Sunday, December 31, 2017

Dull as Dishwater in a Classic Art Deco Movie Palace: JGB, Astor Theatre, Reading, PA, September 20, 1976 late show

zzzzz

LN jg1976-09-20.jgb.late.aud-peters.138205.flac1644

The rooms sounds fantastic, but the show bores me to tears, except for some nice flowing guitar work in "Catfish John". My copy of the band itinerary lacks the pages after Ithaca College (9/18), but for that gig they flew in and out of Teterboro, coming back to the St. Moritz and New York City. Not sure if they would have flown or taken limos two-and-a-half hours to Reading, but either way I am sure John Scher took care of it, and a good time was had by all.

Jerry Garcia Band
Astor Theatre
734 Penn Street
Reading, PA 19602
September 20, 1976 (Monday) - 11 PM (late show)
Peters MAC flac1644 shnid-138205

--complete show (9 tracks, 85:58)--
t01. //The Way You Do The Things You Do [#7:19] %
t02. //Catfish John [#10:29] % [0:08]
t03. Sugaree [10:27] %
t04. Knockin On Heaven's Door [13:49] %
t05. Mystery Train [9:57] %
t06. Tore Up Over You [8:58] [0:07] %% [0:04]
t07. Mission In The Rain [8:27] ->
t08. My Sisters And Brothers [7:13] [0:04] %
t09. //Ride Mighty High [#7:18] [0:04] %

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

JGMF:

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19760920-02

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/18745 (early and late MAC shnf); this fileset.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/nfCnX1tMVAU2

! venue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Theater_%28Reading,_Pennsylvania%29; http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/9140.

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/astor-theater-730-42-penn-st-reading-pa.html.

! ad: Mercury (??? city ???), September 16, 1976, p. 22.

! R: field recordist: Dave Peters

! R: field recording gear: Sony F99S microphone > Sony TC-126

! R: field recording media: 1x? TDK-D90

! R: transfer: JVC TD-R462 > Audacity > TLH Flac8

! R: seeder notes: "Tape paused between some tracks. NO ISSUES."

! R: tape genealogy: "So the story goes: I answered an ad on Craigslist for 500 free Grateful Dead tapes. On picking them up from the taper, I'm also informed he and a friend recorded other bands through the 70's. These were never circulated, and deemed inferior in quality. When I inquired about digitizing his masters, he laughingly obliged. Most of the old Ampex and BASF tapes are in poor shape, several completely off the spool, and many squealing badly, these will be baked in an attempt to salvage them. I will be presenting the ones of superior quality only. I do believe these shows will be lovingly embraced by the Dime community, and will be shared here exclusively. Zombiwoof to Dime 2017 series."

! R: t01 TWYDTTYD cuts in

! P: t02 CJ this version gets some extension at the end, and 8:30ff Garcia's guitar work flows like a river.

! P: t05 MT some nice bendy notes 7:45 ish.

! P: t07-t08 true segue

! R: t09 RMH cuts in

'We're Havin' Fun" - Healthy, Happy Jerry at the Greek, July 10, 1988

LN jg1988-07-10.jgb.all.aud-reutelhuber.25416.shn2flac

God, this is such a fantastic fileset.

First, the legendary Bill Reutelhuber pulled a tape that just grabs you by the collar and forces you to listen. It is right in your face, in the best possible way.

Second --and I hope this isn't just a tape artifact!-- the show, too, brings tremendous power and energy. It ain't perfect, and in fact there are lots of vocal flubs and occasional group stumbles. But the guitar work elicits notes like "sear" (Like A Road), "incendiary" and "MASSIVE SCRUB" (GOOMLW), "grunge" and "huge peaky notes" (Deal), "extremely hot, with some major fireworks" (Think). Interestingly, the DLG didn't light me up, but I'd like to give it another listen. Garcia sings inventively and with gusto the whole afternoon.

After Forever Young, Jerry avers "We're havin' fun", and it sure does sound like it. I consider this period a peak one for Garcia's health and happiness. His band wasn't playing a ton, but throughout the year, when it did, it and he sounded glad to be making music. 1988 featured a number of guest shots (Howard Wales a couple of times), some rare stage talk (this show), and a number of musically compelling one-offs (Blues for El Salvador on 1/23/88) and sit-ins (Zero in Golden Gate Park before the Dead's Greek show six days after this gig, 7/16/88, a sit-in with Los Lobos at Laguna Seca on 7/31/88). I think we all agree that this probably indicates a Jerry who is relatively clean and loving life. Check it out, or play it for a Jerry-curious friend. You'll be glad you did.

Jerry Garcia Band
Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley
2001 Gayley Road
Berkeley, CA 94720
July 10, 1988 (Sunday)
Reutelhuber-Miller shnid-25416 shn2flac

--set I (7 tracks, 52:43)--
s1t01. [0:10] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:12] [2:45]
s1t02. Mission In The Rain [8:44] [0:44]
s1t03. Like A Road Leading Home [8:00] [0:24]
s1t04. Get Out Of My Life, Woman [8:00] % (1) [0:24]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [4:48] [0:16]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:24] ->
s1t07. Deal [7:38] (2) [0:13] %

--set II (7 tracks, 61:35)--
s2t01. Harder They Come [10:18] [0:39]
s2t02. Stop That Train [8:05] [0:24]
s2t03. Forever Young [8:28] (3) [0:47]
s2t04. Think [7:46] [0:22]
s2t05. Evangeline [3:23] [0:04]
s2t06. That Lucky Old Sun [8:58] ->
s2t07. Don't Let Go [12:15] (3) [0:07]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #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; [ ] = 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/19880710-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/13988 (Dan Cole s2 MAC, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/17635 (John Corley MAC, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/25416 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/WkbbdJBKCKJ2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/greek-theater-1815-4th-street-berkeley.html

! R: field recordist: Bill Reutelhuber

! R: field recording location: FOB

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi 700/CP701 > Reutelhuber power supply > Sony TCD5m

! R: transfer: Cassette Master (Nakamichi Deck/Azmituth Aligned) -> Mytek Digital ADC8X96 ->
Nuendo (24bit/44.1k) ->  Samplitude v7.02 Professional -> SHN (2 Discs Audio / 2 Discs SHN); transferred By Bill Reutelhuber, tracked and SHN'd Charlie Miller, charliemiller87@earthlink.net, 8/5/04; ; jgmf shn2flac 4/18/2015.

! R: Right out of the gate, this tape is a force to be reckoned with. Vocals a little low, instrumentation just shapely. This is a great tape - I love Bill Reutelhuber's work on every level - every tape of his sounds great. Nak 700s have a wonderful bassy fullness that really works when taper is in a great spot with the right angles, everything custom modified by Bill himself (in later years the DAT Brats and others would shorthand this his power supply as a Billbox).

! P: s1t01 HSII does Garcia start on the second verse? Does it go "needed the shelter" and then "opened my eyes at night"? So over 1, he realizes it, but he just decides to go with it. OK, 1:45 he completes the inversion of the first two verses, not in his head about it, sounds strong and focused. Then he does the second verse again, and all is well. (So he does it 2nd verse - 1st verse - 2nd verse.)

! P: s1t02 MITR sounds a little wonky out of the chute, but as they swing into the body of the song they have found each other and the groove.

! P: s1t03 LARLH I am hearing a lot of vocal flubs, which is not really that surprising - xxx JGB #21b dates in this period. Garcia sounds totally engaged, just a little rusty. Vocal inflection 3:22 is great, now his guitar solo late 3 is outstanding! The band swirling up scaffold and webbing, Garcia putting some sear on it.

