"the world’s most recorded musician in the world’s most famous arena"

Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19911115-01

The Red Light folks tagged GarciaLive 16 (MSG 11/15/91) with the subject line, and I have to say that it's badass. That crew does a good job, IMO. I am not kissing up. It's a hard job and they have released some amazing stuff. And that's just a good line. Tip o' the cap.

I wanted to post my review of this release from Grateful Dead Studies.

It contains some pretty good distillations about which you will read again in Fate Music.

The performance by the ... JGB at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 1991, represents the acme of Garcia’s solo career, the culmination of a nearly quarter-century name-claiming journey by which he established his identity as an individual American musician, Jerry-Garcia-full-stop, beyond and distinct from his wider fame as Jerry-Garcia-of-the-Grateful-Dead.

...

Jerry Garcia never planned a solo career; it just sort of happened as he sought more and different avenues for expression than the Dead allowed. Inchoate jams at the Carousel Ballroom became tempo études (“Mickey and the Hartbeats”) at the Matrix, which became regular but musically formless Monday night jams with Howard Wales, which morphed into ongoing and more musically grounded gigs with Merl Saunders. Even after four years, the amorphous aggregation resisted naming itself, going by “The Group” in the Bay Area, or just listing members’ names, before coalescing into “Legion of Mary” for its last eight months. The meantime saw numerous aggregations under other (and others’) names, playing diverse musics, cutting some records, running some drive-by tours, and banking an increasingly sizeable pile of accomplishments, including the country New Riders of the Purple Sage, the space-jazz Hooteroll? proj- ect with Wales, and the incandescent bluegrass all-stars Old and In The Way. Otherwise off-nights found Garcia making a singular solo record, engaging protean Dawg Music (David Grisman’s Great American Music/ String Band), renewing bluegrass ties with the Good Old Boys, vibrating electrons with Ned Lagin, and making time for a vast array of sessions, sit-ins, dalliances, and one- and few-offs.

But the Jerry Garcia Band (1975–1995) bore his name, and it played the music its eponym liked, the way he wanted to play it. Over the years the JGB, always featuring Garcia’s friend bassist John Kahn but with an evolving array of other musicians, grooved to soul, R&B, Motown, contemporary gospel, reggae, and other Black idioms that fit the band’s changing personnel, especially after the arrival of church organist Melvin Seals in 1981 and his handpicked backing vocalists starting the next year. A second tranche of cover tunes drew from the contemporary White Anglosphere, both the British Isles and North American settler colonies, heavy on the Americana. Garcia-Hunter originals, some shared with the Dead and others exclusive to the JGB, rounded out the repertoire. The six players integrate seamlessly. This is the canonical Jerry Garcia Band, a lineup that lasted 1984–1993, the core three plus steady David Kemper on drums and harmony vocals by Jackie LaBranch and Gloria Jones, Oakland church singers with day jobs who took to calling themselves the Jerryettes.

Read the whole thing as they say. I dig this show, and I dig imagining how this son of an immigrant musician might have felt seeing that family name in lights at the Garden.

Between the Bottom Lines (Lennon and Garcia at the Bottom Line, November 5, 1974) (Guest post by Scott Raile)

[note: for a very long time it has been known that John Lennon saw Jerry at the Bottom Line, and various accounts of a meeting, possible sit-in, as well as the date of this encounter have been given over the years. Historian Scott Raile nailed it down as November 5, 1974 in comments to a post of mine about the early show that night. Over the years, I had heard tell of a recording made from Lennon's table, capturing him commentating the gig, but had never been able to put ears around it. In late 2021, monte_dym posted this recording –from the previously uncirculated late show-- to his soundcloud account, and a few months back David Minches brought this to my attention. Wow! (And thank you, David!) Monte supplied David with CD audio of the files, and as of today they are circulating as shnid-163367 in the usual places. I have invited Scott to put some context around all of this, hence this first-ever JGMF guest post. Thanks to all involved! –ed.]

Between the Bottom Lines

Guest post by Scott Raile

https://lennonology.com/

In October of 2015, noted Beatles historian Chip Madinger published his book LENNONOLOGY: Strange Days Indeed, a work that is still recognized as the ultimate biography of post-Beatles John Lennon (and Yoko Ono), an immensely detailed day-by-day chronology of Lennon's life from 1966-1980. I was fortunate enough to have my name on the cover as Chip's co-author, the culmination of 15 years of arduous research and writing, debate and discussion. So, to a handful of people around the world, I am known, thanks to LENNONOLOGY, as a Beatles historian.

 But we are all multitudes, aren't we? None of us is one-dimensional, and everyone has multiple areas of interest and/or expertise, even if most people only see one or two of those aspects. What most Beatle fans who know my name don't realize is that, while I was busy writing my chunks of LENNONOLOGY, more often than not the Grateful Dead was playing in the background. They're my second-favorite band, and my obsession with "learning all I can" about my interests definitely extends to them.

I love it when my interests collide. Circles within circles within circles: Paul McCartney writes a James Bond theme song, or George Harrison pops up in the middle of THE LIFE OF BRIAN. So, even though I wanted to get every detail of Lennon's life nailed down correctly in the book, there was one date I was truly determined to nail down: The night John Lennon went to a Jerry Garcia show.

We didn't have much of a roadmap. Every previous Lennon biography was silent on the matter, even as most of the Garcia biographies mentioned it. As I dug deeper into it, the "facts" presented didn't sit right with me. The Garcia biographies placed the encounter in April of 1975 during Jerry's run at the Bottom Line in New York. But that made no sense. John and Yoko had been separated from September of 1973 until February of 1975 (Lennon's infamous "lost weekend"). But after their reunion (and Yoko's almost-immediate pregnancy), John kept a very low profile, and all but disappeared in 1975, as much as a Beatle can disappear. Hanging out in the clubs in April 1975 was possible, of course, but unlikely. And that's when I started to focus on November of 1974, another timeframe that Jerry played at the Bottom Line and one that made much more sense for Lennon's biography.

November 1974 was a "between the lines" moment for John Lennon. He had spent July and August of that year recording the album WALLS AND BRIDGES, and a goodly chunk of September and October on an extensive promotional jag for the album, the most extensive promotion he ever did for one. By November, the buzz around the record was wearing off, and John occupied his time hanging out with his new friend Elton John, and trying to rekindle his deep friendship with George Harrison, who was touring America that month.

John's personal life was "between the lines" as well; his separation from Yoko was coming to an end, as the couple were just beginning their negotiations to reconcile. That also meant that John's relationship with May Pang (his interim companion) was coming to an end. In May's 1983 memoir, she wrote vaguely of a photo of John with a well-known groupie that was published in a music trade magazine, a magazine that John bought all the local copies of in a futile attempt to keep May from seeing the photo.

And that's where the circles converge. While digging through endless copies of Cashbox magazine for LENNONOLOGY, Chip turned up the infamous photo (reproduced here). But more importantly for our purposes, the caption spelled it out loud and clear: here's John Lennon attending a Jerry Garcia show last Tuesday. HUZZAH. The hard work paid off and all had been revealed. At least we assumed "all had been revealed"; after all, Jerry played two shows that night. Which one did John attend? We assumed it was the late show, based on recollections from the band.

One of the greatest things about being a historian is how, even after decades, things still just keep popping up. A film clip, a photo, a recording that we don't think exists (or may not have even happened) suddenly shows up, in brilliant Technicolor, and all of a sudden we have to re-assume our assumptions and re-think our thoughts. The world of the Beatles and the Grateful Dead are especially rich in this respect. You would think that, after 50 or 60 years, everything that could be discovered has been discovered. And then all of a sudden a photo shows up that you've never seen before, and the wonder is renewed.

And that is just what has happened here. For decades, the early show from November 5, 1974 has circulated, but we were pretty sure John attended the late show. But the late show had never shown up. And if it did, then so what? Would any Lennon fan care? Is it worth collecting just because he's in the audience? Do Lennon fans snap up that live Bob Marley album just because John and Ringo are in the audience? Do you collect every 1974 episode of "The Odd Couple" just because John was in the studio audience of one of them when it was taped? What are the limits of collecting? Where do you draw the line? I wanted to hear the late show just because I love Jerry. But who in the Beatles world would care?

