JGB in Chumash Country: Campbell Hall, UCSB, February 5, 1977

In my writeup of the Garcia Band's 11/20/76 gigs at the Pismo Theatre, I noted that Jerry urged the crowd to come see ol' Hoyt Axton in a couple of weeks. "He'll be down here doin' a benefit for Redwind, which is just a good scene, about forty miles from here, a lot of good people workin' real hard."

I elaborated:

The RedWind Medicine Camp was a Native American community, chiefed by the last full-blooded Chumash, Semu Huaute, located in rugged San Luis Obispo County. In correspondence, Bob Sewana Saenz explains: "Jerry visited me in SLO after a show at the Pismo Beach Theater in late 1976. I drove him and a few band members to Semu Huaute's (Chumash) Red Wind Medicine Camp. I showed him a school project that we were in need of funds to develop for the many children there." I presume they went up on Saturday, and came back down in time for Jerry to play his shows. He must have been moved, because he speaks. Even more importantly, he puts his money where his mouth is, headlining a benefit for the RedWind Foundation at UCSB on February 5, 1977 - but I'll get to that later.

Later is now. On 1/19/77, the UCSB Leg. Board approved the benefit gig, to be put on by Bob Sewana Saenz's Band Aid in support of Red Wind. The pre-show publicity doesn't mention this - nothin' in re benefit status of this event. But the documents are clear that the Garcia Band not only played the gig, but lent the promoter $1,000 to help put it on, a pretty righteous thing to do and part of a small inflection in benefits Garcia played in '77 (see also 6/23/77 for the Forest People of Camp Meeker and 8/12/77 for Greenpeace).

The shows don't move me all that much, though the late show "Don't Let Go" has some interesting passages. I find the sociometry more interesting, on three fronts.

First, there is a second guitar player present, playing country style backing licks. As noted on the 11/20/76 post, I know who this is but am holding it back for the book (major scoop! - not really). But, this player was present on nearly every known show from the first half of 1977, raising the question of whether this was a distinct band configuration as opposed to just a guest shot. These are academic questions also impossible to answer, but it's nevertheless interesting that a heretofore unknown aggregation appeared regularly as late as 1977.

Second, Chris Sobik drew my attention to a second female vocalist, and indeed we find Maria Muldaur providing backing vocals for both shows. This is the earliest Maria engagement with the JGB. update: that lasted for almost a day.  I have now heard her on 9/12/76. She had sat in with Jerry and Merl several times in '74 (and one night, 10/12/74, the Garcia-Saunders-Fierro-Kahn-Humphrey aggregation backed her for a whole set), and at least once with the Legion of Mary in '75. (This post seems to cover the bases.) But, while Corry has JGB #4, with Maria a full member, emerging on 11/15/77, she had already joined the band onstage at least 9/12/76, this night (February 5th), July 2-3 (without Donna Jean), August 7, August 12 (Greenpeace benefit), and maybe others from this slow period for the JGB.

Oh yeah, one last thing: Deborah Koons made this trip with Jerry. FYI.

Listening notes after the jump.

Digitization Makes Me Happy

Via https://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu, the UCSB Daily Nexus (and before it, the El Gaucho) has been digitized. Having sniffed around Santa Barbara a fair bit (UCSB being my alma mater), I am happy to see this, and found a few good things.

First, I have found a preview and a review of OAITW 4/12/73 at the Granada, which gave me another piece of evidence in favor of the proposition that the undated set found in shnid-99222 is indeed from this date (the late show).

Second, in addition to a very positive review of the 5/25/74 GD gig, one Stephen Westfall notes to my amusement that the first band was billed as Great American Music Band but announced as Great American String Band --I should just acronymize as GA_B-- and to my surprise that the band featured none other than Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp collaborator, the great Buell Neidlinger, apparently at this time teaching at Cal Arts in Valencia, on bass. I did not know that. If a tape would ever come into the light, I'd be mighty happy about that.

Third, I found a preview and a review of the 5/19/84 JGB show --a mighty good one-- which both mention DeeDee Dickerson rather than Gloria Jones, and seem to do so reasonably knowledgeably. This has led me to again revise my understanding of DDD's tenure. While we used to think it ended in mid-83, and I have recently extended it through that year, it now seems to have run at least into May of 1984. I would love to learn more about when Gloria Jones actually came in!

There were also various materials around 10/13/74 (JGMS), 6/26/75 (LOM), and 2/5/77 (JGB), now swept into my vortex. Good stuff.

Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You?

A little over a year ago, I found a review of a unique-sounding Garcia-Saunders gig, backing Maria Muldaur at the Berkeley Community Theatre on October 12, 1974.

While unique at the gig level, it turns out that JGMS backing John Kahn's then-"old lady" Maria Muldaur, still flying high from a hit record or two, was actually not unique. Indeed, we have known from tape that she fronted the band on a few numbers --along with a drummer identified as "Ringo"-- on 10/27/74b at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, doing Fats Wallers' "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You". update: written by Don Redman, but done by Fats Waller.

It turns out that the latter was a pretty strict reprise, since they all did the same tune at the BCT show and the night after the BCT show, 10/13/74 at the Santa Barbara County Bowl. S.B. reviewer David Rowell didn't find much to like about the Garcia-Saunders set --"What was coming from the stage was, at worst, disdain; at best, a 'stoned' lack of awareness"-- but he liked Maria (who also played some tambourine on the number before her star turn). In hitting the previous link, I see that the sit-in is documented at JGC, but I had been unaware of it.

In previewing the Legion at the Granada on 6/26/75, the Santa Barbara News-Review even published a picture of the event in question.

One last point: the same 6/26/75 preview says Maria also sat-in when the Legion played Venice on 6/14/75, so there's a fourth JG-HOST Shared Stage event with Maria (three in SoCal), before she joined the Jerry Garcia Band in its 1977-1978 configuration.

