"awww, no, last song?!?" (LN jg1985-06-03.jgb.all.aud-russjcan.92786.flac1644)

Keystone Palo Alto on a Monday night, as Garcia is trying to kick his junk habit.

The show is mostly notable because Garcia plays a Modulus guitar. Playing anything other than the Irwin "Tiger" at this time was an exceptionally rare event. Blair Jackson's amazing Golden Road (no. 7, Summer 1985, p. 9) mentions that the alternative guitar appeared at a pair of early June Garcia Band shows. Since Garcia canceled a scheduled June 2 show to attend Wagner's Ring with Phil, the pair can only be 6/1 and 6/3. I confess that I hear nothing different.

I don't intend to wallow around Rock Bottom any longer than necessary, but it has to be done. Tonight's episode features a roughly 35 minute second set. Tapers and tapersfriends are so damn cool, because, just like 3/2 ("Jerry's gotta clean up his act, man"), they themselves provide insight and color beyond pulling tape of Jerry. As Jerry gallops into "Midnight Moonlight" 30 minutes into the second set, regulars know what that means: Jerry's done. It's gonna be a gill-coked MM and a race backstage to comfort. This probably after a very long setbreak, so up late taboot.

Groaning with disappointment at the first notes of Midnight Moonlight ... "awww, no, last song?!?" You are right to pose the question, Herr Kanzlerfreund: what the fuck? Not even one side of tape? Fuck you, Garcia. That would piss me off. The "kids they dance, they shake their bones" (Barlow-Weir), but the grownups know they're getting ripped off. If I had been seeing Garcia Band shows at this time (I was just a bit young), I might not have continued to do so after what JGB delivered to the home crowd in the first half of '85.

Musically, I noted some OK moments in Deal, else not much to say.

Again, I don't intend to wallow down around here more than necessary. Things will get really ugly with late August 1984, the November '84 Garcia-Kahn tour, and a few other turds. For my purposes, it's worth getting this stuff down, and documenting it. At some point, I'll probably sum up the set times from this period. There are lots in the sub-40 minute range. That'll be one reasonably good indicator, I think, of Jerry's health during this period and more generally.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 South California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
June 3, 1985 (Monday)
Cansler flac1644 shnid-92786

--set I (5 tracks, 49:19)--
s1t01. [0:35] How Sweet It Is :36-9:13 [0:32] % [0:07]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:08] [0:12] % [0:09]
s1t03. When I Paint My Masterpiece [11:15] [0:08] % [0:02]
s1t04. [0:11] Mississippi Moon :12-9:53 [0:18] %
s1t05. /Deal [#9:14] (1) [0:06]

--set II (3 tracks, 35:03)--
s2t01. [0:49] I'll Take a Melody [13:48] [0:04] % [0:12]
s2t02. Simple Twist of Fate [12:2] [0:08]
s2t03. Midnight Moonlight [7:15] (2, 3) [0:16]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards.

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.

! TJS:

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-06-03-keystone-palo-alto-palo-alto-ca/

! db: http://db.etree.org/shn/20920 (Corley shnf); http://db.etree.org/shn/95560 (Taz Yamaguchi flac1644); http://db.etree.org/shn/92786 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/7AzlG

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

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

! historical: Garcia plays a Modulus guitar at this show -  I list Ron Price as opening, no idea who that is. A Monday night at the KPA feels out of pattern, not there are sufficient degrees of freedom to detect patterns in JGB billings first half of 1985.

! R: field recordist: Russ Cansler;

! R: field recording location: 10 feet away, left of center 5 feet;

! R: field recording gear: 2x Hat-Mounted realistic PZMs > Sony WMD6C;

! R: field recording media: 1x Maxell UDS-II 90 No nr;

! R: transfer: HD > Audacity > CDWave > TLH.

! R: seeder notes: "Not much presence on vocals; slight mic handling noise; light tics on tape -- age artifact?"

! R: mix and sound real funky to start, very fluttery. Vocals very far back. Numerous skips.

! P: s1t05 Deal JG can't even sing to start. Later, sounds much spacier and more GD ish than usual. There's almost a little Close Encounters wah feel ca. 7. Pretty good Deal.

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while."

! historical: (2) s2t03 @ 0:09 Taper or guy near taper groans with disappointment at Midnight Moonlight ... "awww, no, last song?". You are right to pose the question, Herr Kanzlerfreund: what the fuck? Not even one side of tape? Fuck you, Garcia. That would piss me off. The "kids they dance, they shake their bones" (Barlow-Weir), but the grownups know they're getting ripped off. If I had been seeing Garcia Band shows at this time (I was just a bit young), I might not have continued to do so after what JGB delivered at The Stone in the first half of '85. At end (3) JG says something I can't hear. Also of note: *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).

updated 5/31/85 post

Consider this blog business, but since I know some follow RSS feed I wanted to say that I have added a chunk to my recent post on Garcia-Kahn 5/31/85a at the Beverly Theatre.

Jerry's gotta clean up his act, man (LN jg1985-03-02.jgb.all.aud-rlouk.99524.flac1644)

Ticket stub for Jerry Garcia Band, The Stone, 492 Broadway, SF, Saturday, March 2, 1985. Contributed by Erik VanO.

First Garcia Band show since the bust on 1/18/85. It delivers a three-song, thirty minute first set. Apparently the ladies were late in arriving. But ol' Jer makes up for it by stretching out almost a full 45 minutes in the second set. I am sniffing around a bunch of tapes to see if this might be the shortest "set" on record that wasn't exogenously cut-short. Just over a half hour.

Speaker 1: "Yes sir, this is our roving reporter. Can we give an account of the show so far?" 

Speaker 2: "I'm gonna tell you something. Jerry's gotta clean up his act, man. Gotta take a 45 minute break, two hour sets, I'll be happy." 

Speaker 1: "Thank you from our eye spy reporter."

Speaker 2 does not sound like some uptight Angeleno who is getting ripped off in Beverly Hills. No, he sounds like a simple, sensible young hippie who has some insight into some things, such as that playing a short set and taking a two-hour break before coming back out, playing real late (less severe than not enough, but of course interacting with it) just doesn't show the appropriate level of professional engagement and respect. It's a burn, a ripoff. "Jerry's gotta clean up his act, man." He's not mad about it, he's just sayin'. Indeed.