Fortunately, all of that speculation has come to a sudden and spectacular end. I was thrilled out of my mind when JGMF sent me this show, because I wanted to hear some more 1974 Jerry. But imagine my sheer elation when, towards the end of the show, we can hear, clearly and unequivocally, John Lennon himself commenting on the show. At first, we hear him wittily calling the show like a sportscaster ("ten down and three to go!"), lapsing slightly into a Howard Cosell-like description of the event (which makes sense since John and Howard were hanging out in the fall of 1974). We hear him tell the taper that he loves bootlegs (which he did), and then critique the performance as a fellow musician, noting how a song had dragged in the middle but then got saved at the end. Considering how tumultuous his personal life was at that point (and how negatively some of Jerry's band members recalled the meeting), I fully expected John to be drunk and obnoxious at that show, but I am thrilled to hear just the opposite: he's lucid, funny and just another guy hanging out at a Jerry show.

Unless another unknown tape pops up, we'll never know directly how John or Jerry reacted to their encounter that night; the current record shows both of them as being silent on this topic. But from a historian's point of view, the story has come full-circle; from vague stories placed in April 1975 to "we have a tape and Lennon is even on it," we have closed the gap from hearsay to concrete evidence. In the grand scheme of things, it's not enormous; we've added another 90 minutes to our understanding of Jerry, and another 60 seconds to our understanding of John. But history is little more than an enormous jigsaw puzzle that wants putting together, and now we have one more tiny piece to put into place.

August 1971 Crosby super session / double album project to end the Vietnam War?

update: Never Trust A Prankster :)

via GIPHY

Bruce Rostenstein was an ouststanding rock columnist for the American University Eagle in the early 1970s. That paper has been digitized, and like so many other college papers, offers up all kinds of goodness for the intrepid researcher.

His October 29, 1971 column brings forth something I have never heard about. Noting the success of George Harrison's Bangladesh benefit concert, he reports, on the basis of some seemingly pretty clear documentation (including side-and-cut information), about a star-packed double album project spearheaded by David Crosby to end the war in Vietnam.

The concept itself is mind-boggling; one LP will feature Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with all new material, and the other record will have the boys playing with some of the biggest names in rock. As for the business end, Crosby has arranged for Atlantic Records to distribute the [sic] on the special Empathy label.

Word of the project leaked, and Croz had to give more info to the rock press. It included the following stuff put togther in "mammoth sessions" over five late August days at Electric Lady Studios:

A-1: the original Byrds: unidentified tune
A-2: Captain Beefheart (sax and guitar), Stephen Stills (organ), Jeff Beck (guitar): a seven minute cut called "Feet"
A-3: Michael Bloomfield, Stills (organ), Jack Casay (bass), Joey Covington (drums): "I Just Don't Know", an autobiographical Bloomfield tune, his first original in two years
A-4: members of the NRPS and Poco, "with an extended pedal steel guitar solo by David Grisman of the New Riders": "Sagebrush"
A-5: a 23-second spoken intro by Richard Meltzer
A-6: Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals), Jack Casady (bass), Graham Nash (organ), Ringo Star (drums): a nine minute version of "Goodnight Irene"
B-1: Dr. John, Eric Clapton, various percussionists: "Bayou Madness" (impromptu/original)
B-2: Leon Russell (piano), the Tulsa Tops, Merry Clayton and Claudia Lenear (vocals), Billy Preston (organ): "Funky Oklahoma Mama" (a new Russell original)
B-3: Russell, Neil Young (guitar), ?others?: "Rock 'n' Roll Forever" ("Supposedly this eight and a half minute cut is a fusion of 'Maybelline', 'Long Tall Sally', 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On', 'Sweet Sixteen' and 'Summertime Blues'")
B-4: Buffalo Springfield: "On the Way Home"
B-5: Paul McCartney (bass), Linda McCartney (piano), Crosby and Stills (acoustic guitars), Clapton and Nils Lofgren (electric guitars), Phil Lesh (bass): a ten-minute instrumental called "What Is Reality"?

Along with the record, word has it that the Maysles brothers donated their services and filmed the entire session for a television special which may be aired as early as mid-January. The release date of the record is indefinite. Some say as early as December 15th, others say not before January.

OK, so my question to you, dear friends, is is this a real thing that I missed? Or??

Nina Blackwood Interviews Jerry Garcia for MTV, ca. June 2, 1983

Some classic lines here, like the studio as building a ship in a bottle and playing live like piloting a rowboat in the ocean. I wasn't super careful about getting everything 100% perfect, especially not where there's GD talk. I am not 100% certain about the geolocation, but it's got to be about right.

Jerry Garcia Interview by Nina Blackwood
MTV Studios / Teletronic Studios
West 33rd Street and 10th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
June 2, 1983 (Thursday)
Youtube > Tuberipper m4a > otter.ai

! metadata: date a little uncertain. The Relix version (Blackwood 1983) says "conducted at MTV by Nina in May, 1983". But the Gary Gershoff pix at Getty (https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-mtv-vj-nina-blackwood-and-rock-blues-musician-news-photo/1364449796) date this as 6/2, and that does seem likely.

! venue: At this time, MTV was housed in the Teletronic Studios on West 33rd Street, right around the corner from 10th Avenue

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/RkQZy4xDDLUyUWqG7

! ref: Blackwood, Nina. 1983. Jerry Garcia: Interviewed for MTV. Relix 10, 4 (August): 16-20.

! R: source: part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-zEcX9_nXM TT 13:02

! R: source: part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl85mQ49Rlw TT 14:16

rough transcription after the jump

Calderone Valentine: JGB in Hempstead, NY, February 14, 1981

LN jg1981-02-14.jgb.all.aud-hance.155565.flac2496

Just did the previous night, and I had just listened to this one to get a load of the fresh transfer from John Jay Hance's master. I hear plenty of stuff to like, don't go into much detail. The "Like A Road" feels really sweet.

Quicky listening notes.

Jerry Garcia Band

Calderone Concert Hall

145 N. Franklin Street

Hempstead, NY 11550

February 14, 1981

Hance MAC shnid-155565

--set I (5 tracks, 53:33)--

s1t01. [0:37] Sugaree [14:38] % [0:09]

s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:14] [0:03] % [1:13]

s1t03. When I Paint My Masterpiece [9:26] % [0:41]

s1t04. Love In The Afternoon [7:44] [0:05] % [0:16]

s1t05. Tangled up in Blue [10:20] (1) [0:04]

--set II (5 tracks, 62:05)--

s2t01. Tore Up Over You [9:10] % [0:03]

s2t02. Like A Road Leading Home [13:31] % [0:44]

s2t03. Harder They Come [15:46] % [1:21]

s2t04. Dear Prudence [13:19] ->

s2t05. Midnight Moonlight [8:11] (2) [0:03]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #12b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - el-piano;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Daoud Shaw - 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/19810214-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/14079 (Ohr 2x Sony ECM-23f + 1x Nakamichi DM-500, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/24070 (same specs as Hance, possibly his, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/155565 (this fileset).

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/calderone-music-hall-145-n-franklin-st.html

! historical: Sue: capacity 2,800. $10k guarantee plus 90% gross receipts over $26,499 after taxes plus 100% difference between estimated non-variable expenses and $24,090 and actual expenses, plus $4,000 production fee and $1,000 hospitality.

! R: field recordist: John Hay Hance

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sennheiser 421 > Sony D5M (no Dolby) > Technics 686

! R: field recording location: balcony rail, 6' spread

! R: field recording media: 2x Maxell UDXLII-C90

! R: Transfer: Nakamichi 582Z > Korg MR2000S (DFF@5.6) Audiogate > 24/96 Wave > Wavelab6 > Ozone Rx7A > Ozone 5 Advance > Ozone Rx7A > CDwave > Flac24

! P: s1t01 Sugaree Jerry digs in at like 4:15 for something, and it just sounds so great.