! seealso: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/09/recently-added-to-tjs-saunders-images.html

! ref: Rowell, David B. 1974. Garcia and Saunders take the back seat. Santa Barbara News-Press, October 14, B2.
 

Old And In The Way at the Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara

Several years ago, Richard Greene was kind enough to work through some of his old datebooks with me over the phone. He showed himself at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara on Thursday, April 12, 1973, a date for which no Old And In The Way (OAITW) gig has been listed. I thought it was possible that he was playing with someone else this night --the man has always been highly sought after-- but I listed it as OAITW and vowed to check for clarification the next time I found myself in S.B. In the meantime, I even surmised that one of the undated OAITW live sets in circulation could be the very show, given the provenance of the tape, the room feel, other details. update: yes, I think that is correct! Among other things, the expost I identify below confirms that Orange Blossom Special closed the show, just one more piece of evidence.

I did turn up more confirmation for the gig

! ad: Daily Nexus, April 12, 1973, p. 5.

Nice to see Doc Watson opening the show, a year before he and Jer would share billings at the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival in Marin. The preview hints that Doc might join OAITW, but it appears not to have happened. Note two shows. Note further that Richard doesn't make the billing, though he was there. Note finally that this was Doc and Merle.

update: the UCSB Daily Nexus is now available online through https://www.alexandria.ucsb.edu, and I have found the following.

! preview: Haight 19730412

! review: [positive] Haight 19730419

Anyway, this is now pinned down just a little bit more. And here's the Granada in the present time:

Last note: the ad here says "Theatre", and in comments JGBP points out that the current website also has it that way. Just note that Cinema Treasures and a 1975 LOM ad both say 'er', apparently incorrectly.

Dropping in Robertson Gym (gd1969-01-17)

The Grateful Dead and Santa Barbara are two great things that go great together. One little mystery has always centered on the location of the January 17, 1969 gig. The gig was absent from Deadbase, is listed as Unknown Venue chez Deadlists, and circulates from Vault -> Latvala -> world tape as “Civic Auditorium, Santa Barbara, CA”, which Corry has noted does not exist. He’s right about that (as far as I know), but his alternative explanation, that the gig was at the Santa Monica Civic, is incorrect.

The gig was in Santa Barbara. Like another one a mere four months later (5/29/69), it took place in Robertson Gymnasium (“Rob Gym” for those who pick up games there), on the stunning campus of U.C. Santa Barbara (UCSB). [update: I see that dead.net already knew this.] Must have been a ‘head or two on the Program Council that year, though, as I'll note, looks like only the latter was fully campus-sponsored.

Background: Grateful Dead in Santa Barbara

Deadlists:
4/29/67 Earl Warren Showgrounds Santa Barbara CA
1/17/69 Unknown Venue Santa Barbara CA
5/29/69 Robertson Gym - University Of California Santa Barbara CA
5/20/73 Campus Stadium - University Of California Santa Barbara CA
5/25/74 Campus Stadium - University Of California Santa Barbara CA
2/27/77 Robertson Gym - University Of California Santa Barbara CA
1/13/78 Arlington Theatre Santa Barbara CA
6/4/78 Campus Stadium - University Of California Santa Barbara CA

There are some interesting Jerry engagements in lovely old Santa Barbara, too, but I will break form and ignore them for now.

Ads and Such

With a little slaving over a hot microfilm reader, I found the following:

! ad: El Gaucho, January 16, 1969, p. 3;
! caption: El Gaucho, January 17, 1969, p. 1;
! ad: El Gaucho, January 17, 1969, p. 3;
! listing: El Gaucho, January 17, 1969, p. 5.

Here’s the day-of-show ad:

"Kappa Sigma presents In Concert Santana Blues Band / Grateful Dead / Travel Agency, lights by Dry Paint, January 17 [1969], 8:30 PM, Robertson Gym (Bring Your Own Pillow)"

Brief Analysis

Thank you, El Gaucho!

The ad reinforces the lost-from-memory feel of the gig, a bit of an in-your-face guerilla exercise with Kappa Sigma. The Santana Blues Band and its successors are well documented, and this show is not listed at the canonical Santanamigos site. If I were an objective observer, I would say SBB headlines over the Dead as a matter of presentation, which is pretty amazing given how early in Santana's run this occurred. It's useful to remember just how Spanish Santa Barbara is, perhaps - maybe Santana would bring the vaqueros' kids in from the high school.

El Gaucho advertises what's going to go down in technicolor glory, even through bad microfilm in black and white. In the sweet spot, top-left of the front page, soak in the picture of a bunch of crazed Deadfolk in various degrees of sprawling on the steps of 710 Ashbury, over caption beginning “DROPPING IN ROBERTSON GYM”, (caps original), and a–wink-wink and a-nudge-nudge.

Bring Your own Pillow

Perhaps it’s no surprise that the show seems to have fallen somewhat out of memory – many may not have imprinted for very long in situ, more the decaying trails of an up-close camera flash.

Listening to the Dead tape now and it's pretty bad. Pigpen is lost in Lovelight, even Dark Star > Steven > Eleven leave me totally flat. Death Don't is good, TIFTOO is fine but uneventful, and a *very* tentative Cosmic Charlie closes things out. The show is way below average for the period, for sure. It sounds like a good crowd which cheers a lot for the Lovelight (maybe the sound was bad), but eventually The Man drops in and shut things down, and young Mr. Weir puts a point on things:

They say that's all there is, so I guess that's all there is.

And goodnight to you, too.

UCSB '78

Corry has a post on the GD / Warren Zevon / Elvin Bishop / Wahkoo gig at UCSB on July 4, 1978.

I have two followups, a tape beg and a tangential piece of metadata.

