Calderone Valentine: JGB in Hempstead, NY, February 14, 1981

LN jg1981-02-14.jgb.all.aud-hance.155565.flac2496

Just did the previous night, and I had just listened to this one to get a load of the fresh transfer from John Jay Hance's master. I hear plenty of stuff to like, don't go into much detail. The "Like A Road" feels really sweet.

Quicky listening notes.

Jerry Garcia Band

Calderone Concert Hall

145 N. Franklin Street

Hempstead, NY 11550

February 14, 1981

Hance MAC shnid-155565

--set I (5 tracks, 53:33)--

s1t01. [0:37] Sugaree [14:38] % [0:09]

s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:14] [0:03] % [1:13]

s1t03. When I Paint My Masterpiece [9:26] % [0:41]

s1t04. Love In The Afternoon [7:44] [0:05] % [0:16]

s1t05. Tangled up in Blue [10:20] (1) [0:04]

--set II (5 tracks, 62:05)--

s2t01. Tore Up Over You [9:10] % [0:03]

s2t02. Like A Road Leading Home [13:31] % [0:44]

s2t03. Harder They Come [15:46] % [1:21]

s2t04. Dear Prudence [13:19] ->

s2t05. Midnight Moonlight [8:11] (2) [0:03]

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

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19810214-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/14079 (Ohr 2x Sony ECM-23f + 1x Nakamichi DM-500, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/24070 (same specs as Hance, possibly his, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/155565 (this fileset).

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/calderone-music-hall-145-n-franklin-st.html

! historical: Sue: capacity 2,800. $10k guarantee plus 90% gross receipts over $26,499 after taxes plus 100% difference between estimated non-variable expenses and $24,090 and actual expenses, plus $4,000 production fee and $1,000 hospitality.

! R: field recordist: John Hay Hance

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sennheiser 421 > Sony D5M (no Dolby) > Technics 686

! R: field recording location: balcony rail, 6' spread

! R: field recording media: 2x Maxell UDXLII-C90

! R: Transfer: Nakamichi 582Z > Korg MR2000S (DFF@5.6) Audiogate > 24/96 Wave > Wavelab6 > Ozone Rx7A > Ozone 5 Advance > Ozone Rx7A > CDwave > Flac24

! P: s1t01 Sugaree Jerry digs in at like 4:15 for something, and it just sounds so great.

! P: s1t05 TUIB I love how Shaw drums them into the groove to start this tune. He sounds perfectly awesome.

! R: s1t05 TUIB cut end, patched with shnid-14079 (Taped by Ohr Weinberg, Sony ECM 23-f's w/Nak DM-500 blend > Nak 550)

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll back [a little bit later]."

! P: s2t02 LARLH is really sweet.

 

! P: s2t04 DP KILLER sustain waily tone late 6. Yeah!!! Feedback, great work. Burning metallic. Which brings us to tin foil.

! R: s2t05 Mid Moon glitch @ 5:42

! s2t05 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later on."

DOWN in South Jersey? JGB at Glassboro State College, February 15, 1981

LN jg1981-02-15.jgb.all.aud.137422.flac1644

Rock Scully's book Living with the Dead (1996) gets mixed reviews for all kinds of reasons, among them that he presents lots of factually inaccurate information. But, on another intepretation --and, I think, relaying something Corry has expressed-- the book may not be right, but it contains lots of truth. Here is some of his narrative around early '81:

We use the airlines to ship dope. I have somebody run it out to the airport in an envelope, put it on a plane, and it gets there like clockwork until some weird hippie at TWA recognizes Jerry's name on the package and takes it. The first time it happens, we're in Philadelphia. I'm jonesing in the Philadelphia Arport waiting for the shit to arrive and it never shows up. I know it got onto the plane, but somewhere along the line somebody stole it. This little glitch leads to a day and a half of the shakes. Garcia is too junk sick to perform the following night. Prescriptions from the hotel doctor help, but we use up all the pills the first night to get rid of the shakes.

In Washington, a desperate Garcia decides to do a radio interview in the middle of the night and "put the code out." Garcia's nodding into the mike during the interview. On air he asks fans — in code — to bring their stashes down to the station and he will sign albums for them. He says, "Uh, anybody down with Garcia out there tonight? You wanna come down to the station? I'll come down from up here and sign autographs, but bring me some down." Thirty kids show up at the station reception with grass, 'ludes, uppers. Uh oh, the wrong drugs! Oh God, now he wants to get more specific on the air, spell out what precisely he needs. We send kids out to get downers and tranks to get us through the night (Scully 1996, 314).

I relay this here because seeder extraordinaire AF has relayed the following in connection with a recording of JGB in Esby Gym, Glassboro State College, February 15, 1981:

Before the show, Jerry went on the radio [campus radio WGLS] to invite people DOWN and if you were DOWN with it, then come on DOWN to the show. The story goes that they were at the end of the tour, way down in the boonies of South Jersey, and the stash was dry. Jerry had to put out the call for someone from Philly or nearby to drive over with a fix for him and Kahn.

Naturally, this sounds like the second part of Rock's little vignette above. I trust AF to have the date, time, and specifics more accurate than Scully. As for our jonesing hereo, maybe the trip into Glassboro, a charter flight from E. Farmingdale (Republic Airport) to Philly on an 8-passenger twin-engine King Air 200, had him just a little jumpy. (Take that, Rock!)