! P: s1t05 TUIB I love how Shaw drums them into the groove to start this tune. He sounds perfectly awesome.

! R: s1t05 TUIB cut end, patched with shnid-14079 (Taped by Ohr Weinberg, Sony ECM 23-f's w/Nak DM-500 blend > Nak 550)

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll back [a little bit later]."

! P: s2t02 LARLH is really sweet.

 

! P: s2t04 DP KILLER sustain waily tone late 6. Yeah!!! Feedback, great work. Burning metallic. Which brings us to tin foil.

! R: s2t05 Mid Moon glitch @ 5:42

! s2t05 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later on."

The Romanesque Church Design Was Based On The Roman Basilica: Discuss (JGB at the Knick in Albany, November 3, 1993)

I just marveled at the almost 90-minute second set offered up on 12/22/90, and got to wondering about post-coma others that might match or beat it in duration. I recalled some long sets on the 11/93 tour, recalled that I had unposted (because not very informative) notes on 11/3/93 (my 23rd birthday, though I was somewhere in the vicinity of Monterey, CA), and checked them out.

Indeed, 89+ for this set II. We are envisioning being able to analyze real data on set and show durations via Jerrybase at some point in the not-too-distant future.

The show is maybe below average for the tour overall, with a few guitar highlights that I mention in the notes below. The real interest lies in the impromptu version of  Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train", which Garcia plays with an acoustic sound as a 'quippie fixes a string on John's bass. First, he lets the crowd know what's going on: "We've gotta change a string on the bass. You can all talk amongst yourselves." This latter formulation absolutely, positively echoes Mike Myers' contemporaneous SNL skit "Coffee Talk" - I use it myself when equipment challenges interrupt my teaching. I may also give a topic, as Linda Richmond does in the skit. In my case, it's something on-topic like "Vladimir Putin: strong man, or the strongest man? Discuss." In hers, the title gives a sample subject.

Then, without further ado, Our Man in Albany starts picking the tune. Melvin Seals accompanies extremely well on piano, so well that it makes me wonder how he knew the tune, since it is not associated with the "Band Electric". Maybe they had worked it up? I certainly would have liked to hear it more. Anyway, Melvin's great, and he weaves in a few bars of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" for good measure, last heard (by me) in the JGB being done by the great (if very drunk) Nicky Hopkins on 12/31/75. Jerry gets the verses mostly sung, if a little imperfectly (see my rough transcription just below), and this whole thing is just a stone cold fucking delight.

1- (chorus) Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Please don't tell what train I'm on | They won't know what route I'm gone
2- When I'm died oh bury me deep | Down at the end ol' Chestnut Street | Place the stones at my head and feet | Tell 'em all I'm gone to sleep
3- (chorus) Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Freight train, freight train, run so fast | Please don't tell what train I'm on | They won't know what route I'm gone
4- When I'm dead and in my grave | No more good times here I'll crave | [mumblyverse] | Tell 'em all I'm gone to sleep
5- When I'm died oh bury me deep | Down at the end ol' Chestnut Street | So I can hear ol' number nine | as she goes rollin' by
6- (chorus)

Here are Elizabeth Cotten's lyrics:

Source: Cohen and Seeger 1964, 136

At 4:30, John drops a note of electric bass to signal that he's ready to play, one of his few contributions on this night, in the era when he mostly fluttered around pretty inaudibly.

The song is one of my favorites, a perfect choice for Garcia and Grisman's then-recently-released masterpiece Not For Kids Only (Acoustic Disc ACD-9, 1993), and something Garcia had played since the pre-Dead period (see Jerrybase for the overview). In the GD era (and so the GOTS era) it showed up in the studio around 1975-1976. Jerry played it live 4/10/82a, his only "modern" solo acoustic date, but it was pretty cursory, just two and a half minutes without a good handle on the words, before running into the Cotten tune he did a lot more and in a range of contexts, "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie". After this impromptu version eleven years later, it came up twice more in the 1994 Garcia-Grisman live sets before ol' Jer landed at the end ol' Chestnut Street himself.

For more on this tour, the Garcia Band's last out east, see also "The Reedman vs. the Gunslinger at at the Garden" (11/12/93), "Good Clean Fun" (11/14/93), the sweet little BS passes for this "Slack Tour" featuring Church of the SubGenius prophet J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, and take a gander at the crew tourbook.

Listening Notes below the fold.

Segueing Out of Stony Brook: JGB in Pritchard Gym, SUNY Stony Brook, December 4, 1983

Lawn Guy Land, and especially SUNY Stony Brook, stands in the pantheon as one of the ground zero sites of the birth and development of the East Coast Deadhead and, by derivation, of the East Coast Garcia Freak. The Dead played Pritchard Gym on campus very early on, and, as so often happened, the Garcia Band followed, playing it in '77, '80, and, finally, on December 4, 1983.

Garcia's Bands in Pritchard Gym, SUNY Stony Brook. Source: Jerrybase.

The fall '83 JGB tour, undertaken largely by bus, bears all the hallmarks of this year in Our Hero's life, a little grungy, previewing the troubles that would become even more marked over the next few years --shorter sets, vocal limitations-- but playing LOUD, raging guitar and generally making up in enthusiasm what it lacked in precision.

His Stony Brook swan song illustrates all of this. Here's the lede from a show review in the campus paper, The Statesman:

In today's world of molded plastic superstars Jerry Garcia is a breath of fresh air. Rick Springfield fans wouldn't appreciate Garcia; he is old, fat and looks like he's just a step away from burning out. A person not familiar with Garcia would be more likely to ask when his last hot meal was, and not for an autograph (Reiss 1983).

The reviewer, who probably didn't stand close to Jerry (where the air was presumably rather unfresh), extols his authenticity, offering very good perspective on this Garcia era: not a picture of health, but making good music.

SUNY Stony Brook Statesman, v27 n37 (December 7, 1983), Alternatives section, p. 1A.

He makes mistakes, but he recovers and even makes up for them with a little extra added something. He hits some vocal clams, but he blasts so loudly on guitar that maybe the fans --buying up all of the 2,200+ tickets, moving over $22k Jerry and Co.'s way, and *very* knowledgeable-- might not hear the next hiccups through their ringing ears. The band works with and around him, but mostly just gets shoved aside by Garcia's overflowing ideas, limitless playing vocabulary, and sheer decibels. The show is very good, and the closing medley, rare (for JGB) true segues of "Don't Let Go" -> "Deal" -> "Tangled Up In Blue", is absolutely outstanding. Every DLG is at least good, most are very good, and a great many are great. It was very well-played in this period, and the crowd, which recognizes it out of the gate, gets treated to a great one this night, which merits a "holy camoley" from me, earns the "monster" designation, and very neatly drops into Deal after a 20 minute journey which feels efficient, packing huge punch every step of the way. The medley is worth the 45 minutes of your ear time, and provides a fitting end to Garcia's illustrious Stony Brook career.

It ain't broken, but it's badly bent.

So good that he earned a rare-for-the-tour night in a hotel bed, at what I am sure is the lovely Holiday Inn in Hauppage.

Listening notes after the jump.

JGB in Binghamton, November 20, 1977: first night DLG + LAALWFH = 1/2 (two weeks later DLG + LAALWFH)

LN jg1977-11-20.jgb.all.sbd.141495.flac1644

First night of the fall '77 Garcia Band tour (22 gigs in 22 nights), third live gig for young Buzzy Buchanan in the drummer's seat. The great Jerry Moore had some nasty thoughts about him, but I think he sounds fine here. Keeping time for this group could not have been a picnic.

I have covered the Fall '77 tour in a number of posts, and David Davis has done a couple, as well.

