1969 NRPS: new data

Just a tip of the hat to Lost Live Dead, which has been doing yeoman's work unearthing early New Riders gigs based on various sources, but especially on careful digging through late 1969 San Francisco Chronicle (and notably Gleason's column).

Because of their hard work, TJS has recently added inter alia the following dates:

Aug 6, 1969  The Matrix **including first known public usage of the NRPS moniker

Aug 8, 1969  The Matrix

Aug 9, 1969  The Matrix

Aug 13, 1969  Family Dog at The Great Highway

Oct 9, 1969  Inn of the Beginning

Oct 16, 1969  Mandrake's, Berkeley

Nov 3, 1969  The Matrix

Nov 4, 1969  The Matrix

Nov 6, 1969  Inn of the Beginning

Nov 13, 1969  The Poppycock, Palo Alto

Nov 18, 1969  Family Dog at The Great Highway

Nov 20, 1969  The Poppycock, Palo Alto

Nov 27, 1969  Family Dog at The Great Highway

Nov 28, 1969  Inn of the Beginning

Nov 29, 1969  Inn of the Beginning

This is just awesome stuff. It really helps to flesh out the heretofore relatively obscure early gig history of the New Riders. Thank you, gentlemen!

Eyjafjallajökull

JGMF is stuck in Paris. Anyone know anywhere in town where there might be some rock & roll memorabilia?

Teabonics

Awesome.

ht Sully.

Garcia, Gravenites, Jules Broussard: ca. 1973, San Quentin Prison

**update: I have it in my mind that this never happened. I spoke with Nick the Greek once and seem to have come away with that idea**

On 4/29/90, Garcia sat in with "Nick Gravenites and Animal Mind" for a Brian Wilson Defense Fund Benefit at the South of Market Cultural Center in San Francisco. If you haven't heard it, the circulating fileset is well worth seeking out. The whole thing is great, but "Small Walk-In Box" will leave you marveling at Jerry's ability to pick up a tune (presumably with little preparation) and nail it. I tend to conceive of Jerry's various one-off guest shots from the 1986-1990 period as of a piece with each other, with a relatively healthy/happy Jerry really on his game, but that's a matter for another post or several.

What I want to mention here is an otherwise unknown-to-me gig that Garcia seems to have played around 1973 at San Quentin.  Lost Live Dead did a post on Grateful Dead performances at San Quentin, to which this might need to be added.

In Jimbo Juanis's regular Relix column that discusses the 4/29/90 thing (seemingly mis-dated 4/30, but anyway), he reports a bit of chatter with Nick Gravenites. Nick the Greek says that he had played with Garcia once before:

About 17 years ago, Garcia and I and Jules Broussard (a local sax player) played for the inmates at San Quentin Prison. All the inmates at the gig were musicians and they all brought their horns and we all played together. We did the gig in the room that used to house the gallows.

I don't have a lot to add, except that I sure would like to learn more! I wonder if records of this sort of thing might be requestable under some kind of state of California open records provision?

REFERENCE: 
(1) Jimbo Juanis, "Bay Area Bits," Relix 17, 4 (August 1990): p. 25.

Guitars Unlimited, Menlo Park

This is a bit beyond my ken, but since I have one Warlocks post, and an early Phil post, and since LLD has a Menlo Park angle, I thought I'd make a note of it. This may well be in the record, but I don't recall it. This is from a ca. early 1991 interview with John Dawson.

Describing his hook-up with the GD and eventual NRPS people, Dawson notes that Garcia and Nelson gave music lessons "at various and sundry music stores around Palo Alto." He mentions Dana Morgan's of course, but also describes Dana Morgan, Jr. leaving and Phil coming in thusly: "It was in a different music store called Guitars Unlimited, which is in Menlo Park."

Again, I haven't consulted my old GD stuff in a long time, so this could well be well-known. I thought I'd put it out there for you Menlo Park types, just in case.

BTW, Dawson also mentions a place called Pinky's Pizza in Menlo Park as the place where Dana Morgan played with the Warlocks. I have no idea if that's new information or a muddle of Magoo's, but, again, there you have it.

