How Come History's Got to Take Such a Long, Long Time? JGB, Warfield, Sunday, May 3, 1992

LN jg1992-05-03.jgb.all.aud-lucien.106771.flac1648

I just don't always have a lot to say, but want to put these here to invite others to comment.

I enjoyed this. Some mumblyverse, but some real depth of feeling, too. I really enjoyed this version of "The Maker", with a little extra vocalization at the end that I can't quite make out --it's supposed to be "oh river, rise from your sleep" (h/t minches)-- and there's some real goodness in "Don't Let Go", as well.

RIP Danny Lucien.

Jerry Garcia Band

The Warfield

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

May 3, 1992 (Sunday)

Lucien MAD shnid-106771

--set I (6 tracks, 50:57)--

s1t01. //Cats Under The Stars [#8:57] [2:02]

s1t02. Waiting For A Miracle [5:38] [1:27]

s1t03. Run For The Roses [5:24] [0:37]

s1t04. Struggling Man [6:22] [0:44]

s1t05. Mission In The Rain [10:32]

s1t06. Lay Down Sally [8:29] (1) [0:08]

--set II (7 tracks, 75:58)--

s2t01. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love [9:37] [1:10]

s2t02. Shining Star [12:35] [0:43]

s2t03. Tore Up Over You [7:46] [1:37]

s2t04. The Maker [8:05] [0:26]

s2t05. Don't Let Go [15:45] [0:17]

s2t06. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [11:58] [0:05]

s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [5:50] (2) [0:04]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b

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

! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: David Kemper - drums;

! lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;

! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals.

JGMF:

! R: 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/19920503-01

! db:

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! venue: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-25-1980-fox-warfield-theater.html

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

! R: field recordist: Danny Lucien

! R: field recording gear: 2x Schoeps MK4 > Rbox > Panasonic SV250

! R: field recording location: Drink Rail

! R: Transfer: SV3700 -> RME Hammerfall DSP (SPDIF) 16/48 -> Nuendo

! R: s1t01 CUTS cuts in

! P: s1t01 CUTS too many go 'rounds, way too many. Way, way too many.

! P: s1t02 WFAM lots of little lyrical flubs and whatever. I do like how he says "how come history gotta take such a long long time" instead of "the future" - feels Rodney King relevant, though that's pretty surely projection.

! P: s1t03 RFTR some more lyrical irregularity

! P: s1t06 LDS he starts with the chorus.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2t01 ENSTL the crowd seems very stoked to hear this one, special cheer at 0:49 for not-sure-what. Love the tone and the notes in 5. Great playing.

! P: s2t04 Maker he is singing in a different key than usual. Lyrical issues. Some interesting lyrical improv at the end, 6:20 "run rabbit [?] run way from yo [space]"

oh oh still waters

dark and cold like the night

I stand with arms wide open

I run the twisted mile

I'm a stranger in the eyes of The Maker

I could not see for the fog in my eyes

I could not feel for the fear in my life

across the great divide

in the distance I saw a light

Jean-Baptiste walking to me with The Maker

My body is bent and broken

[mumble] and dangerous sleep

I can't work the fields of Abraham

turn my head away

I'm not a stranger in the hands of The Maker

Brother John have you see the homeless daughters?

standing there with broken wings

I've seen the flaming swords

there over east of Eden

burning in the eyes of the Maker

oh burning in the eyes of the Maker

whoa burning in the eyes of the Maker

run [] run ... away from your [??]

! P: s2t05 DLG nice low vocalizations 4, starts doubling after 4:30 or so, with some interesting variations before stepping back from mic 5:02. He lets things go to a big orchestral melt around 9:25, then he starts doing a swing march that is really wonderfully groovy, now minor allusion 10:20, John modal, Melvin light and Kemper glue holding it together. Faster flurrying late 10 over 11. Return to tune late 13.

! s2t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya next time."

Help Us Out

Head over to Nick's place and render judgment on the appropriateness of the title "Merl's Tune" for the Garciaverse tune by that name, versus the titular line of this post.

Simple Twist of Fate: JGB #23 at the Kaiser, November 11, 1994

LN jg1994-11-11.jgb.all.aud-CMC5-mk4.145714.flac1644

Like so many of the late-era shows that I have listened to in the last couple of years, this one pleasantly surprised me. The only thing that troubles me is that it brings me into aesthetic disagreement yet again with Nick, who called this show "bad enough to make you want to give Jerry a hug and make him a big pot of soup". I get it. There are certainly parts of this show where Garcia is lost and mumbling, his voice shot (even has moments as bad as 8/8/93), everything off-kilter. "Wonderful World" supplies several such moments. But I find some incredibly touching and beautiful stuff here, as well, I think it's overall pretty good (for the era ...), and I see that with a first set over an hour and a second clocking in over 80 minutes, the man is still putting it out there.

 

 

I guess, in looking back over my notes, the one tune that I really like here was "Simple Twist Of Fate", which is odd because, despite its awesome autobiographical resonance ("waterfront bar ... where the sailors all come in"), I don't usually love it. Kahn's bug ... errr ... feature ... is pretty unobjectionable, just about the only time he's audible all night. Donny sounds good to me (that tape captures the drums nicely), Melvin is good, the ladies are very far forward, especially helping Jerry with the lyrical progression of "Wonderful World" and generally putting some lung into the vocals to make up for his that are lacking.

The Maker is a nice microcosm of the show. It's just achingly flawed. He sings the "body is bent and broken" line in the wrong key, and then compensates with a little whoa-oh-oh on the "by long and dangerous sleep" line. (I also noted the body bent and broken line on the show two months before, 9/10/94 in Reno.) He sound absolutely exhausted with living.

"That Lucky Old Sun" gets a merciful e-brake at just over 5 minutes, half its typical length, which is fine. The "Don't Let Go" never really goes anywhere, though I did find him doing a repeated percussive blue note that felt kind of insistent. Some good fanning in "Deal", but it's all note and no power (unlike ten years before, when the opposite was true).

His last gig at the venerable Kaiser, where many a great time was had. Anyway, more data.

