The Auds Have It - JGB at Irvine Meadows, May 18, 1984

LN jg1984-05-18.jgb.all.fm-ladner.32156.flac1644
LN jg1984-05-18.jgb.all.aud-french.84138.flac1644

There is a famous story of President Abraham Lincoln, taking a vote in a cabinet meeting on whether to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. All his cabinet secretaries vote nay, whereupon Lincoln raises his right hand and declares: "The ayes have it!" (source)

Just had an interesting experience highlighting the variable reactions that different tapes can generate.

In trying to be methodical in dating the birth of the longest-running GOTS aggregation, JGB #21b, to July 10 28, 1984 with the arrival of Gloria Jones, I wanted to compare some sbd tape from that night with sbd tape from the mini SoCal jaunt of May 17-20, 1984. I did so using some choruses from "Cats Under The Stars" from Irvine on May 18, for which there is an oddly-lineaged "FM-sbd" tape which the great Chris Ladner put into circulation back in the days of the tol.etree.org FTP server, when he and I did business as "misSHN in the rain" an offshoot of The Music Never Stopped Project. I think I came up with the misSHN appellation, and quite proud of it I was, too - a relatively successful triple entendre --we were on a mission, shn was the prevailing file format, and "Mission In The Rain" was primarily a song from Garcia's side projects, which was our focus-- is not that easy to come by.

Anyway, I decided to listen to the rest of the show, because I love me some '84 JGB, including the next night (5/19) and a hot hometown show a week prior (5/12), which my third grade teacher, Don Dearth, had taped. I was also  partly inspired by a new-to-digital Doug Lamarre pull of 8/13/84, which I'd like to spin soon.

It left me surprisingly cold. Not believing my ears, I decided to return to the FANTASTIC audience pull made by Mike French (shnid-84138), his first solo taping effort before he and crew gained experience as the "Tapers From Hell". As I had remembered, the tape positively screams, coming at you 6' up (Mike's chin level), from 9th row center in the orchestra pit, and Garcia is a grungy monster. Anything I note about a performance leads with a P, and I said this:

It's amazing what an aud can do. The first P note, for example, involves the effect Garcia kicks in around 5:30 (track time) of CUTS. I hadn't even noticed it earlier in this day listening to the board. Now, I go back to the board tape to find the same piece, and it's really pretty flat on the board tape, none of the zing that this aud delivers. Night and day.

The P note in question now includes "Great guitar playing. Then about 5:25 he puts some huge hairy fuzz on it, crowd lit up ... Pretty filthy." Similarly, my listening self found nothing noteworthy in the FM-sbd version of "Catfish John", but said this about the aud version: "this is one of those really long CJs that makes you marvel at how much Garcia had to say around this song. Big wah on, real round and soft, then a little more glassine ...", etc. Totally different observations emerge from the tape. Same goes for RIR. The board tape version left me unmoved, while listening to the aud I noted "raging guitar playing over 8, crowd is duly appreciative. Filthy grungy fanning, crazy power."

Und so weiter. No "team of rivals" here. The auds have it. Second set was pretty short, three tunes, which I imagine must reflect a hard curfew behind the orange curtain. Listening notes below the fold.


Jerry Garcia Band
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre
8808 Irvine Center Dr.
Irvine, CA  92618
May 18, 1984 (Friday)
FM-sbd shnid-32156

--set I (6 tracks, 5 tunes, 53:24)--
s1t01. tuning [0:32]
s1t02. Cats Under The Stars [9:32] [1:28]
s1t03. Catfish John [12:10] % [1:42]
s1t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [13:36] %
s1t05. Run For The Roses [5:18] %
s1t06. Rhapsody In Red [9:04] [0:03]

--set II (3 tracks, 36:06)--
s2t01. Mission In The Rain [11:43] [0:05]
s2t02. Harder They Come [11:32] ->
s2t03. Tangled Up In Blue [12:43] (1) [0:03]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vocals;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - 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/19840518-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/17747 (French MAC, shnf, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/24071 (French MAC, flac1644, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/32156 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/84138 (French MAC, flac1644).

! band: JGB #21a http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/CddGMG2NU4x

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/irvine-meadows-8808-irvine-center-drive.html.

! historical: Hunter opened. Garcia short-changed the SoCal audience a lot, and this 3-song, 36 minute second set is of a piece with that. Irvine was not very friendly to the hairy types, so I wonder if this was a hard curfew issue.

! seealso: JGMF, "Don Dearth Was My Third Grade Teacher, And He Was A Taper: JGB at the Stone, May 12, 1984"

! seealso: JGMF, "There is World Class Guitar Playing Here" [re 5/19/84]

! seealso: JGMF, "Killer Sugaree and final DDD: JGB at Country Club, Reseda, May 20, 1984"

! R: Source:  FM-SBD > MC > Cx > CD > EAC (DAE), Wavelab (level changes, crossfades, de-popping, Waves L3 Multimaximizer), and CDWAV1.9 (tracking/encoding) via neo_levo, original source discs via Slip.

! R: Comments: Overall a solid "B" grade analog SBD recording. First few notes of "Run For The Roses" were missing and spliced from Mike French's audience source.  "Rhapsody in Red" is more inferior in quality and required pitch correction [JGMF: yes, it is]. Breaks on the tape between some tracks smoothed with crossfades.

