Bear Tracks and Bear Drops in the Bear Republic

"Slewfoot" was a great selection for the Dead's Santa Rosa shows June 27-28, 1969: "Bear tracks" in the Bear Republic.

date	venue	city	state
6/11/69	California Hall	San Francisco	CA
6/21/69a	Fillmore East	New York	NY
6/27/69	Veterans Auditorium	Santa Rosa	CA
6/28/69	Veterans Auditorium	Santa Rosa	CA
7/3/69	Reed's Ranch	Colorado Springs	CO
7/4/69	Kinetic Playground	Chicago	IL
7/12/69	NY State Pavilion, Flushing Meadow Park, Queens	New York	NY
8/2/69	Family Dog at the Great Highway	San Francisco	CA
12/31/69	Boston Tea Party	Boston	MA

6/27, Corry: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/june-27-1969-sonoma-county-fairgrounds.html
6/27, Bear: https://archive.org/details/gd69-06-27.sbd.samaritano.20547.sbeok.shnf
6/28, Bear:  https://archive.org/details/gd69-06-28.sbd.samaritano.20548.sbeok.shnf

Some classic 6/28 banter, including Phil, "This song is about Bear Drops". Heh heh - that'd be an LSD reference, ladies and gents.

Oh yeah, can I get a ruling on the venue? Deadlists gives Veterans Auditorium, Corry gives Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

Garcia's Penultimate Sonoma County Gig, and a Great 'Don't Let Go'

LN jg1988-02-05.jgb.all.aud-CC.121594.flac2448

My favorite year of the canonical Jerry Garcia Band, i.e., what I mean when I say The Jerry Garcia Band, i.e., Garcia-Kahn-Seals-Kemper-Jones-LaBranch.

Jerry's penultimate show in Sonoma County.

Top-three version of "Don't Let Go", along with the next night (2/6/88) and 5/19/89 in Irvine. some of my favorite Garcia music of all time.

Anyone know who has the master tape, or who taped it?

Jerry Garcia Band
Veterans Memorial Auditorium
1351 Maple Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
February 5, 1988 (Friday)
123 min Closet Call aud (complete) (flac2448) shnid-121594

--set I (9 tracks, 57:07)--
s1t01. ambience [0:30]
s1t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:43] [0:04]
s1t03. They Love Each Other [7:55] [0:20]
s1t04. Forever Young [8:13] [0:22]
s1t05. Get Out Of My Life Woman [8:00] [0:23]
s1t06. /Like A Road Leading Home [7:20]
s1t07. Evangeline [3:32] [0:01]
s1t08. //My Sisters And Brothers [5:12] ->
s1t09. Deal [8:22] [0:07]

--set II (8 tracks, 66:26)--
s2t01. //Harder They Come [8:48] [0:15]
s2t02. Stop That Train [7:07]
s2t03. //Don't Let Go [12:22]
s2t04. //Think [6:12]
s2t05. //Mississippi Moon [8:37]
s2t06. //Run For The Roses [4:52]
s2t07. //That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [8:32]
s2t08. //Tangled Up In Blue [9:36] [0:02]

! Band: Jerry Garcia Band
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! Lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! Lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;
! Lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - 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/19880205-01

! db: none as of 9/6/2009. https://etreedb.org/shn/121594 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/125717 (remaster of this fileset).

! map: http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=1351+Maple+Ave.,+Santa+Rosa,+CA&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=38.435203,-122.699862&spn=0.014052,0.029182&t=h&z=15&iwloc=addr

! venue: Its official site gives venue as Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Hall.  Handbill from TJS bills gives "Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Auditorium". The Auditorium is a room in the Hall, holds 1200 for assembly and 1000 seated. Since the TJS ticket shows General Admission, I'll use the "assembly" number to estimate capacity in 1988 at 1,200, and I'll use "Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Auditorium" as my canonical venue name. The GD had played here in the 1960s (6/17-18/66, 6/27-28/69). This would be the fifth and last time Garcia would play the hall.

! band: Handbill from TJS bills "Jerry Garcia Band Electric".

! R: specs: xx gen audience cassette (Maxell XLII90 no Dolby) > Nakamichi BX-300 playback (no Dolby) > Pyle Pro cables >WaveTerminal 2496 > Samplitude 10.1 Download Version (record @ 24 bits/48kHz) > CDWave 1.9.8 (tracking) > Wavelab 5.0.1a (cross-fades, etc.) > shntool (stripped non-canonical headers) > Traders Little Helper 2.4.1 (FLAC encoding, level 8) > Foobar (tagging), September 6, 2009, by JGMF.

! R: This recording is not going to win any field recording prizes, but it's totally decent and unterrible. The only real problem is that every song in set II clips or cuts in. But who am I to criticize? The overall SQ of set II is inferior to set I. Things are probably running fast, perhaps considerably so. Mississippi Moon would be one to check.