Source: Brown, Toni A. 1991. New Riders of the Purple Sage Interview. Relix 18, 3 (June): 19-20.

The 1974 Garcia/Saunders instrumental previously listed as "Bags' Groove"

UPDATE 1/24/2015: Commenter Nick has determined that this is actually "Darben The Redd Foxx".

For fans of Jerry Garcia's pre-1975 excursions beyond the Grateful Dead, one of the great fun things is to hear Jerry trying on really unusual material, seemingly without much preparation. I think of the instrumental versions of "Day By Day" (from Godspell--previously misidentified as Jesus Christ, Superstar-- thanks to anonymous for the correction), the Motown "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," and "Cucumber Slumber" as examples, but there are many others (and presumably more than we know based on circulating tapes).

Even more tantalizing is when there's a tune that "we" --i.e., the community of people who chronicle this stuff-- don't know. Sleuthing around and discovering the name and provenance of a mysterious jazz instrumental is a real challenge for someone as illiterate as me, but is also a lot of fun and is very rewarding when a previous unknown gets a designation.

I think we have a case of that here, though this is not 100% and should be further discussed.

The tune in question is the instrumental that appears on circulating recordings of Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders from the Lion's Share in San Anselmo on June 4, 1974, and the Keystone in Berkeley on June 6, 1974. I know of no other versions. The song has forever been listed at TJS as "Bags' Groove," but that is not what it is. I'd like to get more ears on the alternatives, so below I post (1) links to the Garcia/Saunders tunes; (2) hypothesized song titles, with links; (3) some existing analysis provided by folks more expert than me; and (4) a tentative conclusion.

(1) Here are links to the Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders versions:

June 4, 1974: [sorry, these are dead]

June 6, 1974: [sorry, these are dead]

(2) Here are the hypotheses we have in terms of what song this is:

H1: "Bag's Groove" (Milt Jackson)
http://www.last.fm/music/Milt+Jackson/_/Bag%27s+Groove (listening link at top right)

H2: "The Crossing (Oubour)" (Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band)
http://www.rushhour.nl/store_detailed.php?item=38588, then down to the playlist for the track in question.

H3: "Ptah the El Daoud" (Alice Coltrane)
http://www.last.fm/music/Alice+Coltrane/_/Ptah,+the+El+Daoud (listening link at top right). This was first identified by nick in an email to the Jerry Site.

(3) analyses

Santos L. Halper from DNC first proposed H2. When I suggested I didn't think that was it, he replied thusly:

after a few more listens, I agree with your assessment. The Crossing and the theme from 6.4/6.6 jam aren't exactly the same, though the middle phrase is so similar that I was thinking that the G/S version could be a simplified arrangement. But the G/S version certainly lacks the second half of the head from The Crossing.

And actually, having finally tracked down a copy of Ptah last night, it also sounds very similar to the 6.4/6.6 jam, though once again, the G/S verions lack the second half of the head where the melody is resolved into deep held notes. But something by Alice Coltrane seems more likely to have been in one of their record collections at the time.

Making things even more complicated, the two Garcia/Saunders versions also take different approaches compared to each other, with the 6.4 version played as straight ahead jazz with a walking bassline and the 6.6 version played more as a march with a simpler thumping bassline.

DNCer Blacula weighed in with this:

In listening to the two sound clips you provided against 6/4/74, it is my opinion that this is the head of Ptah, The El Daoud that has been stuck on a standard I-IV-V progression. It is also in a different key.

The middle (solo) section is different, but that is like comparing two versions of Dark Star (or Don't Let Go). They both have an identifiable theme which then progresses to the solo (jam) section. The theme is typically restated at some point near the end.

The track by Salah Regab is surprisingly similar at the head, but is not the theme from 6/4/74.

Then we had a little Q&A, Qs by me and As by Blac:

Q: What does "the head" mean? I assume it's just the start, but does it have a more precise meaning than that?

A: Basically it is the theme. It is performed at the "head" of the tune, and is a basis to launch off from. There may be a more specific definition, but this is how I've always understood it.

