Elizabeth Cotten

Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (née Nevill) (January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was a profoundly original American folk musician, vectoring between the music of isolated early 20^th century North Carolina and the multimodal hypersounds of the present – check her out playing in crystal clear black and white on your youtube. A southpaw church and porch picker, Ms. Cotten played a righty-tuned guitar upside down and sang the folk and blues of a self-possessed and sassy little girl, who are known to come in all genders, ages, and sizes, Scout Finch a few decades earlier and from the unscripted side of town. 

Ms. Cotten's musical family and environs might have foreordained her, but that destiny nearly passed her by. She mostly stopped playing around 1910, when she became a single teenaged mother in Chapel Hill. Then, "In the mid-1940s, [she] chanced to meet composer Ruth Crawford Seeger at a department store. They began to talk, and Seeger soon hired Cotten to work in the Seeger household. It was here that Cotten became motivated to pick up the guitar again" (cite). Mike Seeger recorded her on reel-to-reel tape and projected her through barriers of race, class, gender through the folk revival and into national memory.

Her first record, Folksongs And Instrumentals With Guitar, appeared on Folkways (FG 3526) in 1958 (youtube), and it introduced the world, including eager young white (wannabe or legit) folkies with turntables and a bit of disposable income, to a totally localized and yet probably universally appealing "country ragtime" style and a set of songs like a bracing draw from a cold spring. Cotten's repertoire tapped timeless British Isles-meet-Africana –i.e., American—stock such as "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad", a bunch of honeybabe songs and, of course, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" (discogs), but her biographic originals are what will slay you.

She was on in years by the time she was "discovered", but this suited her frailing country voice just fine, a spirited gem coming through loud and clear on Folkways vinyl, which rescued many a prospective legend from the obscurity that befell those who never got wire-recorded and waxed in. But it's not just that, it's also the great store of the written word, promising extended-if-not-eternal life for those it picked up and, in the absence of vinyl, utter obscurity for those it missed. "Cut off by the cataclysms of the Great Depression and the Second World War and by a national narrative that had never included their kind," Greil Marcus wrote of many of the musicians appearing on the Harry Smith's Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music (1952), "they appeared now like visitors from another world, like passengers on a ship that had drifted into the sea of the unwritten" (Marcus 1997).

Cotten was double-lucky, because not only was she recorded, but she also found pulp-and-glue permanence when Mike Seeger and John Cohen included two of her originals in their New Lost City Ramblers Songbook (1964).

Garcia fell in love with both "Freight Train" and "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie". Both are utterly haunting, based in Ms. Cotton's childhood and expressing a yearning place-boundedness that has been the fate of most everyone who has ever lived, statistically speaking, yet a world that nevertheless can remain alien and estranged. Ms. Cotten explained OBIANL:

That's the song I wrote about a lady who lived next door to us. My mother had to go to work and this lady would teach children. She told my mother something: made my mother punish me. They hurt me all the day. 'Cause I know what she told my mum was not true. That song's 'bout me getting punished. My feelings got hurt, 'cause I did not do what Miss Mary said I did. And I used cry in a bed, and a little verse came to me, a pretty tune came to me, and I made a little song, a little tune I love.

One old woman, Lord, in this town
Keep a-telling her lies on me
Wish to my soul that old woman would die
Keep a-telling her lies on me

Oh babe, it ain't no lie
Oh babe, it ain't no lie
Oh babe, it ain't no lie
You know this life I'm living is [mighty] high

If OBIANL is a wise child's lament at a world dark with injustice, "Freight Train" provides the dream of escape. Ms. Cotten:

We used to watch the freight train. We knew the fireman and the brakeman, and the conductor, my mother used to launder for him. They'd let us ride in the engine, put us in one of the coaches while they were backing up and changing ... That was how I got my first train ride. We used to walk the trestle and put our ear to the track and listen for the train to come. My brother, he'd wait for this train to get real close and then he'd hang down from one of the ties and swing back up after the train had passed over him.

No wonder this one, too, brings ample morbidity – that kind of shit can go really wrong in a hurry.

When I'm dead and in my grave
No more good times here I crave
Place the stones at my head and feet
And tell them all I've gone to sleep

When I die, oh bury me deep
Down at the end of old Chestnut Street
So I can hear old Number Nine
As she comes rolling by

Garcia tried on both tunes for an abortive Arista album project during November 1976 sessions at Elliot Mazer's His Master's Wheels (HMW) Studios (OBIANL features on All Good Things, disc 3, track 11). (For more on the '76 studio work, see.) They would have fit perfectly. OBIANL found the more fulsome later live expression, appearing in every Garcia acoustic configuration of the 1980s, from the Dead's September-October 1980 treatment (immortalized on Reckoning, Arista A2L-8604, April 1981), to Amsterdam with Bobby Weir (10/11/81), Garcia's only solo engagement after 1965 (4/10/82), to the many Garcia-Kahn and Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band (JGAB) gigs later in the decade. "Freight Train" had preceded OBIANL at the solo acoustic show, but Garcia couldn't remember the words and shelved it, as a known and public proposition, for over a decade. He took it back up with Grisman, and it appeared on their Not For Kids Only (Acoustic Disc ACD 9, 1993) chock full of New Lost City Ramblers Song Book chestnuts. By that time, and when it appeared as an acoustic one-off during an electric JGB equipment failure at the Knickberbocker Arena in Albany (11/3/93), but especially on its two 1994 public voyages, the song's lullaby came across a sad Siren's song, a stone being laid at Garcia's own pleading head and feet, buried deep under ol' Chestnut Street.

In response to a fan's concern that the Dead had ripped Elizabeth Cotten off with its "Sugaree" (evoking, as it did, her "Shake Sugaree"), manager Richard Loren said in May 1981 that she was a "great hero" to Garcia (1). When she died, Garcia took to dedicating OBIANL to her memory, the only artist he ever consistently recognized in this way, as far as I know. At many of these shows, these were the only words he spoke to the audience, a testament to the high esteem in which he held her.

! ref: (1) Grateful Dead Archive, MS332, Business Papers, Second Accrual (preliminary), Box 1008.

Jim Nelson on the Drums and Several Great Rarities: JGMS at Keystone, October 4, 1974

LN jg1974-10-04.jgms.all.aud-falanga.8649.shn2flac

This is great to hear.

Three points of historical interest.

1) Louis Falanga's onstage audience tapes are great documents.

2) Lots of interesting material including, here, some great jazz ("Valdez In The Country", "People Make The World Go Round", "Freedom Jazz Dance"), and a great rare (in the Garciaverse) Motown, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

3) personnel: Bill Kreutzmann had been drumming with JGMS since about November 1973, by my reckoning, and then, after 9/2/74, JGMS goes in another direction. Here we have Jim Nelson on a tryout, it would seem. Paul Humphrey would be present in Santa Cruz on the 11th and Santa Barbara on the 13th, and is presumed to continue through October. I think it's pretty well established that he was drumming for the Fall 1974 East Coast tour, though truth be told I have never seen a shred of hard contemporary evidence for that. It's "understood". I don't doubt it, but wouldn't it be funny if Jim Nelson were really the drummer in some of these slots?

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
October 4, 1974 (Friday)
Falanga-Menke shnid-8649 retrack shn2flac

--set I (6 tracks, 58:27)--
s1t01. //That's What Love Will Make You Do [13:43] % [1:43]
s1t02. Valdez In The Country [12:56] ->
s1t03. Space [1:54] ->
s1t04. People Make The World Go// Round [4:#10] [0:33] % [0:32]
s1t05. (I'm A) Road Runner [10:59] (1) [0:40]
s1t06. /It Ain't No Use [11:01#] (2) [0:16]

--set II (6 tracks, 54:07)--
s2t01. tuning [0:57]
s2t02. Tough Mama [7:34] [1:00]
s2t03. Freedom Jazz Dance [14:42] [1:22]
s2t04. Sitting In Limbo [11:41] [0:09] % [0:30]
s2t05. Ain't No Mountain High Enough [6:26] ->
s2t06. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:37] [0:08]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Jim Nelson - 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/19741004-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1974-10-04-keystone-berkeley-ca/

! db: shnid-8649 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html.

! ad: SFSECDB19740922p31

! listing: SFSECDB19740929p05

! ad: SFSECDB19740929p31

! listing: San Francisco Examiner, October 3, 1974, p. 35

! listing: Hayward Daily Review, October 4, 1974, p. 28

! seealso:  JGMF, "Finders Keepers: JGMS with Jim Nelson on Drums, Keystone, October 5, 1974."

! historical: Three points of historical interest. 1) Louis Falanga's onstage audience tapes are great documents. 2) Lots of interesting material including, here, some great jazz ("Valdez In The Country", "People Make The World Go Round", "Freedom Jazz Dance", and great rare (in the Garciaverse) Motown, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". 3) personnel: Bill Kreutzmann had been drumming with JGMS since about November 1973, by my reckoning, and then, after 9/2/74, JGMS goes in another direction. Here we have Jim Nelson on a tryout, it would seem. Paul Humphrey would be present in Santa Cruz on the 11th, BCT on the 12th, and Santa Barbara on the 13th, and is presumed to continue through October. I think it's pretty well established that he was drumming for the Fall 1974 East Coast tour, though truth be told I have never seen a shred of hard contemporary evidence for that. It's "understood".