! historical: I consider 1988 to be the very best year of the canonical Jerry Garcia Band of Garcia-Kahn-Seals-Kemper-Jones-LaBranch. The next night (2/6/88) is one of my all-time favorite Jerry Band shows, and this one, while perhaps not quite its equal, had provided a really high-level warmup. I also have big love for the July '88 shows (e.g., 7/10), and this period really holds up well to repeated auditions. While the Halloween (10/31/88) and Tahoe shows (11/4-5/88) disappoint me, the Wiltern (11/25-27/88) and Orpheum shows (12/2-3/88) are top-shelf (update: actually, 12/3 is pretty weak, 12/2 only marginally better), as is everything through May of 1989.

! historical: The geography of this show is fascinating. In earlier times, even into the early 1980s, Jerry would start off a new year, as he'd start off a new band, a little bit off the beaten path. In the 70s, this would have meant playing the Inn of the Beginning in Cotati or the River Theater in Gurneville (both Sonoma County), the Lion's Share in San Anselmo (Marin), etc. From the early 80s it seems like he mostly warmed up in Santa Cruz (The Catalyst) or Keystone Palo Alto in the South Bay. Garcia's previous Sonoma gig had been 1/21/83 at the Phoenix Theatre in Petaluma. This would be his penultimate appearance in Sonoma County, in which he spent a lot of his childhood, before the 7/7/88 JGAB gigs at the Cabaret in Cotati.

! P: I haven't spent enough time with the rest of the show to have a strong opinion, but my sense is that it is an appropriate start to  The real stuff is deep without dragging (see s1t06 Like A Road, s2t05 Miss Moon, s2t07 Lucky Old Sun). The latter, especially, is a song that I don't usually dig, but it's just really nice here, as are the others. I always love Like A Road, always, in every period. Period. The peppy/bouncy stuff is peppy and bouncy (s1t02 How Sweet, s1t03 TLEO, s1t08 My Sisters And Brothers, s2t02 Stop That Train, s2t06 Run For The Roses). The songs that are supposed to rock rock. Good stuff all around, but you'll remember it for the "Don't Let Go" -- see below.

! R: s1t06 Like a Road clips in

! R: s1t08 Sisters and Brothers cuts in

! R: s2t01-02 mic adjustments at end of HTC and start of STT

! P: s2t04 Think is also outstanding. Jerry's first solo is blistering hot. He was higher and feedbackier in the first go-round, then as he turns the second minute he drops down lower. Later in 2-min mark he's right in the middle range, drops some fanning @ 2:54, twist in some edge and feedback, drop to Melvin @ 3:20 or so. Late 4, he's fanning again, shredding pretty well. This is not early 1981 shredding, or mid-1983, but it's good. Enthusiastic on the vocals, rocking and swaying in whatever nondescript comfyshoes he's wearing.

! P: s2t05 Miss Moon Jerry starts with a little vocal flub, and I think he is too high up in the vocal register, though he seems to pulling it off.

! P: s2t03 Don't Let Go: I have been waiting years for this show, ever since the next night knocked my socks off. I was especially waiting for the Don't Let Go, which represents the return of the song after a 3.5 year absence (12/7/84). And it doesn't disappoint me. Listen to Jerry belt in the four-minute mark and tell me he isn't psyched. Like the next night and the other '88 versions, this one is very upbeat, but doesn't feel truncated. Jerry is already screaming and growling his singing in the 3:30ff mark and tearing ragged edges with his guitar, then drops down into some plucky lower-register stuff. Up high. Jerry explores lots of cool spaces with it. At the same time, it's punchy enough not to wander. From 10:30 ish Garcia is playing some super fast chords that remind me of the summer 1974 GD jams into U.S. Blues. The return to the song around the 11-min mark is super fast-paced, almost double-time ... yeah!! It may even be just a little too fast, but I gotta say everyone is locked in. It's structured just about perfectly, IMO. FANTASTIC @@ This is in my top three versions of "Don't Let Go", along with the next night (2/6/88) and the 5/19/89 monster.

! P: I haven't spent enough time with the rest of the show to have a strong opinion, but my sense is that it doesn't quite equal the next night in overall strength. Still, sixteen songs is a solid indicator that Our Man felt like playing on this night.

! R: s2t07-08 L channel very out from 2:09-3:24 of LOS, out again LOS 5:28- then low until 1:35 of TUIB.

! R: s2t08 TUIB some discontinuities (skips) at start, sound analog.