! P: s1t04 GOOMLW Kemper doesn't jump this as hard as he sometimes did, but he is just such a wonderful drummer. 3:20 Melvin brings in some really bright organ. In 5 Garcia's guitar is as incendiary as 1984 - this is brilliantly urgent guitar playing, aggressive, expressive. @@ 5:57 does a MASSIVE SCRUB, but they lose the tempo for 15 seconds thereafter. I think the band was as stunned at what it was hearing as the crowd, which is gasping and hollering. They lose each other again a little bit. This show does feel like squeaking, rusty metal (which is a good thing) - tons of energy, but there's some grit to oil out.

! s1t04 (1) someone hollers "turn up the bass!", which is a good point. I think that awakens John a little bit, because on RFTR he is audible for the first time. (It's possible I merely perceive it because it was primed by the request - that'd be interesting.)

! P: s1t05 RFTR same flavor as everything so far: a little sloppy, but great energy.

! P: s1t06 Sis and Bros he flubs the lyrics, again!

! P: s1t07 Deal again lots of great grunge, Garcia taking long runs up and down the fretboard through late 3, blended bend right over 4, terrific energy, stacking 4:15. This playing is easily the equal of anything in the first half of the 1980s. At 5:33 they hit a great little platform, and Garcia, in great form, decides not to drop back to the song, but to play his guitar, loudly, for awhile longer. 6:10 huge peaky notes, crowd reports pleasure.

! s1t07 (2) JG set break announcement

! P: s2t03 FY is rather a clusterfuck. He screams at 7:25 ish and it's great, but things are just a little loosy-goosy. More yelling 7:56, screaming, very nice, long vocal sustain 8:08 on the word "stay" ... very cool.

! s2t03 (3) @ 9:00 JG: "We're havin' fun."

! P: s2t04 Think extremely hot, with some major fireworks late 5. Garcia sounds absolutely fantastic. Great feedback over extended notes 6. Man, this is great.

! s2t07 (3) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll see y'all later."

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Paper Inspiration


In the man-cave in which JGMF happens, I mostly work while facing this wall. My aim is to build a poster collection (which might, naturally, spill over onto other walls) with posters for as many Garcia On The Side configurations as I can. I don't have a ton of money for this, so I often get stuff that's dinged, folded, torn, etc. I think that gives it character. The good news is that GOTS is less collected than GD, so there isn't that much demand for what I am looking for.

1. Is the Stanley Mouse's "Purple Pig" for the Carousel (late spring '68) Tuesday Night Jam sessions. This is the only one of this size I have ever seen. This is more or less the GOTS uhr-moment, since the handbills show Jerry's name, outside the GD, for the first time in the GD era.

2. Mickey and the Hartbeats, October 1968.

3. Probably the first color-printed mention of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. This is the back page of a complete copy of the Seattle Helix vol. 9 no. 3 (ca. August 19, 1969), billing GD and NRPS at the Greenlake Aquatheatre on August 20, 1969. Of course, this gig was canceled and we know from Corry that the fellas went and played some bar in Ballard instead.

4. Family Dog and the Common on the Great Highway offer "Magic at the Edge of the Western World", including NRPS on 11/18/69. Strictly speaking this and #5 are redundant, but, well, sue me. I like "the Common" a lot, and I like the catch-phrase, and I like the colors.

5. NRPS headlining the Fillmore West. I like this for the arc of the NRPS that it describes, shepherded by Midas Garcia from the local hofbrau to the top of the poster, eventually to strike out on its own on the foundation that Jerry laid, including big-time record contract with Clive Davis.

6. JGMS 11/8/72, one of the few posters I have seen that lists Tom Fogerty.

7. JGMS with Martin and Sarah Fulcher, Legal Aid at Winterland 10/2/73. This one is signed by artist Randy Tuten, but that's sort of like having a Bob Feller-autographed baseball card - they're rarer without the signature.

8 & 9. Two beauties from the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, lots of neat icons and such. These posters were hanging in the AWHQ lobby in advance of the shows, the story goes, and have the pinholes to prove it.

10. Reconstruction at Temple Beautiful, 8/10/79.

What's missing?

JGMS pre-Fogerty: there's a poster from the Matrix for the February 2-3, 1971 shows

Garcia-Wales: there is a beautifully colorful poster for 1/22/72 in Syracuse, but boy is it rare. I hadn't even heard of the show, let alone seen poster, until it came to be in my blogging capacity. I don't recall any other posters from the short east coast tour.

OAITW: very few to choose from. The most common one is from Bimbo's on 5/25/73, which had Bill Graham's involvement in support of a school support program called "Sumerland". I really, really, really want a copy of that poster, but it's expensive. The copy you see at the link, as beat up as it is, is retailing for $725 at Wolfgang's. Even handbills are several hundred. There is some advertising for 10/5/73 in Santa Cruz and 11/4/73 at Sonoma State, but I can't tell if these are posters rather than handbills or advertisements.

Great American String/Music Band: No posters that I can think of, though the 7/7/74 canceled gig is a near-miss, and I'd gladly put a clean copy on my wall for giggles.

JGMS 1974: I presume Tutt was drumming for the Austin shows, so it'd be great to have posters for the group with Kreutzmann (1/17/74 through 9/2/74) and Paul Humphrey (ca. 10/12/74 through November). There are random handbills here and there -- I'd love a copy of the Rheem Theater 2/9/74 paper, whatever its dimensions-- , but I can't think of posters for either of these configurations, and any that exist would be very, very rare (and correspondingly dear). I can live without representation at that level of granularity.

JGB #1 with Nicky: Looks like there is a poster for the De Anza College gig on 10/10 that has at one time been available through Wolfgang's Vault. It must be very rare. Any others? edit: I see one from St. Paul, 11/22/75.

JGB in the Keith and Donna era: several to choose from. I am eyeing the one from the Del Mar Theater on 8/16/76, which has some great icons. There are others from this three year period - I won't be picky about drummers.

JGB in the Ozzie/JohnnyD era: very few to choose from, one from Stony Brook, probably a few others. Very hard to find.

JGB pre-Kemper - not that many out there, I am not chomping at the bit to find one. Kemper era things are plentiful, and I already have several (not pictured). Post-Kemper, not sure there are any posters, per se - maybe for some of the SoCal shows. But I am not too worried about that.

In brief, though, if you have something you think I might need, please let me know! I am into smaller stuff, too, any Garcia ephemera, really, but it doesn't end up on the wall.

Friday, December 29, 2017

NOT Jacklyn's Debut: JGB at the River Theater, Guerneville, October 24, 1982


UPDATE 20211026: Jackie has clearly stated that she and DeeDee joined the band in January 1983. So, as of now, this is the first show with the late '82 mystery (unidentified) singers backing vocalists Elisecia Wright and Shirley Faulkner.

The man who taped this show has just passed away. RIP, John Anzaldo. This is a nice tape

This is presently understood to be Jacklyn LaBranch's debut with the Garcia Band, along with DeeDee Dickerson, following a brief four-show stint as a quartet (of which I have written up the first and last). Welcome, Ms. Jacklyn! She'd sing with Jerry until the very end, 4/23/95.

Love love love Guerneville and the River Theater. The handbill notes minors welcome, doors open 8:30, drinks 1/2 price until the show starts. D'oh! Since JG might not come on until 11, this might have cost ol' Mark Anthony some coin.