! personnel: Betty's reel notes that this is Jim Nelson on drums! I note lots of hi-hat, lots of quick stuff, and find that in general this guy is great, even as the group tries to learn how to play together. It's not entirely successful, but it is super-interesting.

! R: field recordist: Louis Falanga (?and Bob Menke?)

! R: field recording gear: 1x Sony ECM-70 + 1 x Sony ECM-250 Sony TC-152

! R: field recording location: onstage from stage left/house right. The sought-for setup would have been seated at Garcia's feet, one mic pointed into his stage monitor and one mic aimed at the rest of the band.

! R: lineage: unknown cassette master transfer by Bob Menke, ca. late 1990s, unknown process to CDx (Jim Powell) > CDx (Jack Warner) > CDx; re-tracked, shortened, and seeded by jupillej@mediaone.net.

! R: Utterly breathtaking. The vocals are nearly inaudible. We are getting them direct from Jerry's mouth from about 8-10 feet away or whatever, with no amplification. But Garcia's guitar is crystal-clear: this is the best example so far of the technique that Falanga and/or Menke used for these tapes, which was to directly mic Jerry's stage monitor and point another mic toward the center of the stage soundfield. His guitar has incredible tone and volume. The bass is also pretty loud and direct-sounding. Is it possible that what we are hearing is a kind of monitor mix for Jerry? Sorry, summing up: guitar and bass crystal clear and loud, drums real nicely present, keys and horns real low in the mix.

! R: s1t01 TWLWMYD cuts in; drums come up a little @ 9:20

! setlist: s1t02 "Valdez In The Country" originally given as "Boss Martin", per old Jerry Site nomenclature, changed 9/13/2009.

! P: s1t02 VITC Martin takes the first solo, and he is blowing beautifully. This song really suits him. Do we know whether it was him who brought it in to the band? The little thing Jerry and the drummer get together in the 11-min mark is really interesting. The drummer is doing some syncopated percussive stuff with one hand and a nice tight snare in the other. And Jerry really seems to respond. He's noodling low, but check right at the start of the 11-minute mark for some really, really gorgeous musical ideas from the Great Barcia.

! setlist: s1t03 Space is well-placed here. This is completely unmoored from the song, Valdez In The Country, out of which it oozed.

! s1t04 PMTWGR This version is absolutely classic, just how you want it to be: Kahn announces and starts it. Garcia swoops in @ 0:48 with the roundabout strumming he does in this tune ... but Merl wants to keep it spaced out for awhile, and I gotta say the drummer is right there with him. And who is Garcia to say no to some noodly weirdness? Thet let it bounce around for a minute or so, Garcia coming back to his strum @ 1:48, then Merl joins in with the melody. It's really, really nice because it's still really echoey and vibey, Merl using lots of reverb patience. Then the splice, though, and we are winding up. And we don't know what we are missing. Could have been legendary!

! R: s1t04 PMTWGR splice @ 2:29

! s1t05 Road Runner again shows the distinctive style of the drummer, Jim Nelson. Not so much high-hat here, but lots of quick, tight rolls. Guy can hit, all right, and these Holland/Dozier/Holland rollers are presumably pretty well encoded in all the players' respective hardwiring.

! s1t05 (1) @ 11:29 Nelson (presumed): "You guys are treating me rough, man." I think that's Jim Nelson speaking, and he's probably referring to them throwing him out there with a bunch of songs and just telling him to keep up! That's how it sounds to me, anyway.

! setlist: s1t06 "It Ain't No Use" previously known as "It's No Use", changed 9/3/2011.

! R: s1t06 IANU cuts in

! s1t06 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. We're gonna take a great for a little while. We'll be back pretty soon."

! R: s1t08 there may be a brief splice during the tuning @ 4:28. Then the clear splice @ 4:43

! P: s2t02 There is some really grungy stuff happening off the keyboards, or is it saxophone? at the start of Tough Mama. Can't tell if someone's trying to get some of that, or if it's a bad cable somewhere. Goes away by 1:20. Jerry's vocals are also more audible on the tape here than they had been at the start of set I. Tough Mama gets a little loose for awhile toward the end. They are working on it.

! P: s2t03 old note: "I think they keep trying to end FJD, but they keep forgetting to tell the drummer." new note: That said, this FJD is profoundly interesting to me. I think this is outstanding. Yes, they should have ended it at 12:04. Everything from that point is a little wonky. Though the drummer is super-interesting, they just are not together 12:04ff. Try to end again 12:50, he misses it. OK! They all decide to do some stuff, Jerry playing some realyl plucky 13, Merl does a real nice run 13:08ff, very nice job Merl! Goes high 13:25, Jerry glassy sraping chunking behind him, Merl swirling up some goodies 13:45. Martin adding percussion 14:01. Then they hit it 14:42, so it was just those two misses in the 12 minute range, and then they made some lemonade with them in any case. Very good.

! R: s2t05 Ain't No Mountain High Enough static blip @ 2:40

! P: s2t05 ANMHE amazing to hear this. Great energy. Martin misses once early on, things are a little loose in terms of arrangement, but this has a great groove! 4:30 it is driving beautifully and Garcia does some incredible guitar work, splashy long threads on top of some killer rhythm with an amazing piece of American music at his fingertips. Great. Listen to Nelson drum 5:38! They pull a little minor decay to signal end ... I could have stood for it to go a little longer ... they let it melt and decay, lots of reverb, echoey space, closes to the echo that becomes HSII. Nice!

Flight Of The Bumblebee

LN jg1976-01-09.jgb.all.sbd-tjs.8386.shn2flac

More Booker raw materials.

Jerry Garcia Band
Sophie's
260 S. California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
January 9, 1976 (Friday)
112 minute sbd Kahn Shriver shnid-8386 shn2flac

--set I (7 tracks, 54:05)--
s1t01. //All By Myself [#7:47] (1) [0:54]
s1t02. Goodnight Irene [10:35] ->
s1t03. Für Elise [0:51] ->
s1t04. Slowly But Surely [11:41] ->
s1t05. Please Send Me Someone To Love [10:31] (2) [1:01]
s1t06. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry// [4:31#]
s1t07. //Tore Up Over You [#5:24] (3) [0:40] % dead air [0:09]

--set II (7 tracks, 67:22)--
s2t01. //Neighbor Neighbor [#2:05] [1:20]
s2t02. United Our Thing Will Stand [11:40] ->
s2t03. Classified [8:35] ->
s2t04. Baby Won't You Please Come Home [10:16] [0:39]
s2t05. Tico // Tico [6:22#] [0:14] % [0:07]
s2t06. Let It Rock [12:18] [1:59]
s2t07. (I’m A) Road Runner [11:29] (4) [0:16]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #2
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: James Booker - piano, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - 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/19760109-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/8386 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/A20r6

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/keystone-sophies-260-s-california-ave.html

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

! ref: Arnold, Corry. 2012. January 9-10, 1976: Sophie's, Palo Alto, CA: The Jerry Garcia Band with James Booker. Lost Live Dead, May 24, 2012, URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/05/january-9-10-1976-sophies-palo-alto-ca.html, consulted 12/31/2013. 

! seealso: JGMF, "'Gimme Some Chords, Jerry Garcia, Gimme Some Chords!'" (1/7/76 rehearsal)

! seealso: JGMF, "Junco Partners" (1/10/76)

! seealso: JGMF, "Jerry's January 1976" (discussing 1/76 as *the* GOTS pivot)

! R: MSR > ? > 1C > 1D > 1CD > EAC > SHN. This version, via Ryan Shriver, is more complete than the previously circulating version. Extraction using EAC, tracking using CD Wave, .shn encoding using mkwACT, and proper sector boundary verification using shntool.

! R: shn2flac JGMF 1/10/2015

! R: seeder note: "A very light, intermittent clicking reoccurs throughout the recording, though it is primarily audible during tuning breaks." The mix is all over the place.

! R: s1t01 All By Myself fades in, not much missing; light pops @ 0:02, 0:05, 0:07; mix/level fluctuations first 0:20.

! P: s1t01 ABM @ 5 James starts singing, but his mic is out. 5:35 Garcia was going to solo, but Booker does the equivalent of another verse. More singing, but no mic, over 6. I wish I could hear these vocals. Garcia just playing the basics, while Booker is grooving, switching keys, etc. 6:35 Jerry provides some good guitar, James vocalizes with him for half a measure, and then it's Garcia leading. The mix is super wonky, only guitar, drums and Garcia vocals, very little piano, no bass or Booker vocals. So Jerry pulls the rip cord at 7:31.

! s1t01 (1) JG: "This is James Booker playing the piano. [inaudible]" Some joker calls out "White Rabbit" at 8:22.