Plea: does anyone know of tape of that particular interview, 2/15/81 from campus radio WGLS? I will inquire with the school, though odds are strongly against there being a copy there.

What about the rest of Rock's narrative? It kind of fits Corry's characterization. First, I think he swaps Philly (end of the tour) and DC (start of the tour), with the package of drugs not making it to them in Washington. Second --and, yes, I see how petty this is-- they didn't fly TWA, but United (#58, since you asked). Third, there is no canceled show anywhere in the tour. Fourth, the interview was apparently before the show, not in the middle of the night.

Some of this other stuff might have happened on Dead tour, or on a different Jerry tour. He doesn't explicitly say this is the Feb. 81 JGB jaunt - I am just making the connection because of the radio interview, which it seems safe to say can only have happened once. Overall, all of this stuff probably sort of happened, and so Rock's account is true ("truthy," you might say), if not exactly right.

One of the great benefits to me of doing these listening notes, and trying to integrate them into the broader fabric of the Garciaverse, is how LITTLE the drug stories tell us about the music. Here we have relatively firm evidence that Garcia was jonesing hard for the show, specifically needing stuff to take the edge off, and that he got some stuff to get him DOWN to some level of comfort. Yet the show sounds peppy. I don't make a lot of notes, but they all point in the same direction: torrid scrubby goodness in "Catfish John", punch great energy in "Tangled Up In Blue", Gar sounding enthused on "Tore Up Over You". All of this speaks, as Twitterato and all-around great guy Mr. Completely might say, to the limits of drug determinism.

Ticket for JGB 2/15/81 at Glassboro State College, courtesy of gdsets.com.

Sounds like the place was packed, sweltering hot (Chambers 1981), and ol Jer, jonesing or not, put on a good strong show to end the tour. (Since you were wondering, fly home next day, 10:15 AM departure on United #719 through Denver to land at SFO by  2:30 PM, or TWA #31, out at 3:30 PM to hit tierra santa at 6:30 PM. I leave it to you to imagine which flight Jerry caught, and why.)

Listening notes below the fold.

JGB Debuting Señor and Tears of Rage: The February 1990 Warfield Run

LN jg1990-02-02.jgb.all.aud-darroch-paul.86658.flac1644
LN jg1990-02-03.jgb.all-1.sbd-seaweed.114060.flac1644
LN jg1990-02-04.jgb.all.aud-buick.30811.flac1644

The Jerry Garcia organization embraced a "no taping" policy, for reasons that aren't entirely clear given the principal's own experience recording bluegrass in the Sixties, his oft-stated indifference to audience taping in the Grateful Dead (GD) context ("when we're done with it, they can have it"), the Dead's own allowances in the form, from 1984 forward, of an Official Taping Section (OTS) just behind Dan Healy's soundboard and, frankly, the low commerical appeal of the Garcia Band. What was gonna do, etch some bootleg vinyl of yet another show closing "Midnight Moonlight"? Yet, nevertheless, there the policy was.

Enforcement was another matter, and seems to have been highly variable. Some busts happened at various places and times, tapers such as John Corley seem to have felt that stealth was called for (dismantling his Nak 700s and wiring them up through the top of a very "silly hat"), but generally a lot of tapes walked out of a lot of Jerry shows. Anecdotally, the no taping policy was most assiduously enforced at the Warfield in 1990, which one imagines relates to the fact that Jerry and Co. were recording themselves for an official live release (Jerry Garcia Band, Arista 18690-2), which arrived August 25, 1991 with material culled from Warfield shows in April and August of the prior year, sweetened in some cases with some vocal overdubs, at least.

Campolindo High School alumnus and sound engineer extraordinaire Marcus Buick kept a little journal of his own and his taping buddies' battles against one particularly dedicated Warfield security guy, by the name of Oren David Green. Apparently, at least in '89 and into '90, he was not a BGP bluecoat, but worked for VIP security. Bu kept a running score, and it was good guys 4 (successful complete shows pulled) and Oren 2 (busts) after the last Garcia Band show of '89. Oren then went on a little run to start the new year. He seems to have successfully kept the tapers away from the best recording location in the house, "The Spot" on the first drink rail. Rob Darroch and Sara Paul managed to pull complete analog masters from there the first night, February 2, 1990, but the digital tapers got busted during the first song. On February 3, Buick, Rick Katzeff and Tom Hughes (Campolindo '87) were able to pass equipment, hop seats, and relocate to get the 1st set from row M of the upper balcony, but got busted set II. On Sunday the 4th, Bu finally managed to digitally pull a whole show, but only by jamming his Josephsons into the right floor speaker stack from about a foot away, far too close. Oren thus played the digikids to a tie for the weekend, impressive given how committed and enterprising they were. (To give an indication of this, note that some soundboard material circulates from this run, derived from recordings made by splitting wire running to the hallway speakers, a technique first accomplished at the Lunt Fontanne in 1987, as far as I know.)