LN jg1982-10-24.jgb.all.aud-anzaldo.99221.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
River Theater
16135 Main Street
Guerneville, CA 95446-8301
October 24, 1982 (Sunday)
John Anzaldo MAC shnid-99221

--set I (6 tracks, 47:13)--
s1t01. crowd and tuning [0:24]
s1t02. (I'm A) Road Runner [9:05] [0:02]
s1t03. They Love Each Other [7:52] [0:10]
s1t04. Sitting In Limbo [12:17]
s1t05. Let It Rock [7:55] ->
s1t06. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:21] [0:05]

--set II (6 tracks, 50:21)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [0:08]
s2t02. Sugaree [15:48]
s2t03. Love In The Afternoon [12:17]
s2t04. Run For The Roses [6:25] ->
s2t05. Valerie [6:52] ->
s2t06. Deal [8:46] [0:02]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! 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/19821024-01

! JGC: jerrygarcia.com/show/1982-10-24

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/74618 (unknown aud); http://etreedb.org/shn/99221 (this fileset).

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

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

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

! R: field recordist: John Anzaldo

! R: field recording location: (slightly) Jerry's side, 5-10' from stage

! R: field recording gear: Sony ECM 929LT > Sony WM-D6C (TDK SA-C90, no NR)

! R: Transfer (JA): Nakamichi CR-7A playback > Creative SB Audigy 2 > Creative WaveStudio > CD; Editing (jj): EAC > CDWave > Sony SoundForge Studio 7 (patching, smoothed tape transitions) > shntool > TLH (FLAC level 8); Editing (DM): TLH decode > Adobe Audition 2.0 (pitch correction -0.9%) > TLH (FLAC level 8).

! R: Waaay upfront sound ... vox nearly inaudible, nice in-your-face guitar tone. Very nice listen, IMO, despite some abrupt tape transitions and tight editing. I have smoothed most of the tape transitions. This is a different master than the one that circulates under shnid 74618. That one sounds to be a bit farther back, with more crowd noise but also more vox and high-end. Thanks to John Anzaldo for taping, transferring and sharing, and to Joe B. Jones for help with pitch correction.

! P: The show is perhaps  below average for the period, with Jerry's vocals sounding particularly rough in the second set. It is interesting in a few respects, though. First, there are a few relative rarities. Per TJS, his is the 3rd to last version of RR (11/15/82a, 1/13/83) and the last JGB version of Sitting in Limbo (Garcia/Grisman would revive it on 12/7/91). Perhaps coincidentally, this version of SIL kind of falls apart near the end. Second, this is the first show for Elisecia Wright and Shirley Faulkner. I don't hear them until Let it Rock, and then only a little @ start. They are there on HSII (though they seem to be throwing JG's groove off a little bit, and their singing over the verses suggests that their arrangments have really been worked out). I don't hear them after HSII, but you can't hear them very well. I am not sure if they are turned down, even off-mic, only participating intermittently, or if this has to do with the fact that the tape isn't picking up the PA.

! R: s1t01 Roadrunner level fluctuations.

! R: s1t03 TLEO clips in.

! P: s1t05 Let it Rock reaches some good heights - probably the hightlight of the show. Very, very good.

! P: s1t05-6 LIR > HSII transition is pretty unique, imperfect but interesting.

! R: s2t03 LITA first 0:27 missing from this tape. I patched it in from shnid 74618 with a 1s cross-fade. The level rise @ 0:55 was from the master tape.

! R: s2t04 RFTR clipped in on this tape. I patched the first 0.949s (+ 0.5s crossfade) from shnid-74618. The level rise @ start and drop @ 0:22 was from the master tape.

! R: s2t05 Valerie levels come up at ca. 3-min mark.

! R: s2t06 Deal major brief level rise @ 5:30 (maybe a splice, tape flip?).

JGB at the Eel River, Humboldt County, June 10, 1989

Jerry Feelin' It: JGB at the Eel River, 6/10/89, photographer Steve Walker

LN jg1989-06-10.jgb.all.aud-schoeps-ladner.17116.shn2flac

Nice tape. Jerry sounds absolutely wonderful, still healthy and happy. Very solid show from a very solid year of shows for the ol' Garcia Band.

Jerry Garcia Band
French's Camp on the Eel River
Piercy, CA 95542
June 10, 1989 (Saturday)
Schoeps CMC3-MK4 shnid-17716 shn2flac

--set I (9 tracks, 8 tunes, 61:00)--
s1t01. crowd and tuning [1:26]
s1t02. I'll Take A Melody [9:55] [1:01]
s1t03. They Love Each Other [6:09] [0:46]
s1t04. Get Out Of My Life Woman [7:30] [1:04]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [5:16] [0:29]
s1t06. Stop That Train [7:51] [0:04]
s1t07. Mission In The Rain [7:53] ->
s1t08. My Sisters And Brothers [4:10]
s1t09. Deal [7:18] (1) [0:07]

--set II (10 tracks, 9 tunes, 79:25)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [0:56]
s2t02. Harder They Come [10:49] [0:14]
s2t03. Waiting For A Miracle [6:04] [0:15]
s2t04. I Shall Be Released [10:04] [0:33]
s2t05. Think [7:54]
s2t06. I Hope It Won't Be This Way, Always [4:50] ->
s2t07. Don't Let Go [13:58] [0:32]
s2t08. Evangeline [3:31] [0:04]
s2t09. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [8:46] ->
s2t10. Tangled Up In Blue [10:21] (2) [0:38]

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

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/19890610-01


! official: All of Jerry's Eel River shows are now officially released. http://www.deaddisc.com/disc/Electric_On_The_Eel.htm includes this one.

! R: source: AUD (Schoeps CMC3-MK4) > DAT (playback on Panasonic SV-3800 > HHb CDR-850) > CDR > WAV > SHN.

! R: seeder comments: "Original CDR source recording levels varied over the course of the first set between different songs. A +3 dB gain was applied to each set individually followed by smaller increases for individual tracks in the first set with particularly lower levels to achieve a better balance in terms of the variability of the between song levels. No compression was involved and changes in amplitude were on the order of + 1 to + 2.5 dB. The individual sets were then tracked using CDWAV Editor. Thanks to D. Duquette for the CDR source. DAE (EAC 0.9 beta 4, offset corrected, secure mode) > level adjustments (soundforge 5) > tracking (cdwav) > SHN (shorten 3.4) > FTP via C.Ladner/candyman FTP. MisSHN in the Rain - 5/03."

! R: great tape, though vocals are a little shrouded. Very upfront sound.

! P: s1t04 GOOMLW here as elsewhere Garcia sounds vigorous, lots of extra little vocal touches.

! P: s1t09 Deal is smokin' 5 minute mark, Kemper mashing, Garcia wailing, just *wailing*. Very, very good.

! s1t0 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot, we'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2t02 HTC Jerry takes another go with the oppressors, while the rest of the band was expecting a few more chorus go-rounds. Tip of the cap to JG for energy, and the rest of the band for being there for him, not missing a beat.

! s2t10 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Placeholder Dates

Some time back, you all convinced me that I should track placeholder dates, and I agreed that it would be helpful in all kinds of ways. But I confess that, not having systematically tracked all of this, it would be a truly massive pile of work to try to reconstruct it all.

Does anyone have a starter list? Barring that, I guess I'll try to use comments here to drop breadcrumbs, and I'll invite you all to do the same, if you care to.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Jacklyn

I see that I have consistently misspelled Jackie LaBranch's name as "Jaclyn", instead of Jacklyn. Because I list personnel in listening notes, there are probably at least several dozen instances of this misspelling.

I don't have time to go back and correct this. I have corrected the tag along the right side of the blog, and will try to do it correctly moving forward.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Come back for Garcia Band. Come back, come back.

LN jg1978-03-10.interview.all.fm-zimmerman.82210.flac1644

I love these March '78 interviews. 3/11/78 is my absolute favorite, all kinds of great stuff. This one has less going on, but still interesting to the likes of me.

