Does anybody know how to reach Matt Kelly?

I am hoping to find dates for the 1973 Record Plant session work, with Jerry, that ended up on Wing And A Prayer. Email me if you have email for him, or point him here. TIA!

'88 Bridge Benefit is Good

A lot of good material at the Bridge Benefit, 12/4/88 in the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

It's not like 15-20 minutes was very demanding, but Garcia sounds much more enthusiastic belting out the backing vocals here on "Wang Dang Doodle", and giving "Friend Of The Devil" a sprightly run-through, than he did on either of the two previous nights with JGB at the Orpheum (12/2, 12/3).

This is one of the very few documented Shared Stages between Garcia and "Mr. Forever Young", as Bob calls him, Neil Young, who drops some decent harp on WDD.

We Need A Jerry Garcia Interviews Project

Jerry did many hundreds of interviews over the years. He had a lot of interesting things to say about a lot of topics. There are also lots of quotes and so forth that circulate without any proper metadata.

So, we, and by we I mean the community, need a Jerry Garcia interviews project. Collect 'em up in video, audio and text formats, and eventually get everything transcribed to text. Dates, as best as possible. Etc. Run a blog that gathers them up, a la LIA's Deadsources.

I don't have time to do it, myself, but I have plenty to contribute. Someone out there would be game for it. Maybe it's you! Step up to the big leagues of obsessiveness and tackle this project!

You Know What's Crazy? I Have Never Listening-Noted a Garcia-Grisman Gig

So I will do the January 12-13, 1994 Warfield shows together.

The performances are delightful, and I don't have tons of comments at that level. They play a number of rarities which had been relatively recently released on Not For Kids Only (Acoustic Disc ACD 9, 1993), and I am a huge fan of that record, which was recently remastered and topped-up with some bonus tracks. The first two tunes on the record are "Jenny Jenkins" and "Freight Train", which I played a LOT for my kiddos and which are both burned into my DNA. JJ kicks off set II of the first night, while Freight Train, which had gotten a one-off breakout with JGB on 11/3/93, happens in set II of night two. Merle Travis's coal miner's lament "Dark As A Dungeon" was a real highlight for me - I recommend it via the video of 1/12/94. But, really, I have to say that I love every single song they played.

There is no banjo playing at these shows, and I think at least "Stealin'" and "Jenny Jenkins" are done as David and Jerry duets.

Set I the second night is quite short, about 36 minutes. Some number of those minutes come out of the great Garcia-Grisman composition "Grateful Dawg", which clocks in here at a mere three-and-a-half minutes. I don't have specific timing for earlier versions, but I want to say they might have gone 6 or 7 or more.

I do want to provide a little repertorial analysis to illustrate the range of (mostly) American musics from which Jerry and David drew, and to which they contributed in turn. Some data next.

I am wide open to suggestions about this set of classifications. In particular, I have in my mind a genre called country blues which I guess is black acoustic, but, again, I don't really know what I am talking about. I have only just come to understand what a standard is. The next table summarizes the shows by genre.

I guess the main take-home from this little exercise is that the first night was a little more contemporary, while the second was a little more traditional. Anything else jump out at you?

Anyway, totally wonderful to listen to these. I was responsible for the earliest seeds of these two shows, which were not very good. Then they were remastered by someone else, not very well. While a bunch of other sources for 1/13 have come about, 1/12 was only very recently upgraded from the recording annotated here, pulled by Steve Fink. So we now have very good tapes from both nights, and they are worth your ear time.

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

LN jg1994-01-12.jgdg.all.aud-Fink.150311.flac1648

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

The Warfield

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

January 12, 1994 (Wednesday) - 8 PM

Fink MAD shnid-150311

--set I (9 tracks, 8 tunes, 47:35)--

s1t01. Teddy Bears' Picnic [4:52] [0:53]

s1t02. Jack-A-Roe [4:32] [1:07]

s1t03. Dark As A Dungeon [7:12] [0:18]

s1t04. Bow Wow [5:19] [0:05]

s1t05. ambience [1:28]

s1t06. Two Soldiers [4:20] -> 

s1t07. Friend Of The Devil [6:57] [0:05]

s1t08. Louis Collins [5:20] [0:19]

s1t09. (1) [0:39] Stealin' [3:59] [0:11]

--set II (12 tracks, 9 tunes, 62:38)--

s2t10. ambience [0:48]

s2t11. Jenny Jenkins [4:50 [0:05]

s2t12. Walkin' Boss [7:16] [0:06]

s2t13. When First Unto This Country [4:32]

s2t14. ambience [1:43]

s2t15. Milestones [8:30] [0:15]

s2t16. Sitting In Limbo [9:21]

s2t17. ambience [1:02]

s2t18. Russian Lullaby [6:37] ->

s2t19. I Ain't Never [3:10] [0:32]

s2t20. Bag's Groove [9:22] ->

s2t21. Ripple [4:11] (2) [0:18]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - acoustic guitar, vocals;

! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin, vocals;

! lineup: Jim Kerwin - acoustic bass;

! lineup: Joe Craven - fiddle, percussion.

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/19940112-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/11169 (shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/30691 (loy remaster of shnid-11169); https://etreedb.org/shn/150311 (this fileset)

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

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

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

! video: URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VTwaV4FQ2s

! setlist: Old data, based on attendee recollections, had Stealin' as the first song of set II, but the recordings clearly reveal it to be in set I. Similarly, Ripple as given as an encore, but continuous tape from Bag's Groove belies this idea.

! R: field recordist: Steve Fink

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAP-20

! R: field recording location: drink rail

! R: lineage: DAT Archived and Transferred by Stucco; Mastering by Jamie Waddell 16bit/48kHz FLAC. Originally shared at www.shnflac.net in celebration of the 15th birthday of our website June 25, 2020 **gems** team.

! R: My goodness, this tape dramatically improves on the only previously circulating version. So clear!

! P: s1t03 DAAD Wow! Garcia is giving this real feeling. 

! song: "Dark As A Dungeon" (s1t03): Public debut. Amazing that he is doing this tune, written by country legend Merle Travis. So freaking great!

! song: "Bow Wow" (s1t04): Public debut. Dawg original.

! s1t09 (1) DG: "[inaudible] send this out to my little boy, Samson Eli, who's four years old today. [inaudible]"

! personnel: I think Stealin' and Jenny Jenkins are done in duet.

! P: s2t12 WB Jerry takes a feature second half of 2 that, to me, has some tempo issues and occasional picking dysfluency. Again late 4 tempo wobbles, and where JG needs to pick and sustain some notes in his dialogue with David, I don't hear the sustain. This version is not as together as the versions from three years earlier.

