Big Gigs, Little Ex Post Trace

Garcia and Saunders mostly played Bay Area clubs. But every now and then, usually in connection with multiact benefit concerts, they played larger theaters, auditoriums and arenas. Examples include BCT for the United Farmworkers on 9/22/72, Winterland for unspecified Hells Angels on 10/2/73, and BCT again for Ethiopian famine relief (8/23/74) and, on 10/12/74, for Padma Jong, a performing arts center on the Eel River.

Two that seem likely to have happened, but which have yielded zero expost trace took place on June 2, 1973 at the Marin Civic and on June 15, 1975 at the SF Civic. The first, especially, has always drawn me, because JGMS shared the bill with the brand-new Pointer Sisters and a Herbie Hancock aggregation transitioning from its Mwandishi to its Headhunter periods. Given the chance, I'd be awfully tempted to set my time machine back to this night to check out the action.

Let me just briefly drop some breadcrumbs on each.

June 2, 1973: Marin Civic Auditorium

An organization called Sausalito Is Spring organized three shows June 1-3, landing some major talent. The Saturday, June 2 gig was a benefit for the autistic classroom of the Henry C. Hall Elementary School in Larkspur, with the killer bill identified above. I have gathered up the following ex ante materials:

! preview: "Concerts Will Aid Autistic Children Class," Independent-Journal [San Rafael, CA], May 29, 1973, p. 11;
! ad: San Francisco Examiner, May 31, 1973, p. 25;
! listing: "Scenedrome," Berkeley Barb, June 1-7, 1973, p. 22;
! listing: San Francisco Chronicle, June 1, 1973, p. 48;
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, June 2, 1973, p. 10;
! ref: handbill.

 The 5/31 ad in the Examiners bills "Jerry Garcia & Merle [sic] Saunders," with Pamela Polland following in the same font, and then the Pointers and Herbie Hancock in smaller print.

Did this gig happen? Was anybody there? Was Gaylord Birch drumming for the Pointer Sisters? Did the Headhunters do what I imagine they must have, which would be drop down some deep, thick, funky fusion?

June 15, 1975: SF Civic Auditorium

This was a marathon, all-day boogie billing the following: JGMS / Country Joe McDonald and The Energy Crisis / Van Morrison / Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show / Larry Coryell / Chi Coltrane / Barefoot Jerry / Brother Mouse Band / Hoodoo Rhythm Devils / Soundhole / Brotherly Love / Pegasus / Caesar's Band / Lyons & Clark.

! ad: SFSECDB19750525p11;
! preview: "Marathon of Boogie," San Francisco Examiner, May 27, 1975, p. 30;
! preview: "The All-Day Boogie," San Francisco Examiner, June 13, 1975, p. 25;
! listing: SFSECDB19750615p07;
! ref: Wasserman 19750817.

It was a benefit for the Community Fairs Broadcast Foundation. Wasserman 19750817 doesn't mention JGMS, leading with CJ, and says the whole event was put on by amateurs and was an unmitigated disaster - BASS sold only 227 tickets. Since JLW didn't mention JGMS, I have some doubt as to whether they played. update: Selvin 19750622 gives a similar ex post analysis: 800-1200 "customers rambled about in the 7,000-plus seat hall" and the charitable beneficiary lost a ton of money. He doesn't exactly say he saw Garcia and Saunders playing, but if they hadn't shown I think he or JLW would have said so.

I reproduce my extremely low-res scan of a flier below.

Book on Nightstand at Serenity Knolls

I thought I remember that one of the big Garcia/GD auctions of some years back offered a copy of the book that was found on Jerry's nightstand at Serenity Knolls. Does that ring a bell for anyone? Anyone remember what book it was?

Good Old Boys at Margarita's Cantina!

https://homegrownmusic.net/store/cd/good-old-boys-live-2cd

John Cutler taped these shows from February 20-21, 1975, and they are now up for official release. Wow!

Cryptdev saw one of these shows.

See also: Corry, "The Good Old Boys: Jerry Garcia, Producer (and some banjo)"

My goodness, can't wait to hear these.