Jerry Garcia Band Interview
WCMF-FM Studios
129 Leighton Avenue
Rochester, NY 14614
March 10, 1978 (Friday) afternoon
46 minute Alan Zimmerman FM cassette

(7 tracks, 46:25)
jg19780310d3t001. Reuben and Cherise (album version) [3:45]
jg19780310d3t002. talk (1,2,3) [3:39]
jg19780310d3t003. Rain [5:46]
jg19780310d3t004. talk (4,5,6,7) [15:55] %
jg19780310d3t005. Love in the Afternoon [3:58]
jg19780310d3t006. talk (8,9,10,11,12,13) [10:46]
jg19780310d3t007. Gomorrah [2:40]

! Band: Interview
! personnel: Jerry Garcia
! personnel: John Kahn
! personnel: Donna Jean Godchaux
! personnel: ?? (primary interviewer)

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.

! TJS: none.

! db: shnid 82210 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/4fyWc14xjgm

! seealso: JGMF, "One of the Great Interviews of the Garciaverse," http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/11/jg1978-03-11interview45minsfm-gefen.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "The Little Engine That Could," https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-little-engine-that-could.html, for show listening notes. Spoiler: it didn't slay me.

! R: Recordist: Alan Zimmerman; over-air FM broadcast (WCMF, 96.5 FM) >  cassette, unknown gear;

! R: Transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nakamichi Dragon > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe soundcard > Adobe Audition > flac encoding > FLAC.

! historical: John Kahn sounds zonked.

! t02 (1) talk about having just been in Rochester with the GD a few months prior. JG: "Rochester keeps calling us back. 'Come back for Garcia Band. Come back, come back.'"

! t02 (2) @ 1:14 Q How did Maria get involved with the tour?" JG: "Well, uhhhh ... luck, I suppose. [Donna chuckles sweetly] Actually, what happened was that back when I did an album about 3 or 4 years ago and John produced it and he had Maria come in to do some vocal work on the record. Since then we've worked kind of informally. And John and Maria live together. [He swallows his words a little bit. Asks John, aside, "if that's OK, if you don't mind my mentioning that?" JK: "Oh, it's quite all right."] And so on this album she participated a lot, too, on the vocals and stuff and she's also accompanied us on a few other tours. And it's neat to have her singing with us. Donna and Maria sing really well together and they like working together. So, just, chemically it works out really nicely." DJG: "We don't fly together [?], you know." JG: "And I like having all those pretty girls onstage." [Kahn laughs.]

! t02 (3) DJ: we have a super advanced pressing of your latest album. We heard a test pressing just before we left CA 3 or 4 days ago. Record radio stations will be getting promo copies, in record stores soon.  @0250 "What kinds of musical directions are you trying to take on this record? There's a touch of reggae in it--" JG: "Every direction. We don't really have a style, except that it's all us." JK: "It sounds like us, is the direction. It's trying to sound the most like us of anything we've done so far." Song introduction "Rain", written by Donna, orchestration and arrangement by John Kahn.

! t04: DJ (4) Young kids still into the Dead. What do you attribute that to? JG: we've been lucky in having a spotty record career. No real big hits. contra formulaic thing, slam-bang show. Exciting the first time. The theatrics. You realize you're seeing the same thing, that gets to be dull. Audience doesn't want to ... DJ: so when you take the stage, do you have any songs in mind? JG we don't know what we're gonna do. We have a low boredom index. It would be horribly boring for us to do the same shows all the time. Constitutionally incapable of doing it. some times a dud, other times magical, miraculous. Exceptionally high concentration of coincidence. Musical coincidences are occurring way higher than the law of probability would allow them to be. Like magic. People come to that because there's something genuine about it. A mysterious thing. Something that people require. Being encouraged by the audience. Audience is participating. This talk is vague between GD vs. JG. Jerry can't identify great moments per se. completely out of our hands high energy environment ... in this testing situation. people follow all around the country. Maybe they asked him not to mention GD?

! personnel: t04 @ 4:55 JK sounds totally wrecked

! t04 (5) @0846 working with Robert Hunter. JK sometimes Garcia will have pages of words and write music to that. Or sometimes we'll write music that doesn't have words and give that to him. So it goes different directions. JG: All kinds of fine tuning possibilities. I'll have ideas that have vocal phrasing and sing the phrasings to him. We work very freely together."

! t04 (6) domestic scenes. @0956 Do you live and work together. Too many of us to live together. @1030 JG Basically we all have our own scenes and families and so forth ... or whatever. We're all, live near each other, and we hang out an awful lot together, we spend more hours together than we do living anywhere else. @1055 DJG we'll be playing at place called Keystone "Long time, no see." We've chosen to work that way.

! t05 (7) Club Front @11:33 studio setup. @1139 JG This record is the first record from that studio. ... This record is the first thing from that studio, which ... was partly funded ... partly built from the budget that I was allowed to make this record. It's quite well equipped. It has a really nice Neve console, from England, and a really nice Studer machine, Swiss, and it's an excellent sounding room. It's a very large room and it really sounds very pretty. Has very pretty vocal sound, pretty instrumental sound. We're really delighted with the results. We're real happy." #Club Front

! t04 (7) DJ ask John for song intro JK "Influenced by reggae music, which I love a whole lot. Reggae was the most significant thing that happened, for bass players, in ten years maybe." More reggae talk JK: "We might have heard the best reggae records." JG: "I don't think there's going to be some kind of explosion. It's a local thing. It has a limited appeal. But from a musician's standpoint it has some very interesting things that American music could use right now." DJ: "Like what?" JG: "A rhythmic approach, a whole approach to rhythm that has to do with standing on the rhythm in a certain way. The easiest way I can relate to it is to figure about 93 degrees, with about a hundred percent humidity, in the middle of somewhere, just goin' real slow, y'know? [he has a grin]. And it has a steadiness to it that comes from a kind of island life, like the surf, y'know ... and the thing about the bass playing, that John was saying, the sense of the rhythmic ... the holes, the spaces, having rhythmic value, in the same sense of that positive-negative image sense. So, the holes have the same kind of rhythmic values that the notes do, and that gives it a tremendous power, and a lovely kind of rhythmic thing." JK: "as a bass player, a long time ago, especially r and b records, old motown records, the bassline was one of the most important elements, counterpoint to the vocal, and the drums. Music has gotten away from that now. ... music directly related to the bassline has died out in America, and it's an element of reggae music that appeals a lot to me." #reggae

! t04 DJ started spinning Palm Sunday instead, accidentally.

