The "Little Cash Cow," Fall 1991 Edition

 

Table xxx. JGB Gig Income, Fall 1991 Tour

Table xxx. JGB Gig Gross and Income, Fall 1991 Tour

Venues not attached to specifics

So I have been trying to cull information from the Big Steve show, which is just amazingly rich with all kinds of wonderful little anecdotes and tales. They don't always line up with the historical record precisely, but the man has an amazing memory and it's all right even when it's not strictly correct.

A few venues have popped up that he discusses for which we have no known specific dates, all mentioned in the context of Garcia On The Side (GOTS). I would love to hear if anyone has memories of Jerry playing these places, or any additional information. Will probably post more as I come across them. update: I have started adding venues thought to have been played, reportedly played, not form the Big Steve Show, but from everywhere.

Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA: experienced and reliable SoCal Deadhead "Paula S. Morgan" said on twitter that she recalls seeing Jerry Band play here in ca. spring 1980.

Frenchy's, Hayward. Big Steve came into the scene in the late 60s, so he is not referring to Warlocks playing there. He seems to discuss it in context of GOTS. But we have no GOTS dates for this venue at Jerrybase.

Paul's Saloon, San Francisco. Grisman had said that Old And In The Way played here (Forte 1979a, 34). It was the center of the Bay Area bluegarss universe for a minute, when bluegrass had its first really huge moment right at the time OAITW was happening. I think a weekly bluegrass show was broadcast from here, as well. But no specifics have ever emerged. Update: in a 2010 correspondence which I just rediscovered, David said "I think Jerry & I dropped in there one night and played a few tunes (in the early days when the back of the stage was in the front window) but the band never had a gig there"

Sand Dollar, Stinson Beach, mentioned in the same breath as the Red Whale (later, The Brigg) and in the context of Old And In The Way and the Stinson period.

Scoreboard, San Rafael: Just seen on FB: "Jerry and Merle would play at the Scoreboard [bar/club] when the Dead were not on the road. The Dead office was two blocks away in downtown San Rafael. This was mid to late 70's." My money is on January 3-4, 1975. More on that eventually.

Stepping Stone, Willits, CA. JGBP has hipped me to a youtube comment indicating that Great American String Band played its first gig at the Stepping Stone in Willits, CA. An online piece says that JGMS played there ca. early '74, and an attendee recalls such a thing.

"Whitey's Place", San Rafael: JGMS "play at some little clubs around Marin, but mainly at Whitey's place in San Rafael" (Scully 1996, 201). This is Whitey Litchfield. Not clear if he is referring to Pepperland, or whether there was a bar attached to the uber-seedy Bermuda Palms (home of a large number of events figuring on the local police report over the years - lots of prostitution, robberies, stabbings, drug deals, etc.).

Woody's Tavern, San Francisco. Harry Angus has sniffed around this one for me, and has found Woody's Tavern, 41 Powell Street, Owner Joe Francisco, listed in the Polk's Directory 1969-1973, then gone.

xxx Rehearsal space next to Red Tillman's automotive shop, Jacoby Street (now a different street name), San Rafael, ca. September 1971 when Keith was being rehearsed.

Best Visions

 I know you all know this, but oh my God.

Southwest Jerry with the JGB #15b No-Longer-A-Mystery Singers: Mesa and Austin, October 30 - November 1, 1982

LN jg1982-10-30.jgb.all.aud-maurins.120334.flac1644

LN jg1982-11-01.jgb.all.aud-dogman.100575.flac1644

I have recently copped to the fact that I have no idea who the backing vocalists are from October 24, 1982 to November 15, 1982, comprising a swing south to LA and Arizona, east across Texas (Austin and Houston) and to New Orleans, and up the eastern seaboard. It hurts me to have failed you so (thus far!). I will work harder!

update 20211227: they have now been identified

That cleared my brain to be able to post a couple of listening notes from Arizona and Austin. I don't have a lot to report except that, as I have noted before, Greg Errico hits like a linebacker.

Not much noted for the afternoon show on 10/30 in Mesa, AZ,, except noting that he takes about 20 seconds to set the desired tempo for the Midnight Moonlight encore. I did like the JGC attendee recollection that "There was a Halloween costume contest in between the Bobby set and the Jerry set. The winner was dressed in a home-made Magic Mushroom costume and he beat out a guy in a store-bought E.T. costume by crowd affirmation". Ouuccchhhh.

Two Errico highlights on 11/1 at the Austin Opry House: during HTC, around 9 minutes in, he starts banging double-time to get Jerry out of a rut, and it works. Being so forceful here, there's no denying him - fast and loud, and Garcia has to get faster and louder in response. Then, in Deal, Errico just jackhammers for like a minute and a half from 5:30-7, so deep that it has a kind of pacemaker effect on the listener. My heart felt like it wanted to synchonize with what the drummer was doing, leaving me a little lightheaded.

Pretty good stuff, I'd say average shows for this tour with the as-yet unidentified vocalists.

Jerry Garcia Band

Mesa Community Center Amphitheatre

201 N. Center Street

Mesa, AZ 85201

October 30, 1982 (Saturday) - 1:30 PM

80 min (patched, complete) ambient recording by Kaj Maurins shnid-120334

--main set + encore (10 tracks, 79:54)--

--main set (9 tracks, 71:38)--

t01. tuning [0:35]

t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:07] [1:05]

t03. They Love Each Other [8:02] [0:29]

t04. Valerie [7:13] [0:31]

t05. That's What Love Will Make You Do [8:32] [0:29]

t06. Run For The Roses [4:58] [0:27]

t07. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:31] ->

t08. Dear Prudence [11:54] [0:28]

t09. Deal [8:49] [0:29] %

--Encore (1 track, 8:16)--

t10. Midnight Moonlight [7:54] [0:22]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15b

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

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;

! lineup: Greg Errico - drums;

! lineup: Elisecia Wright - vocals;

! lineup: Shirley Faulkner - 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/19821030-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1982-10-30. JGC lists early and late shows, but I believe this to be in error. User Fran Dostillio: "Outdoor Show in late October in Arizona! There was a Halloween costume contest in between the Bobby set and the Jerry set. The winner was dressed in a home-made Magic Mushroom costume and he beat out a guy in a store-bought E.T. costume by crowd affirmation."

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/33805 (unknown aud); https://etreedb.org/shn/120334 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/TCs9oAV8hVr

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/08/mesa-amphitheatre-201-n-center-street.html

! band: JGB #15b http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! historical: Bobby and the Midnites opened. John Scher promoted. $20k guarantee for the two bands. Bobby and the Midnites to receive 100% top billing. JGBP lists capacity as 4950, my figure of 3,800 from Billboard reporting on the actual show. Ticket stub gives "Mesa Community Center Amphitheatre".

! ref: Billboard, November 20, 1982, p. 52, showing 2,147 paid, gross of $27,519.

! R: Recorded by Kaj Maurins: Aiwa cassette recorder and unknown mics;

! R: Transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nakamichi Dragon> Korg MR-1000(DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo]) Korg AudioGate > WAV [24/96] > Adobe Audition 3.0> Ozone 4.0 > flac1644. Speed/pitch Correction by Joe B. Jones.

! R: t03 tape flip @ 7:01?, patched with shnid 33805.

! R: t08 DP tape flip @ 4:25-10:00 patched with shnid 33805. 10:25?

! P: t09 Deal gets really hot, but for less time than the really long and hot Deals of, say, February 1981 or June-December 1983.