Jerry Garcia Band
Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center
10 Tenth Street
Oakland, CA 94607
November 11, 1994 (Friday) - 7:30 PM
CMC5-MK4 MAD shnid-145714

--set I (7 tracks, 63:53)--
s1t01. [0:04] Cats Under The Stars [11:16] [1:30]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:31] [2:33]
s1t03. Mission In The Rain [9:31] [0:33]
s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:18] [0:36]
s1t05. Simple Twist Of Fate [11:52] [0:16]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [3:53] ->
s1t07. Deal [8:53] (1) [0:07]

--set II (8 tracks, 80:36)--
s2t08. [0:11] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:37] [0:33]
s2t09. Shining Star [20:09] [0:24]
s2t10. Tore Up Over You [8:18] [1:55]
s2t11. The Maker [11:47] [0:13]
s2t12. Wonderful World [4:31] [0:12]
s2t13. Don't Let Go [14:10] [0:08]
s2t14. That Lucky Old Sun [5:14] ->
s2t15. Midnight Moonlight [6:08] (2) [0:06]

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing 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/19941111-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1994-11-11

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/15882 (Neumann KM440 shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/145714 (this fileset).

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/syxJeJyHJMB2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/henry-j-kaiser-auditorium-oakland.html

! R: Source Info: FOB Schoeps CMC5 Mk4-> DAT

! R: Transfer Info: Dat Tape (Panasonic SV-3700)-> Marantz CDR-615-> CD (Late 90's); Extract Wav-> Flac Level 8-> Tagged (16/44.1). Transfers by Pete Ebel, Late 90's and March 17, 2019.

! R: quite a nice tape

! P: overall: listening evening of 8/17/2019 I had a warm feeling about this. The vocals are low in the mix, and that's good, because he sounds pretty ragged. Now, returning to WW, then back to The Maker to check myself, I am struck that the vocals are *really* fatigued sounding. There's a fine balance with these Old Jerry shows, between appreciating the weary beauty of an old man and feeling upset at how rough it is.

! P: s1t01 CUTS kicks the show off pretty well.

! P: s1t05 STOF I love this! I have listened to it a second time and still love it. Jerry gets almost all of the lyrics right. John does a feature 7:25-9:15 which is not as much of a bug as at often was. It goes to 9:15, and it's not terrible. But the key to this is Jerry's clarity with the lyrics - very good.

! P: s1t07 Deal some fanning in 6. Not powerful like ten years before, but a game effort.

! s1t07 (1) no setbreak announcement

! P: s2t11 The Maker he sounds so tired. @ 3:24 "Body bent and broken" he sings out of the key he had arranged for it. But then he gives a "whoa-oh-old ?? and dangerous sleep", forgets the rest of that verse. Pitch-bending 9.

! P: s2t11 WW bad vocals out of the gate, and a lyrical miscue. OMG, now his voice is gone. Donny hits an extra beat.

! P: s2t13 DLG he fumbled the first lyric, couldn't remember the second one so took an extra turn. He sounds lost and very rough, hasn't gotten a lyric yet. Oof.

! P: s2t14 TLOS he has to pluck the start several times. It must have been hard to try to drum for him in this period, as he is trying to figure out how stuff goes. This version is paced more quickly than most. Oh goodness, he repeatedly loses himself here, guitar and lyric. Ends prematurely, but it was a mercy killing. At 5:14, that's gotta be the shortest TLOS on record.

! s2t15 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

The Penultimate Garcia Band Show

LN jg1995-04-22.jgb.all.aud-km54.137833.flac1648

Not a ton jumps out at me, though the "Mission In The Rain" has a nice feel, and "My Sisters And Brothers" takes on some country flavor.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
April 22, 1995 (Saturday) - 8 PM
Neumann KM54 flac1648 shnid-137833

--set I (6 tracks, 62:40)--
s1t01. Cats Under The Stars
s1t02. They Love Each Other
s1t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [9:52] [0:54]
s1t04. Mission In The Rain [10:36] [0:28]
s1t05. My Sisters And Brothers [4:43] ->
s1t06. Everybody Needs Somebody [14:55] (1) [0:09]

--set II (4 tracks, 51:12)--
s2t01. Harder They Come
s2t02. I Shall Be Released
s2t03. The Maker [11:08] [0:06]
s2t04. Tangled Up In Blue [13:29] (2)

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing 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/19950422-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1995-04-22

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/4305 (Neumann KM150, shn), http://etreedb.org/shn/97637 (Sonic Studios DSM6), http://etreedb.org/shn/137833 (this fileset).

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

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

! historical: middle night of the Garcia Band's last stand, at the Warfield, three and a half months before his death. Random selection and blind listening would be far superior to having a set of preconceived ideas, but this is how it has to be. I find some nice vibe in the autobiographical ode to San Francisco "Mission In The Rain" and some goodness in "My Sisters And Brothers".

! seealso: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/05/jgb-at-warfield-april-21-1995.html

! seealso: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-garcia-bands-last-gig.html

! R: field recordist: unknown

! R: field recording gear: Neumann KM54. See http://recordinghacks.com/microphones/Neumann/KM-54

! R: field recording location: FOB

! R: Transfer: DAT(c) @ 48 kHz > Tascam DA-20MKII > Canare Coax > Korg MR-2000S > Kimber USB 2.0 > Samplitude Pro X2 (Build 256) > TLH v2.7.0 (flac 8, ffp) > Foobar2000 v1.3.10 Live Show Tagger.

! R: seeder notes: "Thanks to Dave Flaschner for the DAT. Transfer & edits by Jeff Mitchell
seeded to etree 2017-02-16"

! P: s1t01 CUTS Don't love Melvin's synth sound. 3 mumbles the verse. Not a bad CUTS. FF over TLEO.

! P: s1t03 TWLWMYD still swings with this band. Garcia's got no lungs left to belt it, but it grooves nicely. 8 minute he hits a clam, but comes back on the voice. He sounds totally breathless and is mixed way, way down low. Listen to him warming up MITR at the end of the track. San Francisco, baby!

! P: s1t04 MITR He is so breathless, it reminds me of the very end for Townes van Zandt. 2:35 ff he gets to step back and play, his guitar sounds relieved, liberated, and he's wefting and warbling his notes in fine style, these vintage Neumann mics putting you *in* the Warfield. What a great tape. Nothing especially poetic happens, but this is not bad.

