Rockygrass 2016

http://www.afterfm.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/rocky.grass

From the Picky Deadhead Department

Nice to see people reading around some old posts. My writing is so tortured, but I do still love some of the ground we have covered together. Thanks for your support.


From the Picky Deadhead Department

I happily bought 7/5/73 (Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders, GarciaLive 6: July 5th 1973, Lion's Share [Round Records, JGFRR1009, 2016]), knowing more or less exactly what I was getting. I love the aesthetics, I will give the much-appreciated liner notes a good, close read, and the music is well-chosen and sounds nice.

Two complaints.

First, the CDs fit too snugly on the plastic center rings - 2 of 3 cracked when I lifted out the discs. Yes, I am hard on things, but they're too tight.

Second, more delicate, but said with love and admiration for the social compact that has always bound the Dead and its fans, and in the hope that the Garcias might honor it, too. Here's a little "open letter" for your consideration.

Thanks for the music, Round Records. Now, let's talk about your promise that "every effort was made to prepare this performance for release in a manner that honors the spirit of its creation."

GarciaLive 6 is lovely in many ways, but let's recognize that you have repackaged and sold to your customers what we already had - copies of Rob Eaton's 1996 DAT transcriptions of Betty's master reels. Yet, as the Dead have shown with the smash hit July 1978 box set, arrangements truer to the spirit of things were available, and we might have heard fresh transcriptions from those beautiful master reels.

Please consider, in the future, that your fans support you carrying forward Jerry's musical legacy - which, let's face it, is really the heart of the matter. I will buy the musical product that you put on sale, conditional only on not being ripped off.

I don't think Round has crossed the line -- this isn't Steal Your Face, after all, heh heh --  but it's actually pretty close. When Fantasy resold me the same July 10-11, 1973 Keystone material for the fourth time -- vinyl, cassette, CDs, CD boxset -- I confess to having felt a little burned, a case where the Saunders folks advertised wrinkles as creases [Barlow]. I have only myself to blame, I guess I knew, but it was still pretty unfortunate.

I know you aren't getting rich on any of this. I am happy to pay a fair price for a fair product. If that means I pay a little more because the miraculous market demands a little price for those original reels, from my perspective, so be it. I am no audiophile, but I appreciate the beautiful sound of beautiful music, well -recorded and optimally-preserved and -presented.


Thanks, overall, for good product. Again, I love the look, feel, sound, substantiveness of the Round Records releases. I remain a loyal customer. Let's take it to the next level of openness and respect. Use the jazz model for dating - I want every information on every fragment. Don't use a picture of 11/26/77 in a release of 3/22/78 without making a note of it. Tell us about the tape diameter (e.g., 10"), stock (e.g., Scotch ?207?), the speed at which it was recorded (e.g., 15 ips), the record deck (e.g., Betty's Nagra, serial number SL11183), etc. Include it all, make it correct, please & thank you.

Looking forward to 11/8/76, and to more to come.

Sincerely Yours,

JGMF

UCSB '78

Corry has a post on the GD / Warren Zevon / Elvin Bishop / Wahkoo gig at UCSB on July 4, 1978.

I have two followups, a tape beg and a tangential piece of metadata.

First, does anyone have a copy of the Elvin Bishop set, with Jerry sitting in? Apparently there is an aud tape of it.

Second, at http://www.dead.net/show/june-4-1978 commenter jacksondownunder writes

I caught the soundcheck the day before [i.e., 6/3/78]. As I wandered up to the side gate the band was jamming a long instrumental "Dancin'" riff. They eventually stopped and Bobby & Jerry started playing the melody of an old Harry Belafonte song called "Yellow Bird" on twin slide guitars. (I recognized the tune, having heard it on my parent's records hundreds of times.) Then the band started jamming a riff that at the time I presumed was an instrumental vamp of Feat's "Dixie Chicken" (plausible), which is listed above as Iko (possible), but as it followed another Harry Belafonte song it coulda been "Women Smarter" (probable). The half dozen of us kindred strangers made the mistake of applauding and were chased off.

The writer thinks "Women Smarter" more likely, but I am going to go with Iko Iko, which had entered the Dead's rotation in 1977. That's speculative, caveat emptor.


I don't recall that info being in Deadlists, or if that entered the Deadbase 50 updates, but it should be a bit more firmly on the record than I recall it being.

A list of known soundchecks would be fun to see.

Desolation Row

Man, at like 9:30 of this incredible, late-Mydland era Dead version of Dylan's "Desolation Row"(track 4) Garcia thrusts into a scuba-evoking scream of

Between the windows of the sea
Where lovely mermaids flow

harmonizing behind Weir, who delivers a BOAT-contending version. Outstanding!
Thanks to Joani Walker, Paul Scotton, Charlie Miller for the tunes.

! song: "Desolation Row" http://www.whitegum.com/~acsa/songfile/DESOLATI.HTM

GarciaLive 7: JGB from Sophie's, 11/8/76

Fresh tape.

Tracklist, via Nick: http://www.jambase.com/article/donna-jean-godchaux-find-leads-garcialive-volume-seven
Sneak preview of one track via David Browne: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/premieres/hear-jerry-garcia-bands-jubliant-live-mighty-high-from-1976-w431440.

At dead.net. a commenter says

In today's Relix magazine they interview Donna Jean who found some more tapes in a box in one of the Godchaux houses. It's a Betty board. This is November 8th 1976 at Sophie's in Palo Alto. Band was Jerry, Keith & Donna, John Kahn and Ron Tutt. Comes out August 19th. Not seeing it on www.jerrygarcia.com or amazon as advertised. Songs include 'Ride Mighty High' and 'Mission In The Rain'

http://www.dead.net/store/1970s/daves-picks-volume-19#comment-851376

Very cool - looking forward to it.

Full concerts from the Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ, 1973-87

RIP, Harvey Lubar

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pressdemocrat/obituary.aspx?n=harvey-sheldon-lubar&pid=180700019

Harvey Lubar was a true Mensch. Farewell.

San Francisco Sessions, 1971

I have been processing information from contracts filed at the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local No. 6 in San Francisco.

• San Francisco Sessions, 1967-1968
• San Francisco Sessions, 1969
• San Francisco Sessions, 1970
• San Francisco Sessions, 1971
• San Francisco Sessions, 1972

There is nothing representative about these – I have information on stuff that is a degree or two from Garcia, and a few other random tidbits of idiosyncratic interest to me.

A few points of note, for me.

• Danny Cox using the Saunders-Kahn-Vitt (and Garcia!) band in July
• 9/30/71 Garcia and Santana together on a contract
• More busy Jeffersons
• Rowan Brothers getting busy second half of ‘71
• Etc.

List after the jump.