Round Reels, Incorporated August 1, 1974

Round Reels is the company Ron Rakow created for film projects, not least the Grateful Dead Movie. As with many of Rakow's business activities, it's really hard to find any solid information about the company. So when the corporate stamp came up for auction over the summer, I was very excited to see it! This image was associated with the auction, but I guess the seal was pulled under threat of legal action, or at least in light of legal questions.

August 1, 1974. Happy Birthday, Jerry! I have always held that Garcia made the decision to Hiatus right in this time frame, August 1974. I imagine that The Movie, and thus Round Reels, was bound up with the Hiatus. If that's right, then the decision would have been at least a little bit before August. It could have been even earlier, but I don't think so. Thoughts?

Morse Codes as Light, Sweet and Lyrical: JGB at the Worcester Centrum, November 13, 1991

LN jg1991-11-13.jgb.all.aud-mutterperl.81368.flac1644

I can't believe this is my first write-up of a Fall '91 show. I haven't really dug into this tour the way I need to. It's good.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Centrum
50 Foster St
Worcester, MA 01608
November 13, 1991 (Wednesday)
Mutterperl MAD flac1644 shnid-81368

-- set I (8 tracks, 69:00)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [7:01] [1:12]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:06] [1:01]
s1t03. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game [7:05] [0:30]
s1t04. Dear Prudence [12:19] [1:12]
s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:46] [0:46]
s1t06. Money Honey [6:05] [0:19]
s1t07. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) [5:57] ->
s1t08. Deal [8:36] (1) [0:06]

--set II (7 tracks, 60:01)--
s2t01. [0:15] The Way You Do The Things You Do [11:42] [1:35]
s2t02. You Never Can Tell [6:58] [0:12]
s2t03. Waiting For A Miracle [5:38] [0:10]
s2t04. Shining Star [12:56] [0:50]
s2t05. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [9:08] [0:14]
s2t06. My Sisters And Brothers
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight

! 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/19911113-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/16377 (Schoeps shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/87502 (Carpenter MAC); https://etreedb.org/shn/81368 (this fileset).

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/wa6DgDz7wmq

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/centrum-50-foster-st-worcester-ma.html.

! Review: Morse 19911114; Fusaro 1991. Morse: "If the ever-mutating Dead are draining some of Garcia's energy lately, as he has said in recent interviews, then you can see why he's refortified by his solo band. They're a comfortable, even-keeled quintet that played a sublime oldies party for a near-sellout 12,000 fans last night. ... The band is a lighter, more sweetly lyrical forum for Garcia, who avoids space jams in favor of tight, to-the-point soloing and deft rhythm chops. It's the same modus operandi as the Dead: no talking, just music. But it's a smaller band and he has less to compete against."

! note: video of set II circulates and is visible on youtube.

! R: field recordist: John Mutterperl

! R: field recording gear: FOB Schoeps CMC 44 blue dot cards with 90 degree capsule offsets > 6' Monster M1000 cable -> Oade PS -> 1' Monster M1000 > Oade mod'd Panasonic Sv-255.

! R: field recording location: FOB;  Mics were hung from a necklace, just under chin height with roughly a 4 inch spread and 90 degree angle.

! R: Transfer:  MAD > B. Fried DAT > B. Koucky DAT > Sony PCM-R500 playback > S/PDIF > Presonus Firebox > Firewire > PC, XP Pro > Wavelab 5 (recorded as 24 bit/48 KHz WAV) > Waves L3 Multimaximizer, high res CD rendering settings (Waves IDR type I dither/ultra shaping) > 16 bit/44.1 KHz WAV > CDWAV 1.9 > WAV > FLAC (level 8). Transfer and encoding by C.Ladner. Seeded @ bt.etree.org by the Green Mountain Bros, 1/2007.

! seeder comments: This recording is the same source as the shn set I circulated 4 years ago from a CDR source.  This flac fileset is derived from a higher bit/sample rate digital transfer of a lineaged DAT without the EAC/DAE generation.  The sound quality is spectacular for an audience recording and the performance is arguably one of the best of '91 outside the Warfield homebase.  Also this show features a rare live performance of "When The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game" (#8 [sic: 12] of only 10 [sic: 14] ever [sic: known versions]).