! P: s2t15 Milestones JG takes first feature 0:45ff. Playing well. Grisman is doing some powerful stuff in the 3 minute range, the crowd responds appropriately @3:10. Just killing! Kerwin features next, building up during 4. Craven percussion feature 5:25ff. 6:15ff Dawg and Jer are sort of trading licks, then 6:35 to the theme.

! P: s2t16 SIL gets off to a rough start, everyone a little out of sync, Jerry garbles the opening verse. Still 3 minutes in, everyone is not together on this. A little better later on in the tune. 7 Jerry digs in a little deeper, does some Caribbean guitar (not inappropriately).

! s2t21 (2) sounds like there's a "thanks a lot"

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

LN jg1994-01-13.jgdg.all.aud-Fink.150310.flac1648

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

The Warfield

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA

January 13, 1994 (Thursday) - 8 PM

Fink MAD shnid-150310

--set I (8 tracks, 35:59-:12)

s1t01. //Shady Grove [#3:05] [0:31]

s1t02. Long Black Veil [5:03] [0:46]

s1t03. Rosa Lee McFall [3:28] 0:33]

s1t04. Dawg's Waltz [5:00] [0:11]

s1t05. Freight Train [4:52] [0:20]

s1t06. Hot Corn, Cold Corn [4:28] [0:18]

s1t07. Red Rocking Chair [3:24] [0:14]

s1t08. Grateful Dawg [3:28] [0:06] % pre-set II [0:12]

--set II (12 tracks, 9 tunes, 70:00+:12-6:01)--

09. Trouble In Mind [4:14] [0:14]

10. Ballad Of Casey Jones [4:34] [0:17]

11. There Ain't No Bugs On Me [4:41]

12. ambience (1) [0:59]

13. So What? [10:04] [0:11]

14. Rockin' Chair [7:31]

15. ambience [1:17]

16. Stealin' [3:50] [0:34]

17. Little Glass Of Wine [3:44] [0:13]

18. Drink Up And Go Home [2:55] [0:11]

19. Arabia [18:31]

20. ambience (2) [6:01]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - acoustic guitar, vocals;

! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin, vocals;

! lineup: Jim Kerwin - acoustic bass;

! lineup: Joe Craven - fiddle, percussion.

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/19940113-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/11331 (shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/30692 (loy remaster shnid-11331); https://etreedb.org/shn/32833 (Neumann); https://etreedb.org/shn/82760 (Neumann); https://etreedb.org/shn/85644 (Litzenberger flac1648); https://etreedb.org/shn/94690 (Litzenberger flac); https://etreedb.org/shn/150310 (this fileset).

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

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

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

! R: field recordist: Steve Fink

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAP-20

! R: field recording location: drink rail

! R: lineage: DAT Archived and Transferred by Stucco; Mastering by Jamie Waddell 16bit/48kHz FLAC. Originally shared at www.shnflac.net in celebration of the 15th birthday of our website June 25, 2020 **gems** team.

! R: s1t01 Shady Grove cuts in on "wish I had a banjo string"

! R: seeder notes. Set One was recorded much louder, and the crowd cheers clip between songs, but not the music at all. Both Sets of music match volume wise now, I did what I could to unclip the crowd between songs Set One

! P: s1t05 FT he pulls this off just about perfectly. So nice.

! P: s1t08 GD is a fucking killer song, but look at how short this version is! Three and a half minutes?

! s2t12 (1) DG: "The man on the bass - Jim Kerwin. On the fiddle, and on the fiddle case - Joe Craven." JG: "That's David 'Dawg' Grisman playing the mandolin." DG: "Captain Trips here on the guitar [inaudible]."

! s2t20 (2) Some interesting taper talk at the end about a fan who had too much fun

I need to post the relatively indifferent notes, as well: JGB, November 6, 1991 - Cap Centre, Landover

jg1991-11-06.jgb.all.aud-Brotman-Metchick.151224.t-flac1648

Skimming the cream is a natural tendency - who doesn't like cream? But I need to post a more representative sample of things.

Generous benefactors have recently put together and circulated the integral collection of Dave Brotman / Jeff Metchick's FOBs of the November '91 Garcia Band tour. Every show, same tapers, very nice for evaluative purposes because at least some factors are quasi-experimentally controlled. Oh, and the tapes KILL. I had a plan to listen through chronologically to the whole tour, but I won't be able to do it. It's one thing to do it with the Dead's Europe '72, when every night contains some of the best music ever made, *and* my OCD allows me to just listen while pedaling. It's too much to ask to put Jerry's bar band on, and to engage my OCD with notes, etc. etc. -- not something I can do while doing other things, to the same extent. And the payoffs just aren't that great.

That said, I did start with 11/6/91. My God, what a tape! Seriously, I have never heard something come out of that arena that sounded this good. So, first tip o' the cap to the tapers, and thanks to all involved in getting these amazing field recordings into general circulation with reliable metadata, etc.

The show, conversely, does not move me. Even Don't Let Go didn't earn a single note from me. And this is not just a period effect: I have just listened to another show from the same tour/tapers, and it blew me away. I will post my report at some point. So maybe it's just a mediocre night. Maybe just a warmup. Remember that this band had only played two shows --8/10 and 8/24-- since May. It seems reasonable enough that they'd need to shake off some cobwebs.

So, there we are: AMAZING tape, meh show. But I happen to know that better things would be yet to come on the tour.

Jerry Garcia Band

Capital Centre

1 Harry S. Truman Drive

Landover, MD 20774

November 6, 1991 (Wednesday)

Brotman-Metchick MAD shnid-151224

--set I (9 tracks, 8 tunes, 73:17)--

s1t01. ambience [1:37]

s1t02. Cats Under the Stars [9:24] [2:02]

s1t03. Stop That Train [7:53] [1:37]

s1t04. You Never Can Tell [7:52] [0:33]

s1t05. Run For The Roses [5:27] [1:10]

s1t06. Simple Twist Of Fate [13:18] [1:01]

s1t07. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [7:36] [0:10]

s1t08. My Sisters And Brothers [3:52] [0:10]

s1t09. Deal [9:25] (1) [0:10]

--set II + encore (10 tracks, 8 tunes, 84:28)--

--set II (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 

s2t01. ambience [1:48]

s2t02. The Way You Do The Things You Do [12:20] [1:20]

s2t03. Waiting For A Miracle [5:49] [0:15]

s2t04. Money Honey [7:11] [0:48]

s2t05. Shining Star [10:19] [0:52]

s2t06. Struggling Man [7:44] [0:18]

s2t07. Don't Let Go [15:28] [0:17]

s2t08. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love [12:05] (2) [0:06]

--encore (2 tracks, 1 tune, 7:48)--

s2t09. ambience [0:39]

s2t10. What A Wonderful World [6:56] (3) [0:13]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, ac-g (s1t03 only), vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: David Kemper - drums;

! lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;

! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19911106-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/16671; https://etreedb.org/shn/85429; https://etreedb.org/shn/87588; https://etreedb.org/shn/87600; https://etreedb.org/shn/137703; https://etreedb.org/shn/151224 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/61Pr4PqSTt92

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/12/capital-center-usair-arena-1-harry-s.html

! venue: First Jerry Band show in this shed after 21 GD gigs.