Q: Explain for a musical ignoramous?

A: The "I" is the root, usually the key of the song. The "IV" is a musical fourth which describes the interval between the root and this note. The "V" being the fifth.

Basically in layman's terms, this means a blues progression.

Q: So, would it be most accurate to call this "Ptah, the El Daoud"? How would you refer to this?

A: That was/is a tough call. If the head is the same, but the underlying chord progression is not, can it still be called Ptah?

I say yes, if you consider that it is likely derived from Ptah and extrapolated from there.

It could be called a Ptah jam, but to my ears there is a stating of the theme, a jam/solo section, and the theme is stated again before the end of the song. My contention is that this is a complete performance of Ptah, even though it has been slightly adapted. You'll notice that the Alice Coltrane version does not restate the theme before the end of the song.

(4) tentative conclusion

I tentatively conclude that we should be calling this tune "Ptah, the El Daoud" in our Garcia setlists. Thoughts/reactions/etc. most welcomed!

update: It is "Darben The Redd Foxx"

Jerry Garcia at the Matrix, 1970-1971

As I noted a little bit ago, Ross Hannan sent some wonderful info on Matrix gigs. In this post I respond to some of his listings with questions, additional or different information, etc. I was just going to email this, but one never knows when someone else might see this and be able to weigh-in.

So this is not intended to be a comprehensive list of Garcia at the Matrix. This only touches on dates about which I have something to say. Perhaps after we hash this out I'll just post a full list of Garcia @ the Matrix for the record.

So, top line of each is Ross's entry. His comments, if any, appear on 2nd line in quotes. My response follows.

Monday, April 20, 1970 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders
I have Garcia and Wales. Source: Berkeley Barb, April 17-23, 1970, p.6.

Monday, April 27, 1970 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders
I have Garcia and Wales.. Source: Berkeley Barb, April 24-May 1, 1970, p. 8.

Thursday, April 30, 1970 Sandy Bull
"Seemingly spurious New Riders of The Purple Sage show listed on The Jerry Site for this date - with associated recording."
I assume there's evidence for Sandy Bull. How does that stack up with the evidence for NRPS (a tape)?

Monday, May 18, 1970    Jerry Garcia, Howard Wales and Friends
Tuesday, May 19, 1970    Jerry Garcia, Howard Wales and Friends
Wednesday, May 20, 1970    Jerry Garcia, Howard Wales and Friends
What is the basis for the second two nights? Sources traditionally list Monday, 5/18.  Evidence for this includes an ad in Good Times (v.3 n.20, 5/15/70, p. 24), and information from the Garcia vault. (Coincidentally, I believe that this is the show that was released as Side Trips.) I'd love for these shows to have happened, so please do tell!

Monday, May 25, 1970    Monday Night Jam
Scenedrome listing in Berkeley Barb (May 22-28, 1970, p. 18) lists "Howard Wales, Jerry Garcia & Friends". I realize that Garcia was probably not home from England ...

Monday, June 01, 1970    Monday Night Jam
I show this as Wales/Garcia, based on calendar item in Good Times v.3 n.22 (5/29/70), p. 24. (I  know these are not mutually exclusive listings ... just want to fill in artists, as possible.)

Wednesday, July 29, 1970 Harvey Mandel
Thursday, July 30, 1970 Harvey Mandel
"The Jerry Site lists NRPS as performing - but it seems spurious to me."
I have the same question as for 4/30/70. Is it possible that NRPS also played? TJS listing is based on tapes, nothing more. AFAIK, FYI and FWIW.

Wednesday, September 02, 1970 Seatrain, Kracker Jacks
"The Jerry Site lists NRPS as performing - but it seems spurious to me."
As just above: the tape is the only evidence for a NRPS gig, AFAIK.

Monday, October 12, 1970 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders and Friends
Obviously, if GD were in New Jersey, JG would not have been at Matrix, however it was billed. Deadlists says this about this GD date: "According to Marc Schaeffer the Dead played another, unscheduled concert at this venue [Marion Shea Auditorium - Paterson State College, Wayne, NJ] on 10/12/70. There is a review in the student newspaper (not informative, according to Schaeffer) but apparently no tapes of the show. There is no SBD of this show in the vault." I'd like to find this review. In its absence, I'd be willing to consider that this GD date is a phantom.