! R: really nice tape.

! P: Solid overall, though he (or I) ran out of gas toward the end.

! P: s1t03 THGCBTG excellent version, almost no lyrical flubs. See my "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" for more on this great tune.

! s1t08 (1) JG: "We'll be back in a few minutes."

New-to-The-List from the Examiner, 1973-end

This is a followup to New-to-The-List from the Examiner, 1970-1972. I include new-to-The-List dates, some that were advertised and seem to have been canceled, a few other weird things I uncovered. The Examiner was quite a task. If the Chronicle were digitized, that'd be the last frontier for me. At this point, returns are diminishing, so if it comes online after 2018 I might skim it, but will certainly be less thorough in entering stuff into my spreadsheet than I have been with the Examiner. There's only so much time.

New to The List

It's possible that some of these didn't happen, of course. But I found these and couldn't find disconfirming evidence of them.

1/30/73 (Tuesday): JGMS at Keystone
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 30, 1973, p. 21.

8/12/73 (Sunday): JGMS at the end of Magellan Road, El Granada. "Jazz-rock concert featuring Merl Saunders and friends (including Jerry Garcia) at the end of Magellan Road" in El Granada, presented by Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society.
! listing: SFSECDB19730812p07.

1/3/74 (Thursday): JGMS at Keystone
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 3, 1974, p. 29.

3/30/74 (Saturday): JGMS at Keystone Stockton. Of course they played Freddie's shortlived venture out in the sticks!

Jerry Garcia and Merle [sic] Saunders, plus Paul Pena, at the Keystone Stockton, Saturday, March 30, 1974. Ad in the San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, March 24, 1974, p. 27.

! listing: SFSECDB19740324p04;
! ad: SFSECDB19740324p27.

6/3/74 (Monday): JGMS at Keystone. One can wonder if, like the rest of the shows this week, this gig featured Tony Saunders on bass.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, June 3, 1974, p. 32.

6/15/77 (Wednesday): JGB at Keystone Palo Alto
! ad: SFSECDB19770529p39.

4/13/79 (Friday): Reconstruction at the Rio Theatre. I had already concluded that Reconstruction did not play the Denver Rainbow on this date, despite tape labels to the contrary. Here's more evidence against a Denver gig.
! listing: SFSECDB19790401p14.

7/16/80 (Wednesday): JGB at Keystone
! ad: SFSECDB19800713p10.

6/10/82 (Thurday): JGB at the Stone. Ad says "note new SF date". Earlier ads had JGB at Stone on 6/13. So I suspect that show was canceled and this one replaced it.
! ad: SFSECDB-19820606p28.

7/10-11/84 (Tuesday-Wednesday): JGB at Keystone Palo Alto. Hard to imagine a show this late not having imprinted itself, but it was a midweek down south, before the internet.
! listing: SFSECDB-19840708p14.

CXL

6/10/75 (Tuesday): JGMS at Keystone. I wonder if this cancellation had to do with Jerry being occupied by the United Artists deal, which I date to the next day?
! ad: SFSECDB19750525p29;
! ad: [contra] SFSECDB19750608p29.

12/16/79 (Sunday): JGB at Keystone. This was rescheduled for the next night.
! ad: SFSECDB19791209p24.

12/20/81 (Sunday): JGB at Keystone
! ad: SFSECDB19811206p14;
! ad: [contra] SFSECDB19811213p10.

6/13/82 (Sunday): JGB at Stone. This in earlier ads, then later ads show late addition on 6/10 at Stone, and this show gone. So I suspect this was cxl and replaced by that one. See entry for 6/10/82 above.
! ad: SFSECDB-19820530p22.