! review: [positive] Joyce 1991. Took a few tunes to warm up, Joyce says, but "soon enough ... Garcia, firmly underpinned by bassist John Kahn and drummer Dave Kemper, was unfurling long, flowing, effervescent guitar improvisations or yielding the spotlight to organist Melvin Seals, who waxed both earthy and ethereal on a Hammond console."

! R: field recordists: Dave Brotman and Jeff Metchick

! R: field recording gear: 2x Schoeps CMC34 (ORTF) > Tao Research > M1000 cables > Panasonic SV-255mod (16/48) > Master DAT

! R: field recording location: FOB

! R: transfer: Master DAT > Panasonic SV-3800 (spdif out) > Digigram VX Pocket sound card > Panasonic Toughbook (spdif in) > Steinberg Nuendo > WAV 1648, by Anonymous. Edited & Mastered (Adobe Audition) by Joe Noel, December 16, 2020.

! R: seeder notes: - Thanks to Dave Brotman & Jeff Metchick for recording the show. - Thanks to Anon for the transfer, while hiding out away from the Bay Area. - Thanks to Ted Mattes, aka 'Postmaster General' for organizing this project. - Each tape was adjusted electronically & mechanically in the SV3800 to ensure proper play. - None of these tapes have emphasis.

! R: Right out of the gate, this tape kills. Oh man. Bravo, gentleman, and thank you! This fileset emerged in late 2020 with the entire tour recorded by these guys with this gear. I can't wait to spend more time with these lovely recordings!

! P: s1t04 YNCT he is a little unsure of the words throughout.

! P: s1t06 STOF is extremely careful and gentle. John starts his feature about 5:20 and it is suitably fluttery until floating to a close at 7:30. JG brings a bit more volume after that.

! P: s1t07 ANBITB Melvin is playing piano here, and it's really nice. Sounds kinds of Hornsby-ish.

! s1t09 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2t02 TWYDTTYD goes out around 8:40. Man, I love this vintage of the song. So interesting.

! P: s2t06 Struggling Man a little sluggish out of the gates. Definitely too slow for my taste.

! s2t08 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

! s2t10 (3) JG: "See y'all later."

Garcia and The Great American Songbook

Per wiki, The Great American Songbook is "the canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards and popular songs". It is put out by The Great American Songbook Foundation, fittingly enough.

I have so damn much to learn about this stuff. It's just a gaping hole in my (admittedly limited) musicological understanding. 

I just fell into the rabbit hole, so let me report here the tunes from the GAS that I understand Garcia to have engaged.

Year	Song title	Composer(s)	Lyricist(s)

1930

"Georgia on My Mind"

Hoagy Carmichael

Stuart Gorrell

1944

"Long Ago (and Far Away)"

Jerome Kern

Ira Gershwin

1959

"My Favorite Things"

Richard Rodgers

Oscar Hammerstein II

1937

"My Funny Valentine"

Richard Rodgers

Lorenz Hart

1927

"Ol' Man River"

Jerome Kern

Oscar Hammerstein II

1936

"Pennies From Heaven"

Arthur Johnston

Johnny Burke

1953

"Satin Doll"

Duke Ellington

Johnny Mercer

1933

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"

Jerome Kern

Otto Harbach

1949

"Some Enchanted Evening"

Richard Rodgers

Oscar Hammerstein II

1928

"Stardust"

Hoagy Carmichael

Mitchell Parish

1934

"Summertime"

George Gershwin

DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin

Here's another listing: http://greatamericansongbook.net/pages/cat_pages/title.html

Not For Kids Only Deluxe (Acoustic Disc DLACD-09, 2020)

https://acousticdisc.com/product/jerry-garcia-and-david-grisman-not-for-kids-only-download/

This happened without my noticing at the time (whenever it was in that accursed year, just passed, that shall not be named). But Acoustic Disc has remastered the Not For Kids Only (Acoustic Disc ACD 9, 1993), added four bonus tracks, and offered it up for download. I am spinning the high-def (24bit / 96 kHz) version now, and it sounds gobsmackingly great. (The original did, too - tip o' the cap to "Decibel" Dave Dennison.)

The unreleased tracks (alt. takes of Jenny Jenkins, Three Men Went A-Hunting, Teddy Bears’ Picnic, and There Ain’t No Bugs On Me) are Jerry-David duets. Alas, they are undated. I will try to see if AD will answer a query as to the dates. Let me say here that Grisman and Garcia are too important as American musicians, and this material is too important as American music, not to give it the jazz treatment, with full metadata. I have never understood why they hold things like the dates close to the vest.

Anyway, happy listening!

updated bibliography

I have just posted an updated bibliography as a blogger page linked to the top-right and as a pdf. 114 pages, and I have made no effort to gather GD stuff, though some has snuck in.

The Romanesque Church Design Was Based On The Roman Basilica: Discuss (JGB at the Knick in Albany, November 3, 1993)

I just marveled at the almost 90-minute second set offered up on 12/22/90, and got to wondering about post-coma others that might match or beat it in duration. I recalled some long sets on the 11/93 tour, recalled that I had unposted (because not very informative) notes on 11/3/93 (my 23rd birthday, though I was somewhere in the vicinity of Monterey, CA), and checked them out.

Indeed, 89+ for this set II. We are envisioning being able to analyze real data on set and show durations via Jerrybase at some point in the not-too-distant future.

The show is maybe below average for the tour overall, with a few guitar highlights that I mention in the notes below. The real interest lies in the impromptu version of  Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train", which Garcia plays with an acoustic sound as a 'quippie fixes a string on John's bass. First, he lets the crowd know what's going on: "We've gotta change a string on the bass. You can all talk amongst yourselves." This latter formulation absolutely, positively echoes Mike Myers' contemporaneous SNL skit "Coffee Talk" - I use it myself when equipment challenges interrupt my teaching. I may also give a topic, as Linda Richmond does in the skit. In my case, it's something on-topic like "Vladimir Putin: strong man, or the strongest man? Discuss." In hers, the title gives a sample subject.

