the confines of his burgeoning physical limitations. Strength, power, brute force volume were the order of the day ten years prior. Even here he can burn on a tune like "Deal" - but these interludes are becoming shorter and shorter. In their stead he explores more delicate and nuanced spaces, plays more with hanging notes and stretching out, breathing deeply, relaxing, more patiently plucking. The old man gets that every note counts, and by stretching them he's pursuing more of that impossibly elusive elixir of life, time itself, time in a note, which is something very close to the life well-lived, for as long as it lasts. By 19-min mark vocalizations are pretty unique with the ladies, Jerry, I thought I heard another baritone in there somewhere? Very fine true segue to Dear Prudence from Shining Star. Excellent work.

! P: s2t02 DP ending may be pretty, but it ain't quite right.

! P: s2t03 LDS is playing pretty well, but it really requires patience of the listener. I am not a huge DB fan, Garcia is straining 7 minute mark a little bit. John says hello. Garcia with some more concrete expression 7:40ff, not bad.

I came for the Johnny Too Bad, I Stayed for the Don't Let Go

LN jg1994-09-01.jgb.all.aud-neumann.12024.shn2flac

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
September 1, 1994 (Thursday) - 8 PM
Neumann KM-140 shnid-12024 shn2flac

--set I (7 tracks, 70:18)--
s1t01. [0:43] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:51] [0:31]
s1t02. Get Out Of My Life Woman
s1t03. Run For The Roses
s1t04. Simple Twist Of Fate
s1t05. Aint No Bread In The Breadbox ->
s1t06. Johnny Too Bad
s1t07. Deal [11:08] [0:03]

-- set II (7 tracks, 68:59)--
s2t01. Second That Emotion
s2t02. The Maker
s2t03. Tore Up Over You
s2t04. Evangeline
s2t05. Don't Let Go
s2t06. That Lucky Old Sun
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19940901-01

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/21825 (same source tape, shnf, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/94692 (this fileset).

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

! R: field recordist: unknown

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM-140 > Panasonic SV-255

! R: field recording location: FOB

! R: lineage: DATx > Tascam CDRW 700 > CDx > DAE (EAC) > tracking (cdwav) > SHN (mkwact) via neo_levo/candyman FTP, 4/02 shn (shnid-12024); shn2flac jgmf 5/17/2017.

! R: seeder notes: "Thanks to Chuck F. for the awesome seeds."

! P: s1t01 HSII is pretty tight, exceeds my expectations.

! R: s1t02 GOOMLW static @ start

! P: s1t02 GOOMLW great to hear him working some provocative R & B this late in the game.

! P: s1t04 STOF comes in on the second verse - sheesh. John took a long lame feature that didn't work for me.

! P: s1t05 Breadbox good, fine, old man guitar playing.

! song: "Johnny Too Bad" (s1t06): Public debut of this relative obscurity (?) from the Harder They Come soundtrack. Jimmy Cliff released it on his 1989 album, when he crossed Garcia. I'd have to check arrangements, but I'll take the Spinners 1970 original all day long. Also 9/10/94, 3/5/95, 4/14/95, 4/21/95, so a five-timer, probably should be considered a rarity.

! P: s1t06 JTB is a running song,  it's got great self-propulsion.

! P: s1t07 Deal still good energy on the guitar.

! P: s2t02 The Maker: This is one that really benefits from the chiller vibe of the JGB. Garcia could never just gently groove this way with the GD. Now, it may be that he is lost, doesn't remember how to start, or he's just enjoying himself. (Or both.) Big pitch-bending 12 min range.

! P: s2t04 E I am not usually a fan of this, but I like it at this tempo. First performance since 5/2/92.

! P: s2t05 DLG an interesting combination of upbeat, almost New Orleans tempo with a little minor blue on it. Doing some little direct punctuations late 6, to good effect. Very good DLG to 7 minutes in. That was a very good DLG.

Il lui manque du souffle

LN jg1995-04-15.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.94692.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
April 15, 1995 (Saturday)
Vasseur flac1644 shnid-94692

--set I (5 tracks, 47:32)--
s1t01. Cats Under The Stars
s1t02. And It Stoned Me
s1t03. He Ain't Give You None
s1t04. Dear Prudence
s1t05. My Sisters And Brothers

--set II (7 tracks, 68:03)--
s2t01. The Way You Do The Things You Do
s2t02. You Never Can Tell (C'est La Vie)
s2t03. [0:09] Rubin And Cherise [:10-
s2t04. What A Wonderful World
s2t05. Don't Let Go
s2t06. Positively 4th Street [7:59] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

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/19950415-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1995-04-15

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/21825 (same source tape, shnf, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/94692 (this fileset).