Tuesday, October 13, 1970 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders and Friends
Wednesday, October 14, 1970 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders and Friends
After 10/12 GD gig in NJ, they were in Philly on 10/16. Of course they could have come home in between, though why they would have done so isn't clear to me. I am skeptical that Garcia was at the Matrix on these nights.

Monday, October 19, 1970 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders and Friends
Seems more possible to me than the previous. GD were in Minneapolis on 10/18 and would go to DC on 10/23. Everyone has always assumed that they didn't fly home (one of the many reasons that the "10/21/70 Matrix Jam" tape, said to include JG, has been called into question). But the more I learn from Lost Live Dead & related, the more closely I look, the more I am open to the possibility that, for whatever reason, he could well have gone from Minn to CA back out to DC.

Wednesday, October 21, 1970 Santana, Quicksilver Messenger Service [without John Cippolina]
Some day there needs to be a whole post on this. Any thoughts on whether the circulating tape has Garcia on it? Some discussion of circulating recordings at db.etree.org.

Monday, October 26, 1970 Jerry Garcia and Friends
GD were in St. Louis on 10/24 and would head out to Stony Brook for show on 10/30. The more I know, the more I buy that Garcia could have flown home in between and played this Monday night Matrix session with Merl.

Tuesday, November 03, 1970 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders and Friends
In years past I would have doubted this (from Stony Brook on 10/31/ to Port Chester on 11/5, via San Francisco in between?). But given other evidence (e.g., here and here), I find this date plausible.

Monday, February 08, 1971 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders
Tuesday, February 09, 1971 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders
I have never seen these dates. What info supports this listing?

Wednesday, March 03, 1971 Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders
Didn't GD play Fillmore West this night? It's on the COAU Carousel list. Wouldn't that preclude Garcia at Matrix, ads notwithstanding?

Mickey and the Hartbeats, October 28, 1968, Matrix, San Francisco, CA

Deadlists no longer lists (if it ever did) a Hartbeats show at the Matrix on Monday, 10/28/68. It doesn't appear on the Chicken on a Unicycle Matrix list, either. But what are we to make of this tidbit, from Deadlist's 10/29/68 Hartbeats entry?

On page 26 of issue #34 (Summer 1996) of Dupree's Diamond News, Dick Latvala stated in an interview "What I know exists in our Vault are the shows, and they are on four-track 15 i.p.s." and "There are two dates, 10/28 and 10/29, both of which have four reels."

Jerry Garcia and Howard Wales: June 7, 1970, Matrix, San Francisco, CA (PHANTOM)

The Jerry Site still doesn't have any way to keep a list of deleted shows. If one is deleted or its date is changed, the old entry evaporates. So I am trying to keep track of what disappears under this "TJS-deletion" tag.

Anyway, TJS has listed a Garcia/Wales show for Sunday, June 7, 1970, probably based on a listing in the Berkeley Barb contributed by Joey Newlander. Gordon Sharpless was also credited as an information contributor, though I don't know in what capacity. Here was the note for the show:

Billed as "Jerry Garcia, Howard Wales and Friends". Listing from newspaper advertisement. The Dead played this same date at the Fillmore West. Although it's a possibility both shows took place (this being in the afternoon), it's unlikely.

As Ross points out to me, Sunday shows almost never happen at the Matrix. Gary Jackson's list of Matrix dates has the club closed on June 7th. The GD were playing at Fillmore West, as noted above. Finally, there is good evidence, apparently including a recording in the Garcia vault, for a June 8, 1970 Garcia/Wales gig at Matrix, their usual Monday Night thing.

In brief: seems like there was no HWJG thing at the Matrix on June 7, 1970. I'd guess that the Barb had a typo or other misinformation.

JGB: November 17, 1981, Uptown Theatre, Chicago, IL

A couple of quick notes about the Jerry Garcia Band @ Uptown Theatre in Chicago, IL, in late 1981.

