Hartbeats to New Riders: from spacesuits to OshKosh

Somewhere I have Mickey Hart saying basically what's in the title, but I cannot for the life of me find where I got this, and the Google is not helping me.

Anyone know where Mickey might have said this?

TIA!

John Coltrane has a spudfactor of 2?

Spudfactor is the number it takes to get from Jerry to another musician, using ties defined as making music together, in person.

Jerry Garcia = spudfactor 0

Anyone who played with him, live or live in studio, even picking in someone's living room, has SF1.

Then everyone they ever played with --same definition-- now has SF 2 (at most). And so forth.

The universe of SF1, when we draw all of the ties between all of the other players, defines the Side Trips Social Network.

Anyway, we were playing around with links out from Jerry to Coltrane, and my amazing commenters have determined that Jerry 0 > Ornette 1 > Coltrane 2.

So much fun. Original question was about John Chambers. We have moved on.

It's my understanding that Hartbeats era Matrix drummer John Chambers played with John Coltrane. I could check, but I wanted to pin this here before I head out to the ol' salt mines.

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1292605-John-Chambers-2

Dangerous-Looking Young Man at the Edge of the Western World

Anyone know who the dangerous-looking young man is? I know I should know, but I don't know.

See also, of course, Corry.

Context: 19681009-19681013 Express Times listings

McHenry Library at UCSC has one random roll of the great San Francisco Express Times from the turbulent year of 1968.  I have some holes in my collection of listings from that paper in that year, had lots of other really specific stuff to get into, but had a few brief moments to spin some film.

I was so rushed that I didn't get proper citation information on this. Anyway, a few tidbits as notes to self and others.

Miles Davis at the Both/And on 10/9/68. Awesome. Not listed in plosin's amazing Miles Ahead data, I have inquired. Given a time machine, I'd be at the Matrix, but the opportunity cost is great!

YellowShark, a few things to note:

10/9/68 Freight and Salvage hoot/open mic
10/11/68 Freight and Salvage John Shine
10/11/68 BCT Note: Benefit Concert for People's World

Very odd paucity of music listings. Wonder why?

Next time I am in Santa Cruz, I'll try to get scans of the 1968 SFET/GT listings.

Right now, I only have the following SFET/GT listings for the year (... dir *1968*):

SFET19680515-listings.jpg
SFET19680605-listings.jpg
SFET19680710-listings.jpg
SFET19680724-listings.jpg
SFET19680814-listings.jpg
SFET19680814-listings2.jpg
SFET19681009-approx-listings-19681009-19681013.jpg
SFET19681113-listings.jpg
SFET19681120-listings.jpg
SFET19681127-listings.jpg
SFET19681218p15-listings.jpg
SFET19681224-listings.jpg

Of course, the Yellow Shark spreadsheets supply lots of stuff not in the SFET, but I do like me some integrality in data sources!

RN Sandy Troy's Captain Trips (1994)

Reading Notes

Troy, Sandy. 1994. Captain Trips: A Biography of Jerry Garcia. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press.

JG devoted to music Troy 1994, xiii

JG was into all kinds of music: folk, bluegrass, country, acid rock, R&B, gospel, jazz. But he never dabbled, he always “plunged in” Troy 1994, xiii

Jose Ramon Garcia emigrated from La Coruna, Spain in 1919 Troy 1994, 1

Ruth Marie Clifford - married 1934  -- 121 Amazon Avenue, San Francisco, in the Excelsior District -- Ca. 1937 Jose’s music career came to an end -- 1937 Jose bought a tavern Four Hundred Club at 400 First Street, corner of Harrison near Bay Bridge (Troy 1994, 2).