10/29/82 (Friday): JGB at Keystone. This is a weird one, listed as late as the day of the show. But Garcia left LA on PSA #348 dep 2:55 PM arr 4 PM in Arizona, and was supposed to check into the Fiesta Inn in Tempe for the next night's gig in Mesa, AZ. He might have flown home instead, gigged, and then gone from home back down to the southwest, I guess. But for now I will list this as canceled.
! ad: SFSECDB19821003p19;
! ad: SFSECDB19821010p24;
! listing: SFE19821028pE2.

2/25/83 (Friday): JGB at Keystone. I have this as canceled and re-scheduled for the 28th.
! ad: SFSECDB19830213p19.

Confusing

8/6/73 (Monday): Keystone. The same set of listings show both Herbie Hancock and Steve Head, on the one hand, and JGMS, on the other, playing for Freddie in Berkeley.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, August 6, 1973, p. 28.

1/21/83 (Friday): JGB at KPA, or Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma? Contradictory info out there. On the one hand, there's an announcement of the Petaluma show in a Norcal paper the day of the show, and Jerry gave an interview to a Norcal radio station that day. He is known to have played Petaluma the next day. On the other hand, an earlier listing in the Examiner had him at Keystone Palo Alto.
! listing: [contra] San Francisco Examiner, January 20, 1983, p. E2;
! preview: "Jerry Garcia performs tonight at the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma", Ukiah Daily Journal, January 21, 1983, p. 8.

Jam Session Celebrating Dick Clark

Joel Selvin's "Lively Arts" column in the Chronicle/Examiner pink section on September 6, 1981 contained this little oddity:

Evergreen TV host Dick Clark celebrates his 30th anniversary on live television Thursday [9/10/81] with a program that will include a jam session featuring Duane Eddy, Gregg Allman, Stanley Clarke, Bo Diddley, Nigel Olsson, Dickey Betts, Charlie Daniels, Billy Preston, Mick Fleetwood, Lee Ritenour, Larry Graham, Junior Walker, Ray Parker, Jr., Tom Scott, George Thorogood, and Jerry Garcia.

File this one under "Hm."

While I am at it, I also learned from a pink section earlier in the year that George Thorogood was in the house for the JGB show at the Stone on 2/23/81, and the band and the crowd sang him happy birthday.

Hm again.

With and Without Maria: JGB at Keystone, August 6-7, 1977

If "without and with" rolled better off the tongue, that'd be the more accurate title, because here we have a pair of summer '77 JGB shows, the first admittedly only partially available, on which Maria Muldaur respectively does not and does make an appearance. I guess I am working toward pinning down her appearances throughout the year, leading up to the fall east coast tour, at which point she was unambiguously part of the band.

These aren't as sleepy as I had feared. I generally don't love '76 and '77 JGB, but these show some pep, and the tapes --Betty's, I presume, though as I note on 8/7/77, where these tapes came from and where they currently live remains a bit of a mystery to me-- the tapes sound great.

Listening notes below, not much to report.

update: of course, the bigger personnel news here is that these are Ronnie Tutt's final live JGB gigs until fall 1981.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
August 6, 1977 (Saturday)
s2 MSC Miller shnid-106922

--set II (5 tracks, 4 tunes, 46:59)--
s2t01. tuning [1:43]
s2t02. Sugaree [12:35] [2:36]
s2t03. Mystery Train [7:52] [2:12]
s2t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [11:37] [1:54]
s2t05. Don't Let Go ... [6:31#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - keyboards, backing vocals;
! lineup: Donna Godchaux - vocals;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/1977-08-06

! db: all of these derive from the same source cassette: https://etreedb.org/shn/4448 (shnf), https://etreedb.org/shn/83754 (flac1644), https://etreedb.org/shn/106922 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html

! band: JGB #3 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html). Maria Muldaur makes an appearance during set II the next night, but I don't hear her here.

! setlist: not sure if this is the complete set II (save for most of DLG) or not. Probably, I guess, as next night's set II ran about 45 minutes.

! ad: BAM, August 1977, p. 60.

! ad: SFSECDB19770731p43.