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

! R: field recordists: Chuck Vasseur and Janet Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > Casio DA-7?

! R: lineage: DAT MASTER > DAT; Sony DTC-A7 > Sony TCD-D10PROII, Tascam DA-30MKII > Sound Devices 702 > Soundforge 9 (Fades, Sample Rate Conversion) > CDWAV > FLAC.

! P: s1t01 CUTS muffs first verse, confused all throughout the start, solidifies after a bit.

! P: s2t03 RAC everyone but Deborah Koons loves this tune, but it's striking out of the gate how slow this is. Never heard it like this. Vocals are *brutal*, he can't get anything out. Croaking "painted mandolin" isn't working. Croaking. Extremely repetitive, over long without much new happening.

! P: s2t05 DLG lyrics are a little nonsensical, but he just goes with it.

! P: s2t06 4th St flubs first verse. He just has no oomph to his singing. Here in a long central piece he is doing very well with the lyrics, making up in relative clarity what he lacks in aspiration. Whatever verses he meant to deliver late 5 early 6 didn't come through. "Stand inside my shoes" is well delivered ... "and for just that one moment, I could be you" ... sounds wistful. Nice energy, warts and all.

Never Get Yo Cornbread Made

LN jg1995-01-13.jgb.all.aud-vasseur-ladner.21484.shn2flac

I almost never listen to 1995. I mean to. And then I did. But then, it turns out that I had already listened to the second set of this show, so the novelty factor was reduced by half.

On the flip side, the "study in contrasts" possibilities are wide; in this case, it looks like a November 2015 listen found me, not dissatisfied, but resigned:

I enjoyed this, overall. It was not a ripoff. Jerry's guitar play is fine, if mixed very low. The arrangements are pretty interesting, but the execution suffers without David Kemper in the chair. Garcia is flubbing like 50% of the lyrics, and there are a few moments where he seems completely to lose himself.

On this listen, I find myself appreciating some creative success in "Don't Let Go" and noting that he probably remembers more of the words to 4th Street than I do.

Old Jerry singing "never get yo' cornbread made" just destroys me - a gentler, faux-blacker version of Dylan's "sure got a lot of gall | to be so useless and all" rant in "Visions Of Johanna".

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
January 13, 1995 (DOW)
Vasseur shnid-21484 shn2flac

--set I (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 65:48)--
s1t01. crowd [0:41]
s1t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:53] [0:15]
s1t03. They Love Each Other [10:47]
s1t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [13:09]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [06:34]
s1t06. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [14:41]
s1t07. My Sisters And Brothers [03:55]
s1t08. Deal [8:51]

--set II (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 65:02)--
s2t01. crowd [1:34]
s2t02. Harder They Come [10:33]
s2t03. And It Stoned Me [9:53]
s2t04. Evangeline [5:51]
s2t05. Don't Let Go [14:11] [0:07]
s2t06. Lazy Bones [8:45] ->
s2t07. Positively 4th Street [7:58]
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight [6:07]

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19950113-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/21484 (this fileset); http://etreedb.org/shn/79638 (s2 Schoeps).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

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

! historical: First shows of 1995, let's see how ol' Jer sounds.

! R: field recordists: Chuck Vasseur and Janet Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAT

! R: lineage: DATx > CDRx > WAV > SHN (1/2004) > shn2flac (5/14/2017).

! R: seeder Comments: Another outstanding audience recording from the Vasseurs - Jerry fans for all eternity thank you Chuck and Linda [sic] :-)

! R: seeder comments: Strong performance of the seldom played (4th performance post-1980) and often cat-called, "Positively 4th Street" which JGB pulls out of the proverbial playlist closet. I can see Jerry sneering when he spouts "what a DRAG it is ..." Sublime final performance of another relative JGB rarity, Lazy Bones.

! R: seeder comments: There were a few millisecond dropouts before the start of a few tracks which were removed using SF6.