8/1/42 JG born at SF Children’s Hospital (Troy 1994, 3)

surrounded by music. Father played clarinet. Mother listened to opera. Maternal grandmother loved country music. Troy 1994, 3

Ruth played piano, JG took piano lessons Troy 1994, 3

87 Harrington Street with grandparents for five years. William and Tillie Troy 1994, 5

Tillie listened to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. Carter Family, Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs Troy 1994, 6

Ruth marries Wally Matusiewicz 1952. Family moved to Menlo Park, 286 Santa Monica Avenue. Troy 1994, 6:: lived in Menlo Park for three years. Troy 1994, 10

aged 13, move back to SF, attend Denman Junior High School Troy 1994, 10-11

Balboa High School Troy 1994, 11

Turned on to MJ at age 15, with a friend Troy 1994, 11

Attending Saturday classes and summer sessions at the California School of Fine Arts in North Beach (beatniks!) Troy 1994, 11-13

heard and liked Big Bill Broonzy. Troy 1994, 13

JG’s first guitar idol was Chuck Berry Troy 1994, 15

Ca. age 15, moved to Cazadero, attended Analy HS in Sebastopol. Played a gig: piano, two saxes, a bass, and his guitar. Won a contest and got to record a song. Did Bill Doggett’s “Raunchy”. Troy 1994, 15

age 17, enlisted in military. Basic at Fort Ord, then stationed at Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio. Lasted nine months, discharged 1960. Troy 1994, 16

while at Presidio, met a country guitar player who got him into finger-picking. Troy 1994, 17

“it was not in his nature to have several girlfriends at one time.” ST says this lasted until present. “This is a trait that he seems to have maintained to the present … he has been married three times and has had a number of affairs, but when the relationship has been right, he has stuck with it.” Troy 1994, 25

early girlfriend Charlotte Daigle. Her girlfriend Chris Mann dated Hunter. Troy 1994, 25

Charlotte Daigle: “he really did things on his own terms, the way he wanted to, without a lot of concern about what he should do or what people wanted him to do. He listened to his inner voice.” Troy 1994, 26

February 1961 Paul Speegle death. Studebaker Golden Hawk. Jerry had switched places with Paul just before the accident. P. 27: JG: “That’s where my life began. Before then I was always living at less than capacity. I was idling. That was the slingshot for the rest of my life. It was like a second chance. Then I got serious.” And he got serious about music, giving up art. Troy 1994, 26-27 #1961

“He chose music because he liked the interaction with other people that it provided.” Music had other players and an audience. Later on, Garcia would say that “the symbiotic relationship of band and audience was integral to his musical experience, what made it come alive for him” (Troy 1994, 27).

Marshall Leicester got him back into bluegrass. Introduced him to the New Lost City Ramblers. Troy 1994, 28

NLCR. Early influence on Jerry. Troy 1994, 28 Also influenced by Joan Baez (Troy 1994, 29). Summer 1961 Garcia went to see Joan Baez at Palo Alto HS. Troy 1994, 29: Watching her, Garcia noted that he could play better guitar than her. (Corry: The girlfriend in question is probably Phoebe Graubard. http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/03/december-12-1981-fiesta-hall-san-mateo.html?showComment=1300209441338#c4828597825817592833; this in response to ““A friend of mine, who was Garcia’s girlfriend in 1961, recalls sitting with him in the front row of Joan Baez’s concert at Palo Alto High that summer. He watched Baez intently, saying ‘I can do that! I can beat her technique.’” Kahn, Alice. 1984. Jerry Garcia and the Call of the Weird. West (SJ Mercury News) (December 30), pp. 14-17, 20-22. reprinted in Dodd and Spaulding 2000, pp. 196-203), quote from p. 202 of the reprint. Dodd, David G., and Diana Spaulding. 2000. The Grateful Dead Reader. Oxford: Oxford University Press.) http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/03/december-12-1981-fiesta-hall-san-mateo.html?showComment=1300209154277#c7489269821427829383

summer 1961, Garcia met David Nelson at Kepler’s. Troy 1994, 30

September 1961 JG goes to see Monterey Jazz Festival. NB 9/22-23-24/61. JG went two days with Charlotte Daigle. Troy 1994, 34

summer 1962, Jorma meets him at a place called the Folk Theatre, on First Street in San Jose (became the Offstage). Troy 1994, 38

Hart Valley Drifters Troy 1994, 41

another girlfriend, Diane Huntsberger, classmate of Daigle’s. Then Sara Ruppenthal, also Paly HS. Troy 1994, 46

