I actually had to FF: JGB at Portland Meadows, 8/8/93

LN jg1993-08-08.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.145607.flac1644

Nick thought the titular show was OK, but the vocals were so catastrophically bad that I actually couldn't really listen to this. The only other show that has revulsed me in the same way was 11/23/72, and that was as much about the recording (overloaded, especially on the vocals) as it was about the performance (which I would actually like to revisit). But 8/8/93 JGB at Portland Meadows is just a man without a voice insisting, nevertheless, on singing. I bet the crowd would have thought it cool if he had just said "My voice is shot, we'll try to do some tunes as instrumentals", but for better or for worse the protagonist keeps singing.

These are the worst vocals since pre-coma, and among the worst ever. They had played the day before in Seattle, but before that he hadn't played in six weeks or so, having spent some time in Ireland around the month of July (Greenfield 1996, 291). Maybe he was jet-lagged. I don't mean to sound too critical - voices are sometimes lost. My judgment here is purely aesthetic - I just can't listen to this.

The Maker is nice. The show has a few other moments. But, overall, a forgettable afternoon show (unless you were there, in which case maybe it was awesome).

Jerry Garcia Band
Portland Meadows
1001 N. Schmeer Road
Portland, OR 97217
August 8, 1993 (Sunday)
Vasseur shnid-145607

--set I (8 tracks, 7 tunes, 55:53)--
s1t01. [0:21] Cats Under The Stars [8:35] [0:22]
s1t02. [0:53] Mission In The Rain [7:04] [0:50]
s1t03. [0:32] That's What Love Will Make You Do [8:02] [0:11]
s1t04. And It Stoned Me,
s1t05. ambience [1:05]
s1t06. The Maker [7:19] [0:11]
s1t07. Money Honey -5:42] [0:05]
s1t08. My Sisters And Brothers

--set II (7 tracks, 63:42)--
s2t01. The Way You Do The Things You Do
s2t02. Wonderful World
s2t03. Tore Up Over You [7:42] [0:46]
s2t04. Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox [8:05] [0:06]
s2t05. Reuben And Cherise [7:52] [0:15]
s2t06. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:11] ->
s2t07. Tangled Up In Blue [12:17] (xx) [0:10]

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - 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; [mm:ss] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [mm:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19930808-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1993-08-08

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/6343 (Schoeps MK4 shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/13134 (DAUD shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/34588 (Bearpalm MAD); https://etreedb.org/shn/78974 (Gindoff MAD); https://etreedb.org/shn/90483 (Severson MAC); https://etreedb.org/shn/145607 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/145996 (Primo Williams's MAC).

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/nyuwi57rKey

! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/10/portland-meadows-1001-n-schmeer-road.html

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

! ref: Nick, "Aug 93: JGB up north and at home," URL http://deadthinking.blogspot.com/2018/05/aug-93-jgb-up-north-and-at-home.html.

! R: field recordist: Chuck Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAT

! R: Transfer: DAT Master > CDR (Kyle Porter); Extract: CDR clone > EAC > WAV > FLAC16 (Bill Shaw aka Shark)

! R: seeder's Source Notes: Sometime in the early 2000's, Chuck loaned Kyle all of his 92-95 JGB masters to transfer to CDR. Kyle "mastered" the DATs to CDR, fading in/out as needed, adjusting levels (as needed) and tracking. Kyle then gave Chuck his masters back, with nice CDR copies of all of it. Chuck offered to clone the entire set for me, so I gave him a spool of 100 blank MITSUI CDRs and the next time I saw him, he gave them back to me, filled with his JGB recordings. Many of the Chuck V. JGB recordings do circulate already, but probably not all of them, and those that do may not be the Kyle Porter transfers. So, Here they are! --Shark

! R: great tape

! P: s1t01 CUTS sluggish out of the gate. Nice tone late 4 over 5. Managed to finish it without going around too many times, which is always good.

! P: s1t02 MITR IMO JG sounds absolutely terrible.

! P: s1t06 Maker is excellent. The guitar work mid-4 is very thrilling. He remembers most of the lyrics.

! P: s1t03 TWLWMYD off key and reedy. He screws up second verse, turns it into a nice little guitar piece.

! P: s1t07 Money Honey completely croaking by the end.

! P: s1T08 MSAB his voice is as croaky here as it ever was in 84-'85.

! P: s2t01 TWYDTTYD his voice did not get better over the break

! song: s2t02 WAWW is the Sam Cooke "don't know much about history" one.

! P: s2t03 TUOY coming back to this a few days after hearing the first part of the show. God, his voice is painful to hear. But TUOY finds Melvin bringing some great energy and color, and Garcia tearing it up in the 5 minute mark. The guitar isn't loud in the mix - wish it were louder.

! P: s2t05 RAC he forgets half a verse in mid-2. Man, his voice. I can't wait for this listen to end.

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

His voice is fading fast: JGB at SUNY New Paltz, 11/29/77

LN jg1977-11-29.jgb.all.aud-cooper.berger.124217.flac2496

I have already posted about the fascinating setlist rarity, "Here Comes The Sun" popping up in the middle of "Stir It Up". Neat.