! R: seeder comments. Thanks to J.Powell for providing a lineaged CDR source. DAE (EAC0.9b4,offset corrected, secure mode, track quality > 99.9%) > removal of silence at set boundaries (SF6.0) > tracking (cdwav) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN(shorten3.4) via C.Ladner. misSHN in the rain, 1/04.

! P: s1t02 HSII - Listening in 5/17, when I don't listen to much 1995, I hear the appeal of this stuff for all involved. His guitar lacks power, his voice is way down in the mix, but still functioning.

! P: s2t02 HTC always a litmus test, because it's mostly always there. Il manque son souffle. Flubbing lyrics after singing this tune like 300 times. What are you gonna do? Now going to FF to Don't Let Go about 2 minutes in.

! P: s2t05 DLG there is absolutely nothing wrong with this DLG. It's a creative success. It has all kinds of range, the guitar isn't burning off both my ears with pure power, but the tones are appropriately, at turns, gritty, spacy, driving, etc. Nice chunka-chunnka-ing 10ff, a step closer to DLG theme with little crosscut sawing happening. NB that John hasn't done much that's audible. I sure would love to hear a stage monitor perspective, because I imagine he was just playing for Jerry at this point? I have no complaints with Donny Baldwin's drumming, either.

! P: s2t06 LB: I am expected to love this, and I want to. But, out of the gate I cannot. The guitar approach 3 is interesting, but I am not compelled, it felt a little awkward. @ 6:44 corn bread verse starts off warbly, but he delivers it beautifully, tellingly, knowingly. "Never get yo cornbread made | sleeping in the evening shade". He sings the break, but he's not particularly audible. Same with the next verse: "Lazy bones | talkin' in the shade | how you spect to make a dime that way? | Never make a dime that way" - old, tired Jerry is great on those lines.

! song: "Positively 4th Street" (s2t07): 2/23/80, then 3/1/91, 4/18/93, 4/24/93, 1/13/95. Jerry had to reach up to the top shelf to grab Dylan's snide and splenetic rant - I hadn't been aware when it started that it had become such a rarity. He'd try it again on March 4 and April 15, 1995 - I'd like to check those out (update: done! 3/4, 4/15). Positively 4th Street is one of those that Garcia loved and never gave up on - Tough Mama being a 70s Dylan analog.

! P: s2t07 4th Street: As Chris Ladner notes, this was a breakout after almost two years, and the hometown crowd knows it. It's a little off between guitar and vocals out of the gate, he has just started with some random verse as far as I can tell - very late Dylanesque! The combination of him just singing scraps and the vocals low in the mix --not unrelated-- makes it hard to hear the lyrics, but whatevs. This feels like bonus time with ol' Jer. Flubs next attempt at a verse, late 2. He remembers a lot more of the words than I would.

Catholics listing the Legion

The very Catholic USF Foghorn mentioning the LOM gig 3/14/75: "yes, that's the Legion of Mary".

http://digitalcollections.usfca.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15129coll8/id/7748

! mention: San Francisco Foghorn (University of San Francisco), March 14, 1975, p. 8.

! seealso: "By the Grace of the Lord: Legion of Mary at the Masonic Temple, Scranton, April 12, 1975"

h/t Yellow Shark

"Remember that time you pre-gamed it too hard before the show?"

"Remember that time you pre-gamed it too hard before the show? Then you spent the whole concert with your head down in the stall? If yes, then this tape will be a trip down memory lane .."

So says the great AF in seeding a "For Completists Only" copy of 4/15/90 (heretofore never circulated digital and complete) from the Closet Call.

I stand corrected: it is that bad

The pithy title I gave to a set of 8/24/84 listening notes (s1 only) was "It's not that bad, given how much Persian he was doing."

I stand corrected. Yes, yes it is.

It is *that bad*.

Here are notes on the three consecutive tracks of s2:
! P: s2t01 HTC ... these vocals are about as bad as they would ever be.
! P: s2t02 Sugaree ... the voice is absolutely *gone*. Even I can barely listen to it.
! P: s2t03 DLG these are the worst vocals in the history of Jerry

As of today, I hold that this, 8/24/84 is the worst vocal show in GOTS history. FWIW.