! P: s1t05 MSAB starts off sprightly, so much that I am wondering if he's going to have the air to sing it. It's a little dubious. Garcia sounds like an ancient dude shaking his mane a little bit, which is kind of what he is. Nothing too crazy. Steps back to some plucking and bending, kind of a straight country feel not always present.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a little while."

! P: s2t04 TUIB voice is both weak and scratchy - not good.

! s2t04 (2) JG: "See y'all later."

"When you add a new member, it becomes a new band"

 LN jg1979-11-07.interview.26mins.fm.xxxxxx.flac1644

This is a nice little interview with Garcia after the 11/6/79 Philly Dead show. He talks about "Mission In The Rain" and "Reuben And Cérise", picks some gospel Dylan to spin, tells the story of the Rambler Room gig in '78, and drops the titular line, which I like a lot.

JERRY GARCIA
WMMR Studios
addy
Philadelphia PA zzzzz
November 7, 1979 (Wednesday) - 2:30 AM
26 min FM cassette

! historical: WMMR-FM Radio interview with Lyn Kratz & Michael Tearson at 2:30AM

01 intro [0:58] %
02 Brent in the band, Making Go to Heaven album [6:02] %
03 Story of Reuben & Cherise, Jerry's new guitar, Acoustic shows, Bertha the fan
04 Mission in the Rain, Egypt trip, Smaller venues, GD films, Eclectic listening
05 Terrapin II Suite, thanks & outro
06 DJ Talk [0:45]

! R: Transfer: TDK D90 > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged.

! R: seeder Note: This interview occurred in the wee hours of the morning after the 11/06/79 Spectrum show.

! R: seeder note: Thanks to Poordevil and Sounddawg for this historic tape!

! t02  "When you add a new member, it becomes a new band"

! t02 GTH: "I think it's our best album." Yeesh.

! t03 song R&C: movie Black Orpheus. "It's the Orpheus story, and the Black Orpheus adaptation of the Orpheus story. Plus we transmogrified it and put it into New Orleans and Mardi Gras. And we changed the outcome somewhat. It was one of those songs that was very slow growing. It started off with a melody that I was fooling around with, while we were working on Blues for Allah, and I gave a copy of the melody to Hunter, and he took it home and fooled with it, fooled with it, fooled with it. He came up with a lot of different ideas. And then, independently of the original melody, he set a group of ... those lyrics. And I liked the lyrics better than I liked the original melody. So, I dumped the original melody, held onto the lyrics, and, after fooling with the lyrics, and look at em for a long, long time, and really liking them, and really wanting them to work, I came up with the new melody."

! t03 @ late 5:50 11/17/78 "Dan Healy has a cousin who is involed in Loyola University in Chicago. They were doing a little small benefit for a famine relief thing in Pakistan, and so we got involved in doing just that - an acoustic show, Bob and I and Phil playing electric bass very quietly, and Mickey playing a little snare drum with brushes. ... we rehearsed it about 15 minutes before we went in and did it. We enjoyed it really a lot."

! t04 song: MITR. "It's about SF. It's about me in San Francisco. It's as close to autobiographical as it's possible for me to get working with another guy. ... Hunter is able sometimes to write if I would say ... it's very personal. It's him speaking about me. When I do the song, it's a very personal song, I'm talking about myself, my life.

! t04 @ 7:20 "I've always been a Dylan fan." "Music is music." "Even the worst music doesn't hurt anybody ... wound anybody." Jerry picked "Gotta Serve Somebody" to listen to.

Body ... Bent and Broken

LN jg1994-09-10.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.23791.shn2flac

Man, these late era shows are really changing my understanding of Old Garcia. I have been saying it in these recent posts: his lacks lung-power, his voice is weak, his muscles are atrophied and his wrists are sore. He is prone to forgetting lyrics.

These physical limitations dictate his vocal and instrumental approaches. Vocally, we find clearer enunciation and articulation. He wants to be in key, unlike Dylan, but this is interpreted pretty liberally. The grooves are slower and deeper, but a light swing touch can also work. He can still bop his head and swing his shoulders, even if he can't dig in, ass and hips and all, like he used to with his guitar, with respect to which expressiveness trumps power, and, really, the latter doesn't make much of an appearance through the whole show.

It's deeply flawed stuff, but if you know and love Jerry it's really, really good. The post title is a little dark, but he delivers that line from "The Maker" so amazingly, I just couldn't resist.

Random thoughts from the notes below:

! song: "Johnny Too Bad" and #death: He sings it as "one of these days "gonna hear a voice a say come" is JG, instead of "when you hear". I am certainly parsing too finely, his expressive variations were mostly driven by lips, mouth, lungs and brain, but I like it. "Gonna", as a declarative, penetrates more deeply in a probability sense, while the passive "when" leaves some space for at least momentary human delusion and denial, suspending the certainty of the outcome if only for a flash. For ol' Jer, it's gonna happen, And That Right Quick. And Johnny Too Bad, in my mind's eye, ends more The Lord Of The Flies than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: there is, as the song reminds us repeatedly, no rock. Might as well play some reggae.

! song: "That Lucky Old Sun" and #race #musics and Old Garcia: As you might imagine with decrepit Jerry, "Lucky Ol' Sun" offers some real possibilities, and he takes especial advantage on "fuss with my woman | toil with my kids | sweat till I'm wrinkled and grey". As commenter Nick and others have helped me understand, Tin Pan Alley tunes like this derive from jazz but crossed the racial divide, with whites appropriating and deploying black tropes and affectations - not unlike good old rock 'n' roll itself. On the other hand, crossing over is his American birthright, and ol' Gar owns it lovingly, inclusively, the tender vocal delivery full of feeling, the band providing a spare backing for Jerry's gentle drop-sparkle string work. These tunes can really evoke Garcia's painting of himself and John as old Mission Street players, even from the loftier confines of the Warfield balcony or an 8,500 set amphitheatre on a hot Reno evening.