Heather born 12/8/63. Troy 1994, 48

GD split into two camps: Gar and Lesh more improvisational, Weir and Pigpen on the other side, more structured and song oriented. Troy 1994, 119

“to play the music that he had decided on, Garcia formed the group Mickey Hart and the Hartbeats”. Troy 1994, 120

TC: “Mickey Hart and the Hartbeats was a period of time when Garcia and Lesh were into a more extended improvisation trip, which was exactly what Weir and Pigpen were less into.” Troy 1994, 121

“The Hartbeats was an interesting side trip for Garcia, but it wasn’t enough by itself to hold his attention.” Liked the GD dynamics. “However, the short break opened his eyes to the advantages of playing with other musicians when his schedule would allow it, and in 1969 he began doing more of that. This extracurricular performing allowed Garcia to scratch his musical itches in a way – he could play music he liked that the Dead didn’t ordinarily do, and he could try out new instruments and new techniques.” Troy 1994, 121

TC was brought in as part of the GD’s move toward more experimentation. Troy 1994, 122

LAG strike, 8/1/69. Garcia couldn’t cross the picket line because of his union sympathies, inherited from his grandmother. When asked why he didn’t cross, he told McNally: “My grandmother.” Troy 1994, 126

JG credited CSN with helping the GD’s vocal harmonies. Troy 1994, 133

JG: “I play music because I love music, … and all my life I’ve loved music.” Troy 1994, 135

“one of his joys was simply putting together an impromptu group, finding a willing watering hole, and filling the space with music. He explained ‘I’m a total junkie when it comes to playing. I just have to play. And when we’re off the road I get itchy, and a bar’s just like the perfect opportunity to get loose and play all night.” Troy 1994, 141

“he clearly preferred playing with other musicians in front of an audience. ‘Rather than sit home and practice, scales and stuff, which I do when I’m together enough to do it, I go out and play because playing music is more enjoyable to me than sitting home and playing scales.” Troy 1994, 142

Merl signed with Fantasy Records in 1965. Troy 1994, 143

PERRO as cross-pollination. Troy 1994, 145

“Another reason for Jerry to spend time away from the Grateful Dead was that he could work out his own personal musical dreams that the other members of the band might have stunted.” Togotigi. Troy 1994, 146

JG got $10k advance for the Stinson Beach house, paid by the solo album. Troy 1994, 147

6/30/72 was Fred Herrera’s swan song at Keystone Korner. Troy 1994, 153

9/22/72: “Playing with Saunders meant so much to Garcia that he even flew back from New York in the middle of a GD tour to play a benefit concert with him at BCT on September 22 [1972].” Troy 1994, 153

Rakow’s plan in So What papers approved on 4/19/73. “In April 1973 Grateful Dead Records was set up, co-owned by all the voting members of the organization, with Rakow as president and general manager. A second label, Round Records, owned fifty-fifty by Garcia and Rakow, was set up to [156] handle solo projects” (Troy 1994, 155-156)

OAITW Troy 1994, 158

JG quotes (maybe from splendor in the bluegrass or something) early 1973 re OAITW: “we got together a little over a month ago, started playing, and then decided, ‘Shit, why don’t we play a few bars and see what happens?’ We’re thinking about finding a fiddle player and then doing some of the bluegrass festivals this summer. … That’d be a lot of fun.” NB the “Bluegrass at Grisman’s” thing confirms that this is more or less exactly how it happened! Troy 1994, 158

“In 1972 and 1973, the Garcia and Saunders Band did three albums for Fantasy Records –Heavy Turbulence, Fire Up, and Live at Keystone.” Troy 1994, 159

JG is the one who pushed Merl to sing! Merl: “He also got me singing. We’d come off a tour and he’d say, ‘Man, you gotta help me out singing.’ I didn’t think I could sing, but I figured if Jerry could sing, I could sing. … That’s how I started singing.” Troy 1994, 160

re GD hiatus. JG: “It had turned into a thing that was out of our control, and nobody was really doing it because they liked it. We were doing it because we had to.” NB solo stuff would always more or less be in his control. Troy 1994, 167

airport porter: “Oh my God, what kind of band is this? You’ve got a hippie [Garcia], a black guy [Saunders], a white guy [Kahn], an Indian [Fierro] and a Super Fly [Humphrey, who dressed in sharp flashy colors].” JGMS Mention of Golden Bear shows, October 1974: “sold-out house” Troy 1994, 168