So, the tapes are generally sub-optimal, and I know well that this can color my listening experience. Historically, I have found these shows to be just sort of "meh", perhaps partly because of recording limitations and perhaps also from reasoning motivated to support my "one year too late" thesis about the double-live album: as great as that album is --and I do think it's great--, I think it would have been even better if they had taped in '88 and '89, when things were fresher and peppier. By 1990, to my ears, Jerry is sounding a little more fatigued. I like the March 1-2 shows a good deal, remember finding the April shows to be "meh", definitely find the June shows to be relatively weak, have formed no opinion on August, and think things are hotter in November, after GD keyboardist Brent Mydland had died and Jerry seemed to transfer some amount of energy over to the JGB.

I want to revisit all of these and see how my older assessments hold up, and I began over the last week with the February 2-4 shows. The key setlist interest here is the arrival into the Garcia Band repertoire of Dylan's "Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power)" and Dylan and Richard Manuel's "Tears Of Rage", both of which were added, I imagine, with the album in mind. The Señor from 4/15/90 did make it onto the release, while Tears of Rage would wait to be released until the version from that same date appeared on the posthumous How Sweet It Is record (Grateful Dead Records GDCD 4051, April 1997). The former stuck around for over four years --note that Jerry had also played it once at the Warfield with Dylan, way back in 1980-- while the latter lasted less than a year in the repertoire, much to my chagrin. Both find Jerry reaching way down into deep darkness, full of mournful pathos that well-suited his old man period. On their maiden voyages of this February weekend (Señor appeared all three nights, Tears the last two), they show their newness. Things aren't entirely pinned down in terms of Jerry's own or the backing vocals, he hasn't settled into the tunes yet, and so they sound a little uneven. But that is not to say they don't sound great - they do. Whoever picked these tunes for the Garcia Band --one presumes either Jerry or his musical director, bassist John Kahn-- picked well. 

Generally, the shows exhibit I haven't-played-live-in-a-month-itis, which is perfectly reasonable. Jerry headed out to Kona and took no fewer than 26 plunges with Jack's Dive Locker between January 6 and 29, 1990. January '88 found him tan and healthy in a Hawaiian shirt playing the "Blues For Salvador" benefit with Wayne Shorter, Carlos Santana, and lots of others. January '89, again in post-scubal bliss, found him warming up the first night out (1/27/89) and then dropping a true masterpiece of a show on 1/28/89, though the Dead shows the next week were, well, pretty weak. 

None of these February 1990 Warfield shows reaches those peaks, though there are plenty of strong moments. The first two nights, especially, he flubs all kinds of lyrics, like throughout practically every tune. The first night is pretty short for a 90s Warfield show, though I note some nice peppy tempi and an "I Second That Emotion" that is worth a listen. The second night, I don't note much. The set II opener, "Harder They Come", is not present on any circulating tapes, though we can pretty well imagine what it must have sounded like. 2/4/90 is the best show of the run, to my ears, though it's still pretty uneven. I took real notice that he went up an octave to sing the last stanza of Señor, "this place don't make sense to me anymore", which gives it a really worried tone fit to put weaker listeners into the nervous hospital. I think it was like that all three times here, and I doubt it would ever be that way again.

All in all, I enjoyed listening to this three shows as a whole run. I think I will do more of that. Because even though things can get repetitive, it does provide something like a consistent baseline, allowing little things (like the pretty fun "Let's Spend The Night Together" to open set II on 2/3) to stand in sharper relief. I wouldn't tell you to grab these as a first choice from the year -- go ahead and get the record for that. But they do strike me as pretty straightforwardly representative of what the Jerry Band was up to as the 1990s got going.

Listening notes below the fold.

The Bicycle Rule: Don't Stop Pedaling, or You Might Fall Over (JGB at the Stone, November 10-11, 1986)

LN jg1986-11-10.jgb.all.aud-corley.17749.shn2flac
LN jg1986-11-11.jgb.all.aud-ty.94632.flac1644

Not a lot happening here one way or the other. It's a Monday-Tuesday night, Jerry sounds a little tired, even Corley's tape from the 10th sounds a little muffled.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 
November 10, 1986 (Monday) - 9 PM
Corley shnid-17749 sh2flac

--set I (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 52:51)--
s1t01. ambience [0:13]
s1t02. Cats Under The Stars [7:50] -8:31
s1t03. Forever Young [8:43] -9:35
s1t04. They Love Each Other [8:16] -8:57
s1t05. Love In The Afternoon [7:41] [0:11]
s1t06. Run For The Roses [5:08] [0:02] %
s1t07. //Think [#6:00]
s1t08. Deal [6:22] [0:12]

--set II (7 tracks, 60:14)--
s2t01. //Harder They Come [#11:14] -11:42
s2t02. And It Stoned Me [6:51] [0:11]
s2t03. Knockin' On// Heaven's Door [9:58] [0:06]
s2t04. Reuben And Cherise [6:50] [0:22]
s2t05. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [7:42] [0:03]
s2t06. Gomorrah [6:30] ->
s2t07. Tangled Up In Blue [9:54] (2) [0:05]

! ACT1: JGB #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - 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; [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/19861110-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/17749

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/Vr6EBXU6KvA2

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

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

! R: field recordist: John Corley

! R: field recording gear: 2x disassembled Nak 700s clipped to brim of the "Silly Hat" > Sony TCD5M

! R: field recording location: 20' from stage, first row of tables, dead center

! R: lineage: MAC > ? > CDR > EAC > CDWave (retracked) > Shn. EAC'd / retracked / Shn'd by Charlie Connor. Correct sector boundaries verified with Shntool. Seeded to fungus, tol and abgd 2/5/03. Special thanks to Bob Menke for the audio discs

! R: muffled out of the gate

! P: s1t02 CUTS comes out sluggishly, Jer sounds a little tired.