LN jg1984-08-24.jgb.all-1.aud.138021.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
August 24, 1984 (Friday)
all-1 DL AF flac1644 shnid-138021

--set I (5 tracks, 46:32)--
s1t01. Cats Under the Stars
s1t02. Knockin' on Heaven's Door
s1t03. Get Out of My Life Woman
s1t04. Let it Rock
s1t05. De/al

--set II (3 tracks, 1 missing, 41:58)--
s2t01. [0:11] The Harder They Come [13:03] [0:02] %
s2t02. Sugaree
s2t03. Don't Let Go
[MISSING: Midnight Moonlight]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - 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/19840824-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/124940 (s1 only); shnid-138021 (this fileset).

! map: http://goo.gl/maps/L0BBt

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

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html.  #21b: THE Jerry Garcia Band.

! JGMF: "It's not that bad, given how much Persian he was doing," http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2013/08/ln-jg1984-08-24jgbs1aud.html.   

! JGMF: "I love you Jer, but these vocals are below the bar," http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/12/ln-jg1984-08-26jgballaud.html.

! R: source: Unknown AUD (low-gen) kindly provided from the collection of DL.

! R: Transfer: Maxell XLII > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 >
R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transfer by Andrew F. 03/2017

! R: Note: First Set from same root source as shnid-124940. Tape-flip at 1:21 in Deal, about a minute missing. Tape ends on first note of Midnight Moonlight.

! P: s2t01 HTC this band can play. Can barely aspirate the word "shine". But the mounting guitar buildup in late 2 just sounds stunning, this tape capturing hot and sweaty Garcia guitar at the Stone. From way down deep inside him, since shallower layers were pretty well numbed. More of the same guitar break 4, still playing wonderfully 4:30, charming, fluid guitar work, another go 'round, I think #4, 4:45ff. Left off 9:25, Melvin had been playing for awhile, nothing special. 11 these vocals are about as bad as they would ever be.

! P: s2t02 Sugaree the guitar work is working, but the voice is absolutely *gone*. Even I can barely listen to it.

! P: s2t03 DLG these are the worst vocals in the history of Jerry. Very late 6 Kemper drives Garcia to a savage space, very dark and moody. Kemper is really leading the charge here, and Garcia drops chin to chest and wails a little bit. Kahn walks it into a jazzier space, everyone where he should be.

this grey bar appears courtesy of Blogger

The Roving Gambler: JGJK, Orpheum Theatre, Boston, February 2, 1986

Nine days after kicking off a lucrative little acoustic tour with the D.A.R. in D.C., Garcia and Kahn closed things off at the Orpheum in Boston. The main point of interest is "The Roving Gambler", which makes its only known public appearance in the GOTS era (what some might call the Grateful Dead era) of Garcia's career. It's well-rehearsed and peppy. I don't know what inspired it - maybe Bill Walton, who attended, requested it. No idea why they dropped it, either.

update 2025: my guess was surprisingly close - bsky user "Exorbitant Rosin Violation" noted that the lyrics of the song refer to "Uncle Bill in Portland", which is definitely a Walton reference. I hadn't put those together because the versaion of "Roving Gambler" that I know best, from a Ramblin' Jack Elliott live release, does not hit that verse that way (I think). That's a fun little thing. Good, clean fun.

LN jg1986-02-02.jgjk.all.aud-koucky.79935.flac1644

Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
Orpheum Theatre
1 Hamilton Place
Boston, MA 02108
February 2, 1986 (Sunday)
Koucky MAC flac1644 shnid-79935

--set I (6 tracks, 33:42)--
s1t01. [0:38] It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry [6:47] ->
s1t02. Friend Of The Devil [6:27] (1) [0:07]
s1t03. I've Been All Around This World [5:13] (2) [0:06]
s1t04. The Roving Gambler [2:57] ->
s1t05. Valerie [6:37] ->
s1t06. Run For The Roses [4:29] (3) [0:21]

--set II + encore (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 50:25)--
--set II (7 tracks, 6 tunes, 42:36)--
s2t01. tuning [0:28]
s2t02. Deep Elem Blues
s2t03. Spike Driver Blues
s2t04. Jack-A-Roe
s2t05. Gomorrah
s2t06. Bird Song
s2t07. Ripple
--encore (1 track, 7:49)--
s2t08. Goodnight Irene

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - ac-g, vocals;
! Lineup: John Kahn - ac-bass.

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/19860202-01

! JGC: jerrygarcia.com/show/1986-02-02

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/15881 (unk aud, shn); http://etreedb.org/shn/79935 (this fileset).