First, does anyone have a copy of the Elvin Bishop set, with Jerry sitting in? Apparently there is an aud tape of it.

Second, at http://www.dead.net/show/june-4-1978 commenter jacksondownunder writes

I caught the soundcheck the day before [i.e., 6/3/78]. As I wandered up to the side gate the band was jamming a long instrumental "Dancin'" riff. They eventually stopped and Bobby & Jerry started playing the melody of an old Harry Belafonte song called "Yellow Bird" on twin slide guitars. (I recognized the tune, having heard it on my parent's records hundreds of times.) Then the band started jamming a riff that at the time I presumed was an instrumental vamp of Feat's "Dixie Chicken" (plausible), which is listed above as Iko (possible), but as it followed another Harry Belafonte song it coulda been "Women Smarter" (probable). The half dozen of us kindred strangers made the mistake of applauding and were chased off.

The writer thinks "Women Smarter" more likely, but I am going to go with Iko Iko, which had entered the Dead's rotation in 1977. That's speculative, caveat emptor.


I don't recall that info being in Deadlists, or if that entered the Deadbase 50 updates, but it should be a bit more firmly on the record than I recall it being.

A list of known soundchecks would be fun to see.

There is World-Class Guitar Playing Here (JGB at the Arlington in Santa Barbara, May 19, 1984)

LN jg1984-05-19.jgb.all.aud-rossi-ford.124791.flac1644

Really great tape. And, while things are a little bit uneven, there's a lot to like in this performance. The arrangements are generally tight and the guitar playing can be outstanding. This band is together. Melvin plays colorfully, drums strong and bass nice and thompin'. Garcia does a lot of very sophisticated layering and building, playing around with tempo, tone, amplitude, etc. etc. Some very creative work. The vocals are not good, but they are not as bad as they would become later in the year. All in all, I'd totally recommend this show to someone, with the proper caveats.

Bias is such a pain in the neck. I am pretty sure that I listen to this show for signs of what I know I believe will come in late 1984: Rock Bottom. But this ain't it, not yet. Pretty interesting listen, all in all. Thanks to the folks involved in getting this into the world, from taper Adam Rossi on through.

Jerry Garcia Band
Arlington Theatre
1317 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
May 19, 1984 (Saturday)
85 min Rossi via McCue-Ford shnid-124791

--set I (4 tracks, 39:55, missing ca. 10-12 minutes at end)--
s1t01. How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You [10:18] [0:04] %
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:40] [0:03] % [0:14]
s1t03. Let It Rock [9:39] [0:05] % [0:05]
s1t04. I Second That Emotion [10:45] -> Tangled Up In Blue// [0:03#] %

--set II (4 tracks, 45:31)--
s2t01. [0:13] Cats Under The Stars [10:09] [0:03] %
s2t02. Knocking On Heaven's Door [13:56] ->
s2t03. Dear Prudence [13:23+0:02] ->
s2t04. Midnight Moonlight [-0:02+7:44] (1) [0:04]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21a
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards (Hammond B3 organ);
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: DeeDee Dickerson - vocals;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [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/19840519-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/108319 (unlineaged aud); http://etreedb.org/shn/124791 (this fileset, now deprecated - d'oh!); http://etreedb.org/shn/125760 (complete show, best available).

! opener: Robert Hunter

! map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1317+State+Street+Santa+Barbara,+CA&hl=en&sll=38.997934,-105.550567&sspn=7.229361,16.907959&t=h&hnear=1317+State+St,+Santa+Barbara,+California+93101&z=17

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/arlington-theater-1317-state-st-santa.html

! band: It has long been thought that Gloria Jones started with David Kemper in July of 1983. But that is clearly wrong. DeeDee Dickerson was definitely around through 1983. I have conjectured that Gloria began with the new year in 1984, but I now think that is wrong, too, because the Rowe review names all of the band members except the drummer, and he says it was DDD and not Gloria. It's possible he had some kind of old information, but it doesn't seem like it. As of this note (7/28/2018), it feels like DDD was around at least through this show, and Gloria arrives ... sometime later. update 20200418: I have now pinned this as 7/28/84. We shall see how long that conclusion holds.

! review: Rowe, Mark. 1984. Extended Jams From Jerry Garcia Band. Daily Nexus (U.C. Santa Barbara), May 24, 1984, p. 8A.

! seealso: JGMF, "The Auds Have It" [5/18/84] and "Don Dearth Was My Third Grade Teacher, And He Was A Taper: JGB at the Stone, May 12, 1984".

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

! tags: 1984, Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA, drugs, Adam Rossi, SoCal, JGB

! field recordist: Adam Rossi;

! field recording equipment: Nakamichi 300 > Sony D5;

! field recording media: cassette;

! source tape: master cassette > Sony D6 > unknown Akai home deck > TDK SA90 (Bill Murath's copy, shared by Mark McCue);

! source transfer: Nakamichi Dragon > Lunatec V3 (24/88.1) > Lynx AES 16AES(e) > WaveLab 7.2.1 (UAD-2) > .wav @24/88.2 > Apogee UV22HR/Crystal Resampler > .wav @16/44.1 > xAct (conversion and tagging) > flac16; transferred, edited and mastered by Alex Ford - June 2013.

! R: seeder comment: Thanks to Bill Murath who originally made the 1st gen cassette copy that I transferred.

! R: seeder comment: Last but NOT least, thanks to Mark McCue for loaning me his cassette for the transfer.

! seeder notes: historical: Great American Music Band played the Arlington Theatre on 4/24/74 (without Jerry). Kingfish w/ Bob Weir and Robert Hunter opening also played the Arlington Theatre on 10/29/86.