Then, without further ado, Our Man in Albany starts picking the tune. Melvin Seals accompanies extremely well on piano, so well that it makes me wonder how he knew the tune, since it is not associated with the "Band Electric". Maybe they had worked it up? I certainly would have liked to hear it more. Anyway, Melvin's great, and he weaves in a few bars of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" for good measure, last heard (by me) in the JGB being done by the great (if very drunk) Nicky Hopkins on 12/31/75. Jerry gets the verses mostly sung, if a little imperfectly (see my rough transcription just below), and this whole thing is just a stone cold fucking delight.

1- (chorus) Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Please don't tell what train I'm on | They won't know what route I'm gone
2- When I'm died oh bury me deep | Down at the end ol' Chestnut Street | Place the stones at my head and feet | Tell 'em all I'm gone to sleep
3- (chorus) Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Please don't tell what train I'm on | They won't know what route I'm gone
4- When I'm dead and in my grave | No more good times here I'll crave | [mumblyverse] | Tell 'em all I'm gone to sleep
5- When I'm died oh bury me deep | Down at the end ol' Chestnut Street | So I can hear ol' number nine | as she goes rollin' by
6- (chorus)

Here are Elizabeth Cotten's lyrics:

Source: Cohen and Seeger 1964, 136

At 4:30, John drops a note of electric bass to signal that he's ready to play, one of his few contributions on this night, in the era when he mostly fluttered around pretty inaudibly.

The song is one of my favorites, a perfect choice for Garcia and Grisman's then-recently-released masterpiece Not For Kids Only (Acoustic Disc ACD-9, 1993), and something Garcia had played since the pre-Dead period (see Jerrybase for the overview). In the GD era (and so the GOTS era) it showed up in the studio around 1975-1976. Jerry played it live 4/10/82a, his only "modern" solo acoustic date, but it was pretty cursory, just two and a half minutes without a good handle on the words, before running into the Cotten tune he did a lot more and in a range of contexts, "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie". After this impromptu version eleven years later, it came up twice more in the 1994 Garcia-Grisman live sets before ol' Jer landed at the end ol' Chestnut Street himself.

For more on this tour, the Garcia Band's last out east, see also "The Reedman vs. the Gunslinger at at the Garden" (11/12/93), "Good Clean Fun" (11/14/93), the sweet little BS passes for this "Slack Tour" featuring Church of the SubGenius prophet J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, and take a gander at the crew tourbook.

Listening Notes below the fold.

Firing On All Cylinders: JGB at the SF Civic, December 22, 1990

LN jg1990-12-22.jgb.all.aud-stucco-gems.149794.flac1648

When you say something sucked, or point to some darkness, you are scandal-mongering. When you rave, your are homer-fanboying. In all cases it's subjective. But, fuck it - it's my blog, and these are my impressions, and if you want to compare notes put 'em in comments or somewhere's else I can find 'em!

The JGB show at the cavernous SF Civic on December 22, 1990 is a late masterpiece.

There, I said it.

I cannot believe the many levels on which this show works. Garcia sounds very much like he wants to be playing this very music with this very band for these very fans on this very night in this very room. The 90-minute second set is not just an artifact of DAT taping, because not one but two songs happen after the big jam of "Don't Let Go". This is one of the longest sets of the post-coma Garcia Band, maybe the longest. Someday I will be able to show a time series testing this claim.

That's not to say that it's a gigglefest. Indeed, notes of nostalgia, sadness, world-weariness, a little darkness and edge definitely strike. But so do moments of light, easy joy.

My post on 11/15/90 referenced the "rehearsed, post-Brent Garcia Band", and I think both the claim and the allusion were spot on. The allusion to Brent speaks to the emotional range on display, on my subjective hearing. Brent's death hit him hard, and the Grateful Dead, to my subjective hearing, was never really the same. (Bob Weir agrees, by his own telling in the Long Strange Trip documentary, Act VI, around 22:45.) I guess Vince was a nice enough guy, but, in my certainly controversial and not-intentionally mean view, the band's sound verged on the ersatz with him in it. It is conventionally claimed that Garcia enjoyed his own band more than the GD for these last five years or so (i.e., post-Brent), and, as I have said, he certainly sounds very much like this is where he wants to be on this particular night. So if the sadness and world-weariness reflect the emotional toll of the losses he had experienced (which would further accumulate with Bill Graham's passing 10+ months later), the joy and lightness reflect the comfort of playing easy tunes with an easy band in an easy setting. That's my story, anyway.

And, the band speaks to the "rehearsed" part of my earlier analysis. I have no evidence of this, but this band absolutely sounds like it has been rehearsing. This will not appear in my notes, I don't think, but the Jerryettes are doing more and more forward work here than earlier in the year. I wish I had some digital musicologist on hand to check arrangements and quantify these things, but all I can go on is my impression. I don't think it's just the tape. The arrangements seem to invite the ladies to be more involved and more audible. Melvin Seals, for his part, is playing electric piano, organ and synth here. As with vocals, I don't have any firm baseline data around Melvin's instrumentation. I wish someone would dig into this stuff so I don't have to - when was he playing synth? Anyway, there's just tons of range on display here, lots of colors and textures and tones.

Here are a few song-centered bullet points to illustrate some of the wide spectrum of highlights.

Mission In The Rain: Hunter called this one of the only explicitly autobiographical songs he wrote for Garcia, and being at the SF Civic, right downtown across from the library, late in the year (solstice or a day off of it), Jerry definitely sounds nostalgic. His guitar work is contemplative, gentle, very soft and round and comforting. He picks out his words carefully. Beautiful.

Señor, Throw Out The Lifeline -> Let's Spend The Night Together: Garcia displays huge emotional range across these three tunes. The nautical themes of the first two connect them to Mission in the autobiographical sense, young Jerry having spent a chunk of his childhood at his mom's waterfront bar, "where the sailors all come in", soaking in the gin-and-cigarette scented salt air and their wild and wooly tales of the sea. They also unify in dark imagery, with Dylan's wicked wind necessitating Edward Uffin's lifesaving action (h/t Allen):

Throw out the life line to danger fraught men,

Sinking in anguish where you’ve never been;

Winds of temptation and billows of woe

Will soon hurl them out where the dark waters flow

They part ways tonally, though, and again this gives expression to the post-Brent Jerry Band, the dark Armageddon of death that we all confront leavened by the lived realities of at least local and temporary salvation, not least through music. The song lilts along pleasantly enough, bringing a little bit of redemption. And my goodness, the music that follows! Garcia absolutely cuts loose on this version of LSTNT, with some absolutely huge, raging guitar. I used to think this was the BOAT version, but on this listen it didn't strike me that way. It seems like it was just great in this period, as my notes from a month earlier, 11/21/90, remind me. The relentlessness of his attack here certainly speaks to ongoing vitality - check it out.

So much for set I. As I noted above, set II clocks in at almost 90 minutes, which is pretty dang amazing, but the quality matches the quantity quite nicely.