Jerry Garcia Band
Reno Hilton Amphitheatre
2500 East Second Street
Reno, NV 89595
September 10, 1994 (Saturday)
?Vasseur? shnid-23791 shn2flac

--set I (8 tracks, 50:15)--
s1t01. crowd [01:00]
s1t02. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [5:45] [1:17]
s1t03. Stop That Train [7:06] [0:33]
s1t04. Get Out Of My Life Woman [7:27] (1) [2:13]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [05:14]
s1t06. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [08:04]
s1t07. My Sisters And Brothers [03:54]
s1t08. Deal [07:42]

--set II (7 tracks, 61:37)--
s2t01. The Way You Do The Things You Do [10:14] [0:22]
s2t02. The Maker [12:29] [0:10]
s2t03. What A Wonderful World [4:44] [0:19]
s2t04. Johnny Too Bad [11:05] [0:20]
s2t05. Don't Let Go [12:22]
s2t06. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [04:21]
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [05:10]

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19940910-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1994-09-10

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/23791 (this fileset, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/97863 (absent from my archive).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/fAbuJCQB6zt

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/reno-hilton-amphitheatre-2500-east.html

! R: field recordists: [presumed] Chuck Vasseur and Janet Vasseur.

! R: source: MAD (Vintage Neumanns) > D > C > CDR > WAV > SHN; shn2flac jgmf 5/23/2017.

! R: seeder comments: [INCORRECT: "First public performance of 'Johnny Too Bad'"] -- the 3rd song off the "Harder They Come" soundtrack that Jerry would play with JGB (others are "Harder They Come" and "Sitting In Limbo"). This is the second of five times out for JTB (9/1/94).

! R: seeder note: "Minimal hiss, more distant sounding than the typical Vasseur Warfield."

! R: lineage: DAE (EAC) and sbe-free SHN encoding by C.Ladner, May '04.

! R: something swishy and wonky about this tape, panning or something out of phase. By the time I am in "The Maker", it is sounding downright good.

! s1t01 HSII starts with "opened my eyes at night" in06-s2t07 stead of "I needed the shelter". He comes back to it for the second verse - attaboy, Jer! 2-3 he has done some very fluent guitar playing, sounds energetic. Melvin steps up to his big swirling-sweeping piece 3:30, Garcia sounds happy to comp 3:45 behind him. Jerry remembers the next verse, 4:40 ish Melvin provides tasty piano accompaniment with a barrelhouse feel, more after 5.

! s1t04 (1) JG: "We have a little technical problem," as things are being pounded. Melvin hits a little piano thing, JG signals RFTR. FF to s2t01.

! P: s2t01 TWYDTTYD right at end of 5 he puts on his Grateful Dead guitar, wahh-ing in a way that was very uncommon for JGB. Long vocal piece with the ladies out front, him emphasizing behind.

! P: s2t02 Maker John is doing some bowing-type stuff at the very start. Overt religiosity. @ 0354 "oh my body is bent and broken" with feeling. Fragile stuff, glorious. Big pitch-bendy stuff 6.

! song: "What A Wonderful World" (s2t03): this is the Sam Cooke ("don't know much about history", etc.).

! P: song: "Johnny Too Bad" (s2t04): second live version (9/1/94). He sings it as "one of these days "gonna hear a voice a say come" is JG, instead of "when you hear". I am certainly parsing too finely, his expressive variations were mostly driven by lips, mouth, lungs and brain, but I like it. "Gonna", as a declarative, penetrates more deeply in a probability sense, while the passive "when" leaves some space for at least momentary human delusion and denial, suspending the certainty of the outcome if only for a flash. For ol' Jer, it's gonna happen, And That Right Quick. And Johnny Too Bad, in my mind's eye, ends more The Lord Of The Flies than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: there is, as the song reminds us repeatedly, no rock. Might as well play some reggae. ^P This has lots of interesting pieces, and credit ol Jer for working it, but the band keeps expecting it to end, and he croaks another go-round. The song is quite repetitive, and that's part of what's so compelling but also challenging about it - huis clos. A for effort, lower for execution.

! P: s2t05 DLG nice to see the ambition. He mumbles first verse. Baldwin sets a fine pocket here. 4 very cool little song-voice piece, set to the weak lungs, allowing him to just not strain. 4:20ff some very plucky plucking. Garcia 4:40ff in a bassier tone, keys are right on it, bass has been inaudible. Heading over 5, it has that worried urgency that an earlier tune with Merl, "She's Got Charisma", also provided in spades. It's a game effort, doesn't knock me out on two listens.

! P: s2t06 "That Lucky Old Sun": As you might imagine with decrepit Jerry, "Lucky Ol' Sun" offers some real possibilities, and he takes especial advantage on "fuss with my woman | toil with my kids | sweat till I'm wrinkled and grey". For book, should probably write Tin Pan Alley up here at the end. Sort of a crossover genre in that it seems to have been whites appropriating and deploying black tropes and affectations - not unlike rock 'n' roll. On the other hand, ol' Gar owns this stuff fully, bringing sincere love and tenderness to the vocal delivery, full of feeling, over a spare band arrangement that lets him play his display a little gentle drop-sparkle string work, too. These tunes can really evoke Garcia's painting of himself and John as old Mission Street players, even from the loftier confines of the Warfield balcony or an 8,500 set amphitheatre on a hot Reno evening.

! P: s2t07 MM I love that Jerry loved this song. At this point, he must have had a real Skinnerian involvement with it, since MM = end of show = nicotine = whatever else. Not that he deprived himself before or during, mind you, but the chance to sit down in a comfy chair and unwind, change your sweaty shirt, soundsl ike a nice prospect, too. So the San Franciscan plays Pete Rowan's paen to another city with a Mission, San Antonio, good music. This version delivers nothing special, and September 10, 1994 goes on its merry way.

Jerry's New Year's Eve - LN jg1975-12-31.jgb.all.aud-Falanga-Menke-8664-retrack.noshnid.shn2flac

GarciaLive 5

GarciaLive, volume 5, December 31st 1975 Keystone Berkeley (2014) is out, available via jerrygarcia.com.

Let me start by expressing gratitude for these GarciaLive releases. Having been a massive outlier in my interest in Garcia on the side, having often expressed frustration at the paucity of Jerry shows released under the old regime, I am glad to see the music coming out and happy to buy these releases, not least because they are generally very, very well done.