! R: Recording Info: SBD > Cassette Master (Nakamichi 350/Maxell UDXLI90)

! R: Transfer Info: Cassette Master (Nakamichi DR-1) > Sound Devices 744T (24bit/96k) > Samplitude Professional v11.03 > FLAC/16 (1 Disc Audio / 1 Disc FLAC). All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller, charliemiller87@earthlink.net, February 22, 2010.

! R: nice recording. Betty.

! historical: Keith is playing electric piano.

! P: old notes: overall: Utter mediocrity, to my ears. Great, amazing tape, dull-as-hell music. New note: that's too harsh.

! P: s2t02 Sugaree comes in a little thin. Nothing like the big full swagger the Dead gave it, especially on the bottom end. Scrubbing over 10, it's nice. Not rushed.

! P: s2t04 STOF is rather a mess. Jerry is a little lost. Not good. The only plus for this SFOT is that there is no bass feature (though, to be fair, in 1977 Kahn could, at times and typically on other songs, be amazing).

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

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
August 7, 1977 (Sunday)
GMB sbd s1ps2 shnid-86045

--set I (4 tracks, 3 tunes, end of set, missing 4 tunes, 37:47)--    
[MISSING: The Way You Do The Things You Do]
[MISSING: Catfish John]
[MISSING: Stop That Train]
[MISSING: Let It Rock]
s1t01. tuning [2:06]
s1t02. Russian Lullaby [11:49] [1:55]
s1t03. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [11:50] [1:57]
s1t04. Midnight Moonlight [7:55] [0:16] %

--set II (4 tracks, 45:27)--
s2t01. They Love Each Other [7:25]
s2t02. Tore Up Over You [9:26] [2:05]
s2t03. Simple // Twist Of Fate [10:#33] [1:34]
s2t04. The // Harder They Come [12:#11] (1) [0:22]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - keyboards, backing vocals;
! lineup: Donna Godchaux - vocals;
! guest/lineup: Maria Muldaur - vocals (set II only);
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1977-08-07-keystone-berkeley-ca/

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/6371 (incomplete MSC shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/86045 (incomplete MSC, this fileset); 106923 (complete MSC via Miller).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html;

! venue: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html;
 URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html.

! band: JGB #3 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html). * Note that Corry shows Maria coming in with JGB #4 on 11/15/77. We now have her showing up on 2/5/77, 7/2/77 and 7/3/77 (the latter without DJG, IIRC), and this show.

! personnel: Maria Muldaur comes in around 7:20 of TLEO, stays on board for all of set II. Hard to know if she is a member of the band at this point.

! ad: BAM, August 1977, p. 60.

! ad: SFSECDB19770731p43.

! R: Source: Soundboard Master Cassette > DAT

! R: Transfer: Panasonic SV-3700 > M-Audio Audiophile 2496 to Wavelab 5.0; mastering with iZotope Ozone 3 > CDWAV1.9 > FLAC (level 8); Transferred, Remastered by B. Koucky and Seeded by Green Mountain Bros. June 2007. 

! R: I wonder where this tape came from? It would seem associated with the Betty Boards, but by 2015 the presumed full collection of BB cassettes did not have these 8/77 tapes.

! R: sounds beautiful.

! R: s1t02 RL level drop ca. 3:25

! P: s1t02 RL bass feature 6:15ff-8ish. Good.

! P: s1t03 KOHD peppy for the period. KD some nice pie-anner 6 min range.

! P: s1t04 MM Garcia plays with great fluidity this whole night. MM also has a nice pep in its step.

! s1t04 weird that there is no setbreak announcement

! R: s2t01 TLEO the bass sounds so great!

! R: s2t03 STOF splice @ 5:38

! P: s2t04 HTC Tutt is drumming like he was born to play this tune. Stellar.

! R: s2t04 splice @ 10:58.

! s2t04 (1) JG: "[inaudible: maybe "so long"] - thank you."

JGB in Chumash Country: Campbell Hall, UCSB, February 5, 1977

In my writeup of the Garcia Band's 11/20/76 gigs at the Pismo Theatre, I noted that Jerry urged the crowd to come see ol' Hoyt Axton in a couple of weeks. "He'll be down here doin' a benefit for Redwind, which is just a good scene, about forty miles from here, a lot of good people workin' real hard."