That said, the music is not bad. My notes suggest maybe things are gonna be all right.

Also of note, methodologically: hot tapes bias this listener toward hearing hot performances. Shocking, I know. Case in point: this is a raw, flawed upfront tape, and I was doing cartwheels about what I was hearing in "Let It Rock" to open the show. Then I double-checked against the Corley tape (shnid-23146), which has a real full Nak 700 sound, mics are higher up (in the "Silly Hat", perhaps?) and I didn't notice anything special with the tune. The difference could be due to me (four hours later I can be in a different space), or the tape, or random. Either way, these "results" are not very robust, reliability is a big challenge, and caveat emptor all around. At least you're getting what you pay for!

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
492 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
March 2, 1985 (Saturday) - 8:15 PM
R Louk MAC flac1644 shnid-99524

--set I (3 tracks, 31:08)--
s1t01. Let It Rock [8:45] [0:13] % [0:05]
s1t02. Simple //Twist of Fate [12:#11] [0:12] %
s1t03. Deal [9:23] (1) [0:18] %

--set II (6 tracks, 44:08)--
s2t01. //How Sweet it Is (To Be Loved By You) [#8:53] (1) [1:27] %
s2t02. /When I Paint My Masterpiece [#8:48] [0:07] % (2) [0:48] %
s2t03. Run For The Roses [5:05] ->
s2t04. Gomorrah [5:39] ->
s2t05. Reuben And Cherise [7:04] [0:03] ->
s2t06. Midnight Moonlight// [6:12#]

! 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/19850302-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/23146 (Corley shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/99524 (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).

! historical: I listen to this as the first Garcia Band show of 1985 and the first since the bust on January 18. (The Dead had played three nights at the Kaiser, February 18-20). So I am listening for how he sounds at this particular inflection point in his life. Not surprisingly, the vocals are very weak, though not the worst I have heard. The opening "Let It Rock" may be the best version of this song I have ever heard - there's one in mid-1981 that I have always held in high esteem, but this one is outrageously good. Wow. But what are we to make of a THREE SONG, half hour first set? This is, to my knowledge, one of the shortest Garcia sets on record, certainly one that wasn't cut short by a fire alarm or a bomb threat or something. What happened? Garcia freak Erik Van O, whose ticket stub is the only visual artifact I have from this show, reports that the ladies were late arriving, only came in at Deal. The evidence is consistent with this, rather than with missing material. First, there's another tape (John Corley's) containing the same set. Second, the ladies are indeed absent to start. Third, Garcia's extra juice here at the front is consistent with something being a little bit different. Fourth, at the end of set I Garcia says something that I can't quite make out, but it sounds like he's claiming he wants to let the ladies get acclimated. Fifth, there's some interesting ambient talk, which surely reflects public knowledge of the bust, but possibly also what's happening this night. I'll endorse the taper's friend's view: "I'm gonna tell you something. Jerry's gotta clean up his act, man. Gotta take 45 minute break, two hour sets, I'll be happy." Woman had also asked at the start of the set if Gar would play 45 minutes. And that's the *long* set. So, yeah, circumstances and all that. But, on the other hand, folks payed $8 for this show on a Saturday night. Scalping them on the show opener, and then mailing it in, doesn't speak to respectful treatment of the paying audience. I don't know about the alternate guitar this night, could have been one of the June shows.

! R: field recordist: R Louk;

! R: field recording gear: handheld stereo mic > portable Aiwa cassette deck

! R: transfer: Yamaha tape deck playback > Yamaha 10 band graphic equalizer > wav (Audacity - 24 bit/48 khz) > CDWav > TLH (16/44.1 conversion, SBE's fixed) > flac.

! R: Gotta love the in your face feel of this grungy little up front aud. Well done, sir or madam, with the handheld stereo mic. I wonder if this is running fast? The timings on the Corley aud seem longer, and things don't feel as scorching up front, anyway.

! P: s1t01 LIR first solo in 1 is smokin'. Another solo over 2 and hot as fucking hell, holy shit he is on fire. Oh my, feedback in the 3-minute mark that is out of this world. I don't how much is that this tape is tinny itself, but it's freaking great. Now some longer phrasings late 3 over 4, picked up his pace and fluidity. Whoa, this is out of the gates like a bat outta hell. Still shredding 4:20. Fully in control 5:20, touching some notes more carefully now, the band letting it breathe a little bit, he starts comping 5:45, invites Melvin to step up. John hits a few deep down notes late 5. Melvin featuring early 5. This band is really tight. David Kemper. Now fanning loudly late 6 minute mark, all kinds of raunch, way up high on the neck 7:11, fanning chords, picks up the melody 7:30, but with major force. He is tearing the shit out of this, my goodness. Addendum: I have just listened to this via the Corley tape, and it doesn't light me up, a few hours after writing what I wrote above. The handheld tape has a lot more juice, I guess.

! R: s1t01 there's a brief splice after LIR, but not much missing.

! P: s1t02 STOF Jerry is singing this carefully. He has better control of his voice here than I might have thought. John starts his bass feature @ 6:40. Jerry returns 8:34, Melvin playing some nice piano through the whole song, do I hear organ and pian simultaneously after 9:30? yes, again 9:58 there are two keyboards, unless he's got the organ with one hand and piano with another? Blair Jackson suggests that's probably what it is. wk attended and says there was just Melvin.

! R: s1t02 STOF brief splice around 9:00 mark

! P: s1t03 Deal Garcia's guitar playing in the 5-minute mark is incendiary.

! s1t03 @ 9 (1) JG says something inaudible something-something "show up", and the crowd approves. This is consistent with Erik VanO's memory that the ladies arrived late and that this caused some kind of set anomaly.

! R: s2t01 HSII cuts in

! P: s2t01 HSII Jerry botches first lyrics, does not sound healthy in his singing.