The overall packaging is nice. I appreciate that the booklet picture of the Keystone is correctly placed from ca. 1981 - accuracy is important, and is very much appreciated by those of us who take our metadata like we take our coffee -- seriously. This is an improvement over the inclusion of a photo from 11/26/77, without identification, in a release of the show dated 3/22/78 (GarciaLive 4). I read David Gans's liner notes once quickly, and they look spot-on (more on that below), well-written, well-edited (I had complained about the editing on the killer 12/14-15/74 release), and informative. Good job, David. I haven't listened to it yet, but I have heard that it sounds nice and I fully expect the fat, full, Betty Cantor-Jackson sound. (I hope she is getting paid for these releases!)

Priors on this performance

But I have always disliked 12/31/75 as a Jerry Garcia Band performance and as a Jerry Garcia life event. The main billing for the show is that it's Jerry Band's only NYE show. That's true, but it doesn't go very far if the music isn't good.

I have known the performance from the tapes. I would have been listening to the very early shns of the soundboard (like this badboy) and, especially, the Louis Falanga-Bob Menke upfront (possibly onstage) ambient recording (shnid-8664), since these were fresh on the etree FTP sites. All told I probably listened to the Falanga-Menke tape a good 3 or 4 times through, the board once or twice. That's a lot for any single show.

People generally consider this a great one, but insofar as you'll indulge me in arguing about taste, I'll tell you that I think that's just flat wrong. My hypothesis here is that this is something like the "Cornell Effect" from Deaddom, in which great sounding tapes find mass-circulation relatively early, Patient Zero of the Betty Board contagion, and the show becomes legend. (Cornell is actually a great Dead show, but that doesn't preclude it being overrated.) JGB 12/31/75 at the Keystone has the added Dead appeal of guest shots by Bob Weir (very rare with JGB, only other times it happened were in June '82 and once on Broadway in '87, off the top of my head) and Mickey Hart. Nicky Hopkins draws lots of attention, it's New Year's Eve at the Keystone, and why shouldn't it be great?

But it isn't. As a musical performance, it has some OK moments, and it's rarely downright awful, but mostly it's just boring. That has always been my view.

Listening Preparation

But being a loyal customer, wanting to give the show a fair hearing, I decided to get the release, and to prepare my listen by revisiting the Falanga-Menke tape. Pin down the metadata if I could, just prepare the ground. Like a dog circling around a patch of lawn, if you know what I mean. And of course it became a rabbit hole, but I'll try to cover some ground and walk away from all the things that must be walked away from, conditional on the finity of our time here together. Anyway, I have some listening notes below the fold, but here are a few takeaways.

Players

Confusion bedeviled the sociometrics of this gig from the beginning. Les Kippel wrote in Dead Relix (1976) that

Contrary to advance rumors, the Grateful Dead did not play this past New Year’s Eve. However, Bob Weir and Chris Herold from Kingfish did show up to play at the Garcia Band’s show at the Berkeley Keystone that evening. Bob played rhythm guitar and sang backup vocals, and sang lead on “C.C. Rider.” Other material played at the show included “Catfish John,” “Road Runner,” and so forth. Rumor has it that that might have been the Garcia Band’s last performance.

A few issues later, attendee Jim Wasserman (1976) wrote a letter to the editor, correcting Kippel that the drummer was not Chris Herold, but, he thought, Bill Vitt. This is a great letter, which I reproduce in whole so Corry can read about Grayson Street (see Arnold 2009).

I was at the show, and some of the info you said about it was incorrect. Chris Herold of Kingfish was not there. Weir was there as you said, but I believe the drummer was Bill Vitt, sitting in for Ron Tut [sic]. Also, Mickey Hart showed with Weir for the second set - - and played a very primitive drumset used by the warm-up band (whom I didn't know).

The first band consisted of the drummer, (a bass, snare, tom tom, and two cymbals in the total set) and a slow blues slide guitarist who was pretty good, but generally a let-down for the opening of a New Year's show.

The Garcia Band was also joined by Matthew Kelly of Kingfish from very early in the show. The overall performance was quite good, once the boys got it underway, however. There was what seemed like hours of tuning up and the band took two very long breaks. The show was like a fine old' party, and I think that's just what Garcia was into -- partying on New Year's Eve.

So witness one says the non-Hart drummer was Chris Herold, witness two says it was Bill Vitt, and Corry (Arnold 2009) comes along and has it as Greg Errico. I become confused. (I knew it wasn't Tutt, who as drumming for  the Rainfall-besuited Elvis in the Pontiac Silverdome.)

But that's all over now, because now we have Official Documents, and it's Mr. Errico on the skins. (On the Falanga-Menke tape one can hear Nicky slurring "Thanks Greg" at note 3). Otherwise, it's as we have understood things: Matt Kelly on harmonica (throughout the show, as I hear it, should pin it all down), Bob Weir on guitar and Mickey Hart on drums (sets II and III).

Setlist

In putting together what I have around this show, I found a 5-minute fragment of tape that I remember some guy sending me some years ago, labeled 12/31/75 Nicky solo "Maple Leaf Rag", a tuneup from the start of the show. I had always vowed to give it some attention, and I did on this occasion. It is five minutes of tape from an alternative audience recording (i.e., not the Falanga-Menke tape). It's nowhere near as good as theirs, and it is degraded, but it is nevertheless revealing. First, the smaller point, I can hear taper talk where guy says "that looks like the guy from Kingfish". I wonder if Les Kippel was recording this, or if in some other way the taper's guess became Dead Relix's error?

Second, the tuning is not just Nicky, it's the whole band, as far as I can tell. And, it's not Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag", as advertised. It's Joplin's "The Entertainer". I can't tell you how much I love this little snippet. In terms of the American musical mosaic, it occupies the same part of the canon, just replacing one singleton, now a never-played (Maple Leaf Rag), with another (Entertainer). But I also love it because it's Nicky Hopkins playing "The Entertainer". He is so brilliant, and he can make even the most well-worn classic sound fresh as daylight; this is about as pure a piano tune as you can find, being played by about as pure a piano player as ever graced a bench.