! R: s1t07 Think cuts in

! R: s2t01 HTC cuts in

! P: s2t01 HTC everyone stops pedaling, and they all almost fall over at 9:28. Don't stop pedaling - you'll fall over!

! R: s2t03 Splice at 8:51 tightened up using Steinberg's Wavlab

! P: s2t04 RAC I am as big a fan of this tune as one can be, but Jer sounds a little tired for sure. Sluggish. I am revisiting this after a bit, and I hear how buried the vocals are.

! setlist: somehow we have always Mid Moon as the show closer, but it is demonstrably TUIB.

! s2t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
November 11, 1986 (Tuesday)
Taz MAC shnid-94632

--set I (6 tracks, 51:03)--
s1t01. //How Sweet It Is [#5:26] [0:22]
s1t02. Like A Road [7:05] [0:28]
s1t03. Get Out Of My Life Woman [6:36] [0:13]
s1t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [11:53] [0:10]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [5:15] [0:05]
s1t06. I Shall Be Released [8:07] ->
s1t07. Deal/ [5:24#]

--set II (7 tracks, 54:41)--
s2t01. //The Harder They Come [#10:21] 0:11]
s2t02. Forever Young [8:13] [0:17]
s2t03. Think [6:09] % [0:14]
s2t04. And It Stoned Me [6:01] ->
s2t05. Dear Prudence [9:29] [0:17]
s2t06. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [6:54] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [6:35] (1) [0:04]

! ACT1: JGB #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - 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.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19861111-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/15006 (Corley MAC shnf);  https://etreedb.org/shn/94632 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/Vr6EBXU6KvA2

! 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

! R: field recordist: Tazuo Yamaguchi

! R: field recording gear: 1x Nakamichi 100 > Sony TC-D5M

! R: field recording location: 5' from stage

! R: Transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nak Dragon> Grace Lunatec V3 (24/96) > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe > Adobe Audition 2.0 > (dither/downsample) > FLAC encoding.

! P: JG sounds tired (somewhat ragged vocals), but the show has energy. STOF quite rough vox. I think the tape isn't doing his voice any justice, either, since it is just capturing direct from Garcia's mouth rather than through the PA, I'd guess. The low vox of an upfront aud.

! R: s1t01 HSII beginning cut

! R: s2t01 HTC beginning cut

! P: s1t04 STOF no bass solo

! P: s1t06 JG flubs first verse of ISBR. But he is singing very delicately and thoughtfully here. 

! R: S1t01 Deal end clipped

! R: s2t01 HTC cuts in

! P: s2t01 HTC comes out much more peppily.

! P: s2t02 Forever Young sounds pretty out of it, but in that endearing, "Jerry's struggling" way, not the "he's out of it" way.

! P: s2t05 DP pretty good guitar solo in the 5-min mark.

! P: s2t06 Melvin's church organ is so perfect for this song

! s2t07 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

If ACT = JGMS and Taper = Louis Falanga, and YYMM = 7402, does XX = 17?

I recently wrote that

in engaging any Garcia event, I first want to pin down the who, the where, and the what. So I want the sociometric, geometric, and the chronometric particulars ... If I can pin down those three pieces about any given event with reasonable certainty, I feel like it "exists" in a way I can work with.

That has presented some challenges, as some events we know happen, but that don't have crisp metadata (especially the date, truthfully) sort of elude my understanding. I have tried to do the best I can with "placeholders" and such, but this kind of chronometric fuzziness really makes me itchy. Whatever - that's just how some stuff is.

Recently, two folks asked me about the fileset preserved as shnid-8654, a Louis Falanga (supposedly also Bob Menke) tape of Garcia-Saunders that was only labeled "February 1974". Two people asking me within a day or so tells me it was being discussed online somewhere. Anyway, these queries led me to revisit the fileset, which I haven't listened to in probably 15 and maybe as many as 20 years. I don't have huge love for early '74 Garcia-Saunders relative to later in the year, but I really, truly enjoyed revisiting this stuff. Let me draw especial attention to the 27-minute "He Ain't Give You None". I noted it

is absolutely stunning. God, what an overlooked masterpiece! It starts off slow and deep, Billy makes it hop a little in like the 7 minute mark while Jerry plays it clean. It finds some quiet passages, some spacy bits, hot passages (late 19-22 really driving). In 25 it almost sounds like 'Sitting In Limbo'. An amazing piece of musicianship all around, an incredible version --earliest one known-- of this tune.

I really mean it. Go check this fucker out.

But, enough about the music. What about the metadata? :)

I am going to suggest that we should assign this material the date of 2/17/74, not because that date is true, but because it might as well be. I don't have much to go on, but here is my logic.

1) Louis taped 1/17-18/74, and the datings of those tapes got confused over the years, such that 1/18/74 circulated as if it were a three-set show. So, consecutive shows that end up in confusing labeling.