! s2t01 (1) near the end of the track a woman asks "How long's he gonna play? 45 minutes?" She must be psychic! :)

! R: s2t02 WIPMM cuts in

! s2t02 @ 9:30 (2) taper: "Yes sir, this is our roving reporter. Can we give an account of the show so far?" friend: "I'm gonna tell you something. Jerry's gotta clean up his act, man. Gotta take a 45 minute break, two hour sets, I'll be happy." Taper: "Thank you from our eye spy reporter." Sounds like he's reversing what they actually got - 45 minute set, two hour break.

! P: s2t06 Mid Moon a mile a minute, of course.

! P: s2t06 Mid Moon cuts out, not much missing.

Bullshit! Bullshit! Reprise (LN jg1985-05-31.jgjk.early.aud-pinedo.32007.shn2flac)

updated 20140408

I have told the story once before of the Jerry Garcia/John Kahn acoustic duo early show on May 31, 1985, in the context of Bill Graham's branding of the '86-87 JGB tours down south as "The Jerry Garcia Band Electric".

I want to flesh out a bit more detail from the two named informants about this show, whose accounts line up quite beautifully. This post became a bit of a rabbithole for me around The Bust and other things from early '85, but let me drop this and a few brief notes as raw materials for a longer piece of writing about this period.

"Miller Beer Presents an evening of acoustic music, Jerry Garcia w/ John Kahn" should already give you that acrid, headachy feeling - Jerry and John were not in good shape during this period. I have started to dabble in Garcia's Rock Bottom period, which I estimate runs the second half of 1984 (especially, say, from late August) through early 1985 (say, ca. 5/31/85). Recent listening notes around 12/6/84 and 12/7/84 give some indication of my thinking, while an earlier listen to 5/19/84 suggest that things were still reasonably together.

Here's another report from the front of Rock Bottom: 5/31/85a. Thank you eyewitnesses!

Ben Karmelich:

This was Jerry Garcia at his worst.  He had a recent drug arrest and this was when he was in the worst shape physically. The day before the show, Jerry added a second show for the same night. Back then, one Jerry show meant two sets, while two Jerry shows per night meant one set per show, and you had to pay twice. In other words, he added a second show for that same night and expected the crowd to all go outside after the first set and buy another ticket to come back and see the second set.  Needless to say, the crowd was very upset.  One person brought a big banner that said "Jerry Sells Out L.A. Deadheads" with a sad face on it. After Jerry played an uninspired 6 song set, he said good night and left but the crowd refused to leave.  Eventually, Rock Scully came out to say that Jerry "meant to say" that he is taking a short break and eventually, a very pissed off Jerry came out for three more songs.

update 20140408: Ben's memory had the addition of a second show very soon before it was to take place. But I have just reminded myself of the ad in the Los Angeles Times, dated May 26, 1985 (p. N58) and it is interesting. I cannot post image, because I have it from ProQuest (albeit printed - d'oh!). But here's what I see: 1) a listing in the "Openings" section lists one show, 8 p.m. 2) A display ad above it calls the venue "The Beverly" in deco script, above which it says "box office open Monday [5/27], 11 a.m.". Even more interestingly, the ad lists two shows, 7:30 and 10 p.m., and the 7:30 is struck through to indicate that tickets have sold out.

(Memory is a tricky thing, and I am grateful to folks for sharing theirs, always. We should do more on the record, oral history kinds of things. Future historians will thank you if you give a recollection and especially if you go on record!)

I want to suggest that Ben's memory was off on a detail of timing but essentially correct. The paper evidence suggests that a second show was added not the day before the show, but four days before the show. The rest of Ben's story squares with what Erik VanO said (see below). But the incorrect detail has the spirit of what happened correct, and even more beautifully, it squares perfectly with the LAT material! Quite precisely, there was originally a single 8 p.m. show listed (per the listing). Ben reminds us that, in those days, this meant one ticket, two sets starting at 8 p.m. (ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!).

Instead, folks who bought any of the 1,500 tickets sold for the "8 p.m." show, whenever they bought them, were now going to get half as much as they expected (or, just as much at twice the price). They are going to turn the house between sets (now, by the magic of the market, and with all of its solemnity, rechristened a "show"). And this is Before The Internet, so you might not have found out until you got to the show. That is a freaking ripoff.

It looks to me like the Miller Concert Series was quite the enterprise. They sold out a show reasonably quickly and decided to check what the market would bear. They were only going to get one shot at it - one night only. I have this place holding 1,500 - at let's say $13 to the consumer, let's say $11 after ticketing fees, that's $16,500 gross (1984 dollars). Would you rather have just over $36k today for one show, or about $73k for two? I suspected as much.

I don't know what Mill would say about this, since I only pretend to have read him. On the one hand, those 1,500 early buyers get screwed. On the other hand, another 1,500 (maybe among them the same people, that's immaterial) get to buy a ticket to see Jerry. If it's worth it to them, so much the better. I don't know if those utilities cancel out in a utilitarian perspective. Pareto, of course, would reject it outright, since at least one person (the dude or lady who ran out to paint an anti-Jerry sign) was made worse off.

/update 20140408

Erik VanO picks up the story.

Erik VanO:

The show ended with Ripple and the crowd was pissed off at the short show and no encore. When the house lights went on the crowd booed and that morphed into a "bullshit-bullshit" chant. No one would leave. So Jerry had to come back out and play more tunes. I know this well because, me, being mister stat guy, know it all, laughed at everyone and said "it's over, this is standard, he never does an encore, this is it" and proceeded to put my money where my mouth was: I walked out to prove my point. Within moments, the lights went out and I watched everyone from the lobby run ecstatically back into the seating area. They would not let me back in. I ran around side and was allowed to sit with the security dudes on the fire escape since they were confused as well and had the doors open expecting the theatre to exit. So I saw and heard the tunes with my own ears, but from technically outside, but NO WAY that I missed a single note. So I'm not sure whether you'd even call it a second set, I never thought of it as that, more of an encore/riot control, but regardless, those were the only songs played in that unusual circumstance, and I'd say its safe to say that all tapes now, and yet undiscovered,  would support that as well.

There's only one tape of this show known to me, recorded by Joe Pinedo and preserved from first generation cassette copies by Brian Mandel (shnid-32007). Thank you, gentlemen. Alas, the circulating copy doesn't really reveal anything about this incident, except that Garcia tried to deliver to his paying audience, to the tune of $12.75-$14.75, a "complete show" that would fit on a single cassette side, comfortably - 35 minutes of condensed actual music. I don't have the quotes located right now, but I can give a long paragraph here about Garcia's professional standards, which were real. The key litmus test is giving the paying fan his/her money's worth. And I think that even Jerry would admit that he failed his own test, fell short of his own standard, on 5/31/85a.