Very cool. But also, tinged. Dawson's Hopkins biography (2011) shows clearly that Nicky was the ultimate sideman, lacking in any of the discernible talents and inclinations that might make one a successful front man, except his musical wizardry. He was shy and quiet and ill-suited to the role (see my "Bloody Hell"), and yet this seems to have been the role that the JGB (Garcia, Kahn and Tutt) and/or Nicky himself allowed to operate. There's just something desperately sad about Nicky playing "The Entertainer", with all of his (and its) beer hall authenticity, warming up for the big show. Later, sweetly optimistic about 1976: "It might even be good for me; you never know" (note 7). To your health, Nicky.

"Mother Nature's Son" is a Garcia singleton, part of the small, compact, tastefully curated set of Beatles material he played publicly.

Performance

You can see the listening notes, and I have already given my bottom line summary. It's OK in parts, it's bad in parts, but mostly it's just boring. It's a mehfest.

Other Context

Here is a little bit of color around this gig, which was contracted for the standard $500 JGB-at-Keystone rate (this would rise to $750 a night in 1977), but probably saw considerably more than that moving around.

1. Nicky is wasted. You knew this, but he's really, really wasted. He's at that horrible place (note 7), where he's both "pissed as a rat's nightmare" and "dry as a fuckin' boneyard". I believe him.
2. This is the last JGB #1 gig, as Nicky exits stage left. The conventional wisdom is that he was just too wasted and he had to go. I will argue in the book that he was never planned to last beyond the New Year. Either way, a few days later he'd be gigging a little with ol' pal John Cipollina, he never played with Garcia again, and he entered, from this night, perhaps the darkest period of a life too full of them.
3. Jerry and Mountain Girl are breaking up (Jackson 1999, 266-268). Right around this time Jerry deeds the Stinson house to MG and moves in with Deborah Koons in Belvedere.
4. Late 1975 has always been my guess for when the opiates become regularized. I don't know if the following refers to 1975 (it could be any year through 1975, really), but I have always thought it could have: "one Christmastime, on a whim, [Ron Rakow] took it upon himself to score some [China White] for himself and Garcia" (Jackson 1999, 289).
5. Money is tight, the Dead are going to have to start touring again, the Grateful Dead Movie is already an albatross that would hang around Garcia's neck until mid-1977, etc. etc.

I guess my point is that this is a pretty dark time in the Garciaverse. I would hate to extrapolate from that to this particular performance (the Winterland shows from a week and a half prior are actually quite good). And it's possible I am letting that darkness shade my listening, though I don't think so.

The Show as a Release

So, I find this release a little problematic insofar as it's not a great performance, and it's got all kinds of darkness around it. I understand the marketing appeal of the Dead guys' presence and the fact that it's Garcia's only New Year's Eve with the JGB. I also understand that quality tape is probably in sparer supply than one might wish. I am not going to be too hard on The Powers That Be, but would certainly argue for "great performance" as the first criterion of interest to this particular paying customer.

Anyway, references below, then listening notes below the fold.

REFERENCES

Arnold, Corry. 2009. December 31, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Jerry Garcia Band. Lost Live Dead, December 13, 2009, URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-31-1975-keystone-berkeley.html, consulted 12/31/2013.

Arnold, Corry. 2010. 2119 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA: The Keystone Berkeley. Lost Live Dead, December 31, 2010, URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html, consulted 4/22/2012.

Arnold, Corry. 2011. Jerry Garcia and Keystone Shows Overview. Lost Live Dead, January 2, 2011, URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html, accessed 7/23/2012.

Dawson, Julian. 2011. And On Piano ... Nicky Hopkins: The Extraordinary Life of Rock's Greatest Session Man. Foreword by Klaus Voormann. San Francisco: Backstage Press.

Jackson, Blair. 1999. Garcia: An American Life. New York: Penguin Books.

JGMF. 2010. JGB: December 31, 1975, Keystone, Berkeley: who was drumming?.

JGMF. 2014. "Bloody Hell".

JGMF. 2014. Nicky after JGB.

JGMF. 2014. Grateful Dead Three Ways: December 20, 1975.

Kippel, Les. 1976. Bits. Dead Relix 3, 2 (March-April), p. 19.

Wasserman, Jim. 1976. [Letter to the editor.] Dead Relix 3, 4 (July-August), p. 2.

LN jg1985-06-01.jgb.all.aud-corley.20921.shn2flac

There are some points I'd like to flesh out, about The Mission, Jerry's San Francisco DNA, and the rest of it. But there's just not time to do everything.

Another show with the Modulus Graphite guitar. I hear no difference.

Sets are still short in historical perspective. For the book I'll be able to make some graphs and stuff for that. As I have suggested, the night before, in L.A., was pretty much a disaster, but this night feels pretty good. I am sure I am hearing too much, but to me Garcia sounds glad to be home and playing. The voice is shredded, but the performance is quite good all around. Check out "Mission In The Rain" for that SF feel. Great stuff. As I note, in some interview (anyone remember which one? LIA?), Garcia projected a vision of himself as a "Mission Street R&B guy". This is a richly evocative characterization, truly the little corner of Americana carved out by the Garcia Band.

Note my spelling of "Reuben And Cérise". This is Hunter's title in Box of Rain (Hunter 1993, 181-183), followed by Dodd (2005, 360-362) and Allan. On Cats Garcia spelled our lady's name "Cherise" (as jerrygarcia.com continues to do). Deaddisc is inconsistent, labeling it "Rubin And Cherise" on the album page, but "Reuben And Cerise" (no accent aigu) on the song page; I believe the alternative spelling of our charming mandolinist is strictly incorrect, and hers only pedantically so. FWIW, anyway, all that. UPDATE 2021: I think I will just go with "Reuben And Cherise" like a normal person.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
492 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
June 1, 1985 (Saturday)
Corley shnid-20921 shn2flac

--set I (5 tracks, 41:20)--
s1t01. //Cats Under The Stars [#7:29] [0:04] % [0:04]
s1t02. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [10:54] [0:09]
s1t03. Tore Up Over You [9:24] [0:06] % [0:03]
s1t04. [0:05] Run For The Roses [5:07] ->
s1t05. /Deal [7:43] [0:10] %

--set II (5 tracks, 46:36)--
s2t01. [1:00] Mission In The Rain [11:08] [0:35]
s2t02. Love In The Afternoon [7:49] [0:25]
s2t03. Gomorrah [5:48] [0:07]
s2t04. Reuben And Cherise [7:10] [0:05] % [0:21]
s2t05. Tangled Up In Blue [11:38] [0:28]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn Branch - vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - 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/19850601-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-06-01-the-stone-san-francisco-ca/

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/20921 (this fileset).