[note that the Trib appeared to be misspelling it as "Theater" in this timeframe.]

First, it appears the show might have originally been scheduled for 10/29/81.

That would have made it the first show of the tour, but it looks like it was bumped toward the end and held on November 17th.

Second, the Jerry Site has always shown early and late shows for this date. But a listing in the Chicago Tribune from November 15 shows only one show, beginning at 7:30:

Does anyone know if there were actually two shows on this night?

While I am in this time-period, does anyone really believe that the JGB played three sets at the Denver Rainbow on 11/19/81? I don't.  But I do hope to find out. You'll be the first to know.

update: Mason Taylor aud listening notes

The mystery of the Jerry Garcia Band 11/28/77 ticket stubs

I just don't know what to make of this.

 

What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, are five unique ticket stubs for a Jerry Garcia show at SUNY Stony Brook (Gym) on November 28, 1977.  There is another stub that used to be linked from the Jerry Site which is distinct from these five.

So, unless we have six beautifully-concocted fakes, it certainly seems the people had tickets for a Jerry Garcia show on this date at this location. The stubs are torn and so they appear to have been honored and used.

Here's the kicker: there is simply no other evidence that this show happened on this date. It happened on December 9th. How do we know this?

First, there are multiple eyewitness accounts.

Second, there are ticket stubs:

Third, there is a delightful recording, which, after pitch-correcting, shows this to be a typically fun and hot late 1977 JGB east coast tour show.

Fourth, there is loads of evidence from the SUNY Stony Brook Statesman (happily, online!) that the show happened on 12/9, and none whatsoever that points to 11/28.

a) For ex ante evidence, there is a piece from 10/28 that describes a ticketing snafu, whereby Ticketron was able to sell tickets before the SUNY Student Box Office could (1). The article clearly states that the show is scheduled for December 9th.

b) For more ex ante evidence, ads published in the Statesman (I think ... not sure why I didn't note the publication info) that span the 11/28 and 12/9 dates show nothing happening on 11/28, and the Garcia show on 12/9:

c) For ex post evidence, there is a show review (2).

Fifth, if you look again at the scans of the 11/28/77 tickets, you'll see the middle one on the left has handwritten "Dec. 9" under the date.

Sixth, I have now seen the gig contract, and there it is - 12/9.

So, what are we to make of the 11/28 ticket stubs?

H1: reschedule. Historically, the Jerry Site worked under the reasonable assumption that there was a reschedule.But there is simply no evidence for this. Given the coverage in the Statesman, this would have been all over the paper. Eyewitnesses also say it just wasn't so. So I think we can reject this possibility.

H2: the "11/28" stubs are counterfeits. Pro: don't these stubs look like GDP design? Should they look like that? Cons: The scans certainly have a lot of verisimilitude. Why would someone go through all the trouble of making such realistic fakes (of objects that just aren't worth that much, anyway!), only to get the date wrong?  I suppose it could give the sense of rarity or something, but this just doesn't seem likely. Not impossible, just highly unlikely.

H3: the date mis-printed. Note that the ones that are correctly dated are Ticketron tickets, while the "11/28" ones have the different style. The Neilssen piece (1) indicates at least that there was separate ticketing from the campus and from Ticketron. Maybe the student activities group putting the show on put some stoner in charge of getting the tickets together, and he/she just goofed.

I don't really know. I kind of lean to H3, but just can't bring myself to think that such an error would have slipped through the cracks.We'd really need some folks who were there, preferably involved, to weigh in. So please send your Stony Brook alums here to clear up the mystery!

REFERENCES
(1) Tom Neilssen, "Ticketron Gets Garcia Tickets Before Campus," Statesman (SUNY Stony Brook), October 28, 1977, p. 3.
(2) Mitchell Alkon, "Garcia Is Alive Without the Dead," Statesman (SUNY Stony Brook), December 14, 1977, p.9

busy busy busy busy busy

Phil Lesh pre-GD dates

Corry once posted about Mickey Hart's pre-GD days. And while this stuff isn't of particular interest to me, I have gathered a bit so I thought I might as well spill, too. Perhaps someone will be interested. I am sure it'll format badly, but, anyway, here's a list of pre-GD Phil Lesh gigs I have come up with. This has more information than Philbase.