! P: t10 about 20 second drums to start Midnight Moonlight, as Greg Errico finds the pocket. He's there. Interesting!

~~~~~~~~~~

JERRY GARCIA BAND 

Opry House

200 Academy Drive

Austin, TX 78704

November 1, 1982 (Monday) - 9 PM

Dogman MAC shnid-100575

--set I (7 tracks, 59:00)--

s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:09] %

s1t02. /They Love Each Other [#7:42] % [0:17]

s1t03. Love In The Afternoon [10:24] [0:03] %

s1t04. /Let It Rock/ [#8:37#] % [0:13]

s1t05. I Second That Emotion [8:37] %

s1t06. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [9:58] ->

s1t07. Run For The Roses [4:52] (1) [0:07] %

--set II + encore (7 tracks, 74:58)--

--set II (6 tracks, 

s2t01. [0:06] Sugaree :07-12:48 [0:02] % [0:08]

s2t02. Harder They Come [13:39] [0:03] % [0:07]

s2t03. Valerie [7:33] % [0:09]

s2t04. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:11] ->

s2t05. Dear Prudence [14:10] ->

s2t06. Deal [8:10] (2) [0:04]

--encore (1 track, 8:56)--

s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [8:51] [0:05]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15b

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

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;

! lineup: Greg Errico - drums;

! lineup: Elisecia Wright - vocals;

! lineup: Shirley Faulkner - 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/19821101-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/26940 (same master, multigen, s1s2p, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/85489 (aud); https://etreedb.org/shn/100575 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/mhSzK9jdGQn

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/austin-opry-house-200-academy-drive.html

! band: JGB #15b http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! personnel: Listen at the start of HTC to hear the backing vocalists clearly. This would be a good segment to compare over time to hear the different voices.

! historical: I note the last three songs of this show plus the encore are the same as the last three songs of the previous show (10/30/82 in Mesa, AZ). Probably not all that common for that to have happened, though clearly show-to-show setlist variability was much lower for the Garcia Band than for the GD.

! R: field recordist: Alan "Dogman" Miller

! R: field recording gear: Sony Walkman

! R: field recording location: deck placed on stage in front of Jerry

! R: source: 1st Gen cassette (MAC > C) used for transfer, kindly provided by Randy Gardner. Transfer: TDK SA-90s > Nakamichi DR-8 (no Dolby) > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644. Transfer by Andrew F. 08/2009

! P: s1t02 TLEO voice sound a little rough already.

! R: seeder notes: Same recording as ID-26940, complete & big sound upgrade. Thanks to CBass for assistance with this project.

! R: overall: very nice aud pull.

! R: s1t02 TLEO clips in

! R: s1t04 LIR clips in, clips out

! P: s1t04 LIR is hot as hell.

! P: s1t06 KOHD was quite tasty

! s1t07 (1) JG: "Thank you. We're gonna take a break for a few minutes. We'll be back [inaudible]."

! P: s2t01 Sugaree the round and round we go in 8 is pretty tasty. Fast, fluid, fluent, full of finesse, fine, flourishing fun.

! R: s2t01 Sugaree significant tape speed problems in the final minute

! P: s2t02 HTC Jerry's voice suddenly sounds a little fatigued. But man, he steps into gloriously fluent guitar around 2:40, and I forgive him. Synthy Melvin 5:23ff. At 9 Errico does a totally unique double time type thing - don't recall ever hearing this. And he hits so hard, he forces Jerry to pick up his pace and not lose amplitude. Neat!

! P: s2t03 Valerie he flubs first lyric, starting off with tell me what you want me to do in the first verse.

! R: s2t05 DP 0:08 > 0:14 patch from SHNID-85489

! P: s2t06 Deal flubs with a lot to win in the second verse as well as the first, corrects course. From 5:38 for more than a minute and a half Errico is a freaking JACKHAMMER. It's actually throwing my heartbeat off a little bit - I may have to visit the nervous hospital.

! s2t06 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot."

I Have A Confession To Make

I do not know who the JGB backing vocalists were between October 24, 1982 and November 15, 1982

Update: they are now known: Shirley Faulkner and Elisecia Wright.

I have posted many, many times about the early 80s backing vocalists (see Appendix below). Our understanding of who was who, and when, was greatly abetted by the fact that Corry Arnold took notes from the GD Ticket Service ("thank you, and stay in touch"), which also announced Jerry Band shows and tours and sometimes identified personnel. Here's how I currently understand things. This is all catalogued at Corry's "Jerry Garcia Band Personnel 1975-1995" post at LLD, or eventually will be to the extent that he agrees with me.

June 24, 1981 - August 23, 1981: Essra Mohawk and Liz Stires

The starting date of this configuration is not certain (see the discussion here), but overall this seems pretty solid.

September 7, 1981 - June 22, 1982: Liz Stires and Julie Stafford

Intrepid researcher slipnut found some reference to Liz Stires's sister singing on the first gig in this window, but I have shown the picture below to Julie Stafford, and she thinks that is her (left of the picture), and wasn't entirely sure but thought it could indeed have been her first night out.

JGB at Concord Pavilion, 9/7/81
photo credit: unknown

As far as the end of this window, Liz told me that she left the group just before the tour ended, after a gig in Richmond (6/22/82).

June 23, 1982 - June 24, 1982: Julie Stafford

We are fortunate that a review of the 6/23/82 show mentions "the female vocalist", confirming that Julie carried on as the lone backing vocalist, presumably for the last two nights of the tour.

October 24, 1982 - November 15, 1982: unknownShirley Faulkner and Elisecia Wright

At one point, I thought Jacklyn LaBranch and DeeDee Dickerson began here. But Jacklyn has said very clearly that she and DDD started together at the Keystone in January 1983. I had also wondered whether Julie continued through the end of 1982, but she has said she did not.

So, as of now, this is a three-week hole in my personnel knowledge that disconcerts me, on the one hand, but also delights me because we still have mysteries to unravel.

January 13, 1983 - May 20, 1984 (?): DeeDee Dickerson and Jacklyn LaBranch

With Jackie's clear statement that she and DDD began in January '83 at the Keystone, the start of this period seems clear. I used my unreliable ears to pin down the end of this window, noting the very different vocal sounds and stylings between May (DDD) and July/August (Gloria).

update: as of 2024, I still have questions about when DDD ended and Gloria started. There is evidence for both of them in May 1984 ...

July 10, 1984 (?) - April 23, 1995: Jacklyn LaBranch and Gloria Jones

The front end of this period is not entirely certain. I had originally thought Gloria started on 7/28/84, because there were no known electric shows between May (DDD) and then, while at the same time we know Gloria was with the band out east in August, so must have been in the fold for the local gigs in late July and on Jerry's bday. But then in 2018 I discovered previously undocumented Keystone Palo Alto gigs on July 10-11, and it seems extremely likely that these would have been Gloria's first with the band. It is not quite an iron law, but a clear regularity, that the Jerry Band liked to break in new members on off-nights, off the beaten path, or both. A Tuesday-Wednesday down in Palo Alto fits that bill pretty well.

Appendix: Mistakes along the way

10/24/82 with Julie? Apparently not

thought 7/20/83 was Gloria's debut, was wrong | thought 7/21/83 was her second, was wrong

late '83 tour: used to think this was Gloria, then discovered it was DDD

late '83 tour: further confirmation that it was DDD and not GJ

thought Gloria debuted 1/8/84, but I was wrong because 5/19/84: DDD still in the house per a review

thought Gloria debuted on 7/28/84, but 7/10/84 is more likely And May 1984 remains possible!