! t06 (8) current music: Elvis Costello JG: "I like it." likes some New Wave. Really like Cheap Trick. What I like about it is the spirit. They're puttin' out. They're trying hard. The heavy duty production trick ... the glib slickness so mechanical and predictable and safe. It's a formula trip. Raw and real nasty, and the players are not very good, but the spirit ... young people can always dig that. JK: I dig it. I'm not young anymore. 5-min mark talking about The Who

! t06 (9) @0645 solo project outside the GD. JG "It's an illusion. The illusion is that these are solo projects, when they're really not solo projects. Like what we do in this band, it's no solo project. It's really a group contribution, and believe me, it's not a matter of my own personal activity. I am involved with people who care about music the same way that I do, we have an affinity for each other, we enjoy working together, and, for me, a group dynamic is way more interesting than the concept of a solo project. I've done one solo project, my first solo record, in which I was foolish enough to try to play everything on it myself and I was really bored with it, fundamentally, because you already know everything that happened, there's no surprises. The thing of working with other people, that somebody's gonna shed a new kind of light on an idea of yours ... it gives you something to work with ... there's electricity, or chemistry, or something like that." #solo vs GD

! t06 (10) @0746 DJ is it true that the banjo was your first instrument? @0747 JG: "Yeah, it was my first serious instrument. DJ: "And then you went to the guitar, and then the electric guitar, because it was more of an extension of--" JG: "Uhh, I've, well, for me, the banjo got to be so, uhhh ... [long pause] [JK: "Swiss watch-like." JG: "Right.] Like a Swiss watch. It was like a cuckoo clock or a Swiss watch. It got to be tremendously mechanical and I, finally just had a tremendous reaction to it, it's like, 'I really can't make music with this instrument. I want something that moves the way a voice moves. I want to be able to play more expressively. ... I just burned myself out on the banjo, really, is what it boils down to." DJG: "It's kind of a one-toned ..." JG: "Yeah, it's got one thing going for it." DJ @0835: Do you ever think about going back doing something like the OAITW record? @0837 JG "For me, it was the music ... [cross talk that John was also involved] And for me, the neat thing, my whole interest in the banjo even was really not so much the banjo itself, but bluegrass music as a style of music. And it's the music that I cared about, rather than the banjo by itself. So it's very hard for me to, say, sit at home and practice the banjo. If the music were there --in other words, if I were out playing with friends, a couple of nights a week-- I could get into it. But really the music matters to me more than the banjo does." JK: "Yeah, really, it's a beautiful kind of music." JG: "It is, it's really neat music." JK: "But, y'know, I couldn't see practicing ... either ... uhhh ... [JG, laughing: "No." Some chuckling, as if the thought of practicing is hilarious.] DJG: "Jerry doesn't think he plays the banjo or the steel guitar" JK: "We're all crazy like that, that's normal" (??). #banjo

! t06 (11) @0927 DJG: "He's talking about his first record, my four year old listens to it three or four times a day." JK: "I like that, too. ... I remember going in there and watching him play bass on that." JG: "Oh Jeez, that was embarassing." JK: "No it wasn't."

! t06 DJ we should wrap things up, get them to soundcheck.

! t06 (12) DJG: "Singing with Maria's great." Stress the point that Maria is part of the band. JG: "Yeah."

! t06 (13) JG introduces Gomorrah. JG: "This is an Old Testament song. Everybody knows about Sodom, but this song is about Gomorrah."

The Little Engine That Could

LN jg1978-03-10.jgb.all.aud-zimmerman-minches.80887.flac1644

Love this image of Jerry's face on a locomotive.


The show didn't do that much for me, though I do give rare praise to Dixie Down.

Reviewer paints a picture of the Dirty F$%^ing Hippies and assorted others:
The dressing room backstage at the Auditorium Theater [sic] has that lived-in look. The air is thick with various kinds of smoke. Cigarette butts litter the floor. On two long tables in a corner the remains of a catered meal are decaying. There are a lot of people hanging around who found the meaning of life in 1967. They look a little worn around the edges. Hells Angels in greasy and tattered denim are stomping around in pointed-toe boots. Beefy security guards eye them, nervously.
Jerry Garcia's in town.
Jerry Garcia Band
Auditorium Theatre
875 East Main Street
Rochester, NY 14605
March 10, 1978 (Friday)
Zimmerman MAC shnid-80887 flac1644

--set I (6 tracks, 5 tunes, 63:21)--
s1t01. crowd and tuning [0:56]
s1t02. Harder They Come [11:59] [2:02]
s1t03. Mission In The Rain [9:48] [1:14] % [0:06]
s1t04. Russian Lullaby [13:26] -14:58
s1t05. I Second That Emotion [11:15] -13:50
s1t06. Mystery Train [8:06] (1) [0:25]

--set II + encore (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 75:41)--
-- set II (7 tracks, 6 tunes, 64:38)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [0:32]
s2t02. Love In The Afternoon
s2t03. They Love Each Other
s2t04. Tore Up Over You [8:03] -11:10
s2t05. Simple Twist Of Fate [11:34] -13:41
s2t06. I'll Be With Thee [5:17] [0:23] % [0:16]
s2t07. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down xxx some pre-encore tuning here
--encore (1 track, 11:03)--
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight


! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - keyboards, harmony vocals;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - backing vocals;
! lineup: Maria Muldaur - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; # = truncated timing; { } = time as tracked on this recording; [ ] = recorded even 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/19780310-05

! db: this is the only circulating tape of this show as of 11/18/2017.

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

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/auditorium-theater-885-east-main-st.html.

! ad: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, February 26, 1978, p. 6G;

! ref: Billboard, March 25, 1978, p. 114;

! review: King 1978

! seealso: JGMF, "Come back for Garcia Band. Come back, come back." URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/12/come-back-for-garcia-band-come-back.html (interview from earlier in the day).

! R: field recordist: Alan Zimmerman

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sony 54P or Sony ECM 99 > Teac PC-10

! R: field recording media: 1st Set on Sony FeCr-90; 2nd Set on Maxell UD XLII-90

! R: transfer: Transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nakamichi Dragon > ART DI/O > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe soundcard > Cool Edit 2000 > flac encoding > FLAC.

! R: low levels muffled low vox some static. Not a great tape, but the only one circulating as of this writing (10/15/2017).

! s1t04 RL a very nice dropping sequence 4:30 ish.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We're gonna take a break [inaudible], we'll be back in a little bit. Thank you."

! P: s2t05 STOF I love the careful Dylanesque inflections

! P: s2t07 TNTDODD very nice!

Magic at the Edge of the Western World


Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Mr. Sandoz Dilaudid

I have a memory of hearing Phil say this over the PA during one of the Dead's Egypt shows, but I have no idea if this was just a dream I dreamed, it happened at another show, something like this but not exactly like this happened, or something else.

Does this ring a bell to anyone?

update: 11/2/77 - Canada, not Egypt. After FOTM and before Estimated, https://archive.org/details/gd1977-11-02.mtx.chappell.sb23.86233.sbeok.flac16/gd77-11-02s2t07.flac at about 9:35

Would Mr. Sandoz Dilaudid please come to the backstage area?

Monday, December 11, 2017

Woody's Rag



For years, I have wanted to know the name of the second song from the first "real" live Garcia-Grisman gig, 2/2/91 at the Warfield, which has always just been identified as "Instrumental". It starts at 7:20 of the embedded video. (It was also the second song of the second night, 2/3/91, starting at about 7:50 of this recording.)

Well, the great Neil V. Rosenberg, whose book Bluegrass: A History, is totally essential, has sent along an identification. It's "Woody's Rag", written by the one and only Woody Guthrie, and done among others by The Weavers.

Thank you, Professor Rosenberg!

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Black Mountain Boys date

I don't really do pre-Dead, but I found this, don't see it at JGC, don't know where else there might be show lists for pre-Dead bands, and thought I might as well put it here.

The "Marri-Eds" sponsored a hootenanny at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium on March 25, 1964, featuring The Couriers, Lino with his Latin and American Folk Songs, the Black Mountain Boys from Palo Alto, and Bill Helm from the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Great Barcia

Rock Scully's book occasionally referred to Jerry as "the Great Barcia". I had originally thought it was Salvador DalĂ­, but looking back, I guess not. It still tickles me.