Sorry this is so tiny, but if you had tried to paste this from Excel directly into Blogger, you'd throw out a tiny image, too.

NRPS: Bear's Lair, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, August 1, 1969

update: LIA has posted text from the various goings-on at the Family Dog On The Great Highway this night.

Corry at Lost Live Dead has just posted a GD/JG performance list from July-August 1969.

I don't have much to add, but since he mentions the New Riders of the Purple Sage gig(s) from August 1, 1969 at the Bear's Lair, UC Berkeley, I thought I'd post some scans that I have.

I especially like the one above ... "Jerry Garcia with Marmaduke", but the picture shows Jerry and Mickey Hart.

 

A few notes from all of this.

1) there seem to have been two shows, at 8:30 and 10:30

2) Mickey Hart was on drums (no surprise there), but as Corry notes we don't know who played bass. I'd have to guess Phil, but it's just a guess. update: Bob Matthews, I guess!

3) they appear not yet to be called the New Riders of the Purple Sage, though that's how I'll refer to this. As Corry notes, Ralph Gleason's "Ad Lib" column from August 6th first publicized that name.

Reconstruction: August 10, 1979, Temple Beautiful, San Francisco, CA

I don't think I have blogged much about Reconstruction, the jazz-R&B-soul-funk-rock-disco outfit formed by John Kahn that performed in 1979 and that regularly "featured" Jerry Garcia on guitar. This is one of Garcia's most unusual side trips. It features lots of tunes that he had never done before and would never do again, with my favorites being instrumental numbers such as "Welcome to the Basement" (Saunders/Moore), "The Mohican and the Great Spirit" (Horace Silver), "Fast Tone" (Tony Saunders/Ed Neumeister), "Nessa" (?composer?), "Linda Chicana" (Mark Levine), "Sama Layuca" (McCoy Tyner) and "Another Star" (Stevie Wonder). It is also unusual in that this was Jerry's only relatively regular post-1975 excursion that didn't have his name on it. I have a lot to say on that general issue, but I'll save it for another time.

This particular show, on August 10, 1979 at the Temple Beautiful in San Francisco is one of my favorites.  Lost Live Dead has reported in characteristically informative fashion on the venue itself. It's a fascinating story. This show holds a special place in my heart, though, both because my friends Julie and John Anzaldo hooked up for good on this occasion and, especially, because the band ends the show with one of my favorite half-hours of Garcia music ever. Starting with McCoy Tyner's "Sama Layuca", they drift into a very spare space for a couple of minutes before Garcia starts picking some beautiful melodic stuff that morphs into one of the early Jerry versions of Dear Prudence. I used to say that the melodic passage contained Jerry's most beautiful stuff since the 2/18/71 "beautiful jam" between Dark Star and Wharf Rat, but I eschew such hyperbole here.

Bob Menke's tape is the best of the two circulating, though as I understand it a new transfer of the Phil Jaret tape may be in the offing, which is good news.

But I digress. My real purpose for posting was to seek identification of the unknown song that appears toward the end of the song.  I confess that I can't recall whether it's Ron Stallings or Gaylord Birch singing, but whoever it is it's the same guy who handles Reconstruction vocals besides Jerry. Anyway, it sounds kind of like an R&B standard, so I am hoping it'll be easy to identify.

Here's a link to a 25-second mp3 from the start of the song:  Unknown song link.

I have just been compiling a list of tunes that are represented among circulating Garcia on the Side recordings but that remain unidentified. So I expect that this will be a series of sorts.

GD/NRPS: May 28, 1971, Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA (CANCELED)

In an earlier post I discussed the infamous May 29, 1971 Grateful Dead show at Winterland at which a large number of people reacted adversely to being dosed.

As Corry noted in comments, the Grateful Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage show scheduled for the night before (May 28, 1971) was canceled due to Jerry Garcia being ill. It was apparently rescheduled for May 30, 1971.