Wabbit Hunting with Garcia and Kahn in Oakland and Guerneville, August 17-18, 1985

I shouldn't be mean. But posterity might not recall that many characterized Jerry's vocal sound in 1985 as resembling Elmer Fudd, so I am doing it for future generations. You can thank me later.

Not much to report. While the Dunsmuir House and Gardens maybe have been a cool place to see Jerry on an August afternoon ... 

Jerry and John in dappled sunlight on the grounds of the Dunsmuir House, Oakland, August 18, 1985. Photo credit: Tim Schonholtz

... he sounds quite bad on this August 18th while delivering two sub-40 minute sets.

The night before, at the sweet little River Theater in groovy Russian River town of Guerneville, is a little bit stronger, to my ears.

Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
River Theater
16135 Main Street
Guerneville, CA 95446-8301
August 17, 1985 (Saturday) - 9 PM
Corley MAC shnid-20898 shn2flac

--set I (6 tracks, 42:48)--
s1t01. Deep Elem Blues [7:29] [0:08]
s1t02. Little Sadie [4:57]
s1t03. Valerie [6:14] [0:37]
s1t04. Friend Of The Devil [7:31] [0:08]
s1t05. Simple Twist Of Fate [10:33] ->
s1t06. Run For The Roses [4:50] (1) [0:22]

--set II (6 tracks, 40:12)--
s2t01. [0:46] When I Paint My Masterpiece [7:19] [0:10]
s2t02. I've Been All Around This World [6:15] [0:06]
s2t03. Jack-A-Roe [4:27]
s2t04. Bird Song [11:23] [0:07]
s2t05. Gomorrah [5:08]
s2t06. Ripple [4:23] (2) [0:07]

! 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/19850817-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-08-17

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/20898 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/dYyvu55qka62

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/06/river-theatre-16135-main-street.html

! R: field recordist: John Corley

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi 700 > Sony TC-D5M

! R: lineage: MAC > ? CD > DAE (EAC0.9b4, offset corrected, secure mode QPS QUE2410) > editing (SF6) > tracking (cdwav editor) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN (shorten3.4) via C.Ladner. Thanks to J.Powell for the source CDR. misSHN in the rain, 12/03.

! R: seeder comments: Very clean recording without any significant flaws other than intermittent loud close up audience noise. s1t01 - master recording levels during the first 25 seconds were extremely low, i applied a +10 dB gain to this small segment using SF6 to bring it line with the remainder of the recording.

! P: s1t01 DEB voice already sounding rough

! P: s1t02 Sadie second verse he sings "standing on a corner" twice, then gets to "oh yes, sir", so a flub but a recovery.

! s1t06 JG: (1) We're gonna take a little break. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2 Elmer Fudd most definitely in the house. Almost can't sing Bird Song at all. Ouch.

! P: the set II vocals are ... not good. But, then again, you knew that.

! s2t06 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
Dunsmuir House and Gardens
2960 Peralta Oaks Ct.
Oakland, CA 94605
August 18, 1985 (Sunday) - 3 PM
Menke MAC MOTB #0210 flac2496

--Set I (6 tracks, 35:00)--
s1t01: [0:05] Deep Elem Blues [6:56] [0:02]
s1t02: Friend Of The Devil [6:25] [0:08]
s1t03: [0:17] Little Sadie [6:51]
s1t04: Valerie [6:15] [0:03]
s1t05: I've Been All Around This World [4:59] ->
s1t06: Run For The Roses [4:49] [0:11]

--Set II (6 tracks, 38:25)--
s2t01: [0:30] When I Paint My Masterpiece [6:02] [0:04]
s2t02: Jack-A-Roe [4:31] [0:09]
s2t03: Bird Song [9:52] [0:04]
s2t04: Gomorrah [5:37] ->
s2t05: Ripple [4:19] (2) ->
s2t06: Goodnight Irene [6:52] (3) [0:25]

! 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; [ ] = 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/19850818-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-08-18

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/13520 (this master, shnf, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/88019 (Holtz Nak 100s MAC flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/88020 (Holtz Nak 100s MAC flac2496); https://etreedb.org/shn/98629 (Taz Yamaguchi and Jamie Poris MAC); https://etreedb.org/shn/141508 (supposed CSBD); https://etreedb.org/shn/141509 (supposedly Sandy Troy MAR); https://etreedb.org/shn/149863 (Jonathan Mow MAC flac1644), https://etreedb.org/shn/149864 (Jonathan Mow MAC flac2496).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/93RVX3dF7812

! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/dunsmuir-house-2960-peralta-oaks-court.html

! R: field recordist: Bob Menke

! R: field recording location: 15' from stage slightly off-center

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi CM 700 > Sony TC D5M

! R: field recording media: Maxell MX 90

! R: Analog Sound Preservation: MAC > Nak DR-1 > Korg at 5.6 mhz. Transfer By: Bob Menke. Mastering By: Derek McCabe.

! R: MOTB Release: #0210 24/96, release date 2012-08-19. Note: "flacs are tagged, enjoy!"

! P: s1t06 RFTR is deeply painful to listen to. Garcia absolutely crashes as this song begins, and he barely brings it to the finish line.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a few minutes, come back. Tune up, and stuff."

! P: s2t03 Bird Song in the 4-minute mark, Kahn is doing some really interesting and unusual modal-sounding stuff. As they round the 5-minute mark, he's still playing very creatively. I am not sure he's pulling it off, mind you, but he's trying. In the first half of the five-minute mark, Jerry hits several clammy notes, to my ears. Not that they don't work with what John's doing, but that they don't work with what Jerry's doing. 

! R: s2t03 are those speed warbles in the 6-minute mark, or is Jerry really playing that shit? E.g., 6:58-6:59?

! s2t05 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot."

! song: Goodnight Irene (s2t06): I have always wondered if, in singing the "jump overboard in the river and drown" line, Jerry became 4 year old Jerry, little Jerry, and replayed his father's drowning in the Russian River. One would think not, because that would seem a little morbid, to say nothing of painful, for our boy. But maybe he didn't go there. Or maybe he went there and he was OK. But it's hard to imagine that a person imprinted with that memory, that vision, wouldn't go there. Who knows.

! P: s2t06 GI The acoustic setting lets Jerry not oversing too badly, as of course he'd have to do with the Grateful Dead, and to a lesser extent, with his electric band. In that sense, and because the tape is so clean, we get another view on Garcia's voice in August 1985. He sounds better than he did in the GD, that's for sure. But it ain't entirely pretty. He is very limited, and his talking and singing voice both have the nasally, I-just-shredded-my-already-bleeding-sinuses timbre characteristic of Crosby's voice during this same time period, as well as a certain wascawwy wabbit huntew. Just Say No to Cocaine, Kids.

! s2t06 (3) "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

! P: Total show time 73:26. Brutal, Jer.

Nice RAC, Señor: JGB at the Warfield, April 25, 1994, set II

Not much bandwidth these days, so some bullets.

1) I am way behind on posting listening notes. I have lots backed up, and many of them are pretty spare. I have sometimes threatened to post these kind of notes in batches, just to get them out of my mind, and not always followed up. This time might (or might not) be different.

2) I wonder what the story is behind the random 90s JGB board tapes that circulate? I suspect every one of them has an interesting story, because there was not systematic leakage of these - Cutler kept a pretty tight lid on things, and there was just less demand for these than for contemporary GD tapes.

3) Jerry sounds old, but much better here than five days earlier. Higher asymmetric --downside-- variance in this period than any other. The Rock Bottom period had higher overall variance, comparing the killer high guitar peaks with the killer low vocal troughs. Ten years later, the highs don't get so high, but, as on 4/20/94, the lows could get really low. 4/25/94 II is pretty good, nothing too problematic.

3) "Money Honey" got a re-arranged ending somewhere in the late period. I would kind of like to pin down when it showed up.