! setlist: song selection: I am not a huge fan of this first set list, especially given that we don't really get to hear TUIB. TLEO, LIR and ISTE would not typically be my favorites. I like set II a little better, especially CUTS. A 45 minute second set is a fucking ripoff, though. He always talked about how he didn't want to burn his audience, and I think he mostly held up a pretty good standard in that regard. But during 1984-1985 there were some pretty short shows. SoCal seemed to get its disproportionate share of them, with the May 1985 Beverly Theater incident indicating that at least some of the crowd was willing to express its displeasure. Good for them. At least on this night (5/19/84), the food is pretty good even if the quantity's a bit small, which I can't say for 5/31/85.

! R: this is a really, really nice tape.

! R: s1t01 noise and static from 0:00 - 1:35. A little overloaded.

! P: s1t01 HSII Jerry reals tries to belt some stuff out at the end of HSII, but it's phlegmatic.

! P: s1t02 TLEO Jerry's vocal struggles continue. Furthermore, he seems to be adding a measure to the chorus section that everyone else is struggling to stay with. It's Jerry vs. the rest of the band, and I don't blame them. He's pretty wrecked. Over 2-min, he's trying to figure the vocals out. He sounds scratchy, but he's starting to warm up. Late 5-min over 6-min mark, his guitar playing picks up, musical inspiration and manual dexterity meet, say a hot hello to each other, then Jerry layers 'em together a few different ways, pulls 'em apart and puts 'em together, like competitive cup-stacking.

! P: s1t03 LIR is also a little flabby, definitely "lose in the cage" as the P-90X guy's friend might have said.

! P: Observation after LIR. This is a night in which the heroin is working against the vocals and any kind of musical discipline, but the cocaine more than compensates on the instrumental side. Magnesial guitar playing, welders' gear and a release from liability to be up front. That is a first set impression. The second set starts off sluggighly but is probably considerably above averge. The Arlington remains an American masterpiece, leafy classisicist pastels, old Hollywood neon, deep, plush, supportive seats. Somehow there's a stone breeze, like the kind you get walking inside a grotto, church or wine cellar in the Mediterranean summer. Mid-May in Santa Barbara at the Arlington, just like July at the Bowl, can approximate natural and human perfection, true harmony. Jerry Garcia does not attain perfection on 5/19/84. Far from it. There will be moments from three months later in which I don't think he even attains professionalism, not a light criticism. But there is world class guitar playing here. This is the end of Jerry's "metal" period, which in the GOTS context I date from around February 1981 and which continues through about August 1984, in which the vocal quality and certain disciplines decline, but this is often compensated by especially incendiary guitar playing, clearly evident in LIR here. His rock-star fanning of early 1981 reappeared from time-to-time, as in mid-1983by which time it had taken on a more feedbacky sound. By '84 things were really metallic, not rattling your fillings so much as vibrating them at high pich. All told, things are a little feverish with Jerry, around this time, he's running really hot. In three months he'd start his descent to rock bottom, that hair-raising inexorable slide, no guardrails, to January 18, 1985.

! historical: Santa Barbara shows are woefully underdocumented, because it's a town that doesn't need to project itself, for whatever reason. No-one has gone through the local papers (sounds like a trip is in order!). Very few recollections and stubs and pix pop up.

! R: s1t05 very beginning of Tangled Up In Blue is audible, then cuts out.

! P: s2t01 CUTS Starts off sluggish, but in the 5-minute mark we hear heavy metal Jerry and my faith is restored. Through the six minute mark he has a little less grunge, but he's sustaining at a much higher level of grunge than he had been before the earlier filth. I think he pushes on one dimension (say, grunge), then pulls that back to 75% of the peak (but 200% of the prior peak, or something like that), builds up another dimension, etc. Then he runs some phrases and ideas through it. It's definitely equivalent to paragraphing language, hell, it's equivalent to managing a work flow ... lots to stack up and integrate. My main gripe with many versions of CUTS as that he didn't know how to cut it off, and this one definitely outlives its usefulness by the end.

! P: s2t02 KOHD the arrangement is just so perfect, and the playing is gorgeous. The crowd is occasionally yipping with appropriate delight at what this band is laying down. Everyone is locked in. Kemper the pulse, John the swing, Melvin the color, Garcia's poetic intellectualism. Melvin takes a nice lead figure in the 7-min mark. Love love love the reggae arrangement of KOHD they settled on in 1981 and which stayed very fresh all the way to the end. Melvin hits another high around 8:20, Garcia does a big pull and some plucky stuff 8:20-8:30 mark.

! P: s2t04 MM could be such a throwaway to end the shows of this period, when he was racing through to get back to his drugs, first and foremost. These vocals are indifferent, but the guitar playing is stellar. Great run late 1 over 2 minute mark. Another nice run 2-min mark, some big funky Chording. Now, here, he could have gotten back to the vocals @ 3:24ish, but instead he takes another run. I am not going to do it, but I bet a very micro analysis of better vs. worse versions of this song during this period would find him taking this extra turn on a good night and turning it down on a bad one. But this is conjecture. Melvin nice solo 4-min. The set overall still feels short, but I guess I wouldn't feel totally ripped off, because they did bring good energy. Last night of the mini SoCal tour.

! s2t04 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot, see y'all later."

Recently added to TJS, Saunders images

I am sure everyone who reads here knows one can follow changes at The Jerry Site (there's also an RSS feed). TJS admin slip_not has been adding some nice data from poster and handbill images shared at the Merl Saunders Facebook page.

Since these photos are shared intentionally downloadable from Facebook, and acting on the We Are All The Vault principle of crowdsource redundant storage, I'll repost here. Thanks to Merl Saunders, Jr. for sharing the pics and to slip_not for gathering 'em up and adding them to The List. I may have renamed them according to my own organizational schema. This post will just summarize some of this great stuff and elaborate as I can.

1.     JGMS: January 23-24-25 (Tuesday-Thursday), Boarding House, 960 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109

What a find!