Beyond that, I note that this is a pivotal moment in Garcia's singing. Everything's still arranged around the highs he could hit early in 1976 and 1977. But in the meantime, The Movie et seq. has made a smoking ruin of his otolaryngological system. Even at $200 a gram around this time, Garcia seems to have been doing lots and lots of blow; John Henry himself couldn't compete against marching Bolivians in tunneling through the human sinus. I had always thought that he was doing top-shelf medical stuff, and perhaps it varied. But an interview from a year later (December 1978) finds Jerry not being choosy:

The toot is vicious, cut with meth, not with quinine, and it’s enough to rip your sinuses out. It goes straight to the forebrain – a howling blizzard of Insight and Truth. The rush is, well, chilling; your scalp tingles, a hospital sourness scours the back of your throat.  Then a Con Ed generator of electricity sizzles your synapses (Abbott 1979, 35).

There's also the three packs of Camels a day (Troy 1994, 190). I don't know how Jerry's opioid of choice, "Persian", which he smoked, may have affected things. Maybe it palliated the nose, throat and sinuses, leaving him ready to dust and maybe darn some socks ("Refreshing!"). But even so, vocal chord striation brings singing limitations. I hear all of that here, much more than I did on my recent listen to 11/23/77. His voice is fading fast -- six weeks later, in January 1978, he'd pass several Dead shows without singing -- and he hasn't trained himself nor modified arrangements to go around and through these new limitations.

Jerry Garcia Band
Elting Gym, State University of New York (SUNY)
New Paltz, NY 12561
November 29, 1977 (Tuesday)
Jim Cooper flac2496 shnid-124217

--set I (5 tracks, 55:10)--
s1t01. //Let It Rock [#6:48] [0:02] % [0:13] % [0:16]
s1t02. Stir It Up (1) [10:41] [2:16]
s1t03. I Second That Emotion [9:18] %
s1t04. ... Simple Twist Of Fate [#13:20] % [0:04] %
s1t05. /Midnight Moonlight [#12:07] %

--set II (7 tracks, 72:36)--
s2t01. [0:28] % /The Way You Do The Things You Do [9:55] %
s2t02. /Catfish John [#9:48] %
s2t03. The Harder They Come [13:41] %
s2t04. [0:04] % /Gomorrah [#6:28] %
s2t05. /Mystery Train [#8:36] [0:02] %
s2t06. /Russian //Lullaby [#13:#50] %
s2t07. Mission In The Rain [9:37] (1) [0:03] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano;
! lineup: Buzz Buchanan - drums;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals;
! lineup: Maria Muldaur - 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/19771129-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/124216 (Cooper flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/124217 (Cooper flac2496, this fileset).

! map: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=elting+gym+address&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Elting+Gym,+Southside+Loop,+New+Paltz,+New+York+12561&gl=us&t=h&z=16

! band: JGB #4 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html).

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

! tags: 1977, JGB, listening notes, Here Comes The Sun, Jim Cooper, college gigs, Elting Gym, SUNY, New Paltz, NY, rarities, drugs, vocals, songs-H

! R: field recordist: Jim Cooper

! R: field recording equipment: 2x Sony ECM22p > Hitachi TRQ-232

! R: field recording media: 1x Maxell UDKLII-C90 (Dolby B), 1x Maxell UD-C90 (Dolby B)

! R: transfer: Nakamichi Dragon (Dolby B) > Benchmark ADC1 24/96 > PC > Adobe Audition 2.0 > cd wave > flac. transfer & seeded by Rob Berger 3/13.

! R: notes: "nice aud for a gymnasium. thanks Jim"

! s1t02 (1) Stir It Up JG plays "Here Comes The Sun" melody from 8:45-9:10.

! P: s1t04 STOF JG's voice sounds shot. He is straining against range limitations, and he hasn't yet trained himself how to sing around them. This is a pivotal moment in his singing. Everything's still arranged around the highs he could hit early in 1976 and 1977. Discuss. Bottom line: late 1977, Jerry's having to adjust his singing style pretty drastically, but he hasn't quite gotten there. And, oh yeah, Simple Twist: the whole old man thing works to pretty good effect, so it's not all bad. Some nice glassy guitar picking mid-6ff. This STOF has some nice interplay between Garcia, Keith and John. Jerry laying out long paragraphs late 8 over 9-min mark. 10-minute mark Garcia is fanning very close together, a good 30-second blast, that's nonetheless under control. Yeah, hits it hard 10:45, a 5-second thing to drop the big '1' for the next verse. Well done. Pretty good version of STOF, NB no bass feature.

! R: s1t05 MM clips in

! P: s2t01 TWYDTTYD these harmony "arrangements" aren't working for me.

! R: s2t03 HTC patched drop out

! R: s2t06 RL clips in, splice @ 12:46

! P: s2t06 RL Kahn does a bass feature late 6-min mark

! s2t07 (1) JG: "See y'all later on."