I elaborated:

The RedWind Medicine Camp was a Native American community, chiefed by the last full-blooded Chumash, Semu Huaute, located in rugged San Luis Obispo County. In correspondence, Bob Sewana Saenz explains: "Jerry visited me in SLO after a show at the Pismo Beach Theater in late 1976. I drove him and a few band members to Semu Huaute's (Chumash) Red Wind Medicine Camp. I showed him a school project that we were in need of funds to develop for the many children there." I presume they went up on Saturday, and came back down in time for Jerry to play his shows. He must have been moved, because he speaks. Even more importantly, he puts his money where his mouth is, headlining a benefit for the RedWind Foundation at UCSB on February 5, 1977 - but I'll get to that later.

Later is now. On 1/19/77, the UCSB Leg. Board approved the benefit gig, to be put on by Bob Sewana Saenz's Band Aid in support of Red Wind. The pre-show publicity doesn't mention this - nothin' in re benefit status of this event. But the documents are clear that the Garcia Band not only played the gig, but lent the promoter $1,000 to help put it on, a pretty righteous thing to do and part of a small inflection in benefits Garcia played in '77 (see also 6/23/77 for the Forest People of Camp Meeker and 8/12/77 for Greenpeace).

The shows don't move me all that much, though the late show "Don't Let Go" has some interesting passages. I find the sociometry more interesting, on three fronts.

First, there is a second guitar player present, playing country style backing licks. As noted on the 11/20/76 post, I know who this is but am holding it back for the book (major scoop! - not really). But, this player was present on nearly every known show from the first half of 1977, raising the question of whether this was a distinct band configuration as opposed to just a guest shot. These are academic questions also impossible to answer, but it's nevertheless interesting that a heretofore unknown aggregation appeared regularly as late as 1977.

Second, Chris Sobik drew my attention to a second female vocalist, and indeed we find Maria Muldaur providing backing vocals for both shows. This is the earliest Maria engagement with the JGB. update: that lasted for almost a day.  I have now heard her on 9/12/76. She had sat in with Jerry and Merl several times in '74 (and one night, 10/12/74, the Garcia-Saunders-Fierro-Kahn-Humphrey aggregation backed her for a whole set), and at least once with the Legion of Mary in '75. (This post seems to cover the bases.) But, while Corry has JGB #4, with Maria a full member, emerging on 11/15/77, she had already joined the band onstage at least 9/12/76, this night (February 5th), July 2-3 (without Donna Jean), August 7, August 12 (Greenpeace benefit), and maybe others from this slow period for the JGB.

Oh yeah, one last thing: Deborah Koons made this trip with Jerry. FYI.

Listening notes after the jump.

Popper on Ignorance

"The more we learn about the world, and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific, and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know, our knowledge of our ignorance" (Popper 2002 [1963], 38).

"our knowledge can be only finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite"  (Popper 2002 [1963], 38).

"while differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal"  (Popper 2002 [1963], 38).

we must "admit that all knowledge is human; that it is mixed with our errors, our prejudices, our dreams, and our hopes; that all we can do is to grope for truth even though it be beyond our reach"  (Popper 2002 [1963], 39).

"truth is beyond human authority" (Popper 2002 [1963], 39).

! ref: Popper, Karl. 2002 [1963]. On the Sources of Knowledge and Ignorance. In Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, 3-39. London: Routledge.

RIP to the Legendary Marty

Martin Weinberg has passed away. LIA gives a rundown on the ur-Deadhead taper.

Dangerous-Looking Young Man at the Edge of the Western World

Anyone know who the dangerous-looking young man is? I know I should know, but I don't know.

See also, of course, Corry.