! R: s1t02 Goodnight Irene painful static and mix fluctuations, ca. 1:30, but this is the mix starting to settle in with Mr. James Booker, the mix settling in.

! P: s1t02 "This song was written by a dude called Leadbelly - whoop-whoop!" Continued monologuing by James, steps up to the song 1:18. By 2:45 Booker is swangin' and sangin', he sounds great.

! P: s1t04 SBS what a great song. James is playing something that sounds more like a Wurlitzer at 4. 4:53-5:07 "Flight Of The Bumblebee" (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8alxBofd_eQ). 9 Garcia is playing some great, soaring guitar. The recording buries it (bass is badly overloading now). John is playing some interesting stuff right around 11, he tries to tie on a knot in it, Tutt hears him, but it takes awhile, and 25 seconds later Booker calls a close to it.

! s1t05 (2) JB: "Thank you very much. This is my first appearance here, and I must say I feel flattered in being so well rec-- --accepted. I love you all from A to Z - I love you that much, and further beyond. As a matter of fact, I'd like to do a song I wrote, that contains those lyrics, named 'So Swell When You're Well' This song was recorded by Aretha Franklin and Fats Domino." Stage talk. Booker: "Oh, we'll come back to that [laughs sheepishly]." Sounds to me like they've got a setlist written out, maybe? They roll into Train To Cry.

! R: s1t06 Train to Cry cuts out

! R: s1t07 Tore Up cuts in; static

! s1t07 (3) JG: "Thank you. It's great to have everybody dancing - it's nice - real nice. I think we're gonna take a break and try to figure out what else to play. We'll be back in a little while. Thank you."

! R: s2t01 Neighbor Neighbor fades in

! P: s2t01 NN enters on James Booker playing this one real, real blue - doesn't sound like they are totally together on the arrangement, but Booker has this way down deep in the "House Of The Rising Sun" groove, as it should be. Man prolly knew him some nosy neighbors. Jerry trying to end it, James just playing real loud for a bit, he notices and then shut it down. Can't wait to hear more Booker coming up!

! R: s2t02 UOTWS vocals low in the mix.

! P: s2t02 UOTWS no real comments.

! P: s2t03 My God, at late 7 things melts into dissonance, led by James Booker and Jerry Garcia, melts into Booker doing lounge blues.

! s2t04 BWYPCH: "I'd like to dedicate this whole set to one of my stronger influences, Mr. Ray Charles." After the song, can hear Jerry call "Hey Booker!" and say something.

! setlist: s2t05 was labeled "Fandango", but "Tico Tico" is how it is labeled in the rehearsals, and it certainly sounds a good deal like TT (though I am not 100% about this).

! R: s2t05 Tico Tico cut/splice @ 0:35, unknown missing. I note a tape discontinuity later in the track, after the song, but I don't think there's anything really missing there, very nearly a real-time little splice.

! P: s2t06 LIR no comment.

! s2t07 (4) JG: "Thank you. See y'all later on."

Finders Keepers: JGMS with Jim Nelson on Drums, Keystone, October 5, 1974

LN jg1974-10-05.jgms.all.aud-falanga.8665.shn2flac

I have no idea who Jim Nelson, the drummer, might be. There are some tempo issues all night long.

I really like this period for JGMS. "La-La" and "Freedom Jazz Dance" are standouts to me. "Finders Keepers" is also pretty good.

When these tapes came into the light, back before 9/11, they were such a revelation. We had never heard much Jerry stuff between the Rheem show (2/9/74) and the show in the Park on 9/2/74 (confusing, yes!).

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
October 5, 1974 (Saturday)
Falanga-Menke shnid-8665 shn2flac

--set I (6 tracks, 71:51)--
s1t01. The Harder They Come [15:53] (1) [1:23]
s1t02. Finders Keepers [10:51] [1:42]
s1t03. He Ain't Give You None [11:29] [0:10] % (2) [2:48]
s1t04. La-La [14:42] ->
s1t05. space [1:57] ->
s1t06. Mystery Train [10:45] (3) [0:09]

--set II (6 tracks, 60:02)--
s2t01. tuning [0:42]
s2t02. Freedom Jazz Dance [12:47] [1:19]
s2t03. Neighbor Neighbor [8:28] [1:19]
s2t04. Sitting In Limbo [11:30] [0:06] % [0:43]
s2t05. Someday Baby [8:28] [0:46]
s2t06. I Second That Emotion [13:25] (4) [0:06]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - flute, sax, percussion;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jim Nelson - 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/19741005-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/8665 (this fileset)

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html; http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html

! personnel: Jim Nelson on drums. Real snazzy. There are certainly some tempo issues, e.g., in Mystery Train, suggestive of a drummer who's trying to find his way with The Group.

! seealso: JGMF, "Jim Nelson on the Drums and Several Great Rarities: JGMS at Keystone, October 4, 1974."

! R: field recordist: Louis Falanga and Bob Menke

! R: field recording gear: Sony ECM-270 + Sony ECM-250 > Sony TC-152

! R: field recording location: onstage mics, one directly in front of Jerry's amp, the other pointed stage center to catch the rest of the band;

! R: lineage: Menke transfer, cassette > DAT? > CD to Jim Powell; Jim Powell CD to jack Warner; EAC > shn, by jjoops; shn2flac, rename to sets, etc. 3/16/2014 by JGMF.

! R: mic placement said to be onstage, with the Falanga setup (one mic into Jerry's amp, the other pointed center stage), but his guitar is not very prominent here, which deviates from one of the key characteristics of the onstage Falanga tapes. Also, after FK it sounded like a bigger hall than Keystone. Is this GAMH?

! s1t01 (1) a couple of knowledgeable audience members request "Expressway", which is a great call. "Keepers" will have to do.

! P: s1t02 FK I really like how the drummer is hitting and how they are letting the song open up right from the get-go, like after the first time through the main melody, some nice breathing in the break, then Jerry comes back sounding really nice. It doesn't sound to me like the mic is in his monitor, or else he's turned way down. They are really putting the drummer to it, making him hold the whole break. Now Merl takes a turn, drummer is killing. John sounds pretty good. Jerry staying way back. Merl is on electric piano with synth. They open up another space @ 5:30, Martin steps up. He's a pro - he had signaled himself stepping forward with the ten note declension that's the key progression of the song. Now he steps up. The band listens to each other, and they are playing well this night. Martin has found a nice little riff first half of 10 min mark, which he uses well to finish off the song. Wow, right on the '1' to finish! Nice.

! P: s1t03 HAGYN starts off powerfully, but it feels a little draggy in the 6-minute mark. There's not enough power coming from stage. Merl's organ solo isn't very loud, Kahn isn't particularly audible. It all sounds a little hollow. Could be mix and mic'ing as much as what they are playing, for sure. 7:10ish JG steps up and he's playing some very nice melodic stuff. Drummer needs to be more in the bass drum or something. This is not totally happening. Drummer needs to fill it more, IMO.

! s1t03 (2) JG: "Hey Martin. Let's do that [he's strumming the La-La chords]". Chick talking sounds really hot and really sweet. She can be heard talking about Great American String Band, I think. She recognizes La-La coming up, and she hums the melody, and she yells with pleasure when the song starts. She called it, she loves it, and it's good.

! s1t05 I label "space", GD style. It's open collective improvisation, but it's rather dissonant, very much in a "free" feel. Martin has got his effects up to '11', and they bring it down to total silence. Nice!

! P: s1t06 MT drummer is a little off. Jerry has to do a little improvising, Jerry starts vox, trying to get the drummer in line, and he gets there about 1:08. Still a little off. They never really get it together, even to end. Oh well.

! s1t06 (3) JG "Thank you. We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back a little bit later."

! s2t06 (4) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll see y'all later."

JGB at Queens College, October 30, 1975

LN jg1975-10-30.jgb.all.aud-cooper.124251.flac2496

Have barely had time to write a word about the Hopkins-era JGB these last 4+ years of blogging and hiatuses. That remains true, so the writeup will be short. Bottom line is that I think Nicky sounds really good (i.e., reasonably sober). I sort of figure that the day off the day before had done everyone some good. The tempos are upbeat. Pretty good tape of a pretty good show.

Jerry Garcia Band

Colden Auditorium, Queens College

Kissena Blvd.