4) Nice "Reuben And Cherise" here. It's my favorite Garcia Band song, and I think I hold it to a pretty high standard. It sometimes went 'round the bases too many times at the end, stuck in the same rut that its album-mate "Cats Under The Stars" often found. But Jerry is mindful here to throw in enough wrinkles to make things interesting.

5) Final JGB "Señor". Sigh. I love love love love love this tune so much. He mumbles a fair share of the lyrics, but there's some good stuff here, too, like the growly "magnetic field" and a repeated "I'm ready when you are" at the end.

6) Crazy dense period for Jerry at the Warfield: April 18-19-20 and 25-26-27 with JGB, then May 4-5 with Grisman. Maybe Deborah needed some new shoes, and goodness knows that golden eggs don't lay themselves.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
April 25, 1994 (Monday)
s2 sbd shnid-77711

--set II (7 tracks, 59:56)--
s2t01. Harder They Come [12:12] [0:41]
s2t02. Mission In The Rain [9:55] [0:14]
s2t03. You Never Can Tell [7:00] [0:02] % [0:04]
s2t04. Money Honey [7:07] [0:10]
s2t05. Reuben And Cherise [9:05] [0:27]
s2t06. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) [6:47] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [6:09] (1) [0:03]

! 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/19940425-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/12257 (same root tape, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/77711 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/97864 (Vasseur MAD, complete).

! band: JGB #23 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

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

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

! R: SBD > 1C? > DAT? > CD > flac. Seeded 8/2006 by Teddy "GoodBear" Selby. A Teddy "GoodBear" Production ~ www.goodbear.com :wave: 

! P: s2t03 YNCT some mumbly here and there, e.g., around 6:25. Jer sounds old, but good not bad.

! P: s2t04 Money Honey w the newly arranged ending

! P: s2t05 RAC Donny is offbeat. It takes 45 seconds at the start to set the 1. That said, I think he nails every word of the lyrics! He has finished singing the lyrics 5:28, goes around several times, goes higher up 5:40 and Melvin synths a little alongside. A little bit of variation in the phrasings in the 6 minute mark. Now I fear this is going to get stuck going around for too long without enough happening to justify it. And I find myself there 6:45. Jerry needs to mix things up, or end it. A little more wrinkling right over 7, longer phrases than one might often hear in RAC (not sure), but good that he is making it more interesting. Descending bit 7:45 good. He's hitting the deeper chords to signal the end 8:30 and so forth, then digs in to finish it 8:50. A very good late era RAC, I have to say!

! song: Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) (s2t06): final Garcia performance.

! P: s2t06 Señor a few lyrical stumbles. 1:48 is that mumble mumble still playing in that hay-cant lot. 2:27 mumble mumble, maybe should have been "I can't stand the suspense". Then mumble waiting there Senor. 4:40 mumble I remember. Returns to eyes glued to the door, instead of picking himself off the floor.  He does some nice low growly stuff, as on "magnetic field", which is how Bob did it and I don't recall Jerry doing it so much. He repeats "I'm ready when you are" in the last line, rather than "can you tell me what we're waiting for", but it WORKS.

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

The still-unidentified funky instrumental from 8/20 and 8/30/75

UPDATE: researcher David Kramer-Smyth spoke with Hadi al-Saadoon, who identified David Kessner as the composer. David Kessner confirms he wrote it, but is not sure if it had a name.

At Jerrybase, we are now calling this "David's Tune (Gm)"

On August 20, 1975 at the Great American Music Hall, and again on August 30, 1975 at the Orphanage, both times with Garcia, the Keith and Donna Band played a funky instrumental number the title of which has eluded me for well over ten years.

Looks like I asked about it five years ago.

Someone must be able to identify this tune.

I post mp3s of the two versions here to aid in that identification.

Please help!

untitled-19750820 from 8/20/75

untitled-19750820 from 8/30/75

The August '85 Electric Shows

LN jg1985-08-04.jgb.all.aud-connor.11041.shn2flac

LN jg1985-08-05.jgb.all.aud-connor.11121.shn2flac
LN jg1985-08-09.jgb.all.aud-connor.11131.shn2flac
LN jg1985-08-10.jgb.all.aud-connor.11145.shn2flac



Waaayyyy back when, in the early lossless era, when shn ruled the roost and files could best be had by FTP (though some grabbed binaries from usenet groups), Charlie Connor's August 1985 Jerry Band tapes were pretty special. They still are, in the sense that they sound nice (patched out of Corley's "Silly Hat" setup, after all), that there just weren't that many '85 JGB shows, that they give more insight into the Rock Bottom period for Our Hero and, nowadays especially, they make for some good coherent listening across the Days Between, including a relatively rare August 9th show. I wish the last night of this cluster of shows, 8/11/85, would show up - one suspects it was taped, but one finds no evidence of it.

Here's some 'base for your face, to see what I am referring to:

https://jerrybase.com/events/19850804-01
https://jerrybase.com/events/19850805-01
https://jerrybase.com/events/19850809-01
https://jerrybase.com/events/19850810-01

I have already written up the August 9, 1985 show, noting the characteristic brevity of these sets, both clocking in below the 45-minute Minelli Line. (I should call it the Judy Garland line, as Jerry did in discussing "Cabaret Economics", but this formulation alliterates it to the Mendoza Line in baseball, the "rock bottom," barely acceptable, .200 batting average named for very light hitting, ca. 1970s-1980s Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Mario. Grant me a little license, please and thank you.)

I have just revisited all four shows and, yeah, they're all short. Now, true, these tapes are tightly edited, and tuning breaks could take up a good bit of time wherever Garcia was found. On the first night of this set of shows, 8/4/85, set II clocks in at 31:04. This is currently the second-shortest electric set I have found, after 9/16/84 I  and just ahead of (i.e., below) 3/2/85 I  and 3/22/84 I. (Note, though, that there's probably a minute or more missing from Cats, the addition of which would land this squarely in the normal range for a show from this era.) Of course, I doubt any electric set will ever underperform the acoustic 5/23/85 set I in Denver - at 25 minutes, one can only hope --really, really, hope-- that the tape is incomplete.

Here are the timings for the August '85 electric shows:

DATE      s1      s2           TT      
8/4/85    46:03   31:04      77:07
8/5/85    49:31   48:37      88:08
8/9/85    42:26   38:32      80:58
8/10/85  37:08   34:14      81:22

So much for quantity, how about quality? Overall, I guess I'd say totally characteristic. Some really good guitar work, some lyrical fumbles, vocals getting rougher by the minute.

Night one: Jerry sounds pretty punchy right out of the gate, overcomes some lyrical fumbles in show opening ITAM to rage pretty hard on Sugaree. Killer guitar tone, fantastic playing, much to the appreciation of the hometown Stone crowd, which mostly seemed to prefer boogeying to judging. Kemper is SIMPLY WONDERFUL on Cats, and then Jerry struggles lyrically a little bit in Gomorrah and a lot in Reuben And Cherise, the latter of which is nothing short of tragic, becaues it's my favorite Garcia Band tune, bar none. I do think I hear some Melvin synth in there, which is cool. Midnight Moonlight gallops hard into the barn.