Revealed preferences are tricky, but the fans certainly seem not to have felt that 6 songs in 40 minutes was worth what they paid. It was already bad enough, as Ben Karmelich reports, that they were feeling fleeced enough ex ante to get in Garcia's face about it. They're pissed, maybe he's pissed that they're pissed (and embarrassed, which would be wholly appropriate, IMO), he's passive aggressive with a short set, and they call him out on it. This wouldn't have happened in the Bay Area, on his home turf (and listenings to 3/2/85, 6/3/85 confirm); the LA heads were sufficiently without illusions, or sufficiently interested in getting their money's worth, or whatever, to demand a professional gig. They did.

"Bullshit! Bullshit!"

Garcia must have been mortified with himself for insulting his fans to this point. The "encore" set is a little bit of a dickslap,so I am not saying he's had a good healthy epiphany by any stretch. On the contrary, more passive-aggression. 15 more minutes? Fuck you too, Jerry.

I don't think he could help himself at this point. One has to think that 1/18/85 must have been rock bottom, but, I dunno, sometimes there's a valley floor down there, and one wanders around the bottom for a bit, because 5/31/85a is definitely staking its claim.

Listening notes below the fold.

Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
Beverly Theatre
9404 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
May 31, 1985 Early Show - 7:30 PM
Pinedo MAC shnid-32007 shn2flac

--complete show (9 tracks, 50:39)--
--main set (6 tracks, 35:57)--
s1t01. [0:05] Run For The Roses :06-4:39 [0:02] % [0:02]
s1t02. /I've Been All Around This World [#4:30] (1) [0:04]
s1t03. Friend Of The Devil [6:15] [0:04]
s1t04. Deep Elem Blues [7:02] [0:07]
s1t05. Simple Twist Of Fate [8:32] [0:05]
s1t06. Ripple [4:28] (1) [0:07]
--encore (3 tracks, 14:42)--
s2t01. [0:12] Jack-A-Roe [3:47] [0:09]
s2t02. Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie [5:19] ->
s2t03. //When I Paint My Masterpiece [#5:11] (2) [0:03]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and John Kahn
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - ac-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - ac-b.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19850531-01 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19850531-02 (late)

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-05-31-beverly-theater-beverly-hills-ca/

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/32007 (this fileset).

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

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/beverly-theater-206-north-beverly-dr.html; https://sites.google.com/site/wilshiremoviepalaces/warner-bros-beverly-hills.

! historical: Ben Karmelich: This was Jerry Garcia at his worst.  He had a recent drug arrest and this was when he was in the worst shape physically. The day before the show, Jerry added a second show for the same night. Back then, one Jerry show meant two sets, while two Jerry shows per night meant one set per show, and you had to pay twice. [ed: they "turned the house"] In other words, he added a second show for that same night and expected the crowd to all go outside after the first set and buy another ticket to come back and see the second set.  Needless to say, the crowd was very upset.  One person brought a big banner that said "Jerry Sells Out L.A. Deadheads" with a sad face on it. After Jerry played an uninspired 6 song set, he said good night and left but the crowd refused to leave.  Eventually, Rock Scully came out to say that Jerry "meant to say" that he is taking a short break and eventually, a very pissed off Jerry came out for three more songs.

! historical: Erik VanO: The show ended with Ripple and the crowd was pissed off at the short show and no encore. When the house lights went on the crowd booed and that morphed into a "bullshit-bullshit" chant. No one would leave. So Jerry had to come back out and play more tunes. I know this well because, me, being mister stat guy, know it all, laughed at everyone and said "it's over, this is standard, he never does an encore, this is it" and proceeded to put my money where my mouth was: I walked out to prove my point. Within moments, the lights went out and I watched everyone from the lobby run ecstatically back into the seating area. They would not let me back in. I ran around side and was allowed to sit with the security dudes on the fire escape since they were confused as well and had the doors open expecting the theatre to exit. So I saw and heard the tunes with my own ears, but from technically outside, but NO WAY that I missed a single note. So I'm not sure whether you'd even call it a second set, I never thought of it as that, more of an encore/riot control, but regardless, those were the only songs played in that unusual circumstance, and I'd say its safe to say that all tapes now, and yet undiscovered,  would support that as well.

! R: field recordist: Joe Pinedo

! R: field recording gear: Sony 939 > Sony D5;

! R: transfer: transfer & CD mastering/shn conversion by Brian Mandel, gdplusmore@aol.com: 1st gen cassette (Maxell XLII 90 with Dolby B) > Nakamichi BX300 > Macintosh > Peak Bias > JAM > cdr > eac > mkw > shntool. shn2flac conversion by jgmf 3/20/2014.
! R: seeder notes: "previously had set II listed as incomplete, but this is all JG and JK played."

! s1t01 RFTR brutal tape drag first 20 seconds or so, and warble continues for awhile.

! s1t02 (1) JG: "Thank you."

! s1t03 I swear there's a really weird vibe. When he flubs lyrics, people seem to be laughing at him. In late 5, when he says "it don't look like me", I think a dude yells "thank God" and a chick near the mic laughs.

! P: s1t04 DEB JG sounds lost on the music, things are very off-kilter. Early 2-min John is actually stepping up and helping out, and they find each other. 2:25 ish Garcia takes a nice percussive lead, little fan 2:41, nice little solo coming down late 2. Lose each other a little again late 4.

! s1t06 Ripple the clapping is throwing everything off, or in any case there's some tempo weirdness and off-kilter feel.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "Thank you."

! s2t02 OBIANL guy yells we love you Jerry. Poeple yelling Jerry, he's trying to sing and play, STFU people!

! R: s2t02-s2t03 tape flip

! s2t03 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot everybody. See y'all later."

Keith. And, Modernity.

Introduction: A Document

In my post "Keith Speaks", I threw out some raw materials on Fall 1971, Keith, FM broadcasts, as illuminated by a great little piece in the Chicago music mag The Now Sound. But I didn't really add any value. Well a new piece has just come across my brain, and I wanted to revisit that set of crossings, and say some other stuff.