The Way You The Things You Do: the Temptations' 1964 original of this sweet little piece clocked in around three straightforward minutes. As I first observed in listening to 11/15/90, the band seems to have extended the arrangement in this period, giving it a big open part that, if this were the GD or Jerry had other aims for his side band, could very well have segued into something else. Indeed, I nominated that version for BOAT consideration, but now, having heard this one from a month later, think 12/22's is even better. That one went out about 7-8 minutes in, this one I really noted it decoupling a minute or so later. But these versions would be worth comparing, others from this period will bear paying attention to, and I would *love* for someone to compare what they are doing here with how it played out earler in the year. I note that the 6/12/90 version clocks in as long as this one, but I generally find that show and the next night to be very sluggish, and I specifically noted this tune as "low energy". It's not fast here, not at all, but it's rich and deep and interesting.

Tore Up Over You: Few songs invoke the imagery of young Jerry, inspired by older brother Tiff, listening to (Black) R&B-cum-rock 'n' roll on the Oakland and SF AM stations in the 1950s than this Hank Ballard number. It wormed its way into his DNA and operated just as systematically on his playing. And here he plays some seriously shredding electric guitar that can reach back in time to melt the conformist shackles of Eisenhower's (White) America. You can hear the joyful transgression, the wide freedom he has to play what he wants, and loud! Ballard's version came out in '56, and I have little doubt but that it caught young Jerry's ear early on, and that he at least noodled it when he got his first electric guitar two years later. I don't know any of that, but you can't prove it didn't happen, so there.

Don't Let Go: always a highlight. This version interests me. When he brought it back in '88 it was a punchy 8-9 minute treat. I think it would run over 20 minutes again within the next few years. It's in Goldilocks-land here, 15 expressive minutes. Melvin's synth really colors it beautifully early on, at 4:45 Garcia doubles the vocals and guitar very precisely and totally uniquely, showing great intention, and it starts getting a little weird already 6 minutes in, Ballard giving way to Coltrane, with a dose of Kesey/Owsley for good measure. Kemper is such an amazing drummer, and things keep bouncing until about 9, Garcia pedals in some effect, and we are fully unmoored for awhile, but not super long. At 10:26, it returns to structure, but not the DLG melody, per se, alluding to it while still out melodically. (I am not sure I am using the right words here.) He spends some time in that space and drops into DLG at 13, closing these particular proceedings. Nice.

On almost every other night, at this point we'd get one more song. Here, we get two, and while I can often make mountains out of molehills, I want to really emphasize that I think this is highly informative. Autopilot would have taken him to Midnight Moonlight. An alternate flight path would have been straight to Tangled Up In Blue. Instead, we get a little "Struggling Man", again giving perfect expression to the emotional tenor of the evening - it's hard, but we keep going. Saying good night after Tangled Up, he sounds absolutely wiped out, and justifiably so. Man gave is all this night. Thank you, Jerry!

Man, what a show! Two snaps up, with a swirl. Listening notes below the fold.

Positively Killer: JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, December 21, 1979

I was recently surprised when I listened to JGB 12/17/79 and found the show totally lackluster. Jerry sounds listless, indifferent, tired, and he and Johnny D, the 21 year old Marin kid drumming live with Jerry for only the seventh time, seemed badly out of sync. So, I listened to the next show, 12/20, and found it to represent a considerable improvement. Deciding to carry on, I spun 12/21/79 here on its 41st anniversary. This was a relatively rare soundboard tape in early circulation back in the day, was widely traded (insofar as Garcia Band tapes were), and has long been a fan favorite for the arc'ing, soaring "Sugaree" and, especially, for the long version of a relative rarity, Dylan's "Positively 4th Street".

I am here to say that 40 years of crowds have been wise to revere this show. It kills. Let me just mark a few points, but urge you to check it out yourself, perhaps especially from shnid-138677, which sparkles.

First, I guess Johnny D and Jerry just needed a little work together --they hadn't played since 11/18, and I doubt they had practiced between time. Yes, I'm talkin' 'bout practice. So we see monotonic improvement in how these two are sync'd, and that makes everything else work. By 12/21, I do not notice any problems at all - not a one. And I hear Johnny D doing some killer stuff, e.g., in Sugaree, that validates why Garcia wanted him in the band. He's really, really good.

Second, Ozzie Ahlers plays masterfully here, going toe to toe with Garcia with tremendous confidence. This would be less and less the case over the years of Garcia's side bands - Melvin Seals was wonderful, a perfect complementary player who could take sparkling features when it was his turn, but was certainly very submissive vis a vis Garcia. Here, Ozzie occasionally steps forward over Jerry, Jerry keeps playing loudly, and, rather than backing down, Ozzie ups his attack and amplitude. They really feed off each other wonderfully this night. Nick pointed out to me that there is no synth here, just electric piano, so maybe that gives his playing a little more oomph or something, I dunno. Or, like Johnny D, having played a few gigs has him feeling warmed up. Or, it's just a great night. Whatever the case, a great night for Ozzie Ahlers, the best I can recall having heard.

Third, Garcia plays very mathematically throughout, and alternates between loud, grungy rock and roll lead guitar on the one hand and some much more gentle, patient plucking on the other. I can't explain why it feels mathematical except that it's both arithmetic (like an expanding cycle) and geometric (lots of loop and circles). He also comps as well this night for Ozzie as he ever did. See especially "After Midnight", which rocks hard.

Fourth this "Positively 4th Street" more than earns its reputation as the BOAT version. Checking in at 17 minutes, it starts with some beautiful instrumental work, as Jerry patiently sets everything up. I wasn't following along with the lyrics or anything, but I think he gets all of the verses almost entirely right, and sometimes he just barely remembers a line in time but offers it up off the beat and a little faster, providing some really nice syncopated texture. I think he even has the verse order mostly right. His guitar tone works throughout, and he comps aggressively for Ozzie, including some fanning that would normally just be him but here serves the whole unit. By the end I just wrote "I am actually pretty speechless at this point. WOW." Check it out.

Fifth, I seriously doubt that HTC was really an encore. In this period, a 35 minute second set would only have happened if they were running up on closing time. But then they would not have been able to play an encore. So I suspect it's just a four-song, 50-minute second set.

Sixth, I also seriously doubt that this comes from master reels. Maybe I shouldn't - the tape sounds absolutely fabulous, and it sounds even better, on a quick comparison, via shnid-138677, than the "Bertha" version I got with. It sounds light years better than the cassette master of the next night, which doesn't circulate but which I have heard. But all of that said, I am just not aware of anyone running reels at this point. The last Garcia Band reels I know about date from summer 1978. Betty ran reels for Reconstruction at least into July 1979, but the Garcia Band tapes from after that were limited to cassette. I dunno. It seems pretty certain there is a cassette gen here, based on cuts in After Midnight and Harder They Come. Older circulating versions have also tended to be a little bit hissy. But, I dunno. Happy to be proven wrong!