• JGMF,  "JGB: November-December 1977 East Coast Tour Rarities"
• JGMF, "Maria 'Shaking Her Substantial Booty' at Waterbury's 'Decrepit Palace Theater': JGB 11/23/77, Commander aud"
• JGMF, "His voice is fading fast: JGB at SUNY New Paltz, 11/29/77"
• JGMF, "Fall '77 Gig Economics: The Case of SUNY New Paltz (JGB, 11/29/77)"
• GratefulSeconds, "The Jerry Garcia Fans Strike Back: Buffalo, November 30, 1977"
• GratefulSeconds, "Another Great 1977 Show: Jerry Garcia Band, Boston December 2, 1977"
• JGMF, "A Monster Don't Let Go at Hartwick College, December 3, 1977"
• JGMF, "A Long Way From Spain: JGB at SUNY Stony Brook, December 9, 1977"

Musically, the true segue between "I'll Take A Melody" and "Don't Let Go" is quite interesting. Garcia Band didn't do such things all that often, and it just sounds like Jerry asserts the change and everyone else falls into line.

Also noted is the vast expansion of "Don't Let Go" and "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home". Here, they run14+ and 9+ minutes respectively. By later in the tour (12/3 and 12/9, respectively), they'd each clock in at a much chunkier 27 or so minutes. So Buzzy gets a few iterations to play it pretty straight, but by the end of the tour he's swimming in the deep end.

The recording is fine, with some hiss, swish, wow and flutter, especially from tape 1. AF did yeoman's work, as he always does, marrying it to tape 2 and sharing it out.

Maria is absent, for reasons unknown.

Public debut of LITA.

JERRY GARCIA BAND
West Gym (aka Men's Gym), SUNY Binghamton
1092 Bunn Hill Rd.
Vestal, NY 13850
November 20, 1977 (Sunday) - 7:30 PM
mono sbd composite shnid-141495

--set I (8 tracks, 71:25)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:01] [0:41]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:23] [0:06] %
s1t03. Let It Rock [8:38] [0:17] %
s1t04. [0:14] Simple Twist Of Fate [11:18] %
s1t05. /Stir It /Up [#9:15] [0:31] %
s1t06. That's What Love Will/ Make You Do [9:#06] [0:16]
s1t07. Gomorrah [6:39] [0:02] %
s1t08. Mystery Train [7:52] (1) [0:06]

--set II (7 tracks, 72:57)--
s2t01. [0:07] The Way You Do The Things You Do [8:51] [0:12] %
s2t02. ... Love In The Afternoon [#6:38] [1:07]
s2t03. [0:07] Midnight Moonlight [8:15] [0:25] %
s2t04. [0:39] Russian Lullaby [11:18] [0:07] %
s2t05. [[0:15] I'll //Take A Melody [9:#55] ->
s2t06. Don't Let Go [14:10] [1:12]
s2t07. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home [9:29] (2) [0:05]

! ACT1: JGB #4*
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano, vocals;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals;
[! absent: Maria Muldaur - vocals]

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/19771120-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/132097 (s2 sbd flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/132098 (s2 sbd flac2496); https://etreedb.org/shn/141495 (this fileset).

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html. Maria Muldaur is absent, so this is #4*, a variant Corry doesn't list.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/A3rerZrT2hR4xLkL9

! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/12/west-gym-harpur-college-suny-1092-bunn.html

! seealso: JGMF, "JGB: November-December 1977 East Coast Tour Rarities," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/10/jgb-november-december-east-coast-tour.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "Maria 'Shaking Her Substantial Booty' at Waterbury's 'Decrepit Palace Theater': JGB 11/23/77, Commander aud," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/02/ln-jg1977-11-23jgballaud-commander.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "His voice is fading fast: JGB at SUNY New Paltz, 11/29/77," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/02/ln-jg1977-11-29jgballaud.html

! seealso: JGMF, "Fall '77 Gig Economics: The Case of SUNY New Paltz (JGB, 11/29/77)," URL https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2019/01/fall-77-gig-economics-case-of-suny-new.html.

! seealso GratefulSeconds, "The Jerry Garcia Fans Strike Back: Buffalo, November 30, 1977," URL http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2019/03/the-jerry-garcia-fans-strike-back.html.

! seealso: GratefulSeconds, "Another Great 1977 Show: Jerry Garcia Band, Boston December 2, 1977," URL http://www.gratefulseconds.com/2020/06/another-great-1977-show-jerry-garcia.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "A Monster Don't Let Go at Hartwick College, December 3, 1977," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/01/listening-notes-jgb-saturday-december-3.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "A Long Way From Spain: JGB at SUNY Stony Brook, December 9, 1977," URL https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-long-way-from-spain-jgb-at-suny-stony.html.

! historical: first show of the fall 1977 Garcia Band tour, 22 shows in 22 days November 20 - December 11. Ronnie Tutt had left the live band that summer, and young Buzz Buchanan came on board, drumming through the end of the band's run in fall 1978. This is his third show, and he sounds just fine.

! P: overall, the show strikes me as solid but not remarkable. The true segue between ITAM and "Don't Let Go" is the most interesting part, musically, and is really kind of out of the blue. At 14 minutes, DLG is half as long as the monster they played at Hartwick College 13 days later (12/3/77). Size isn't everything, of course, but this version never achieves escape velocity. The following LAALWFH, on only its second spin after more than a year away (9/18/76, then 11/16/77 preceding this version) also has not found its legs - at 9 minutes, it was one-third the length of the 27+ minute iteration at Stony Brook on 12/9/77, which got waaaayyyy out. So this certainly sounds like a band breaking in a new guy on the first night of the tour.

! R: Source: Unknown SBD > ? > CDR, combined with ID-132097, see note below.

! R: Transfer: CDR > EAC > FLAC (2005) > TLH > WAV > Wavelab; and ID-132097 > WAV > Wavelab; both sources: CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. 03/2018

! R: Note: This show was previously listed in etree as having taken place at the Forum Theatre in Binghamton, now listed here with the correct venue. This file-set presents the entire concert together, with thanks to JGMF and Rob Berger for the sources!

! R: JGMF's CDR provides HSII thru TWYDTTYD ("tape 1"), with the balance of the show from ID-132097 ("tape 2"). These appear to derive from the same root (mono) SBD. Both sources were re-mixed a bit to better match each other. Tape-generational hiss remains, particularly in parts of "tape 1" where low-gain sections were raised. There's also some minor tape speed fluctuations & warble audible in the "tape 1" material (STOF & SIR).

! R: Pauses and cuts were left as-is, no cross-fades were added. SIU cuts in near the beginning. There's a fade-to-cut in SIU at 6:51 (from the source CDR) but it appears that no music is missing there. Another fade-to-cut in TWLWMYD at 7:15 with the end of Keith's solo missing. LITA cuts in with about a minute missing from the beginning. Cut in ITAM at 2:13 with about 45 seconds missing. (Small FLAC size is due to mono WAV data.)

! P: s1t01 HSII he flips the first two verses. I tend to appreciate this, becuase while there's an intial flub, he is tuned-in enough to make it better.

! R: s1t05 SIU clips in

! R: s1t06 TWLWMYD fades to splice @ 7:15

! s1t08 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while, we'll see y'all later."

! R: s2t02 LITA fades in, swishy sound of a fresh tape side

! song: "Love In The Afternoon" (s2t02): understood public debut.

! P: s2t04 RussLull @ 6:47 John kicks off a little feature.

! R: s2t05 ITAM splice @ 2:13

! P: s2t05-06 ITAM -> DLG a true segue - totally unique

! P: s2t06 DLG nicely paced.

! P: s2t07 LAALWFH not very long, but good power

! s2t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

Kenny Kosek

Has anyone ever pinned down the dates on which Kenny Kosek performed with JGAB on Broadway? I know he came out west for the Warfield and Wiltern gigs, but I have never pinned down when he was and was not present at the Lunt-Fontanne.

Music Mountain Is All That

Sometimes the conventional wisdom has it right, and the high esteem in which folks hold the Jerry Garcia Band show from June 16, 1982 at Music Mountain in South Fallsburg, NY illustrates the point. I heard it a few times way back when, and really liked it. Then I revisited it a few days ago for the first time in at least ten years, and I really liked it. It brings great energy. Everything pops. Valerie is young and grungy, inducing her man to shoot his dog just for barking! The "Don't Let Go" is incredible, Garcia just overflowing with ideas. There is a board tape of the first set, but if a complete master sbd tape existed this should be a no-brainer for release. I may not love it as much as I love 5/31/83, but one reasonably could.

