tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52689558578284863312024-03-18T20:13:09.560-07:00Hooterollin' AroundInsight and speculation from the penumbra of Grateful Dead scholarship, an appendix to Lost Live Dead (lostlivedead.blogspot.com)Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-77208824883664150622024-02-16T06:56:00.000-08:002024-02-16T13:22:17.475-08:00Chesley Millikin (1934-2001)<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf4HAs0mjq2nM1chnZpnEzcGypbWuyyDjW0MrwK94b0JBmO3sOauc07Yu7C1gYaNZCDg8eTr9yJP2mSBnpYJm9H-EOYUilRxytiQVa6ULLgBDV1khCiPLvhnfaS4ndsBlS2lJUOgH30qS0ysiXZ0HTW7qC6UlWXlNmkmhtZSdAuipR1ls4cfAdg1Vf2dk/s1184/JG%20Chesley%20Millikin%201980s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="754" data-original-width="1184" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf4HAs0mjq2nM1chnZpnEzcGypbWuyyDjW0MrwK94b0JBmO3sOauc07Yu7C1gYaNZCDg8eTr9yJP2mSBnpYJm9H-EOYUilRxytiQVa6ULLgBDV1khCiPLvhnfaS4ndsBlS2lJUOgH30qS0ysiXZ0HTW7qC6UlWXlNmkmhtZSdAuipR1ls4cfAdg1Vf2dk/s320/JG%20Chesley%20Millikin%201980s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Jerry Garcia and Chesley Millikin, date and location unknown. I don't know the source of the photograph, nor even if Jerry was photoshopped into it. In any case, it could have been taken, or ought to have been. </i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>The roots of 20th century rock music often gets described like ancient mythology, when gods and heroes roamed the earth, slaying dragons, freeing princesses and building castles. Figures like Jerry Garcia, Keith Richards or Bill Graham do seem almost mythical now, even if Keef is still actually with us. When industries are just starting, there are fewer participants, and they are more likely to cross paths. Yet mythological or not, even myths and legends do not cross each other's path by accident. Someone knew them both, and introduced them. Identifying the social and professional connections between historical figures is the study of prosopography. Rock Prosopography, as it applies to the Grateful Dead, and is practiced by me, focuses on how the paths of different musicians cross. It's rarely random. </p><p>The name Chesley Millikin is only barely recognized in rock music history, half-remembered by people who have a lot of albums and read too many memoirs. Yet he was a very important guy, in Grateful Dead history, and in the histories of the Rolling Stones, Jackson Browne, Stevie Ray Vaughan and several other artists. He never wrote a memoir. Too bad--he was apparently quite a teller of tales, and what a tale he had to tell. Since Mr. Millikin (1934-2001) has traveled on, it's left to me to cobble together the pieces. I don't have anywhere near the whole Chesley Millikin story, so I'm just going to focus just on the Grateful Dead part. </p><p>Chesley Millikin had a remarkable rock and roll career, and that isn't even the whole story. Despite only working for the Grateful Dead for a few years in the early 1970s, he made a number of important introductions for them before and during that time, and appeared to have remained in good standing with the band from 1966 through the 1990s, itself a remarkable achievement. A few, brief highlights:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Fall 1966: Millikin, from Dublin, IRL, was a Berkeley businessman when he saw the Grateful Dead and became friends with Danny Rifkin, Rock Scully and Pigpen</li><li>Summer 1969: Relocated to London, Millikin was the head of Epic Records’ European subsidiary. When Rock Scully arrived in London to meet the Rolling Stones, Chesley introduced him to Sam Cutler, who in turn introduced Rock to Keith Richards. Rock suggested a free Rolling Stones/Grateful Dead concert in San Francisco. </li><li>1971: Millikin had done some promotion work for the Grateful Dead after <i>American Beauty</i>. The Dead needed a laywer, and Millikin recommended his friend Hal Kant. Kant would remain the Dead's lawyer until the very end. </li><li>1972: Millikin was instrumental in working with Sam Cutler in putting together the Europe '72 tour. Afterwards, Millikin was Cutler's chief lieutenant in Out of Town Tours, booking the Grateful Dead and the New Riders of The Purple Sage and keeping the Riders on the road. </li><li>1973: Millikin gets the credit for turning Jerry Garcia on to the Chieftains, also from Dublin. The Chieftains opened for Old And In The Way, got taped by Owsley, and interviewed by Jerry, all in the space of a week or so. <br /></li><li>Summer 1974: After Sam Cutler was pushed out in a January, 1974 purge, and then the managers who replaced them (Jon McIntire, Richard Loren and Rock Scully) were then pushed out in France, Chesley Millikin and Hal Kant were left to manage the Grateful Dead, albeit only for two more months. </li><li>1979: Millikin was brought in to help manage the Manor Downs race track and concert venue, replacing old pal Sam Cutler. Millikin moved to Austin and booked the Grateful Dead there four times through the 1980s. While he was in Austin, he just happened to discover Stevie Ray Vaughan in some down and out Austin bar, and took on his management. </li></ul><p>So this post will review the history of Chesley Millikin and his history with the Grateful Dead, showing the prosopographical context for many seemingly random events in the band's history. I will provide some context for Millikin's history in general, though sadly not all of it. Suffice to say, there's a lot, and even I can only go so far down the rabbit hole. Anyone who has Millikin sightings, corrections, insights or fascinating speculation, please put them in the Comments. <br /></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzyCtONJRysJNAShkPXMTzxysCY57EPZfVXiL8yPJLygqZxGoswi29OCDjOzXz76kAxv7PtZeidCXhzz-l7v4kI2pvcUDElahruBKoqCieKEbp90pI5t12GQe3Ss-F8fYUxOzl5LugDuSYpSa0VIDbRJiBETorZAlcKdvCO0D8F7cFJFzaHs_zR7gVgw/s600/Kaleidoscope%20Side%20Trips%20Epic%201967.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="596" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRzyCtONJRysJNAShkPXMTzxysCY57EPZfVXiL8yPJLygqZxGoswi29OCDjOzXz76kAxv7PtZeidCXhzz-l7v4kI2pvcUDElahruBKoqCieKEbp90pI5t12GQe3Ss-F8fYUxOzl5LugDuSYpSa0VIDbRJiBETorZAlcKdvCO0D8F7cFJFzaHs_zR7gVgw/s320/Kaleidoscope%20Side%20Trips%20Epic%201967.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Chesley Millikin co-managed the group Kaleidoscope. Their Epic Records debut in 1967, Side Trips, helped invent "World Music." David Lindley (RIP) upper left. </i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />Back Story: How Did I Get Here?</b></i><br />The only substantial interview with Chesley Millikin that I am aware of was by <a href="https://www.dennismcnally.com/books/a-long-strange-trip-grateful-dead/">no less than Dennis McNally, for his epic <i>What A Long Strange Trip</i> history</a>. Although there is no transcript to my knowledge, McNally's book has more references to Millikin than any other source. Millikin's critical role can at least be discerned from McNally, and I will be referring to it often. I will proceed roughly in chronological order, but mostly I will go by topic, since otherwise the story will get diverted. The diversions are great, by the way--if only there'd been a book--but I will do my best to stay on the Grateful Dead track. <br /><p></p><p>Millikin (1934-2001) was from Dublin, and he was on the Irish Olympic show jumping team. I do not know if he participated in either the 1956 (Melbourne) or 1960 (Rome) Olympics. The legend goes, however, that Millikin "jumped ship" in Vancouver, and somehow wound up in California. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/liberal-stalwart-cameron-millikin-was-a-go-between-for-canada-in-northern-ireland/article13384094/ ">Millikin's older brother Cameron Millikin (1933-2013) had emigrated to New York and then Canada in 1956, making his way to Alberta by the sixties. Cameron had a long career in Alberta and Canadian politics, so I have to assume that his presence paved the way somehow for his younger brother</a>. </p><p>I don't know anything about Chesley Millikin's horse career, or if it is even true. I will note that Cameron Millikin escorted thoroughbred racehorses around the globe, so the Millikin family knew their horses. Googling around turns up various Millikins in the horse racing world. A Kerry Millikin, for example, won the bronze medal for the US in the 1996 Olympics. Make of it what you can, but I doubt it's a coincidence. <br /></p><p>When industries are just being born, there aren't many practitioners and they usually are pretty closely connected. From a distance, we marvel how teenage Steve Jobs and Bill Gates knew each other, but that's just how it worked at the beginning of the Personal Computer era. 60s Rock and Roll wasn't much different. We think of a band like the Grateful Dead as separate from London and Los Angeles rock stars, but they were often only one step removed. Often enough, that single degree of separation was Chesley Millikin. <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4Q-b409g7wKGqnLMDojY3mwqvw1mLEI370NQ6bYIYR2Jmop8sSYDiUGeTDRBEI1hS8poLvveglr0L9vAtLXPyVUzgv-KUN-hSRbn6NXYC3WR_s5PMOetLGbmDddwrOOtvUU8kX4w92z8bQZicIGHThNxklc2RsP7aExNAIvhHryajJGEftWAbcVRwRI/s2904/GD%20CJF%20Pauley%2019661202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2904" data-original-width="1904" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4Q-b409g7wKGqnLMDojY3mwqvw1mLEI370NQ6bYIYR2Jmop8sSYDiUGeTDRBEI1hS8poLvveglr0L9vAtLXPyVUzgv-KUN-hSRbn6NXYC3WR_s5PMOetLGbmDddwrOOtvUU8kX4w92z8bQZicIGHThNxklc2RsP7aExNAIvhHryajJGEftWAbcVRwRI/s320/GD%20CJF%20Pauley%2019661202.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Country Joe and The Fish and the Grateful Dead played Pauley Ballroom on the UC Berkeley campus on Friday, December 2, 1966. The show was produced by Bill "Jolly Blue" Ehlert, proprietor of Berkeley's Jabberwock coffee shop. This show was probably the one where Chesley Millikin met Rock Scully.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Berkeley '66</b><br />Our first firm sight of Chesley Millikin comes in 1966 Berkeley. <a href="https://www.dennismcnally.com/books/a-long-strange-trip-grateful-dead/ ">McNally summarizes the first leg of Millikin's musical career</a>:<p></p><blockquote><i>Chesley was an interesting character on the Dead's scene. A little older
than the band members, he'd fled his native Ireland to become a
martini-guzzling businessman in Berkeley before going to a 1966 Dead
concert on campus, where he fell in with Danny, Rock and Pigpen. After
taking LSD for his alcoholism, he dropped out, eventually becoming the
manager of a band called Kaleidoscope (which featured David Lindley),
then the in-house hippie at CBS in 1968, and then Epic Records' European
manager in 1969 (p437).</i></blockquote><p></p><p>The source for this information was Millikin's interview with McNally. The likely date for the "campus" show was the December 2, 1966 show at Pauley Ballroom, but that's just a prudent guess. What business was Millikin in? How did he have a green card or work permit? Unknown as well. Nevertheless, the significant detail here was Chesley's early and lasting friendship with Rock Scully. Scully, of course had been the Dead's sort-of-manager since early '66, and was as close to Jerry Garcia as anybody until about '84, when he was pushed out of the Dead organization for being a "bad influence."</p><p>Some key events in Grateful Dead history seem to have happened as if by magic: the Altamont debacle, the abrupt arrival of Sam Cutler, the steadying presence of Hal Kant and so on. All of these events were not magic at all, however, but had depended on the initial friendship of Rock Scully and Chesley Millikin. Chesley introduced Rock and Sam Cutler, so while it triggered the ill-advised Altamont mess, it also brought Cutler into the fold so quickly. Hal Kant's legal advice was another steadying influence. If Rock hadn't gone back to 1966 with Chesley, none of these things would have happened.</p><b><i><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp_LGw9lVztz2OeKjMjHcgBfy1tR_kCSBD3PEt81bMBnsTdKOSFnOQNiFVLkXwNoCtBZl89QZZ0KXhBEh91xbDOHh5vCGl8DPDG4gWXrXVtD7CMTTVQbQJKrdkXXQMp_whSDD6zRuI3GP_V7R91WHGk9hC3eODjmaGakb3X-iA-3BBILoBRe8DIeVAFQ/s600/Kaleidoscope%20Beacon%20Epic%201968.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDp_LGw9lVztz2OeKjMjHcgBfy1tR_kCSBD3PEt81bMBnsTdKOSFnOQNiFVLkXwNoCtBZl89QZZ0KXhBEh91xbDOHh5vCGl8DPDG4gWXrXVtD7CMTTVQbQJKrdkXXQMp_whSDD6zRuI3GP_V7R91WHGk9hC3eODjmaGakb3X-iA-3BBILoBRe8DIeVAFQ/s320/Kaleidoscope%20Beacon%20Epic%201968.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kaleidoscope's second album on Epic Records, A Beacon From Mars, was released in 1968</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Los Angeles 1967-68</i></b><br />By 1967, Millikin was in Los Angeles, working in the music industry. Millikin was the co-manager of a truly legendary rock band from Claremont called Kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscope released 4 amazing albums on Epic from 1967 to 1970, and helped pioneer "World Music." No one was ready for it, unfortunately, except other musicians. Jimmy Page, for one, was a huge fan of Kaleidoscope. Once, in May 1968, the Yardbirds were playing the Fillmore, and Page later explained how between sets he walked the twelve blocks over to the Avalon just to catch Kaleidoscope. How Millikin came to be the co-manager of Kaleidoscope is lost to the mists of time. <br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoPkQIG5f3cz80UITK-4r88dbmFXjaVXMU_zp3wNC38oR44RAkf24XAxkd-IpMHzec0tbpvOUHX_WWrEoPejD1jkWKBalnHToJz2orfBR7IQru83Sm41hod6wKtaM_giEgDUHm1r8foFAJY4JW049r4TJZscst_AzTeJ6X_jHd1J_xeUu3IY086ti3Zyk/s300/Frazier%20Mohawk%2060s%20(w%20Nurit%20Wilde).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="217" data-original-width="300" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoPkQIG5f3cz80UITK-4r88dbmFXjaVXMU_zp3wNC38oR44RAkf24XAxkd-IpMHzec0tbpvOUHX_WWrEoPejD1jkWKBalnHToJz2orfBR7IQru83Sm41hod6wKtaM_giEgDUHm1r8foFAJY4JW049r4TJZscst_AzTeJ6X_jHd1J_xeUu3IY086ti3Zyk/s1600/Frazier%20Mohawk%2060s%20(w%20Nurit%20Wilde).jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Frazier Mohawk (l), born Barry Friedman, was Buffalo Springfield's first manager</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Millikin's co-manager was another legendary character called Frazier Mohawk. Mohawk (1941-2012)--born Barry Friedman --had worked for KRLA dj Bob Eubanks (yes, of the Newlywed Game), and had done the promotion work for the Beatles 1964 appearance in Los Angeles, since the concert was promoted by Eubanks. By osmosis, Friedman then became the "house hippie" for Elektra Records, producing some early Butterfield Blues Band sides. He also helped his roommate, Stephen Stills, put together the Buffalo Springfield and he was the first manager of that band as well. Friedman had changed his name either to avoid bill collectors or because it sounded cooler. All the folkies-turned-rockers in LA knew Frazier Mohawk. He had suggested that Stills and Peter Tork audition for The Monkees, for example, and Tork got the gig (Stills had bad teeth). Jackson Browne slept on Mohawk's couch. Mohawk married singer Sandy Hurvitz, who changed her name to Essra Mohawk (<a href="https://jerrybase.com/events/19810625-01">she would turn up in the Jerry Garcia Band a dozen years later</a>). <br /></p><p></p><p>By the end of the decade, Mohawk had produced <i>The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders</i> and Nico's <i>Marble Index</i>, and in 1968 even got Elektra to finance an insane project in far Northern California called Paxton Ranch. The Paxton Ranch story is too nutty to believe (<a href="https://bobsegarini.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/segarini-frazier-mohawk-send-in-the-clown/">read Bob Segarini's summary for a taste</a>), but the idea was that it was a remote communal studio to record Jackson Browne songs 24/7. <a href="https://bobsegarini.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/segarini-frazier-mohawk-send-in-the-clown-part-two">Demos survived, but no album came of it. It was the 60s</a>. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJr_hdUO8G4HEMKlrX5k05bqfpBUyjOLGl0pUxQ2uae0pKRXIMLSi4imhx5LeRG8fYaayXKxjUFIkMusw_tQnulFPAEniYunrLmYiNh0Y4tHKcB1N2-wWW4f5yzJgLjb9IQlDr4UnVUfMtloJg5pOa7hR58-4v1BYGwv40YeclSlvtzMjJ_W9yL1OICAI/s865/The%20Poor%20Universal%20Studios%201968.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="382" data-original-width="865" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJr_hdUO8G4HEMKlrX5k05bqfpBUyjOLGl0pUxQ2uae0pKRXIMLSi4imhx5LeRG8fYaayXKxjUFIkMusw_tQnulFPAEniYunrLmYiNh0Y4tHKcB1N2-wWW4f5yzJgLjb9IQlDr4UnVUfMtloJg5pOa7hR58-4v1BYGwv40YeclSlvtzMjJ_W9yL1OICAI/s320/The%20Poor%20Universal%20Studios%201968.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Poor, managed by Chesley Millikin, performing at Universal Studios in 1968. Future Eagle Randy Meisner is on bass, and future New Rider Pat Shanahan is on drums</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Millikin, meanwhile, shared Kaleidoscope with Mohawk--and Jackson Browne slept some on his couch, too, which turned out to be important--but he also had his own gigs. Millikin was also the manager of a band of mostly Colorado transplants called The Poor. The Poor included bassist Randy Meisner, later in Poco and then the Eagles, and guitarist Allan Kemp and drummer Pat Shanahan. Shanahan, Kemp and Meisner were in Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band ("Garden Party"), and Shanahan and Kemp were both in the New Riders of The Purple Sage for several years in the late 1970s. <a href="https://randymeisnerretrospective.com/2023/06/14/an-interview-with-patrick-shanahan/ ">Shanahan has described some of the adventures of The Poor with Millikin in an interview.</a></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaX88U-yGbuiyvw8RvUAylf-wd4K_fHMwNDUy5a0Lcxv4niaBF06aFbh9_7TUc8LsBc0axwwn9tW2mf-xTNYLSML2xcB_v15RIK5P6yDIozVyi8__HrAjX6GSI5_9ty3I-ofx7yNdka4Z0kv-_Dsd3tF0vSsSwUrlVxapfa6EDEki-gMmkl4-OcunVo/s502/Magic%20Mushroom%20Kaleidoscope%2019680118.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="502" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpCaX88U-yGbuiyvw8RvUAylf-wd4K_fHMwNDUy5a0Lcxv4niaBF06aFbh9_7TUc8LsBc0axwwn9tW2mf-xTNYLSML2xcB_v15RIK5P6yDIozVyi8__HrAjX6GSI5_9ty3I-ofx7yNdka4Z0kv-_Dsd3tF0vSsSwUrlVxapfa6EDEki-gMmkl4-OcunVo/s320/Magic%20Mushroom%20Kaleidoscope%2019680118.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>LA Free Press ad for The Magic Mushroom (111345 Ventura Boulevard), advertising Kaleidoscope performing on the weekend of January 18-21, 1968</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>By late 1967, Millikin was also the manager of a nightclub called The Magic Mushroom, out in Studio City, a sort of Fillmore for teenagers that was just outside of Los Angeles city limits. The Magic Mushroom, at 11345 Ventura Boulevard, was between Sherman Oaks and Hollywood. Just to give a taste of the interconnectedness of the tiny rock scene at the time, the ontogeny of the club was that it was the former Cinnamon Cinder, a chain of teenage clubs owned by Bob Eubanks. Mohawk had run the clubs for Eubanks, insisting that bands had to play live rather than lip-sync. By the end of 1967, the Cinnamon Cinder was too uncool, so the anchor club in Studio City was transformed into the Magic Mushroom. Millikin was interviewed by the Los Angeles <i>Times</i> about the newly opened club on September 23, 1967. According to David Lindley, The Kaleidoscope played the Magic Mushroom regularly, as did the Hour Glass, featuring Duane and Gregg Allman. <br /><p></p><p>As the Los Angeles <i>Free Press</i> ad above shows, Kaleidoscope, Millikin and Mohawk's band, played The Magic Mushroom on the weekend of January 18-21, 1968. Broadcasting on Sunday was "Radio Free Oz," a live comedy show on Eubanks' old station, KRLA. Radio Free Oz would evolve into the equally legendary Firesign Theater. All of these threads were in play at the same time, and Millikin was in the midst of band management with The Poor and Kaleidoscope, while running a nightclub at the same time. David Lindley said (in 2008) "Chesley was a prime mover in the whole California music thing."<br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><b><i><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEL6ytm5EObG2W7c8FkJ5HKm15AvvHrbD6f79ejpSU0d-t8ermjyZB9HU5CoQkV8-wqB5xpNWApIOh3x7-lQ1aEx2Xu139Remhd7AK4BF-difb0t9rMqlDrOKLkziswNtPwp4DjHMaXThkLw77OBJ8OPfxEoEgwsGHTZmJcR6NoXjBohr_sg8aOFL8c0/s603/Bang%20Bang%20You're%20Terry%20Reid%20Epic%2068.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCEL6ytm5EObG2W7c8FkJ5HKm15AvvHrbD6f79ejpSU0d-t8ermjyZB9HU5CoQkV8-wqB5xpNWApIOh3x7-lQ1aEx2Xu139Remhd7AK4BF-difb0t9rMqlDrOKLkziswNtPwp4DjHMaXThkLw77OBJ8OPfxEoEgwsGHTZmJcR6NoXjBohr_sg8aOFL8c0/s320/Bang%20Bang%20You're%20Terry%20Reid%20Epic%2068.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid was Reid's 68 debut on Epic Records</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />1968-Epic Records London</i></b><br />By the end of 1968, Millikin and Frazier Mohawk were no longer managing Kaleidoscope, although the band soldiered on with an even better album (<i>Incredible! Kaleidoscope</i>) to even less acclaim. But Kaleidoscope had been on Epic Records, which had been conceived as a sort of specialty artistic imprint for giant Columbia Records. Columbia had decided to focus on the growing rock scene in London, so they hired Chesley Millikin to be in charge of Epic Records in London. Millikin relocated to London, leaving Kaleidoscope, The Poor and the Magic Mushroom behind. <br /><p>Epic Records was a subsidiary of Columbia Records, founded in 1953 as a sort of prestige jazz and pop label. By the mid-60s, however, Epic had become the home for some more adventurous rock acts that didn't fit in with the staid entertainment professionalism of Columbia. Epic's biggest act in the US was Donovan, who was huge. We don't think of Donovan as "edgy," today, but back in 1966 he had been a long way from the Columbia mainstream. Epic was also the home of a number of "British Invasion" bands like the Dave Clark Five and The Hollies, as well as the Yardbirds. Millikin was hired to be the head of Epic in London, apparently to make them a hipper label. </p><p><i>[Just to clarify some nomenclature: in the States, Columbia Records was a subsidiary of CBS, the parent company of the Columbia Broadcasting System TV and radio network. In the UK, however, the "Columbia Records" trademark was owned by EMI, so albums released on Columbia in the US were released on CBS Records in the UK. CBS Records UK was also a subsidiary of the US CBS parent. But—make a note—UK EMI-Columbia, not a CBS company, released their albums on Epic in the US.]</i><br /></p><p>Sam Cutler, meanwhile, gotten into the rock and roll business, and was helping produce free concerts in Hyde Park in London. It's no surprise that Chesley and Sam would meet in the close-knit world of London rock and rollers, but we don't know how precisely that occurred. In the Summer of '68, Cutler had started working for the firm of Blackhill Enterprises, who managed Pink Floyd and promoted concerts. In the Summers of '68 and '69, Cutler had the principal duty of putting together free concerts in Hyde Park. Major acts headlined the Hyde Park shows, including the debut of Blind Faith (June 7 ‘69) and the debut of Mick Taylor with the Rolling Stones (July 5 ‘69). As a result of working with the Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, Cutler ended up as tour manager for the band’s 1969 US Tour. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVlLTQq_59aPeR8eJE7ojlVOI6H89qelLglSJvnpztar_bDI6BQhzeHUl6BIy2XjLNLw60H4sxCMQSD9ddB59-laot9kwgMHHA8wvnES4Tx84_wg4Jg98nq4MvXvSKt8Vooa-BAnrm7mGZsDc6QUwYetek6Faumpg4pw6xVqcyYwIiBdLuRMBDvc89vc/s511/SFC19690827a%20Hyde%20Park%20crop.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="456" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmVlLTQq_59aPeR8eJE7ojlVOI6H89qelLglSJvnpztar_bDI6BQhzeHUl6BIy2XjLNLw60H4sxCMQSD9ddB59-laot9kwgMHHA8wvnES4Tx84_wg4Jg98nq4MvXvSKt8Vooa-BAnrm7mGZsDc6QUwYetek6Faumpg4pw6xVqcyYwIiBdLuRMBDvc89vc/s320/SFC19690827a%20Hyde%20Park%20crop.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ralph Gleason's column in the SF Chronicle August 27, 1969</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><i>June 1969: Rock Scully Visits England</i></b><br />Grateful Dead co-manager Rock Scully's momentous visit to London in Summer '69 was described in detail in both Rock's and Sam's books. Sam Cutler had called Rock, probably bearing the imprimatur of Millikin, to propose that the Dead and the Airplane should come over to play a free concert in Hyde Park. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Living-Dead-Twenty-Garcia-Grateful/dp/0815411634">Cutler said (as recalled by Rock, though not by anyone else)</a>:<p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>"Wot abowt you bleedin' wankers commin' over 'ere and doin' a bit of jumpin' around wif guitars and other folly, eh darlin'?" Sam Cutler is on the line and wants to know what I think of the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane doing some free concerts in Hyde Park. They'll pick up the hotel costs and airfare and take care of the technical stuff...I am being sent as the front man, representing the Dead and the Airplane to "suss out" (in the phrase of the day) how the money would work, if it could really be done and whether it is worth doing." (p176).</i></blockquote><p></p><p>Scully flies over to London in late June 1969, and gets busted by Customs for smuggling LSD. He is in the airport jail over the weekend, but fellow traveler Frankie Hart (later known as Frankie Weir) calls Cutler. Per Rock, "Sam calls Chesley Millikin" who's currently vice president of Epic Records in Britain, and on Monday Chesley gets me out." <a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Always-What-Want/dp/155022932X">Cutler, in his book, tells the story slightly differently</a>:</p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>I got a call from my close friend Chesley Millikin, the former European head of Epic Records. He invited me to accompany him to Heathrow, where we were to collect an American friend he wanted me to meet. Though I was madly busy, Chesley wouldn't take no for an answer and he duly arrived in his wonderful old Bentley and we drove to the airport in magnificent style, smoking a large joint...</i></p><p><i>At the police station, we collected Chesley's friend, who turned out to be Rock Scully, one of the managers of the San Franciscan band the Grateful Dead....Rock was to swan around London and I saw very little of him, but he met up with Keith Richards, having been introduced by Chesley Millikin. It was at that meeting, at Keith's house in Cheyne Walk, that the idea of the Stones doing a free concert in California was first broached. No one seemed too enthusiastic as far as I could tell, but the idea would eventually come back to haunt the Stones [p.52]</i></p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.dennismcnally.com/books/a-long-strange-trip-grateful-dead/ ">Dennis McNally tells the story, too (p339),</a> and his version in turn is