Handbill for the Boarding House, January 16-28, 1973. Scan courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

“Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders & Tom Fogerty” are billed at the Boarding House on a “special engagement: 3 nights: tue-wed-thu”, following the Herbie Hancock Septet (maybe working on some of the extremely heavy Sextant material?) and preceding Harry Chapin, every night’s menu featuring some kind of meat. Mmmm, yeah.

There are a few other bits and pieces in the evidentiary record around these gigs.

First, at least 1/23 and 1/24 were listed in the Berkeley Barb’s “Scenedrome” calendar (January 19-25, 1973, p. 28). Also, and I think somewhat unusually, there was a line ad in the San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner Datebook (January 21, 1973, p. 25). I don’t think it was that common for such ads to appear, but maybe I am wrong about that. I suspect that this “special engagement” was expected to generate some big nights (at least for midweek) for the Boarding House. I’ll ask again: does anyone know anyone who was involved with running the Boarding House during this time period? Or even know who it was?

Ad for Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders at the Boarding House, 960 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109, Tues-Thurs January 23-25, 1973. Source: San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner Datebook, January 21, 1973, p. 25.

 There are also Betty Cantor-Jackson tapes known to exist and/or in circulation from this January 23-25 run at the Boarding House. All three dates were transferred by Rob Eaton from the “third batch” of Betty tapes which came to light in late 1995. Update: I think 1/23/73 actually came to RE from the Garcia Vault, via Dick L. The other two shows were definitely Betty tapes. At least one track from 1/23/73 has been officially released (“It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry,” track 1 of Jerry Garcia—Garcia Plays Dylan [Rhino R2 73263, 2005]). Material from the 24^th (shnid 4492, “early show” | shnid 9783, “late show” | shnid 100216, early and late) and 25^th (shnid 7670, “early” and “late” shows) circulated very early among collectors. They appear to have traveled several paths to the lossless era. Some of them are from DAT copies given by Eaton to Ryan Shriver, many of which were converted to CD and thence to .shn by D. Metz (e.g., shnid 4492). Others alleged to have PCM gens or cassette gens or whatever. A little hard to piece together all of it. The tapes are special because they are among the few that capture the mysterious Sarah Fulcher, singing her heart out.

The Jerry Site notes that Tom Fogerty was not present for the shows on the 24^th and 25^th, and he is not credited on the one released track from 1/23/73. I need to revisit the tapes, but I am pretty sure they’ll show that there’s no rhythm guitarist. SteveSw has written nice reviews of the 1/24/73 and 1/25/73 tapes at Workingman's Tracker. 

Anyway, this wonderful new-to-me handbill leads me to make a few points about the associated and related Listings.

First, unless it was understood that there were two shows nightly at the Boarding House, I don’t see any evidence in advertisements and such for early and late show designations. My assumption is that this makes it less likely that there were actually two (separately-ticketed) shows, but I am prepared to be set straight. Betty’s tapes said early and late, but maybe those temporal terms modified “set” rather than “show”? I don’t know. Anyway, I have been contemplating whether the early-late show listings should be merged on my lists … thoughts?

Second, there have long been tapes in circulation as “Boarding House, 1/26/73”, but all copies I have seen turn out to be the same as 1/24/73, which of course has more credible provenance. Anyway, again, I am preparing to consider 1/26/73 a spurious listing, but I’d like some feedback. (I am also thinking that 1/16/73 is spurious.)

2.     JGMS: May 4-5, 1973 (Friday-Saturday), Homer’s Warehouse, 79 Homer Lane, Palo Alto, CA

Handbill for Homer's Warehouse, early May 1973. Photo courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

We knew about these shows from inter alia amazing tapes, but this handbill is a great artifact. Nice little sketch of Jerry and Merl, representing a “moment” that only one who had watched them having one could capture.

Just a few small notes. First, probably doesn’t matter, but I am always interested when I see Merl’s name first-billed. A nice project would be to go back and measure the frequency with which one or the other was listed first. I’d bet it was at least 80-20 Jerry, for the obvious reasons. Second, the address given on the handbill, 79 Homer Avenue, is incorrect: according to Corry, it’s 79 Homer Lane. Note to Corry: Google Earth returns a search on “79 Homer Lane, Palo Alto, CA” with “79 Homer Lane, Menlo Park, CA, 94025”). Is that the same place on earth as where Homer’s Warehouse stood?

Note that these shows have been discussed a fair amount at Workingman's Tracker (that was 5/4; see also 5/5/73, and that it appears George Tickner is the second guitarist present.

3.     JGMS: October 20, 1973, Fieldhouse, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (UPDATE: DID NOT HAPPEN)

Poster for Merl Saunders, Bill Kreutzmann, Jerry Garcia gig at University of Iowa Fieldhouse, Iowa City, IA, October 20, 1973. Photo courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

What the fuck?

Wow.

OK. Here’s a poster that bills “Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann”, plus Mike Bloomfield and Band and Stoneground, at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse on October 20, 1973. The Grateful Dead had played Oklahoma City on 10/19 and would be in Omaha on 10/21, so Iowa City is only 250 miles out of the way. But, wow.

I notice the sketches of Jerry and especially Merl are nearly identical to the Homer’s Warehouse handbill sketches. Anyone know who drew these? Otherwise, is there any chance this is a forgery?

If not, we have here a real revelation. This would be only the third JGMS show outside of the state of California, after the September 5-6, 1973 gigs out east. And it’s pretty darn random, I have to say, though of course stranger things could certainly have happened. An off-night in a just-starting GD tour, you head out to Iowa City, Iowa for a gig in the college fieldhouse? Looks a little like the structure of the 11/18/73 San Diego show, I guess … could there possibly be others like this? Again: thoughts?