This is the new piece:

Circular 3, 31 (October 4, 1971): The Dead Deliver.

Warner Brothers declared October 1971 Grateful Dead Month. As I'll elaborate below, using the imaged issue of Circular, the "weekly news device" of Warner/Reprise Records, this was no trivial undertaking, no mere encomium, no bone thrown to an artist way out in the long-right tail of professional acts' profitability distribution, 6 sigma or wherever it was, but also on that was always a little squirrely, and was maybe especially restless since money was coming in, chafing against its various corporate obligations and trying to figure itself out. This is the Real Deal Holyfiel'. The document represents a massive promotional investment, massive corporate effort from Burbank to the boonies, a chunk of money, something that gets mobilized, through these channels anyway, the planned ones, only twelve times a year. Warner Brothers went all in.

The company went in because, retensed, "The Dead Delivered". Grateful Dead, a.k.a. "Skull and Roses" a.k.a. "Skullfuck" came out September 1971 (Warner Brothers 2WS-1935) culled from shows recorded earlier in the year, super-hot live Grateful Dead with material from across the Dead's many American musical styles, from big jams to Garcia-Hunter and Weir-Barlow originals, churchy and folky stuff, rockabillies and straight out rockers, country numbers, a little jazz and blues flavor, the whole kit and caboodle. Americana Stew. Some great stuff to get high to, and some great stuff to groove to over anywhere young people listen to the radio, i.e., everywhere but in school in fall 1971.

FM radio formed a centerpiece of the promotional campaign. LIA: "Warner Brothers paid for the broadcast of one show per city in the fall ’71 tour to promote the Dead’s new live album." It seems to have worked," he goes on, "as the album went gold." I think there's more to it than that – a later part of this post will try to deconstruct the many splendored that is the Warner Bros.' marketing campaign, but I don't deny that FM was maybe the most important part.

For now, I want to think about Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980).

No Pressure, Keith

What amazes me is how much pressure the FM broadcasts and the whole promotional blitz must have put on 23 year old Keith Godchaux. Can you imagine being a catastrophically shy lounge player, meeting Garcia on September 16^th at the Keystone Korner, commencing rehearsals with the Dead no later than eleven days later, and hitting the road for an album promotional tour with live radio broadcasts in every city?!? It's no wonder Keith avers on 1022/71 that he's "had a hard time keeping a sense of continuity" (van Matre 1972, 14). No shit. Did anyone get the number of that bus?

Who knows how others' pressure feels? I can barely figure out my own. We all routinely do things that would prove impossible to others, for reasons of expertise, inclination and circumstance, and the attempting of which would be difficult for others. Insofar as it touches our stress triggers, stress ensues. Playing live on the radio would destroy me. Yet Keith Godchaux played heroically on the Fall 1971 Grateful Dead tour. He came out of the gate like a bat out of hell, played his ass off. He is mixed really high (too high, to the point of distortion, on many tapes), so he's totally audible, and I suspect that was true on the rooms, on the radio, etc. The jams from this tour are legendary: with 10/19 (Keith's first show!, 10/21, 10/29 and 10/31 alone making October 1971 among the best the Dead ever played.

It's a credit to the whole band, of course. They had tons of new material together, which Robert Hunter intended as the last piece of a trilogy, Rambling Rose to follow 1970 masterpieces Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. (Silberman 2001; h/t LIA), but which ended up mostly on Europe '72 (mostly, I gather, to get loose of Warner Brothers!). The songs are great and the arrangements are together (one can only think that they practiced a lot between the existing known sessions at the Santa Venetia Armory in San Rafael in late September and the start of the tour three weeks later). Musical professionalism is the order of the day, no sloppy/sick Pigpen at this moment, no sluggish dual drumming; Bill's attacking metronome, Phil's rich melodiousness, Weir's light speed progression – not just the songwriting, but the leadership, and of course the guitar playing, which by 1974 would become an indispensable strong thread in the bandweave—It's a great unit and they are getting shit done.

Anyway, all of this by way of saying "Welcome to the band, Keith. No pressure." I have always argued that there's only so much plasticity to the human soul, and that if you take it too far you might find yourself discovering all kinds of unpleasantness, reservoirs of stress and anxiety and exhaustion and fatalism which, tapped, can't be untapped; they can never go back to being unundiscovered, which is where they're best left. I don't have enough insight into Keith to see whether the baptism by fire left any scars. But it sure could have. Got pain? Seek comfort, immediately, and more fire is probably not a good call. Maybe being a musical idiot savant, as Garcia not kindly characterized him a few months before his untimely (and, I believe, fiery) death at 32 (Rowland 1980; see also "Bloody Hell"), maybe that helped; lacking emotional depth, maybe he just put his head down and played the fuck out of the piano –this he surely did!— maybe he didn't let it bother him. But I don't think so. No sense of continuity, indeed.

Welcome to Modernity

Roger Waters had it as "Welcome To The Machine", resonant with LIAs "brotherhood versus the machine" analysis of the Grateful Dead. It's all the same thing – modernity. In properly locating Helios, and somewhat counterintuitively, Galileo helped found an anthropocentric world, the one in which neither God nor Nature outstrips Man – and quite the contrary. The world is our artifactual oyster, and Reason can see us through. We own this place. Among many other things, space and time are standardized and routinized. As Boorstin writes in The Discovers, our calendars display a frothy, distinctly human blending of Moon and Sun. Pure hubris! Comparability and predictability result, and when you hear all that in the present context, you should hear "commodification", the ideal type of which is the perfectly invariant widget, available at just the right price.

Let's use the Circular to examine how this plays out, in practice. I should have mentioned this when I looked at the Pollstar 1991 year-end spectacular, analyzing it as "The Year of The Dead", but sometimes single documents contain whole worlds. These particular ones embody the record industry, put it on display, show its living patterns and practices. But they do so within the industry's natural habitat, not a zoo or even a National Park – straight out wilderness, where the viewing is best. So let's unpack what we see of this ubiquitous creature.