slightly different than either Cutler's or Scully's versions. Even in my
brief excerpts, you'll note that everyone's memory is fuzzy on the
exact sequence of phone calls and meetings, but the essential fact was
that Chesley was the link between Sam and Rock. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2w1W5B2f_kBW-B292uH8OJ2UvKCs7s35MJFloSKmi_quG5TnBndpXfNM4uyAqVTCWpr23DcPkbDpDvyemMoSbATGF32TyTTKUqEXIKcMddwwNBxSLuYHrkYX6MQkbVyM0aTn_G2C8jVRMjRi24PhoElCXcYVdiq0A1ETGupu-k950Ew77Yt2HuU2NAB0/s364/SF%20Good%20Times%20FDGH%2019690905.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="67" data-original-width="364" height="59" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2w1W5B2f_kBW-B292uH8OJ2UvKCs7s35MJFloSKmi_quG5TnBndpXfNM4uyAqVTCWpr23DcPkbDpDvyemMoSbATGF32TyTTKUqEXIKcMddwwNBxSLuYHrkYX6MQkbVyM0aTn_G2C8jVRMjRi24PhoElCXcYVdiq0A1ETGupu-k950Ew77Yt2HuU2NAB0/s320/SF%20Good%20Times%20FDGH%2019690905.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>SF Good Times ad from September 5, 1969, where the Family Dog announces "a jam with members of 3 groups we're not allowed to name." Grateful Dead, New Riders and Jefferson Airplane played Friday, September 6, and the Dead played on the 7th as well. The 7th also featured jams with Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, Jerry Garcia, Joey Covington and others. <br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />On August 27, Ralph Gleason's column in the San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i> announced that the Dead and the Airplane (along with Crosby, Stills and Nash and Joni Mitchell) were going to play a free concert in Hyde Park on September 7. Needless to say, they did not, but Gleason's source was clearly an optimistic Rock Scully. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/05/september-6-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">In fact, the Dead and the Airplane played two stealthy weekend shows at the Family Dog on The Great Highway. Owsley had the foresight to tape the music</a>. <p>The history of the Altamont concert needs no recounting here, but its one of the most infamous and influential events in 60s rock history. Without Chesley Millikin, there wasn't a link between Rock Scully and Sam Cutler, and no access to Keith Richards. That alone makes Millikin an important rock figure, and we aren't even out of the 1960s yet. </p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Always-What-Want/dp/155022932X">In his excellent book (<i>You Can't Always Get What You Want</i> [2008: ECW Press]), Cutler describes in horrifying detail how Altamont goes bad, how he takes the blame, and how he ends up staying in San Francisco to become the tour manager of the Grateful Dead</a>. It was Cutler who organized the Dead's chaotic finances and finds a way to tour profitably. Without Cutler, the Dead would not have recovered from the financial debacle wrought by manager Lenny Hart. Without Millikin, Cutler never meets the Dead, and the future of the band after 1969 would have been in question. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnuO5jACkanUv0r5wOo6IYdCj5Q5kDNQocfDZqwaZ7bfzOCl3svPvad3hai52KzhM6Qs0WmXHaCKR9lQZouPTsof5aAxhxw-bBuPaIGZQsmUv_eI0M1MUszC5J9NcsnYpfICiRDmyibc-VFk7A9Ew9Y-Gh0gUNHA4R4IhibzVfGQbNy-5pmsAQPDwgAg/s576/Terry%20Reid%20lp%20Columbia%2069.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="550" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgnuO5jACkanUv0r5wOo6IYdCj5Q5kDNQocfDZqwaZ7bfzOCl3svPvad3hai52KzhM6Qs0WmXHaCKR9lQZouPTsof5aAxhxw-bBuPaIGZQsmUv_eI0M1MUszC5J9NcsnYpfICiRDmyibc-VFk7A9Ew9Y-Gh0gUNHA4R4IhibzVfGQbNy-5pmsAQPDwgAg/s320/Terry%20Reid%20lp%20Columbia%2069.jpg" width="306" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Terry Reid's second album, on EMI-Columbia in the UK released 1969. A different version of this album was released on Epic in the States as Superlungs My Supergirl<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><i>Terry Reid </i></b><br />Somewhere around the middle of 1969, Millikin had the responsibility of managing the career of the English guitarist and singer Terry Reid. Reid was signed to EMI-Columbia, but they were distributed by Epic Records in the States. It remains unclear whether Millikin was handling Reid on behalf of Epic, or was actually Reid's manager (you'll note that Scully and Cutler's quotes above state different things), and if so when his actual role switched. For our purposes here, it only matters that Millikin was close to Reid and actively assisted in promoting his career, whether as Record exec or manager. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Cant-Always-What-Want/dp/155022932X">Cutler</a>:<p></p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>A couple of days later I was at dinner with Chesley and Jo Bergman, who
managed the Stones' office. Chesley was the personal manager of Terry
Reid, who although he was still very young, was in many people's opinion
one of the greatest vocalists England had produced. Chesley was talking
to Jo about the possibility of Terry getting a support slot on a Stones
tour of America. The Stones were getting a lot of pressure from their
record company to cross the pond [p52] </i></blockquote><p></p><p>Terry Reid (b 1949) was from greater Cambridge, and first became known as the guitarist for Peter Jay and The Jaywalkers, when they opened for a Rolling Stones UK Tour in 1966. He met Graham Nash, then of the Hollies, who helped get him a contract with EMI (Columbia in the UK). Reid was an exceptional guitarist, a powerful singer and handsome as well. He had some chart success, and he came under the management of the famous hitmaking producer Mickie Most. Most (born Michael Hayes) had been a pop star in South Africa in the early 60s, which is how he acquired the stage name. By the mid-60s, he was a hugely successful pop producer, scoring big hits with Herman's Hermits, The Animals, Donovan and many others. </p><p>Most's principal lieutenant was ex-wrestler Peter Grant, who acted as road manager for Most's bands. Most had signed the Yardbirds, and had taken Jeff Beck solo, but the Yardbirds were falling apart. Lead guitarist Jimmy Page, who played on many of Most's hits, was forming a band with bassist John Paul Jones, another veteran Most session man. Most was tired of rock groups, so Peter Grant was going to take Page's new band and manage them. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNjLO3iyu8UCVuVr4xl6DDCwT1AQlcTyJWotFO0SW-AZoyM9_XXDzhU6bJ4Z1a0ETEkeR1co_jpwVPCZLQIrDyaaKhsLOLJTBxTmUdesDpKiGg28f17sf6ZLjgPUES-5jMlYptstWpNdBhdJT60E4bKjkZ8pmHIBPfdhUB-DbpTqsMy5GjK7QEuB3mzY/s1200/Rolling%20Stones%20Terry%20Reid%20Baltimore%2019691126%20Sun%20ad.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="625" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNjLO3iyu8UCVuVr4xl6DDCwT1AQlcTyJWotFO0SW-AZoyM9_XXDzhU6bJ4Z1a0ETEkeR1co_jpwVPCZLQIrDyaaKhsLOLJTBxTmUdesDpKiGg28f17sf6ZLjgPUES-5jMlYptstWpNdBhdJT60E4bKjkZ8pmHIBPfdhUB-DbpTqsMy5GjK7QEuB3mzY/s320/Rolling%20Stones%20Terry%20Reid%20Baltimore%2019691126%20Sun%20ad.jpg" width="167" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A Baltimore Sun ad for The Rolling Stones, BB King and Terry Reid at the Baltimore Civic Center, November 26, 1969<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Terry Reid's eternal fame, for all his talent, stems from a Fall 1968 lunch he had with Jimmy Page, when Page offered him the job of lead singer in his new band. Reid was counting on money from touring with the Rolling Stones upcoming American tour, however, and didn't want to take a flyer on Page's new band. So--Terry Reid turned down Led Zeppelin. As a courtesy, however, Reid told Jimmy about a singer he had seen in the Midlands who kind of sounded like him. Page went to see the singer, signed up Robert Plant and his drummer John Bonham, and the rest was history. Reid was the opening on the Stones' US Tour, though. <p></p><p>By 1970, Reid had toured America with both Cream (in 1968) and the Rolling Stones (in 1969) and played a bunch of rock festivals, and put out two really good albums that hadn't sold. Reid could see how rock was going, and he was ready to move towards sounding like Jeff Beck or Led Zeppelin, but his producer Mickie Most wouldn't have it. Most wanted Reid to make three-minute pop singles, and Reid refused, so Most wouldn't record him. The only way Reid could make any money was by touring, but his old band (organist Pete Solley and drummer Keith Webb) had left him. So Reid needed a new band, and only had a bass player. Lee Miles had played with Ike & Tina Turner when they, too, had opened for the 1969 Stones tour, and he had signed up with Reid. </p><p><a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/09/march-20-22-1970-family-dog-on-great.html">Meanwhile, in March, 1970, David Lindley had left Kaleidoscope, who promptly disintegrated anyway</a>. Although Millikin was no longer Kaleidoscope's manager, he arranged to have Lindley write a letter to Reid offering his services. Lindley, along with about two dozen instruments, came over to England to tour with Terry Reid. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/11/july-14-15-1970-family-dog-on-great.html?showComment=1689353039711#c1021110802621766769">Reid, Lindley, Lee Miles and various drummers (Bruce Rowland, Tim Davis and Alan White) toured the US and UK in 1970 and '71</a>. </p><p>Millikin had also facilitated the connection between Lindley and his former couch-surfer Jackson Browne. <a href=" https://www.fretboardjournal.com/features/godhead-the-musical-sorcery-of-david-lindley/ ">According to Lindley, back in 1968, when Millikin was still working with Kaleidoscope, Lindley was at the CBS Record Convention in Century City with Chesley, and Lindley gave Jackson a ride home</a>. Later, Millikin told Lindley "[Jackson]'s really good. [He] writes incredible songs." Subsequently (the exact timing is uncertain), Lindley played fiddle supporting Browne at the Troubadour, spontaneously, and later played with him in Cambridge as well. Jackson was in England recording, and Lindley was working with Terry Reid. They agreed to get together in LA if they had the chance. In 1972, they did. Chalk another one up for Chesley Millikin. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeXNbG8t5APVc4lkDus6X4bEOygC-6sNLaghNTeVglJIOj5GRBY7ilJvFerVBsZB0bukaLMLX7IMDRG5UkMyQriyVAy_HWHU8VbIMY_iZIw2zyLCePA418-AOinldRqFjuYJp_gD27dmWolOYVuwDLnkNo8sTAyfR4EnAQG4qkd6o_wMcx_GQa0Id0Qs/s225/American%20Beauty%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdeXNbG8t5APVc4lkDus6X4bEOygC-6sNLaghNTeVglJIOj5GRBY7ilJvFerVBsZB0bukaLMLX7IMDRG5UkMyQriyVAy_HWHU8VbIMY_iZIw2zyLCePA418-AOinldRqFjuYJp_gD27dmWolOYVuwDLnkNo8sTAyfR4EnAQG4qkd6o_wMcx_GQa0Id0Qs/s1600/American%20Beauty%20cover.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><b><i>1971: Return To The States</i></b><br />Whether Millikin was still working for Epic in London, Terry Reid's manager, or something else, we finally sight him again at the end of 1970. By the end of that year, the Grateful Dead were rather unexpectedly dealing with some success on FM radio, having released <i>Workingman's Dead</i> in June and <i>American Beauty</i> in November. "Truckin'" even has some hope as an AM hit single, and Rock Scully described the band's next step:<p></p><p></p><blockquote><i>"Truckin'" is the first song we think could be a hit so we hire the best "hit men" in the business. First we hire Chesley Millikin away from Epic Records to help us make "Truckin'" a hit...and through Chesley I meet a guy who is one of the most successful record pushers and AM radio fixers in the business" (p193)</i>.</blockquote><p></p><p>In the parlance of the time, Millikin would likely have been an "independent promoter," paid for by the Dead but neither their employee nor Warner Brothers’. In any case, this seems to have facilitated Millikin's return to the US. </p><p>In 1971, Millikin's seemingly magical ability to know everybody you might need to know pays another huge dividend for the Grateful Dead. By 1971, the band were actually making money, with two hit albums and Sam Cutler leading a profitable touring operation. The Dead's unique approach to business and troubled managerial history made a good lawyer imperative. They hired Hal Kant, and he remained their attorney until the very end. And how did the band find out about Kant? McNally:</p><p></p><blockquote><i>[Hal Kant] joined a small Beverly Hills law firm that happened to be
next door to the William Morris Agency, and eventually began to add
entertainment clients to his list. One day late in the 1960s, a
"charming psychopath" friend of his from graduate school had brought to
Hal's home another charming rogue, Chesley Millikin. Chesley was quite
taken by Hal, and was a close friend of Rock Scully, so when the band
sought an attorney in 1971, Hal's name came up. (p422)</i></blockquote><p></p><p><b><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRlkBjWRximKxZgezjLMJq2iyKB0pZn-u94SGkHnW4Ngrt75lI6D7M-ggmyb84ZrmAbk_wBOFEb5cxYIbn3V08EZT1RN1I0fisnbSFfdxpYgouTYQ2dA_w5_1M-1t0uv8O1CjH_QVfXwKW2p4MXkl6xKkmdvpYdVaJqlLQBIEu4DqmOxCtB-v9CrX4IQ/s300/Grateful%20Dead%20Europe%2072.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="299" data-original-width="300" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRlkBjWRximKxZgezjLMJq2iyKB0pZn-u94SGkHnW4Ngrt75lI6D7M-ggmyb84ZrmAbk_wBOFEb5cxYIbn3V08EZT1RN1I0fisnbSFfdxpYgouTYQ2dA_w5_1M-1t0uv8O1CjH_QVfXwKW2p4MXkl6xKkmdvpYdVaJqlLQBIEu4DqmOxCtB-v9CrX4IQ/s1600/Grateful%20Dead%20Europe%2072.jpg" width="300" /></a></i></b></div><b><i><br />Europe '72 </i></b><br />It's not quite clear what Chesley Millikin was doing for the balance of 1971, or even what continent he lived on. Maybe he was still doing independent promotion for the Grateful Dead, or maybe something else. Yet he turns up again in Grateful Dead circles by early 1972. Sam Cutler had been working on the Dead's mammoth "Europe '72" tour starting in late 1971. <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/europe-72-prelude ">As Jesse Jarnow's <i>Deadcast</i> series so aptly explains, Cutler had to effectively invent a network of promoters in different European countries to execute the tour. Millikin turns up in the tale by the time Europe '72 is in its final planning stages, so he may have been there all along. In any case, Millikin was Cutler's henchman in making sure that the Dead concerts in multiple countries came off on a timely basis</a>. <p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkpEYCyhUUNuc_A0IgEeRp0_qbsF2_QcoMiSQCrzHZTqtB5Bys-LTfoxYSmuIulfHokXlrnH72B7AxGJ0iXK-2KimVK1I0qwC4rQOFrXvMXDOJssZvFP9e5WSYc0t1bP7yyBFg1ig8dzNpLXBI9KQwyz-cgXc6Q3UzjO8FwnmYF5qAHt0ZwadC3sDJ7E/s1600/Out%20Of%20Town%20Tours%20flyer%201973.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="859" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmkpEYCyhUUNuc_A0IgEeRp0_qbsF2_QcoMiSQCrzHZTqtB5Bys-LTfoxYSmuIulfHokXlrnH72B7AxGJ0iXK-2KimVK1I0qwC4rQOFrXvMXDOJssZvFP9e5WSYc0t1bP7yyBFg1ig8dzNpLXBI9KQwyz-cgXc6Q3UzjO8FwnmYF5qAHt0ZwadC3sDJ7E/s320/Out%20Of%20Town%20Tours%20flyer%201973.jpg" width="172" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A late 1973 flyer for Out of Town Tours. While it's a stretch to argue that The Band were OOT clients, The Band only played three live shows in 1973, and Cutler had booked all of them. Note that Merl Saunders' name has an incorrect spelling. The New Riders are not listed, as they had moved over to another booking agent by the end of 1973 (Ron Rainey of Magma). </i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>1973: Out of Town Tours</b><br />Sam Cutler had always been a very active Tour Manager for the Grateful Dead. He had a hand in booking and arranging tours from the time of his arrival (February 1970), rather than merely just wrangling the crew from town to town. After the Europe '72 tour, the Grateful Dead decided to break free of ties to any record company, letting their Warner Brothers contract expire and starting their own labels. At the same time, they took their booking and travel in-house as well, starting a Travel Agency (Fly-By-Night Travel) and a booking agency. Thus the fees that would have gone outside the band's circle stayed inside, as friends, wives and girlfriends were the employees of the Travel and Booking agencies. <p></p><p>Sam Cutler was the head of Out of Town Tours, but also remained the Grateful Dead's road manager. Chesley Millikin was Cutler's chief deputy, managing the office when Cutler was absorbed in Grateful Dead duties. Millikin also had principal responsibility for booking the New Riders Of The Purple Sage. Garcia had left the New Riders after Fall 1971, but Jon McIntire was still co-manager of the Riders. The New Riders were on Columbia rather than Warners, so there was an entirely different set of relationships. The New Riders followed the Cutler playbook, touring colleges and different regions in order to build an audience, and did so quite successfully. They scored a big hit with their <i>Adventures of Panama Red</i> album, released in October 1973. Millikin's presence allowed the New Riders to get the attention they deserved (<a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2023/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">I have discussed the New Riders 1972 and '73 touring schedule in great detail elsewhere</a>). </p><p>Out Of Town Tours had grand ambitions that were never met. It appears that some finance for the agency was provided by Cutler's girlfriend, Frances Carr. Frances Carr, inevitably described as a "leggy heiress," <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/caller/name/frank-carr-obituary?id=39440694">apparently came from a family made wealthy by oil</a>, but I don't know how much access she had to the fortune. Carr had been part of what was known as "The Pleasure Crew," a loose bunch of wealthy dilettantes who could afford to simply follow the Grateful Dead around and stay high. One of the most infamous of The Pleasure Crew, "Loose Bruce" Baxter, was supposedly Carr's half-brother. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUA3BM3HP1gYgfseWuBiSgsQAM4oyg1woo38tOIeIBdjPHnaAZsoZq6wY_y1huRDuPOk00pqDx_LnqmD307dMgsPZV7ev0ZCHfcZWfHerfH9dOJpXZJDDeq4LmlQET8hXqDIQ5fm7-PmdrwVZJmyCr4d1mZFpbgj8O6xgIDfNwfxfKb1nDtLvztNvYls/s1600/Sam%20Cutler%20Press%20Release%201973.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1241" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUA3BM3HP1gYgfseWuBiSgsQAM4oyg1woo38tOIeIBdjPHnaAZsoZq6wY_y1huRDuPOk00pqDx_LnqmD307dMgsPZV7ev0ZCHfcZWfHerfH9dOJpXZJDDeq4LmlQET8hXqDIQ5fm7-PmdrwVZJmyCr4d1mZFpbgj8O6xgIDfNwfxfKb1nDtLvztNvYls/s320/Sam%20Cutler%20Press%20Release%201973.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><p></p><p>Chesley Millikin played a central role at Out of Town Tours from the very beginning. An early 1973 press release describes the original set-up (emphasis mine): <br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p><b><i>Press Release February 1973</i></b><br />Out of Town Tours was born during the European Tour of the Grateful Dead in 1972. The album "Europe 72" was recorded on that tour and bears our company logo on its cover. <br /><br />After the tour, Sam Cutler, the Road Manager of the Dead formed Out of Town Tours to handle bookings for the band and to co-ordinate all personal appearance activities. The New Riders joined us in December, 1972 and the Sons in January of this year. Since then, the family has been re-united with Ramblin Jack, an old friend, and <b>Terry Reid</b>, who warbled way back in '69 on The Rolling Stones American tour. <br /><br />Fine artists, with whom we enjoy a groovy relationship, are the backbone of our trip. All of the staff at Out of Town tours are folks who left the regular music business to create a more humane and meaningful trip.<br /><br />A call to either myself or <b>Chesley Millikin for the New Riders of The Purple Sage, Terry Reid & Jack Elliott</b> will produce amazing results, and at the same time please rap to me regarding the Dead and the Sons Of Champion.<br /><br />We keep our office open from 10 in the morning until 6 at night for five days a week. On the weekends we play!</p><p></p></blockquote><p></p><p></p><p>Millikin had brought his old charge Terry Reid into the fold. Reid was
based in Los Angeles, where he would mostly live from 1972 onwards.
Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records had purchased Reid's contract, freeing
him from Mickie Most. Reid would release the album <i>River</i> in 1973, which
included tracks recorded with David Lindley, even though Lindley had
already begun his historic association with Jackson Browne in 1972. I'm
not actually aware of any Terry Reid tour dates in 1973 (please advise
in the Comments if you know of any), however. By year's end, based on
the flyer above (with The Band), Terry Reid was no longer on the Out of Town
Tours roster. Reid had a series of health problems that made his touring
and recording intermittent, despite his undeniable talent. Millikin's
loyalty to Reid, however, was a clear mark of how Chesley kept his
friendships seemingly forever. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEM7cH287S-DGOMVIZBnPvqa2FVna-FGkzWX1UeruU46Nxf-mPbbLHw8Rfmd7FjBz9kxiJVyYstO-1zTlLRHtFZiABHftgZu0Emvs5MlzxnZCU3UtunCUhMqPM3FjakhIdHGXHLjmPH_FVckaDG1hwfHgsvAFNYzdVuxwyCeCz9d39yRB7nZ8iJq5xNQ8/s600/Chieftains%20In%20Sf%20Owsley.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEM7cH287S-DGOMVIZBnPvqa2FVna-FGkzWX1UeruU46Nxf-mPbbLHw8Rfmd7FjBz9kxiJVyYstO-1zTlLRHtFZiABHftgZu0Emvs5MlzxnZCU3UtunCUhMqPM3FjakhIdHGXHLjmPH_FVckaDG1hwfHgsvAFNYzdVuxwyCeCz9d39yRB7nZ8iJq5xNQ8/s320/Chieftains%20In%20Sf%20Owsley.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b><i>October 1973: The Chieftains</i></b><br />The Chieftains had been formed in Dublin in 1962, and were the premier worldwide exponents of traditional Irish music. While The Chieftains would release their 4th album in 1973 (<i>Chieftains 4</i>), like all their records up to that time they were released on the Irish label Claddagh. Chieftains albums were only available as imported records in the United States. Although Millikin had not lived in Dublin for many years, thanks to his experience with Kaleidoscope and David Lindley, he would not have failed to be aware of traditional music from his homeland.<br /><p></p><p>According to numerous accounts, Millikin introduced Jerry Garcia to the music of The Chieftains. The musically omnivorous Garcia loved them, of course, but in 1973 The Chieftains' albums were only available as imports, and they had never toured the States. It's a mark of Millikin's status that Garcia would listen to what Chesley suggested--you have to figure that half of Marin County was always ready to tell Jerry what album he should listen to. </p><p>Garcia was so enthusiastic about The Chieftains, however, that he underwrote their initial US tour (which I take to mean that he guaranteed against any losses). He also arranged to have them open for Old And In The Way at The Boarding House, and interviewed some members of The Chieftains on KSAN. Garcia was a genuine San Francisco rock star, by any calculation, and for a band on their first tour his endorsement must have made a huge difference. The Chieftains music was so good, however, that once the word had spread, they went on to worldwide fame. <a href="https://owsleystanleyfoundation.org/bears-sonic-journals/the-chieftains-in-san-francisco/ ">In 2022, the Owsley Stanley Foundation released a cd set of The Chieftains's Boarding House show</a>. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVjA4FI38VT307ruEVEdFeQkRbk7NxxrO-j9KeqeaaI_ExxrSVlDBOckgQz01pgfvcb21_RQITDaeGFH_VVRSeHZygx6irLBEttj9ydnJD7nTMEg5mM-v9wGBvcI_2nx1cDeh-ZsNCGUM61JBVQh6U0eQIiRmD3nl4inR6iRtN3XX8rwqEnKSIdoZwZ9g/s500/grateful%20dead%20records%20label%201973.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="500" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVjA4FI38VT307ruEVEdFeQkRbk7NxxrO-j9KeqeaaI_ExxrSVlDBOckgQz01pgfvcb21_RQITDaeGFH_VVRSeHZygx6irLBEttj9ydnJD7nTMEg5mM-v9wGBvcI_2nx1cDeh-ZsNCGUM61JBVQh6U0eQIiRmD3nl4inR6iRtN3XX8rwqEnKSIdoZwZ9g/s320/grateful%20dead%20records%20label%201973.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><i><b>1974-76: Grateful Dead Records</b></i><br />In January 1974, Sam Cutler and Out of Town Tours were pushed out of the Grateful Dead orbit. It's not really clear what happened, but there was some kind of internal power struggle involving money. Some parties seemed to feel that OOT was charging too much. Cutler was very angry at Jerry Garcia for not taking his side, and never spoke to him again. <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/here-comes-sunshine-grateful-dead-co">Decades later, with all surviving parties reminiscing on <i>The Deadcast</i>, everyone respects Cutler's professionalism, and his importance in the survival of the Grateful Dead. Cutler, for his part, doesn't overtly criticize his rivals, and only has kind words for Garcia</a>. <br /><p>With Out of Town tours removed, Rock Scully and Richard Loren took over the booking. Since the New Riders had left OOT some months earlier, thanks to new management (Joe Kerr, a college roommate of Commander Cody), that would seem to have left Chesley Millikin out in the cold. Yet the very opposite seems to have been the case, although I am hard pressed to say exactly what role Millikin played in the Dead’s operations.</p><p>From what little evidence I can find, Millikin played an important role in Grateful Dead Records, and probably its sister, Round Records. As one of the few people in the Grateful Dead organization with actual record company experience--possibly the only one--he would have been important. Since Millikin was seemingly friends with everyone and knew the players on multiple continents, it's obvious why he would have been important. But it's hard to find out what anyone did at or for Grateful Dead Records, not just Chesley.</p><p>After Sam Cutler was pushed out in January 1974, the Dead were managed by Jon McIntire. I believe Rock Scully had the dominant role in booking, but I'm not even certain of that. The members of the Dead were not happy with the situation, however. When the Dead toured Europe in 1974, albeit rather briefly, things really fell apart. In Munich in September, a temptestuous meeting led to Bill Kreutzmann forcing out McIntire, who simply quit. The rest of the band went along with Kreutzmann. <a href="https://www.dennismcnally.com/books/a-long-strange-trip-grateful-dead/">McNally describes the scene, based on Millikin's recollection:</a></p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>One night in Munich there was a confrontation between Lesh and Kreutzmann on the one hand and the management--McIntire, Loren and Scully--on the other, "a knock-down-drag-out," as Millikin put it. Kreutzmann was at this time part of what John Barlow called the "neo-cocaine cowboy aesthetic" that characterized one chunk of the crew, and the aesthetic had no affinity for an intellectual like McIntire. After plenty of abuse, McIntire had had enough and quit.<br /></i></p><p><i>The next morning Chesley met Hal Kant in the hotel lobby and asked him "What are you looking so forlorn for?"<br />"Don't you known, didn't you hear?""No, what?" said Chesley.<br />"The band fired their management last night."<br />"No kidding. Who's management now?" Asked Chesley.<br />"You are," said Hal. [p476]</i></p></blockquote><p></p><p>Chesley and Hal Kant shepherded the Dead through the three remaining European shows, and the "Last Five Nights" at Winterland. </p><p>After October 1974, the Grateful Dead saw themselves as a recording entity with a record company, not a performing band. The individual members performed, at least some of them, but the Dead weren't a touring entity. Millikin played an important part, whatever it might have been. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PcYJMTTHqiDMy1zEQWovOl2uFi4lb4vmneFq2Oyy6IGunMl25XHd9b398IETj--swwrDiUi6oQUn40buuPDTvuSK-9Qbty-lwVr_Tv9HzgwNPqFuzCMzYSSF-m4X16Gvg-6YqESDB4NDu6TMG33OmCNlYssyHQlSa1B-b35PZ-_SFsM5x6QHaH38aMU/s600/Paxton%20Brothers%201975%20Anchor.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="595" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PcYJMTTHqiDMy1zEQWovOl2uFi4lb4vmneFq2Oyy6IGunMl25XHd9b398IETj--swwrDiUi6oQUn40buuPDTvuSK-9Qbty-lwVr_Tv9HzgwNPqFuzCMzYSSF-m4X16Gvg-6YqESDB4NDu6TMG33OmCNlYssyHQlSa1B-b35PZ-_SFsM5x6QHaH38aMU/s320/Paxton%20Brothers%201975%20Anchor.jpg" width="317" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Paxton Brothers 1975 album on Anchor Records. This is Chesley Millikin's only credit on Discogs (as "Coordinator") save for an archival Stevie Ray Vaughan album</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />We get another sighting of Chesley Millikin in an unexpected place. <a href="https://iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,2134770">A lengthy post by singer James Paxton, of the Paxton Brothers, fondly recalls Chesley and his career</a>. The Paxton Brothers were a sort of country-rock duo, and they released a self-titled 1975 album on Anchor Records. <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/13869223-Paxton-Brothers-The-Paxton-Bro ">Chesley Millikin gets a credit on the back of the album, as "Coordinator"</a> (old buddy David Lindley also appears on the record). For the record, this is Millikin's only appearance on Discogs.com save for an archival Stevie Ray Vaughan album. <p></p><p>James Paxton says that Chesley Millikin booked the Paxton Brothers during the 1974-76 period, although he assigns him to Out of Town Tours, which no longer existed. This means that Millikin's booking was kind of a "side hustle," a relatively common thing in the record industry. Grateful Dead Records wouldn't have paid much, so working on something else makes sense. Millikin may have had a role in helping to book some of the other Round Records act, too, like Keith & Donna or Robert Hunter, but that's just an assumption on my part. </p><p>In any case, Grateful Dead Records collapsed in mid-1976, with Ron Rakow taking off with most of the money (around $225,000). McNally said "the most disappointed person in the whole mess was possibly Chesley Millikin, who had actual record company experience and who was a true believer in the Dead" (p492). So Millikin was part of Grateful Dead/Round right up until the end, having survived the peaks and valleys until the money finally ran out. From 1976 to '79, I can't find any indicator of what Chesley Millikin might have been doing or even where he lived. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KINlxkPScLySwFDShs-S-Z5ki2L14GLBlCyahRaZDG9n66pUPloNiE2DRzOpsNxPCBtxN7b9YdjA1O9LqM4Rkxjdv8OjhF-9Fxbj-WBp0CLNDODpke2L4THfNMcqQRHIF5E82_UdUuPTSxulgU5SEBtZrtfzEv_4cJB7xcVpxUXDG2ohX6Z40aH22xw/s1456/Manor%20Downs%201977%20Sam%20Cutler%203l%20Frances%20Carr%20%20Watt%20Casey%20Photo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="998" data-original-width="1456" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7KINlxkPScLySwFDShs-S-Z5ki2L14GLBlCyahRaZDG9n66pUPloNiE2DRzOpsNxPCBtxN7b9YdjA1O9LqM4Rkxjdv8OjhF-9Fxbj-WBp0CLNDODpke2L4THfNMcqQRHIF5E82_UdUuPTSxulgU5SEBtZrtfzEv_4cJB7xcVpxUXDG2ohX6Z40aH22xw/s320/Manor%20Downs%201977%20Sam%20Cutler%203l%20Frances%20Carr%20%20Watt%20Casey%20Photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Manor Downs team, ca 1977. Sam Cutler with cowboy hat, and Frances Carr is on the far right (Watt Casey photo via Michael Corcoran)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>Meanwhile, Back In Texas</b></i><br />Sam Cutler had been pushed out of the Grateful Dead orbit in January 1974. Out of Town Tours, needless to say, was closed for business. A year later, however, Cutler turned up outside of Austin, TX. Cutler and Frances Carr's new venture was restoring a quarter-horse track called Manor Downs, east of Austin and just outside the small town of Manor. This was a very peculiar project, in many ways decades ahead of its time and of course, fated to be fondly remembered and financially dubious. Naturally, a good time was had by everyone.<br /><p><a href="https://michaelcorcoran.substack.com/p/jockeying-for-srv-at-deadhead-downs">The best summary of the Manor Downs saga has been provided by journalist Michael Corcoran, part of his ongoing work at writing the history of the Austin, TX, music scene</a>. </p><p></p><blockquote><i>Out of Town partner Frances Carr, an oil heiress from Corpus Christi, came back to Texas and bought a dormant 1960’s horse track 12 miles east of Austin called Manor Downs. She was “through with show biz,” she told the Statesman in March 1975, which is what the regulatory boards and conservative Manor neighbors wanted to hear.<br />Managed by her boyfriend and O.T.T. partner Sam Cutler (of Altamont notoriety) the Downs would be an equine-training facility, with quarter horse racing on weekends. It was also pitched as the new home for the Travis County Fair and Livestock Show, which Austin’s City Coliseum proved woefully inadequate to handle. The renovated Manor Downs debuted in May 1977, and just five months later, the Dead played the infield of the racetrack for the first of five shows there in the next eight years. The track’s new slogan was “Horse Racing and Rock and Roll.” ...</i></blockquote><p></p><p>The setup at Manor Downs was unconventional, but Cutler as usual saw the future before others did. Manor Downs was a "quarter horse" track, where the horses raced in a quarter mile sprint, rather than the oval typical of the Kentucky Derby-like "thoroughbred" races. Thoroughbred races, what most people are referring to when they think of "horse racing," typically range from 5/8 of a mile to 1 1/2 miles. The Kentucky Derby, for example, covers 1 1/4 mile. </p><p>Quarter Horse racing, however, uses a much shorter track, and the races are generally 440 yards (a quarter of a mile, hence the name of the sport). The straight, 400-meter Quarter Horse track thus provides a form of Equine drag racing. Quarter Horses race much faster than Thoroughbreds, though obviously for shorter distances. Manor Downs was a quarter horse track. Cutler's idea was to re-establish the horse racing, and use the races as entertainment while presenting rock and roll concerts. Cutler had effectively hit on the Indian Casino model, several years before it became conventional around the country. The expanding rock market needed venues, but at the same time rock fans wanted something more to do at a concert site than just enter, listen and leave. The original concept, apparently, was that Manor Downs would be a horse training (and boarding) facility as well as a kind of fairgrounds, and the concerts and horse racing fit into the fairgrounds model. <br /></p><p>One peculiar barrier for Manor Downs was that it did not have a gambling license. So patrons could watch the horses race, but couldn't gamble on them. This defies any economic logic. I can't help but think there were kindly locals willing to take a wager on any of the horses, and that perhaps these kind locals had some agreement with Manor Downs management. I have no evidence, of course, but all I can say is that if I can figure it out, the perpetually shrewd Mr Cutler was no doubt way ahead of me. Because of Texas racing rules, Manor Downs could only have horse races 44 calendar days a year. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Rxh0rzKTCu9G6vRqZGwzU_NecrViPBhrx9FH8KIwinKVD812HyYtH00j1zNbLNUE8uWr9c6pm32vnRZcmZY8lbSWJFD8oeBBq9LLXIWwCgwY1ie9fNMAF6co83SjtzHhMU6RZb4QkJisjCGOHTef5Dd7wqb-3olbFGbcjIBU-d5sYmhWcc0-T2JnzMI/s2845/GD%20Manor%20Downs%2019771012.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2845" data-original-width="1873" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Rxh0rzKTCu9G6vRqZGwzU_NecrViPBhrx9FH8KIwinKVD812HyYtH00j1zNbLNUE8uWr9c6pm32vnRZcmZY8lbSWJFD8oeBBq9LLXIWwCgwY1ie9fNMAF6co83SjtzHhMU6RZb4QkJisjCGOHTef5Dd7wqb-3olbFGbcjIBU-d5sYmhWcc0-T2JnzMI/s320/GD%20Manor%20Downs%2019771012.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br />The first major concert at Manor Downs featured no less than the Grateful Dead, on October 12, 1977. In some ways this was historic, the Grateful Dead presented by Sam Cutler, the re-introduction of one of the most critical figures in the Dead's touring history. All was clearly not golden, however. Cutler does not mention the event at all in his book. He also pointedly says, after he was fired, that his anger was such that he never spoke to Garcia again. It's striking to think that he ran the venue the Dead played at, and somehow never actually spoke with Jerry, which tells me it was a conscious choice. <p></p><p>The first Manor Downs show must have gone alright, because the band returned, but not for four more years, when Cutler had departed for Australia. Draw your own conclusions. The real connection between the Grateful Dead and Manor Downs seems to have been Frances Carr. Apparently there was a large house (or group of houses) attached to the Manor Downs site, and Carr lived there. When the Grateful Dead played the venue, they stayed there rather than a hotel, a fairly unique arrangement. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXnWRwNzErTeYPbuoTzAlFHB8TvzReBIjCdH58_oc2Jf4Db22rDHbv8eytT1BKS0K_1oLLQPhVWHIiCeiJYieSRJLpjM5ItOk7KJnyMRtcwGKc4-vyCX3SUH7VPSTFEgMFZqzJcKpClSicme--WIGUmAF0YO7tl8cDpldGlJOB2pSXeDgXqU8ItkuMyCc/s2388/GD%20Manor%20Downs%2019810704.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2388" data-original-width="1723" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXnWRwNzErTeYPbuoTzAlFHB8TvzReBIjCdH58_oc2Jf4Db22rDHbv8eytT1BKS0K_1oLLQPhVWHIiCeiJYieSRJLpjM5ItOk7KJnyMRtcwGKc4-vyCX3SUH7VPSTFEgMFZqzJcKpClSicme--WIGUmAF0YO7tl8cDpldGlJOB2pSXeDgXqU8ItkuMyCc/s320/GD%20Manor%20Downs%2019810704.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><br />For the purposes of this story, however, the key event seems to be that around 1979 Cutler left Manor Downs, moving to Australia. Presumably he and Carr were no longer a couple. To replace him, Carr brought in Chesley Millikin. Millikin, you will recall, not only had a great rock and roll pedigree, he was a veteran horseman as well. His experience on the Irish Jumping team must have served him well in managing a racetrack. The timing is a little uncertain--Millikin may have come on board in 1978, and Cutler may not have left until 1980, but in any case Chesley became an Austin resident. <p></p><p>Millikin and Carr promoted the Grateful Dead at Manor Downs (in association with John Scher, of course) four times: July 4 '81, July 31 '82, September 13 '83 and August 31 '85. The shows are fondly remembered on the Archive, Dead.net and elsewhere. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-grateful-dead-in-texas-1968-88.html">After 1985, the Grateful Dead were not only too large for Manor Downs, but basically gave up on Texas. They did not play Texas after 1988</a>. </p><p>Manor Downs’ last really big concert was Farm Aid II, on July 4, 1986, which was also Willie Nelson's annual picnic. It was shown live on VH1, and it featured Willie, Stevie Ray Vaughan and many others. Afterwards, Frances Carr converted Manor Downs to a horse racing track with parimutuel betting, and it was a full thoroughbred track, not just quarter horses. Rock and roll was no more at Manor Downs. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifymt7SUt012hIemj2r5UImdIGnbt9xga-ausLiWy-iPnsc32ZWuWYCotlhI0eo0tOU69p9mk9RnfHFxnDb56gKCfE7jEDz6hkuNFKRJNhaoIfEBLqgHVvSlyESzer92Tfg0yFDv7BpXlSzI554MxFIIbPhwBerQ-j1FRi5Ubs7bY3fgvff7JGKinuJN4/s980/Weir%20Manor%20Downs%2019820531.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifymt7SUt012hIemj2r5UImdIGnbt9xga-ausLiWy-iPnsc32ZWuWYCotlhI0eo0tOU69p9mk9RnfHFxnDb56gKCfE7jEDz6hkuNFKRJNhaoIfEBLqgHVvSlyESzer92Tfg0yFDv7BpXlSzI554MxFIIbPhwBerQ-j1FRi5Ubs7bY3fgvff7JGKinuJN4/s320/Weir%20Manor%20Downs%2019820531.jpg" width="196" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Stevie Ray Vaughan opened for Bobby & The Midnites at Manor Downs on May 31, 1982. Stevie Ray was unsigned at the time, but Chesley Millikin had made him known to Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><i><b>1980-93: Chesley Millikin in Austin</b></i><br />Millikin had moved to Austin, TX, in 1979 or '80 in order to help manage Manor Downs. Yet he had a huge impact, far beyond just the concert site. Even a casual search of Austin music during that period turns up Millikin's name in numerous places. His impeccable taste, legendary connections and universal charm made him an important man to know. The Austin music scene is worthy of a book in itself (Michael Corcoran may be writing it, I hope), so I will limit myself just to a few Millikin notes.<br /></p><p></p><p>The most important story about Millikin in Austin was that Chesley and Frances were interested in management. Carr had capital, and Chesley had Chesley. Millikin's most famous discovery was Stevie Ray Vaughan, playing blazing blues guitar every night in crummy Austin bars. Millikin heard Vaughan at some dumps (The Steamboat and The Rome Inn) and signed him to Classic Management, his firm with Carr. Around April 1982, Mick Jagger and his wife Jerry Hall came to Manor Downs to watch the horses, and Millikin showed Mick a VHS of Vaughan playing in some club. We'd all like to show Mick a video of our favorite artist, but Millikin actually got to do it. An intrigued Jagger wanted to see Vaughan live. </p><p>Millikin flew Stevie Ray and his band to New York to play a private showcase for the Stones, with an eye to getting them signed to Rolling Stones' Records. The tiny show was written up in New York papers, and even though Jagger passed on signing him ("blues doesn't sell"), Vaughan became a name of sorts. Millikin managed to get him on the bill at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Summer '82. Recording contracts and success followed. Plenty of musicians and managers had already heard and recorded Stevie Ray Vaughan prior to 1982, but it took Millikin to get him in front of the Rolling Stones and on to the Montreaux Jazz Festival bill. </p><p>By 1986, Stevie Ray Vaughan was a huge success, but he was struggling with drug and alcohol addictions. Millikin regretfully stepped away from managing Vaughan, because he did not want to get the phone call that Vaughan had destroyed himself. As it happened, Vaughan died in a helicopter crash in 1990 on the way to a performance, a sad ending way too soon. <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRco6W0LOh3149c6Qh_0-kUuWDPTGwrXfgomTy3YOuZ98azCnzv7Fl9CfaHqrt43W1gPUrrU1Ass6JvQmV-JRaw--pM7i53XXoPQydfGnOkHXRl71Xfx5ZaPamhuW8y5yUWMWi_xpumxye2ueJJMf6GnH0txgI1wFR78khQ_d1PoUA-TiV69nawNly05k/s475/All%20The%20Rage%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="312" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRco6W0LOh3149c6Qh_0-kUuWDPTGwrXfgomTy3YOuZ98azCnzv7Fl9CfaHqrt43W1gPUrrU1Ass6JvQmV-JRaw--pM7i53XXoPQydfGnOkHXRl71Xfx5ZaPamhuW8y5yUWMWi_xpumxye2ueJJMf6GnH0txgI1wFR78khQ_d1PoUA-TiV69nawNly05k/s320/All%20The%20Rage%20cover.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>All The Rage, Ian McLagan's tale of Small Faces, Faces and all his friends. A must read. </i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><i>1990 Coda: Ian McLagan</i></b><br />After 1986, Chesley Millikin was no longer running Manor Downs, nor was he managing Stevie Ray Vaughan's career. Still, he was an important man in rock and roll Austin. His most prominent client was English legend Ronnie Lane, who had moved from England to Houston in '84. in the hopes of managing his multiple sclerosis. Lane, much beloved by Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton and others, had been hugely successful in the Small Faces, The Faces and as a solo artist until his MS had slowed him down. When Houston didn't pan out, Millikin persuaded him to move to Austin for the mild climate, and also managed Lane's musical career. Lane's final performance was in 1992. He moved to Colorado (funded by Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Jimmy Page), and died in 1997.<p>Chesley Millikin wasn't managing major acts after '86, but he still knew everybody. Unlike many people in the entertainment business, all friends of Chesley Millikin always remained thus, and he could always get his phone calls returned. Ian McLagan was the keyboard player for both the Small Faces and Faces, and he had also toured with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and too many others to count. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/All-Rage-Riotous-Through-History/dp/0823078426 ">In his must-read autobiography <i>All The Rage</i> (2000), McLagan mentioned that in 1990 Millikin called him with the opportunity to audition with the Grateful Dead for the chance to replace Brent Mydland</a>. Despite Millinkin's promise of a minimum o f$250K a year, McLagan turned it down (<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/08/grateful-dead-hiring-practices-ian.html">I wrote about the auditions elsewhere</a>), but the point for this saga was that 15 years after working with the Dead, living 2000 miles away, Millikin was still in the band's loop. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmK6Rt1SIzmvzAiWGAPLywjEcRpioCQYtndHooB9xzVxGtnL_6L0C4KYBR2Udl28C1s8CeRdmmu-69-O6-WQJYybbRiM5n5ED1fkF40YtbSkook8-jvN7ataJh4-_NQAdMUHagHWLsciFPLkZ4qa8Yr-pps0FG5g84A2h-CgTGCBriGOxRdulg54nouos/s386/chesley%20millikin%20photo.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmK6Rt1SIzmvzAiWGAPLywjEcRpioCQYtndHooB9xzVxGtnL_6L0C4KYBR2Udl28C1s8CeRdmmu-69-O6-WQJYybbRiM5n5ED1fkF40YtbSkook8-jvN7ataJh4-_NQAdMUHagHWLsciFPLkZ4qa8Yr-pps0FG5g84A2h-CgTGCBriGOxRdulg54nouos/s320/chesley%20millikin%20photo.jpeg" width="265" /></a></div><br />In 1993, Millikin was diagnosed with cancer and retired to Indian Wells, CA. He made it to 2001. His departure was much mourned, but not as widely as it should have been. Millikin was a crucial link for the Grateful Dead, Jackson Browne, Stevie Ray Vaughan and many others, all of which must make up for Altamont somehow. <br /><p></p><p><br /></p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-10047924666746019972023-11-24T14:25:00.000-08:002023-11-24T14:26:26.234-08:00New Riders of The Purple Sage Tour History May-September 1973 (NRPS V)<p> </p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK8hiURNy4cW6js-krAUVCdSTUOGAt8KSEgwjw-XHYJFzk7HqI9roZhglhvmF0IfOh3Vlwgl8js_-K8Z8a5PBCJAI2CQDxZw3fIp3Fwt4RuewUYRUJg8Cyjxg2sSCz2jBvwOgVo1lvyRrr9IY5ISHIil0vikH_QgkwJx64iFIvKl3Cb5JmlSjZtFU/s764/NRPS%20Philharmonic%2019730905%20VV%20Aug%2030.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="682" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK8hiURNy4cW6js-krAUVCdSTUOGAt8KSEgwjw-XHYJFzk7HqI9roZhglhvmF0IfOh3Vlwgl8js_-K8Z8a5PBCJAI2CQDxZw3fIp3Fwt4RuewUYRUJg8Cyjxg2sSCz2jBvwOgVo1lvyRrr9IY5ISHIil0vikH_QgkwJx64iFIvKl3Cb5JmlSjZtFU/s320/NRPS%20Philharmonic%2019730905%20VV%20Aug%2030.jpg" width="286" /></a></b></div><b><br />New</b> <b>Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History, May-September 1973 (NRPS V)</b><br />The music of Jerry Garcia casts a large shadow, if a shadow that is bright
rather than dark. It is so large, however, and so bright, that it
outshines many things around it. In the 21st century, the New Riders of
The Purple Sage are best known as the vehicle through which Jerry Garcia
created an opportunity to play pedal steel guitar as a sideman in 1970
and '71. When the demands of playing full-time with both the Grateful
Dead and the New Riders became too gargantuan a task, Garcia had stepped
aside from the Riders. For most Deadheads, that's where the story ends. <br /><p></p><p>Yet
the story of the New Riders of The Purple Sage was only beginning. For
obvious reasons, the Riders are always compared to the Dead, and like
almost every other 20th century rock band, the Dead outshone NRPS by
many orders of magnitude. Compared to all the other bands struggling to
make it in the early 1970s, however, the New Riders of The Purple Sage
were hugely successful. After their debut album with Garcia in late
1971, they released four more albums with Buddy Cage on pedal steel in
1972 and 73. The albums sold well--<i>Panama Red</i> eventually was certified
Gold--and the New Riders were a popular concert attraction. </p><p>On
top of the Riders' undeniable success, they were still part of the
Grateful Dead's business operation. Grateful Dead tours were booked by
their in-house Agency, Out-Of-Town Tours, led by Sam Cutler. Cutler and
Out-Of-Town also booked the New Riders. So a review of the New Riders
touring history in 1972 and '73 shows both what lessons Cutler had
learned from the Dead's rise to success in 1970 and '71, and also
provided an avenue for Cutler to expand his relationships with promoters
who worked with the Grateful Dead. So the New Riders touring schedule
was both a do-over and a rehearsal, for what had come before and what
would come later for the Grateful Dead. </p><p>This post will continue
the series on the tour history of the New Riders of The Purple Sage in
1972
and '73, with a particular emphasis on how their saga was similar to and
different from that of the Grateful Dead. These posts would not have
been possible without the stellar research of fellow scholar David
Kramer-Smyth, whose contributions have been both deep and broad. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The first
post focused on the New Riders' performance history from January to
April, 1972</a>. The next post focused on <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">the New Riders' performance
history
from May through August 1972</a>, then <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/10/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">the New Riders'
performance history from September through December 1972</a>, and then <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2023/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">the New Riders' performance history from January through April
1973</a>. This post will focus on the New Riders' performance history from May through September 1973. Anyone with
additions, corrections,
insights or just
interesting speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks
welcome.</p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZAS0Bx_x-p6pC6tb5M64X8sxfJioifYobyhK3ZUbfuW09a_H0DrV1RS3yfMk4_8ANkKNFsNZ8d2uKUvh5ILd0M2iHbRATVahNe0yZ5Fsd67gSDExaAmFWH7cqmZqKRlW7dhxL1CbDVQBt4SJbb9L5KIKZdwN7HgKZhU6wiNXFFnAf-e9MeYpKO8vbyIU/s300/Nrps_gypsy_cowboy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZAS0Bx_x-p6pC6tb5M64X8sxfJioifYobyhK3ZUbfuW09a_H0DrV1RS3yfMk4_8ANkKNFsNZ8d2uKUvh5ILd0M2iHbRATVahNe0yZ5Fsd67gSDExaAmFWH7cqmZqKRlW7dhxL1CbDVQBt4SJbb9L5KIKZdwN7HgKZhU6wiNXFFnAf-e9MeYpKO8vbyIU/s1600/Nrps_gypsy_cowboy.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Gypsy Cowboy, the third album by the New Riders of The Purple Sage (Columbia Records December 1972). The title (and title track) were inspired by a hippie boutique in St. Louis.<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />New Riders of The Purple Sage Status Report, May 1, 1973</b></i><br />By
May, 1973, the New Riders of The Purple Sage had released three albums
on Columbia Records, all of which had been moderately successful. The
band had established themselves as a successful touring entity
independent of Jerry Garcia. They were inevitably associated with the
Grateful Dead, which was not at all a bad thing, but it made it harder
to establish a fully separate identity. Long-haired country rock seemed
to be rising in popularity, although no one suspected that the Outlaw
Country sound coming out of Austin at this time would supersede it. The
New Riders were becoming an established act in the Northeast, able to
fill the smaller halls and college gyms that the Grateful Dead had been
filling just a few years earlier. <p></p><p>The New
Riders were now a tight live band, playing two-hour shows that were a
mix of old and new material, originals and covers. John Dawson was
still the focal point, but Dave Torbert's singing and writing made a
nice contrast. David Nelson sang the occasional country cover, too, just
to widen the band's scope. The record industry was booming, the concert
industry was booming, the New Riders were good and signed to a major
record label. By any reasonable standard, the future looked very bright
for the band in the middle of 1973.</p><p>The New Riders were still part of
the Grateful Dead family, and not just socially. Grateful Dead manager Jon
McIntire shared the same duties for the New Riders, along with NRPS road manager Dale Franklin. McIntire was the principal
go-between for the record companies, while Franklin dealt with the day-to-day. The Riders were booked by Sam
Cutler and Out-Of-Town Tours, who also booked the Dead. By booking
multiple bands, Cutler had more to negotiate and thus more leverage with
promoters and agents throughout the country. The Riders didn't have to
worry about being left out of the mix--Cutler's principal assistant was
Sally Mann Dryden, the drummer's wife (whom Cutler refers to in his book as
"Mustang Sally," perhaps a reference to her 428ci Ford Mustang). Travel
arrangements were made by the Grateful Dead's in-house agency, Fly By
Night Travel.</p><blockquote><b>The New Riders of The Purple Sage, <i>May-September 1973</i></b><br /><b>John Dawson</b>-vocals, rhythm guitar<br /><b>Buddy Cage</b>-pedal steel guitar (ex-Great Speckled Bird and Anne Murray)<br /><b>David Nelson</b>-lead guitar, vocals (ex-<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">New Delhi River Band</a>)<br /><b>Dave Torbert</b>-bass, vocals (ex-New Delhi River Band, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Horses</a>)<br /><b>Spencer Dryden</b>-drums (ex-Jefferson Airplane)</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTLaqCbkobCjW8Ol81hFpwdWhxYxshbxAjpdfRDi1GhifQkxT-bZT_dEKIyfQ2oRyvDvbt9TdkUWmwEqF8qkBVNJeLFbD0G_UNH-D9vuv3NDGk2ba2aQq7iMBbOMpD44TzNZ3WsVlItXB5evtme4ykyqAA-0fGjcrBknI7Q_G3NDFZd81n1nruMlA/s361/NRPS Bruce Ahmanson 19730501.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="358" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTLaqCbkobCjW8Ol81hFpwdWhxYxshbxAjpdfRDi1GhifQkxT-bZT_dEKIyfQ2oRyvDvbt9TdkUWmwEqF8qkBVNJeLFbD0G_UNH-D9vuv3NDGk2ba2aQq7iMBbOMpD44TzNZ3WsVlItXB5evtme4ykyqAA-0fGjcrBknI7Q_G3NDFZd81n1nruMlA/s320/NRPS Bruce Ahmanson 19730501.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><b>May 1, 1973 Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show/Bruce Springsteen</b><i> (Tuesday) </i><br />The New Riders’ Northeastern tour had ended in the second week of April, and the band had returned to
California and took most of the month off, prior to a run along the West
Coast later in May. In between, however, there was one extremely
interesting performance in downtown Los Angeles, a reminder that the
hippie New Riders were signed to a very big corporation.<p></p><p>Columbia
Records was the largest record label in the world, and also a division
of the powerful Columbia Broadcasting System, so the label could do
things on a scale beyond that of other record companies. In early 1973, Columbia
chose to book all their major acts in Los Angeles' finest theater for
seven consecutive nights. The real purpose of this mini-festival was to
showcase their acts for radio djs, talent agents and Columbia sales
staff. This was commonly done at company sales conventions. At a typical
sales convention, however, with the drinks flowing, newly-signed bands
found themselves playing to drunk industry pros catching up on gossip
with their pals. By selling tickets at a big theater, the hall was
filled with regular civilians who liked the bands. It was more of a true
concert atmosphere, and the pros could more fairly gauge the impact of
each band. </p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYo8Cjhf0rhVO6vRBheAy2Lyos4drlf2_PbKEm2cyhv1DNiJscV5usucG0jTXQtK3COG0xsVIx0CFWD9IWnhpC0AYXdNBw6GTQ2WqvolEHIf91kU6kEVdQYajAGESZs2dPCxnBzMvUL3-KFOExxiiuGsPbeevXo_bMjD9gnBSue6ECsyQ6Ydnwhec/s1271/Ahmanson 19730501 29 Apr 1973, 577 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers com.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1271" data-original-width="765" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYo8Cjhf0rhVO6vRBheAy2Lyos4drlf2_PbKEm2cyhv1DNiJscV5usucG0jTXQtK3COG0xsVIx0CFWD9IWnhpC0AYXdNBw6GTQ2WqvolEHIf91kU6kEVdQYajAGESZs2dPCxnBzMvUL3-KFOExxiiuGsPbeevXo_bMjD9gnBSue6ECsyQ6Ydnwhec/s320/Ahmanson 19730501 29 Apr 1973, 577 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers com.png" width="193" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmanson_Theatre">The Ahmanson Theatre had opened in 1967</a>,
as part of the Los Angeles Music Center. It was Los Angeles' premier
theater, and regularly featured prominent Broadway productions. For the
week of April 29-May 5, Columbia booked the 2084-capacity Ahmanson for
seven nights, with three acts each night. The acts ran the gamut, as
Columbia was prominent in rock, soul, country, jazz and pop styles.
Billboard reviewed all seven nights, which were apparently 95% sold out (<a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0003.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">Part 1 is here</a>, and <a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0014.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">Part 2 can be seen here</a>). <p></p><p>The
New Riders played Tuesday, May 1, headlining the show over Dr. Hook and
The Medicine Show. Dr. Hook had released their album <i>Sloppy Seconds</i>,
which included their most famous single, “Cover Of The Rolling Stone."