New-to-The-List from the Examiner, 1970-1972

In addition to the tantalizing May 20-21, 1969 Garcia gigs at the Matrix, the newly-digitized Examiner has yielded a good number of previously unlisted, mostly-midweek Garcia gigs. A little list  from 1970-1972 follows.

update: see also a subsequent list from 1973-end

11/2/70 (Monday): Jerry Garcia / BBHC / Ice / Cleveland Wrecking Company. Harding Theater. Benefit for A Learning Place. I don't know if this would have been NRPS or JGMS; I am listing as JGMS for no particular reason.
! Listing: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, November 1, 1970, p. 27;
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, November 2, 1970, p. 35.
! seealso: https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2019/11/ca-november-1-2-1970-fragments.html.

1/5/71 (Tuesday): JGMS at Matrix
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 5, 1971, p. 24.

2/4/71 (Thursday): JGMS at Matrix
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, February 4, 1971, p. 25.

3/30/71 (Tuesday): NRPS at Matrix. I interpret this as warmup for the east coast tour. BTW, they also played the next night, according to a redacted source, so we can add 3/31/71 (Wednesday), same band and room.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, March 30, 1971, p. 24.

11/24/71 (Wednesday): JGMS at Keystone Korner. Garcia's first-known gig for Freddie Herrera had happened the night before Thanksgiving the year before with the New Riders. Jerry and Merl reprise the gig on its first anniversary.
! listing: San Francisco Examiner, November 24, 1971, p. 20.

1/18/72 (Tuesday): JGMS at Lion's Share
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, January 18, 1972, p. 21.

3/1/72 (Wednesday): JGMS at Keystone Berkeley (formerly New Monk). I now understand this to be the very first night for the so-named Keystone at the corner of University and Shattuck. It's a fitting indicator of the centrality of Garcia to Freddie's enterprises that he would play this opening night at the old Monk. (See also "Jerry and Freddie, mid-March 1972".)
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, March 1, 1972, p. 33.

6/3/72 (Saturday): JGMS at Keystone Korner
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, June 3, 1972, p. 10.

8/31/72 (Thursday): JGMS at Keystone Berkeley
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, August 31, 1972, p. 31.

12/26/72 (Tuesday): JGMS at Keystone Korner. This one puzzles me, because the KK would have been under Barkan's ownership at this point. Barkan has narrated that he once hosted Jerry and Merl (after he started booking the room on July 7th), but didn't dig the vibe and stuck thereafter with jazz. This could well be that very gig. I still don't know what to make of a listing for JGB at KK four years later, of course ...
! Listing: San Francisco Examiner, December 26, 1972, p. 28.

A Party For Mother Earth

It's actually much, much prettier than it looks in this picture.

New Riders headlining "A Party for Mother Earth", benefiting the Bear Commune, Friends and Relations Hall, 660 Great Highway, June 3, 1971.

Jerry Garcia and Friends, Sanpaku at the Matrix: May 20-21, 1969

Fascinating.

I told you all that the Examiner would yield many interesting things. Well, this is one of the most interesting. Sometimes skimming cream is worth the price of later anticlimax.

Jerry Garcia and Friends and Sam Paku [sic: Sanpaku] at the Matrix, Tuesday, May 20 and Wednesday, May 21, 1969.

Garcia's first understood public pedal steel playing happened 5/14/69 at the Underground, supposedly a Hofbrau house in Menlo Park, understood just to be him and Marmaduke. The second instance was the second day of this listing, 5/21/69.

So, do we imagine this is Jerry and his pedal steel, and maybe Marmaduke and his songs?

If not, then what?

Examining the Examiner

The great sleuth David Davis of Grateful Seconds fame has alerted me to the fact that the SF Examiner has been digitized and is available through newspapers.com (pay to play, natch).

Mamma mia, what a treasure trove for someone like me. There will be a goodly number of shows new to The List reported on eventually, among many other things.

I am able to do in hours what would have taken me weeks of spinning microfilm to do, which could only have unfolded over years if it ever happened at all, presumably with a much lower error rate to boot. Ain't progress grand?

Now, if the Chron can show up, too, that'd help me even more. And if coverage from the Oakland Tribune and the Marin I-J could extend forward just a bit, that'd please me all the more. But, in general, I am feeling like I have pretty well covered the terrain, and there can't be that much more, in terms of advertised gigs, that we can be missing.