2) I listened to both the 2/16/74 Falanga tape and the 2/xx/74 Falanga tape (both noted below) in close succession, including a side-by-side comparison of "Money Honey", which appears on both, and the room-and-crowd sound of each. The tapes are quite different, with 2/16 much sharper and cleaner. But it does sound like the same room to me, for whatever that's worth. (2/16/74 still has the second guitarist and conguero we can hear on the board tape, natch.)

3) Louis and Bob were known to hit the Great American Music Hall, and Jerry and Merl did play it on 2/5/74 and 2/12/74. We have complete board tape of the former from Ed Perlstein's master reel (thank you, Ed!). Go check it out and tell us [nick | JGMF] how to make sense of the two saxes one can periodically hear. The latter does not circulate, and we lack setlist for the first set. The 2/xx material could well be from this gig. But, see #2 above. We don't have enough tape for me to be confident that this is NOT the Music Hall, instead of Keystone, but there's nothing to suggest that it is.

4) There is also 2/7/74 at the Keystone, but we seem to have enough of a setlist that, if this stuff really is from one night, it's not from that one.

5) [contra] The GD Archives had a bunch of 2/74 material, including money reckonings, including notes on how the take from 2/16/74 was divvied up among band and crew, and also the 2/9/74 Rheem Theater contract. There was no evidence from 2/17 whatsoever. (I don't recall any from any of the other shows, though, either.) So the dog didn't not bark where it might have.

When I put all of this together, I conclude that we might as well call this stuff 2/17/74, unless and until new shit comes to light. Thoughts?

Listening notes for 2/16/74 and "2/17/74" below the fold.

LN jg1974-02-16.jgms.all-2.aud-falanga.8063.shn2flac
LN jg1974-02-xx.jgms.partial.aud-falanga.8654.shn2flac

Open-Air Vasseur: JGB at Shoreline, July 26, 1992

LN jg1992-07-26.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.141462.flac1644

Brief listening notes.

Vasseur Warfield tapes are incredible. Vasseur Shoreline tapes are ... incredible. So much air in this mics. Wow.

Jerry does some extra percussive stuff in a few places that I found noteworthy.

Guy who called out "Reuben!" and got it must have been pretty fired up. I would have been. I lament that Jerry missed the "Cherise was dressing as Pirouette in white" line, but whaddya gonna do? Did you ever notice that "Reuben And Cherise" sometimes touches on "Terrapin" territory? I heard it somewhat late in this version, let's say right around late 7 over 8. Nothing explicit, it just came to mind. I find Jerry three or four times trying to step out from the assigned chords of the song into some other space. He hits some interesting allusions, but he just can't see it through. I can *almost* here possibilities of hte song opening up a good deal more, what it might sound like.

Reuben, Gomorrah: that is definitely some "don't look back" thematic consistency there. Both Orpheus and the wife of Lot could have used the reminder.

Not bad, I'd say average for the period.

Jerry Garcia Band
Shoreline Amphitheatre
1 Ampitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
July 26, 1992 (Sunday) - 2 PM
Vasseur shnid-141462

--set I (7 tracks, 55:52)--
s1t01. (1) [0:29] Cats Under The Stars [9:01] [0:52]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [6:52] [0:37]
s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [11:30] [0:15]
s1t04. Let It Rock [6:10] [1:20]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [5:40] ->
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:08] [0:04]
s1t07. Deal [8:42] (2) [0:22]

--set II + encore (9 tracks, 75:18)--
--set II (8 tracks, 66:21)--
s2t08. [0:05] Stop That Train [7:50] [0:18]
s2t09. You Never Can Tell [5:28] [0:16]
s2t10. Lay Down Sally [8:59] [0:33]
s2t11. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [10:07] [0:31]
s2t12. (3) Reuben And Cherise [9:00] [0:38]
s2t13. Gomorrah [6:37] [0:12]
s2t14. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [8:58] [0:14]
s2t15. Midnight Moonlight [6:13] (4) [0:12] %
--encore (1 track, 8:54)--
s2t16. [0:10] What A Wonderful World [8:31] (5) [0:13]

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - 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.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19920726-01

! db:

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/shoreline-amphitheater-1-amphitheatre.html

! Sue: 6,850 tix @ $22.50, 13,150 @ 18.50 (20,000 total capacity), GP $397,400, surcharge of 10%, so net gross potential of $357,660. Band guarantee $35,000 plus various percentage provisions.

! R: field recordist: Chuck and Janet Vasseur

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

! R: Transfer: DAT Master > CDR (Kyle Porter)

! R: Extract: CDR clone > EAC > WAV > FLAC16 (Bill Shaw aka Shark)

! R: Source Notes: Sometime in the early 2000's, Chuck loaned Kyle all of his 92-95 JGB masters to transfer to CDR. Kyle "mastered" the DATs to CDR, fading in/out as needed, adjusting levels (as needed) and tracking. Kyle then gave Chuck his masters back, with nice CDR copies of all of it. Chuck offered to clone the entire set for me, so I gave him a spool of 100 blank MITSUI CDRs and the next time I saw him, he gave them back to me, filled with his JGB recordings. Many of the Chuck V. JGB recordings do circulate already, but probably not all of them, and those that do may not be the Kyle Porter transfers. So, Here they are! --Shark

! R: No audible bass for first four minutes, vocals low, but this is a really nice tape, simultaneously spacious and punchy. The guitar sounds incredible, the drums sound great.