Opening the show, however, was one Bruce Springsteen, who had released his debut
album <i>Greetings From Asbury Park</i> in January 1973. Columbia
recorded and filmed all the Ahmamnson shows professionally. Bits and pieces of all
seven nights have turned up over the years. A tape of the five-song
Springsteen set has circulated for decades, a fragment of the video
even turned up in a 1998 BBC documentary, and <a href="https://www.jambase.com/article/bruce-springsteen-thundercrack-1973-video">one song has turned up on the internet</a>, so the video at least exists. </p><p>An unnamed <i>Billboard</i> reviewer ran down the Ahmanson show in the May 19, 1973 issue:</p><p></p><blockquote><i>If
any one artist captured the essence of what the week was really about
it was Bruce Springsteen. Latest in Columbia's recent acquisitions of
singer-songwriters (Bill Quateman & Andy Pratt) he has an appeal
that borders on the universal...a glowing and vibrant performer in his
own right.</i></blockquote>Conversely, the reviewer was scathing about
Dr Hook, calling them "insufferably self-indulgent...instrumental
sloppiness and vocal insipidity did nothing to salvage their
performance."<br /><br />All in all, the Riders came out fairly well. He said:<p></p><p></p><blockquote><i>The
New Riders of The Purple Sage have uncovered nothing new or outrageous,
but they do what they do very well and with more than a little bit of
inspiration. The mode is country, mellow and laid back yet ready to set
off sparks at a moment's notice. Joined by Grateful Dead members Bob
Weir, Keith Godchaux and Donna Godchaux they transformed the staid
Ahmanson into a veritable hoe-down.</i></blockquote><p></p><p>So Bob
Weir made his last appearance with the New Riders, and Keith and Donna
played yet another gig with the band, lending a little star power to the
proceedings. This was never nothing in status-conscious LA. Also, given
that we know the Springsteen material exists, <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/08/may-1-1973-ahmanson-theater-los-angeles.html">it's just possible that
there is professional audio and video of the May 1 NRPS Ahmanson show,
deep in the Columbia vaults</a>. <br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ar2d0C3iKQTxzsHrgrvr4KadlfR9-qiJAeiVRYb_Msnp4JmakbNFnydlZqLztiAWNTVpe65AqZUBitnCfzcpUq1j7LSckKlanqJBZzPLSusC5iYPs93XDCxsmSxeW06PvAlg0tdW34WsqRapBUVtYYS25gQUyPUpjCsXA_GkmheoUjsMa9Re2YdT/s1531/NRPS%20OAITW%2019730508.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1531" data-original-width="990" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ar2d0C3iKQTxzsHrgrvr4KadlfR9-qiJAeiVRYb_Msnp4JmakbNFnydlZqLztiAWNTVpe65AqZUBitnCfzcpUq1j7LSckKlanqJBZzPLSusC5iYPs93XDCxsmSxeW06PvAlg0tdW34WsqRapBUVtYYS25gQUyPUpjCsXA_GkmheoUjsMa9Re2YdT/s320/NRPS%20OAITW%2019730508.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><p><br /><b>May 8, 1973 Churchill High School Gym, Eugene, OR: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Old and In The Way</b><i> (Tuesday)</i><br />Pacific Presentations had booked the Grateful Dead for three shows in the Pacific Northwest in May of 1973, in the biggest arenas available (May 3-Portland Coliseum, May 5-PNE Vancouver and May 7-Seattle Center). Bill Kreutzmann had cut his finger, however, so the shows were rescheduled for June. The interesting detail was that the New Riders were booked for two shows in Oregon, with Old And In The Way as the opening act, right after the scheduled May shows. Since Sam Cutler booked the Dead and, the New Riders.<br /></p><p>The Grateful Dead shows were rescheduled, but Garcia kept the Old And In The Way dates. Cutler replicated the Dead's strategy from before, booking one show in Eugene and one in Portland. He also booked the Riders into the Paramount in Portland, where the Dead had played the Summer before. Cutler regularly booked the New Riders into smaller theaters around the country where the Dead had played previously, taking advantage of relationships with promoters and fans that had already been established.</p><p></p><p>Note that Old And In The Way is noted on the poster as "Brand New Bluegrass Ensemble." No mention of Jerry Garcia. No doubt the crowd was surprised to see Jerry there playing banjo. </p><p><b>May 9, 1973 Paramount Theater, Portland, OR: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Old And In The Way </b><i>(Wednesday) </i><br />Back in '72, the Grateful Dead had played the Paramount Northwest Theater in Seattle, so the New Riders were following the Cutler playbook. <span style="font-size: small;">The Paramount Portland Theater (now <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlene_Schnitzer_Concert_Hall 1037 SW Broadway">the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall</a>)
had been built as a movie theater in 1928. Located at 1037 SW Broadway, it seated about 3,000. It had shown its last movie in 1972, when it was
converted to a concert hall. </span></p><p>Per an eyewitness, there were about 1500 fans in attendance. That's actually pretty good for a Wednesday night. <a href="https://jerrybase.com/events/19730509-01">The eyewitness said (per <i>Jerrybase</i>)</a>, "it didn't seem to be much of a secret that Garcia was in town to play,
but most thought he would be doing his steel guitar thing with the New
Riders." The New Riders did have a guest, though--Old and In The Way fiddler Richard Greene sat in with the New Riders. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/10/richard-greene-violin-career-snapshot.html">Most people didn't know that Greene had been in a bluegrass band in Los Angeles with David Nelson (the Pine Valley Boys) back in '64</a>. Greene had played a little bit on <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i>, so he had remained connected with the band. Darlene DiDomenico, another band friend (both a singer and a Grateful Dead staff employee, I believe for the Fly-By-Night travel agency), sang on a few numbers. She, too, had been on <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i>. </p><b><i>May 11, 1973 ABC In Concert Broadcast, New Riders from Bananafish Gardens, Brooklyn, NY on March 22, 1973</i></b><br />The New Riders didn't perform on Friday night, but they may as well have. Back on March 22, the band had recorded a set at the Bananafish Gardens in Brooklyn (known back in 1970 as the 46th St Rock Palace). They were filming for <i>ABC In Concert</i>, the groundbreaking Friday night 90-minute concert show on ABC. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/07/november-2-1972-hofstra-playhouse.html">I have written about this show elsewhere, but speaking as a suburban teenager, I cannot emphasize how amazing it was to see actual rock bands with their real live rigs playing in front of a live audience</a>. I already had the first three NRPS albums, but I had never seen the band on stage, not even a picture—I was totally awestruck when they rocked out on "Willie And The Hand Jive." I had no idea. <br /><p>This Friday night broadcast would have been a huge factor in introducing the New Riders to a broad national audience, just as it was every other Friday night for every band that appeared on <i>ABC In Concert</i> at 11:30 pm. <br /></p><b>May 12, 1973 Freeborn Hall, UC Davis, Davis, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Ramblin' Jack Elliott </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />Freeborn Hall, built in 1961 as Assembly Hall, was the main auditorium at UC Davis. It held about 3000. The Grateful Dead had played there as recently as 1971. The New Riders headlined a Saturday night, with fellow Out-Of-Town Tours client Ramblin' Jack Elliott opening the show. The New Riders played a lengthy show, joined on various numbers by Ramblin' Jack, Darlene DiDomenico and, on harmonica, Matthew Kelly. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Kelly was an old friend of Torbert's, and had recently returned to the Bay Area</a>. He, too, had played on <i>Gypsy Cowbo</i>y and sat in regularly. <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3y3C9hzxu72uqJsb3u0HQhmzkrSAzvdP6fAntqrQ4Abx2IvDGQTJ_OBoSta6cle_x6TJxCZ4T3cKZA-4oZul8Yiv4HtSCUzQq226s5ZM_fpGugoGNmWOL8d7ikFRtgoxu96wjWF0WXHO8d-byNkm3CgxE_2MvzW0acniEzdfj26m-3J7OG7L2aZh/s3140/GD%20NRPS%20UCSB%2019730520.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3140" data-original-width="1824" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG3y3C9hzxu72uqJsb3u0HQhmzkrSAzvdP6fAntqrQ4Abx2IvDGQTJ_OBoSta6cle_x6TJxCZ4T3cKZA-4oZul8Yiv4HtSCUzQq226s5ZM_fpGugoGNmWOL8d7ikFRtgoxu96wjWF0WXHO8d-byNkm3CgxE_2MvzW0acniEzdfj26m-3J7OG7L2aZh/s320/GD%20NRPS%20UCSB%2019730520.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><p><b>May 20, 1973 Harder Stadium, UC Santa Barbara, Goleta, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday) </i><br />The New Riders had released three albums, and were starting to establish an identity somewhat distinct from the Grateful Dead. Nonetheless, the band had a vested interest in emphasizing their intimate connection to the Grateful Dead. It's important to remember that while the Dead were no longer a hip underground band in '73, they weren't yet being written off as an old hippie band--hippies weren't even old yet. Also, around the country, there weren't even "Jam Bands," much less Dead cover bands (ok--there was one in New Jersey called Calvary). If fans were going to get a hit of the California sunshine embodied by the Grateful Dead, the New Riders were pretty much alone as the alternative choice.</p><p>Thus, not only did the New Riders benefit financially from the bookings opening for the Grateful Dead, it was part of the strategy of Jon McIntire and Sam Cutler to build a Grateful Dead community that extended beyond the band. Ultimately, that strategy was spectacularly successful, even though McIntire and Cutler could only witness it from afar. </p><p>Harder Stadium at UC Santa Barbara had been built in 1966. It had a football capacity of about 17,000. For concerts, with fans on the field, the capacity was nearly twice that. Ironically, in 1971, the UCSB Gauchos dropped football. <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/here-comes-sunshine-santa-barbara-52073">In an unexpected twist, Harder Stadium became an attractive concert venue, since it was about the same size as a basketball arena, but outdoors in beautiful Santa Barbara weather and with no competition from sports bookings</a>. The New Riders opened for the Dead on this Sunday afternoon, joined for a few numbers by Darlene Domenico.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6F6Mr-p3KpKlkpaHhbXqq7sfgg0N6u-NStuGYjEi4yXBuEkKaMuccTNKRonnBDXi9xIY2xZGKZ9ywUwyY3K5DqfweIoOxtqUaS6esQ3BQqrmeF78M3z8NGllwDTJXQHDkspBvK-Lj_Cl3qKOONbizwUKKu_cEx-61r4IxfiTGc-V25tRTXcugSdK/s1300/GD%20Kezar%2019730526%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1300" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6F6Mr-p3KpKlkpaHhbXqq7sfgg0N6u-NStuGYjEi4yXBuEkKaMuccTNKRonnBDXi9xIY2xZGKZ9ywUwyY3K5DqfweIoOxtqUaS6esQ3BQqrmeF78M3z8NGllwDTJXQHDkspBvK-Lj_Cl3qKOONbizwUKKu_cEx-61r4IxfiTGc-V25tRTXcugSdK/s320/GD%20Kezar%2019730526%20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>May 26, 1973 Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA: GD/Waylon Jennings/New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><i> (Saturday)</i> <br />Bill Graham was not only a pioneer of the rock concert business, but he had dreams of empire beyond the Bay Area. On this weekend, Graham planned to break in two substantial venues for rock music shows. <a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2022/03/may-27-1973-ontario-motor-speedway.html">On Sunday, May 27, Graham had booked the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers at the Ontario Motor Speedway just outside of Los Angeles.</a> This show was canceled, probably due to poor ticket sales, but two months later the headliners would attract 600,000 to Watkins Glen Speedway, and <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/05/april-6-1974-ontario-motor-speedway.html">the next year (April 6, 1974) Ontario Motor Speedway was the site of what was at the time the concert with the highest paid attendance ever up to that time (168,000)</a>. So Bill was right, but a little early. </p><p>Ontario was planned for Sunday, but on Saturday the Grateful Dead were headlining at a football stadium in Golden Gate Park. The San Francisco 49ers had moved from Kezar Stadium to Candlestick Park after the 1971 stadium, so Kezar could be booked for rock concerts without major conflicts. Graham had booked the Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin for consecutive weekends, in anticipation of establishing a new, major venue for high-profile Bay Area concerts.</p><p>The most intriguing aspect of the Kezar show was Waylon Jennings, second on the bill. Everyone expected the New Riders to open for the Dead, that was a regular thing. But Waylon Jennings was seen as a country act. By '73, Jennings (1937-2002) was already an established country singer, but
he had roots in rock and roll. Jennings had been the bass player for
Buddy Holly and The Crickets, and had graciously offered to give up his
seat on the airplane to The Big Bopper, on the fateful flight on
February 3, 1959 that crashed, killing Holly, the Bopper, and Ritchie
Valens. </p><p>Jennings had gone on to success as a Nashville singer, but he
had never been happy with how his records were made. By '73, country
rock was starting to become a commercially viable enterprise, with the
Eagles as the most prominent band, along with a slew of other groups
like Poco, the New Riders and Pure Prarie League. The unhappy Jennings,
however, would manage to tap into something much more potent than hippies playing
rock and roll with a twang. <br /></p><p>The more potent and lasting
merger of country music and the 60s would be the music coming out of
Austin, TX. Genuine country musicians, with proper Nashville pedigrees,
would move to Austin, grow their hair, light one up and pretty much play
the same music they had been playing before. OK--maybe there was a bit
more attitude, but that wasn't incompatible with older roughneck
country, anyway. One of the earliest converts was Jennings. </p><p>In
1972, Jennings had had a pretty good hit with the song "Ladies Love
Outlaws," and RCA still wanted him to
be a typical Nashville artist. By 1973, however, Jennings had
moved to Austin, TX, to join fellow outcast Willie Nelson, and RCA
finally saw the light. Jennings kept the beard he had grown, and "Outlaw
Country" followed, with Willie and Waylon in the forefront. Sharing
bills with the Grateful Dead and in California was a
huge break from country practice. Jennings was consciously and
enthusiastically aligning his music with long hair, weed and loud, loud
music. </p><p>Booking Waylon in between the Dead and the New Riders was noticed by the whole record industry. <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/here-comes-sunshine-kezar-stadium-52673">The Kezar show with the Dead, Waylon and the Riders drew about 30,000. Jennings was a big hit with the Dead crowd, and abruptly long-haired country and country rock were starting to merge</a>. Ultimately, Waylon, Willie and their pals benefited more from the confluence than hippie bands like the New Riders or Poco would, but that was still a few years in the future. <br /></p><p> </p><p>For the Kezar encore, Keith Godchaux and Matthew Kelly joined the Riders for "Willie And The Hand Jive." After the Kezar show, the New Riders took a break from touring. Soon, the band would begin recording their next album for Columbia at the Record Plant, with established Nashville producer Norbert Putnam. <br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLizTURQlZ1n8BXcifmYt7_A9_7i57lRWETCcsUuXI5Yq7_oF6_wnG4tTiwVsAV4pp_t85UZdnT_KEFHetyj-qwVORWXVFqDB4kthUsm7Vk0GAE_e0T1p7f5mXnu7mu3f96DLF_kmF_K9cKNn3ZN4_T9feDgp_BFiYOTlXI-vb9RR6pLbjUZaAEVVH/s1255/NRPS%20Orphanage%2019730624%2024%20Jun%201973,%20250%20-%20The%20San%20Francisco%20Examiner%20at%20Newspapers%20com.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1255" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLizTURQlZ1n8BXcifmYt7_A9_7i57lRWETCcsUuXI5Yq7_oF6_wnG4tTiwVsAV4pp_t85UZdnT_KEFHetyj-qwVORWXVFqDB4kthUsm7Vk0GAE_e0T1p7f5mXnu7mu3f96DLF_kmF_K9cKNn3ZN4_T9feDgp_BFiYOTlXI-vb9RR6pLbjUZaAEVVH/s320/NRPS%20Orphanage%2019730624%2024%20Jun%201973,%20250%20-%20The%20San%20Francisco%20Examiner%20at%20Newspapers%20com.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>June 24, 1973 The Orphanage, San Francisco, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />In the Sunday SF <i>Chronicle</i> of June 24, music critic John L Wasserman reported that the New Riders were recording in the Bay Area with Norbert Putnam. They were recording the album that would become <i>The Adventures of Panama Red</i>, the Riders' only gold album. In the 60s, Putnam had been the bass player in the house band for Muscle Shoals' legendary FAME Studios in Florence, AL (<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/01/donna-jean-thatcher-godchaux-vocals.html">he surely knew Donna Thatcher, later Donna Godchaux</a>). He left Alabama to become a producer in Nashville around 1969. In Nashville, he mostly produced "non-country" acts, which was a perfect fit for the New Riders: a Nashville producer with an R&B pedigree.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlRsdZiK9ICh2a4p7tbdjRfBj5nCq0uwvwpi1za-k6mbcjntqrHIxzxOYyXnTzrXmeqqZlIBh1wsACE5t_H30EEmiCuNUcBL_3N5GThVUf5mJduafr1g1d7lOlheVpLJgxAEz2IoJQof4kDokLn8pI4d5ey__sSxPxH8RjSHZ1oX_hO9nlp_9SlMX/s314/Freight%20and%20Salvage%20Rowan%2019700305.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="314" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrlRsdZiK9ICh2a4p7tbdjRfBj5nCq0uwvwpi1za-k6mbcjntqrHIxzxOYyXnTzrXmeqqZlIBh1wsACE5t_H30EEmiCuNUcBL_3N5GThVUf5mJduafr1g1d7lOlheVpLJgxAEz2IoJQof4kDokLn8pI4d5ey__sSxPxH8RjSHZ1oX_hO9nlp_9SlMX/s1600/Freight%20and%20Salvage%20Rowan%2019700305.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>"Peter Rowan alias Panama Red" playing Thursday, March 5, 1970 at Berkeley's Freight and Salvage folk club. Had he already written the song?</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"Panama Red" is probably the New Riders' best known song. It was written by Peter Rowan, and Rowan had been performing the song for some time. Rowan had certainly been performing "Panama Red" with Jerry Garcia and Old And In The Way since March of '73, but in fact Rowan had written the song in Spring 1969, after the California break up of his band Earth Opera. Rowan himself explained the genesis of the song in a personal email (via David Gans)<br /></p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><p><i>Panama Red was written in 1969 in Cambridge Mass, the summer after Earth Opera’s March breakup after our last gig in Long Beach at the Golden Bear. Seatrain felt the song was too “funky-country” for the band’ pop-classical recording direction. We did perform it in the early days. The subject was "taboo” in those days. You did jail time for pot. So that might have scared commercial interests. </i></p><p><i>But Garcia was a green light all the way! “ Oh sure” was his motto, both ironically and straight but always with a twinkle in his eye! True to form when the Riders got a hit with Panama Red, the Seatrain management kept all the money! Oh sure! <br /></i></p><p><i>Jerry suggested I bring the song to Marmaduke and Nelson! </i></p></blockquote><p><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Freight%20and%20Salvage.htm">Rowan had played gigs at the Freight and Salvage in February and March 1970 as "Panama Red," </a>so the song had a longer history than we initially realized. </p><p></p><p>Garcia must have known that Putnam and the New Riders were looking for songs, which was a very Nashville approach to a new album. According to legend, Rowan pitched his songs like he was in a building in Nashville, strumming away on his acoustic guitar and singing his proverbial heart out. Rowan's pitch worked--the New Riders recorded great versions of "Panama Red" and "Lonesome LA Cowboy." When exactly Rowan sang his songs to the New Riders isn't clear, but I would guess March or April. Most likely, Rowan went to the New Riders rehearsal space at 20 Front St. The Dead also stored equipment there. Ultimately, the Dead would take over the entire Front Street space. My guess is that the real audience for Rowan wasn't the Riders, but producer Norbert Putnam. <br /></p><p></p><p>Although New Riders' setlists are incomplete, the first known appearance of "Panama Red" was on July 21, 1973 (see below). We don't have any other setlists before May, however, and those all happened before the recording of the album. The New Riders did play this one club gig, at the Orphanage in San Francisco on June 24. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/02/bay-area-rock-nightclub-survey-san.html">The Orphanage, at 807 Montgomery (near Columbus) wasn't a premier club, but established bands played there periodically</a>. Based on the timing, I think the band was near the end of recording <i>Panama Red</i>. I suspect they tried out a few numbers for the Sunday night Orphanage crowd, so I would bet that their first live version of their most famous song was at the Orphanage.</p><p>The New Riders were initially advertised as performing at a Folk Festival in Pennsylvania, but they appear to have canceled (the Folk Festival was scheduled for June 29-July 4 at Valley View Park in Hellam Township, near York. Thanks as always to David Kramer-Smyth for his spectacular research on concert dates). <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXYdD_wfJ6J_XiIKcybiILiqzg-csp5dcLCZP4wDnKpIAfN_gBWymTf8e2FUgY2iN9M6pJVJgyadmlziUcaRC5PF0iMGhEPXvwdNgg_JbzZW3Ezl_e3GOLIHH05iU_Hu3fCCJtyTO_UV0qTjdYK1WcolyPnx2wwTCjvniImFA4Jo0J7c2PjdD_42h/s1252/NRPS%20Doobies%20Winterland%2019730706%20July%201%20Chron.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="658" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkXYdD_wfJ6J_XiIKcybiILiqzg-csp5dcLCZP4wDnKpIAfN_gBWymTf8e2FUgY2iN9M6pJVJgyadmlziUcaRC5PF0iMGhEPXvwdNgg_JbzZW3Ezl_e3GOLIHH05iU_Hu3fCCJtyTO_UV0qTjdYK1WcolyPnx2wwTCjvniImFA4Jo0J7c2PjdD_42h/s320/NRPS%20Doobies%20Winterland%2019730706%20July%201%20Chron.jpg" width="168" /></a></div><p><b>July 6-7, 1973 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Doobie Brothers/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Barnstorm w/Joe Walsh </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)</i><br />The New Riders got back on the touring horse at Winterland in early July. Back in October '72, the Riders had opened for the Doobie Brothers in Sacramento. By July '73, the Doobies had some huge hits: "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Running" and the newly-released single "China Grove" were the most prominent. The band's March '73 album on Warners, <i>The Captain And Me</i>, would go double platinum. The Doobies were big and getting bigger. While most people tend to think of the 1960s as the time when Bay Area rock music shone the brightest, and it's true, the fact is that popular bands like the Doobies, Malo and The Tubes continued to come out of the Bay Area throughout the early 1970s as well.</p><p>Opener Joe Walsh had recently quit the James Gang. His second solo album <i>The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get</i> had just been released on ABC-Dunhill. It included the soon-to-be hit single "Rocky Mountain Way." At this time, Walsh was trying to sound more like CSN than the rocking James Gang. <i>Barnstorm</i> had been the name of his 1972 solo debut, and his touring band was named after it. Drummer Joe Vitale and bassist Kenny Passarelli anchored Barnstorm, along with organist Rocke Grace. Walsh was great live. The New Riders were a fine live act themselves, but there would have been a lot of competition on the Winterland stage this weekend. <br /><br /></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMqDzAEWrdbPzJYuQSQsj6bwOCfZ0wk2F_2gWEb5cwjm03PT5obtlBZMEAthCf1krKqJwIl-oXq0jNtLzR8NlXPOf30fq3PW8Iz4oAJS1IZpYCSYAdBqfijp-cpY0_bE_S1jIi1L6Rk1WWYP6mGaTwlkz1RxGvm2ogspzIdJSlPmjfGdB7rzR4V7sY/s1288/NRPS%2019730712%20Alberta%20July%2010%20Albertan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1288" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMqDzAEWrdbPzJYuQSQsj6bwOCfZ0wk2F_2gWEb5cwjm03PT5obtlBZMEAthCf1krKqJwIl-oXq0jNtLzR8NlXPOf30fq3PW8Iz4oAJS1IZpYCSYAdBqfijp-cpY0_bE_S1jIi1L6Rk1WWYP6mGaTwlkz1RxGvm2ogspzIdJSlPmjfGdB7rzR4V7sY/s320/NRPS%2019730712%20Alberta%20July%2010%20Albertan.jpg" width="136" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An article in The Albertan on July 10 suggests that the New Riders might "bring a few friends"</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>July 12-13, 1973 <i>Summertown Stampede '73</i>: Tent Village Stampede Park, Calgary, ALB </b><i>(Thursday-Friday) </i><br />The New Riders kicked off their National tour with two nights at the Calgary Stampede. The Riders were an excellent choice for the Stampede, young and long-haired, still country, but with a rowdy rock and roll edge. Per Wikipedia:</p><p></p><blockquote><i>The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary,
Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest
Outdoor Show on Earth," attracts over one million visitors per year
and features one of the world's largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage
shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing, and First
Nations exhibitions.</i></blockquote><p></p><p>Still, an article in the July 10 <i>Albertan</i> indicated the price the New Riders often paid for their intimate affiliation with the Grateful Dead <br /></p><p></p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>"there is a strong possibility they might bring a few friends with them" said Debbie Dean, Summertime committee member in charge of musical entertainment, the nightly feature of the Stampede's annual youth fair. </i></blockquote><p></p><p>Somehow, the underground telegraph seemed to know that <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/04/march-18-1973-felt-forum-new-york-ny.html">Jerry Garcia and three other members (Weir and the Godchauxs) had made an extended appearance at the Felt Forum in March</a>, and perhaps that the Godchauxs had sat in for several shows in March and April. Even if the locals didn't know these for facts, the general rumor was probably about, and it wasn't false. In this case, however, no members of the Dead were showing up. It meant that no matter how long or well the New Riders played, a segment of the crowd would go home disappointed. <br /></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoiNbPO7f93Nkin5bzvmk1mrlJHnzN27sgWAe_FIWI6tWmgJtxb84vKhsNb9whoqWaojp2d633NqvJY0Mk9PaDefXXMl9bN1TJsrDg7TEAzTGJSpOqqpT4Ri_9yXMd_pdDTFqYwjzm80OdYctQwyNGO0FJKWzJhynbhyxIg0SaYXaikRu6kaJGcdx/s986/NRPS%20Summerfest%2019730716%20Madison%201973%20July%2013.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfoiNbPO7f93Nkin5bzvmk1mrlJHnzN27sgWAe_FIWI6tWmgJtxb84vKhsNb9whoqWaojp2d633NqvJY0Mk9PaDefXXMl9bN1TJsrDg7TEAzTGJSpOqqpT4Ri_9yXMd_pdDTFqYwjzm80OdYctQwyNGO0FJKWzJhynbhyxIg0SaYXaikRu6kaJGcdx/s320/NRPS%20Summerfest%2019730716%20Madison%201973%20July%2013.jpg" width="177" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>An ad for the Milwaukee Summerfest, a Pabst sponsored festival from July 13-22. Tickets for each day were only $2. The weekend headliners were Humble Pie and the Steve Miller Band.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>July 16, 1973 Schlitz Tent Theater, <i>Summerfest</i>, Milwaukee, WI: Doobie Brothers/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Monday)</i><br />The <i>Summerfest</i> in Milwaukee, sponsored by Schlitz Beer, was a week-long event that booked major acts throughout the week. Schlitz subsidized the event, so tickets were only $2. The bookings went beyond just rock music. The actual bookings had changed by the time the shows actually happened, but the weekend headliners were the Milwaukee Symphony (Thursday July 19), Buck Owens (Friday July 20), Humble Pie (Saturday July 21) and Sergio Mendes (Sunday July 22). Back on Monday, the newly-huge Doobie Brothers were headlining again over the New Riders. Out in the hinterlands, the New Riders were still relatively unknown, while the Doobies had a huge new album and single. </p><p>Based on a tape, Commander Cody and Matthew Kelly sat in. I assume Cody and the Airmen were on the Summerfest bill by this time, because they wouldn't likely have been in town otherwise. I'm not sure why Kelly would have been in town, but he was always welcome to sit in. <br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWMjWhFrKeUr4yhYLE_vjig3yx7HpISfzl-YnoKLxO8mtUBgNiNwgJF8h9L0qL5GLayioeEVC-f7OuS_iI-HRaKodMKVXEQeRiMc6U-sy7CcyttNkTQhMAgsdsRT0cKmvq7LcoiAMlYpMgdtj3W66uih634gvlGHPtk7iYo-4PqhVgSgPRDsWE7YB/s637/NRPS%20Cape%20Cod%2019730720.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWMjWhFrKeUr4yhYLE_vjig3yx7HpISfzl-YnoKLxO8mtUBgNiNwgJF8h9L0qL5GLayioeEVC-f7OuS_iI-HRaKodMKVXEQeRiMc6U-sy7CcyttNkTQhMAgsdsRT0cKmvq7LcoiAMlYpMgdtj3W66uih634gvlGHPtk7iYo-4PqhVgSgPRDsWE7YB/s320/NRPS%20Cape%20Cod%2019730720.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><p><b>July 20, 1973 Cape Cod Coliseum, S. Yarmouth, MA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />The Cape Cod Coliseum was in South Yarmouth, about 90 minutes (75 miles) Southeast of Boston. The Cape Cod Coliseum, at 225 Whites Path, had only been built in 1972, and had a capacity of about 6000. Since Cape Cod was a vacation destination in New England, I believe the Coliseum provided entertainment for all the vacationers in the Spring and Summer. In the Fall and Winter, the Coliseum hosted minor league hockey teams (in 1973, the home team was the Cape Codders of the Northeastern Hockey League). </p><p>In the Summer of 1973, the New Riders started to perform regularly throughout the country with Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen. Of course, Cody and the Riders had known each other from the Bay Area, but now they were working together everywhere. The bands were close in style, as pot-smoking hippies playing music inspired by Buck Owens, but it ended up being far more important than that. </p><p>At this time, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were managed by Joe Kerr, who was an old college friend of George (Commander Cody) Frayne. Kerr also managed Asleep At The Wheel and Clover. By the end of 1973, Kerr would be co-manager of the New Riders along with road manager Dale Franklin. Kerr effectively replaced Jon McIntire as co-manager. Although McIntire hadn't really had an official status with the Riders, Kerr's status was formal. I don't know exactly when Kerr took over. <br /></p><p></p><p><b>July 21, 1973 Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Saturday) Arty Schaub and Ken Hersh Present 7:00 and 10:30</i><br />The New Riders and the Airmen played two Saturday night shows at <a href="https://www.thecapitoltheatre.com/">the 1800-seat Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York</a>. The Capitol, 30 minutes North of Manhattan, and near the Connecticut border, was legendary in rock history from the 1970-71 period, when Howard Stein booked the Grateful Dead and many other great bands. </p><p>Stein had moved out of Port Chester in Summer '71. The Capitol was too small, and Bill Graham had closed the Fillmore East, so Stein had started booking shows in Manhattan. The Port Chester Capitol had not closed, however, and various promoters rented the venue for shows up until about 1978. This show was presented by Arty Schaub and Ken Hersh. </p><p>We have a setlist from the Capitol, though whether from the early or late show isn't clear. It's the first show where we have a setlist since the recording of the new album was complete, so it was the first confirmed sighting of "Panama Red" and "Lonesome LA Cowboy," among other songs. I assume they had been playing these songs for a while. </p><p>The New Riders and Cody were booked on Sunday, July 22 at the Great McGonigle's Seaside Park in Annapolis, Maryland, promoted by New Era Follies, but the show was canceled. </p><p><b>July 24, 1973 <i>[venue]</i>, Auburn U. Auburn, AL: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><br /><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-grateful-dead-in-north-carolina-and.html">Following a general strategy that would end up working for the Grateful Dead, Cutler had started booking the Riders at colleges in the Southeast, trying to build an audience</a>. Although the New Riders were an excellent match for Southeastern musical tastes at the time, the band never really established itself in the region. </p><p>Auburn University, initially founded in 1856 as East Alabama Male College, ultimately became Alabama's land-grant engineering university. Today it has around 30,000 students. While it probably didn't have that many students in 1973, it was a large school. I'm not sure what venue the Riders and the Airmen played. Finding that out would tell us a lot about how well-known the bands were in Eastern Alabama. <br /></p><p><b>July 26 1973 Municipal Auditorium Nashville, TN: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Thursday)</i><br />The Nashville Municipal Auditorium had been built in 1962, and it was the first "public assembly" building in the Mid-South with air conditioning. The auditorium was at 417 4th Avenue North, and could seat around 9,300 in the round. I highly doubt that the New Riders and the Airmen could sell anywhere near that number of tickets on a Thursday night, and so I assume that part of the arena was cordoned off.</p><p><b>July 28, 1973 Park Center, Charlotte, NC: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br /><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-grateful-dead-in-north-carolina-and.html">The Grateful Dead would go on to build a substantial audience in North Carolina by playing numerous shows in Charlotte and Durham throughout the 1970s</a>. Clearly, Sam Cutler was planning a similar assault with the New Riders, even though it never really got that far. The Park Center, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grady_Cole_Center">now the Grady Cole Center</a>, was an auditorium at the Piedmont Community College. The building, at 310 North Kings Drive had opened in 1956. The 3000-capacity arena is now part of Mecklenburg County Sportsplex.</p><p>It would be an interesting to know how many fans the New Riders could draw in Charlotte on a Saturday night in 1973, but we have no intel at this time. I assume that Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen opened the show, but that's logic, not yet supported by solid evidence. <br /></p><p><b>July 31, 1973 Fairgrounds Educational Building, Tulsa, OK: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Tuesday) </i><br /><a href="https://www.exposquare.com/p/about/147 ">The Tulsa County Free Fair began in 1903 at the Western Association baseball park at Archer and Boston</a>. With enactment of the Oklahoma Free Fair Act in 1915, a 15-acre tract of land north of Archer and Lewis was purchased to provide more suitable grounds. In 1923, thanks to a land donation from J.E. Crosbie, the fair was moved to a portion of the present Expo Square between 15th and 21st Streets. The fair board acquired land adjacent to the gift acreage in later years, and the "state fair" was born. Fairgrounds.</p><p>I'm not sure which building the New Riders and the Airmen performed in, and in any case due there has been substantial remodeling since then. I assume that there were regular music events at the Tulsa Fairgrounds throughout the Summer. <b><br /></b></p><p><b>August 1, 1973 Memorial Hall, Kansas City, KS: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Wednesday)</i><br />Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kansas (also known as Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall) was opened in 1925. The 3500-capacity hall remains open today at 600 N. 7th Street. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/04/june-30-1972-memorial-auditorium-kansas.html">The New Riders had already played the hall, headlining over Loggins & Messina on Friday, June 30, 1972 (Kenny Loggins performed a slow version of "Friend Of The Devil," and Betty Cantor, doing sound for the New Riders, taped it and played it for Jerry Garcia, who liked it so much he adopted the arrangement</a>). </p><p>The Riders probably didn't sell out on a Wednesday night, but since they were established they probably drew a decent crowd. At the time, fans in places like Kansas City generally accepted that touring acts came through when they had an open night, and the weekend gigs were often reserved for bigger cities like St. Louis and Chicago. <br /></p><p><b>August 3 1973 American Theatre, St Louis, MO: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Friday) Contemporary Productions Inc Presents 2 shows (7:30 & Midnight)</i><br />The New Riders were actually fairly well established in St. Louis. St. Louis, <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/listen-river-fox-theatre-december-1971">as Jesse Jarnow has illuminated, was a major Midwestern stronghold of Deadheads</a>. The New Riders had played there a number of times, and had even headlined the Fox Theater in December of 1972. The most recent New Riders album, <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i>, was <a href="https://losttables.com/balabans/balabans.htm">actually named after a hippie boutique not too far from the Fox itself.</a> <br /><br />The American Theater seems to have been somewhat similar to the Fox. The theater at 416 N. 9th Street had opened in 1917 as a Vaudeville House, but had been sold to Warner Brothers as a movie theater in 1930. Its exact capacity is uncertain. At some point it was re-named the American Theater and restored by the 1980s (currently it is closed, but <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheum_Theater_(St._Louis)">there are plans to re-open it as the Orpheum Theater</a>). There's a small chance that this venue isn't the one on N. 9th Street, but it seems the most likely fit. <br /></p><p>The Fox Theater was still mainly a movie house, so it may not have been available. I'm not sure who Contemporary Productions might have been. Since there were two shows, then it's a sign that the promoters thought the Riders had drawing power in St. Louis. <br /></p><b>August 4, 1973 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />Like most touring bands, the New Riders saved the weekends for the best bookings in the biggest markets. The New Riders had headlined in St. Louis the year before, and they had played the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago as well. Back on December 16, 1972, the New Riders had played the 3,800-seat hall along with Mott The Hoople, a fellow Columbia act riding a hit record. This time, the New Riders were the sole headliner, and once again I have every reason to assume that Commander Cody was opening the show. <br /><p>The Auditorium Theatre (at 50 Ida B Wells St) had been built in 1889.
The Dead and the Riders had played two nights there in 1971 (October 21-22), and then the Riders had returned with Mott (Dec 16 '72) with Mott the Hoople and now they were headlining alone. This was how the rock business was designed to work, and in the Upper Midwest, at least things were going according to plan. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vlv0XvzPAxpbMk2SoU3kZ0LAJnhyr80OfC_1EfG1KpgTcUxVR4yqJrDvjyLXwhWcsGTAixacG7bbLxlaGywHRMesowtzwyXo4rUq2NTm8xFupSqd-XTBkNlT13Ywn86Yqif9MTBRh1d9_Loknl-rIVr3vx35nNkwo4oTbJI58krEgSpiiPuXUwyd/s738/NRPS%20Minneapolis%2019730805.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4vlv0XvzPAxpbMk2SoU3kZ0LAJnhyr80OfC_1EfG1KpgTcUxVR4yqJrDvjyLXwhWcsGTAixacG7bbLxlaGywHRMesowtzwyXo4rUq2NTm8xFupSqd-XTBkNlT13Ywn86Yqif9MTBRh1d9_Loknl-rIVr3vx35nNkwo4oTbJI58krEgSpiiPuXUwyd/s320/NRPS%20Minneapolis%2019730805.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><p><b>August 5, 1973 Minneapolis Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Sunday) Gulliver Presents</i><br />The New Riders played Sunday night in Minneapolis. They had also played Minneapolis in 1972, at the relatively tiny Guthrie Theater (on December 17, 1972). The Municipal Auditorium was actually quite large, holding up to 10,000. I'm confident that the New Riders and Cody did not want to play to a semi-empty house, so I'm sure there was a configuration where they would play to a much smaller segment of the building. It was still a good booking.</p><p>The Minneapolis Auditorium had been built in 1927, and was the principal public hall until it was replaced by the Met Center in suburban Bloomington. The Minneapolis Lakers had played there from 1947-1959. Ultimately the building was torn down in 1989. The approximate location was 1301 2nd Avenue South. <br /></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdpDhWzb_50FU9QuM_K2GODzhFchcs93caSrvqMYSgT3QxnVJKqe4rfToajCvdvbktGIXgqcfyuNNI6IgSA7JBcLLKAhfg3MogWDepkaY737t_0V0EA5Y1jUJH-nP-HQwtEn7P03H4o0vNaoZv2LSLdpVX2HhMJSy16Lm7HidH_YxKxMqoE4OYTyB/s1735/NRPS_Waylon%20Jennings%20CO%2019730820.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1735" data-original-width="817" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijdpDhWzb_50FU9QuM_K2GODzhFchcs93caSrvqMYSgT3QxnVJKqe4rfToajCvdvbktGIXgqcfyuNNI6IgSA7JBcLLKAhfg3MogWDepkaY737t_0V0EA5Y1jUJH-nP-HQwtEn7P03H4o0vNaoZv2LSLdpVX2HhMJSy16Lm7HidH_YxKxMqoE4OYTyB/s320/NRPS_Waylon%20Jennings%20CO%2019730820.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Colorado Springs Gazette (Aug 19) mentioned two Monday night (August 20) shows at the City Auditorium with Waylon Jennings and the New Riders</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><b>August 20, 1973 City Auditorium, Colorado Springs, CO: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Waylon Jennings </b><i>(Monday)</i><br />The New Riders took a couple of weeks off. Although Norbert Putnam was in charge of their next album, they may have also been needed for some final harmonies or other touches. </p><p>The New Riders had an interesting booking in Colorado Springs, a double show on a Monday night that was unconnected to any other leg of the tour. They were sharing the bill again with Waylon Jennings. Colorado Springs is all groovy today, but in 1973 it was cowpoke country. <a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2019/08/7369-reeds-ranch.html">The Grateful Dead had played there once in 1969, and there had been a whiff of a counterculture</a>, but on the whole it was more Waylon territory than a Riders zone. </p><p>Note that the article in the <i>Gazette</i> says "The New Riders formerly played with the hard-rock group the Grateful Dead." It adds "the concerts are the first appearances for both groups in Colorado in two years." With respect to the New Riders, they had been booked in Aspen in February of '73, but those gigs had been sort of a stealth appearance (indeed they might not have happened). If Waylon Jennings hadn't been around in a while, however, his return with the New Riders in tow was a clear sign of how we was making a name for himself as a long-haired outlaw aligned with rock bands, not as a Nashville guy. </p><p>The Colorado Springs City Auditorium is at 221 E. Kiowa Street, with a capacity of 2200. It had been built in 1923. I would love to know any scrap of information about these shows: how many attended, how each act went over and so on, but I have nothing. Based on the schedule, it's clear that the New Riders flew in from California and flew on to the East Coast. <br /> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jHl5fZD7TTNKQZNIwQ73zxFvmVutgiJze-sRLUBqWXwn-8rTE8mcr8mRkIE04oojrUdBzfGBvvMT6hsv5sN6cc_mL79jfHmR3rjk9U-_TRQZeavh9AtSAC1kD0R3jY5xWnECKPUmzkcbEs42qQeV1rItrplnZ9A4iTLmwuLRbD_V2JUlXOBi3dHn/s1048/NRPS%20Lebanon%20article%2019730824%2025%20Aug%201973,%20Page%205%20-%20The%20Times%20Record%20at%20Newspapers%20com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1048" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jHl5fZD7TTNKQZNIwQ73zxFvmVutgiJze-sRLUBqWXwn-8rTE8mcr8mRkIE04oojrUdBzfGBvvMT6hsv5sN6cc_mL79jfHmR3rjk9U-_TRQZeavh9AtSAC1kD0R3jY5xWnECKPUmzkcbEs42qQeV1rItrplnZ9A4iTLmwuLRbD_V2JUlXOBi3dHn/s320/NRPS%20Lebanon%20article%2019730824%2025%20Aug%201973,%20Page%205%20-%20The%20Times%20Record%20at%20Newspapers%20com.png" width="85" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Troy Times-Record from Saturday, August 25, 1973 reported on the New Riders show at the Lebanon Valley Speedway in W. Lebanon, NY</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /><b>August 24, 1973 Lebanon Valley Speedway, W. Lebanon, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/John Lee Hooker/Star Spangled Washboard Band </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />The New Riders played two more weeks in the Northeast. This leg of the tour was notable for some interesting venues. The rock concert industry was expanding rapidly at this time, and all sorts of venues were in play that might not have been considered before. Sam Cutler, Chesley Millikin and the New Riders followed the Grateful Dead's playbook, always willing to take a chance on a new venue or an imaginative promoter. </p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/07/grateful-dead-performances-at-race.html">I previously wrote about the history of auto racing tracks as c</a>oncert
facilities, although I focused on Grateful Dead concerts, in order to
keep the topic manageable. Yet some less prominent auto racing
tracks had brief histories as concert venues in the 70s. One of the
smallest was the Lebanon Valley Speedway, in tiny West Lebanon, NY,
between Albany and Pittsfield, MA.</p><p></p><p>West Lebanon, NY is a tiny hamlet
(current population: 132) in Columbia County, about 25 miles Southeast
of Albany and just 15 miles West of Pittsfield, MA and the Berkshires.