The amazing Gary L. Jackson is having his massive personal archive of SF-related music stuff scanned and shared by "Strength N. Numbers" at Facebook. This includes his personal diaries, which are really quite wonderful.  Anyway, here's the entry for May 28, 1971:

I only post this because, well, I like it. And also because it seems like things just weren't going fantastically well right around that time in the Bill Graham enterprise. So much so that the Winterland dosing incident is discussed in contemporary news pieces (some of which were pasted into, and are thus now reproduced in, Gary's diary) as a contributing factor to Graham's seemingly abrupt decision to close the Fillmore West.

Lots of people presumably know lots about this, of course, but I just thought it was worth dropping this part of the picture onto the canvas.

Garcia on Stephen Stills albums

Matt Scofield's discography, at http://www.deaddisc.com/, is one of those incredible community resources that I have vowed never to take for granted. It's amazing, obviously a labor of love, and it contains a wealth of information about the GD, Garcia, and lots of the related and contemporaneous acts, venues, albums and individuals of interest.

Here I'll just mention a few things that have not traditionally been represented there regarding Garcia's work with Stephen Stills. This information comes from an interview with Jerry conducted, I think, in March of 1981 and published in the amazing British 'zine Swing '51 (1). Both quotes are from page 26.

Regarding Stephen Stills 2, deaddisc has traditionally said that "Garcia possibly plays pedal steel on one track." Matt has now included what follows on the site, but unless Jerry is talking out his ass it doesn't sound like there's much doubt about what's what. Here's what Jerry told Ken Hunt of Swing 51: "that's me playing pedal steel [on 'Change Partners'] and there's an uptempo tune on that LP that I played on." Steve Silberman has told me that Change Partners is a well-known Garcia appearance despite being uncredited, though I don't know where things stand in terms of the "uptempo tune" that Jerry mentions (nor which tune it is - I don't own the album yet).

Regarding Manassas, deaddisc has recently included this Garcia quote from the Swing 51 article, though indicating that things are still uncertain: "There are a couple of tunes on there where I play pedal steel and maybe even guitar on one, but there's at least two that I'm not credited on. But I did the sessions and it's me playing." Silberman is much more enthusiastic about this possibility, suggesting that has been previously unknown. He also reports that while Al Perkins probably did most of the (and arguably the finest) steel work on Manassas, the style suggests that Jerry might well be playing on "Jesus Gave Away Love For Free."

We may never know. Garcia describes working with Stills in the studio in this way:

Sometimes they were very weird experiences. Like, for [Stephen Stills 2 and Manassas] I didn't know what records they were for or anything. The way Stills worked at the time was he just accumulated endless tracks. He worked on dozens of tunes. He actually flew me into Florida for a week, me and Ramrod, my equipment guy, with my pedal steel and guitars. I went down there and did sessions at the weirdest hours! Stills had two teams of engineers, two shifts. The way he worked in the studio was totally crazy. At the time he was really happenin', really doing well, could afford it easily. They were not only studies in over-indulgence, but there was some pretty OK music too!

Anyone know the dates that Jerry was down in Florida for this? :)

Anyway, as is the typical MO here, I am mostly just putting this down so I don't forget it. Best thing about a blog, far and away.

REFERENCE:
Hunt, Ken. 1983. Jerry Garcia: Folk, Bluegrass and Beyond [part II]. Swing 51 no. 7: pp. 22-28.

The other Warlocks

So the story I have preserved in my memory about the Warlocks' change of name in 1965 says that it was proximately caused by Phil Lesh's discovery of another local band using the name. I also have it in my head that the existence of these other Warlocks remains mysterious. I would put money on the fact that I am wrong on the latter count, especially.

Just in case, I thought I'd just note that the "chit chat" column of the Oakland Tribune, October 23, 1965, p. 7B makes mention of a local battle of the bands in which one of the competitors is The Warlocks, from Encinal High. (The column also has information on a tiddly winks contest, I shit you not ... no wonder that world was turned upside down by psychedelics. But I digress.)