The “Imagine” story, per Merl: Fall 1971, “I was at Fantasy Records that fall with Garcia, Tom Fogerty, John Kahn and Bill Vitt to record my album. This guy at the studio had a promotional copy of the record.” This is consistent with them playing it September 1971. Troy 1994, 169

no details on end of LOM: “in the summer of 1975 the two musicians decided to go their own way.” Troy 1994, 169

Deborah Koons. JG had met her in Cincinnati during a tour (December 1973?). Troy 1994, 170

“The majority of Garcia’s third solo LP, Reflections, was also recorded at Weir’s studio in 1975.” I don’t think so – His Master’s Wheels. Troy 1994, 173

Jerry Garcia Band. Troy 1994, 175

Keith and Donna join JGB. Kahn: “Keith lived over on Paradise Drive [in Corte Madera], and we used to play over there all the time. He had a room downstairs that was set up so we could just go in and play … we’d get together just about every night and [176] play. … We had Dylan songbooks and we’d do stuff like play everything from Blonde on Blonde. Then we’d do all sorts of Beatles songs. It was great.” Troy 1994, 175: 1975,

“Playing with this group [JGB] was like sitting in a favorite old easy chair for Garcia. He claimed, ‘I haven’t been as happy with any little performing group since Old and In the Way in terms of feeling this is really harmonious.” Comfort, JGB as harmonious. Contrast with GD: challenge, dissonance. Troy 1994, 176

late 1978, Jerry’s voice ragged, “a condition exacerbated by the three packs of unfiltered Camels he smoked every day and by his chronic use of central nervous system stimulants.” Troy 1994, 190

Reconstruction “played primarily black music – funk, jazz, soul, blues and reggae. … But Garcia’s desire to have his own band as a creative outlet was strong”, so we got the Ozzie JGB. Troy 1994, 193

Seals “was suggested to Garcia by Kahn, who had met Melvin through Maria Muldaur. A Bay Area native, Seals had spent much of his life involved with the music of the black Baptist church. … his roots were firmly in gospel music, and he found inspiration in the music of the church. The gospel influence that Seals brought to the Garcia Band was very much to Garcia’s liking” Troy 1994, 199

“Soon after Garcia completed the drug diversion program”, the GD had their 20^th anniversary stuff. Troy 1994, 205

GD played 71 shows, sold out all but six, and grossed $11.5 million in 1985. Troy 1994, 205

Merl says that he was on a beach in the Caribbean, and suffered some kind of heat stroke at precisely the same moment that Jerry was short circuiting (July 10, 1986). Troy 1994, 207-208

more on friends and the coma. David Nelson. Merl: “I started walking with him every day from the house out to the road and back to the house. [211] We started practicing five minutes a day.” Troy 1994, 210

Graham on Garcia wanting to play Broadway: “One month prior [Garcia was] playing five sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden … that’s 100,000 people. For the lead guitarist of that same group to play eighteen shows at a 1,400 seat theater, obviously there’s a desire to do this, not a need to do this. Since the very first day I met him, he has not changed his seemingly unquenchable thirst to just play.” Troy 1994, 223

Blues from the Rainforest began recording March 1989. Troy 1994, 231

Midland “had been fighting a drug problem for more than a year and had been rushed to the hospital when he almost overdosed the prior December [1989].” Troy 1994, 233

Garcia/Grisman earned a Grammy nomination and sold more than 100,000 copies. Troy 1994, 239

JG, ca. 1992: “Ideally I’d have the Dead play two nights a week, play bluegrass two nights a week, and play with my band two nights, and on the other day go to a movie.” That doesn’t seem like too much to ask for! Such simple tastes! Troy 1994, 239

1991, GD grossed $34.7 million. Troy 1994, 245

“for a couple of months in early 1993 Garcia was seeing Barbara Meier … but in the spring he reconnected with Deborah Koons.” Troy 1994, 250.