Flushing, NY 11367

October 30, 1975 (Thursday)

Cooper MAC 2496 shnid-124251

--set I (8 tracks, 85:02)--

s1t01. / Let It Rock [10:38] %

s1t02. Sugaree [8:09] [0:02] % 8-12-9:29

s1t03. That's Alright Mama [11:35] [0:03] % [0:45] % [0:25]

s1t04. Catfish John [10:39] %

s1t05. /Pig's Boogie [#6:54] % [0:23]

s1t06. I'll Take A Melody [12:21] % [0:55]

s1t07. Money Honey [8:48] [0:02] %

s1t08. [0:23] (I'm A) Roadrunner [10:51] %

--set II (10 tracks, 98:15)--

s2t01. //It Ain't No Use [9:54] [0:02] % [0:27]

s2t02. Russian Lullaby [8:36] % [0:10]

s2t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [10:47] [0:02] % (1) [0:59]

s2t04. Friend Of The Devil [5:38] % [0:15]

s2t05. Lady Sleeps [5:09] [0:03] %

s2t06. [0:56] Mission In The Rain [5:49] [0:04] % [0:01]

s2t07. Mystery Train [13:01] [0:02] %

s2t08. [1:08] The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:11] [0:05] % [0:03]

s2t09. Let's Spend The Night Together [18:26+0:17] ->

s2t10. [-0:17] Edward The Mad Shirt Grinder [7:02] (2) [0:03]

! Band: Jerry Garcia Band

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;

! lineup: Nicky Hopkins - piano;

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Ron Tutt - 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/19751030-01

! band: Jerry Garcia Band #1 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html).

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/124251 (this fileset), http://etreedb.org/shn/124248 (1644 fileset, same source), http://etreedb.org/shn/92780 (Gerry Moskal aud).

! map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Colden+Auditorium,+Queens+College,+65-30+Kissena+Blvd.,+Flushing,+NY+&hl=en&sll=38.997934,-105.550567&sspn=7.374835,16.907959&t=h&hq=Colden+Auditorium,&hnear=Queens+College,+65-30+Kissena+Blvd,+Flushing,+New+York+11367&z=16&iwloc=A. As of this date (11/9/2013), Google Maps locates Colden Auditorium on Reeves Avenue. The [hard contemporary evidence] says "Kissena Blvd." (no number). JGBP gives street number 65-30, but I don't quite know, so I am sticking with the hardest contemporary evidence, for as far as it will go.

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/colden-auditorium-queens-college-65-30.html

! R: field recordist: Jim Cooper

! R: field gear: Sony ECM-22P > Hitachi TRQ-232, Maxel UD-C90, no NR

! R: transfer: Nakamichi Dragon > benchmark ADC1 24/96 > pc > adobe audition 2.0 > cd wave > flac. Transfer & seeded by Rob Berger 3/13.

! R: seeder notes: “brilliant!”

! R: running slow? Reporting now during TWLWMYD, and it sounds just fine.

! historical: $9,000 guarantee plus $1,500 lights and sound. Staying 5 nights at the St. Moritz on Central Park South, so this was just a drive to Flushing from Manhattan. Candace doing the lights.

! seealso: JGMF, "Bloody Hell," http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/01/bloody-hell.html.

! P: s1t01 LIR Nicky some really nice runs at the start of the song

! P: s1t02 Sugaree JG pretty nice solo over the 6-mark.

! P: s1t03 TAM sounds like After Midnight to start. Nicky sounds great.

! R: s1t05 PB clips in

! P: s1t07 MH @ 5:30- JG guitar solo, starts off low and a little fuzzy, then 5:45 he sharpens up with a jagged run that's very, very, nice. A little faster run 6:10-6:23, they pick up the energy a little bit, swinging more now. Jerry playing very well. Fanning @ 6:45, Nicky errs late in the 6-min mark, not letting the solo play, then he's gone for awhile, until Jerry settles back into the swooping hook that is really the trademark of "Money Honey". Still not hearing Nicky much until late in the 7-min mark. Maybe he was cleaning his mirror?

! P: s1t08 IARR Jerry never quite settled on how he wanted to present Roadrunner in terms of key, tempo, etc. In every iteration, it reflects the idiosyncrasies of its human and pharmacological context. A temporal cipher. In early '74, it was young Jerry running a little too hot (e.g., 2/9/74), with tons of color from Merl's organ. With JGMS and LOM it really benefited from Martin's saxophone as well in terms of the overall palette. The Garcia-Hopkins JGB was a lot more stripped down, of course. Especially on a tape (night?) like this, where Nicky is really hard to hear, things are just too percussive, or something. Nicky solos in the 5-min mark, the rest of the guys chugging behind him. Sounds like Jerry practically had to write him an engraved invitation to take a run. With that said, the Garcia-Hopkins tempos are generally pretty good, still some juice like earlier, but not the swampy dirges of 1976-1978. So, this is a pretty good tempo for IARR, even though I don't find this version to be very good. It just never really cooks.

! R: s2t01 IANU cuts in, not much missing

! P: s2t02 Russian Lullaby: Love this tempo! Very upbeat. Such great Hot Club swing, Nicky providing some really nice saloon groove. Coffee or whisky? Why not both? Jerry's attack in the 2:30 mark is really inventive, like he's skipping two notes down instead of a more continuous scale. In the late-5 over 6 minute mark Jerry has almost a Midi sound, very interesting. It's rather trumpet-like, his playing here. Nicky another solo late-6 over 7 minute mark. NB that RL did not have the bass solo at this point.

! s2t03 (1) After John runs through the chord progressions for FOTD, knowledgeable fans call it out. Good call!

! P: s2t04 Crowd clapping enthusiastically to the familiar (because played by the GD) "Friend Of The Devil". This tempo is great, very upbeat. Nicky's playing shows lucidity that was too rare during his time with JGB. Jerry takes a fine solo over the 4-minute mark, compact but reasonably dextrous. He's getting warmed up, I hope.

! song: "Friend Of The Devil" (s2t04) [Jerrybase]: One of the rare tunes Jerry played inside and outside of the GD with any regularity, this one, like other switch-hitters such as "Sugaree" and "Deal", a Garcia-Hunter joint that Jerry just seemed to love.

! setlist: s2t05 was listed in this info file as "Waltzing Matilda", but it is "Lady Sleeps".

! song: "Lady Sleeps" (s2t05) [Jerrybase]: Nicky wrote and performed this pretty piano instrumental as a solo, spotlight piece during his time with the JGB. In most live JGB renditions he segued it into the unfortunate "No Time", a forgettable nasal lament which also appeared on Nicky's 1975 release No More Changes (Mercury SRM 11028). Here it stands on its own, and nicely, a velvety soft, gentle feel sharpened by Nicky's clean strokes.

! P: s2t06 MITR: These early versions of MITR are so great. There was only really a brief window when he could truly handle the vocals, including the opening lines. Here he flubs some lyrics in the mid-3 range.

! P: s2t09 LSTNT some nice fanning over the 10-minute mark. Late in the 14-minute mark there appears to be some discord, not sure who contradicts whom, but Jerry and Nicky don't seem on the same page as one of them returns hard to the LSTNT theme, the other stiff-arms. Now to mid-15 minute mark they are dueling vigorously, late 15-minute mark Tutt picks up the tempo, and they get into a very tasty romp, a little bit to the tempo of "Caution" for the GD fans, Jerry running around now, building to some nice fanning @ 17:15, back to LSTNT theme 17:30, Tutt banging like an animal late in the 17-minute mark, some great drumming, Jerry rises in response late 17-minute mark, now everyone digging in real deep, Jerry more theme then winds down into Edward.

! R: s2t09 LSTNT a brief splice @ 16:46?

! P: s2t10 Edward is a tremendously exciting piece of music, getting Jerry to sound like John Cipollina and David Gilmour in one song is no mean feat. Tip o’ the cap to ya, Session Man.

! s2t10 (2) JG: "Thank you. See y'all later on."

! Staying at St. Moritz, 30 Central Park South, New York, NY, 10019 (http://goo.gl/maps/gQOgv), five nights. Jerry's the only one of the traveling party with a double room, so I presume he's with Deborah Koons or another woman not named Mountain Girl. Players Nicky Hopkins, John Kahn and Ron Tutt, manager Richard Loren, and drivers/'quippies Steve Brown, Kidd Candelario, Steve Parish, and B. Zachary all get single rooms. The band members had hit the road on Tuesday the 21st, the drivers probably a few days earlier, so everyone's a week or more on the road. Nine shows in seven consecutive nights, Wednesday (10/29) off in NYC, then, starting this night, six shows on four consecutive evenings, flying home the next day (Monday, November 3rd). "You've 'ad yer fun ... now pay fer it!" Back to the old salt mines. Hop in the limo, dozen mile ride to Queens, and play this long-ass gig.

'Secret' at Paul's Mall: see p. 27

 LN jg1974-11-13.jgms.late.aud-seaweed.121034.flac1644

LIA just posted some really nice sources ("November 12, 1974: Garcia Plays Boston" and "November 1974: Garcia & Dead Projects") relating to the November 1974 east coast tour by the Jerry Garcia-Merl Saunders (JGMS) aggregation of Garcia, Saunders, John Kahn, Martin Fierro, and Paul Humphrey. In discussing 11/6/74 I noted that this was "Garcia’s first professional tour as a named headliner outside the Grateful Dead". From the perspective of what I do here, this is a critical step in the musical and professional (i.e., financial) balance that Garcia would eventually establish in his life, organized around the twin pillars of GD and GOTS (Garcia On The Side, a horrible acronym for a fine phrase).