! metadata: the text file called these early and late shows, but the review in the Boston Globe clearly identifies two "40-minute sets that ranged from fairly good to fairly terrible" (Morse 1986).

! review: Morse 1986. "Garcia was all over the place, hitting a few highs... but some pronounced Jerry-atric lows that not even the presence of that ultimate Dead Head, the Celtics' Bill Walton, could prevent. And as a flatpicker, Garcia was no threat to Doc Watson, though his soul and improvisational ability occasionally saved the program. Still, one expected more from the Captain Trips of the '60s than this." Steve Morse had been covering the Dead steadily for a long time, and this is pretty significant criticism. "Jerry-atric lows" is a well-turned phrase.

! R: field recordist: Bill Koucky

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sennheiser 441 > D5 (Steve Adelman's gear)

! R: field recording location: orchestra

! R: field recording media: Maxell MX-S

! R: transfer: playback on Nakamichi DR2 > Presonus Firebox > firewire/PC XP Pro > Wavelab 5.0, recorded as 24 bit/96 KHz PCM WAV > Waves L3 Multimaxmizer (threshold -3.5, ceiling -0.1, type I dither, ultra shaping) > 16 bit/44.1 KHz PCM WAV > CDWAV 1.9 > FLAC (level ). Transfer / mastering by C. Ladner.

! R: solid tape.

! R: s1t02 FOTD burp of some kind around 1:20.

! s1t02 (1) JG: "Thank you."

! s1t03 (2) JG: "Thank you."

! song: "The Roving Gambler" (s1t04): played in early '60s. I like Ramblin' Jack version essential RJE. This is a #singleton inside the GOTS empirical frame. Clearly rehearsed it, but played it this one night only.

! P: s1t04 Roving Gambler is a little cursory, but it's punchy.

! P: s1t06 RFTR sounds very lucid, with nice energy.

! s1t06 (3) JG: "We're gonna take a quick break. We'll be back pretty soon." Sounds like a set break announcement, not a show-closer. update: indeed, Morse confirms single two-set show.

On a related note,

I just posted a second visualization of "Garciaverse Musics" - have at it.

Black Roots about Native Americans?

I am thinking about Native American musical influences on Garcia.

As far as I can tell, they are mediated by whites: Hank Williams's "Kaw-Liga," Bill Monroe's "Cheyenne,"Peter Rowan's "Land Of The Navajo" (which the latter inspired).

Is there any black traditional music with Native American narrative or musical themes? Like, any old banjo tunes about the Seminoles?

Some notes on classifying Garciaverse Musics

In narrating Jerry Garcia's Musical Life Outside The Grateful Dead, I think in terms of the various musics he played.

One cut is geographic: 1) world vs. 2) American.

In terms of musics he directly quasi-publicly performed, The World is mostly only reggae and Indian music (e.g., Diga). He got some stuff from Canada, but it was either Americana (e.g., The Band) or pan-white pop (e.g., Bruce Cockburn's "Waiting For A Miracle") - not what I'd call "Canadian music".

Everything else from The World comes to Garcia pre-mediated through America.

Within the second bucket, I want to distinguish a) indigenous music (Hawaiian, Native American) from b) music made by non-indigenous peoples.

As noted above, Native American music came to Garcia pre-mediated by whites. When he played "Native American", he was playing white renderings of that music. I am guessing he jammed around at Hart's with Rolling Thunder and others -- I wonder if there are calendars, diaries, tapes?? --, but it falls sort of short of my fuzzy event threshold ("musics he directly quasi-publicly performed").

It seems like the same is likely true of the other indigenous American music that Garcia engaged, Hawaiian.  Let me put it another way: he directly heard Hawaiian music (grandmother Tillie loved it - McNally 2015, 36), but in playing pedal steel guitar he was playing what white people were doing, inspired by the islanders' music. So it doesn't get the full-on music font.

b) is the set of musics that get the special font and the central real estate in my table on Garciaverse musics.

Jerry Garcia and John Lennon, summarized by Dennis McNally

On December 8, Garcia was at Front Street working on Dead Set when get got a call that told him of the assassination of John Lennon. Work was impossible. He sat down at Keith Godchaux's old Steinway (more pain: Keith had died in a car accident that summer) and noodled for many hours, lost in thought.

But here's the analytical money shot:

Both had emerged from childhoods damaged by deeply flawed relationships with their mothers, and through their losses had found a stunning creativity which put them in the prison of celebrity.