Night two almost fills up a whole XLII90, the longest show of the set by almost 10%. Again, frisky out of the chute, though I don't note anything from the first set until the long Tangled Up: "Not a single thing wrong with the range of ideas he expresses, the fluency and power with which he expresses them, etc. Even some interesting extended stuff 12. Very good. Kemper marching 12:30 for Jerry to wail around." This feels spacious and killer. I suspect that ol' Jer wasn't drinking tea with honey and lemon during the setbreak, because he comes back scratchier in the throat than before. Audience member astutely calls for Don't Let Go, but he'd have to wait two and a half more years for it to reappear, after landing on the shelf at the end of '84. Not a lot to report, but Kemper is absolutely flying to keep up with Midnight Moonlight, and boy must his arms be tired. *rimshot*

August 9th. I have already written it up. I don't remember what I said three years ago. If you want to check how reliable my notes are, please feel free to compare them. Good energy upfront, rough vocals, brief.

Night four, 8/10/85 - thirty-six years ago to the day as I type this. Elmer Fudd has arrived to sing, more than over the previous week's shows, to my ears. Very last "Rhapsody In Red", which gives me a sad, because it was a rocker. It wouldn't have worked post-coma until maybe late 1990 and into 1991, IMO - before then he's just too clean to grunge it up, and after he's just not powerful enough. But it coulda been good in that window. This Reuben he remembers the words, more or less all of them I think, and I do love those words. But the voice is pretty weak at this point and maybe it's best that he just raced through Midnight Moonlight -- four consecutive shows as a show-ender and sought refuge back at Hepburn Heights.

Listening notes below the jump.

The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast: Season 3 - Episode 9: Skull & Roses 50: Garcia

All about Jerry's first solo record, Garcia, recorded 50 years ago last month. Great stuff, and then also a little pedantry from yours truly.

The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast is a national treasure!

Rolling Thunder Data

Rumor has long had it that Mickey has a massive trove of tape and information related to recordings made at his barn studio, a.k.a. Rolling Thunder, at 2495 Novato Blvd. between about 1971 and sometime in the early 1980s. As usual, Corry has done outstanding work pinning some of this down, but there's probably oodles more to learn.

If anyone here knows or is in touch with Mickey's people -- I saw yesterday they were sharing on social media the SF Chronicle preview I posted of the July 30 - August 1, 1970 New Riders (headlining) and acoustic GD shows at the Lion's Share -- please let him/them know I will help organize their data pro bono, so long as I can use them. I will create a giant database of times, people, tunes, etc. etc. As Mickey's amateur musicology involves him in collecting sounds, instruments, and stories from musicmakers in far-flung locales, so my amateur musicology would have me poring over Rolling Thunder data.

In the meantime, I have just spent some time in the Grateful Dead Archive on the beautiful campus of UC Santa Cruz, and I came across some Warner Brothers' interoffice memos supplying information about some of the dates on which the material appearing on Mickey's Rolling Thunder album (Warner Brothers BS 2635, September 1972) was recorded. The earlier document, dated 9/7, is full of handwritten notes, while the latter, from a week later, is cleanly typed. I should not that one scribble on the earlier document says these are dates on which recording began.

Me being me, I tabulate the existing credit information from deaddisc (linked above) with the new information on dates. (Click to enlarge.)

Table xxx. Recording credits and information for Rolling Thunder from Warner Brothers interoffice memos. Source: "Business: Rolling Thunder Productions, 1972-1973," Grateful Dead Archive, Special Collections, UC Santa Cruz, MS.332.ser. 2, box 20, folder 11.

Where the dates align, I obviously pin those. Where they conflict, I make a judgment: that recording was centered in 1972 and not 1971, except for The Chase, which was NOT recorded two months after the memo was written.

Me still being me, of course, the Garcia information draws my eye. (Jerry) Garcia is credited on four tracks: "The Chase" (begun 11/6/71), "Deep, Wide and Frequent" (begun 4/14/72), "Pump Song" (4/6/72) and "Gran'ma's Cookies" (7/20/72). While we can't be entirely sure he attended the initial sessions for any song, it makes sense to pin down the ones we can, and I will do so at Jerrybase with the confidence parameter set to "Uncertain Date" for the ones that don't conflict. Alas, two of the four *do* conflict, dated to when Garcia was manifestly in Europe and thus not, in body at least, at Hart's Barn. So those will just have to float, for now - unless and until Mickey et al. make it possible for me, or someone, to commune with more Rolling Thunder data.

BONUS EYE CANDY: Warner Brothers' Circular (its "weekly news device") pimping Rolling Thunder:

Ike Stubblefield with the Jerry Garcia Band (aside on Bernard Purdie)

Thanks to commenter Patrick, the following claim has been brought to my attention: "In the ’70s, during which he moved between London, New York and San Francisco, Ike Stubblefield shared the stage with the Jerry Garcia Band."

I guess Mr. Stubblefield just passed away (RIP). His wikipedia page notes gives a timeframe for the JGB sit-in as 1970-1975, so maybe we can assume this was in the Hopkins-era JGB? There certainly other were other keyboardists in the mix in that period.

Anyone have any leads on this?

Broader point: there are so many of these kinds of claims. I really should gather them all together in one place. Bernard Purdie is another one who apparently sat in with Jerry and Merl (and Paul Humphrey, who he knew) at the Bottom Line in November '74. He would go on to do some work on the Keith and Donna LP.

Please feel free to drop others in comments - please also paste URLs or other reference information so I can keep track of the sources of information.

In Case of Emergency, Break Glass: JGB at Keystone, March 22, 1984

 

LN jg1984-03-22.jgb.all.aud-corley.22191.shn2flac

Over the years, I thought that maybe February '82 was my least favorite JGB month, supplying a "warmish-dampish-Motel-6-towel feeling, without the hygiene", the drugs starting to really take their toll, not so much terrible as just vaguely gross.

Well, it has come to my attention that March 1984 is pretty bad, too. I lead my 3/4/84 listening notes with the title "A 35 Minute Second Set". True, the tape was tightly edited, and if DATs had been a thing the recording might have topped 40, maybe even approached the Minelli Line of 45. Well, here I am, having listened to Wednesday, March 22, 1984, and its set I, similarly tightly edited, checks in at 31 minutes and 17 seconds. As of this typing, only 9/16/84 set I comes to mind as a shorter, no-excuses electric set, at 30:54. (3/2/85 I nosed 3/22/84 out, at 31:08, but it had the excuse that the ladies apparently showed up late.) It is possible that some acoustic sets were shorter, e.g., 5/23/85 set I, but the circulating tape might be incomplete. In all of these cases, Garcia seems like he's trying to win his age bracket in the 10k.

Anyway, it would be one thing if these sets were hot, as at least one tape shows 3/2/85 I to be. But, to my ears, on this listen to this tape (a great Corley aud, the only one circulating for this date), it's just dull. When a server seems to drop a tray of glasses at 5:12 of Mid Moon, to me it feels far more like a metaphor for Garcia's health than the "orjersmic buildup" that my ol buddy neo_levo, Chris Ladner, heard in it. Your 6.1 miles may vary.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
March 22, 1984 (Wednesday)
Corley shnid-22191 shn2flac

--set I (4 tracks, 31:17)--
s1t01. [0:16] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:51] % [0:02]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [6:47] % [0:18]
s1t03. Rhapsody In Red [8:42] [0:02] % [0:02]
s1t04. Deal [8:05] (1)

--set II (5 tracks, 40:19)--
s2t05. [0:27] I Second That Emotion/ [10:01#] % [0:04]
s2t06. Someday Baby [7:09] [0:02] %
s2t07. Run For The Roses [5:31] [0:10] % [0:21]
s2t08. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:07] ->