! map: http://goo.gl/maps/L0BBt

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/stone-mothers-412-broadway-san.html

! band: JGB #21b, THE Jerry Garcia Band (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html).

! R: field recordist: John Corley

! R: field recording equipment: 2x Nakamichi 700 > Sony TC-D5M

! R: transfer: MAC > DATx > CDx (Jim Powell); CD > EAC0.9b4 (offset corrected, secure mode, QPS QUE 2410) > minor level adjustments at the beginning of each set (SF6) > tracking (cdwav) > sector boundaries confirmed (shntool) > SHN (shorten 3.4) via C.Ladner, misSHN in the rain, 12/03. shn2flac JGMF.

! historical: More explorations in the darkest period of Garcia's life. That's highly contestable, of course. One might think the last 18 months were worse, and they probably are, objectively. But I think he had lost hope by that time, and he didn't feel it as acutely. This period a decade earlier, by contrast, juxtaposes how down in the deep he was with where he still had a chance to be, at 43 years old, and how much he had left to do. One other thing about this show: *very* exceptionally, Garcia is not playing his Doug Irwin guitar (which one? I had written Rosebud, but maybe Tiger? I don't know the guitars) he's playing one made by Modulus Graphite (see Golden Road, Summer 1985, p. 9).

! R: s1t01 CUTS cuts in

! P: s1t01 @ 4:40 love Jerry's guitar tone and work here. Sounds great.

! P: s1t02 KOHD Garcia bending some huge notes late 6. This is great. Long vocal extension of "door" over 9 minute mark. Garcia is feeling this song.

! P: s1t03 TUOY JG is taking a great solo, it's not very loud on the tape, but it's a great solo, and the crowd is showing him some love, in the 2- minute mark. Nice guitar work continuing over 3. Very good guitar playing.

! R: s1t05 Deal clipped, certainly a tape flip there. So that was side A.

! P: s1t05 Deal solo from 3:29 blisters, mid-83 level grunge, but with some of his longer sustain from later. Still nice soloing, nice extension 4:19, with mid-length phrases, still raging 4:30-4:40, a little extra turn, long scale, over 5 cutting them in halves or quarters, more wail 5:09. They get nice some space over 6. I would have liked to see a few more minutes of wailing here. They are pretty clean back to "don't you let that Deal go down", Jerry good energy to end even if his voice sounds shot.

! P: s2t01 MITR Jerry is giving it his all by tackling this song. He knows he sounds rough, but it's "Mission In The Rain" - he's "ready to give anything for anything" he takes. Gallops into the song's upbeat part, the ladies backing him up strongly 2:30. This tape really captures the feeling of this hometown show. Beautifully. "Ten years ago, I walked these streets, my dreams were riding tall. Tonight, I would be thankful, Lord, for any dream at all ... come again ... walkin' along in the The Mission, in the rain, come again ..." Do you know San Francisco? Jerry does. If you know someplace truly amazing, but you're not from there, and that drives you crazy - you wish you were from there, maybe only secretly you wish it, but you aren't, and the ones who are are, and they know it, and they know that you know it, and there's no denying it. It doesn't have to be actively, obnoxiously spotlighted. I am a little jealous of Jerry for having San Francisco in his bones, the salt, the portal grit, the depth of it. It seems that Mission In The Rain (#song-M), words by Robert Hunter and music by Jerry, is directly biographical, Hunter writing about Garcia's attachment to the city, their shared attachment, but Garcia's native DNA lock on it. I bet his body chemistry was off when he wasn't soaked in fog. xxx The Mission xxx. The way he sustains his N at 3:20 ish, on come agaiN, he is accenting very nicely. Now it's the same spirit with his guitar 3:40ff, not in a rush. In some interview xxx, when asked about his musical image of himself, it was as a "Mission Street R & B guy". What an amazing local pointil that is. Jose (Joe), Jerry's father, was a jazzman in the 1930s, before running into union troubles, switching over to running a bar, and then drowning before young Jerry's eyes on August 25, 1947. The song loses the thread a few times, loses a little steam, but there is something delightfully intimate about this performance, Jerry and his local fans in his local haunt in his city.

! P: s2t03 Gomorrah vocals sound fatigued.

! P: s2t04 RC Garcia's voice is shredded, but this has tons of energy. Melvin has some nice horny synth working.

! P: s2t05 TUIB no words leaving stage. Crowd seems enthused, happy.

Checking Donna Out While Jamming With Her Husband: JGB, April 2, 1976

VN jg1976-04-02.jgb.late.video-youtube-Deadvids

I'll tag this "VN" in the title, for viewing notes. B&W Monarch Entertainment video from the Cap in Passaic. Not even a crusty aud in circulation, and low-gen video of the complete show drops from the sky, 38 years later. Wow.

Viewing notes below. One of the most interesting things for me is to have some Archimedean leverage on who sings the harmony vocals on the various songs. The higher male parts are Tutt, the baritone is Keith.

Garcia is unbelievably bouncy and animated. There's a lot of great stuff. "Moonlight Mile" is sublime, though imperfect. "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home" could use a little boost out of the gate, but it has some really interesting spaces, including a quite explicit "Fire On The Mountain" theme, as was common during this era.

Great to be able to see this. Astonishing, in fact. Check it out.

Jerry Garcia Band

Capitol Theatre

326 Monroe Street

Passaic, NJ 07055

April 2, 1976 (Friday) – 11 PM (late show)

113 minute low-gen B&W video

introduction (1) 0:28

Sugaree :29-10:06 -11:20

Catfish John 11:21-20:03 –22:30

The Way You Do The Things You Do 22:31-29:05 -29:58

Mystery Train 29:59-39:33 –41:32

A Strange Man 41:33-47:56 –48:40

Moonlight Mile 48:41-58:54 % 59:00

Harder They Come 59:01-74:50 -76:52

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 76:53-87:00 -88:19

My Sisters And Brothers 88:20-95:40 ->

Lonesome And A Long Way From Home 95:41-112:30 (2) -112:41

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3

lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-guitar, vocals;

lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals;

lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano, vocals;

lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;

lineup: Ron Tutt – drums, 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/19760402-02

! db: none as of this writing (3/11/2014).