Bobby and the Midnites shared the bill, and played second. Lucky for JGB, because apparently it rained cats and dogs during the Midnites set. People had a good time. A number of great-sounding tapes made it out of the venue, but I don't think the Cornell Effect drives the love for this show. Instead, it's just really good.

Which is pretty remarkable, because according to Andy Leonard, who had worked for the Dead, Our Hero wasn't looking so good:

I had never seen a human being that color before in my life. He was the wrong color. I thought he was going to die onstage. It scared the crap out of me (Browne 2015, 296).

These kinds of contrasts happen all the time in the Garciaverse. I have just come to accept that there is no one-to-one relationship between Garcia's health and how he performed on any given night.

On this listen, I spun the John Steinthal tape, put out by the Mouth of the Beast (MOTB) crew via the legendary Barry Glassberg's first gen reel. Nice tape, excellent show.

Oh yeah, one more thing: what an odd tour, really two tours in one. Things began on this night, after three hometown warmup gigs on June 10-11-12. JGB would do 8 shows in 9 nights, though they'd lose Liz Stires before the tour was over. Then, the Garcia-Kahn acoustic duet would take over the back end, for 11 gigs in 8 nights. Jerry must have made a pile of money on this two part electric-acoustic tour!

The three electric shows for which I have data (from Billboard), the first three of the tour, show gross of over a quarter million dollars.

The acoustic shows made less: we have data for five, grossing another $123k (with only two performers drawing pay). So we're talking over $400,000 and maybe a half mil for the jaunt, which would have had Jerry away from his hidey-hole on Hepburn Heights for less than three week. At those rates, Chief Smokin' Moccasin (Scully 1996/2001, 359) could afford plenty of new slippers.

Jerry Garcia Band

Music Mountain

South Fallsburg, NY 12789

June 16, 1982 (Wednesday) - 7 PM

Steinthal MAC > 1R MOTB-0057 flac1644 shnid-88972

--set I (6 tracks, 55:02)--

s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:56] [0:02] % [0:05]

s1t02. Catfish John [12:57] % [0:04] %

s1t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [11:09] % [0:04] %

s1t04. Valerie [6:57] ->

s1t05. Let It Rock [7:35] ->

s1t06. Deal [7:06] (1) [0:08]

--set II (5 tracks, 54:33)--

s2t01. (I'm A) Road Runner [8:41] % [0:04] %

s2t02. [0:32] Love In The Afternoon [12:44] % [0:03] 

s2t03. Don't Let Go [19:27] [0:02] %

s2t04. /The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [#7:48] ->

s2t05. Run For The Roses [5:04] [0:08]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14a

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - bass;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: Jimmy Warren - keyboards;

! lineup: Bill Kreutzmann - drums;

! lineup: Julie Stafford - backing vocals;

! lineup: Liz Stires - backing 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/19820616-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1982-06-16

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/4422 (Senn 441 shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/6659 (Silberman Senn 441 shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/12513 (Eaton-Wise Senn 421/PZM blend shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/19278 (Holvey AT815a shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/33417 (Eaton-Wise Senn 421/PZM blend flac); https://etreedb.org/shn/88972 (this source, flac16); https://etreedb.org/shn/89042 (s1 sbd); https://etreedb.org/shn/89194 (s1 mtx); https://etreedb.org/shn/89198 (s1 DTS 5.1); https://etreedb.org/shn/89657 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/120086 (Dyche Nak 300).

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

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/10/music-mountain-south-fallsburg-ny.html

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

! ref: Billboard, July 3, 1982, p. 39. The show did not sell out! The venue held 10k, but this drew 7,863 paying customers for gross of $79,458.

! ref: "The Dead Come Alive: Bob Minkin's Live Photos of the Grateful Dead," URL http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/the-dead-come-alive-bob-minkins-live-photos-of-the-grateful-dead-20141103/music-mountain-south-fallsburg-new-york-june-1982-20141103;

! seealso: JGMF, "A JGB drum solo by Bill Kreutzmann - Cape Cod Coliseum, June 18, 1982," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/07/a-jgb-drum-solo-by-bill-kreutzmann-cape.html.

! seealso: JGMF, "Long Ago and Far Away: JGB at Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland, ME, June 20, 1982," URL https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2019/08/long-ago-and-far-away-jgb-at-cumberland.html.

! historical: Bobby and the Midnites also billed, Garcia Band went first. Apparently it rained mightily during Bob's set. Andy Leonard, former GD employee, says Garcia looked horrible: "I had never seen a human being that color before in my life. He was the wrong color. I thought he was going to die onstage. It scared the crap out of me" (Browne 2015, 296). Despite that, this is widely viewed as one of the great Garcia Band shows. and spinning it now (May 2020) after not having heard it in probably ten years, it holds up extremely well. It just packs tons of clear energy, not too grungy/down-and-dirty yet, still some youthful sweetness to Garcia's voice (though that'd be gone before long, and is already on its way out here in Dixie Down), the band very tight. After three hometown warmup gigs on June 10-11-12, here they start an east coast jaunt, 8 shows in 9 nights before the Garcia-Kahn acoustic duet would take over the back end, for 11 gigs in 8 nights. Man, Jerry must have made a pile of money on this two part electric-acoustic tour! The three electric shows for which I have data (from Billboard), the first three of the tour, show gross of over a quarter million dollars. The acoustic shows made less: we have data for five, grossing another $123k (with only two performers drawing pay).

! R: field recordist: John Steinthal

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi CM-300 > Sony TC-D5M > MAC (Maxell XLIIS-90)

! R: lineage: Sony TC-D5M (??) playback > TEAC AN-300 (Dolby encode) > Technics RS-1506US (Maxell UD 35-90 @ 3.75ips) > Technics RS-1506 > TEAC AN-300 (Dolby decode) > Grace Design Lunatec V3 (pre-only0 > Korg MR-1000 > DSF (1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo) > Korg MR-1000 > Korg AudioGate > WAV (24/96).

! R: MOTB Release Date: 2007-12-07

! R: people notes: R1 supplied By: Barry Glassberg; Transfer By: A. Egert; Mastering By: J. Waddell

! R: Mastering Notes -- Edited, mastered and downsampled to 16/44.1 on the GEMS Edit Station. -- Tape was paused between several songs. -- s2t0{3,4} - Tape pause between "Don't Let Go" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" cross-faded. 

! R: seeder notes: -- No music is lost due to the numerous tape pauses; however, the lead in is very short on a number of them. -- s1t01 - Output levels are very unstable during the opening of "How Sweet It Is"; taper is able to quickly adjust to optimum levels. -- s2t0{3,4} - Cross-fading of the tape pause - between "Don't Let Go" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" - may give the impression of a direct transition between the songs. The cross-fade was applied for aesthetics, as the tape pause was very abrupt, and there was actually a musical break.

! R: overall: Steinthal was a great taper, and this is a nice tape. Everything is forward out of the gate except the bass.

! P: s1t01 HSII he flubs the second verse, starting again with "needed the shelter"

! P: s1t03 TWLWMYD 5:30 ish Garcia is just hitting some great notes, very high up the fretboard as 6 approaches, crystalline playing, crowd appreciative. Jimmy takes a lead early 6.

! P: s1t04 Valerie lyrical flub again around 1:40, and this time the protagonist shoots his dog for merely *barking* at our anti-heroine. Very nice guitar work 3:44 ish, before and some after, featuring unexpected jumps between notes, skipping some, not splitting stuff evenly but taking a more diverse approach.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thanks. We're gonna take a break for a few minutes. We'll be back a little bit later."

! P: s2t02 LITA what I really hear is how he is varying the phrase lengths and note intervals. Man, this is highly articulate playing.