s2t09. Midnight Moonlight [7:22] (2) [0:05]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - backing vocals;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19840322-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/22191 (this fileset)

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

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

! venue: URL 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 #21a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! seealso: JGMF, "A 35 Minute Second Set: JGB at The Stone, March 4, 1984"

! R: field recordist: John Corley

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi 700 > unknown cassette deck

! R: lineage: MAC > D > CD > DAE (EAC0.9b4, offset corrected, secure mode) > Soundforge 6.0 (+2.0 dB gain) > tracking (cdwav editor) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN(mkwact). D > shn via C. Ladner.

! R: seeder comments: Outstanding audience recording. Pauses between some tracks. Tape flip during space between t05-t06. t09 - the orjersmic build up @  the end of the main solo section beginning at 04:56 is punctuated by a seemingly? precisely timed either Jerry glass breaking somewhere close by @ 05:13 - guaranteed to make your pets stand up and take note. Thanks to J.Powell for the CDR source. misSHN in the rain, 2/04.

! P: s1t01 HSII flubs first lyric, opened my eyes at night and there you were

! s1t04 (1) JG: "[inaudible] take a break for lil while. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! R: s2t05 ISTE end clips

! song: "Someday Baby" (s2t06): one of those songs that came up in several different bands, only to disappear. In this iteration, it had returned in December '83, after almost three years off. Here it gets its final run for almost another three years (3/10/87).

! P: s2t06 Someday Baby horrible vocal clam @ 6:32

! s2t09 (2) JG, not perfectly clear, but I think "Thanks a lot, see ya later."

42

Regular reader Dr. Jeff once asked that I post listening notes for Jerry's 42nd birthday show at the Stone, 8/1/84.

I have dutifully done so, some years later, and have just about nothing to report. Jerrybase tells me that he hadn't opened a second set w How Sweet in over three years, so there is that. Too many turns at the end of Cats. Sorry not to have more to say, Doc, but please feel free to weigh in on comments and set me straight!

I did use the occasion to make a list of Garcia's musical bday engagements. I do have the sense that in later years the GD Family had a picnic on this date. I have wondered if the 8/1/87 JGAB thing, which does not bear a certain date, derives from one of those. But I dunno.

1965: Warlocks; 

1966: none; 

1967: GD; 

1968: none; 

1969: NRPS; 

1970: NRPS/GD; 

1971: none; 

1972: none; 

1973: GD; 

1974: none; 

1975: studio w/ GD, studio (non-playing?) w/ NRPS (2 PM and 6 PM); 

1976: none; 

1977: studio w/ JGB; 

1978: none; 

1979: none; 

1980: none; 

1981: none; 

1982: GD; 

1983: none; 

1984: JGB; 

1985: none; 

1986: none; 

1987: practice w JGAB; 

1988: none; 

1989: none; 

1990: none; 

1991: none; 

1992: JGB; 

1993: none; 

1994: GD; 

1995: none.

Jerry Garcia Band

The Stone

412 Broadway

San Francisco, CA 94133

August 1, 1984 (Wednesday)

Rogers MAC shnid-144293 rename

--set I (6 tracks, 5 tunes, 48:20)--

s1t01. crowd and tuning [0:18]

s1t02. Cats Under The Stars [9:22] % [0:17]

s1t03. Mission In The Rain [11:34] % [0:11]

s1t04. Love In The Afternoon [10:13] %

s1t05. //Run For The Roses [5:03] [0:04]

s1t06. Tangled Up In Blue [11:11] (1) [0:08]

--set II (4 tracks, 40:31)--

s2t01. //How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [#9:24] % [0:19]

s2t02. When I Paint My Masterpiece [9:31] % [0:08]

s2t03. Dear Prudence// [13:48] ->

s2t04. //Midnight Moonlight [7:16] (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; [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/19840801-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1984-08-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/9303 (same source shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/144293 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/149281 (Senn MK441s)

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

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

! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, July 15, 1984, p. 37.

! seealso: JGMF, "Gloria Advenit! JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, Saturday, July 28, 1984"

! seealso: JGMF, "'Garcia Sounds Pretty Wrecked' - JGB at the Stone, July 31, 1984"

! R: field recordist: Craig Rogers

! R: field recording gear: 2x AKG CE-1 mics > Uher Cr-240

! R: field recording location: lip of stage

! R: transfer: master cassette > Nakamichi Dragon > Sony R700 DAT > Sony PCM p-700 DAT @ 44.1k > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe > wav 16/44.1 - Transferred by Jim Wise; Lineage: wav 16/44.1 > Adobe Audition 3.0.1 > iZotope RX4 Advanced > iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced > CD Wave > TLH > Flac16.

! R: Notes: - Azimuth and phase adjustments made. - Pitch corrected. - There were tape pauses after each track, I have crossfaded them together. - I don't usually use eq but the vocals were very low because the mics were only picking up vocals from the stage monitors. I have, therfore, rebalanced them using the module in RX7 Advanced to increase their presence and other elements too.  It's difficult to know just how high in the mix they should be but I think they sound about right.  I also made some other level adjustments. - There is hardly anything missing from the incomplete tracks. Thanks to Kenny Mance [sic] and Craig Rogers for this extraordinary recording. [note: I don't think Mance was involved.] Thanks to Jim Wise for the transfer. Thanks to Joe B. Jones for his help with pitch correction. edited and mastered SIRMick December 2018.

! R: Gloriously good tape for the guitar and overall feel. Low vocals may be a feature for this period. Melvin is a little buried.

! R: I renamed the files, which had the date as 1984-09-01, to 1984-08-01.

! historical: Jerry's 42nd birthday. 1965: Warlocks; 1966: none; 1967: GD; 1968: none; 1969: NRPS; 1970: NRPS/GD; 1971: none; 1972: none; 1973: GD; 1974: none; 1975: studio w/ GD, studio (non-playing?) w/ NRPS; 1976: none; 1977: studio w/ JGB; 1978: none; 1979: none; 1980: none; 1981: none; 1982: GD; 1983: none; 1984: JGB; 1985: none; 1986: none; 1987: none; 1988: none; 1989: none; 1990: none; 1991: none; 1992: JGB; 1993: none; 1994: GD; 1995: none. It's not otherwise a particularly noteworthy show, and set II fits well on a single cassette side.

! P: s1t02 CUTS way too many turns at the end

! R: s1t04 MITR man, I love the sound of the strings on this tape. So good.

! R: s1t05 RFTR cuts in

! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a while, be back in a few minutes."

! R: s2t03-04 lists a cut (e.g., tape flip), and then comment from john on shnid-9303 says "my notes from aoxoa say the Midnight Moonlight is missing from this show. The version on the disc is from 7/29/84 - hence the cuts."

! s2t04 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

How about the Mouth on that Beast? JGB at the Stone, February 2, 1980, as recorded by Bad Bob Menke

LN jg1980-02-02.jgb.all.aud-menke-motb-0038.105635.flac1644

I recently revisited an old favorite, 2/17/80, and surprised myself by not noting anything about the "After Midnight -> Eleanor Rigby -> After Midnight" medley, to say nothing of an old favorite of another kind, "Positively 4th Street". I have vowed to revisit these. Someone was also extolling old favorite 3/8/80 on its recent anniversary, claiming that this last AMERAM was the best, and we speculated that maybe the band hung it up after that because, really, where else was there to go with it? Always leave 'em wanting more, amirite? It would indeed have been sad if AMERAM had become just another thing, like MAMU -> Mexicali over on the dark end of the street. I vow to revisit that one, too, though I have held a candle of hope out for the emergence of that master tape, ready for a fresh clean transfer, for coming on 25 years, to no avail. Why do you forsake me, tape goddesses?