The Mohicans originally lived in the area, but the Dutch started to move
in to the region in the 17th century. Columbia County itself was
founded in 1786. The Vermont Central Railroad was built through the area
in the 1850s, linking Portland and other cities in New England with
Chatham, NY, thus linking to Manhattan. The nearby town of New Lebanon
was the home of the Shaker religious community. </p><p>West Lebanon was
on US Route 20, the longest transcontinental road, which stretches from
Boston to Newport, OR. US-20 was the main route through Columbia County
prior to the introduction of Interstate 90 in 1957. Lebanon Valley
Speedway commenced racing in 1953, and the track is still open (using
the name Lebanon Valley Raceway). I<a href="https://www.lebanonvalley.com/">t
currently features a half-mile clay oval track for dirt track racing as
well as a quarter-mile dragstrip. There are SuperModified and Sportsman
Dirt Track Races every Saturday night starting in May</a>. The venue lists a capacity for racing at 7100 fans. <a href="http://www.catamountstadium.com/lebanonvalley.htm">An historic site has a good summary of the track history</a>.</p><p>A characteristic of regional tracks like Lebanon Valley Speedway was
that they typically held races only one weekend night a week, on either
Friday or Saturday. For one thing, rural areas couldn't really support
more than one night. More importantly, some of the more serious regional
racers would race at one track on Friday and another track on Saturday,
ensuring that the fields were larger and more competitive at more than
one track. In the case of Lebanon Valley Speedway, Saturday night has
been "Race Night" since 1957, so that left Fridays open for other kinds
of promotions. Thus the first rock concert at Lebanon Valley Speedway was on
a Friday night. </p><p>In the 1960s, kids in Columbia County would have liked rock music, but
would have had a hard time knowing about all but the most famous groups.
By 1973, however, they would all have been listening to FM radio and
reading <i>Rolling Stone</i>, just like their peers throughout the
country. All the Riders needed was a venue in the right place. Someone
seems to have figured out that a Friday night at the Lebanon Valley
Speedway would work. It was a standing venue with power, water,
bathrooms, parking and crowd control. Rock concerts can be noisy, but
they aren't necessarily noisier than the Saturday night Super Modifieds.
So the New Riders of The Purple Sage were booked to open their tour on
Friday, August 24, supported by blues legend John Lee Hooker and a local
group. The concert was supported by radio station WGFM in Albany, NY. </p><p>The Troy (NY) <i>Times-Record</i> article from Saturday (August 25)
told the tale. The event was a modest success, and a good time seemed to
be had, but attendance wasn't up to expectations. <br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p><b>Quiet Night At Speedway 'Blues' Concert </b><i>(Bill Rice, Troy Times-Record, Saturday, August 25, 1973)</i><br /><i>WEST LEBANON-It might be the first and last, and it might be the first of many. <br /></i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>Some 4,700 young people attended the first country blues concert ever held at Lebanon Valley Speedway here last night. <br /></i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>On the program were the New Riders of The Purple Sage, John Lee Hooker and The Star Spangled Washboard Band.<br /></i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>Promoters
of the concert, National Student Productions and Radio station WGY-WGFM
were not hoping for another Watkins Glen or Woodstock. A crowd of
around 6,000 was anticipated by Bill Brina of National Student
Productions. <br /></i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>The crowd was quiet and orderly, as The Star Spangled Washboard Band did the opening act.<br />Brina said there were no problems with gate crashers. A Lebanon Valley security officer said <br /></i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"><i>"The
kids are minding their own business and playing it cool. What they do
someplace else doesn't interest us. We have had more trouble with
Saturday night race crowds."<br /></i></p></blockquote><i><blockquote>He did say about 200 youngsters tried to go over the fence, and half made it without paying the $5 admission fee </blockquote></i><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2023/11/1746-us-20-west-lebanon-ny-lebanon.html">There were a few other rock concerts at Lebanon Valley Speedway after this, in 1977 and 1980, but I wrote about them elsewhere. </a><br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlw6Mw8t39h_QZ1ddZiF3YTlEsyi4CU9Nroix5GNKdRoxVYLWAsgjT5goS0FPGjyfDYs46yrcJI4PNMCiCql5gRtYF2FWj4gJ1HlnlPGLre3tjgl2de5ELxyHFvJBDBzRo1pY82yfcmhO_P2gWe6IVoh93cybjsY4twx5Eb-0CLTZC7LhbB6QE-A9/s992/NRPS%20Lewiston%2019730825.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="468" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlw6Mw8t39h_QZ1ddZiF3YTlEsyi4CU9Nroix5GNKdRoxVYLWAsgjT5goS0FPGjyfDYs46yrcJI4PNMCiCql5gRtYF2FWj4gJ1HlnlPGLre3tjgl2de5ELxyHFvJBDBzRo1pY82yfcmhO_P2gWe6IVoh93cybjsY4twx5Eb-0CLTZC7LhbB6QE-A9/s320/NRPS%20Lewiston%2019730825.jpg" width="151" /></a></div><p><b>August 25, 1973 Central Maine Youth Center, Lewiston, ME: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Fabulous Rhinestones </b><i>(Saturday) Maine Man Music Productions presents</i><br />The Central Maine Youth Center was a hockey arena in Lewiston, then rated to handle up to 7000 patrons. Mostly high school hockey teams played there (<a href="http://www.gratefulseconds.com/">per former resident Grateful Seconds</a>). It was also the biggest arena in the area until the Cumblerland County Civic Center would open around 1978, so occasionally there were major events there. The biggest event in the history of the arena was the Cassius Clay vs Sonny Liston heavyweight title boxing match on May 25, 1965.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaRkYH9hMRU8FeSsIPjZvlCj0LNF6XiPtVeL9w4pzPKdG3dTrzKSRV5dLCzeSiWxmGsbxYCkxhy-UjuKKsQJLJ584XnQnyNMEESi6oGdNBHktw4jCSx0ZOBq7jB_YkUCpzimHcMZXwbWKyoHU-eK5NRO9mynrXb0y-Z3qVHG1da9aKOF-dJO1x0SLE/s545/NRPS%20Review%20Lewiston%2019730825%20(Aug%2028%20Sun-Journal).jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="460" data-original-width="545" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaRkYH9hMRU8FeSsIPjZvlCj0LNF6XiPtVeL9w4pzPKdG3dTrzKSRV5dLCzeSiWxmGsbxYCkxhy-UjuKKsQJLJ584XnQnyNMEESi6oGdNBHktw4jCSx0ZOBq7jB_YkUCpzimHcMZXwbWKyoHU-eK5NRO9mynrXb0y-Z3qVHG1da9aKOF-dJO1x0SLE/s320/NRPS%20Review%20Lewiston%2019730825%20(Aug%2028%20Sun-Journal).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Joan Margalith reviewed the August 25, 1973 show in the Lewiston Sun-Journal. She found the Riders stiff, and raved about the Fabulous Rhinestones.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />This show was presented by Main Man Music Productions, but I don't know who that may have represented. Real touring rock bands didn't get to Maine very often. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/01/april-22-1971-bangor-municipal.html">The Grateful Dead had played Bangor in 1971</a>, and sometimes bands would play the University of Maine in nearby Orono, but it was pretty far off the path. Joan Margolith of the Lewiston <i>Sun-Record</i> (August 28, above) and reported that 4500 people attended the show. She called the Riders "structured and somewhat unemotional...polished, almost structured." She raved about the Fabulous Rhinestones, however.<br /><p></p><p>The Fabulous Rhinestones had formed in San Francisco, but most of the musicians were from Chicago or New York. Chicago guitarist Kal David (ex-Illinois Speed Press) was the main
songwriter, and other members
included bassist Harvey Brooks (ex-Electric Flag), organist Marty Grebb
(another Chicagoan, ex-Buckinghams) and drummer Gregg Thomas (ex-Mint
Tattoo). The band had moved to Woodstock, NY, and would ultimately
release three albums. By 1973, they had just released their second album <i>Freewheelin</i>'. <br /></p><p><b>August 27-29, 1973 Paul's Mall, Boston, MA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday-Wednesday) early and late shows each night</i><br />The New Riders had been booked to play as part of a rock concert series at Suffolk Downs, the historic East Boston thoroughbred track, on Monday, August 27, but that show had been canceled (I'm not sure if the whole series was canceled, or just their event). With an opening in their schedule, Sam Cutler booked the New Riders at the prestigious but small Paul's Mall, a rock club in downtown Boston. A Monday-thru-Wednesday gig at Paul's Mall wasn't going to pay that well, but the New Riders would have had the same hotel bills anyway, so anything they made offset their costs. A casual, friendly review of the Monday night show in the Boston <i>Globe</i> acknowledged that the Riders were just filling out their tour schedule. For the locals who went, it was probably a lot of fun.</p><p><a href="http://archive.boston.com/blogs/yourtown/boston/dirty-old-boston/2013/09/pauls_mall_the_jazz_workshop_1.html">733 Boylston Street was the entrance to a pair of side-by-side nightclubs, the Jazz Workshop and Paul's Mall. </a>The Jazz Workshop, at least, had opened in 1963. Paul's Mall wasn't large, but its location ensured that performers regularly got reviewed in the paper. WBCN often broadcast from one of the two clubs, and it appears that one set of the Wednesday night show (July 29) was broadcast over WBCN. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgbNaduNRALGQnjmglkPISu_51oDYjeuYYqdo7khjsASmMXXxE_i3iE4wwQOWuwmw9g3rotWCoxRYytsjWjEh7S0ftg_L_gAiTOOsf3OlXMqaFi8EGC-SxGBXTD90G_LQQnWYP24UOTyl1iVEqyFEd9fmzEPimSA4Fr2I5j7ZxFS2kIfx7gnRIAZd/s568/NRPS%20Sunshine%20Inn%2019730831%20VV%20Aug%2030.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="568" data-original-width="334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPgbNaduNRALGQnjmglkPISu_51oDYjeuYYqdo7khjsASmMXXxE_i3iE4wwQOWuwmw9g3rotWCoxRYytsjWjEh7S0ftg_L_gAiTOOsf3OlXMqaFi8EGC-SxGBXTD90G_LQQnWYP24UOTyl1iVEqyFEd9fmzEPimSA4Fr2I5j7ZxFS2kIfx7gnRIAZd/s320/NRPS%20Sunshine%20Inn%2019730831%20VV%20Aug%2030.jpg" width="188" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Village Voice ad from August 30 for the Sunshine Inn in Asbury Park, NJ. The New Riders were booked for Friday August 31<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>August 31, 1973 Sunshine Inn, Asbury Park, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage/David Buskin </b><i>(Friday) </i><br />The Sunshine Inn in Asbury Park was another small, legendary Northeastern venue. At the time, Asbury Park had been a sort of resort town, with a beach boardwalk and various arcades along the shore. By 1973, it was decaying, the perfect metaphor for then-aspiring songwriter Bruce Springsteen. The Sunshine Inn was on First Avenue and Kingsley, near the shore, and near the boardwalk. Bruce had opened many shows at the Sunshine Inn with various bands, and even headlined a few. </p><p>The Sunshine Inn had opened in December 1970. A lot of touring bands had an extra night in the Northeast and would play shows there, with local bands--like Springsteen's--opening up. Many young Asbury rock fans have fond memories of seeing bands at the Sunshine. Bands, however, have less fond memories, as owner Bob Fischer (actual name: Herbert Fleisher) was notorious for underpaying, or not paying at all (for those who know their Springsteen lore, Fleisher also owned the Student Prince, a bar that was across the street, and he didn't always pay bands there either). John Scher had gotten his start in New Jersey booking the Sunshine Inn in 1971, but he had moved on the Capitol Theater in Passaic and bigger venues by this time. <a href="https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/06/28/asbury-parks-sunshine-hosted-huge-rockers-getting-paid-iffy/2776863002/">Fleisher finally gave up on the Sunshine Inn in late 1974, but the performances are fondly remembered by then-locals.</a><br /></p><p><b>September 1, 1973 Gym, Staples High School, Westport, CT: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday) early and late shows</i><br />The Staples High School gym was just another gymnasium in a suburban high school, but it had an intriguing rock and roll history. In 1966, some enterprising students had been looking to raise money, and realized they could book popular rock bands. At the time, there were so few rock venues that working bands had plenty of free nights. <a href="https://www.courant.com/ctnow/movies/hc-westport-high-school-documentary-20170228-story.html ">While the high school students at Westport had no experience or background, that was true of most of the rock venues at the time. As a result, groups like The Doors and Cream played Westport High School from 1966-68</a>. Afterwards, there were more rock venues and major acts weren't going to play some High School.</p><p>Still, the initial blast led to a sort of tradition of using the Westport High gym for rock shows, and bands continued to play there intermittently. Westport is on Long Island Sound, about 50 miles North of Manhattan, so it made a convenient gig for touring rock bands. The audience would likely have been young people who weren't able (or allowed) to get all the way into Manhattan to see rock bands. The Riders appear to have played early and late shows. <br /></p><b>September 4, 1973 <i>[venue?]</i>, Nassau Community College, Garden City, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><br />Nassau Community College was in Garden City, NY, in Long Island, and had opened in 1959. By 1973 it had expanded substantially (today it has around 10,000 students). Nassau County was prime Deadhead territory, and the New Riders had already opened for the Dead at the Nassau County Coliseum in nearby Uniondale. Given the date, this show would have likely been a start-of-term event.<br /> <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtw4yEYN1M3enwwjmjIoHeQ_-UwHHTUOBdgDoPE5lMtakolRrrRmg_NeYRt8id5MvRjnWnGDxMUP_0OQOf-sp2vfiQM7uCJRttRMSJ00_ngcIZPLUQ1gfT8eztp6VXpm3pKuBKqDRT-guSsZxkn0S1_V2hBf8xIwKhpcSh-pM0MTxuYVUy2MaUXdr/s764/NRPS%20Philharmonic%2019730905%20VV%20Aug%2030.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="682" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtw4yEYN1M3enwwjmjIoHeQ_-UwHHTUOBdgDoPE5lMtakolRrrRmg_NeYRt8id5MvRjnWnGDxMUP_0OQOf-sp2vfiQM7uCJRttRMSJ00_ngcIZPLUQ1gfT8eztp6VXpm3pKuBKqDRT-guSsZxkn0S1_V2hBf8xIwKhpcSh-pM0MTxuYVUy2MaUXdr/s320/NRPS%20Philharmonic%2019730905%20VV%20Aug%2030.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><p><b>September 5, 1973 Philharmonic Hall, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Wednesday) </i><b>8pm & 11pm</b><br />Howard Stein presented the New Riders for two shows on a Wednesday night at Philarmonic Hall. This was probably the booking that the tour was built around. Philharmonic Hall had been built in 1962, and was the home of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Of course, the hall was regularly used for other performances, including rock bands. The hall was at 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, near Broadway and West 65th Street. Shortly after this, Philarmonic Hall would change its name to Avery Fisher Hall (it is now the David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center). <br /></p><p>The room had 2738 seats, so Howard Stein was confident that the Riders could sell almost twice that many tickets. That's a pretty good marker for how popular the New Riders were in New York Metro at the time. Keep in mind that the location made it easy to get there for Deadheads throughout the region. The Grateful Dead did not play Manhattan proper from 1972 until 1976, so the New Riders would also have been a kind of proxy event for local Deadheads.</p><p></p><p><b>September 6, 1973 Palace Theater, Albany, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Thursday) </i><br />After the Philarmonic Hall show, the New Riders played the next night for Shelly Finkel and Jim Koplik at a now-legendary venue called the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. Waterbury is between Hartford (33 miles to the Northeast) and New York City (77 miles to the Southwest). It had (and has) a population of around 110,000. In the first half of the 20th century, it was a thriving industrial city. From the 60s onward, however, Waterbury underwent a severe economic decline. As a rock peculiarity, however, Waterbury had a large movie theater from its glory days, and easy freeway access from larger areas. The Palace Theater, at 100 E. Main Street in downtown, had been built in 1922. By the early 1970s, it wasn't apparently in great shape, but it had a capacity of a few thousand and fantastic acoustics. I<a href="https://www.palacewaterbury.com/palace_bands/palace_bands.html">t went from being an oversized movie house to a destination rock concert venue. </a></p><p>The New Riders had played the Palace in May 1972
(for different promoters), and had returned to play for Finkel and
Koplik on March 21, 1973. By this time, Finkel and Koplik had booked both the Grateful Dead and the New Riders many times. The most famous booking, of course, was when Finkel and Koplik had put on the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen with the Dead, the Band and the Allman Brothers, on July 28, 1973. Waterbury was the perfect distance from New York, a separate market, but still an easy trip for the band and crew, and both Cutler and the Riders had a good relationship with the promoters. </p><p>A listing in <i>Billboard</i> had the New Riders playing the Rock Quarry Festival in Lowellville, OH on Saturday, September 8. We could not find any sort of confirmation, even to know if the event occurred. It does seem like a logical booking, though--Thursday in in Waterbury, Sunday in Pennsylvania, so a Saturday night show near Youngstown, not too far from Penn State (175 miles), would have been smart. <br /></p><p><b>September 9, 1973 [venue?], State College, Penn State U,. State College, PA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />The New Riders ended their Northeastern tour with a long show at Penn State. Penn State University was established in 1855, and it is in the countryside, midway between Pittsburgh (135 miles to the West) and Philadelphia (200 miles to the Southeast). Even by the standards of flagship state institutions, Penn State is huge--it currently has a 90,000 students. While probably not that large in 1973, it still would have been a city unto itself. </p><p>I don't know what venue the New Riders played at Penn State. We do have a setlist, however, and even by the standards of 1973 it's a really long show. All of the <i>Panama Red</i> material was part of the set. </p><p><b>First Set</b><br /><i>Six Days On The Road / Teardrops In My Eyes / It's Alright With Me / Panama Red / One Too Many Stories / Hello Mary Lou / Henry / School Days / Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) / Rainbow / Important Exportin' Man / She's No Angel / Contract / Sutter's Mill / LA Lady / Lonesome L.A. Cowboy / I Don't Need No Doctor</i><br /><br /><b>Second Set</b><br /><i>Sea Cruise / You Should Have Seen Me Runnin’ / Whiskey / Take A Letter Maria / Groupie / Parson Brown / Glendale Train / Lochinvar / Duncan And Brady / Truck Drivin' Man / Portland Woman / Louisiana Lady / Last Lonely Eagle / Willie And The Hand Jive / Encore: Kick In The Head</i></p><p>The New Riders were at their peak as performers, the Grateful Dead affiliation had its greatest power, and the band had a great new album coming out. <br /></p><p>S<b>eptember 29-30, 1973 Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA: Waylon Jennings/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen/Roger McGuinn</b><i> (Saturday-Sunday)</i><br /><i>Billboard</i> listed a date for the New Riders in Houston, venue unstated, on September 28, but we can't confirm it and it doesn't seem to fit any touring schedule, so I'm assuming it didn't happen. <br /><br />On the weekend of September 29-30, the New Riders played two outdoor shows at the 6,000 seat Universal Amphitheatre. The Amphitheatre was part of "Universal City," an adjunct to the Universal Studios tourist attraction. The then-outdoor venue had started putting on rock concerts in 1972.</p><p>Waylon Jennings is headlining over the New Riders, continuing the pattern of performing together. Since playing with the Dead and the New Riders back at Kezar Stadium in April, Jennings had released his <i>Honky Tonk Heroes</i> album on RCA in June. He had two big hit singles on it, "You Asked Me To" (reaching #8) and "We Had It All" (#28). With songs mostly co-written by Jennings and Billy Joe Shaver, the album was a seminal record in the emerging sub-genre of "Outlaw Country." Ironically, although Jennings and the New Riders were initially closely aligned, the Outlaw Country style of Jennings and Willie Nelson would thrive, while the country-rock of the New Riders and Commander Cody would slide in importance. </p><p>Roger McGuinn had gone solo, since the Byrds had broken up. His debut album on Columbia had been released in June of 1973. He had started to tour around a little bit in support, accompanied by Mike Wofford (keyboards), David Vaught (bass) and John Guerin (drums). <br /></p><i><b>Status Report: New Riders of The Purple Sage, October, 1973</b></i><br />The New Riders of the Purple Sage had toured heavily throughout 1973. The band had a genuine following in the Northeast, and seemed to be drawing well in the Midwest as well. While still in the inevitable shadow of the Grateful Dead, that was not a bad place to be. Country rock was on the rise, in parallel with the newly-arrived "Outlaw Country" longhairs. <br /><p>When headlining, the New Riders would play a pair of hour-long sets, with a mixture of originals and covers, and including new, unrecorded songs as well. The band had just completed a new album with Nashville producer Norbert Putnam, and they must have known it was going to be good. Many of the songs from the forthcoming Panama Red album, including the title track, were already regular parts of their live repertoire. </p><p>The New Riders were an excellent live band, with a promising fourth album coming out soon, and in tune with the popular music trends of the day. Things looked bright indeed for the band.<br /></p><p><span class="im">
<br /></span></p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-75003861989723303022023-08-25T09:53:00.001-07:002023-08-26T19:14:39.956-07:00Lonesome Janet: The Kingfish Origin Story--1974 (Kingfish Part Zero)<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5kAUJcQfaZ7CCWvOVotw8nBYiDzN9qdcviCk1DgpWCLk8AlD8HOSSytgeMHa-ritpEECBnFZEq9sEUG39w_GEOmPBdwP0YoQt0qtp585e3yp0VAMvrEOb902GGC9W8NTq2U9yUSjlbo-xoDCDILC0DwVOiWleCb0C997OW8EzLYT4XQkF1NFQi_Nm/s4508/75-08-31-kingfish%20alpine%20meadows%2019.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3004" data-original-width="4508" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5kAUJcQfaZ7CCWvOVotw8nBYiDzN9qdcviCk1DgpWCLk8AlD8HOSSytgeMHa-ritpEECBnFZEq9sEUG39w_GEOmPBdwP0YoQt0qtp585e3yp0VAMvrEOb902GGC9W8NTq2U9yUSjlbo-xoDCDILC0DwVOiWleCb0C997OW8EzLYT4XQkF1NFQi_Nm/s320/75-08-31-kingfish%20alpine%20meadows%2019.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Matthew Kelly and Bob Weir performing with Kingfish at Alpine Meadows in Lake Tahoe, CA on August 31, 1975</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />At the end of 1974, with the Grateful Dead on hiatus and apparently retired from performing, Bob Weir joined the local band Kingfish. A few fans who read the entertainment listings very carefully might have recognized the band's name, but otherwise they had been obscure up until Weir joined. Kingfish's only "known" member was bassist and singer Dave Torbert, who had left the New Riders of The Purple Sage at the end of 1973, after five albums. Weir would play full-time with Kingfish until the Grateful Dead returned to action in the Summer of 1976. He briefly played with them that Summer, too, but Kingfish kept going on throughout the 1980s. Weir, in fact, would periodically drop in and play with Kingfish, particularly from 1984 through '87. Although Torbert had passed away, Kingfish co-founder Matthew Kelly continued to lead the band throughout the 1980s. <p></p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history-1974.html">I have already documented Weir's introduction to Kingfish in the Fall
of 1974</a>, all of his known performances in 1975 (so many that is has
taken two posts, for <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history.html">Jan-June '75</a> and <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history_07.html">July-Dec '75</a>) and <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2017/01/kingfish-performance-history-january.html">a separate post
for Kingfish up until Weir's departure in August '76</a>. I have even
documented <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/06/bob-weir-and-kingfish-1984-1987.html">Weir's assorted guest appearances with Kingfish from 1984
onwards</a>.</p><p>This post will close the loop on
the last scaffold of the structure, the various Bay Area bands that led
to the formation of Kingfish. Weir went to see Kingfish at a moment in
his career and that of the band where they all needed each other, and it
led to a musical partnership that would thrive for a dozen years. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtS2eMXxGi4IG1WUEpy9PKtmzyq5EZhjLlX24KqkKuYLHxA0jwSMnTtOJ1F7LCDflLZKFofdSSV6m1L2dTneua5iHEX70bsZKPiYCLnb6K5TBSX-yg1lTU9hmq80lMttKFXQAL9CtUVlFGa023bTHlbeBmG2y4lpVGUjfwwIw5USBoF8YPVOw5NPX/s1859/Shango%203%20Matt,%20Tim,%20Dave.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1859" data-original-width="1494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtS2eMXxGi4IG1WUEpy9PKtmzyq5EZhjLlX24KqkKuYLHxA0jwSMnTtOJ1F7LCDflLZKFofdSSV6m1L2dTneua5iHEX70bsZKPiYCLnb6K5TBSX-yg1lTU9hmq80lMttKFXQAL9CtUVlFGa023bTHlbeBmG2y4lpVGUjfwwIw5USBoF8YPVOw5NPX/s320/Shango%203%20Matt,%20Tim,%20Dave.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><br /><i><b>Summary: Kingfish Pre-History</b></i><br />Since Dave Torbert was a critical part of New Riders history, I have done extensive research on his 60s backstory, mainly with the New Delhi River Band. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/02/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">The New Delhi River Band, Palo Alto's other psychedelic blues band, with Torbert and Dave Nelson, was formed in the Summer of 1966</a>, found its identity in the Fall, almost thrived in 1967 and finally faded by early 1968. Dave Torbert teamed up with Matt Kelly in a variety of 60s bands (Shango, Wind Wind and Horses), and finally moved to Hawaii. Kelly had his own complicated career, playing with blues musicians on the "Chitlin Circuit" while also playing in bands in the Santa Cruz Mountains.<br /><br />Kingfish had formed as a quartet in Palo Alto in Spring 1974. After a few local gigs, they had spent the entire Summer in Juneau, AK, playing lucrative gigs for oil workers. Kingfish returned to the Bay Area in October 1974. After October, the Grateful Dead had decided to stop performing live, and Bob Weir apparently missed the action. In any case, he had no source of day-to-day income. Weir was old friends with Matthew Kelly, and knew Torbert from the New Riders, so he attended a Kingfish show in San Mateo and offered to join the band. The surprised band members were delighted to have Weir's unique guitar playing, and the band immediately became a popular club attraction around the Bay. <p>Although Dead fans understandably associate Kingfish with Bob Weir, in
fact the band had a history before him. Yet the origins of Kingfish have only been
addressed in the vaguest of fashions, since Weir does not enter the
story until the story is well along. I have looked into the musical history of Dave
Torbert and Matt Kelly in great detail, thanks in particular to the
contribution of Matthew Kelly himself. </p><p>I'm me, however, and my attention
to microscopic historical details has somewhat obscured the arc of the
founding of Kingfish, and how Bob Weir came to intersect with them.