! Disclaimer: This is part of a "Closet Call" project aimed at getting missing Garcia dates into the digital realm. These are "warts and all" ... straight transfers of the source cassettes with editing only of the most offensive tape transitions and such. If you don't like hiss, possible speed problems, etc., etc., then move along. And, to anticipate a FAQ: no, I don't plan on doing 16/44s of these.Thanks to wk for supplying these tapes!

http://jgmf.blogspot.com

JGB: June 23, 1977: Benefit Concert for the Survival of the Forest Community of Camp Meeker

On Thursday, June 23, 1977, Jerry Garcia Band (JGB) out-of-pattern early and late shows at Santa Rosa High School. High school gigs were pretty unusual for Garcia at any point (beyond early Grateful Dead), but by the late 1970s it almost always meant that there was some personal connection, somehow, to Garcia. For example, Garcia-Kahn (JGJK) played gigs at South Eugene High School on June 5 and 6th, 1982 that had a Kesey family connection (see the June 5, 1982 Oregon State Pen post), as, I suspect, did the Churchill High School (Eugene, OR) OAITW gig dated May 8, 1973.

The whole event has a great Sonoma County vibe to it. A pretty poster reveals a billing as “Maria Muldaur and Special Guest” in a "Benefit Concert for the Survival of the Forest Community of Camp Meeker”:

The invaluable Paul Liberatore published a piece on Maria a week before the show, finding her leaning in, preparing for a tour, raising two kids in Mill Valley, and taking time to help a friend and a cause.

A very old friend of mine, Louise Patterson, lives in Camp Meeker, a little redwood community of about 1,500 people near Occidental. It's a beautiful, inspirational pocket in the woods. I've gone there now and then to lay out for a day or two. One day she called me in tears, sobbing about these two brothers who want to log it, cut down the redwoods.

About ten miles west of Guerneville, this is a breathtaking –no, breathgiving—little patch of earth that Garcia, who went to high school not too far away in Cazadero, would have known well.

The show was announced again in the I-J on June 17th: "Maria Muldaur, accompanied by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, will sing at 7.30 p m. Thursday in the auditorium of Santa Rosa High School. The show is a benefit for the Camp Meeker Improvement Club, a group opposed to logging redwoods in the Southern Sonoma community of Camp Meeker." With brisk ticket sales, a second (11 PM) show was added a few days later. I take note, because it's what I do, of the phrase "Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead": it's strongly out-of-pattern. For his own paying gigs, the contracts always, from the beginning he started touring under his own shingle in 1974, forbade any mention of the Dead or his affiliation with the band in event publicity. That he'd allow that rule to be bent almost certainly reflects some combination of it being John's old lady Maria who recruited him (most likely most important) and it being a cause he really believed in.

I think the nature of the event also drives the primary historical interest here, which is that Ronnie Tutt experienced a direct conflict between his Elvis Presley employment and his Garcia involvement. Mr. Tutt had donned his “Blue Light” band suit and was drumming in Des Moines behind Elvis this night -- the last time he'd ever do so. I suspect that this benefit came up after he had committed to the Elvis tour. Greg Errico appears to have gotten the call to sub for him with JGB. As a side note, after Des Moines Tutt would miss the last three shows of the Elvis tour for the birth of twins. Probably within two months, he’d stop playing live with Jerry (until a brief reunion for the late 1981 JGB tour, October 31-November 19). We don’t know much about Tutt’s departure from JGB other than that it happened, and right around the time that Elvis died (on August 16, 1977).

I go into all of that because, at one point, I was thinking that Tutt’s absence foreshadowed his departure from the JGB, as if there was some friction or things just weren’t clicking. But I no longer believe that. It’s more mundane, I think: Tutt just had a scheduling conflict.

One other personnel note. I assume and think I hear this as Donna Jean Godchaux. But it could be Maria. The truth is, there’s probably more variability around all of this than we have ever appreciated.

I post some listening notes below. Just to put a bow around my overall impression, I should say that, to me, this version of the JGB (Garcia-Kahn-K. Godchaux-Tutt, plus Donna Jean and/or Maria Muldaur singing) got pretty steadily better from its start in 1976 through its end in ca. late summer 1977. It’s not monotonic, of course – 4/3/76b may be the best show of the period—but it’s an overall trend. Contrary to many listeners, I find the 1976 flavor of the band to be way too cough syrupy. There are lots of reasons to “Just Say No” to heroin, and not the least of them (though certainly not the greatest) is that music seems to record at 45 RPM and playback at 33 1/3. Things … just … get … really … slowwwwwww. 1977 shows still sometimes drag, but I find more sway and bounce that gets my toe tapping.

The real highlight here is the 26-minute “Don’t Let Go”. I like it very much. I’ll write up some song notes about it at some point.

Listening notes follow.