Update 20111119: thanks to intrepid research by Corry, we now know the story behind the poster: Liza Minelli left U of I out to dry three weeks before homecoming, Roberta Flack and Van Morrison couldn't be arranged to sub, and it sounds like the effort to get JGMS was extremely last minute. Most interesting is the argument in the relevant article from the student paper (Hawkins, Chuck, and George Shirk. 1973. Problems plague major concert bids. Daily Iowan, October 30, 1973, p. 3) that it was the Grateful Dead who nixed this particular Garcia side trip.

4.     JGMS: October 13, 1974, Santa Barbara County Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA

From L: Merl Saunders (keyboards), Paul Humphrey (drums), Jerry Garcia (electric guitar), John Kahn (electric bass), Martin Fierro (saxophone), Santa Barbara County Bowl, Sunday, October 13, 1974. Photo courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

Ain't life grand? We were just discussing Paul Humphrey at Hooterollin' Around, and up pops the only known-to-me live image of the Garcia-Saunders-Humphrey-Kahn-Fierro quintet. (update: here's another, showing Paul Humphrey!!) This is a known show Sunday, October 13, 1974 at the beautiful Santa Barbara County Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA. I can't tell if it's overcast, but I am imagining a sunny fall day. And if you ever spent a sunny fall day in Santa Barbara in roughly that that spot in roughly the frame of mind that might have been generated by this particular concert, you know what I mean to say: A glimpse of life's deepest beauties for five bucks.

This gig has been known back to the time of the McNally-Arnold JG List, the oldest continuous piece of The JG List in the manuscript tradition (Yeah, lots of grandiosity there, I know. But I have to say it and I'll get to it.) That list's entry was dated 10/13/74 and had the personnel correctly listed, but the venue was given as Santa Barbara County Fairgrounds. I see that this misstatement continued through to Deadbase IX (not surprising, since it was based on Corry's copy of the McNally-Arnold JG List). This continued into The Jerry Site's entry, which was corrected in 2008 by the great Ryan Shriver.

I am presuming this long entry derived from the following backstage pass, which is generously hosted at psilo.net:

Backstage pass for “Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders and friends” with the Sons of Champlin and Etta James, Sunday, October 13, 1974, Santa Barbara Count Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA. Image courtesy of psilo.net.

There has never been a tape of the show, billed as “Their First Southern California Solo Appearance, Direct From San Francisco and the Grateful Dead”. I don’t actually think that’s true. They (JGMS) had played the Ash Grove in LA on May 29-30, 1973. (A planned show at San Diego State University on November 18, 1973 was rained out.) But, I queeble. They weren’t getting out on the road much in those days, and it orta’h’ve been a fun old time. And, what a great picture!

Summary

Thanks to the proprietors of the Merl Saunders Facebook page, and to slip_not of The Jerry Site, for bringing these wonderful historical materials forward. Here’s hoping there’s lots more where that came from!

REFERENCE:

(1) Scott, John W., Mike Dolgushkin, and Stu Nixon. 1995. Deadbase IX: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Songlists.

LN jg1973-xx-xx.oaitw.88mins.sbd-PNW.99222.flac1644

This is shnid-99222, a somewhat degraded soundboard tape of Old And In The Way (OAITW) with Richard Greene on fiddle. I had mentioned it when it first came out.

update: I surmise that this is Thursday, April 12, 1973, Granada Theatre, 1216 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA. It's not certain by any stretch, but that's what I figure. Indeed, now based on an expost account in the UCSB Daily Nexus (Haight 19730419), which confirms Greene and that the 4/12/73 late show ended with Orange Blossom Special, I am prepared to say that I am 99.99% certain that's what we have here.

I have made lots of notes, so I'll just mention that note 15 contains a little exchange that really underscores the "Burden Of Being Jerry".

Old And In The Way
Unknown Venue (probably Granada Theatre)
Unknown City, Unknown State (probably Santa Barbara, CA)
ca. April-May 1973 (probably April 12, 1973)

--Disc One (13 tracks, 51:02)--
d1t01. (1) [0:05] //Going To The Races [#2:25] (2) [0:11]
d1t02. (3) [0:09] I Wonder Where You Are Tonight [2:19] [0:08]
d1t03. (4, 5) [0:28] Down In The Willow Garden [4:19]
d1t04. (6, 7) [0:29] Old And In The Way Breakdown [1:59] [0:10]
d1t05. Land Of The Navajo [7:40] [0:03] %
d1t06. [0:23] 'Til The End Of The World Rolls Around [2:18] [0:09]
d1t07. (8) [0:32] Panama Red [2:18] [0:11]
d1t08. [0:22] I'm Knocking On Your Door [3:50] [0:11]
d1t09. (9) [0:48] Soldier's Joy [3:06] (10) [0:32]
d1t10. (11) [1:14] Down Where The River Bends [4:43] [0:06]
d1t11. band introductions, talk (12, 13) [1:41]
d1t12. Blue Mule [4:35] [0:13]
d1t13. (14) [0:45] Love Please Come Home [2:20] [0:08] %

--Disc Two (9 tracks, 33:15)--
d2t01. [0:49] Lonesome L.A. Cowboy [4:02] [0:12]
d2t02. (15) [0:37] Pig In A Pen [2:33] [0:11]
d2t03. banter (16) [1:21]
d2t04. Hard Hearted [2:43] [0:08] %
d2t05. (17) [0:47] Turkey In The Straw [1:56] [0:13]
d2t06. % [0:38] White Dove [4:02] % [0:11]
d2t07. (18) [1:12] Thirsty In The Rain [3:02] [0:09]
d2t08. [0:09] How Mountain Girls Can Love [1:53] (19) [1:20]
d2t09. Orange Blossom Special [4:28] (20) [0:34]

--Rehearsal Filler (2 tracks, 3:57)--
d2t10. talk (21), Blue Mule workouts// [3:28]
d2t11. Cedar Hill// [0:29]

! ACT1: Old And In The Way
! lineup: Peter Rowan - ac-g, vocals;
! lineup: David Grisman - mandolin, vocals;
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - banjo, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - ac-bass;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle.