! P: s2t03 DLG is truly top shelf Jerry. Billy steps forward 10:20ff, and it becomes a true solo from about 10:35-11:20 or so. Then John steps back in and we have a drum-bass duet. Jerry returns 12:41 with a beautiful, confident, melodious piece.

! R: s2t04 TNTDODD clips in

A Long Way From Spain: JGB at SUNY Stony Brook, December 9, 1977

LN jg1977-12-09.jgb.all.aud-matera-fix.137736.flac2488

Not much time to post much detail, so some bulleted observations.

1)  Keith is playing some classical-Spanish sounding thing at the end of s1t01. Then, @ 7:21 of "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home", I hear John hitting some Spanish stuff, too. Check it out because, while Jerry was Swedish-Irish on his mom's side, his father was, of course, full-blown, born-in-Spain Spanish and, well, that's just fun.

2) I love "Reuben And Cérise" (Hunter's spelling, with French-accent-snob-appeal-to-me), and this one has some great power chords, but they repeat the ending figure a large number of times. I didn't count, but it's too many.

3) This LAALWFH is just amazing. It clocks in at 27 minutes, but, more importantly, it's endlessly interesting. It really gets wide open, not just in a noodly-spacey sense, but always remains musical. I was impressed with what young Buzzy, the studio drummer who often, rather necessarily, played metronomically on this first tour, with new material, with a band lacking in temporal discipline, lays out in this open idiom. The whole band sounds great here.

4) Maria is absent. She was on and off this tour.

5) The previews I reference provide great color around Stony Brook Deadheadism, the purest and ur-ist form of the broader genus Deadheadus Eastcoasticus.

6) About 165 minutes of music on a tightly-edited tape. Second set clocks in at 95+ minutes. Good bang for the six bucks and fifty!

Oh, and I found a pic, uncredited. Happy to supply credit if the identity of the photog emerges.

Garcia at Stony Brook, 12/9/77. Photographer unknown to me at this time.

Jerry Garcia Band
Pritchard Gymnasium, State University of New York
1 Center Drive
Stony Brook, NY 11794
December 9, 1977 (Friday)
Matera MAC shnid-137736 fix shnid-137720

--set I (6 tracks, 68:47)--
s1t01. Harder They Come [12:03] [0:06] % [0:15]
s1t02. Catfish John [10:52] [0:10] % [0:08]
s1t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [11:13] [0:03] % [0:08]
s1t04. They Love Each Other [7:11] [0:13] %
s1t05. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [14:22] [0:02] % [0:05]
s1t06. The Way You Do The Things You Do [11:50] (1) [0:05]

--set II (7 tracks, 95:43)--
s2t01. Midnight Moonlight [14:53] [0:07] % [0:06]
s2t02. Gomorrah [8:21] [0:04] % [0:02]
s2t03. Tore Up Over You [9:22] [0:04] %
s2t04. Simple Twist Of Fate [15:30] [0:07] %
s2t05. /Reuben And Cérise [8:58] [0:02] %% [1:08]
s2t06. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:17] [0:04] % [0:04]
s2t07. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home [27:26] [0:09]

! ACT1: JGB #4*
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals.
[! absent: Maria Muldaur - vocals]

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [mm: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 [mm: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/19771209-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/4444 (s2 Nak 300s shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/16859 (reshn of shnid-4444); https://etreedb.org/shn/77713 (pitch-correct shnid-4444, flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/137720 (Matera flac2488); https://etreedb.org/shn/137721 (Matera flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/137736 (Matera flac2488, this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/137737 (Matera flac1644 fix).

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html. I denote this configuration as JGB #4*, since Maria Muldaur is not present.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/efyWYZ1ew4qmbr4v9

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/10/pritchard-gym-suny-100-nicholls-road.html

! exante: “Ticketron Gets Garcia Tickets Before Campus,” (SUNY Stony Brook) Statesman, October 28, 1977, p. 3, accessed online;

! exante: Grossman 1977;

! exante: Razler 1977;

! review: [positive] Alkon 1977, who liked the show. Misidentifies drummer as Tutt. That said, he didn't like the "irritating" 75 minute intermission.  "Outraged" by a five and a half hour concert (8-1:30) with three hours of music: "When Keith and Donna sat down on the piano bench for a smoke and fifteen minute chat I felt like I was invading their privacy! I realize that a group needs frequent breaks, but the Garcia Band abused the privilege, showed disrespect for their audience, and unprofessionalism."

! seealso: JGMF, "The mystery of the Jerry Garcia Band 11/28/77 ticket stubs," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/02/mystery-of-jerry-garcia-band-112877.html. Wherein I go on at great length about a very small matter of tickets misprinted with the date of 11/28/77.

! pic: URL http://www.dead.net/fanphotos/jerry-stony-brook-1977

! historical: the previews provide great color around Stony Brook Deadheads wanting to camp out for tickets and such. Stony Brook is just about ground zero in the development of campus-based GD mania and the history of the East Coast Deadhead.

! R: field recordist: Phil Matera

! R: field recording gear: unknown mics > unknown cassette deck

! R: lineage: MAC > Reel (Maxell-UD135, 1/4trk @ 3-3/4) > Teac X2000R > Korg MR1000 DSD DFF@ 5.6MHz > AudioGate > 24/88.2 Wave > Wavelab6 > OzoneRx4a > Ozone6A; CD Wave > TLH > Flac24. Transfer by John Hance.

! R: This is a fix of shnid-137720. The last 2 tracks of the second set have changed.

! R: patches from shnid-77713: s2t01-Midnight Moonlight, s2t04-Simple Twist Of Fate and s2t07-Lonesome

! R: seeder note: "Thank you Phil & JJ! Salah Febuary 7, 2017"

! R: very nice recording

! P: overall: voice sounds a little fatigued.

! P: s1t01 KG is playing some Spanish-classical thing at the end of the track.

! P: s1t05 KOHD KD on electric piano

! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back a little later."

! R: s2t05 RAC cuts in

! P: s2t05 RAC is very good. Some huge chords. But it does on too long. Quite a bit too long.

! P: s2t07 LAALWFH. This LAALWFH gets *way* out there. @ 7:21 John is hitting a Spanish theme. I think this is pretty incredible, though hard to characterize. Just great open playing by every player.

The Bard on WLIR (Long Island), March 1978

http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/asxcards/RobertHunter1978-03WLIRInterviewRoslynNY.html

Robert Hunter
1978-03-xx* Roslyn, New York unknown hotel (Hunter's room)
Interview by Denis McNamara for 92.7 WLIR-FM Garden City, New York (M?-FM)
"Sunday At 9:00" radio program -expanded edition- (3 shows/parts)
"A Conversation With Robert Hunter"

Not sure how close in time this was to the 3/12/78 Long Island show with JGB, NRPS, and Comfort (w/ Hunter). He says some interesting things about particular songs. I will just post annotations for the stuff that interests me.

2826 how about working for JG as a solo performer? Does that affect your writing?

2840 Sometimes. The best that can happen is that I'm just being prolific. some discussion

2915 first Garcia solo album related to the American Beauty and Workingmans field of material

3040 Deal is a reflection of what it's like to be in the rock and roll business

3815ff Bob Weir album

3916 CUTS a tune that I had been working on for years. I started working on it in London. ... a subterranean march of cats

4000 then there's a song which is my Orpheus it's called Reuben And Cérise which is one that I wrote several years ago for his second album Reflections but it just didn't around to gettin done until now. It's an Orpheic epic set in New Orleans ... he narrates this tune beautifully he recites it "her hair hung gently down" - "when Garcia sings this thing, it just brings goosebumps up my arm. It shivers up my spine - the full tragedy. I think we got Orpheus.

4213 record company stuff RH denies that it was economics. "I'll tell ya - I didn't give 'em the material. Here we were, all set up, ready to go, ready to rip, and if I had written albums like I've been writing ... it's just one of those situations where you get this nice snazzy Cadillac and the battery doesn't work for some reason. My streak ended. I don't know what it was. But ... WOTF I think has some excellent songs on it ... didn't grab [inaudible] exceedingly laid back, for one thing ... one of the problems was the choice of tempos on songs like Row Jimmy Row ... Stella Blue ... 1/2 Step ...