Friends disagree about such psychological speculation (which can only be projection), but I think it's all a reasonable part of a serious analysis. I accept Dennis's Freudian piece, and I love the simple causal chain he forges. Quite right, IMO.

! ref: McNally 2002, 541.

Kicking off the January '86 Garcia/Kahn acoustic tour

LN jg1986-01-24.jgjk.all.aud-CC.138168.flac1644

A huge bulge of heretofore elusive Garcia tape from the late 70s and especially the 80s has been hitting cyberspace. I don't have much time for this, just a few scattered notes laying down some markers for eventual discussion of the tour.

First, a tour snapshot.

Snapshot of the January '86 Garcia/Kahn acoustic east coast tour

Then, listening notes from newly-circulating closet call material from the first night out. For some reason, two short sets for JGJK seems fine - it's not always easy to listen to.

Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
D.A. R. Constitution Hall
1776 D St NW
Washington, DC 20006
January 24, 1986 (Friday) - 8 PM
CC shnid-138168

--set I (7 tracks, 37:13)--
s1t01. /Deep Elem Blues
s1t02. Friend Of The Devil
s1t03. When I Paint My Masterpiece
s1t04. Little Sadie [4:19] ->
s1t05. Spike Driver Blues [4:26] ->
s1t06. Jack A Roe
s1t07. Run For The Roses

--set II + encore (6 tracks, 38:52)--
--set II (5 tracks, 31:07)--
s2t01. Dire Wolf
s2t02. To Lay Me Down
s2t03. I've Been All Around This World
s2t04. Bird Song
s2t05. Ripple//
--encore (1 track, 7:45)--
s2t06. Goodnight Irene [7:37] (1) [0:08]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and John Kahn [JGJK]
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - ac-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - ac-b.

JGMF:

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19860124-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/138168 (this fileset). Nothing in digital circulation prior to 4/17. Probably very few copies of this show were traded.

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/constitution-hall-311-18th-st.html. Notes the following gigs in a room in which "every president since Calvin Coolidge has attended events": 11/2/75 Jerry Garcia Band; 11/27/83 Jerry Garcia Band; 8/8/84 Jerry Garcia Band; 11/20/84 John Kahn (acoustic); 1/24/86 John Kahn (acoustic).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/8FVYgH5QiCK2

! ref: Billboard, February 8, 1986, p. 37.Ticket I see went for $14.50. Show did well, selling out 3,741 for reported gross of $53,288.

! R: AUD (marked 2nd Gen) kindly provided by wk & http://jgmf.blogspot.com/

! R: transfer: TDK SA90 > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transfer by Andrew F. 04/2017

! R: s1t01 DEB enters in progress, not much missing. PA mix improves about a minute in, and tape follows.

! historic: The January 1986 Garcia/Kahn acoustic tour --seven shows in nine days for John Scher in interesting, core northeast halls-- was a lucrative proposition for the two partners. Billboard reported this show as a 3,741 sold sellout grossing more than $50,000.

! song: "Little Sadie" (s1t04): Every Deadhead of this era knew the tune from the amazing and massively circulated 2/13/70 Fillmore East tapes, but of course it's draws in several great American song forms and traditions. See http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Little_Sadie.htm.  "Sadie" presents a character fragment of the sort that avowedly drew Garcia in, illiterate antihero Lee Brown having shot the titular girl in the street for no apparent reason, slept soundly, and rather ineffably turned himself in to get "41 years to wear the ball and stripes".

! P: s1t04 LS @ 1:20, 1:35 very good guitar work at these instances and around. Very solid. There are moments here that sound as engaged as the later work with Grisman, very nice acoustic guitar, John also holding things down well. @ 3:30 Garcia revisits the first verse, then closes the song. There was a little fumbling around the end, but he was decisive and mostly hit it. This was an *excellent* Little Sadie.

! song: "Spike Driver Blues" (s1t05): Garcia didn't do many work songs, but this one is fun.

! P: s1t05 SDB: The acoustic setting is really good in letting him just sing vocals without too much strain. That helps him give more expression. "This is the hammer | that killed John Henry" is done with great around-a-fire-in-a-holler feeling and movement.

! P: s1t06 JAR here's another one that the show-attending Deadheads would have known, from Reckoning. But, yikes, the vocals are too much, first half of 2.