Jerry Garcia Band
Santa Rosa High School
1235 Mendocino Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
June 23, 1977 (Thursday) - Late Show
Connor MAC (Menke gear) shnid-16714

--late show (5 tracks, 73:53)--
l-t01. They Love Each Other [7:25] [0:10] %
l-t02. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [14:55] [0:21] % [0:54]
l-t03. Tore Up Over You [11:55] [0:23] % (1) [1:12]
l-t04. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:52] [0:19] %
l-t05. /Don't Let Go [26:05] (2) [0:22] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3f
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano
! Lineup: Greg Errico - drums;
! Lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - 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/19770623-02 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19770623-03 (late)

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1977-06-23-santa-rosa-high-school-santa-rosa-ca/

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/16714 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/137527 (early show McClary MAC)

! historical: The show, a "Benefit Concert for the Survival of the Forest Community of Camp Meeker" was billed as Maria Muldaur and Special Guest, but it is the Jerry Garcia Band.

! personnel: Ron Tutt was playing in Des Moines with Elvis's band. I suspect that this benefit gig came up after Tutt had committed to the Elvis tour. Greg Errico got the call.

! personnel: I assume and think I hear this as Donna Jean Godchaux. But it could be Maria. The truth is, there’s probably more variability around all of this than we have ever appreciated.

! venue: JBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/santa-rosa-high-school-1235-mendocino.html.

! map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1235+Mendocino+Avenue,+Santa+Rosa,+CA&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=1235+Mendocino+Ave,+Santa+Rosa,+California+95401&gl=us&t=h&z=16

! R: "Sony ECM -> Sony TC-152 MAC -> D -> CD (Ryan at thejerrysite.com indicates the taper was Bob Menke). Thanks to Chuck Gannon for the great sounding discs! EAC/SHN by jim@juddcreek.com 4/03".

! R: Actually taped by Charlie Connor, formerly of SoCal, using Bob's gear.

! seeder note: "Quite excellent, both sound and performance. Rich bass."

! P: s2t02 KOHD Donna Jean comes in on harmony vocals. Jerry pulls some very, very long phrases in the 9-minute mark, and Keith is tinking very nicely behind him. Jerry wailing, but slow and careful. I know they don't go together, but he's way up the neck pulling glass strings, and then swings down to lower register. Errico making himself heard @ 10:45.

! R: s2t03 (1) what a wonderful piece of audience taping, to capture the in-between stuff. It sounds like Garcia is running through the changes for Dixie Down, e.g., with a drummer that they don't work much with.

! P: s2t04 TNTDODD, you can really hear the scratch in Garcia's voice. I'd bet his hair was frizzy and graying. The start of this song feels like a little bit of a struggle, tempo-wise. Around 4 minutes in, Garcia is taking a beautiful, delicate chinese flower solo. Lots of sustain. The recording picks up the depth of this interpretation very nicely. Jerry and Donna singing. Nice.

! R: s2t05 "First couple notes of Don't Let Go missing, but the edit (prior to [seeder] copy) is seamless."

! P: s2t05 DLG @ 4:45 ff JG is doing a really nice, long testamentary solo. Speak, brother! He's playing a poppy line that puts me in mind of Peanuts or cartoons or Vince Guaraldi or something right in this moment. (Probably subconscious: Santa Rosa also houses the Charles M. Schulz stuff [and I think, in his time, housed Charles M. Schulz] and Mr. Guaraldi.) Anyway, this is a really nice example of what the 1977 JGB was capable of, but only really fleetingly. Things were still too slow, a la 1976, for my taste. But when they picked up, like with this, they picked up very, very nicely. Garcia in the 7-minute mark is crafting long Cassadyesque run-ons, with the advantage, in principle, of being able to breath (which thefastestmanalive seemed not to need). In the 15-minute mark Kahn is doing some bit fat pulls for a few measures, and then he solos about 15:45-17:30. I need to think of when was his last big Bay Area bass solo like this? At 17:30 he starts blowing trail back toward Don't Let Go and everyone wisely gets behind and with the bass. Garcia is still keeping a lot of fuzz around things though, not quite ready to pass up his play time. So things are gonna get weird, and around 18:45 we're out and about. The sky and stars can be mighty big in Sonoma County and he pulls some riverine echo from 19:45 forward. Man oh man is this tape just wonderful, so airy and roomy. They really draw this thing through and through here. Lots of singing and hollering and tearing it up. Jerry strums 'em to a reasonably clean close. Errico's a freaking pro, right there.

! s2t05 (2) No stage announcement, no thank you, no nothin'. Harumph.

REFERENCES
! ref: Liberatore, Paul. 1977. Maria Muldaur: ‘Playin’ Real Good – For Free’. Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA), June 16, 1977, p. 29. Re 6/23/77
! ref: “Rock Billboard: Maria Muldaur slates benefit,” Independent Journal, June 17, 1977, p. 27.
! ref: “Overlook,” Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA), June 21, 1977, p. 17.