Saturday, March 12, 2011

Jerry Garcia and John Scher

Probably premature for me to post about this, since there's probably tons to say and I haven't really combed through, less still thought much about it. But just came across a little 1982 Billboard piece (1) documenting a big move by John Scher into NYC. According to the reporter, "The move ends a de facto situation where Scher stayed west of the Hudson River while Ron Delsener dominated the New York City market."

The first show for Scher's big move? Jerry Garcia (and John Kahn) acoustic at the Beacon Theatre, New York, NY, April 21, 1982. They'd play early and late shows and would be joined by opener Dr. John on "Goodnight Irene" to close the evening. Being the lucky fans that we are, we have multiple sources in circulation for these shows: 14718 (my fave, a decent late show sbd), 29187, 29188, 88761.

Corry has written about the extremely intimate relationship between Garcia and Bay Area club promoter Freddie Herrera (see here), who ran the Keystone clubs (see here). Garcia's relationship with Scher needs the same kind of treatment. I think the ca. 1973-1983 fates of Garcia's side stuff and John Scher's enterprises were deeply intertwined. I have no space for it here time for it now, but just wanted to put down a marker.

REFERENCE:
(1) Roman Kozak, "John Scher Moves East of Hudson," Billboard, April 24, 1982, p. 44; accessed via Google Books.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousMonday, January 2, 2012 at 8:30:00 PM MST

    John's relationship with Jerry intensified after an arrest in or around Philly necessitated someone to bail out Garcia; John got the call, made the trip, and together they made Bill Graham's blood boil until the end...the end.

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  2. Fate MusicMonday, January 2, 2012 at 10:59:00 PM MST

    We briefly discussed the former piece here once. I figured that must have been the bust 3/27/73, Mount Holly, NJ.

    I'd like to hear more about the latter piece. Garcia's relationship with Scher was certainly a ... no, the linchpin of Garcia's non-GD touring career, just as his relationship with Freddie Herrera was the linchpin to his hometown side career until Graham (presumably) made Garcia a better offer ca. 1987.

    I have never seen much written or said about the Scher-Graham relationship, related to Garcia or in general. I would sure like to learn more ... jgmfblog@gmail.com.

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!Thank you for joining the conversation!