! R: s2t05 Ripple cuts out at "there is a fountain".

! P: s2t06 GI I am coming to this after having FF >> from Jack A Roe to here, not necessarily compelled to hear set II. 

! song: "Goodnight Irene" (s2t06): This is a favorite of mine. "Gonna take another walk downtown" is Garcia alchemizing New Orleans and his beloved San Francisco, and of course "jump overboard in the river and drown" is a mighty close reference to his own father's death. He played it with the Dead on 12/31/83, the night he and MG finally married after 17ish years.

! P: s2t06 GI @ 2:37 he does "sometimes I live in the country" -- but did he miss the "ramblin | stop all that gamblin'" verse? A little voice scratch early 3. I expect he'll want to play his guitar. He digs in with gusto, fluid and dextrous and with great energy. Good stuff. The vocals are too rough to really make this one to recommend to a novice. @ 4:20 he hits ramblin' / gamblin' ... "come home to your wife and children" all given great feeling. Shaky vocals late 4. 5:10ff he really swings and digs into his guitar pieces here, which I really like. 5:35ff drops into a jazzier swing, John not all there with him. Now John walking it up over 6, but I find him mostly not quite where I want him.

! s2t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

Dead and the Allmans

47 years ago today.

Acoustic at the Denver Rainbow - JGJK, May 23, 1985 (late show)

LN jg1985-05-23.jgjk.late.aud.137966.flac1644

These shows have been very elusive, and the early show still has not made a digital appearance.

Standard "Rock Bottom Era" take: croaking vocals and very good (acoustic) guitar picking. The one plus of the acoustic setting is that he can sing quietly, which works well on a relative rarity like "She Belongs To Me". The first set might be incomplete, but either way this show is pretty well below the Minelli Line.

Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
Rainbow Music Hall
6358 East Evans Avenue
Denver, CO 80222
May 23, 1985 (Thursday) - late show (10 PM)
AF shnid-137966

--set I (4 tracks, 25:16)--
s1t01. /When I Paint My Masterpiece [#5:34] [0:08] (1)
s1t02. I've Been All Around this World
s1t03. Bird Song
s1t04. Run For The Roses [4:26] (2) [0:12] %

--set II (5 tracks, 32:01)--
s2t01. Simple Twist Of Fate
s2t02. Dire Wolf
s2t03. She Belongs To Me
s2t04. Goodnight Irene
s2t05. Ripple

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - ac-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - ac-b.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19850523-02

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/137966 (this fileset). Nothing in circulation before 2017, and still nothing circulating for the early show.

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

! JGBP: Rainbow Music Hall, East Evans Avenue and South Monaco Parkway, Denver, Colorado. Jerry's Brokendown Palaces, October 29, 2012, URL http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/10/rainbow-music-hall-east-evans-avenue.html, consulted 11/17/2014.

! P: overall: Jerry's voice is in pretty bad shape here. First set material clocks in at 25 minutes - we may be missing at least a song or two, otherwise (and perhaps in any case) this set falls *way* below the Minelli Line. See also set II, at just over a half hour one of the shortest sets on record.

! R: source: Unknown AUD kindly provided from the collection of DL.

! R: transfer: Maxell XLII > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transfer by Andrew F. 03/2017.

! R: seeder Note: The tape was not marked "early" or "late", appears to be the 1030PM late show since there's an annouced set break after Run for the Roses. [JGMF: I agree with AF's judgment, though we can't be 100% sure.]

! R: s1t01 WIPMM enters in progress. Nice tape.

! P: s1t01 WIPMM Garcia's voice is nasal and scratchy right out of the gate.

! s1t01 (1) "Thank you."

! P: s1t04 RFTR Garcia's guitar work is crisp, and the recording is loving the sound of the acoustic instruments.

! P: s1t03 Bird Song - my goodness, he is *croaking*. This is a pretty grim listen. Around 3 minutes in Jerry takes a nice guitar departure, and Kahn makes himself heard (or, I hear him) for more or less the first time on a somewhat background  listen. Ain't nothing wrong with Garcia's guitar playing here.

! s1t04 (2) [excuse-me cough] "Thanks a lot. We're gonna take a little, short break, and we'll be back [inaudible].

! P: s2t01 STOF very nice, low-down feel to this

! P: s2t03 She Belongs To Me is a relative rarity, and this is a fragile, interesting take.