! s1t01 (1) taper, or neighbor: "Resplendent." Yell to stage: "Were's those ties, Jerry?"

! P: s1t01 CUTS a little lyrical uncertainty. Adjusting mix starts getting John, and he announces himself with a nice little run 4:03. Kemper bangs his way to the satin blouse break very assertively, leaving no doubt as to where the band needed to go. Effect to some feedback that Jerry nicely rides at 6. Love this tone!

! P: s1t02 TLEO @ 5:45 voice a little phlegmy.

! P: s1t03 STOF bass thing 6:10ish

! P: s1t04 LIR solo 2:30ff more percussive than fluent, but kind of interesting. Ol Jer did love him some rock n roll guitar. @ 3:13 he puts some sustain on it.

! P: s1t07 Deal excellent brief fanning action late 5.

! s1t07 (2) JG: "Be back in a few minutes."

! s2t12 (3) a crowd member yells "'Reuben And Cherise', Jerry!" and then Jerry drops into it. Good call, fella.

! P: s2t12 RAC he morphs the "Cherise was dressed as Pirouette in white" line into a "Reuben, Reuben", but he recovers. Muffs second verse start before "the breeze". Some reasonably interesting stuff, in the Terrapin space for a minute. He tries to explore some unusual spaces, changing key some, but can't quite get his ideas to extend, e.g., late 7 over 8. Goes around a little too long. @ 8:43 JG drops off for a measure to key in the close.

! P: s2t13 Gomorrah you can really hear his voice being gravelly to start this off.

! P: s2t14 ANBITB some really nice percussive stuff in the 6 minute range, never heard Jerry do it quite like this, Kemper also on it.

! s2t15 (4) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

! P: s2t16 WAWW bass feature 6ff.

! s2t16 (5) JG: "See y'all later."

Brief Encounters of the Weird Kind: JGB at Penn State, December 11, 1977

jg1977-12-11.jgb.all.sbd-sirmick.80773.flac1644

Again, listening notes may be briefer for awhile. Certainly, these are bullet-style.

David Gans once said something to the effect that Garcia exhibits the shortest distance between spirit and fingertip of any musician he knows. That's probably not quite right, but it was something like this. A reviewer from this last show of the Fall '77 JGB tour, Don Foster, sort of alludes to the same notion, in saying  "I'd swear if there was some way of putting a tracer into his vibrations you would see them travel through his body to his fingertips, out to his guitar, and then into the audience."

I also like Foster's take here: "The Mystery Cat banner in the background reminded me a lot of Donna Godchaux. She would leave the stage when she was not singing and like a cat reappear mysteriously for her next number." Very evocative. I'd say the show has a really sleek, unperturbed kind of feline energy to it. Smooth, pretty graceful.

Nice tape. Thank you for the work on it, sirmick. I didn't compare with other versions - all circulating sources are sbds, presumably from the same root tape. John sounds full and fat, as he would through 1978.

This is a rare Jerry-before-GD performance space.

Peppy "Sitting In Limbo". I like it. And "I Second That Emotion" finds some nice room that I also dug.

Turns out the "Close Encounters" theme in "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home," one of a few on the tour, and which I have mentioned before, is extremely brief. But there is more than one encounter here, as after "Love In The Afternoon" we hear some stage talk about aliens, and then, before "Russian Lullaby," Jerry and John noodle on the famous five-note theme for a good 30 seconds. And, because we focus on Garcia On The Side (GOTS) here, we are contractually obligated to note that this occurs before the Grateful Dead would grapple more fully and wildly with the theme on 1/22/78 in Eugene. Just sayin'.

Band got $12,500 + $2,500 sound and lights for the gig, which only grossed something like 16 grand. Gotta love those student activities budgets! Proft, schmofit, so long as the kids have a good time.

Jerry Garcia Band
Recreation Hall, Penn State University
Curtin Rd.
University Park, PA 16802
December 11, 1977 (Sunday)
sbd sirmick remaster shnid-80773

--set I (5 tracks, 54:22)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:22] [0:06] % [0:03]
s1t02. Catfish John [10:04] % [0:07]
s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:33] %
s1t04. Sitting In Limbo [10:24] [0:07] %
s1t05. Mystery Train [11:31] (1) [0:04]

--set II + encore (8 tracks, 97:56)--
--set II (7 tracks, 79:31)--
s2t01. [0:03] Love In The Afternoon (2) [11:51] % [0:05]
s2t02. I Second That Emotion [14:12] % [0:06]
s2t03. Gomorrah [7:07] % [0:06]
s2t04. Harder They Come [11:32] [0:18] %
s2t05. (3) [0:54] Russian Lullaby [14:29] % [0:04]
s2t06. Tore Up Over You [9:12] [0:09] % [0:03]
s2t07. Mission In The Rain [9:12] % [0:08]
--encore (1 track, 18:25)--
s2t08. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home [18:21] (4) [0:04]

! ACT1: JGB #4
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19771211-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/80773 (this fileset), plus lots of other filesets presumably derived from the same root tape.

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html. No Maria Muldaur.

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/recreation-hall-curtin-road-university.html. This is a rare Jerry-before-GD hall.

! historical: From Foster review I infer 3,200 attended and 8,600 capacity. But contract makes it clear that capacity is 5,000. Band got $12,500 guarantee, plus 70% over $21,500 (not triggered) plus $2,500 for sound and lights, on gross potential of $25k.