Hartbeats as Tempo Études

LN jg1968-10-30.hartbeats.163mins.sbd-gadsden.xxxxxx.flac1644

Well, we probably won't ever be able to identify everything about the various Matrix Tapes (dates, personnel, etc.), with 100% certainty. But there's no particular reason to doubt that this is something like Mickey and the Hartbeats (here, as Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, with guest Elvin Bishop on a few tunes) from around Wednesday, October 30, 1968.

Many people find this too noodly, but I appreciate them in all kinds of ways, among them that the middle section (t08-t16) is a like a long tempo Étude. I can appreciate this material as such.

I have listened closely to the bass playing and other context clues in the last fragment. I hear Phil repeatedly speaking and have to conclude that it's Phil-souding-like-Jack, rather than Jack-sounding-like-Phil.

Mickey and the Hartbeats
The Matrix
3138 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
October 30, 1968 (Wednesday)
163 minute sbd via Bill Gadsden 2008 reel transfer flac1644 JGMF

(23 tracks, 163:04)

t01. noodling [0:53] ->
t02. Dark Star [17:09] ->
t03. Death Letter Blues [8:57]
t04. talk (1) and tuning [2:19]
t05. The Other One // [15:57#] %

t06. talk and tuning [0:30] %

t07. // Turn On Your Lovelight [#9:30] [0:09] %

t08. talk (2) and tuning [0:40]
t09. noodling (New Potato Caboose theme) [1:10] ->
t10. talk (3, 4) and noodling [3:48]
t11. Clementine [3:57] ->
t12. The Seven [9:30] ->
t13. Elevens, Sevens and Sixes [2:04] ->
t14. The Eleven [7:35] ->
t15. Death Don't Have //% No Mercy [8:#32] (5)
t16. talk (6) and tuning [1:18]
-enter Elvin Bishop-
t17. untitled 19681030a [14:53] ->
t18. untitled 19681030b [6:20] (7) [0:10]
t19. talk (8) and tuning [0:33]
t20. Prisoner Blues [10:49] (9) [0:05] % [0:09]
-exit Elvin Bishop-

t21. ... The Seven [9:29] (10) [0:35]
t22. tuning and talk (11) [6:39]
t23. Dark Star ... [19:10#]

! Band: Hartbeats
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Phil Lesh - el-bass;
! lineup: Mickey Hart - percussion;
! guest: Elvin Bishop - el-g (t17-t20), vocals (t20).

JGMF:

! R: 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/19681030-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/1205 (Gadsden/Wise/Sacks, presumed same source tapes, but older transfer than the present fileset); http://etreedb.org/shn/112737 (PNW flac2496 presumed lineage MSR (Abrams) > R (Kafer) > R @ 7.5ips (Will Boswell) > digital, leading me to believe that 112737 has an extra reel gen, since IIRC Gadsden in 2008 transfered the Kafer "1st copy" reel, which is represented in this fileset; 112737 is also mono); http://etreedb.org/shn/116833 (Berger flac2496 from Moore unlineaged stereo reel, TT 89 minutes (so "incomplete).

! Deadlists Comments [abridged]: The 'On The Town" column in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, by Ralph J. Gleason, which which gave listings of what bands were playing locally, says that "Jerry Garcia & Friends" are playing at The Matrix" on these dates (see the San Francisco Chronicle for Monday October 28, 1968 p. 45). Bobby and Pigpen were absent. On page 26 of issue #34 (Summer 1996) of Dupree's Diamond News, Dick Latvala stated in an interview 'What I know exists in our Vault are the shows, and they are on four-track 15 i.p.s." and 'There are two dates, 10/28 and 10/29, both of which have four reels. On 10/30 there's a Dark Star Jam into a Jerry vocal, could be Death Letter Blues'. He also stated 'That's what's written on the box. I haven't listened to it.'"