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/19730412-01 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19730412-02 (late)

! db: shnid-99222 (somewhat degraded sbd; this fileset).

! R: Source Tape: MR > ? > R @ 7.5 ips

! R: Source Tape digitization: AKAI GX 625 playback > Apogee Mini Me (24/96) > Apogee MiniDac (monitoring/mastering) > Wavelab 5.0 (dithered to 16/44 via Apogee) > CD, by Matt Smith. Subsequent digital realm: EAC > WAV (TLH confirms no sbes) > FLAC (TLH), by GEMS.

! R: seeder notes: - The presence of Richard Greene on fiddle suggests this show was between March and May 1973. - wow, thanks Will Boswell and Matt Smith for this "new to general circ." show.  you guys rule! - and, as of now, we don't have OAITW doing a number of these songs! - there is slight distortion in a few places. This tape warbling, however, is a bit harsh from d2t06 white dove on.

! d1t01 (1) dead air, layer of hiss starts @ 0:03 until 0:05

! d1t01 (2) RG mic check, lots of reverb. Garcia "No, wait a minute, wait a minute man. Don't put it high [inaudible]."

! d1t02 (3) JG: "Oh hey, how about IWWYAT"

! d1t03 (4) DG: "'Willow Garden', you wanna do 'Willon Garden'?" JG: "Sure."

! d1t03 (5) @ 0:24 DG song intro: "A little traditional murder ballad for ya."

! R: d1t03 DITWG warbles in 2:30 mark.

! d1t03 P: Garcia takes a solo @ 3:12-3:37. I know some would not want to countenance the possibility, but I hear his banjo limitations.

! d1t04 (6) ?Rowan?: "Why don't we do [inaudible]?" There's a chuckle and some cross-talk and JG says "Because you don't know it." Guy: "I can fake it!"

! d1t04 (7) @ 0:31 DG introduction "This is the, uh, Old And In The Way Breakdown."

! R: d1t05 LOTN bad speed issues @ 5:50

! R: d1t05 LOTN bad tape much @ 6:48

! d1t07 (8) @ 0:13 DG: "This boy over here on the git-tar, his name is 'Panama Red'. 'Panama Pete'."

! d1t08 IKOYD starts with Rowan knocking on his guitar, simulating door, replying to himself "What's that noise? C'mon in" as the song starts.

! d1t09 (9) DG: "I'd say it's time for a banjo & fiddle tune."

! d1t09 (10) Richard Greene: "Thank you, thank you." JG: "Thanks a lot."

! d1t10 (11) @ 1:10 JG: "It's time for the Old And In The Way patriotic moment. This is it coming right up."

! d1t11 Personnel: David Grisman: "I'd like to introduce the members of the band. Peter Rowan here on the guitar. Lil' John Kahn on the bass. Fiddlin' Richard Greene back there. On the 5-string banjo, Spud Garcia." JG: "Playing mandolin tonight we have David Dawg." Note for the evolution of nicknames in OAITW.

! d1t11 (12) DG: "We're gonna render one now called "The Blue Mule."

! d1t11 (13) @ 0:56 PR: "How many people here have heard of Bill Monroe? [applause] This is the song of Molly and Tenbrooks."

! d1t13 (14) DG: "We got a brand new number here for ya. We were just workin' it out in the car." PR: "Actually we got a brand old number."

! P: d2t01 LLAC again I can hear JG's banjo limitations in the solo @ 2:50ff.

! d2t02 (15) DG: "Any requests?" Chick: "Let Garcia sing!" JG to DG: "You had to say something." THIS IS EXTREMELY REVEALING. Chick yells out again: "Let Garcia sing!" Rowan, in a sort of an east coast accent: "Awright, we'll let'im. You don' think he can sing, huh?"

! d2t03 (16) RG: "We've have a lot of requests for the 'Orange Blossom Special' .. But, wait ... I myself haven't played it in years." Band: "You lie!" RG: "And furthermore, these boys here, on the stage tonight, don't know how the tune goes." Lots of laughter.

! d2t05 (17) RG: "We'd like to honor a request right now -- 'Turkey In The Straw'."

! R: from d2t06 "White Dove" forward, these are quite bad speed problems.

! d2t06 WD Garcia vocals

! d2t07 DG: "We're gonna do a little Peter Rowan number called 'Thirsty In The Rain'."

! R: s2t08 is practically unlistenable (even for me!) because of speed problems. We are aural witnesses to the demise of a set of batteries. RIP, old friends.

! d2t08 (19) JG: "See y'all later." Encore calls, including some close-to-the-mic urgings suggestive of a possible audience tape? Then when you hear the room there's a lot of room sound ... definitely recording ambiently. Re: venue, sounds like a moderate-sized auditorium to me. More room echo than you'd get in a club like the Lion's Share, for sure. Doesn't sound like Keystone, either. Auditorium, or theater.

! d2t09 (20) @ 4:52 Emcee: "That's it, folks, g'night. Thank you very much. G'night." I don't recognize this voice, so it doesn't shed much light on the venue.

! d2t10 filler (21) JG: "I don't have any of them numbers." Other guy: "I think I have the office's." JG: "Oh, call them up and tell them - ?Ned?, who's Parrish's old lady, to tell Parrish to get serious. That'd work." That followed by some goofiness, microphone talk, some runs through the harmony introduction to "Blue Mule", and some running through that song.

! I am not going to get into what the rehearsal material might be. There's a need to go through the OAITW rehearsal material with a fine-toothed comb, and I don't want to tackle it here and now.