! band: JGB #3 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/GSy7A

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/capitol-theater-monroe-st-and-central.html

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1976-04-02-capitol-theater-passaic-nj-2/

! historical: unbelievable. Not even an audience tape, not of either show from this night, and a complete video emerges! Wow.

! (1) John Scher: “On drums, Mr. Ron Tutt. On bass, the indestructible John Kahn.” Etc.

! P: Sugaree Big huge grin and swaying, though the fingers need a little warming up. The tempo is turgid. Keith feature over 5-min mark, ho hum. Tape warbling. Is there any chance the whole thing is running slow? 7:45 Jerry is so blissed out, so is John, checking Donna out. Great little pulls down the neck around 8:20, so animated! He’s putting his whole body into every note.

! P: CJ has the three voice harmonies, Jerry, Donna and Tutt! At 14:06 you can see Tutt singing “walking in his footsteps in the sweet delta dawn” … wow! Again, crazy expressiveness over 17 min mark, his whole body swaying, digging into every note. Rocking and singing. Sweet! Tutt again @ 19:33 … they have this choreographed! @ 20:34-20:43 is that Harry Popick talking to Tutt?

! P: TWYDTTYD I think this is Keith singing harmonies! Yes, at start of song can see Tutt, and he is not singing. Garcia’s first solo sounds almost like the melody of (a? another?) Motown. He takes a second run round the bases, crowd, enthused, Jerry responding, Tutt banging. He skipped a beat but no-one else did, and he caught up right on the 1, big cue to Donna for the “you made my life so rich” verse. Nice.

! P: MT @33:07 another run ‘round the bases and it’s good. More good in the late 33 min mark when he is tearing up, nodding shaking his mane over the 34 mark. Outstanding. Smiling and shredding. Another very fluent solo 36:30ish and ff. Pulling @ 37 wow! Some fanning 37:17. He is on fire, gunslinging 37:30, bobbing his head like it’s 1968.

! P: Moonlight Mile. My goodness. Long noodle to start. Vocals come in 51:45. The paragraph Jerry writes up until 53:48 leaves me breathless. It’s like a Nabokov sentence, so richly textured. Just another “mad, mad day on the road” … “just another moonlight mile down the road” …  Nooohhh … they are all ready to do the “down the road … down the road … down the road” shouting, Donna and Ronnie, and Garcia pulls the rip cord. Why, Jerry, why? It rolls to an end, but it should have gone on. Check against other versions #songs-M, but that “down the road” climax is essential, and this version lacks it. Ahh, well. Maybe Jerry needed to pee.

! P: HTC Jerry finds a nice groove 63 over 64, back to bobbing, smiling, gesticulating. Keith nice lead 64:20ff, very pretty, fingers well-filmed 64:40. KG another nice turn after 65. Nice shot 65:39, Keith, clean hair, nose and above over the 9' Steinway baby grand, still grooving nicely, Garcia starts saying hello after 56, chunky underneath and peaking hello, 66:30, Keith some nice scales. Late 66 he steps on Jerry’s solo, Keith was going to go a third time around. He is so loud and percussive. So Garcia soloes and they both do, and that’s fine, Keith pulls back on the volume a little into 67. So Keith’s feature was about two and a half minutes, he was ready for more. Jerry starting to liquefy late 67, then doing a little wailing, looking over at Keith, puts his hips into it 68:20. Really, really nice. 68:40 Jerry starts doing big cords while Keith trills, Garcia making paragraphs of doubled syllables, not as fast or baroque as the earlier stuff, but interesting because he’s doubling his cords and then skipping the ones in between. Nice. Return to vox 69:40ish. 70:30 Donna was going to do another chorus, but Garcia goes to “the oppressors” verse.

! P: TNTDODD can’t tell if that’s Keith singing the baritone part. 86:05 Jerry shredding, again 86:20

! Sisters and Brothers marred by tape problems. But this is a deepy, swampy, Dorothy Love Coates groove. 90:10 Donna holding onto the Steinway and swaying … oh my. Watch Jerry sing @ 90:45! Wow. 94:30ish we can see that the baritone singing is Keith, because Tutt is in frame and he’s just grooving and drumming.

! P: LAALWFH they aren’t quite on the same page to start, need to go round the bases. That’s unfortunate. So, too, is the 1976 tempo. See, this song needs to bust out the gate. And it doesn’t here. So not off to a good start. @ 97:00 Keith hits a clam and Donna shoots him a nasty look, right on camera. See 4/3/76b for how it’s supposed to sound, or 4/1/76. 97:30 ish Jerry goes to see about a technical issue, some distortion. 97:50ish he solos. 100 minute mark we haven’t achieved liftoff, Garcia is working a little to coax the notes out of his guitar, and his bandmates. They get something cooking around 101:45. Now some nice syntactical sustain in the 103 minute mark, very long phrases. 104:30ff JG gets back to the LAALWFH melody, and he’s doing some very interesting work with Keith, looking back directly at him, they are together on this little thing happening over 105 minute mark. Jerry is checking Donna out, jamming with her husband, long run down and back up 105:39ish, there it is Jerry, right there, that’s the spot! Late 106 mark Keith is hitting the FOTM stuff, Jerry joins him 107:15, or nearly, but Keith is definitely on that. Jerry’s phrasing is long extended, here, Tutt starts banging 107:45, Jerry down to FOTM theme, he is playing FOTM over the 108 minute mark, fanning 108:06, 108:18 real high. Tearing it up. 108:33 this if JG playing FOTM, wow, picks something special right at 108:58, so so nice. Back to LAALWFH on the guitar, 109:15ff, really back at 109:30, slow it down, how’s he gonna signal the big return? Silence 110:00-110:10, then the big return, but the tape is dying here. Just in time to get the big return before it dies, thank you tape gods. They are going over “somebody help me” more times than usual, over and over. Return 111:40, but we are in warbleville.

! (2) JG: “Thanks a lot.”