! Historical/dating: Note that Dick's statement contradicts itself in saying that there are two days (28 and 29) but then describing what's on the tape of the 30th. I do not know whether the GD Vault copies are masters, copies from Abrams's house tapes, or something else. I suspect they're copies from Abrams's house tapes, but I do not know for sure. Regarding how this relates ... [edit: not sure where I was going to go with that]

! R: Tape Provenance: Peter Abram's 7" 1/4 track SBD reels @ 7.5ips > Peter Kafer/Bill Gadsden's 7" 1/4 track Maxell reels @ 7.5ips > Revox B77 playback > Alesis Masterlink (sampling @ 24 bit, 96kHz) > CD > EAC > CDWave > TLH (FLAC level 8) > foobar2000 (tagging).

! R: the sound quality is what you'd expect for a Matrix Tape. This is a stereo recording.

! historical: on shnid 116833 Berger speculates that only the first 90 minutes is from this date, while the rest is from 10/8/68. I don't think so. I have listened to and noted both, and I can confirm that the talk around the various pieces of music is different. I haven't A-B'd them directly, which would seal the deal, I think.

! P: t02 Dark Star: Phil Lesh is a monster right from the get-go. He is fiercely melodic right from the start. This really is an attempt to have two lead instruments simultaneously, because Lesh and Garcia are on the same plane. Jerry seems to quote Tighten Up @ 1:49, and he's still dancing with some of that feeling around 2:15. Very sweet stuff. . Back to Star at 2:30. @ 6:24 Garcia quotes Born-Cross-Eyed for a a little bit. At 11 min mark things take a darker, slower turn. While JG is signalling the return of Dark Star @ ca. 13:00, Mickey makes a little statement on the toms. Jerry considers but re-asserts Dark Star. Mickey and Phil assent, Mickey picking the scrapy-turny things again and Philip doing his Dark Star melodic statement. That rough breadcrumb framework established, Garcia wanders around again, but with Dark Star now providing a tighter backbone.

! setlist t03 Death Letter Blues is the Leadbelly song (see Jackson 1987); @ 6:24 Jerry early engagement with a little bit of what would become the And We Bid You Goodnight/Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad theme. This is just about a one-off version.

! t04 (1) JG: "Thank you. Uhh, I might explain, uh, that we're ...we're really here just playin' ... just goofin'. I mean, we really don't have anything in mind or anything. Yeah. (laughs) We're just thrown together by fate ... and so we're uh playin' Fate Music. Also called Luck Music." Someone else: [inaudible]. JG: "Good one, good one. ... fateful."

! P: t05 TOO @ 7:20 Jerry starts a crazy hot, pretty fast 12-beat up-down pattern -- very unique. Phil hears the promise and jumps on it right away. @ 8:17, a little Latin feel. Jerry picks up that earlier progression @ 8:31. It's real nice, very power-tro-ish. Not quite Latin (though there were some Spanish inflections between the two groups of 12-note runs), but hot as hell. @ 8:52-9:02 Phil lands on some pretty deep two-beat march space, then a little Spanish 4-beat, then they are back on the Other One by 9:15.

! R: t05 TOO cuts out.

! R: t07 Lovelight cuts in.

! t07 Lovelight is insrumental.

! R: t08 there are various tape splices and some static during this long tuning

! t08 (2) can hear Elvin Bishop say something like "Let's play, man." @ 0:35 JG: "I don't think we have any straps. ... I'll sit down [?if we need?]." Maybe they are looking for a guitar strap for Elvin.

! t10 @ 1:49 (3) Mickey Hart: "Hey Ram?" Ramrod: "Yeah." MH: "Did you get the hammer? Did you get the [inaudible]?" More inaudible talk.

! t10 at end (4) Phil Lesh: "Wanna try the six?" JG: "Yep. Sure."

! setlist: t11 Clementine: This is an instrumental version. See LIA's post for an analysis of the song and how this version fits into its short, uneven history.

! t12 The Seven: I track "The Seven" where I track it, but the whole 3-minute range of "Clementine" is really the gradual transmogrification of The Six into The Seven. I put it here because I take Mickey's hard assertion of the tempo at this point to signify the change. Since this is a series of tempo Études, well, the tempo *constitutes the "song".