! R: An interesting lineage attributed to this recording. Was this show really broadcast in real time? That'd be weird. If it's just one of the '84 board tapes and was broadcast later, where is the pre-broadcast tape? I wonder if downtown Deb played it for the Eugeners at some point?

! P: s1t02 CUTS - God, figure out how to end it!

! P: s2t01 MITR sounds like it comes in on some noodling, which would be interesting. Compare with the Mike French tape. Update: nothin' of interest.

! s2t03 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jerry Garcia Band
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre
8808 Irvine Center Dr.
Irvine, CA  92618
May 18, 1984 (Friday)
Mike French/TFH shnid-84138

-- set I (6 tracks, 52:17)--
s1t01. [0:38] Cats Under The Stars [9:44] [0:14] %
s1t02. /Catfish John [#12:22] [0:02] %
s1t03. [0:10] Simple Twist// Of Fate [13:#33] ->
s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:23] [0:04]
s1t05. Rhapsody// In Red [9:#59] [0:07]

--set II (3 tracks, 37:13)----
s2t01. [0:05] Mission In The Rain [11:52][0:18]
s2t02. The Harder They Come [11:45] ->
s2t03. Tangled Up In Blue [12:58] (1) [0:15]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vocals;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - 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/19840518-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/17747 (French MAC, shnf, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/24071 (French MAC, flac1644, deprecated); https://etreedb.org/shn/32156 (FM-sbd); https://etreedb.org/shn/84138 (French MAC, flac1644, this fileset).

! band: JGB #21a http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/CddGMG2NU4x

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/irvine-meadows-8808-irvine-center-drive.html.

! ad: Orange County Register, April 15, 1984, p. L11

! historical: Hunter opened. Garcia short-changed the SoCal audience a lot, and this 3-song, 37 minute second set is of a piece with that. Irvine was not very friendly to the hairy types, so I wonder if this was a hard curfew issue.

! seealso: JGMF, "Don Dearth Was My Third Grade Teacher, And He Was A Taper: JGB at the Stone, May 12, 1984"

! seealso: JGMF, "There is World Class Guitar Playing Here" [re 5/19/84]

! seealso: JGMF, "Killer Sugaree and final DDD: JGB at Country Club, Reseda, May 20, 1984"

! R: field recordist: Mike French

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sennheiser MD-421 hand-held @ 6' "chin level", 90¼ Near-Coincidence (modified XY90¼ past coincidence, or, a very narrow din, something like 8cm 90¼) -> Sony TC-D5 no n.r., Maxell UD-XLII 90

! R: field recording location: 9th row center orchestra.

! R: taper notes: "My first solo stealth recording effort, after learning that my taping mentor and his wife were going to the hospital to deliver their first child, Erin Elizabeth. Happy Birthday, Erin Elizabeth P. This meant getting the big rig in (big thanks to my sister Kami, for wearing the pouch from hell), set up, hand holding, and level setting, flips, etc."

! R: notes: "This fileset is the original digital transfer of this recording, transferred approximately 2001/2002 (no transfer notes taken). It was burned as an audio burn via a Sony TC-D5M -> Tascam CDRW700 master audio cd recorder.

! R: There was an edited version of set one, performed by JAH, to clean up a sudden level change. That was done before my awareness of flac, text files, etc. So, no notes were taken, as to that edit. As an added measure, I've included both set one folders; the original transfer, and the JAH edited version."

! R: JGMF: this seems to have circulated with the rh set, but I don't seem to have that on my HDs. 4/16/2020: I am listening to this on the heels of a spin of the "FM-sbd" tape, and unknown years after first annotating this fileset. It's amazing what an aud can do. The first P note, for example, involves the effect Garcia kicks in around 5:30 (track time) of CUTS. I hadn't even noticed it earlier in this day listening to the board. Now, I go back to the board tape to find the same piece, and it's really pretty flat on the board tape, none of the zing that this aud delivers. Night and day. "And the aud has it".

! R: What a tape!

! P: s1t01 voice sounds rough, but what a tape! Great guitar playing. Then about 5:25 he puts some huge hairy fuzz on it, crowd lit up, more good work over 6. Pretty filthy. Jerry finally signals the end. The choruses go on too long at the end - finish it, Jer - raise your hand up and signal the end, and drop the hammer!

! R: s1t02 CJ clips in

! P s1t02 CJ this is one of those really long CJs that makes you marvel at how much Garcia had to say around this song. Big wah on, real round and soft, then a little more glassine 5:20ff. could have/should have gone to "born a slave" 6:15, but he's comping and Melvin is soloing, though as was often the case I wish he were much, much louder. Since this is a way upfront tape, this tells us something about the stage monitoring - Garcia very loud, Melvin not so much, Kahn roughly inaudible. Jerry takes another run 7:15ff with his reggae beat, because, why not? A minute later he's got a thought about lower and higher call and response of his reggae approach, and so he does that. 8:45ff back higher up the register, enough of that shiny thing.

! R: s1t03 splice @ 7:31

! R: s1t05 splices @ 0:15, 1:43

! P: s1t05 RIR raging guitar playing over 8, crowd is duly appreciative. Filthy grungy fanning, crazy power.

! P: s2t03 TUIB some raunch right out' the gate. The tape screams. Love the effect when he digs in for a big guitar turn late 6, angryJerry tone.

! s2t03 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot, see ya later."