4418 first RH album Rum Runners I love the songs my singing is a little short of pathetic 4525

4610ff Blues for Allah 4646 people didn't take to it

4719 Crazy Fingers is his favorite from BFA

5320 JG wanted to do Tiger Rose!

5445 Tiger Rose

5515 "with Rum Runners, I didn't know [it would be released], and I don't think I could have sold that album if I didn't have my own record company, because it doesn't meet professional standards for recordings. It's quite dirty, in some respects."

5536 "Tiger Rose was produced by Garcia. ... I am afraid that the tracks sound more like Garcia music than mine, which may be good or bad. It has that mellowed out sound that he's into, whereas Rum Runners has this real rough-and-ready, which is my own style. ...Cruel White Water / Wild Bill

5652 excuse for TR vocals

5715 Mickey as anti-producer. Mickey Hart is the most wired cat you've ever met in your life. He has so many ideas, we had to like put em in a bag and tie it up and put em in the corner..... 5757 unsupressable ...

Fall '77 Gig Economics: The Case of SUNY New Paltz (JGB, 11/29/77)

Handbill for JGB at SUNY New Paltz, 11/29/77. Scan via Mark Cohen. Note that Ron Tutt is erroneously listed among the personnel.

The economics of the Garcia Band's Fall '77 tour have remained a little out of view for me, since I have never been able to track down itineraries, contracts, box office reports and all that, which I have seen for a few other trips. But a great report in the SUNY New Paltz Oracle lays them bare for one gig (11/29/77), and provides a snapshot into Garcia's rock star lifestyle of the time.

I should note that I have discussed a setlist rarity from this show (the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun" inside the Wailers' "Stir It Up"), set forth some listening notes under the title "his voice is fading fast", and have also presented these kinds of data for a gig two years earlier ("Accounting the JGB: October 8, 1975").

The SUNY New Paltz Concert Committee brought in name talent a couple times a year for the students, drawing from student activity fees and generally running these events at a loss. But the earnest-seeming crew in place in Fall 1977, which seems to have been operating under the probably-copyright-infringing-but-totally-1977 name of "Jedi Productions", didn't plan to lose as much as they did on the Garcia Band's Tuesday night gig. For Google interest, here are the names and positions of the folks involved in putting on the show.

Kirt Madsen ... Production Manager
Eric Early ... Production Manager
Bill Dacey ... Stage Manager
Rick Markle ... Electrician
Joni White ... Talent Coordinator
Shari Berkowitz ... Tickets
Esther Friedman ... Publicity
Karen Reilly ... Hospitality
Rob Insolia ... Treasurer
Stan Wisla ... Security
Brian Higgenson ... Staging Consultant
Erica Pauling ... Secretary
Richard Someck ... Concessions
Randi Sackheim ...Programs
Debbie Golub ... Programs
Steve Martin ...General Manager
Jack Babb ... Assistant to General Manager

I would love to hear from any of them, especially Karen Reilly, who is mentioned in the narrative below.

According to the report in the school paper (Ratner 1977), the gig lost about $8,000, which is more than planned, mostly due to ticket sales of only 1,300 against a projected 2,000. But other aspects of putting the concert on probably also taught our young impresarios some valuable lessons in show biz economics. Here are the expenses.

Table xxx. Expenses for JGB at SUNY New Paltz, 11/29/77. Source: Ratner 1977.

So here we have the band at a $10k guarantee, whereas it got $12,500 at Penn State (Clifford 1977). Monarch does well on sound and lighting. But let me get to the "hospitality" line item, which generates the following data and story, a little sidebar under the heading "Garcia Serves Up New Paltz, Brings His Own Chef":

     When the Jerry Garcia Band plays a school, it usually submits a list of refreshment requirements: Freshly ground coffee (either of Sumatra, Celebes, Jamaica High Mountain, Mocha-Java, or Columbian beans); Coffee must be made via the drip method, not electric percolator; Three (3) bottles of good French red wine and one and one-half (1 ½) cases of Heineken Light beer; Four (4) quarts of orange juice – no sugar; Four (4) of bottled spring water; Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches and good cheeseburgers; a dinner meal for fifteen …
     When they came to New Paltz, they were willing to forego the refreshment requirements. Instead; they brought their own chef, affectionately named Cy Kocis, and asked the concert committee for $600.
   "I knew things were going to be wrong when they wanted $600 in cash Tuesday morning," explained Karen Reilly, the Concert Committee's Hospitality Chief. Karen managed to knock them down to $450.
     Cy Kocis arrived at 1:30 on Tuesday; installed a four-burner stove charcoal grill and large cooler in Elting Gymnasium 101, and went to work. Filet Mignon and halibut steaks were on the dinner menu. The cooler contained a sumptuous feast for the band and its crew. Karen was there to meet the entourage. In fact, she was there since 9:00, earlier than anyone, making sure everyone experienced New Paltz's hospitality. "But when Cy Kocis gave me 4 large butternut squashes and told me to start peeling and cutting, I told him I had to get towels, or something, for the stage crew." Everyone has their limits.

Why do I imagine this merits quoting at length? I love the standard contract rider information. I knew Jerry was a coffee junkie, but I didn't know he was a coffee snob (which I count as a point in a person's favor). Good French wine pleases me, too, though not sure who of the band would most enjoy it. I guess I have Keith as good for at least a dozen of those Heinekens, but what do I know? Burgers? Definitely Jerry.

Then comes "Cy Kocis". Interesting. $600 cash is also interesting, and suspicious minds sometimes wonder whether that kind of wad might not have bought more than filet, halibut and butternut squash. I also admire the cut of Karen Reilly's jib, haggling them down to $450 and taking a pass on the vegetable peeler. She sounds awesome.

Anyway, good color.

The Reedman vs. The Gunslinger: JGB with David Murray, Madison Square Garden, November 12, 1993

LN jg1993-11-12.jgb.all.aud-brennecke-litzenburger-GEMS.91812.flac1644
LN jg1993-11-12.jgb.s2.aud-gastwirt.139507.flac1648

The man had conceived the band bearing his name as a way to scratch some musical itches, play some mostly consonant music with mostly-simpatico (or at least deferential) people, and make a little bit of walking around money. The Jerry Garcia Band provided its namesake with a comfortable and, eventually, highly lucrative musical diversion which allowed him to be himself, do most of the soloing, not have to figure out where Mickey Hart put the one, and maybe share some laughs (among other things that release endorphins, kill pain, and produce euphoria [Dunbar et al. 2012]) with his ol' buddy John Kahn.

Yet, Jerry was Jerry, with all that implied. Like Midas, everything he touched turned to gold, and that included his bar band, half of whose members played for free in Oakland churches on Sundays. By contrast, on Friday, November 12, 1993, this group sold out Madison Square Garden, grossing almost half a million as part of its twenty night, fifteen gig swing through the eastern time zone, its last real tour. Unlike a decade earlier, a relatively punishing bus tour with Garcia deep in heroin haze, this one was first class all the way, with the band staying in New York City and flying in and out of Teterboro, while battalions of squeaks (sound techs) and squints (light techs) did the heavy lifting. It seems like only half the gigs sold out, but these were mostly good-sized rinks and arenas with five-figure capacities, the kinds of places the Dead had been playing only a few years earlier.

The Garcia band's cozy sociality also meant that guest shots became scarce once the years' third digits turned to nines. The E Street Band's good-time "Big Man" Clarence Clemons sat in once in 1990, reprising his steady gigging with the JGB from late 1989, and banjo wiz Béla Fleck joined in on a couple of numbers at the Greek Theater in Berkeley two months later, in the dark early weeks following Brent Mydland's passing. As good as Fleck is, he played in a decidedly consonant mode, picking some pretty accompaniment to Pete Rowan's "Midnight Moonlight" and, doubly improbably, some mandolinish lead reggae banjo on "Harder They Come". The next fall, while still a member of the Dead, the great Bruce Hornsby sat in with Jerry in Hampton, Virginia, on the decade's other east coast swing, in November of 1991.