Anyway, let me here touch on a charming third old favorite from this period, 2/2/80 at the Stone. As was typical in the Freddie Herrera - affiliated stable of clubs, old times bluesers Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker played the soft open Thursday night, and then Jerry headlined the first weekend under the new management. (I seem to recall this being pretty much the same billings as opened the seemingly ill-starred Keystone Stockton back in '74.)

John Angus pulled a remarkable tape from the Friday show, I think in the company of his brother Harry, who is the venue guru extraordinaire (a.k.a. JGBP) of our little corner of the blogosphere and who enjoyed the white linen tablecloths and vased red roses classing up the joint on that first Friday. I have not revisited that tape in many years - add another to the to-do list. But the legendary, enigmatic HOF taper Bad Bob Menke pulled an all-time great tape the next night. The Powers That Be (TPTB) even released a track of it, "When I Paint My Masterpiece", on a 2005 Dylan homage / money grab. I hope Bob got paid for it. Because, man, what a recording! The Mouth of the Beast, indeed.

And this is a characteristically killer early 1980 Garcia Band performance. Update: five years ago the first set did nothing for me. That tells you the scientific worth of my quality assessments, heh heh.

Lossless pioneer Danny Metz, who used to do the math to be sure to cut tracks on sector boundaries to ensure Red Book CD-audio compatibility before the programs automated that process, once said that "Jerry's solo in Train To Cry [from] 5:30-7:10 may be the sickest bluesy guitar work I have ever heard." Danny also praises Johnny D's drum work. I can't argue. One of the things I have noticed in some of these shows, too, is that Ozzie Ahlers doesn't take any shit from ol Jer. Here, in TLEO, Mr. Eponymy starts throwing elbows about 4 minutes in, and Ozzie just plays harder for a while. Yeah! All kinds of good glassine guitar work throughout, some of it Mutron-smooth like leaded cathedral fare and some of it sharp and shardy. For me, the real highlights arrive in Masterpiece, well-released not least because it features the longest scrub in the history of rock and roll, and then, of course, AMERAM. So much Mutron, so much killer jamming, such a killer medley. Ozzie even does a little "Riders On The Storm" descent 13:40ish, headed to the Beatles by way of the Doors. All in all, a wonderful listen!

Oh yeah, how about some color from the flamboyantly fabulous Bay Area Reporter (via archive.org):

Garcia's local club dates have long been one of the special joys of this burgh. Some will tell you that here resides the true wonders of The Dead, without all the hocus-pocus. Others will tell you it's just a boring old fart. Let those who have ears hear [!]

Jerry Garcia Band

The Stone

412 Broadway

San Francisco, CA 94133

February 2, 1980 (Saturday)

Menke motb-0038 shnid-105635

--set I (5 tracks, 49:13)-- 

s1t01. //It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry  [8:20] [0:02] %

s1t02. They Love Each Other [9:28] [0:12] % [0:18]

s1t03. Money Honey [8:19] [0:15]

s1t04. Sitting In Limbo [13:26] ->

s1t05. That's Alright, Mama [8:34] (1) [0:14]

--set II (6 tracks, 72:30)--

s2t01. [0:12] Harder They Come [16:53] [0:54]

s2t02. When I Paint My Masterpiece [13:51] [0:16] %

s2t03. [0:13] Russian Lullaby [14:57] [0:07]

s2t04. After Midnight [15:40] ->

s2t05. Eleanor Rigby Jam [4:28] ->

s2t06. After Midnight [4:49] [0:12]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #11a

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

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers - keyboards;

! lineup: John D'Fonseca - drums.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19800202-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/4432; https://etreedb.org/shn/16681; https://etreedb.org/shn/85532; https://etreedb.org/shn/92372; https://etreedb.org/shn/92432; https://etreedb.org/shn/105635 (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

! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, January 20, 1980, p. 22; San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, January 27, 1980, p. 13

! mention: San Francisco Examiner, January 25, 1980, p. 23;

! listing: Bay Area Reporter, January 31, 1980, p. 22. In characteristically cheeky style, the BAR writes "Garcia's local club dates have long been one of the special joys of this burgh. Some will tell you that here resides the true wonders of The Dead, without all the hocus-pocus. Others will tell you it's just a boring old fart. Let those who have ears hear."

! listing: BAM no. 72 (February 1, 1980), p. 41

! official: Jerry Garcia - Garcia Plays Dylan (Rhino, R2 73263, 2005) (d2t01-Masterpiece)

! recollex: Harry Angus recalls that the white linens and roses were on the tables again this night, as the night before, which was the hard opening of the Stone as such. See that date for the specifics.

! R: field recordist: Bob Menke

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi CM700 > Sony TC-D5

! R: field recording media: 2x Maxell UDXLII

! R: Analog Sound Preservation: MAC >> Nakamichi CR7a => Korg MR-1000 >> DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo] >> Korg MR-1000 => Korg AudioGate >> WAV [24/96]. Transfer By: Bob Menke; Mastering By: Derek McCabe

! R: MOTB Release: 0038 16/44.1

! R: Release Date: 2010-01-26

! R: Bob Menke pulled a truly amazing audience tape this night.

! R: s1t01 ITALTL, ITATTC clips in

! P: s1t02 TLEO Ozzie missed Jerry's not-so-subtle cue to step back early 4, Ozzie just asserts and plays. Good on ya!

! R: s1t04 SIL tape flip near end (patched?? with Nak300's > Sony 158 > MAC (Maxell UD XLII) source

! P: s1t05 TAM killer glassine guitar tone 2.

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a short break, be back in a little while."

! P: s2t02 WIPMM Jerry working the Mutron. Huge long scrubby segment through the 11 range. Whoa. Still at it over 12. Longest scrubbing run ever, until 12:15?

! P: s2t04 AM so much Mutron 10:15. Wonderful jamming here 11. Ozzie does a little "Riders On The Storm" descent 13:40ish. Man, this jam is stretchy-good.

! R: s2t05 tape flip patched with Nak300's > Sony 158 > MAC (Maxell UD XLII source

! P: s2t06 AM more big fanning. Great stuff.

Donny's Debut: JGB at the Warfield, February 4, 1994

LN jg1994-02-04.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.146010.flac1644

Friday, February 4, 1994 through Sunday, February 6, 1994 are super interesting, for reasons that may not be independent. The amazing drummer David Kemper was let go at some point between the end of the fall '93 tour and the first night of this run, for reasons that seem unclear even to him. After over ten years in the chair, they didn't give him so much as an explanation. It is well established from the historical record, and has been repeatedly stated by those who knew him best -- I am not going to cite chapter and verse here, so if you want to imagine I am going beyond my paygrade, sure, fine, whatever -- that Garcia's greatest personal failing involved an unwillingness to tell (former) lovers and (former) bandmates that they were out. He seemed more inclined to have Big Steve deliver hard news. So, first, this inaugural set of 1994 shows featured the debut of Donny Baldwin, from the Starship orbit and also a veteran of the Elvin Bishop Group. I imagine, but don't have it pinned down, that this latter connection between Donny and Melvin facilitated the drummer's entry into the Garcia Band. Second, as astute student of the music Nick has framed it, the run provides "one last flash of greatness" for Jerry and friends. This is most obvious in the 2/6/94 "Don't Let Go", which my memory tells me is a true monster that stands up to any versions that Jerry ever played. I have found a lot to love in '94 and '95 Jerry Band over the last few years, but I agree that he never again played anything so great as that "Don't Let Go".