The titular article, "The Dead Deliver," offers an "official history", which is high modernity's codification of myth. I won't go over the details, but invite you all experts to comments on the details. There's a new record, natch, and let us hip you to its positive attributes. But also notice Weir's ascent to the front rank, "Handsome Bob," a strong lead singer. At least some girls and probably more than a few boys probably bought a record to ogle him, dreaming of holdin' Bobby's body close to theirs. Did I mention the commodification of sex? And, a record.

The second page finds mention of Garcia, planned for release within next month or two (eventually released in January 1972, Warner Brothers BS 2582) and IBM sales sheets (can I please see those?). But it's the box in the northeast corner that really interests me: how to make a Month. "To set all 50 of the United States ablaze with enthusiasm for the Dead's seven WB albums, the merch/ad/promo people in Burbank have been working overtime for the last month, in consort with the Dead's management, to come up with a campaign known loosely as 'Fill Your Days With the Dead'". We got yer t-shirts with in-store display apparatus; blow-ups of the band and slicks of the album covers; patches, currently "being stitched by gnomes at an undisclosed location" (I wonder where? Probably still domestic?); all kinds of routinized talking points, such that "Dear Customer be aware that there is now a Dead album for every day of the week"; and, of course, radio, with airplay, a single, and planned ad buys. (Note they don't mention the FM broadcasts – these must have been planned later.)

Space makes an appearance (the 50 states), but it's time that's really being packaged here. "What a Month is", indeed! Gods' names mask the reality that it's Man's World – we make our own time around here, son. The Month, capital 'M', with enough records for every day of the week.

The third and final page of the Dead feature contains no fewer than four chronological errors – that's really odd for an official history. Two regard release dates of Live/Dead and Workingman's Dead, and two involve personnel (Hart and TC's departures). Very strange. Notice Pigpen plans a solo album – it was right around this time that he was advertised with a solo gig.

The intervening three pages have your usual stuff, reports on artists, descriptions of new releases, singles, etc. It's all interesting. But I'll just get to the back cover:

What strikes me here is the sheer genius of listing these by space, rather than by time or by artist. Circular would go out to record stores all over the country, and local is where it's at. Want to sell a few more Fanny records? Tell the locals that she(?)'ll be playing the nearby college or theater. You don't need to know Fanny's whole itinerary, or what's happening elsewhere on any given Friday. What you need to know is "who's coming to Nebraska this week"? And The Market, Warner Brothers (including the winsome accountant M. Gitlin) and the intrepid Circular staff are happy to move put those data right in front of your nose, where you can find them. We got this. It'll cost you, but we've got this.

Conclusion

Anyway, no big deal. A lot of big words to just parse out some stuff in a document. But it's a neat document, and a deeply characteristic one. So, who has a line on more copies of the Circular? I didn't find any at GDAO, but I'd be shocked if the Santa Cruz archive didn't have some, somewhere. Anyone else? These would be fun to go through en masse.

BOAT TWYDTTYD: JGB, Palladium, November 10, 1981 (late show)

LN jg1981-11-10.jgb.late.aud-stankiewicz.127293.flac2496

JGB played The Palladium twice in 1981, 2/11/81 and this night. Richie Stankiewicz taped both nights. Both really good shows and really good tapes.

This one has the best of all time (BOAT, in some circles) Garcia Band version of "The Way You Do The Things You Do", IMO. It's quite good.

I also returned to this after noting the wonderful, well-developed, 22+ minute "Don't Let Go" from 3/27/82, and wanting to check out another DLG from around the era. This one from four months earlier is a spunky 9+ minutes! Big contrast, if also nice and well-played.

These Richie Stankiewicz tapes continue to impress. I have annotated the aforementioned 2/11/81, as well as his 11/15/81 from this tour, Ron Tutt Returns. Also annotated from this tour:

10/31/81: JGB, Halloween 1981
11/3/81: Nothing to Write Home About on a Charlie Miller Birthday Show
11/4/81: Positively Garcia and the East Coast Deadhead
11/10/81b (this post)
11/13/81: Frank Streeter's tape from 11/13/81 (Boston).
11/15/81: Taking care of business.
11/17/81: Two long sets, not early and late shows + Mason Taylor listening notes
11/19/81: Farewell to Ronnie at the Rainbow

It's very good, strong stuff.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Palladium
126 E 14th St
New York, NY 10003
November 10, 1981 (Tuesday) - Late Show
87 min Stanki flac2496 shnid-127293

--set I (4 tracks, 33:54-0:41)--
s1t01. [0:22] The Way You Do the Things You Do [6:11] [0:03] % [0:12]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [6:44] [0:03] % [0:34]
s1t03. Knockin' On Heaven's Door [11:50] [0:19] % [0:02]
s1t04. Mystery Train [6:48] (1) [0:05] % pre-set II [0:41]

--set II (5 tracks, 52:48+0:41)--
s2t01. [+0:41] [0:05] I'll take A Melody [10:53] %% [0:53]
s2t02. Don't Let Go [9:31] [0:08] % [0:13]
s2t03. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:34] ->
s2t04. Dear Prudence [10:44] ->
s2t05. Tangled Up In Blue [11:39] [0:08] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #14b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Jimmy Warren - electric keyboards;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums;
! lineup: Julie Stafford - vocals;
! lineup: Liz Stires - vocals.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19811110-02

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/10173 (Beyer M160s, possibly same source tape, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/18166 (Ohr Weinberg, early show, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/27760 (Mark Cohen, early show, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/77357 (Nak 300s late show, flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/127293 (this fileset).

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

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/academy-of-music-126-e-14th-street-new.html.

! band: JGB #14b (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! R: field recordist: Richie Stankiewicz

! R: field recording gear: 2x Beyer M-160 > Sony TCD-5m

! R: field recording location: 1st row balcony

! R: transfer: Sony TCKA3ES playback > USBPre 2 by Richie Stankiewicz.

! R: very nice balcony tape.

! R: JGMF rename tracks

! P: TWYDTTYD JG is tearing shit up in the 5-min range. Very hot.

! P: s1t02 TLEO Tutt is just banging right from the start.

! s1t04 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a little break, and we'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2t01 ITAM JG playing very well. Nice scaling in the late 8:40s, then more good playing over the 9-min mark. More fanning 9:22ff, scaling down 9:34, pulling. Utterly characteristic Jerry Garcia guitar playing.