So let me just close this fun little exploration that I do think 12/17/79 was quite weak, but the band gets better each night of the three I have engaged over the last few days. The 12/21/79 show is absolutely outstanding, holding its own next to anything JGB did plus or minus a few years. I have seen folks say that they use it to introduce novices to the Garcia Band, and I can see why - the tape sounds great and the performance is outstanding. True, I can hear the limitations creeping in to Jerry's voice, which is still sweetly high but which is starting to bump into tighter range and volume constraints. It ain't perfect, but it is excellent.

Listening notes below the fold.

Checking Myself: JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, December 20, 1979

I just listened to JGB 12/17/79 and found it to be ... off. Out of sync. Low energy.

Since I don't trust how my own frame of mind can color my listening experience, I decided to turn directly to a contemporary show, in this case 12/20/79. The big degree to which these are apples and oranges have to do with recording sources, 17th being a good aud and 20th being a hissy and maybe fast sbd.

It's a night and day difference. The most recently circulated version of 12/20/79 comes out like a bat outta hell, and I mean HARD - That's Alright, Mama screams, How Sweet cooks, Catfish John and After Midnight both bring the juice. Hypothesis 1 is that tape quality is driving this. 12/20 has more high end for sure and, even more problematically, may run fast. It'd be great if someone with good pitch could check it out, though the seeder, AF, has great ears and I suspect things are OK. Hypothesis 2 is that, indeed, 12/17 was just not as good - Jerry more recently off the road, a case of the Mondays, I dunno.

I am considering spinning 12/21 as well to complete this little study, another board which I remember being flat as a pancake, so it might give a third distinct vantage.

When I saw this clipping, I remembered that I remembered this strip comic strip Momma from this period. (I was ten.) We were a Chronicle and Contra Costa Times family, my parents being morning paper readers and us being in the east bay. It was a good combo, back in the times when two such papers would cover a good gamut from global to local news.

LN jg1979-12-20.jgb.all.sbd-AF.91965.flac1644

JERRY GARCIA BAND 

Keystone Palo Alto

260 S. California Avenue

Palo Alto, CA 94306

December 20, 1979 (Thursday)

sbd shnid-91965

--complete show (8 tracks, 79:56)--

t01. That's Alright Mama [6:51] [0:19]

t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:56] [0:08] %

t03. Catfish John [9:04] [0:08] %

t04. After Midnight [12:24] [0:04] %

t05. Love In The Afternoon [9:25] [0:10] %

t06. Let It Rock [9:46] [0:10]

t07. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:15] [0:03] %

t08. Tore Up Over You [9:06] [0:08] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #11a

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;

! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers - keyboards, synthesizers;

! lineup: John d'Fonseca - drums;

! lineup: John Kahn - bass.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19791220-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/22889 (same ultimate source tape, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/91965 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/7AzlG

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/keystone-sophies-260-s-california-ave.html

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

! seealso: JGMF, "Sunday, Monday, What's the Difference? JGB #11a at Keystone, December 17, 1979 (Monday)"

! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, December 9, 1979, p. 24

! listing: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, December 16, 1979, p. 18

! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, December 16, 1979, p. 30

! mention: San Francisco Examiner, December 20, 1979, p. 27

! setlist: It is claimed that this was a complete, single set show, which would be very anomalous.

! historical: Bill Belcher opened.

! R: Source: SBD > ? > Cassette. 

! R: Transfer: Maxell XL-II > Nakamichi DR-8 (Dolby off) > Audiophile 2496 > Soundforge > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC, by Andrew F. (May 2008) 

! R: Notes: This source is an improvement in sound quality over the currently circulating source (shnID-22889), with brighter sound and more consistent levels, although there is still some hiss. Both this and 22889 have the same eight songs, but in a different order. This version presents the songs as they appeared on the cassette that was transferred (four per side). The fades heard between the songs (tracks 2 thru 8) were there on the cassette. It is not clear if the cassette has the songs in the correct order as they were performed, or if this is the entire show, or possibly a compilation ... With my THANKS to Ted Gidley for providing the tape to transfer!

! P: t01 TAM is blazing a mile a minute. My goodness. Johnny D doesn't know when it's ending, but Jerry just forces the issue.

! P: t02 HSII Ozzie is soloing 4 and Garcia is comping grungily, really good. Then 4:40 or so Jerry steps up and starts wailing, Ozzie recedes, Jerry breaking off big ol shards of glass. Very good.

! P: t03 CJ late 6 over 7 just some great fanny guitar work.

! P: t04 AM as with 12/17/79 I don't think Johnny D is supplying the beat that it needs. Jerry goes around a few times rather than jumping right into the lyrics. Good high energy later in the tune.

! P: t07 STOF I don't think John had a feature here.

Sunday, Monday, What's the Difference? JGB #11a at Keystone, December 17, 1979 (Monday)

LN jg1979-12-17.jgb.s1s2p.aud-walscoller.106057.flac1644

I wanted to spin some JGB #11a (Ozzie-Johnny D quartet) from late in 1979, a little window I have neglected in favor of their first few gigs on the one hand (10/7, 10/14), and the Winter 1980 tour (overall economics, 2/16, 2/20, 2/24) on the other hand. (update: see also 12/20/79)

Joanie Walker, Paul Scotton and Charlie Miller collaborated in putting out an aud tape of 12/17, which had never really circulated much, as distinct from shows on the 20th and the 21st. Following my nose for the obscure, I checked it out.

The tape: nice.

The show: blech.

Really blech. The most obvious thing is that Jerry and Johnny D'Fonseca are just not sync'd up, a big problem given that Johnny D is the drummer. And I blame Garcia. This is not only because Johnny D is so dang young (just 21 at the time of this show) or because it's only his seventh night out with the band. And it's not just because, corresponding to these, we might put responsibility on the older fella with his name on the band to help him out, the way he did with the JGB's previous young drummer, Buzz Buchanan. It's mostly because Garcia mostly just sounds out of it. His voice is still sweet in its sweet spot, but it lacks oomph and shows limited range. There are some good pyrotechnics in Sugaree, but 22+ minutes for Sugaree is a little indulgent even for Our Hero. And the second set material, which I think is incomplete on the tape, just doesn't really go anywhere or do anything.

Maybe I am totally wrong. Maybe you will listen to it and wonder what's wrong with me. I dunno. Let's discuss.