! ad: Daily Collegian, December 1, 1977, p. 17

! exante: "Jerry Garcia Band to perform," Daily Collegian (Penn State University), December 9, 1977, p. 3;

! exante: Clifford 1977;

! review: [positive] Foster 1977: "I'd swear if there was some way of putting a tracer into his vibrations you would see them travel through his body to his fingertips, out to his guitar, and then into the audience."

! expost: Wilson 1977

! seealso: JGMF, "JGB: November-December 1977 East Coast Tour Rarities"

! R: source: source: sdb > master reel > cassette > pcm > dat > cdr

! R: Seeder comments: - this is a remaster of shnid-6622 - Hiss reduction was attempted on this source once before but the results were not very successful.  I think that this is far more pleasing to the ear - remastered using iZotope Ozone and 4Front Sandbrush - hiss reduction with Waves X-Noise - SIRMick December 2006

! R: Nice tape. I haven't listened to this show in many years, and I don't think I have ever heard this sirmick version. It is buttah. The bass tone is as good as the '78 boards. Man. Later on, some more hiss comes onboard, and sometimes it overloads, but it's nice to have!

! P: s1t01 HSII the band comes in feeling absolutely groovy right out of the gate. John sounds so amazing, so it's hard to parse the capture from the playing, but I do think the playing is just wonderful - fluid, inventive, big, playful.

! P: s1t02 CJ nice version, but tempos are a little variable.

! R: s1t03 STOF more hiss

! P: s1t04 SIL done sprightly, maybe peppiest version I have ever heard. In the 7-minute mark it takes a really spare feeling, not much Keith, or he's way back, anyway. Lovely stuff.

! R: s1t04 SIL splice at 7:09

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

! s2t01 (2) at around 7 minute mark, someone says something like "check out the aliens [inaudible]".

! P: s2t02 ISTE I am not always a big fan of this tune. But Buzzy does some splashing late 7 that really catches my ear, and maybe Jerry's, because Jerry puts on a little spacier tone and the band gives him a little more room. Just wonderful. 

! s2t05 (3) Jerry and John noodle on the "Close Encounters Theme" for a good 30 seconds here.

! P: s2t05 Russ Lull JK feature 7:58-11:15. Despite the fatter tone, this feature feels more like later ones, very fluttery and not very impressive. Buzzy trying to add some rhythm in the back, but he's swimming upstream.

! R: s2t07 MITR splice at 1:17

! R: s2t08 LAALWFH splice at 6:09

! P: s2t08 LAALWFH Close Encounters 15:30, but it's really just a few riffs here.

! s2t08 (4) JG: "Thank you. See y'all later on."

How Come History's Got to Take Such a Long, Long Time? JGB, Warfield, Sunday, May 3, 1992

LN jg1992-05-03.jgb.all.aud-lucien.106771.flac1648

I just don't always have a lot to say, but want to put these here to invite others to comment.

I enjoyed this. Some mumblyverse, but some real depth of feeling, too. I really enjoyed this version of "The Maker", with a little extra vocalization at the end that I can't quite make out --it's supposed to be "oh river, rise from your sleep" (h/t minches)-- and there's some real goodness in "Don't Let Go", as well.

RIP Danny Lucien.

Jerry Garcia Band

The Warfield

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

May 3, 1992 (Sunday)

Lucien MAD shnid-106771

--set I (6 tracks, 50:57)--

s1t01. //Cats Under The Stars [#8:57] [2:02]

s1t02. Waiting For A Miracle [5:38] [1:27]

s1t03. Run For The Roses [5:24] [0:37]

s1t04. Struggling Man [6:22] [0:44]

s1t05. Mission In The Rain [10:32]

s1t06. Lay Down Sally [8:29] (1) [0:08]

--set II (7 tracks, 75:58)--

s2t01. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love [9:37] [1:10]

s2t02. Shining Star [12:35] [0:43]

s2t03. Tore Up Over You [7:46] [1:37]

s2t04. The Maker [8:05] [0:26]

s2t05. Don't Let Go [15:45] [0:17]

s2t06. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [11:58] [0:05]

s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [5:50] (2) [0:04]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: David Kemper - drums;

! lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;

! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - 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/19920503-01

! db:

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

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

! venue: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-25-1980-fox-warfield-theater.html

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

! R: field recordist: Danny Lucien

! R: field recording gear: 2x Schoeps MK4 > Rbox > Panasonic SV250

! R: field recording location: Drink Rail

! R: Transfer: SV3700 -> RME Hammerfall DSP (SPDIF) 16/48 -> Nuendo

! R: s1t01 CUTS cuts in

! P: s1t01 CUTS too many go 'rounds, way too many. Way, way too many.

! P: s1t02 WFAM lots of little lyrical flubs and whatever. I do like how he says "how come history gotta take such a long long time" instead of "the future" - feels Rodney King relevant, though that's pretty surely projection.

! P: s1t03 RFTR some more lyrical irregularity

! P: s1t06 LDS he starts with the chorus.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2t01 ENSTL the crowd seems very stoked to hear this one, special cheer at 0:49 for not-sure-what. Love the tone and the notes in 5. Great playing.