Anyway, as the authors emphasize at the links above, and as I discussed a little bit around the April 1975 Legion of Mary east coast tour, these shows mostly sold out through word of mouth. Many of them were totally unadvertised. Garcia's Paul's Mall engagement "was to have been a well-kept secret ... There was no advertising, no promotion, no names on the marquee" (Howard 1974). Howard notes that word "leaked out" about a week before the shows, and LIA speculates that this was probably intentional. Not sure whose intentions were involved, but, indeed, the "leak" was hardly spread, sotto voce, among a small band of co-conspirators. No, the shows were advertised --albeit minimally!-- in the counterculture weekly Boston Phoenix:

The show under examination here, the late show from Wednesday, November 13th, is good. I have a weakness for the Thursday (11/14) late show, but there's nothing wrong with this one. The real setlist rarity is "Just Kissed My Baby", the Meters song done instrumentally by JGMS on four documented occasions, all of them during the month of November 1974 [Allan | deaddisc | TJS].  I always love "Favela" [Allan | deaddisc | TJS], credited by deaddisc to Vincius DeMoraes / Antonio Carlos Jobim / Ray Gilbert, which the band played a lot between August and December 1974. "Wondering Why" [Allan | deaddisc | TJS] is another fave, perhaps the best fit for Merl's voice of all the lead vocals he did with Jerry. It perhaps best evokes the vibe of this night and this era, described for this night by attendee George Krick:

We sat right next to the band, Fierro's head was as big as a basketball, veins exploding as he spit on us and blew his sax. His flute was adorned with multiple feathers. Jerry was sweating profusely and Merle was mumbling and groaning. Very intense.

Anyway, and as always, it's great to see new-to-circulation old material still emerging into daylight, and a pleasure to listen to this well-recorded tape from November 1974.

REFERENCE:

Howard, William. 1974. Garcia Plays Mall – Fans Crack ‘Secret’. Boston Globe, November 14, 1974, p. 41. Reposted to http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/12/november-12-1974-garcia-plays-boston.html.

LISTENING NOTES:

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Paul's Mall
733 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
November 13, 1974 (Wednesday) - Late Show
86+ min aud via seaweed, shnid 121034

--late show (8 tracks, 86:31)--
t01. Harder They Come [15:06] [0:10]
t02. [0:34] Favela// [14:49#]
t03. Just Kissed My Baby [9:19] %
t04. Someday Baby [10:47] %
t05. Wondering Why [17:34] ->
t06. People Make The World Go Round [3:25] [0:13] %
t07. /Neighbor, Neighbor [8:25] %
t08. /The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down// [6:09#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Paul Humphrey - drums.

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/19741113-02

! db: shnid-121034 (this source)

! map: http://goo.gl/maps/TsQNS

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/08/pauls-mall-733-boylston-street-boston-ma.html

! R: Source: Unknown AUD cassette, kindly supplied by Seaweed1010.

! R: Transfer: XLIIS-100 > Nakamichi DR-2 > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged, Andrew F. July 2012.

! R: Seeder note: As noted on the Jerry Site, this is probably the entire late show of Nov 13th. The tape was labeled 4th-gen, but sounds very listenable nonetheless. Favela and Dixie both cut out on the final notes, not much missing in either case. Thanks again to Seaweed for this tape!

! metadata: seeder notes: About the Paul's Mall dates ... Currently we have as follows: Nov 12th Early & Late Shows: nothing; Nov 13th Early Show: Jerrysite and ID-10128 match; Nov 13th Late Show: This tape; Nov 14th Early Show: Jerrysite and ID-16461 match; Nov 14th Late Show: Same songs listed, but out of order on ID-6383.

! R: this is quite a nice audience tape.

! personnel: We know this is Paul Humphrey drumming, and I can confirm that it's the same "fast and busy" drumming that I heard on 11/2/74. I don't mean that as a bad thing. Lots of tight snare drumming, especially.

! P: t02 Favela could be played at different tempos. This is toward the slower end of the tempo range, it seems to me.

! P: t02 Favela is flawed --they lose the thread a little a time or two, especially Mr. Humphrey-- but it's also got some really good moments. At 13 minutes or so in, Martin returns them to the theme and Garcia runs around a few times as if to say that he wanted to go another time around the bases. Oh well. Then they don't quite know how to end things and they go another time around the theme, which is less fertile terrain. Feels like a missed opportunity there.

! P: t03 JG some nice pulling in the 5-minute mark.

! P: t07 NN they lose track of each other in the 7-minute mark.

! R: t08 TNTDODD cuts out, maybe a minute or so, whatever big buildup finish they would do, is missing.

! historical: Garcia's "appearance at the Back Bay bistro was to have been a well-kept secret. ... There was no advertising, no promotion, no names on the marquee. ... The three-night engagement, which ends [11/14/74], was sold out instantly when word leaked out" (Howard 1974). Note that word "leaked out" through an ad in the Boston Phoenix (11/5/74, sec. 2, p. 27).

! expost: George Krick: "These shows are etched in my mind forever. Paul's Mall is a small night club in Boston...dark, low ceiling...probably less than 100 people there. We sat right next to the band, Fierro's head was as big as a basketball, veins exploding as he spit on us and blew his sax. His flute was adorned with multiple feathers. Jerry was sweating profusely and Merle was mumbling and groaning. Very intense."

Grandma said, 'Boy, go and follow your heart': JGMS at Keystone Berkeley, November 27, 1974

LN jg1974-11-27.jgms.106mins.sbd-GEMS.91343.flac1644

Just a few quick notes.

1) Paul Humphrey drumming. The drummer is fast and great. He is noted in Rex's handwriting on the box for reel #3.

2) Some of this material is just amazing. "Valdez In The Country" and "Freedom Jazz Dance" should make us very Grateful that Merl was there to challenge Garcia with some serious jazz instrumentals. "Going, Going, Gone" is also just such a wonderful tune. If I had more time, I'd write up song notes on these three tunes.

• One subpoint. There are those who suggest that the demise of the Garcia-Saunders relationship (and of the band LOM) in 1975) primarily reflected musical issues. Hypothesis 1: Garcia just couldn't hang with the deep jazz and funk that Merl and, e.g., Aunt Monk (could play); Hypothesis 2: "musical differences", in the sense that Jerry wanted to move to more white standards (boogie-woogie stuff with Nicky, southern white gospel stuff [really black, of course] with Keith, Donna and Tutt). Either way, what the jazz instrumental here recall for me is the extent to which Garcia really was challenged to play out with some of the this JGMS (and, to a lesser extent, LOM) material.

• OK, a second subpoint: "Going, Going, Gone"

Grandma said, “Boy, go and follow your heart
And you’ll be fine at the end of the line
All that’s gold isn’t meant to shine
Don’t you and your one true love ever part”

3) The performance is top-shelf. I can see why these guys thought this was a band with a future (as they head toward the apparently greater intended permanence of Legion of Mary, a band with a name). Everybody is great here. Merl is great. Martin is great. Garcia is great. John Kahn is great. Humphrey is great. I don't know why things started getting so sluggish in 1975 --well, I have some ideas-- but this tape reveals a band full of pros who are drinking deeply from the well of American music.

4) I have corrected my understanding of the Betty tapes. There are three bunches. This is from "Bunch 1".

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
November 27, 1974 (Wednesday)
106 min "Bunch One" Betty Cantor-Jackson soundboard

--set I (4 tracks, 52:52, probably incomplete)
s1t01. //Valdez In The Country [#15:05] [0:24] %
s1t02. //You Can Leave Your Hat On [#13:35] [0:18] %
s1t03. //Going, Going, Gone// [#12:56#] %
s1t04. //Mystery Train [#10:18] (1) [0:16]

--Set II (4 tracks, 53:23)--
s2t01. [0:04] He Ain't Give You None [12:56] [0:09] % [0:33]
s2t02. Freedom Jazz Dance [14:05] % [1:10]
s2t03. Someday // Baby [9:#24] [1:09]
s2t04. I Second That Emotion [13:41] [0:12] (2)

! Band: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Paul Humphrey - 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/19741127-02

! db: shnid-89216 (less complete, deprecated); shnid-91343 (more complete, this fileset).

! ACT2: Paul Pena

! setlist: There may have been a song before Valdez In The Country (which would have been a strange opener).

! personnel: this is right on the cusp of the transition between Paul Humphrey and Ronnie Tutt. Paul is really active, light on the kick pedal but snappy on the snare.

! R: I will take the liberty of reconstructing the GEMS notes for my own purposes. So this is a compilation of two CD sources which had some common ancestors but diverged somewhere along the way. The primary source came to GEMS via Zack Tucker, with lineage MSR > P > D > CD. Source 1 provides all except first 1:30 of Valdez and last two songs, and was previously circulated as shnid 89216. Source 2 has precisely the same lineage, but came to GEMS via jjoops and the Tupperware of Treasures. Both sets of CDs were extracted and processed by Jamie Waddell on the **GEMS** Edit Station (primary software Wavelab 6.0) and circulated as a **GEMS** Production at Lossless Legs, ca. April 11, 2008.