The only other thing I have to say about this show relates to the scheduling. The left side of the panel above shows the Keystone pink section ad dated December 9th, the right the one dated December 16th. You will see that JG was originally scheduled in Berkeley for Sunday 12/16, with Monday the 17th billing the "Best New Bay Talent" for no cover and a one drink minimum. Jerry on Sunday had still been listed in the Examiner as late as the 14th. But by the time the day-of-show ad comes out, the New Riders are in the Sunday slot and Jerry has moved to Monday. What's more, we now have a newly-added Jerry show on Saturday 12/22. Maybe that one was to makeup for the canceled gig on 12/8.

No biggie, stuff happens. The Pareto Criterion asks us to evaluate a possible change in the world such that it leaves at least one party to a transaction better off, and no party worse off. This one fits the bill. The New Riders get a gig, Freddie gets the New Riders on a Sunday (selling tickets and presumably more beer than the Best New Bay Talent) and Jerry on a Monday, great for him. As for Garcia, I SPECULATE that he was totally indifferent to the change. Sunday? Monday? Whatever.

One question I have is to what extent some notion of Jerry doing the Riders a favor might have entered into the equation. Call this Qustion 1. Of course he lent his lucrative name and considerable talents to these boys out of the gate, getting them some huge paydays before sending them off on their own. I don't know who besides Dawson was in the NRPS by late 1979, but the band had certainly fallen on hard times, and would never sniff its early 70s success again. Maybe part of the context was the chance for Jerry to help produce a payday, however modest, for an old friend. I dunno.

A second, question, call it Question 2, this is somehow related to the fact that the GD canceled the last two shows of its tour in Milwaukee on 12/13 and St. Paul on 12/14. At Jerrybase we note cancellations because "one band member ill and band wants to finish new album". Maybe Jerry needed Sunday night to work on what would become Go To Heaven. Or maybe he was the sick band member and needed another day to recover, which might also account for how out of it he sounds here.

Q1 and Q2 are not mutually exclusive, of course. Maybe all of the above, and Pareto smiles.

Anyway, my notes below.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94740
December 17, 1979 (Monday)
s1s2p walscoller aud shnid-106057

--set I (4 tracks, 62:37)--
s1t01. [0:14] Sugaree// [22:15#] %
s1t02. //Catfish John [12:38] [0:09]
s1t03. That's Alright Mama [10:25] [0:41]
s1t04. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [16:16] %

--set II (3 tracks, 47:54, probably incomplete)--
s2t01. /After Midnight [#14:16] [0:07] %
s2t02. Simple Twist Of Fate [19:39] %
s2t03. /Harder They Come [#13:45] [0:07] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #11a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers - keyboards, synthesizers;
! lineup: John d'Fonseca - drums;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19791217-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/106057 (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: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! listing: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, December 16, 1979, p. 18

! ad: San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle Datebook, December 16, 1979, p. 30

! seealso: JGMF, "Checking Myself: JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, December 20, 1979"

! historical: show was originally scheduled for Sunday night, 12/16, but moved to Monday for reasons unknown to me.

! R: Recording Info: Unknown Mics -> ? -> Cassette (Maxell UDXLII)

! R: Transfer Info: Cassette (Nakamichi DR-1) -> Sound Devices 744T (24bit/96k) -> Adobe Audition v3.0 -> Samplitude Professional v11.03 -> FLAC/16 (2 Discs Audio / 1 Disc FLAC). All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller charliemiller87@earthlink.net February 14, 2010

! R: seeder notes: -- Thanks to Joani Walker and Paul Scotton for the tapes -- Thanks to Joe B. Jones for his help with the pitch correction

! R: this recording is clean. The keyboards are way forward and the bass is buried, the guitar also a little low.

! R: s1t01 Sugaree cuts out

! P: s1t01 Sugaree tempo variability, Johnny D trying to figure out where Jerry wants to be. But if you know this tune from this era, you know it's good. Many hold 12/21/79 to be the one of the best. Certainly the guitar work Jerry is doing in the 14-minute range and forward is outstanding. Standing big layers of notes 15:23. Still big peaky stuff 19.

! R: s1t02 CJ cuts in

! P: s1t03 TAM wonky start, but Jerry just bulldozes it forward and Johnny D jumps on almost immediately once Jerry really sets things. He's good. Things still wonky, but he's doing as well as anyone might.

! P: s1t04 HSII sounds a little off key for a bit, JG can't remember the lyrics in the first verse or so.

! R: s2t01 AM clips in

! P: s2t01 AM JG and JD are not syncd at all to start the tune. It's really pretty bad until about 2, when it seems to synchronize. Talk near taper @0:56: "Jerry's just like a jazz musician". More conversation that is nearly audible, someone could probably get ears on it and report out. Still late 5 it doesn't sound to me like the drums are doing what they need to be doing. JG also sounds pretty out of it on this whole version. Nothing of note here.

! P: s2t02 STOF good high peaky guitar work 10. John should take his feature late 10, but Ozzie takes it. Tempos a little unsure. John is fluttering behind, Ozzie pretty perfunctory, now John steps out a little more 11:38, still not very loud. JG steps out 13:34, crowd gives John a nice round of applause.

! R: s2t03 HTC cuts in. I cannot put my finger on what feels off this night, other than everything. Jerry's voice is still high, but it lacks oomph and range. He really needs backing vocalists to fill it out that aspect of the band's sound. All night the tempos have struck me as off.

Saxophone Somewhere Far Off Played: JGB at the Warfield, December 2, 1989

If you are following along, you might notice that I listened to a bunch of early December shows from various years, but am late in posting them. It's rare for me to get enough contiguous time to listen and note and post these days.

My notes on this show, from a soundboard tape (shnid-117562) and the balcony tape of the great and wonderful Marcus Buick (Campolindo HS '87) (shnid-81060), are pretty spare, and I don't particularly have tons to say here, so just a few comments.

First, Clarence Clemons is here this night, but was not present the night before. I raved about that show, in part because its Clarencelessness suits me. But he is good this night, and I just love how the crowd shows him and a knowing, careful Jerry some love on the "saxophone somewhere far off played" line of Dylan's "Simple Twist Of Fate".

Second, maybe not quite as strong as the night before, but this is a characteristically strong gig for the late '89 Jerry Band. Garcia sounds articulate, energetic, focused right out of the gate. He sings intentionally. He plays well.

Third, "Don't Let Go" is good, maybe even very good. It certainly makes I had been there with Bu, ogling (while guarding) those Brüel & Kjær 4011s.