Anyway, thanks David!

p.s. Life becomes very busy again. Not that I have done much here this summer, but things are likely to be even slower until I finish a "real" (i.e., day job) book, and some other real work. But Fate Music will happen and be on shelves within two years, I hope!

TDIH: Wolfgang on Rack

8/13/75 was just about perfection, but I still love Bill Graham's burn on Rack's financial acumen best of all.

Digitization Makes Me Happy

Via https://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu, the UCSB Daily Nexus (and before it, the El Gaucho) has been digitized. Having sniffed around Santa Barbara a fair bit (UCSB being my alma mater), I am happy to see this, and found a few good things.

First, I have found a preview and a review of OAITW 4/12/73 at the Granada, which gave me another piece of evidence in favor of the proposition that the undated set found in shnid-99222 is indeed from this date (the late show).

Second, in addition to a very positive review of the 5/25/74 GD gig, one Stephen Westfall notes to my amusement that the first band was billed as Great American Music Band but announced as Great American String Band --I should just acronymize as GA_B-- and to my surprise that the band featured none other than Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp collaborator, the great Buell Neidlinger, apparently at this time teaching at Cal Arts in Valencia, on bass. I did not know that. If a tape would ever come into the light, I'd be mighty happy about that.

Third, I found a preview and a review of the 5/19/84 JGB show --a mighty good one-- which both mention DeeDee Dickerson rather than Gloria Jones, and seem to do so reasonably knowledgeably. This has led me to again revise my understanding of DDD's tenure. While we used to think it ended in mid-83, and I have recently extended it through that year, it now seems to have run at least into May of 1984. I would love to learn more about when Gloria Jones actually came in!

There were also various materials around 10/13/74 (JGMS), 6/26/75 (LOM), and 2/5/77 (JGB), now swept into my vortex. Good stuff.

Reading Notes: Greenfield 1996

I have read this book a few times, and it has clearly informed my thinking about a lot of issues without my really being aware of it. So I finally got around to transcribing some notes in the way that I do.

I guess this book was controversial (and maybe still is), but to me it reads like Greenfield was able to get people to be open and honest about a lot of things that generally went unspoken, and for that I am grateful. Too much dark is too much, of course. But more truth, understanding, clarity is very helpful to me as I try to understand this very complicated fellow whose name adorns the banner above.

So, reading notes below the jump.

Classical Music

I am trying together instances of Garcia engaging classical music, which are few and far between.

Alan Trist reports that ca. 1960-1961 one of their friends "John the Poet" had a great classical recording collection, and they listened to a lot of Bach. "Endless Bach," Trist said. Jerry and Trist and a few others went to see three or four performance by the Vatican organist playing Grace Cathedral (Greenfield 1996, 17).

Of course, there's Beethoven's "Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor", a.k.a. "Für Elise", played by James Booker on 1/9/76.

Nick has hipped me to brief GD engagements with Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" over the years, including 55 seconds into the 11/30/73 Dark Star, the last minute of the Other One transitioning into Stella Blue on 3/14/81, @ 5:25 of Space on 10/28/84, 6 minutes into Space on 12/13/90, and @ ca. 9:25 of Space on 2/20/91. Phil dabbled around aplenty, too, I gather.

Any others I should know about?

Related, Heather Garcia Katz, his daughter by Sara Ruppenthal, is a violinist, and ca. early 1993 (according to Greenfield 1996, 285), she and Jerry had been working on a project with the Redwood City Symphony Orchestra. I would very, very much like to learn more about that. If anyone knows Heather, please send her my way!

Naturally, Blair is on the case, after narrating spring 1991, he says "Later that year, Jerry and the conductor of the Redwood [Symphony], Eric Kujawsky, hatched a plan for Garcia to commission several short works for guitar and orchestra, which he would perform with the Redwood. With glee he told Sara. 'I let him think I was doing him a favor, but I've always wanted an orchestra!' … Although Jerry did contact some composers and Davies Symphony [403] Hall in San Francisco was tentatively booked for the performance, this was one of the great plans that Garcia never managed to complete" (Jackson 1999, 402-403).