! R: Genealogy: The common ancestry of the source CDs here is MSR > P > D > CD. These are "Bunch One" Betty Boards. For background, here's WBOTB co-conspirator Blake Gilpin's post to DNC on 7/28/98: "As far as I know, there were three bunches of "Betty Boards" that left The auction. Bunch One was the largest, purchased by a guy named Don, who knew the Sale was about to happen because his wife worked in the mortgage industry and saw the paperwork. Bunch One was the largest, purchased by a guy named Don, who knew the Sale was about to happen because his wife worked in the mortgage industry and saw the paperwork. This is the most commonly known and cataloged set of which the *reels only* were spun to PCM / Beta and most were circulated. The cassettes were not spun to digital. Some of the PCM-0 betas, specifically the Garcia Saunders material and others have not been circulated beyond Menke or possibly Dougal. ... The list of uncirculated material from Bunch One is below. (I fell into Don's and apparently Dougal's disfavor by letting a neighbor, who was an employee of the band, know what tapes we had. I had not been asked to keep these secret and I still maintain that it was the proper thing to do, if only as a courtesy. Probably just bad timing.)" These Bunch One Betties were later merged with Bunch Two (mostly comprised of Fall 1977 GD tapes, apparently), and I have traditionally (and perhaps mistakenly, or at least misleadingly) referred to these as "Second Batch" Betty tapes. I'll try to go back to original and standard usage, and to be more careful. (In my defense, Rob Eaton himself initially called these "the fourth box" until he concluded that these, which he restored in ca. 1995-1996, a.k.a. the water-damaged tapes, were one and the same.)

! setlist: seeder notes "The compilation of these two sources completes this show, minus a few missing moments in Bossa Martin [sic: Valdez In The Country], which started in late, and Someday Baby, which had a reel flip, and no patch source exists yet." I am not so sure. I think there's probably a song or two before VITC.

! R: s1t01 Valdez In The Country cuts in on a Martin solo. Things are cookin'! Unknown amount missing.

! P: s1t01 VITC is incredible. Martin is on fire, working with some great weird reverb. Merl's long electric-piano feature in the 6-7 minute mark is light and groovy and hot. @ 7:49 Garcia starts doing some syncopated off-key chordings, and then early in the 8-minute he alights with flowing fingers, so measured and controlled and so many things to say as we approach the 9-minute mark. Late in the 11-minute mark they start spacing out, really fantastic lunar-orbiter sounds from Merl, Jerry moaning around behind, the drums just gorgeous, and Martin maybe playing a little percussion, but very tastefully (cf. 11/2/74). Merl is having one of his finest performances here, as he and Jerry collaboratively pour some honey down the ol' rabbit hole. It's keeping a real nice beat, keeping the Brazilian rhythms, Martin, satisfied, picks up his horn early in the 14-minute mark, Jerry starts lettin' it roll down that same ol' rabbit hole (he's decided to follow it down, naturally), Martin takes the cue

! R: s1t01 VITC zipper @ 1:22

! R: s1t02 YCLYHO cuts in on "//take off your dress."

! P: s1t02 YCLYHO JG is doing some nice long pulling in the 6-7 minute mark, then quickens the pace with a solo that has some of the feel of what the GD would do in those long, pre-"Fire On The Mountain" versions of "Scarlet Begonias", ca. 1976. In late 8 and into 9-minute mark, Kahn starts really asserting himself with some beautiful, hefty descending blues bass lines. Descending from already down in the bottom, that is. Merl plays more electric piano over the 10-minute mark, while John is still really playing beefy, Jerry comping behind, Merl groaning as he floats over the keys, just a righty for awhile, drops some heavier and double-time left-hand around 11:00. The drop really, really cleanly into the melody again just at the 12-minute mark. Fixing up the tempo a little bit, readjusting the ass in the drummer's chair, and Merl returns to his lament about suspicious minds a' talkin' round the neighborhood.

! R: this is clearly a Betty Board. Listen to that drum tone! She has got it locked in.

! P: s1t03 GGG this is some of the straight-churchiest organ playing you will ever hear from Merl Saunders. The B-3's lament to God, and while silent prayers seem sometimes to fall on deaf ears, how could He not hear this call? Martin's flute is real gentle behind. "Grandma said 'Boy, go and follow your heart'," what a gorgeous line. Dylan. Man oh man.

! R: s1t03 Merl's organ comes into R-speaker around 0:22.

! P: s1t04 Mystery Train is not one that usually moves me, but this is just good, hot music. The drummer is locked right the fuck in, the rhythm is in a Brink's truck. Jerry's vocals are energetic. Kahn strands bass lines together like a pretzel maker right across the 9-minute mark, feels like he must have had both hands (and the bass, of course) up under his chin, wiggling his fingers across those thick strings. Nice.

! s1t04 (1) JG: "Thanks. We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back a little bit later."

! P: s2t01 HAGYN listen to how distinctive the drummer sounds as he comes in!  Jerry blowing some glass 4:30ish, goes 'round again over the 5-min mark.

! personnel: again, when I listen to the start of Freedom Jazz Dance, Humphrey sounds totally distinctive, and is hot as hell, by the way.

! R: s2t03 SB reel splice @ 6:25

! R: there's a high-pitched whine in the "source 2" material, beginning @ end s2t02 and continuing.

! R: s2t04 drops @ 0:14-0:26, 0:40-0:44, 1:22, 1:33, 1:44, 6:44, 8:35-8:36.

! s2t04 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. Looks like they're tryin' to close the bar. See you all later on."

JGB at Northwestern: Cahn Auditorium, March 12, 1976 (late show)

LN jg1976-03-12.jgb.late.aud-unk.xxxxx.flac1644

My love of audience tapes is evident to anyone who reads here. The anthropological instinct (and practice) underpinning field recording enthralls me. To me, everybody who ever taped a gig is right there with Alan Lomax and all the rest. Now, sometimes you have to be willing to sacrifice your aesthetics a little bit. Some of these tapes were bad from the start and haven’t gotten any better with age. But They Are What They Are. And if there’s any possibility at all of gleaning something relevant to Jerry Garcia’s Middle Finger, then I can only but sacrifice my ears in the line of duty.

I recently waded into a pretty good tape, Eric Coplen’s partial 3/12/76 early (7:30 pm) show and the first song of the late show, from an era that is extremely uneven in terms of the availability and quality of recordings. I did so for all kinds of reasons, but I guess my main motivation is to make sure that I don’t let selection bias around recordings generate biased analyses on other dimensions. We all have a tendency to gravitate toward the stuff that sounds good (or that we suspect will be musically interesting, well played, etc.). But insofar as the distribution of sound quality is not random with respect to other things that we care about (e.g., performance quality), then we are on inferentially problematic terrain. In plain English, sort of, we can’t safely generalize from the sample of tapes we have to the population of all tapes. This is also an era that I have historically found dull and uninspiring, and with which I have spent correspondingly little time. I am endeavoring to dig into this period a little bit more than I have up to this point. 3/12/76 early was part of that. I found it to be quite a nice performance.

Here I report on the late (11 pm) Jerry Garcia Band (JGB) show from the same date-location, March 12, 1976 at Cahn Auditorium, Northwestern University, 600 Emerson Street, Evanston, IL 60201.

First, the tape. It’s an unattributed audience tape, transferred sometime in the 2000s from cassettes, perhaps tapes supplied by Walter Keenan and transferred by David Minches. It’s not that bad, but it’s not that great. What I really like is how this tape captures some of the enthusiasm and intelligence of college kids. They are very, very excited at the start, and as the song winds down at least one young man appears to lose control [NSFW] of himself. The taper legitimately calls “Train, Train” as “Mystery Train” begins, and the whoop of recognition is audible, the whoosh palpable. Great energy in this crowd, the occasional flicks of Bics and ensuing mirth. Good times.

Second, the performance. I love it, with one real exception, and that is “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”. Let me get the griping out of the way first. Now, I will generally agree with the assertion that you can’t judge a book by its cover. There a couple of exceptions, however, and the rule any version of ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ exceeding 17 minutes in length is too long is among them. A great many, if not all, of the versions JGB played in 1976 fall afoul of this rule (see the official release Don’t Let Go [Grateful Dead Records, January 2001], recorded 5/21/76 at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, containing another classic example of the genre). In arguing that these numbers are just too darn slow, I have often encountered the retort that perhaps I lack the sophistication necessary to appreciating such masterpieces, perhaps I am just too impatient to let the impact make itself felt. Maybe. Or maybe they’re just too slow.

OK, I have made my point. As for the good stuff, I have to say that I am updating my priors on this period northward as I listen to the shows: it’s a really good show. Here’s some blow by blow.