This just came back to mind as I came across two ads, a month apart, for Reconstruction at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz on 3/31/79. Someone at the Sentinel was either a Prankster or confused, and not just about Jerry (see also "Greg Kihm"). I wonder if Rock got this "Barcia" thing from the second ad posted here? Anyway, I am sure that, especially in Reconstruction, the Great onedidn't mind having some of his higher fans possibly thrown off the scent.

update: commenter Nick points out that the Eldon Porray tapes understood as Reconstruction at the Catalyst on 3/30/79 are probably really from this date, 3/31/79. This pertains to shnid-11673 (deprecated) and the MOTB transfer, shnid-106004. He raves about the "Sama Layuca" as well, which you should take very seriously.

ad for "Re Construction" at the Catalyst, featuring mystery guitarist "Jerry Garsia", Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 23, 1979, p. 16.

ad for Reconstruction at the Catalyst, featuring mystery guitarist "Jerry Barcia", Santa Cruz Sentinel, March 23, 1979, p. 13.

Sunday, December 03, 2017

4/23/93: great setlist, low energy

LN jg1993-04-23.jgb.all.aud-neumann.15923.shn2flac

Great setlist, low energy. At least that's how I hear it.

Jerry Garcia Band
Warfield Theater
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
April 23, 1993 (Friday)
Neumann KM54 MAD shnid-15923 shn2flac

--set I (7 tracks, 56:56)--
s1t01. ... Cats Under The Stars [#8:13] [0:47]
s1t02. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [10:15] [0:26]
s1t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [8:13] [0:12]
s1t04. He Ain't Give You None [8:00] [0:41]
s1t05. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [7:45] [0:14]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:00] ->
s1t07. Deal [7:59] (1) [0:11] %

--set II (8 tracks, 62:50)--
s2t01. /The Way You Do The Things You Do [#9:24] [0:12]
s2t02. The Maker [#8:48] [0:19]
s2t03. Money Honey [6:40] [0:20]
s2t04. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game [7:20] [0:12]
s2t05. Lazy Bones [7:47] [0:08]
s2t06. Reuben And Cherise [8:07] [0:42]
s2t07. Señor (Tales Of Yankee Power) [6:39] ->
s2t08. Midnight Moonlight [6:02] (2) [0:10] %

! ACT1: JGB #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19930423-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/15923 (this source tape, shnf, presumably deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/145502 (this fileset)

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

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

! band: THE Jerry Garcia Band, JGB #21b (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! official: Both s2t02 "The Maker" and s2t04 THGCBTG were released on 2001's Shining Star (see http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-dates-of-all-of-tracks-on.html).

! field recordist: [presumed] Chuck and Janet Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann MK54 > unknown DAT deck

! R: field recording location: FOB

! R: transfer: DATx > CDRx (via S.Aserkoff) > DAE (EAC 0.9 beta 4, offset corrected, secure mode) > tracking (cdwave) > SHN (shorten 3.4) > FTP via C.Ladner/candyman FTP. "Another installment of the MisSHN in the Rain."

! R: seeder comment: "Fantastic recording and performance." JGMF comment: hm. Recording has a weird quality to my ears, like there's a frequency that's too low in there somewhere. The vocals are pretty low, which could well be how JG wanted to be mixed this night, since, as I note below, he sounds a little rough around the edges.

! P: Vocals sound a little tired.

! R: s1t01 CUTS fades in

! P: s1t04 HAGYN very enthusiastic vocals.

! P: s1t07 Deal very good, some very big stuff. Even some wah 6:25ff.

! s1t07 (1) JG: "We'll be back in a little while."

! R: s2t01 TWYDTTYD clips in, not much missing.

! P: s2t02 Maker @ 6 ish he starts the "Brother John" line hard and high, almost like the "body .... bent and broken" verse, but then drops down into another key.

! P: s2t04 THGCBTG - wow. Jerry sounds old, but that makes this all the more powerful. Rarity! All 90s versions: 4/20/91, 4/21/91, 5/22/91, 11/13/91, 4/23/93, 11/11/93, that's it. #songs-H

! P: s2t05 Lazy Bones this is a cluster to start. This is another one that got only infrequent play.

! s2t08 (2) JG: "Thank you. See ya later."

Legion of Mary at 8162 Melrose, March 7, 1975

LN jg1975-03-07.lom.early.aud-ladner.23338.shn2flac

I wanted to hear "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game", the only circulating version from this time period, so I revisited the whole show. Nothing else jumped out at me, but man is that a great song.

Legion Of Mary
Pitschell Players Cabaret
8162 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90048
March 7, 1975 (Friday) - early? show
aud misSHN shnid-23338 shn2flac and retrack

--(8 tracks, 7 tunes, 90:52)--
t01. tuning (1) [0:26]
t02. That's The Touch I Like [10:09] [1:34]
t03. Favela [16:02] [1:11]
t04. Last Train From Poor Valley [8:16] % [0:40]
t05. Mystery //Train [13:#14] [0:19] % [0:40]
t06. You Can Leave Your Hat On [15:23] [0:36]
t07. The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game [11:23] % [0:05]
t08. Let It Rock

! ACT1: Legion of Mary
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - flute (t02, t05), saxophone, percussion;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - 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/19750307-01

! JGC: jerrygarcia.com/show/1975-03-07, giving this as the early show. 

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/23338 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/s4EY6L4V6e82.

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/ash-grove-pitchell-players-cabaret-8162.html. I guess this was the Ash Grove building, which was being leased for various performances, and eventually became the Improv. JGBP gives capacity as 250.

! ad: Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1975, p. Z45.

! ad: Los Angeles Times, March 2, 1975, p. U45.

! listing: Los Angeles Free Press, March 7, 1975, p. 27.

! metadata: Not clear if this is really the 8:30 PM early show (as per JGC), the 11:30 PM late show (as I have had it at some point), or some combo thereof. The LAFP listing on the day-of only gives an 8:30 show, from which I infer that the late show was already sold out.

! historical: band got $1,500 flat guarantee each night, so $750 per show.

! R: source: AUD (mics and taper unknown) > ? > C > DAT > WAV > SHN; cassette > DAT transfer:  Nakamichi DR-2 cassette deck > Tascam DA-30 Mk II by J. Powell; DAT > SHN transfer: Sony PCM-R500 > coaxial S/PIDF > M Audio Audiophile 2496/P4 2.0 GHz > WAV recording/editing (Soundforge 6.0) > tracking (CDWave editor) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN (mkwact) by C. Ladner. misSHN in the rain, 4/04. shn2flac by jgmf 20091122, retrack 20171203.

! R: seeder note: "decent amount of hiss - you've been warned."

! t01 (1) JG, talking to sound man: "That's much nicer."

! R: t04 MT tape flip @ 7:52, speed warbling after the cut.

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game

My first working title for Fate Music was The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game. The THGCBTG framing, as I lovingly acronymized it, reflected a slightly darker view of Garcia's side trips than I presently hold, one in which his damned Midas Touch tainted even his silly bar band, which eventually had to play boomy Madison Square Garden in front of 15,000 whippeted, "Jerrrrrryyyyy!!!!!!"-screaming fans.

As of now, I hold a less tragic view of the whole arc. Yes, even the JGB came to carry Jerry's Burden, but to such a lesser extent that, relative to the GD, it formed a relative oasis where our hero could drink of some cool American (and other) musical water without too much hassle. He probably even took some pride in bringing Melvin, David and the ladies to the Garden, staying at the Ritz and playing the rest of the east coast gigs via day trips on private jets out of Teterboro, nothing but the best under the expert management of John Scher, all under his own name.

It's still a good theme, though. And what a song!