Anyway, again, I am sure this is well-known, but I didn't know it, so I post it here for my own reference.

The New Peanut Butter Sandwich: October 16, 1966, Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA

Having just posted about Garcia's October 1966 sit-in with Big Brother and the Holding Company, I'll follow on with what is even more interesting-sounding (though it apparently didn't come off that well).

Mojo Navigator R&R News no. 9 (October 17, 1966) gives a brief account of the evening, which apparently included a configuration ("One Night Only!", I assume) called The New Peanut Butter Sandwich, composed of the following (instruments are mostly presumed):

Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (GD): ?organ?
Jerry Garcia (GD): guitar;
David Getz (BBHC): drums;
David Freiberg (QMS): bass;
?? (Sir Douglas Quintet): rhythm guitar;
Gary Duncan (QMS): guitar;
John Cipollina (QMS): guitar;
?? ("negro blues singer"): ??.

The only other detail is that "They did a very long and boring pseudo-Butterfield blues instrumental." Not clear what the blues singer was doing sitting in on an instrumental, but anyway ... sounds interesting!

Jerry sitting in with Big Brother, October 1966: which date?

Lost Live Dead posted about a Garcia sit-in with Big Brother and the Holding Company on October 15, 1966. Based on the context of an account in Mojo Navigator no. 9 (October 17, 1966), I am going to argue that this is incorrect. According to MN, this all happened on a Sunday, while 10/15 was a Saturday.

The actual date is probably October 16th, though October 9th deserves some consideration.

Here's the operative part of the MN account:

On the 6th of October there was a rally in the Golden Gate Park Panhandle with the Grateful Dead, Big Brother & the Holding Co., and the Wildflower, followed last Sunday by another Panhandle festival, the Artists [sic?] Liberation Front's Free Fair. Bands appearing were the Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish. ... After the Fair the Family Dog held its first anniversary dance at Avalon, with Big Brother & the Holding Company, sounding great, the Sir Douglas Quintet, sounding terrible, the Oxford Circle, the 13th Floor Elevators, and a couple of jam groups. Jerry Garcia played one song with the Holding Company, which came off extremely well ...

My first thought was that this was October 9th, not October 16th. Here's why.


In American English (unlike, say, French), we usually reserve a phrase like "last Sunday" for something that was more than a day ago. If Sunday was the day prior, we'd just say "yesterday", with "last Sunday" being 8 days prior. Even out 2-3 days I would refer to "this past Sunday" rather than "last Sunday", though this may be my own idiosyncracy.

Sorry to be pedantic (but I'll continue, anyway). Th context of the quote above could be taken to imply October 9th, for two reasons. First, the linkage of the ALFFF event to the October 6th event with the "followed" formulation implies to me that they were closer in time than ten days. Second is the "last Sunday" formulation. This MN was published on Monday, October 17, 1966, and therefore probably written on 10/16. Even if it was written during the day on 10/17, I find the "last Sunday" formulation unlikely to refer to the previous day.

I was originally leaning toward October 9th, but two things militate strongly against (and/or in favor of 10/16).

First, there is the GD date at the Fillmore Auditorium on October 9th. I don't know what evidence there is for this, but I assume it's strong given how impressively things tend to be nailed down for the main ballroom gigs. The logistics also seem to militate against all of these things having happened on the same day. Hard to imagine they could do the Golden Gate Park thing, the Fillmore thing, and the Avalon thing in the same day, unless this was a morning-afternoon-night arrangement. The context given in MN makes this less likely ... in the quote's ellipsis is reference to the fact that it was a warm afternoon. I take all of this as pretty strong against 10/9.

Second, Chicken on a Unicycle shows Big Brother at the Avalon on 10/15-16, but not on 10/9. Having recently spent a lot of time with Ross and Corry's careful research, I have great faith that all of this is correct.

In short, despite the fact that I find the construction of the account to be strange, I think I have to go with 10/16.  I'll post shortly about the next Jerry-on-the-side (JOTS, interchangeable with GOTS when I am in a last-name mood) thing from this same night.