“Harder They Come” finds Garcia bucking and snorting out of the gate, the crowd athunder, and the recordists’ deck getting kicked around in the initial mayhem. Coplen’s tape could replace the start if one had the time and inclination to do so. More notations: HTC is nice, comes out with the bounce it needed to be really successful in the Garcia Band. There are some very, very slow versions in 1976 that deprive the song of the lilt it needs. Keith nice solo in the 6-minute mark. Jerry steps forward in the 7-min mark for a solo, patient but inventive. He's so relaxed, just letting it flow, nicely lubed. Keith stepping up to weave around and through Jerry, so they are both upfront as we round the 8-minute mark. Tutt is hammering, like they are those big old marching band drums played with toms. Banging. Jerry takes another run around and puts some grit in it this time. A young man in the crowd loses his head as the song winds down, taper asks him to hush. It was ever thus!

“Tore Up Over You” is one that I too frequently overlook. This one’s an object lesson in why not to do that. Garcia pulls off a seriously loud and metallic solo in the 6-minute mark that has young man again exclaiming. Late 6 and into the 7-minute mark, Jerome John Garcia is pulling some ass-slapping power chords. This is where 1976 is good. Jerry was just starting to fatten up the power chords that would become a staple of his ’76-’78 period playing in the Grateful Dead. Here, there are still some filings in there, little bits of tin foil, metallic jolts. It’s a nice blend.

"A Strange Man" beautifully features Donna Jean Godchaux of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This is sultry southern singing, with perfect main accompaniment from her husband on piano (probably a Steinway), everyone else back behind, Donna all swaying smoke and flowing shadow. She testifies beautifully and tastefully, in charge until 3:45 when Jerry, having hung back respectfully until this point, steps up and rhapsodizes to Donna, guitar-for-her-voice, for a minute or so. Lovely.

Song note: "A Strange Man" (t05): Allan lists it as "Strange Man", but that might perhaps his alphabetization/filing scheme drops indefinite articles, as others (my own included) do definite articles. Deaddisc uses the indefinite article in the title, which I follow. I dunno from alphabetization, but I guess I'll list it under 'S'. What Would a Librarian Do? Anyway, this appeared on Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes' self-titled 1967 LP on Okeh Records. Note that the record also contains "I'll Be With Thee". Donna said that they just sat around in those days, listening to gospel records. Seems pretty clear that Dorothy Love Coates was among their inspirations.

“Mystery Train” operates on a more terrestrial plane. Jerry rolls it around in his hands for a few extra measures at the start, making sure everything is holding water. When he comes in with his "Train, train" opening, there's a hoot of excitement from the crowd, but it's controlled, tapering quickly, like they were hit by it, it drove the excitement out, but they lassoed it back quickly, still wanted to listen carefully. Fun to put yourself at Northwestern University on this Friday night and feel the excitement that Garcia doing "Mystery Train", with Elvis’s own drummer providing the locomotion, could bring to a crowd. This version just, well, chugs right along, as any self-respecting version of any train song should. Jerry is running it all around, and in the 7-minute mark Tutt starts revving the engine a little bit, a few extra splashes and things are rolling nicely downhill. Clean as a whistle, and as they are winding down Garcia must be windmilling, because he is power-chording very unusually, and the taper, who seems knowledgeable, chuckles and gives him a "yeah". Maybe, Forrest Gump style, he got the idea in this moment for the Garcia-qua-Jordan Nike ad stickers that used to sell wherever Deadheads gathered, and which made him a rich man. Just maybe. “It happens.”

“Friend Of The Devil”: Thankfully, the opiates hadn't yet bitten too hard into the pacing of FOTD. It's still sprightly at this stage. It would become a much slower plod not long after and would never re-acquire the lightness that allowed the music to counterpoint the lyrics to such good effect in early appearances with the Grateful Dead, for example. But this one also has more punch than the super-light acoustic versions from 1970, more heft. So, for my money, this is a very good version of the song.

Listening Notes:

Jerry Garcia Band

Cahn Auditorium, Northwestern University

600 Emerson Street

Evanston, IL 60201

March 12, 1976 (Friday), Late Show, 11 pm

unattributed 80 minute audience recording

--(8 tracks, 79:39)--

01. /The Harder They Come [14:28] [0:33]

02. It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry [8:38] [0:03] % [0:19]

03. They Love Each Other [6:43] [0:07] % (1) [0:20]

04. Tore Up Over // You [8:8:36] [0:04] %

05. //A Strange Man/ [#5:45#]

06. Mystery Train [9:17] % [0:13]

07. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [17:52] %

08. //Friend Of The Devil [#6:42] %

! Band: Jerry Garcia Band:

! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;

! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;

! Lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano, vocals;

! Lineup: Ron Tutt - drums, vocals;

! Lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux, vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19760312-02

! db:  shnid-20700. (part early and part late, Eric Coplen MAC, shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/139524 (late show)

! venue: JBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/03/cahn-auditorium-600-emerson-street.html. See also http://www.pickstaiger.org/venues/cahn-auditorium. The data I have seen suggest that the venue capacity at the time of the show was approximately 1,100.

! seealso: https://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/07/ln-jg1976-03-12jgb1p-2paud.html

! R: tape has a lot more audience noise than the Coplen tape of the early show (and the first tune of this late show). Some taper talk here, things sound exciting. This tape is not terrible. It is a little oversaturated, but I have heard worse. All of the instruments are there. It may be running slow, but with this band it's a little hard to tell. While Donna's voice sounds a little draggy, I think she's just being laconic. Garcia's voice and the guitars sound about right to me, but then again I can't hear.

! context: Nice to hear how excited the kids are as the show starts.

! R: t01 HTC clips in. Not much missing, but could be patched from the Coplen recording of this song. Would also be able to cover some major rumbling and clipping at the start, as I believe (based on taper talk) that the deck got kicked in all the excitement.

! P t01 HTC is nice, comes out with the bounce it needed to be really successful in the Garcia Band. There are some very, very slow versions in 1976 that deprive the song of the lilt it needs. Keith nice solo in the 6-minute mark. Jerry comes around in the 7-min mark for a solo, patient but inventive. He's so relaxed, just letting it flow, nicely lubed. Keith stepping up to weave around and through Jerry, so they are both upfront as we round the 8-minute mark. Tutt is hammering, like they are those big old marching band drums played with toms. Banging. Jerry takes another run around and puts some grit in it this time. A young man in the crowd loses his head, taper asks him to hush.

! t03 (1) flicking of Bics and ensuing mirth.

! P: t04 TUOY Garcia pulls off a seriously loud and metallic solo in the 6-minute mark that has young man again exclaiming. Late 6 and into the 7-minute mark, Jerome John Garcia is pulling some ass-slapping power chords.

! R: t04 TUOY splice @ 7:46, then a few little repeated blips toward the end of the track.

! song: "A Strange Man" (t05): Allan lists it as "Strange Man" http://www.whitegum.com/~acsa/songfile/STRANGEM.HTM, but that might perhaps his alphabetization/filing scheme drops indefinite articles, as others (my own included) do definite articles. Deaddisc uses the indefinite article in the title, http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Strange_Man.htm, which I follow. I dunno from alphabetization, but I guess I'll list it under 'S'. How's that for splitting the baby? Anyway, this appeared on Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes' self-titled 1967 LP on Okeh Records. Note that the record also contains "I'll Be With Thee". Donna said that they just sat around in those days, listening to gospel records. Seems pretty clear that Dorothy Love Coates was among their inspirations.

! R: t05 Strange Man cuts in and clips out

! P: t05 A Strange Man. This is sultry southern singing, the piano the perfect lead accompaniment, everything else back behind, spotlight on Donna. She belts very beautifully and tastefully here. Very, very nice! Donna is in charge all the way until 3:45, Jerry, appropriately, having stayed way back. Here he steps up and rhapsodizes back to Donna, guitar-style, for a minute or so. Donna sings this song absolutely beautifully. I wish I had seen her sing this.

! P t06 Mystery Train is really nice. First, the taper recognizes it, and calls "Train, Train", which is a totally legitimate way to refer to this song, in my book. Then Jerry rolls it around in his hands for an extra couple of measures, making sure everything is holding water. When he comes in with his "Train, train" opening, there's a hoot of excitement from the crowd, but almost controlled, like they were hit by it but still wanted to listen carefully. Fun to put yourself at Northwestern University on this Friday night and feel the excitement that Garcia doing "Mystery Train" could bring to a crowd. This version just, well, chugs right along, as any self-respecting version of any train song should. Jerry is running it all around, and in the 7-minute mark Tutt starts revving the engine a little bit, a few extra splashes and things are rolling nicely downhill. Clean as a whistle, and as they are winding down Garcia must be windmilling, because he is power-chording very unusually, and the taper, who seems knowledgeable, chuckles and gives him a "yeah". Maybe, Forrest Gump style, he got the idea here and now for the Garcia-qua-Jordan Nike ad stickers that used to sell wherever Deadheads gathered, and which made him a rich man. Shit happens, right?

! P: t07 Knocking On Heaven's Door, this is an example of 1976 JGB drawing things out too deeply for me. Feels like slogging through mud to me. Such a dirge. Everyone is sleeping through it. At one point (@ 2:49) Garcia drops an alive-with-possibilities ascending eight-note run, you hear the crowd shift and a few little yips of anticipation, and then everyone falls back to sleep. Too much.