Everyday things change
And the world puts on a new face
Certain things re-arrange
And this old world seems like a new place

Secretly I've been trailing you
Like the fox that preys on the rabbit
I had to get you and so I knew
I had to learn your ways and habits

Ooh, you were the catch that I was after
But I looked up and I was in your arms
And I, I had been captured

What's this old world coming to
Things just ain't the same
Any time the hunter gets captured by the game

I had laid such a tender trap
Hoping that you might fall into it
Your love hit me like a sudden snap
One kiss and then I knew it

Ooh, my plan didn't work out
Like I thought
'Cause I had laid my trap for you
But it seems that I got caught

What's this old world coming to
Things just ain't the same
Any time the hunter gets captured by the game

If you aren't in love with Wanda Young after hearing this, you aren't paying attention. So, for me, the song speaks both to Garcia's love life and his musical life. Let's take a closer look.

THGCBTG first entered the observable Garciaverse in 1974, appearing on Jerry's second eponymous album, which we know as Compliments (Round Records RX 102). I don't know when/where the track was laid down, though, regarding the when, March 4, 1974 seems possible. The following are credited:
  • Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals
  • Larry Carlton - guitar
  • Michael Omartian - piano
  • Merl Saunders - organ
  • John Kahn - bass
  • Ron Tutt - drums
  • Bobbye Hall - congas 

John Kahn selected the material for Compliments, and his love of Motown, and not least the Funk Brothers' instrumentation, knew few bounds, so choosing this Smokey Robinson tune (one of many) made perfect sense. Compliments first brought Ronnie Tutt into Jerry's orbit, as he has recently noted, and they'd gig steadily together from December 6, 1974 through August 12, 1977. Among these hundreds of gigs, two from the winter of 1975 are known to have included THGCBTG:
Table xxx. Known live Jerry Garcia performances of "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game"

The song is one of those handful of songs that Jerry seems to have picked up at occasionally long intervals. I have always interpreted songs with this pattern, such as Tough Mama, Like A Road, Let's Spend The Night Together, some others, as songs that he really liked. I don't have any basis for that, in particular, except that, especially from the turn of 1976 and the predominance of comfort over challenge in his side bands (Reconstruction being a notable exception), there just weren't that many setlist variations, not least because there wasn't always a lot of rehearsing. For a song to keep coming back, especially with different bands and their different players (and their different repertoires) suggests to me that they exercised a certain pull on our hero (and his musical director, John Kahn).

One of Jerry's sweeties told me she called this out at Keystone one time in the mid-70s to let him know she was in the room, and of course it's a song not about the pursuit of music without bullshit, but of a lover. The 2/27/75 version doesn't circulate and, AFAIK, is unheard outside the Garcia Vault. The 3/7 version does, and I am listening to it now. It's very, very nice, with a lot more development than the later versions.

Of these, I have also just revisited 4/23/93 (officially released on Shining Star), and raggedy old Jerry gives it a shopworn world weariness which suits it well. The 4/23/93 date, and the inclusion of this version on Shining Star, are both redolent of Deborah Koons, who would "officially" have become Jerry's main squeeze around this time, for the second time, apparently after some years of chasing. Shining Star, with its execrable cover art done by a friend of hers, was a DK joint all the way, so maybe she found special resonance with this tune, the flipside of her rumored aversion to "Reuben And Cherise".

So if the early and late versions may speak to romantic pursuits, for me the Reconstruction versions speak more to the theme of Jerry's Burden. He wanted to hide in Reconstruction, way back in the shadows just playing whatever weird stuff that band was putting out. It seems that he really didn't want to front that band, as evidenced by insisting on being listed as a "special guest" in the publicity. While I doubt it's true, and certainly doubt that it represented a conscious choice, for him to sing THGCBTG with Reconstruction expresses the impossibility of truly hiding; he's after a good time, playing music with good players and for an audience, with a minimum of hassle, but he finds himself straining for those high notes. "It seems like I got caught", indeed.

update: turns out this is my second post under this title.

Nothing to Write Home About on a Charlie Miller Birthday Show

LN jg1981-11-03.jgb.all.aud-composite.138177.flac1644

November 3rd is Charlie Miller's birthday, among other people. Now you know.

This '81 show has a good DLG, some interesting playing in Dear Prudence, but didn't light me up. Maybe it's because the tapes just aren't that great. I also listened to DLG via the set II matrix (shnid-138159), and it was still good, but not great.

JERRY GARCIA BAND
Painters Mill
Painters Mill Road
Owings Mills, MD 21117
November 3, 1981 (Tuesday)
aud composite flac1644 shnid-138177

--set I (6 tracks, 52:04)--
s1t01. [0:14] Sugaree [9:48] %
s1t02. [0:35] I'll Take A Melody [10:36] %
s1t03. The Way You Do The Things You Do
s1t04. /Valerie [6:20] %
s1t05. Mystery Train [8:02] ->
s1t06. Tangled Up /In Blue [9:#42] (1) [0:07]

--set II (6 tracks, 70:21)--
s2t01. The Harder They Come [12:28] [0:03] %
s2t02. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [14:26] [0:01] %
s2t03. /Don't Let Go [#13:57] [0:03] %
s2t04. The Night They Drove /Old Dixie Down [7:#48] ->
s2t05. Dear Prudence
s2t06. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - electric keyboards;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums;
! lineup: Julie Stafford - vocals;
! lineup: Liz Stires - vocals.

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/19811103-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/15099 (s2 sbd shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/138117 (this fileset); http://etreedb.org/shn/138159 (s2 matrix flac1644).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/vQj8dk3nsBm

! venue: URL http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-03-19/news/1991078125_1_massoni-mill-theatre-painters-mill;

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/08/painters-mill-star-theatre-owings-mill.html.

! band: JGB #14b (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! R: source: Set One: AUD (marked 2nd Gen) kindly provided by wk & http://jgmf.blogspot.com/; set Two: AUD (unknown lineage) kindly provided from the collection of DL.

! R: Transfer: Maxell XLII's > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transfer by Andrew F. 04/2017

! R: seeder note: "This is a composite of two different AUD recordings. Caveat, both tapes
sound a bit rough.  Skip in TUIB at 1:57. Tape-flip in TUIB at 4:30, about 15 seconds missing. Tape-flip in TNTDODD at 4:55, about 45 seconds missing."

! r: s1t04 Valerie clips in

! P: s1t05 MT is going a mile a minute

! P: s1t06 TUIB nice raunch late 6. Very molten playing.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Gonna take a break for a little while, we'll be back in a little bit."

! R: s2t03 DLG clips in

! P: s2t03 DLG is very good

! P: s2t05 DP some very pretty progressions in the 8 minute mark, very high up, swinging a bit 9:10. Good version.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Find Someone Who Looks at You the Way John Looks at Jerry

VN jg1977-07-09.jgb.late.voodoonola



Jerry Garcia Band
1300 Ocean Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ 07712

July 9, 1977 (Saturday) –Late Show 10 PM
complete (128:25) B&W proshot video via Music Vault, URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glq7yzbfy-o

re-do the time markers
0:00:00 – [0:47 The Harder They Come 0:48-15:04 -15:06
0:15:07 - Stage Noise
0:17:42 - They Love Each Other -25:42
0:25:46 - Stage Noise
0:30:05 - Midnight Moonlight
0:40:13 - Stage Noise
0:43:38 - Russian Lullaby (incomplete)

! R: RL splice @ 58:05, not much missing

0:58:57 – noodling
1:00:51 - Tore Up Over You
1:14:06 - crowd noise
1:14:54 - Knockin' On Heaven's Door
1:31:32 - Stage Noise
1:33:51 - Tangled Up in Blue
1:45:46 - crowd noise
1:51:00 - Not Fade Away (Incomplete)

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn – el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux – el-piano (Polymoog keyboard), ac-piano;
! lineup: Ron Tutt – drums.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19770709-04

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/8659 (Mattson early and late shows shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/76441 (Mattson early and late shows flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/124426 (Steve Strange late show flac1644).