! P: s2t02 DLG so I am listening to this right after I heard 3/27/82, same place in the setlist. This one is a totally different beast. Much punchier, but Garcia's playing here, as there, is simply wonderful. That one was patient and deep. This one is burning much hotter, lots of fast scales, e.g., 6-7 mark. It's stunning how abruptly he ends this one, less than ten minutes! Very strange to see such a wide variation in the timing of a song within four months, under ten minutes vs. over twenty-two!

Great 'Don't Let Go' on the Second Starry Night - Portland, OR, December 7, 1984

LN jg1984-12-07.jgb.all.aud-young.127069.flac2496

Nice tape, and a good night if you can filter out Garcia's singing. Jerry's peppy and there's lots of good playing here.

I have argued that this period (August-December 1984) is rock bottom, but if it is, I gotta give the guy credit for slogging through it pretty respectably.

Two arguments for rock bottom, from this tape.

First, the vocals. Awful. Painful.

Second, the quantity: as good as the playing is, there might be less of it than a fully committed professional might feel obliged to provide you. You're getting barely ninety minutes of actual music for your ca. twelve and a half 1984 dollars. (That's less than thirty bucks today, which doesn't look outrageous given live entertainment ticket price inflation. But it was not cheap back then. He probably comes on real late and takes a real long set break, as well.)

But, I don't know. I am not prepared to say that this is "below the bar" of professionalism. I am posing the question. How bad do vocals need to be before you think to yourself, "y'know what? That's just freakin' brutal". What indifferent light-speed Mid Moon, galloping back to trough and getting out of Dodge, insults the ticket-buying public? All of this happened on a regular basis in 1984 and 1985, and 1983 and 1986 are suspect as well (though the latter for different reasons).

The question challenges me because the shows feature some incredible, incendiary, world-class guitar playing, outstanding arrangements with fine musicianship (aside from the bass), and the occasional  18-minute "Don't Let Go" that is totally worth checking out for the sheer American craftsmanship of it. I'd hit that for $30 tonight, given the choice - wouldn't you? (Last DLG until 2/5/88, BTW.)

Jerry Garcia Band
Starry Night
8 NW Sixth Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
December 7, 1984 (DOW) - 8:30 PM
Bruce Young MAC flac2496 shnid-127069

--set I (6 tracks, 44:10)--
s1t01. crowd and tuning [1:07]
s1t02. Cats Under the Stars [9:02] [1:01]
s1t03. When I Paint My Masterpiece [8:45] % [0:18]
s1t04. Get Out Of My Life, Woman [8:32] [0:06]
s1t05. Run For The Roses [4:57] ->
s1t06. Deal [10:10] [0:13] %

--set II (5 tracks, 48:44)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [1:20]
s2t02. Mission In The Rain [10:52] [0:14]
s2t03. The Harder They Come [11:02] [0:08] %% [0:12]
s2t04. Don't Let Go [18:00] ->
s2t05. Midnight Moonlight [6:37] (2) [0:18]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19841207-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/89197 (Mark Severson flac1644); http://db.etree.org/shn/127069 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/W2atf

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/starry-night-8-nw-sixth-avenue-portland.html

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

! historical: This show is interesting as part of a study into Garcia's nadir. The vocals meet expectations - they are horrific. Garcia is estranged from his singing voice at this point. But he plays some terrific guitar and is generally quite energetic. But here's the other downside of this period: the sets are probably an hour total time (including smoke breaks and such) each, and I am sure they started late - perhaps hours - and took a very long set break - I presume an hour or more. So, for your $12.50 or whatever (I don't know the prices), you have a long night without as much musical bang for your buck. There were other periods in which they were even shorter, I think -- 1985 comes to mind -- but not by much. And by the end of the night, they are sprinting into the barn for some freshening up.

! seealso: JGMF reports on 12/5 and 12/6 as well.

! R: field recordist: Bruce Young;

! R: field recording gear: 2x Sony or Nakamichi mics > unknown DBX unit > Sony D5;

! R: field recording location: first row of the balcony, center, directly above the soundboard;

! R: transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nakamichi Dragon > Korg MR-1000(DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo]) Korg AudioGate > WAV [24/96] > Adobe Audition 3.0 > FLAC encoding.

! R: Taper recollections: "I used the old SONY microphones I borrowed from Richie.  I  used a Sony D5 ... Recorded at the old Starry Night club, first row of the balcony, center, directly above the soundboard. I created and made all of the backstage passes because my friend, Forrest Faubion,  was the promoter.  I had wall power for the D5 and the DBX, which you also have. I was the first person into the show and had my pick of recording locations. Being right over the soundboard and in the balcony, there is far, far less crowd noise, because there was no one in front of me.  The mics were taped, but cushioned with sonex foam, to the balcony. There is a chance I used  the Jaime modified NAK microphones ... I'm not positive when he made them for me. The best recording I ever made.  The backstage passes have my company name....Up All Night (Nite to save space) in very small font. Michael Hedges opened, but it was was very hard to record a solo guitar act so far away.  Too much noise to signal ... too much echo."

! P: s2t02 CUTS. Brutally bad voice, as you'd expect. For whatever reason, Jerry just frequently had a hard time with how to end this song. Too many refrains.

! P: s1t03 WIPMM Jerry sings reasonably peppy. "It sure has been a long, hard climb", indeed. Whoa, crazy fanning around late 6 over 7 mark, very nice!

! P: s1t04 GOOMLW He misses the first vocal, so he takes a nice turn on guitar, and playing nicely, e.g., 0:38 just some nice sharp runs, digging in, still grooving into 0:50, starts vox around 1 minute in. More fluid stuff 1:05-1:06. Nice. His guitar playing is just fine, thank you very much. Pretty good playing over 4. Melvin takes a feature 4:25ff.

! s1t05 RFTR was good when it was fast like this. Bad vocal clam @ 3:45.

! s1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back later."

! P: MITR 5 min mark Melvin is playing electric piano, rather nicely.

! P: s2t03 HTC here, as throughout the show, I am really impressed with David Kemper. This HTC is going a mile a minute - yikes!