Indeed, I have often held February 14, 1994, eight days after that show, to augur Garcia's irreversible (though not monotonic) physical decline. The game of trying to pin such things too precisely doesn't get us very far. I might point to GD keyboardist Brent Mydland's passing on July 26, 1990 as signaling Garcia giving up the emotional ghost, and impresario Bill Graham's death on October 25, 1991, as removing all doubt. (See how this game works?) We can point to plenty of pictures from before Valentine's Day '94, the day on which Jerry married Deborah Koons, showing him looking haggard. But, after that day, he never looked anything but like a man shambling toward death's door. Deadheads held no love for Garcia's "Black Widow", who certainly treated the legendary Mountain Girl and all of the other women in Jerry's life very badly during the probate and other proceedings that followed his death, whose taste in music (no "Reuben And Cherise"??) and cover art (Shining Star - what in the almighty fuck?!??) affronted fan sensibilities, who allegedly either passively accepted or actively abetted Garcia's hard drug use, and whose love of tasteless licensing and merchandising strikes us, from the vantage of 2021, as decidedly Trumpian. Be all of that as it may, the observation I just cannot shake is that Garcia's decline accelerated markedly after those nuptials.

All of which makes the triumph of the February 4-6, 1994 shows so remarkable. Nick speculates that the band actually, y'know, rehearsed some with the new guy. The older pattern would have been to break him in on an off-night, off-the-beaten path, or both. Just about every new addition to the Garcia Band prior to Donny was afforded this possibility. So, they may or may not have gotten any rehearsal time, but they did get a gig. But, by 1994, as Bob Barsotti reported a few years later, "the only place [Garcia] could get it together physically to play with the Jerry Garcia Band was by getting in his car and driving for a half an hour to the Warfield" (Greenfield1996, 300, cited in context on my post on 3/4/95). So we might imagine that there were some rehearsals, and, indeed, as Nick points out, Jerry sounds generally together and the band sounds quite tight, consistent with some rehearsal. I have no data to that effect, but it seems likely.

So, onto my sense of Donny's Debut, 2/4/94. He's good, and it's good. Jerry sounds especially together in the first set, sprightly for the very common --indeed, statistically modal-- How Sweet -> Stop That Train opener, and working some great strong grunge into "Lay Down Sally". Nick elaborates:

The one major [2/4/94] high point is a steaming Lay Down Sally jam: Garcia's chugging along, sounding fine, and then decides to hit his distortion pedal and something clicks into place.  The audience feels it, Garcia responds, and you get one of those brief moments of aud-tape perfection as everything clicks into place.  Nice work, old man!

Jerry fades pretty hard at the end of set I (Deal) and through much of set II, sundowning especially noticeably in "The Maker", where I swear he departs from the lyrics and sings @ 1:40 "cannot see for the pain in my life". "Don't Let Go" is the other relative highlight of the show. It's a compact version, 12 minutes, and you'd think they might have held off on it to let the new guy get up to speed. But Donny plays very strongly. True, Jerry does no vocal-instrumental doubling on either the front or the back end of the song, which could often provide him a rare opportunity to engage in true vocal improvisation. But, even listening for limitations, I find a lot to like in this version, and a foreshadowing of the monster that'd spring forth two nights later, before the tune mostly faded into a shadow of its former self in its remaining fourteen months.

All in all, then, a nice show from a characteristically gorgeous Janet and Chuck Vasseur aud pull with the vintage Neumanns. Check it out if you can. If you are feeling impatient, go straight to 2/6/94 - do not pass Go, do no collect $200. If it's as good as I remember it being, and as (more reliably) Nick says it us, you can thank us later.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Melvin Seals sounds awesome this night, all big loud joyful swirly energy.

Listening notes follow.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
February 4, 1994 (Friday)
Vasseur shnid-146010

--set I (7 tracks, 53:29)--
s1t01. [0:05] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:00] [1:04]
s1t02. Stop That Train [7:11] [1:16]
s1t03. You Never Can Tell [6:41] [0:08]
s1t04. Lay Down Sally [10:01] (1) [1:39]
s1t05. Struggling Man [6:25] [0:42]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [3:56] ->
s1t07. Deal [8:11] (2) [0:09]

--set II (7 tracks, 61:16)--
s2t01. Shining Star [15:24] [0:13]
s2t02. Money Honey [6:31] [0:13]
s2t03. Wonderful World [4:29] [0:15]
s2t04. The Maker [7:10] [0:11]
s2t05. Don't Let Go [11:45] [0:15]
s2t06. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:41] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [6:04] (2) [0:07]

! 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:

! 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/19940204-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/15602; https://etreedb.org/shn/94747; https://etreedb.org/shn/95234; https://etreedb.org/shn/146010 (this fileset). Every one of these derives from the Vasseur master.

! band: JGB #23 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

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

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

! ref: Nick, "Feb 94 JGB: one last flash of greatness", URL https://deadthinking.blogspot.com/2017/11/feb-94-jgb.html.

! personnel: Donny Baldwin's first show in the drum chair, succeeding the impossible-to-replace David Kemper. I am typing this listening to Don't Let Go - you have to give the guy his due, because this cannot have been easy.

! R: field recordist: Janet and Chuck Vasseur

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

! R: transfer: DAT Master > CDR (Kyle Porter); 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

! P: s1t01 HSII Jerry sounds stoked. Melvin swirls up huge peaky feature late 3.

! P: s1t01 STT everyone sounds good. Donny hits nicely. Jerry bending some pitch.

! P: s1t03 YNCT Melvin, 3:30 I am typing, is on fire this night. He really sounds enthusiastic.

! P: s1t04 LDS oh man, what a killer grungy tone on LDS in the 7 range. A little modal, very firey. Nick: "The one major high point is a steaming Lay Down Sally jam:  Garcia's chugging along, sounding fine, and then decides to hit his distortion pedal and something clicks into place.  The audience feels it, Garcia responds, and you get one of those brief moments of aud-tape perfection as everything clicks into place.  Nice work, old man!"

! s1t04 (1) JG: "The new guy is, uhh, Donnie Baldwin. Playin' drums."

! P: s1t05 Struggling Man is done peppy - very good. Late 1 it slows down a little bit.

! P: s1t07 Deal a number of lyrical miscues. He is sounding a little tired.

! s1t07 (2) JG: "... take a break for a little bit ..."

! P: s2t04 The Maker he sounds pretty wobbly on the lyrics. @ 1:25 trying to get to second verse, mumbles. @ 1:40 sounds like he says "cannot see for the pain in my life". Goes across the great divide to Jean-Baptiste here early on. @ 2:09 "Body | is bent and broken". Donny nicely triggers Garcia's feature at 3ff.

! P: s2t05 DLG he doesn't do any vocal doubling at all. So by 3:15 he has already stepped back and away from the mic. But I confess that this is just perfectly good Jerry Garcia guitar work happening, e.g., around 6:30, when it has a real edge. I think I came into this listen of this wanting to hear its limitations. They're there, because this is not Eden. And I keep looking at the clock realizing that this is only going to run 12 minutes. But the quality is high. He strums it without quite such thick effects, Melvin swirly, Donny nicely picks up the pace. 8:15 Jerry definitely signals a connection to the tune. 9:20 assertively back to the tune, Donny be damned. Fully back to tun 10:12, no doubling.

! s2t14 (2) JG: "See y'all later."