! band: JGB #xxx. Notice that neither Donna Jean Godchaux nor Maria Muldaur is present.

! JGMF: see also "Rockabilly JGB Doing Not Fade Away: July 9, 1977," http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2013/12/ln-jg1977-07-09jgblate-2aud-strange.html.

! ad: Asbury Park Press, June 26, 1977, p. 14.

! expost: "Arrests Follow 2 Rock Concerts," Asbury Park Press, July 11, 1977, p. unk.

! historical: "More than 30 persons, most of them from North Jersey and New York, were arrested Saturday night and early yesterday morning" after the Garcia Band shows ("Arrests Follow 2 Rock Concerts"). 22 police. Crowd of 250-300 (per police) gather at Bradley Park, across Ocean Avenue from Convention Hall, about 6:30 pm. Drinking. Cops announce they're gonna bust the drinking, etc. over the bullhorn. Crowd mostly dispersed 7:30, when JGB scheduled to start. Arrests begin at 10:30 pm, after the early show. "Police arrested people as they came off the Boardwalk and were visibly intoxicated. The arrests continued until about 1:25 am [text not clear]". Most was possession of alcohol, maybe 28? That'd be a summons or $100 bail. Nine for possession of marijuana or LSD, $500 bail. One Prince Charming got three charges and $5,000 bail: possession of a large knife, assault and battery of a police officer, and resisting arrest. (Your mother will love him!) Wage: $20,557. Only 120 tickets shy of a sellout (3,776 of 3,896).

! R: seeder notes: Thanks to BGA LLC.

! R: Original audio from video mastered using Adobe Audition

! R: audio patch in NFA from shnid 76441 taped by Mark Mattson

! R: audio and video editing by Voodoonola

! R: the video and audio quality are breathtaking.

! P: HTC catch Tutt do a great run around 3:15. Keith's electric keyboard is clearly shown 7:15ish. Watching JG play 8:30 is wonderful. At 10:10 he looks at John with such love. The admiration is so great. Swaying and smiling 10:25 as the crowd cheers. So, so, so nice.

! P: TLEO Tutt doing some harmonies visibly @ 20:10. Keith now on acoustic piano.

! P: MM KG has baritone and Tutt has high parts. KG's voice is unfortunate. Nice solo over 30, Kahn hitting some nice fat stuff and there's a crowd shot of a dude right upfront reacting to it, probably same look I had on my face. Wow. Late 30 Jerry takes another turn, he wasn't satisfied with the first one (it's true he hit a bad note in there), now he has his eyes closed and that helps, sometimes.

! P: RL wow. We know that Jerry, John and Keith, sometimes just Jerry and Keith (!), played some Hot Club stuff at Club Front in mid-1978. The love that Jerry and John share for each other is palpable. Over 43 John is practically cooing at Jerry, playing with him like a kitten, and Jerry is using that to get off. It's potent. At 45, John steps in front of Jerry and is ready to jump on a feature, but Keith steps up and plays a beautiful little thing. Jerry sways with pleasure and smiles at Keith, comping with his eyes on Keith. If Garcia's comping and looking at you and urging you to play, you play, by God. 46 Keith picks up his tempo a little bit. He's playing very well-controlled piano here, not so heavily percussive on the left hand. Now John feature 47:15 ff. At 48:45 you are getting a perfect view of John's fingers. It is very nice to see this, but I don't think this bass solo holds a candle to what some of John's contemporaries could do. Garcia is having a smoke and watching John, so it's a little trio configuration of John leading, Keith and Ronnie just holding the beat. Jerry comes back 50:35, crowd gives John a nice hand. But it also knows, or many of its members do, that Garcia's about to play his guitar.

! P: TUOY John was playing something very interesting around 70 min mark, but the seeder had already tracked KOHD. I think he was noodling something else, and then the transition to KOHD sounded abrupt. But maybe I just wasn't playing close enough attention.

Saturday, November 18, 2017

San Francisco Sessions, 1972



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

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. I post them mostly for future researchers who might be interested. (The six-digit numbers just reference my scans, so I can retrieve these as needed.) List after the jump.

Alone and Together

I have always liked this image.

Friday, November 17, 2017

Picture of the Murdering Punks at the Inn

A little piece in the from the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat on the tenth anniversary of the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati notes that "A picture spread in the Pacific Sun featured Jerry Garcia and the New Riders of the Purple Sage playing there in their early days". Great - now I *have* to track that down.

! ref: Jensen, Sophia. 1978. Inn celebrates its beginning. Press-Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA), September 29, p. 1B.

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Cotati Cabaret magazine

Just read that the Cotati Cabaret was doing a magazine (much as its Cotati plaza neighbor, the Inn of the Beginning, had done) in 1979 that was getting a print run of 15k. If anyone has a stash of these somewhere, I would love to consult them.

! ref: Mason, Clark. 19790413a. Life is a Cabaret in Cotati. Press-Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA), April 13, 1979, pp. 1B, 10B.

Thursday, October 05, 2017

a great matrix

https://archive.org/details/gd1983-09-10.139379.mtx.seamons.ht112.flac16

My goodness, what a great sounding recording!

Garcia is on fire for the whole first set (all I have heard so far). He sounds amazing. The guitar playing is fluent and fiery, the vocals are lucid and not dreadfully junky-sounding. The whole band sounds good.

Lots of train references in the first set, even for the Grateful Dead.

Sunday, October 01, 2017

Imprisoned Impresario Put on the June 5, 1982 Garcia-Kahn Oregon State Penitentiary gig

I have updated my post on the dating of the Oregon State Penitentiary gig a little bit, having learned that it came to be not (as far as I know) because Garcia was doing a favor to an imprisoned friend or associate, but by the work of imprisoned impresario Steve Stilling.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band, featuring Jerry Garcia

Here's a weird one bottom of column 1 to top of column 2:

"Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band, featuring Jerry Garcia. Performing music from their album Blues From the Rainforest, July 26 at the Great American Music Hall and July 27 at the Cotati Cabaret"

Several possibilities.

First, perhaps most likely (?), whoever called this in to the Petaluma Argus-Courier dropped Jerry's name in connection with Merl's 1990 Blues From the Rainforest release, and the person at the paper was somehow left with the impression that Jerry would play the listed gigs. It wouldn't be the first time that Garcia's name would pop up in unexpected ways in the promotion of a Saunders gig that Garcia really wasn't involved in. For example, almost a year after their last shared agglomeration had knocked off, a preview for an August 1980 Saunders gig in far northern California teased that Merle [sic] was "currently playing with Jerry Garcia under the name of 'Reconstruction'." (1)

Second, maybe Gar really was going to play these gigs, but, as with two other prospective July 1991 engagements (JGB on the Eel, 7/13/91 cum 8/10/91, at the Frost on 7/14/91, and at Telluride, 7/19/91), he ended up not doing them because he was in rehab (as I surmise about the other three dates), or just forgot.

update: heh heh, my own files would help me. I know he was scuba diving on 7/27/91 in Hawaii, which would likely involve flying out no later than 7/26. I don't know if that trip would have been planned by whenever the 7/19/91 item was called in, but I strongly suspect so. This makes Hypothesis 1, that the Saunders camp somehow, surely innocently, gave mistaken impression that Jerry would play, to the Petaluma paper, seem most likely.

Thoughts?

REFERENCE:
(1) "A weekend of jazz planned at the Back Door Aug. 8, 9," Ukiah Daily Journal, August 6, 1980, p. 10.