Cities Burn and The Show Goes On: JGB at the Warfield, April 30, 1992

jg1992-04-30.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.141475.flac1644

On April 30, 1992, as on other Thursdays before, at least a couple American cities were in flames as protests over racial injustice turned violent and disorderly in the aftermath of a Simi Valley jury's acquittal of four LAPD officers accused in the March 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King.

The Garcia Band played the Warfield, part of an extraordinary run of 11 Jerry appearances there with three different bands in 13 days: JGB April 29-May 3, Bob Dylan on May 5th, and Garcia-Grisman from the 7th to the 11th. Selvin provided some context:

With looters and police clashing on the street outside the theater, for the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warfield Thursday night it was business as usual. Background vocalist Gloria Jones traveled from her East Bay home on BART and, with Market Street stations closed, was forced to exit on 16th Street and take a bus back downtown, barely making it before show time.

An attendee posting at JGC remembers, too:

Riot police surrounded the theatre and there were reports of gunshots in the streets. An announcement was made from the stage warning patrons not to leave the theatre.

As Selvin titled his piece, "The Show Goes On."

I have historically thought that 1992 was absolutely the worst, most boring and useless year for the JGB. I remember *hating* 2/7/92 at one time, despite a luscious Marcus Buick tape. I might still think the year is the most boring, but it's not all bad. 8/1/92 pleasantly surprised me. On a first listen, this 4/30/92 didn't move me much, but then I revisited it and I found plenty to like. As has been the case lately, I find myself especially fond of the second set. My bottom line note reads as follows:

Garcia sounds tired, but he probably *was* tired. After his August collapse, he described his state earlier in the year: "I wasn't ill. There was no pain. I just had zero energy. I was always tired. I'd always been able to get through a concert, but now it was getting hard. I hadn't realized how run-down I'd got" (Carroll 1992). As was often the case for late era Jerry, weariness suits the material pretty well. This isn't one you'd give to a newbie to turn them on to JGB, but aficionados may just be able to appreciate the OG perspective is really setting in at this point. The segment that goes R&C, Gomorrah, DLG and The Maker is quite excellent. First listen DLG didn't kill me, but this time I found it to be very strong.

There are a few songs at interesting points in their lives: last "Throw Out the Lifeline" (with a spotty performance history note"), penultimate "Let's Spend The Night Together" (5/2/92 the last, IIRC), newly arriving, the third "Maker", which would become a late-era favorite. I also note Our Hero playing some slide in "Gomorrah", which I don't recall having heard before, which is not to say it wasn't always there.



Anyway, not bad, old timer. Not bad. Listening notes after the jump.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA
April 30, 1992 (Thursday)
Vasseur shnid-141475

--set I (7 tracks, 62:06)--
s1t01. [0:08] Cats Under The Stars [9:53] [0:28]
s1t02. Señor [7:08] [1:14]
s1t03. Let It Rock [8:37] [1:06]
s1t04. Strugglin' Man [6:36] [0:53]
s1t05. That's What Love Will Make You Do [9:00] [0:23]
s1t06. Throw Out The Lifeline [5:08] [0:32]
s1t07. Let's Spend The Night Together [10:53] (1) [0:06]

--set II (7 tracks, 65:33)--
s2t08. //Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [#8:36] [1:38]
s2t09. And It Stoned Me
s2t10. Reuben And Cérise [9:08] [0:33]
s2t11. Gomorrah [6:38] ->
s2t12. Don't Let Go [14:54] [0:44]
s2t13. The Maker [7:31] [0:05]
s2t14. Midnight Moonlight [6:58] [0:05]

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! 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/19920430-02

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1992-04-30

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/6345 (Schoeps CMC34 Dank certified shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/141475 (this fileset).

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

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

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

! ref: Selvin, Joel. 19920502. Something Else: Show Goes on for Jerry Garcia. San Francisco Chronicle, May 2, 1992, p. C4. "With looters and police clashing on the street outside the theater, for the Jerry Garcia Band at the Warfield Thursday night it was business as usual. Background vocalist Gloria Jones traveled from her East Bay home on BART and, with Market Street stations closed, was forced to exit on 16th Street and take a bus back downtown, barely making it before show time."

! historical: Folks disgusted by the Rodney King verdict down in Simi Valley were rioting on the streets of San Francisco. JGC reports that "Riot police surrounded the theatre and there were reports of gunshots in the streets. An announcement was made from the stage warning patrons not to leave the theatre."

! R: field recordist: Chuck Vasseur

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

! R: Transfer: DAT Master > CDR (Kyle Porter)

! R: Extract: CDR clone > EAC > WAV > FLAC16 (Bill Shaw aka Shark)

! R: Source Notes: Sometime in the early 2000's, Chuck loaned Kyle all of his 92-95 JGB masters to transfer to CDR. Kyle "mastered" the DATs to CDR, fading in/out as needed, adjusting levels (as needed) and tracking. Kyle then gave Chuck his masters back, with nice CDR copies of all of it. Chuck offered to clone the entire set for me, so I gave him a spool of 100 blank MITSUI CDRs and the next time I saw him, he gave them back to me, filled with his JGB recordings. Many of the Chuck V. JGB recordings do circulate already, but probably not all of them, and those that do may not be the Kyle Porter transfers. So, Here they are! --Shark

! P: On a first listen, I liked several pieces, but the show overall struck me as lackluster. Here on a second listen to set II, I am liking it more. Garcia sounds tired, but he probably *was* tired, and on this listen, it suits the material pretty well. This isn't one you'd give to a newbie to turn them on to JGB, but aficionados may just be able to appreciate the world weariness that is really setting in at this point. The segment that goes R&C, Gomorrah, DLG and The Maker is quite excellent. First listen DLG didn't kill me, but this time I found it to be very strong.

! P: s1t01 CUTS great guitar tone early 6, nice raunch which the crowd appreciates.

! P: s1t02 Señor he fumbles some of the lyrics, but this is pretty powerful.

! P: s1t03 LIR he hits his big growly guitar vibe 5:25. Some pretty clever, unexpected progressions 7:40ish. This version is good, but it doesn't blow the roof off.

! P: s1t05 TWLWMYD total confusion on the lyrics, repeatedly.

! song: "Throw Out The Lifeline" (s1t06): Weird performance pattern: 10/31/88, 11/5/88, 12/3/88, then shelved for two years; 11/20/90, 11/21/90, 11/24/90 (third straight show), 12/22/90, 1/29/91, shelved again for over a year; this version, then back on the shelf for the duration. This version is quite good.

! song: LSTNT (s1t07): this is the penultimate version of the Stones' rocker.

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

! P: s2t11 Gomorrah Garcia is playing slide right around 5-minute mark!

! song: "The Maker" (s2t13): third version, less than a week after debuting.