! Given the provenance of the recording (Will Boswell to Matt Smith), my best guess as to what this really is would be as follows: Thursday, April 12, 1973, Granada Theater, 1216 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA. (update: yes, I really do think so.) First, we know that Boswell acquired some tapes from a Santa Barbara soundman, including the 4/24/74 Great American Music Band tape. SB soundman, maybe this tape was also from his collection. Pat Lee suggests that the fact that the reels were on BASF tape stock is consistent with the Santa Barbara soundman idea. (Note that while this April 12, 1973 OAITW date is generally unknown and undocumented, Richard Greene's datebooks show him at the Granada on this date) Second, we also (think we) know that Richard Greene was only playing with OAITW, perhaps only intermittently, in ca. April-May. We know the band started without fiddle, the John Hartford played in a time or two, that Richard was around, and that Vassar enters for the Boston show on June 5. Third, the more I reflect on this the more it seems like a relatively spacious room, and the more this indicates an out-of-town show. I see the following local venues played by the band at this time: Boarding House (San Francisco), Lion's Share (San Anselmo), Orphanage (San Francisco), Homers Warehouse (Palo Alto). There was a show at Bimbo's 365 Club on May 25, but Richard was not there. How big was Homers Warehouse? The other places were small clubs, ca. a couple hundred seats as I understand things. Out of town, by contrast, they played the Granada, Churchill High School (presumably the gym) in Eugene, OR (Tuesday, May 8, 1973) and the Paramount Theatre in Portland (Wednesday, May 9, 1973) during this period. Upshot: large room suggests out of town; provenance suggests Santa Barbara, for which there is a theater date that includes Richard Greene.

Great American Music Band: Wednesday, April 24, 1974, Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA

Clearly identified as the Great American Music Band by the emcee at the end, this is the quartet of Grisman (mandolin), Greene (fiddle), Nichtern (ac-guitar, vocals) and Taj Mahal (ac-bass). The performance doesn't light me up the way some of them do. The tape, via 'fstop',  is quite nice, though I'd guess that the Will Boswell/Matt Smith version may be even better. I'd have to do a side-by-side comparison. No Garcia Content, but since I mentioned this in GSCBF9 I thought I'd lay this out here.

Arlington Theatre is amazing, by the way. I saw the Allman Brothers there in the early 90s and it was one of the finer musical experiences I have had.

Great American Music Band
Arlington Theatre
1317 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
April 24, 1974 (Wednesday)
49 min sbd tape via fstop

(19 tracks, 49:09)
--main set (16 tracks, 44:21)--
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t01. crowd and tuning [0:31]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02. Katy Hill [2:39] [0:37] (1)
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t03. Limehouse Blues [3:11] [0:11]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t04. banter (2), tuning [0:42]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t05. I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards [2:27] [0:14]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. banter (3), tuning, banter (4) [1:25]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t07. Swing '42 [4:46] [0:21]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t08. Dawg intro (5), song intro [0:26]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t09. Dawg's Bull [2:02] [0:10]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t10. "Tex" Mahal introduction [0:37]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t11. Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms [2:56] [0:42]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t12. David Nichtern intro, song intro [0:45]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t13. My Plastic Banana Isn't Stupid [3:13] [1:06]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t14. Midnight At The Oasis [3:46] [0:18]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t15. Dawg's Rag [5:38] [1:22]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. Sweet Georgia Brown  [3:50] [0:32] %
--encore (3 tracks, 4:47)--
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t17. pre-encore crowd and tuning [0:10]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t18. Orange Blossom Special [4:08] [0:09]
gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t19. outro (6) [0:19]

! band: Great American Music Band
! lineup: David ("Dawg") Grisman - mandolin;
! lineup: Richard Greene - fiddle;
! lineup: David Nichtern - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Taj ("Tex") Mahal - bass.

JGMF:
! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! TJS: n/a
! db: http://db.etree.org/lookup_show.php?shows_key=389520
! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/arlington-theater-1317-state-st-santa.html
! map: http://goo.gl/maps/U3Bfh
! R: fstop's unknown (low) gen sbd reel > CD > EAC > CD Wave > TLH (16/44 FLAC8).
! song: "Katy Hill" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02): a traditional popularized by Bill Monroe (Allan).
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t02. (1) RG: "OK, here's a little something Hot Club style. ... Django Reinhardt ... It's called Limehouse Blues."
! song: "Limehouse Blues" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t03): (Lyrics: Douglas Furber; Music: Phillip Braham) (Allan).
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t04. (2) RG: "I'd like to introduce David Nichtern on guitar. He's also a very prolific and successful songwriter, and this is one of his songs. It's called 'I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards'."
! song: "I'll Be A Gambler If You'll Deal The Cards" (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t05): I am using the title as given here, on the 6/13/74 GASB show, and perhaps another time or two. Deaddisc calls it "I'll Be A Gambler", noting "Registered title is 'I'll Be A Gambler'". I am not sure if, by this, the curator means has registered it that way, or it's officially registered that way somewhere.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. (3) RG: "This is something called 'Swing 42', named after the very successful year of my birth."
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t06. (4) requests for soundman
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t07. R: Swing 42 SQ anomalies @ 2:45.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t08. (5) RG: "This here's Dawg. I'd like to present Dawg. [Grisman laughs] Dawg is permanently trapped in The Zone."
! song: Dawg's Bull (gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t09): a Grisman instrumental, released in 1979 on Hot Dawg.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t15. R: Dawg's Rag @ 2:40 some overload, mostly from the bass.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. R: SGB more bass overload
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t16. P: SGB is all-instrumental, whereas on other occasions (4/20?) Taj also took vocals.
! gamb1974-04-24-fstop-t19. historical: emcee twice calls the band "Great American Music Band", including in note (6), the outro.