! R: t08 FOTD cuts in, not much missing.

! P: t08 FOTD: Thankfully, the opiates hadn't bitten too hard into the pacing of FOTD yet. It's still sprightly at this stage. It would become a deadly dirge not long after and would never require any of the lightness that allowed the music to counterpoint the lyrics to such good effect in early appearances with the Grateful Dead, for example. But this one also has more punch than the super-light acoustic versions from 1970, more heft. So, for my money, this is a very good version of FOTD.

Summertime in January: The Merle [sic] Saunders Experience, January 15, 1973 at the Inn of the Beginning

Rex Jackson wrote the band name as " Merle [sic] Saunders Experience" on his tape boxes for this night, FWIW.

LN jg1973-01-15.jgms.early-late.sbd-jgmf.5428+9573.shn2flac

Among the Inn of the Beginning materials [JGMF | COAU] I unearthed last summer were ledgers indicating shows by Garcia-Saunders on January 14-15, 1973, only the latter of which had previously been known (from Betty Cantor-Jackson recordings). I have just finished revisiting 1/15/73 after a number of years away from it. It's always hard for me to know how highly correlated my various listenings are, how much of my reaction has to do with me (and my setting) as opposed to what's actually on the tapes.

In this case, I enjoyed this very much, bad sonic anomalies notwithstanding. But I don't really have all that much to say about it. Some of my favorite songs appear here --Hi-Heel Sneakers, Expressway, I Was Made To Love Her-- but, I dunno, just not much to say. There are lots of old chestnuts in here, including a pretty scorching Summertime and a ton of Motown and R&B. Anyway, in lieu of lots of analysis, just some notes.

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Inn Of The Beginning
8201 Old Redwood Highway
Cotati, CA 94931
January 15, 1973 (Monday)
143 min Betty Cantor-Jackson sbd

--Set I (6 tracks, 68:58)--
s1t01. //Hi-Heel Sneakers [#8:42] [0:11]
s1t02. Expressway (To Your Heart) [9:23] [0:04] % [0:05]
s1t03. Lonely Avenue [12:07] [0:05] % [0:02]
s1t04. (1) [2:00] Find A Rainbow// [6:05#]
s1t05. (2) [0:25] Georgia On My Mind -14:58 -15:09 % 15:11
s1t06. [0:53] Honey Chile [13:54] (3) [0:14] %

--Set II (7 tracks, 73:50)--
s2t01. [0:11] I Second That Emotion [12:13] [0:08] % [0:02]
s2t02. (4,5) [1:41] Soul Roach [8:43] [0:11] % [0:02]
s2t03. I Was Made To// Love Her [12:#48] [0:13] % [0:02]
s2t04. /Go Climb A Mountain [#5:17], talk and tuning (6) [1:19]
s2t05. Summertime [10:58] [0:13] % [0:02]
s2t06. That’s Alright Mama [10:49] [0:07] % [0:02]
s2t07. talk and tuning (7) [1:29], Money Honey [7:17] (8) %

!ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: ! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Bill Vitt - drums;
! lineup: Sarah Fulcher - vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19730115-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/5428; http://etreedb.org/shn/9573 (fix of set I). I have renamed the files and retracked disc two so that Summertime is separated from Go Climb A Mountain.

! R: Eaton: "01/15/73 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati Ca - complete  4.8, 167min, Sbd, A0D1, Reel M->PCM 0->Dat 0, 44k  10inch Master Reels@7.5ips 1/2trk->PCM x 0->3700 x 1".

! R: Source: "MSR > P > D. Transfer: D > cdr > eac > shn by Katy Miller. Contact:ryktjos@msn.com." She was a good source of novel material very early in the CD-to-lossless era of Garcia collecting. I am not sure why there's a PCM generation listed here. That would normally indicate that this came out of the second Betty Batch (via, e.g., Dougal Donaldson). But I had thought these were Third Betty Batch tapes rescued by RE. I need to clarify this. As the notations indicate, there seem to be two-second gaps at every track marker, as if somewhere along the lines there was a "Track at Once" (TAO) CD copy, or possibly sector boundary errors (SBEs). There are so many warts on the recording, I didn't dare get further under the hood, e.g., by trying to get rid of these gaps.

! R: seeder note: "The sound is greatly distorted for first 2 songs and partly distorted for songs 3 and 4 due to problems on the reels."

! R: Seeder notes: "This is one of the shows discovered in the Betty Cantor auction."

! metadata: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/07/jgms-19730114-19730115-inn-of-beginning.html

! SteveSw analysis: http://gdvault.com/tracker/forum.php?action=viewtopic&topicid=2596

! R: s1t01 HHS cuts in near the start with severe mix problems. Only the guitar is directly audible through, with the vocals for the first two verses merely an echo. Bass @ 3:30 and a touch of organ and drums toward 4-min mark. Drums in @ 4:05, moving around. Things become nearly inaudible from 7:50-end. The guitar is low in the mix for the start of ETYH, starts coming in a little better around 3:45, which is also when Sarah's mic comes up a little bit.

! Personnel: Sarah Fulcher is here, in what was probably only her second performance with Jerry et al. She sings on almost every number.

! R: s1t03 LA lots of hiss first 30 seconds, then locks in.

! P: s1t03 LA Garcia is pulling and bending some very, very bluesy notes in the 8-min mark.

! R: s1t03 @ 8:42 digifart

! song: s1t04 "Find A Rainbow" (Allan). Nothing is really known about this song. Maybe it was a Fulcher original?

! s1t04 (1) lots of chatting and laughing (JG: "How do you start this thing?").

! R: s1t04 bad recording issues @ 7:10-end, music disappears, lots of static and such, then it cuts out

! s1t05 (2) JG: "Let's do 'Georgia On My Mind'."

! R: s1t05 GOMM bad static @ start, lots and lots and lots of little gremlins.

! P: s1t05 GOMM @ 6:40 Merl does a tasteful little solo, synth or electric piano, while Sarah laughs and lightly moans. In the late 10-minute mark into the 11-min mark, John Kahn takes some beautiful leads, Garcia and Merl comping behind him. JG solo 11:52, some pulling whale crying right at the start, until around 12:00.

! R: s1t05 truly bizarre sound anomalies 10:40 for awhile.

! R: s1t06 still bad anomalies, bad bad stuff.

! s1t06 (3) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a lil while. Thanks a lot."

! s2t02 (4) Sarah: "If it's possible, could somebody bring some apple juice and beer to the bandstand?

! R: s2t02 bad, intermittent buzzing during the tuning.

! s2t02 @ 1:29 (5) Jerry Garcia: "Let's do 'Soul Roach', Merl."

! P: s2t02 JG sounds a little tentative at the start of SR.

! R: s2t03 IWMTLH splice @ 9:25

! R: s2t04 Go Climb A Mountain clips in

! song: s2t04 "Go Climb A Mountain" remains almost totally mysterious. Possibly a Fulcher original? (Allan).

! R: s2t04 seeder note: "Go Climb A Mountain has a 12 second splice presumably due to reel flips."

! s2t04 @ 5:33 (6) One of the players: "Hey Steve, I think my parking meter on my car's expired." Someone says "Saw it off", and Garcia says "Yeah, run out there and saw it off." Loose stage goofiness. @ 5:54, Garcia starts strumming Summertime. Guys start joining in. Someone says "How 'bout we do a slooowww blues." Jerry starts digging in a little deeper with Summertime, at 6:34 he calls it, and off we go.

! R: s2t05 Summertime some skips e.g. 3 minutes in

! P: s2t05 Summertime Sarah vocals: "Your daddy's rich and your mom is good lookin'." Merl very promising entry @ track 12:14, ca. five and a half minutes into Summertime. He doesn't really bring it in the second measure of his solo after coming in strong. After a minute, around 6:30, Garcia lays down some whole paragraphs, and at 7:00 he is finding some sharply bent spaces, Sarah exclaiming, and then some sharp, glassy feedback. At 8 minutes in, Sarah starts doing a little little thing and Garcia digs in, comping behind her, and they hit a nice groove, but her scat at 8:30 falls a little flat. Into the 9-minute mark she has some nice improv singing going in, Vitt joins in right nice at 9:15, picks her up, and now everyone is fucking cooking, with Bill Vitt just bashing and everything on key. In the late 9-min mark Jerry leads them back home and John locks in with him to get back to melody.

! P: s2t06 Jerry suggests TAM to Sarah. Sounds like he is singing it right at her. Steps back in his black t-shirt and cowboy boots and plays his guitar for her. He sounds a little bit like a sloppy puppy dog, but he is definitely getting an A for effort. After the stumble around for most of the song, Garcia wisely takes charge in bringing TAM to a close. I think Sarah could have kept going.

! s2t07 (7) JG: "Everybody has to send their beer to the bar, but we can still do another tune." They are deliberating what to play. Somebody yells "Hey Sarah."

! R: s2t07 Money Honey lots of glitches. It Is What It Is.

! s2t07 (8) JG: "See y'all later."

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