! P: t12 This version of "The Seven" , notes from a musical person, MJ: "3/4 time jazz waltz, but technically not because and it swung of course because it was a jazz waltz. If it is a 6/8 it's slow. The fact that it's swung means that if it was a normal 6/8 it would ... usually if it's in 6/8 at a normal speed ... so the combo of 6/8 with swing beat makes it unusual. A slow 6/8. Sounds more like a 3/4" to MJ.

! P: t12 Note the sequence: "The Six" -> "The Seven" -> "The Eleven" ... this is a tempo Étude. Insofar as we like attributions from The Horse's Mouth, we might even consecrate (by officializing, naturally) this track as "The Six", per Phil's identification (see note 4, above).

! t13 @ ca. 0:13ff Jerry is playing The Eleven while Phil is back to Clementine/The Six! @1339 hear someone say something. Now Phil is playing The Seven while Garcia is playing The Eleven. That's really what Hartbeats is all about. Mixing tempos. Garcia is mostly staying on 11/8, while Phil plays around with sixes (Clementine) and sevens. So I am just coining a term for this: Elevens, Sevens and Sixes.

! t14 The Eleven is instrumental.

! R: t15 DDHNM a little static @ 0:53, 1:14; hiss seems to come up during this track.

! R: t15 DDHNM splice @ 5:08, unknown amount missing.

! t15 (5): JG: "Thank you."

! t16 (6) JG: "Well, where's Elvin? Where'd he go? Where'd that skunk go? Where'd he go?"

! personnel: t17 Elvin Bishop is present from this point forward (from 94 minutes in). As far as I can hear, he is only present until the end of t20 (about 33 minutes).

! t17 untitled 19681030a is a nice mournful theme. It has a name, I think (hence me calling it untitled 19681030a-I think this can be substituted with an actual name ... if it were just a theme, I might have called it "mournful theme" or something like that). Before the track mark, you can hear Jerry asking something like "what's that tune?" I want to say that it's probably an Elvin Bishop melody, but I have no idea. It's really pretty. Damnit, what is the name of this? It surely has a name. @ 6:38ff Elvin is doing a theme that sounds almost related to New Potato Caboose thing. It sounds a little bit like Donovan's First There Is A Mountain, as well. @ 7:40 quotes The Seven a little bit. He, especially, is focused on these tempo Études. In the 11-12 minute marks it has more NPC feel. Around 12 minutes in, someone yells a change to someone else, but I can't hear what it is. Things slow down. By 14-min mark Phil is referencing The Seven again. @ 14:18 Garcia takes up a four note repeating thing, and then by 14:30 he is doing a slowed-down version of his ending riff from Born Cross-Eyed! His work here is very much more reminiscent of early 1968 than of, say, the Fillmore West shows four months later.

! t18 untitled 19681030b is a blues instrumental. It sounds very similar to Prisoner Blues. It cooks pretty well. In the late 3-min mark it has a little Death Letter Blues vibe. In the 4-minute mark Jerry and Elvin have some very nice call-and-response going ... Jerry is being the gunslinger here, for sure.

! t18 (7) JG seems to say "That's right" at the end. Then he says, obviously in answer to a query about what to play (presumably from Elvin): "Anything you like. Just start it."

! t19 (8) JG: "JG: "Hey, you got a vocal mic for over at that end? Elvin's gonna sing one." He's smiling behind his (?non-? beard) as he mentions Elvin singing.

! setlist: t20 Prisoner Blues: This is presumably just a way of being conventional about this. It's not a song so much as a theme around a slow blues.

! t20 (9) Elvin Bishop: "Thanks."

! setlist: We can't know for sure if the stuff from this last piece (t21-23, 35+ minutes) is from the same night as the other material. For that matter, it's really impossible to know whether anything on opposite sides of any tape discontinuity is from the same night. This could be snippets. I have separated out what I view as the different pieces with an extra line in the tracklist. I don't know that it is from one night or several, and I am not trying to sow obscurity or confusion. We might as well assume that this is from the same night and that that night is approximately correctly dated as October 30, 1968. I mention this only to get in front of the question that might arise from the presence of "repeat" engagements with The Seven and Dark Star. Given the exploratory nature of these Hartbeats dates, it's entirely possible that they took repeated, separate passes at these tunes. But it's also possible, given the nature of Matrix Tapes, that this material is a separate snippet from a separate night or set.