Hornsby certainly had the chops and the chutzpah to challenge Garcia, and he did so regularly in the Dead before stepping back off the scene to pursue his own extremely successful career, and perhaps to ward off the curse of the Dead's keyboard players. The one guy to really push Jerry around on his own stage was hotshot jazz saxophonist David Murray, who showed up two years after Hornsby's visit, and six weeks after sitting in with the Dead, at the aforementioned Madison Square Garden gig. The man BLEW, which is to have been expected. As Dead family insider Gary Lambert put it, "expecting a force of nature like David to function as a 'sideman' for the JGB (or any band) is kind of like saying to Jackson Pollock, 'Gee, I really admire your work. Now, could you paint me a nice Andrew Wyeth?'"

The reedman put some air into a number of very sharp notes, with a Garcia Band that was mostly soft, cottony round edges by this point in time. Garcia appears to have taken notice. Attendee Eric Pooley recalls that "Murray was in Garcia's face a little more than Garcia would have liked: [he] attacked, and Garcia retreated into shoetop space", chin on chest. Jim Powell observed that "Murray cut Jerry to shreds at that MSG Jerry Band show - maybe the only time old gunslinger Garcia ever came out on the short end." But the evidence of the night's "Lay Down Sally", normally a smooth, easy, good-time roller hewing closely to Clapton's original, belies this perspective, with all due respect to the poet and Macarthur Genius grantee who proffered it.

Segueing out of the churchy "My Sisters And Brothers", Garcia displayed little Christian charity in first feinting at the Stones' "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love", then shifting into "Lay Down Sally", taking a couple of extra measures at the start to let Murray his footing and thus making it, if not quite a fair fight, at least an honorable one. Typically, in the Garcia Band, Jerry gets the first solo (and usually the second, third and fourth). Here, Murray challenges the old fella in the light purple shirt right out of the gate, and they step on each other for a minute or two before Jerry lets him have his say, comprised of some sharp, loud bursts that might have blown back his shock-white mane. After that, still only fifty-one despite the white hair and haggard mien, the gunslinger drops the hammer, pursuing a million aggressive leads, syncopating some minor chords, and generally, all due apologies, not taking "no" for Sally's answer. Clocking in at over sixteen minutes, and finishing with an emphatic strum over the setbreak announcement, the "Lay Down Sally" from November 12, 1993 provides one of the finest musical displays of Garcia's late solo career, proving that he could still rise to a challenge when the occasion called for it.

I picked and chose from the two filesets named at the top, so some sketchy listening notes follow the fold. "Shining Star" also illustrates the reedman and the gunslinger trading blows, and both "The Maker" and "Don't Let Go" from the 86-minute second set are outstanding and worth your time.

Armistice Day Rocker: JGB at Felt Forum, November 11, 1982

JGB #15b played two long, smoking shows for John Scher and the assembled faithful on Thursday, November 11, 1982. Among these faithful was taper Jim Wise, who pulled two beautiful, powerful tapes from the theater inside Madison Square Garden. If forced to choose, I'd recommend the late show to you. Clocking in at 108 minutes of tape, it features a very hot Valerie, and a good Don't Let Go which actually noodles over into Knockin' On Heaven's Door, a rare true segue for the JGB. Garcia's voice is quite shreddy even in the early show, and by Mystery Train in the late show it's pretty well shot, but the playing is excellent throughout.

Both gigs sold out 4,332 at $12.50 a pop, so Scher and Jer and friends grossed over $100k for the night, not bad at all, and well worth it for the fans who caught one of the best Garcia Band shows of 1982.

Listening notes follow.

Jerry Garcia Band
Madison Square Garden, Felt Forum
4 Pennsylvania Plaza
New York, NY 10001
November 11, 1982 (Thursday) - Early Show and Late Show
Wise Minches flac1644 shnid-34710 track rename

--early show, main set + encore (11 tracks, 10 tunes, 86:05)--
--early show, main set (10 tracks, 9 tunes, 78:46)--
e-t01. crowd and tuning [0:14]
e-t02. How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You [8:05] [0:01] % [0:07]
e-t03. Catfish John [9:45] [0:14] % [0:07]
e-t04. Valerie [6:59] [0:04] % [0:13]
e-t05. Simple Twist Of Fate [15:51] [0:02] %
e-t06. crowd and tuning [0:43]
e-t07. That's What Love Will Make You Do [10:00] [0:04] % [0:07]
e-t08. Run For The Roses [4:45] [0:07] % [0:02]
e-t09. Sugaree
e-t10. Tangled Up In Blue [10:30] (1) [0:05] %
--early show, encore (1 track, 7:18)--
e-t11. Deal [7:15] [0:04] %

--late show, main set + encore (11 tracks, 10 tunes, 108:28)
--late show, main set (10 tracks, 9 tunes, 101:01)--
l-t01. crowd and tuning [0:13]
l-t02. Mission In The Rain [9:51] [0:06] % [0:02]
l-t03. They Love Each Other
l-t04. The Harder They Come [18:31] [0:03] % [0:22]
l-t05. Valerie
l-t06. Mystery Train [10:56] [0:12] %
l-t07. Don't Let Go [14:10] ->
l-t08. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [13:30] [0:12] % [0:01]
l-t09. Run For The Roses [5:52] [0:27]
l-t10. Deal
--late show, encore (1 track, 7:26)--
l-t11. Midnight Moonlight

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #15b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-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; [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/19821111-01 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19821111-02 (late)

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/13981 (late, Jim Wise MAC shnf, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/14205 (early-late, Jim Wise MAC shnf, deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/16703 (early Mark Cohen MAC, shnf, great tape); http://etreedb.org/shn/16704 (late Mark Cohen MAC, shnf, great tape); http://etreedb.org/shn/34710 (this fileset); http://etreedb.org/shn/120087 (David Dyche early show flac1644, runs SLOW); http://etreedb.org/shn/120088 (David Dyche late show flac1644, runs SLOW)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/gAgwbQxS1Br

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/11/felt-forum-madison-square-garden-8th.html.

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

! seealso: JGMF, "Greg Errico hits like a linebacker," http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/07/greg-errico-hits-like-linebacker.html.

! ref: Billboard, November 27, 1982, p. 34.

! ref: John Scher Presents in New York City: Jerry Garcia Band at the Felt Foum, November 11, 1982. John Scher Presents Program no. 270.

! historical: Two very long shows - check out the 1 hour 48 minute late show - both with encores, both sellouts, grossing $107,661 for the night.

! P: both shows are exceptionally strong, the whole band playing with tremendous energy. Garcia's vocals are shot, but this is nonetheless a strong candidate for best show of the tour (which I don't claim to know that well) and of the year (contending in that context with the likes of 6/16/82). It's hard for me to identify any standouts, because everything is good. I guess I'd note "Valerie" really coming into its own here - great song, performed with just the right frazzly, coked-out, post-Belushi burn. I'd also note the rare and very good true segue from DLG into Knockin'.

! R: early: Recording by Jim Wise: Master Audience Cassette; Beyer M160s w/ Senn 421 blend at SB (Maxell XLIIS); 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: late: Recording by Jim Wise: Master Audience Cassette; Senn 421s (at SB) > Uher cassette deck (Maxell XLIIS); 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: early show: very nice.

! P: e-t01 HSII Kahn keeps hitting some very, very, very low notes, which are just awesome. This has very nice pep.

! R: e-t01 HSII warble 6:40 ish.

! P: e-t07 TWLWMYD very energetic, but the voice is getting a little shreddy.

! e-t10 (1) JG: "Thank you, see ya later."

! P: l-t05 Valerie very hot

! P: l-t06 MT his voice is completely shot - ouch

! P: l-t07-t08 DLG -> KOHD is a truly true segue, very rare, and very nice!

! R: l-t08 KOHD patch from alt source 12-12:20.