I won't bother with a jump - listening notes follow.

~~~~~

LN jg1989-12-02.jgb.all.aud-buick.81060.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band

Warfield Theater

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

December 2, 1989 Saturday - 8 PM

Buick MAD shnid-81060

--set I (7 tracks, 57:25)--

s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:31] [1:05]

s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:38] [1:24]

s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:35] [1:08]

s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:35] [0:50]

s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:35] [0:27]

s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:22] ->

s1t07. Deal [7:01] [0:11]

--set II (7 tracks, 73:52)--

s2t01. [0:06] Harder They Come [11:34] [1:25]

s2t02. I Shall Be Released [11:45] [1:00]

s2t03. Someday Baby [7:07] [1:23]

s2t04. Waiting For A Miracle [5:49] [0:54]

s2t05. And It Stoned Me [7:42] [0:31]

s2t06. Don't Let Go [17:10] ->

s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [7:08] [0:15]

! 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;

! guest: Clarence Clemons - saxophone.

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/19891202-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/6310 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22513 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22514 (Schoeps shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/81060 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/117562 (sbd flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/123333 (Schoeps s2 flac1644)

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

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

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

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

! R: field recordist: Marcus Buick

! R: field recording gear: 2x Brüel & Kjær 4011 microphones (handheld) > Aerco PS @ 29.3dB > Panasonic SV-250

! R: field recording location: balcony seats 107-109 Row D,E

! R: lineage: master DAT > Sony PCM 601 > Sony SL-360 beta/0 > Sony SL-HF450 playback > Sony PCM-601 > Digital Domain VSP-P > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe soundcard > Cool Edit 2000 > flac encoding. Transfer by David "The Machine" Minches.

! R: s1t01 HSII fades in.

! P: s1t01 HSII great energy, especially at the end, Garcia giving extra oomph to the vocals.

! R: s1t02 TLEO digisnit @ 5:54.

! P: s1t03 STOF crowd gives a good knowing hand at the "saxophone somewhere far off played" line. Garcia is singing this with beautiful care. And I am enjoying Clarence's contributions this night, unusually. 8:45 or so some kind of hassle, maybe somebody objects to the taping, or is getting in the taping space ... But a really nice STOF.

~~~~~

LN jg1989-12-02.jgb.all.sbd-arf.117562.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band

The Warfield

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

December 2, 1989 (Saturday)

sbd shnid-117562

--set I (7 tracks, 55:36)--

s1t01. //How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [#6:13] [1:04]

s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:30] [1:22]

s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:15] [1:07]

s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:28] [0:50]

s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:22] [0:05] %

s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:21] ->

s1t07. Deal [6:55] (1) [0:06]

--set II (7 tracks, 69:59)--

s2t01. Harder They Come [11:21] [1:22]

s2t02. I Shall Be Released [11:31] [0:08] %

s2t03. Someday Baby [7:01] %

s2t04. Waiting For A Miracle [5:51] [0:52]

s2t05. And It Stoned Me [7:40] % [0:08]

s2t06. Don't Let Go [16:58] ->

s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [7:04] (2) [0:04]

! ACT1: JGB #21b

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - bass;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: David Kemper - drums;

! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;

! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals;

! guest: Clarence Clemons - saxophone.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [mm: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 [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/19891202-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/6310 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22513 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22514 (Schoeps shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/81060 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/117562 (sbd flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/123333 (Schoeps s2 flac1644)

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

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

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

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

! R: source: Soundboard > ? > 2C (three tape sides, unknown generation)

! R: lineage: trade cassettes (Dolby B) > Harmon Kardon TD 302 (Dolby B on, heads aligned to each tape side) > Zoom H2 @16/44.1 > SDHC card > PC > tracked & edited with wavepad > flac level 8 & checksums with traderslittlehelper. Transfer by arfarf, December 9, 2011.

! R: seeder notes: Additional tape edits on the source recording are ...at the start of s2t03, and at 07:40 of s2t05

! R: s1t01 HSII cuts in

! P: s1t01 HSII JG sounds amazingly articulate, focused, energized right out of the gate.

! s1t03 STOF bass feature 6:25ff-8:25ish.

! s1t07 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2t06 DLG nice. Garcia steps up the pace around 11:30, and it's nice.

! s2t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot, everybody. See y'all later."

Segueing Out of Stony Brook: JGB in Pritchard Gym, SUNY Stony Brook, December 4, 1983

Lawn Guy Land, and especially SUNY Stony Brook, stands in the pantheon as one of the ground zero sites of the birth and development of the East Coast Deadhead and, by derivation, of the East Coast Garcia Freak. The Dead played Pritchard Gym on campus very early on, and, as so often happened, the Garcia Band followed, playing it in '77, '80, and, finally, on December 4, 1983.

Garcia's Bands in Pritchard Gym, SUNY Stony Brook. Source: Jerrybase.

The fall '83 JGB tour, undertaken largely by bus, bears all the hallmarks of this year in Our Hero's life, a little grungy, previewing the troubles that would become even more marked over the next few years --shorter sets, vocal limitations-- but playing LOUD, raging guitar and generally making up in enthusiasm what it lacked in precision.

His Stony Brook swan song illustrates all of this. Here's the lede from a show review in the campus paper, The Statesman:

In today's world of molded plastic superstars Jerry Garcia is a breath of fresh air. Rick Springfield fans wouldn't appreciate Garcia; he is old, fat and looks like he's just a step away from burning out. A person not familiar with Garcia would be more likely to ask when his last hot meal was, and not for an autograph (Reiss 1983).

The reviewer, who probably didn't stand close to Jerry (where the air was presumably rather unfresh), extols his authenticity, offering very good perspective on this Garcia era: not a picture of health, but making good music.

SUNY Stony Brook Statesman, v27 n37 (December 7, 1983), Alternatives section, p. 1A.

He makes mistakes, but he recovers and even makes up for them with a little extra added something. He hits some vocal clams, but he blasts so loudly on guitar that maybe the fans --buying up all of the 2,200+ tickets, moving over $22k Jerry and Co.'s way, and *very* knowledgeable-- might not hear the next hiccups through their ringing ears. The band works with and around him, but mostly just gets shoved aside by Garcia's overflowing ideas, limitless playing vocabulary, and sheer decibels. The show is very good, and the closing medley, rare (for JGB) true segues of "Don't Let Go" -> "Deal" -> "Tangled Up In Blue", is absolutely outstanding. Every DLG is at least good, most are very good, and a great many are great. It was very well-played in this period, and the crowd, which recognizes it out of the gate, gets treated to a great one this night, which merits a "holy camoley" from me, earns the "monster" designation, and very neatly drops into Deal after a 20 minute journey which feels efficient, packing huge punch every step of the way. The medley is worth the 45 minutes of your ear time, and provides a fitting end to Garcia's illustrious Stony Brook career.

It ain't broken, but it's badly bent.

So good that he earned a rare-for-the-tour night in a hotel bed, at what I am sure is the lovely Holiday Inn in Hauppage.

Listening notes after the jump.