! P: s2t04 DLG was always special by this time - a DLG night was typically a highlight. This one strikes me as good, but nothing jumped out at me.

! P: s2t05 Mid Moon is sprinting.

! s2t05 (2) JG: "see ya later", or something like that. He's sprinting backstage.

LN jg1987-03-14.jgb.all.aud-archival_audio.124259.flac2448

Garcia doesn't quite have his stamina back. Nothing particularly noteworthy happening here. Good tape.

Ian Stoy's ticket stub for JGB 3/14/87 at the Wiltern Theatre in LA

Jerry Garcia Band
Wiltern Theatre
3790 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010
March 14, 1987 (Saturday)
Ian Stoy MAC flac2448 shnid-124259

--set I (8 tracks, 60:40)--
s1t01. crowd and tuning [1:09]
s1t02. Cats Under The Stars [8:00] [1:33]
s1t03. Mission In The Rain [9:15] [0:29]
s1t04. They Love Each Other [6:42] [0:27]
s1t05. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:17] [0:29]
s1t06. Think [6:05] [0:01] % [0:22]
s1t07. Like A Road Leading Home [7:32] ->
s1t08. Deal [6:10] (1) [0:09] %

--set II (7 tracks, 51:53)--
s2t01. Get Out Of My Life, Woman [8:00] [0:20]
s2t02. Run For The Roses [5:28] [0:42]
s2t03. Love In The Afternoon [8:25] [0:17]
s2t04. Gomorrah [6:40] [1:01]
s2t05. Crazy Love [4:38] [0:16]
s2t06. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [9:18] %
s2t07. /Midnight Moonlight [6:35] (1) [0:13] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19870314-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/32006 (Sony 939 flac1644); http://db.etree.org/shn/124259 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/71INU

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/09/wiltern-theatre-3790-wilshire-boulevard.html

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

! R: field recordist: Ian Stoy a.k.a. Archival Audio

! R: field recording location: Orch Row D Seat 114 Aisle 4 (FOB)

! R: field recording gear: 2x Toa K1 (handheld about 4' apart chest high) > Sony WM-TCD-6C > ! ! R: field recording media: 2x Maxell XLII-S 90 (Dolby C on)

! R: transfer: Tascam 302 Dolby C on >  ArchivalSilver/Gold RCA/1/4" TS > 1/4" > Tascam DR-680 24bit/48khz (dual mono) > Transcend SDHC Class10 card > iMac 3.06 Ghz i3 12 GR 133MHz DDR3 > AudioFile Engineering Wave Editor 1.57. Normalize to -.9 db (each side) Remove DC offset regions [labels] exported .wav  > xACT v2.21to FLAC (level 8 ) Metadata (aka tags), generate ffp and len (shntool) output.

! R: seeder notes: "Second ever "stealth" show, hand held mics, cable connection crackles and a drop out or two in the left channel during Cats. I did my best to lessen the pops but left the slight dropout. At the beginning of set 2 security was trying to seat someone in our aisle flashlight out and pointed at us, and therefore the start of GOOMLW was a bit muffled and a second or two was missing. Also the tape flip at the end of set 2 caused a second or two of might nigh moonlight to be missing. Light phasing can be heard throughout the show due to hand held spaced cardiod mics. A light buzz in the PA can be heard , more prevalent in quiter passages.  Can be rougher at times but overall not that bad!"

! R: this is a nice tape, e.g., start set II. Great spot.

! historical: seeder notes: "As with a number of LA shows my friend James (Jim) Ford waited in line to get the tix when they went on sale. He and Ron Cook help me get my gear in and hold one of the mics. This show was before In The Dark came out, and was lacking many of the In The Dark heads that attended the December '87 run we recorded, post Broadway run.  These 2 shows Friday  3/13 and sat 3/14 were the first shows I ever "stealthed" and was surprised there was "No Recording" enforced.  I did record 10/31/86 JGB and Kingfish. That was open with stands but I had an impedance mis-match and my recordings came out horrid. Back to 3/14 Light phasing can be heard  throughout the show due to hand held mics. The right channel (if I recall correct) was held by me mostly, except starting stopping or adjusting levels on my D-6. I held my mic chest high and mostly still aimed at the right stack. Whereas the left channel was more casually held and potential lower. The night before due to my first steal thing, I managed to record the second set over the first set, and due to cable issues, I believe that only one channel was recorded super botched job. We had a bank of 4 seats each night we were in Row D  I was in  Seat 114. First time at the Wiltern and it was very sweet! Enjoy! AchivalAudio, 2013-03-26."

! R: quite a pleasant tape!

! R: s1t05 STOF drop @ 2:16, 10:40

! P: s1t08 Deal Jerry is not sounding very good here, running out of steam. He doesn't really hit the vocals properly, either with the verses or with the chorus ... but let's see if he can make it up with his guitar playing from 3:30ff? Indeed, good. As ever, Garcia's guitar playing is excellent, while the vocals are the canary in the coalmine in re basic health. I don't think he's using here (but WTF do I know?), but he just hasn't built back his stamina not just from The Coma, but from years, at least eight but probably a decade or more, of hard drugs and hard living. The Tom Davis book gives you the nadir, or the August 1984 recordings.

! s1t08 (1) JG: "We'll be back in a few minutes. Thank you."

! R: s2t01 GOOMLW fades in, but not really anything missing. Taper says ""Second ever 'stealth' show, hand held mics, cable connection [problems]. At the beginning of set II security was trying to seat someone in our aisle, flashlight out and pointed at us, and therefore the start of GOOMLW is a bit muffled and a second or two is missing."

! s2t01 GOOMLW JG is putting some extra measures in vocally, "I don't love you no mo' oo oh". It's nice. Guitar solo 2:20 is pretty good. Late 3, Melvin takes a feature.

! P: s2t02 RFTR I find this tempo just a little bit sluggish.

! P: s2t03 LITA Jerry's voice is shot. And the band is not all on the same page toward the end of the song, 7ff. Not great.

! song: "Crazy Love" (s2t05): 15 times from Oct 19, 1986 to Oct. 31,1987: https://jerrybase.com/songs/805

! R: s2t07 Mid Moon clips in.

! s2t07 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot, see ya later."