! P: s2t04 Maker he is singing in a different key than usual. Lyrical issues. Some interesting lyrical improv at the end, 6:20 "run rabbit [?] run way from yo [space]"

oh oh still waters

dark and cold like the night

I stand with arms wide open

I run the twisted mile

I'm a stranger in the eyes of The Maker

I could not see for the fog in my eyes

I could not feel for the fear in my life

across the great divide

in the distance I saw a light

Jean-Baptiste walking to me with The Maker

My body is bent and broken

[mumble] and dangerous sleep

I can't work the fields of Abraham

turn my head away

I'm not a stranger in the hands of The Maker

Brother John have you see the homeless daughters?

standing there with broken wings

I've seen the flaming swords

there over east of Eden

burning in the eyes of the Maker

oh burning in the eyes of the Maker

whoa burning in the eyes of the Maker

run [] run ... away from your [??]

! P: s2t05 DLG nice low vocalizations 4, starts doubling after 4:30 or so, with some interesting variations before stepping back from mic 5:02. He lets things go to a big orchestral melt around 9:25, then he starts doing a swing march that is really wonderfully groovy, now minor allusion 10:20, John modal, Melvin light and Kemper glue holding it together. Faster flurrying late 10 over 11. Return to tune late 13.

! s2t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya next time."

Don't judge a tape by the gear: JGB at Stages, East St. Louis, May 23, 1983

The only tape circulating for the Garcia Band show at Stages in East St. Louis, May 23, 1983, was recorded using the built-in mics of a Sony D6 by one Steven Shayman. Looks like it entered circulation in June 2004 as a shn fileset put together by Dr. Chris Ladner (neo_levo) as part of the MisSHN in the Rain offshoot of the The Music Never Stopped (TMNSP) project to canonically archive and circulate, well, everything.

I have always loved that tour, and consider 5/31/83 to be an all-time great Garcia Band show. There are lots of great tapes from known tapers using fancy gear, in venues we know and love such as the Cap, from the back end of the tour. The band plays encores the last eight shows of the tour, and eleven of the last twelve -- and not always "Midnight Moonlight", but some killer "Rhapsody In Red"s and other stuff. It's hot.

The early part, by contrast, wobbles a little bit. I know the Saturday Rainbow show in Denver was a late-add and didn't sell out, though I like it pretty well. The next night north of K.C. was canceled for reasons unknown --I presume that ticket sales were just too slow for a room that was much too large-- and the gig at the incredible Shea's Theatre in Buffalo on the 25th gets a "meh" from me, though that may be because the tape is kinda rough.

Anyway, for all of these reasons, I suppose, I have utterly neglected little ol' 5/23/83. And I was wrong to have done so.

The tape is actually quite a delight. It sounds really fresh and nice. Shayman must have found a good spot, and the D6's built-in mics pick everything up. As any taper will tell you, location > gear. There's plenty of the sellout crowd, and everyone seems to be having a great old time. Jerry hadn't played St. Louis outside the GD since 1976, and everyone seems enthused to have hime come through. A review from unidentified publication (Durrwachter 1983) captures the vibe nicely, invoking a happy crowd packed onto the club floor, dancing a vital, lively, tight band. All of that comes through on the tape.

He even looks pretty good!

Jerry at Stages, East St. Louis, May 23, 1983. Picture credit: Madeline Dames, via https://www.gdao.org/items/show/826463

I don't have a ton of @@wowwowwowwowwows in my notes. I hear some fanny goodness in "Catfish John," a rockin' "Let It Rock," and some of the period's chacracteristic beautiful spirraling guitar figures in both "Harder They Come" and "Dear Prudence". Not a lot of the metallic, hair-on-fire burn here, even in "Deal", at least not that I noted. The show has a cooler, smoother, sweeter vibe than we'd hear after another week-plus on the road. It's just a really nice listen from both a recording and a performance standpoint. Don't make the same mistake I did and leave it neglected for 17 years.

Tour table follows, then listening notes.

Table xxx. Spring '83 JGB tour 

Date	Venue	JGMF
1983-05-20 [Fri] Early	Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO
1983-05-20 [Fri] Late	Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO
1983-05-21 [Sat]	Rainbow Music Hall, Denver, CO	Errico is a monster
1983-05-22 [Sun]	Civic Arena, St. Joseph, MO
1983-05-23 [Mon]	Stages, East St. Louis, IL	don't judge a tape by the gear
1983-05-25 [Wed]	Shea's Theatre, Buffalo, NY	meh
1983-05-26 [Thu]	Auditorium Theatre, Rochester, NY
1983-05-28 [Sat]	Cape Cod Coliseum, South Yarmouth, MA	average for the tour
1983-05-29 [Sun]	Bushnell Auditorium, Hartford, CT
1983-05-30 [Mon]	Bushnell Auditorium, Hartford, CT
1983-05-31 [Tue]	Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY	Mamma mia, what a show
1983-06-01 [Wed]	Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY
1983-06-03 [Fri] Early	Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
1983-06-03 [Fri] Late	Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
1983-06-04 [Sat] Early	The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY
1983-06-04 [Sat] Late	The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY	pretty strong
1983-06-05 [Sun] Early	Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA	swan song for JGB #15c
1983-06-05 [Sun] Late	Tower Theater, Upper Darby, PA	swan song for JGB #15c