! personnel: There is no second guitar on the last piece.

! R: t21 The Seven cuts in.

! t21 @ 1:36 JG is yelling something. Sounds like he says "It all falls in, man", mentions Phil and the bass.

! t21 (10) JG: "That's not necessary. You don't really have to do that. We're ... uhhh ... We're here primarily to screw around. And, uh .. so don't expect anything that isn't screwing around. Because everything we're doing is screwing around unless otherwise stated in advance." JGMF NB this makes me think this piece is from early in a set/show/date.

! R: t22 tick @ 1:16.

! t22 (11) Phil Looney Tunes goof @ 2:45. They are talking about drinks, I think. Phil asks "Ohhh, 7-Up this time?" @ 4:11 Mickey says "Hey Ramrod?" Around 6-minutes in Mickey's gear is ready and he says "OK, now let's play." So this long interlude sounds like it was to do with gear. Indeed, the drums seem to be audible in the right at the start of the track, then move middle/left. Phil: "A little bossa nova, huh?" JG: "Bossa nova?"

! t23 compare this Dark Star with the "November 1968" version. This one starts off with the bass and guitar together, jumping right into the guiro -- a classic start to primal Dark Star. I think that one is different.

! R: t23 hard for me to tell if it's a tape fade (I think it is) or if they just soften to a close with Dark Star.

REFERENCE:
Jackson, Blair. 1987b. Roots, part 14. Golden Road no. 14 (Summer): 44.

Mickey and the Hartbeats, October 28, 1968, Matrix, San Francisco, CA

Deadlists no longer lists (if it ever did) a Hartbeats show at the Matrix on Monday, 10/28/68. It doesn't appear on the Chicken on a Unicycle Matrix list, either. But what are we to make of this tidbit, from Deadlist's 10/29/68 Hartbeats entry?

On page 26 of issue #34 (Summer 1996) of Dupree's Diamond News, Dick Latvala stated in an interview "What I know exists in our Vault are the shows, and they are on four-track 15 i.p.s." and "There are two dates, 10/28 and 10/29, both of which have four reels."

Hartbeats: October "1969" misidentification

I just briefly posted some time back with an image of the Matrix poster that I bought myself. I have now had it framed and I have to say that it looks wonderful. The nice thing about having obscure taste is that some of the stuff that really interests me (e.g., New Riders) has less of a premium on it than more mainstream items (e.g., related to the Grateful Dead).

Sort of in conjunction, I picked up Grushkin's Art of Rock. "My" poster is in there at plate 2.118, but it is misidentified as 1969. I think this might account for the October 1969 listings that show up on lists based on Gary Jackson's Matrix Concerts data (e.g., at sixtiesposters.com). I had suspected that these were a duplication of the October '68 dates, and now am about 99% sure. Not sure the direction of causality (i.e., Grushkin -> Jackson or Jackson > Grushkin), but it's immaterial. As of now, I am no longer listing Garcia and Friends at the Matrix in October of 1969.

Mickey and the Hartbeats, October 1968

Someday I may write up a post about these shows that I love so much and that are so central to my thinking. But for now I just wanted to show off the poster I splurged and bought myself.

Updates:

! note: Note the misdating to 1969 by Grushkin's AOR.

! ref: AOR 2.118: October Calendar; The Matrix, San Francisco, 1969 [sic]; Artists: George Chacona, Marty Rice (Grushkin 1987, 166).

! ref: Grushkin, Paul. 1987. The Art of Rock: Posters from Presley to Punk. Artworks photographed by Jon Sievert. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers.

! note: Note dates 10/8/68, 10/9/68, 10/10/68, for searchability.

! seealso: "Hartbeats as Tempo Etudes," http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/11/ln-jg1968-10-30hartbeats163minssbd.html.