Matthew Kelly was kind enough to take the time to talk to me in February 2022--from Thailand, no less-- and unraveled some of the
critical details of Kingfish’s history, so I can present a picture of the
entire saga. This post will take a broader view of the background of the
various ensembles of Kelly and Torbert from 1966 through 1973, showing how they all led to Bob
Weir's 1974 integration into Kingfish. I will link to my prior posts
for those who need to visit the rabbit holes themselves.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Zgr9eJq8ufIVniD0TJrQvGhkBfT58xnNoG2TIiDEq2xCB5k7uZQ-xLYsUi1WpCEXQSaEQRwuWSDHBiWhcLSmWq5gF1P9-11ISwKLR2Sov_cYDq6U124WiEuggXivYUpGTK2QKhh6VMVQqNawAs_yzUPpvzTwD0r29GtLW53j3RZEvF7v_sR5qj6P/s300/MENLO%20College.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="206" data-original-width="300" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Zgr9eJq8ufIVniD0TJrQvGhkBfT58xnNoG2TIiDEq2xCB5k7uZQ-xLYsUi1WpCEXQSaEQRwuWSDHBiWhcLSmWq5gF1P9-11ISwKLR2Sov_cYDq6U124WiEuggXivYUpGTK2QKhh6VMVQqNawAs_yzUPpvzTwD0r29GtLW53j3RZEvF7v_sR5qj6P/s1600/MENLO%20College.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Menlo School and College, 50 Valparaiso Ave, Atherton, CA, ca 2011</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>Genesis, 1962: Menlo School</b></i><br />Bob Weir and Matthew Kelly both grew up in the well-to-do suburb of Atherton, just North of Palo Alto. Atherton is astonishingly rich today, but in the 1960s it was merely well-off. Kelly and Weir knew each other from a prep academy called Menlo School. Menlo School, also associated with a Junior College called Menlo College, had been designed as a boys feeder school for Stanford University (the girls were routed through Palo Alto's <a href="https://www.castilleja.org/">Castilleja School</a>). <a href="https://www.menloschool.org/">Menlo School was founded in 1924, and is still active today</a> (albeit co-ed and separate from the College). Kelly and Weir were both on the football team in 9th grade, which is how they became friends. Both had a nascent interest in music, but neither shared it with the other. <p></p><p>As to the other future members of Kingfish, Dave Torbert had grown up in Redwood City, the next town North of Atherton. His parents were both music teachers. Drummer Chris Herold grew up in Los Altos, two towns South of Atherton (with Palo Alto in between). Robbie Hoddinott was from Los Altos, too, although he was much younger than the others (Hoddinott was class of '70, and Weir would have been class of '65, had he graduated). </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLbJCJCitLxlIlO_b9n_wo0yJcOtMuqyo1G3kGB9ULvGrer8CqNwowOy9OPVN1utYlDsuhzPAkdbOVGiHdfUp9zatuW2qEesyT4k0Trezz3Zq-2Of5-PiyaoyNHUg6EY4EJcCdDxBN1rlXxGllPT4oP2br4p8v_qd_0izhoky7z_-dix3QYIfa3rpbz5M/s4032/Weir%20Kelly%20Football%20Team%20Menlo%201962.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLbJCJCitLxlIlO_b9n_wo0yJcOtMuqyo1G3kGB9ULvGrer8CqNwowOy9OPVN1utYlDsuhzPAkdbOVGiHdfUp9zatuW2qEesyT4k0Trezz3Zq-2Of5-PiyaoyNHUg6EY4EJcCdDxBN1rlXxGllPT4oP2br4p8v_qd_0izhoky7z_-dix3QYIfa3rpbz5M/s320/Weir%20Kelly%20Football%20Team%20Menlo%201962.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The 1962 Menlo School Yearbook JV Football Team photo. Members of the team included Bob Weir (5th-L) and Matthew Kelly (4th-R)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Weir would get kicked out of Menlo School. Weir, dyslexic and a charming troublemaker, would actually get tossed out of a number of prep schools, finally ending up in the nearby public Menlo-Atherton High School before dropping out to "join the circus," as he described the Grateful Dead. Kelly finished High School at another Prep School. He graduated (class of '65) and was a freshman at the University of Pacific in Stockton. <br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ncpqzK8RQHSGXMyNiUxExQrqxs5kICKEGbWgP2ZtkKP3sIsQN1MpxXna8xecR2yXFgF3vFkX6GNyfaSEB3Qkn6Z0HcW6B5Q1FiM9joj6hiqVGmBnOO2wnepb81SLxvxt3aZTQwsng6oFP6E-tgRcC9tDxIw7WFy4YxhZmke8S8S4sA-pTVE41fYu/s454/HaywardDailyReview670922a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="454" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ncpqzK8RQHSGXMyNiUxExQrqxs5kICKEGbWgP2ZtkKP3sIsQN1MpxXna8xecR2yXFgF3vFkX6GNyfaSEB3Qkn6Z0HcW6B5Q1FiM9joj6hiqVGmBnOO2wnepb81SLxvxt3aZTQwsng6oFP6E-tgRcC9tDxIw7WFy4YxhZmke8S8S4sA-pTVE41fYu/s320/HaywardDailyReview670922a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Matthew Kelly's band played a gig at the tiny Fremont, CA psychedelic outpost The Yellow Brick Road</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><b>First Blood, 1965-67: The Good News, St. Mathews Blues Band and The Grateful Dead</b></i><br />Bob Weir joined the Warlocks when they formed in the Spring of 1965, out of the ashes of Mother McRee's Uptown Jug Band Champions. New information indicates that their first show was at a Menlo School dance in April 1965. By year's end, the Warlocks had evolved into the Grateful Dead. <br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbz0yG9oiJCVUsCf98wblyb-FfTAfKjYgKVX_Zyv5cTx7x1SPVu6GTMNxZlAnjnpCJfypHotmNVE9H3jFewtHgXs0d3ZCqohkhhkPxHoR1uAbR-5xI8cNEtOa1XGB5FgHAwiWj2WJhaBmnJhNVkNLjtaeB4dNPcXqwHLE5FOBasV9DOewlp63JV6v/s1501/Good%20News%20deb2%20e.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1501" data-original-width="1060" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbz0yG9oiJCVUsCf98wblyb-FfTAfKjYgKVX_Zyv5cTx7x1SPVu6GTMNxZlAnjnpCJfypHotmNVE9H3jFewtHgXs0d3ZCqohkhhkPxHoR1uAbR-5xI8cNEtOa1XGB5FgHAwiWj2WJhaBmnJhNVkNLjtaeB4dNPcXqwHLE5FOBasV9DOewlp63JV6v/s320/Good%20News%20deb2%20e.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Dave Torbert's band The Good News rocking out at Bob Weir's sister's Debutante Party at the SFO Airport Lounge on June 24, 1966 (note guitarist Tim Abbott's Day-Glo pants)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Dave Torbert had played in a Redwood City folk group called The Sit-Ins when he was in High School, but I don't think he was a founding member. Torbert would go on to play guitar and sing in The Good News, Redwood City's first blues band. The Good News stood out because they wore "Day-Glo" clothes and brought a strobe light to their concerts, a precursor to the light shows that would become standard in the 60s. They were a popular local band, playing in the style of the Butterfield Blues Band. The Good News played Wendy Weir's debutante ball at the SFO Airport lounge on June 24, 1966 (brother Bob's band was otherwise engaged). <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/03/good-news-performance-history-1966.html">I have discussed the history of the Good News at length</a>. The band did play the Fillmore, but broke up soon afterwards. Both Torbert and drummer Chris Herold would join Palo Alto's New Delhi River Band. <br /><p></p><p>Matthew Kelly had gone to the University of The Pacific in Stockton. He formed his own band, the St. Matthews Blues Band, and they played around Stockton and San Francisco. The St. Matthews Blues Band opened for Jefferson Airplane at UOP sometime during the 1965-66 academic year. Kelly dropped out of UOP, but the St. Matthews Blues Band played around throughout 1967. Sometime in 1967, Kelly picked up a hitchhiker in Palo Alto on his way to San Francisco. The hitcher, one Robert Hunter, asked to be dropped off at 710 Ashbury, and invited Kelly in. Kelly bumped into his old football chum Weir, so they both found out the other was a musician. Still, they would not cross paths again for another 5 years. </p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNIcNAtfNZAYvRy507zX0qFnbIdYOkITWhJFDqYGXM3ugD_vIbAW9C889kbN7BBiJUDCyWdozKdCCxdwGV4JS9uVUmWrTdofdZD-XbT8TLkmS33xSpcf5d0uM4ac6r6WZl1bOSzlKAeFY5BTsh1HkbUcJecHAKBMFnVrYQ2xcFkB-Pcswxw26HjvF/s280/horses%20album%201968.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="280" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPNIcNAtfNZAYvRy507zX0qFnbIdYOkITWhJFDqYGXM3ugD_vIbAW9C889kbN7BBiJUDCyWdozKdCCxdwGV4JS9uVUmWrTdofdZD-XbT8TLkmS33xSpcf5d0uM4ac6r6WZl1bOSzlKAeFY5BTsh1HkbUcJecHAKBMFnVrYQ2xcFkB-Pcswxw26HjvF/s1600/horses%20album%201968.jpg" width="280" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Horses album was released on White Whale in 1968. It was co-produced by John Carter (and Tim Gilbert). Dave Torbert, Matt Kelly and Chris Herold were in the band (with guitarist Scotty Quik and singer Don Johnson--no, not that one). Tim Hovey co-wrote some songs. <br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><b>1968: Shango and Horses</b></i><br />The New Delhi River Band had featured David Nelson and Dave Torbert on guitar and bass, Herold on drums, and singer John Tomasi (along with lead guitarist Peter Schultzbach). The New Delhi River Band was popular in the Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County underground scene, but never found traction anywhere else (<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/05/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">I have discussed their history in great detail</a>). <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">The NDRB finally ground to a halt around February 1968</a>. Kelly's band had also folded, so he formed Shango with Torbert and Herold. Guitarists Tim Abbott and Ryan Brandenburg filled out the band. Brandenburg departed, and ultimately Shango used the name Wind Wind for a short while in late 1968. <p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqS6kz7mKSBxg02xBuukwCULI6acTZJ-q9-cw1VOPfqfI3j4h-2_DggnvwUrx3jRW3OUyIokB3pnJ43SesNHuQZ1mFpGm3cgrJbAbM5nDD_9Z26LOOgmCwbgbdDOyq699xbJtbtkA67GTzSfmEUwFKiV9EEEn40ucTpuI3Tr4JxDE1dcDp1R654oA4/s548/Tim%20Hovey%20Varsity%20PAT%2019560706.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqS6kz7mKSBxg02xBuukwCULI6acTZJ-q9-cw1VOPfqfI3j4h-2_DggnvwUrx3jRW3OUyIokB3pnJ43SesNHuQZ1mFpGm3cgrJbAbM5nDD_9Z26LOOgmCwbgbdDOyq699xbJtbtkA67GTzSfmEUwFKiV9EEEn40ucTpuI3Tr4JxDE1dcDp1R654oA4/s320/Tim%20Hovey%20Varsity%20PAT%2019560706.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The July 6, 1956 Palo Alto Times advertised a movie starring "that lovable little boy" Tim Hovey. Hovey would end up attending Menlo School, where he was close friends with Matt Kelly. Hovey would write songs with Dave Torbert, and was Kingfish's sound man<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">In between, however, Torbert, Kelly and Herold had reconfigured Shango as a band called Horses</a>. Horses even released an album on White Whale Records, produced by the team of John Carter and Tim Gilbert. The pair had produced a surprise 1967 hit called "Acupulco Gold" with a Colorado band called the Rainy Daze. Carter had deep connections with Kelly from Menlo School. While Kelly had been a day student, since he lived nearby, Carter had been a boarder, where he had become friendly with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hovey">another boarder, the former child actor Tim Hovey</a>. Hovey and Kelly were very close, so Kelly knew Carter as well. Hovey was part of the Shango crew, writing songs with Torbert and probably acting as a roadie. Carter and Gilbert made some changes to Shango (adding future Sammy Hagar guitarist Scott Quigley [<i>aka Scotty Quik</i>] and singer Don Johnson (no, not that one). The forgettable album did include two songs that would become part of the Kingfish repertoire ("Asia Minor" and "Jump For Joy"). <p></p><p>By mid-69, Wind Wind had ground to a halt. Kelly formed a somewhat casual group called Mountain Current (today we would call it a "Jam Band") with flexible membership. Chris Herold drummed when he could on weekends, otherwise performing alternative service (alternative to going to Vietnam) as an ambulance driver. Torbert wasn't doing much either, and he would move to Hawaii at the end Summer '69.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNLII1cZssPbqwKWDgI6TRz2wUWU1igziAItRxcXwtu4CbBu4OZxrlUJaHj9iZ4LC454k1V-CFj1KpFpW3Osnu8GEQNhDWZdC0xonkmINQWX0PWjCYEr1XE27WCprFAP9FyN7499e98Sp-V7J7iGCkeVzkYatZ_OXQ1KizOv5_lmraSzbd9h3s6A3/s360/I'd_Rather_Suck_My_Thumb.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNLII1cZssPbqwKWDgI6TRz2wUWU1igziAItRxcXwtu4CbBu4OZxrlUJaHj9iZ4LC454k1V-CFj1KpFpW3Osnu8GEQNhDWZdC0xonkmINQWX0PWjCYEr1XE27WCprFAP9FyN7499e98Sp-V7J7iGCkeVzkYatZ_OXQ1KizOv5_lmraSzbd9h3s6A3/s320/I'd_Rather_Suck_My_Thumb.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Matthew Kelly played on Mel Brown's I'd Rather Suck My Thumb album. It was recorded in LA in Summer '69, and released on the jazz label Impulse in 1970.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><b>1969: Mel Brown</b></i><br />Matt Kelly's harmonica playing had been inspired by groups like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, who in turn had been directly influenced by Chicago blues musicians. Kelly knew the music, but he had learned about it from the outside--typical for most young white musicians at the time who had discovered the blues via records. Rather unexpectedly, this changed when Kelly went to an after hours club in East Palo Alto and impulsively jumped up on stage to blow some blues with the house band. Guitarist Mel Brown, well established in the African-American community, was in the audience. He chatted with Kelly afterwards, and invited him to come to LA and record (Kelly played on Brown's 1970 Impulse album <i>I'd Rather Suck My Thumb</i>). After spending time with Mel Brown in Watts, Kelly got hooked up with many of the established blues musicians on the (so-called) "Chitlin Circuit," and this would pay dividends for him in coming years.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgWDcevnEDVrEikLd6lknpOmkQ3Uo3y1-s7DBj8fqXoMrN92l4ZPIDKYdkj5BXjhyzU22c-t4V3IHsG7Zu7w3N4oqFDSE_F1T5tjMiCNCNvMjiuUD9eDxfqCLQ3ClNrkn4zV5ez8VlBclnd5w7EdZhZoQZGdnkBx1ZPvXpLsbJZQi3eWAhPH9alAX/s142/GOSPEL%20OAK%20lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="142" data-original-width="142" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgWDcevnEDVrEikLd6lknpOmkQ3Uo3y1-s7DBj8fqXoMrN92l4ZPIDKYdkj5BXjhyzU22c-t4V3IHsG7Zu7w3N4oqFDSE_F1T5tjMiCNCNvMjiuUD9eDxfqCLQ3ClNrkn4zV5ez8VlBclnd5w7EdZhZoQZGdnkBx1ZPvXpLsbJZQi3eWAhPH9alAX/s1600/GOSPEL%20OAK%20lp.jpg" width="142" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gospel Oak's sole album, recorded in England, was released by Kapp Records in 1970</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><b>Fall 1969: England and Gospel Oak</b></i><br />There were a couple of centers of rock music in the Western World. One of them was London, home of the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and Kelly was one of many aspiring American musicians who wanted to make music there. In late '69, Kelly and his friend Tim Hovey drove across country on their way to London. Hovey was going to be involved in some kind of movie called "The Hashish Trail," <a href="https://www.richardgregory.org.uk/history/hippie-trail.htm">about the hippies who went to the Far East in search of enlightenment, adventure and possible commerce</a>. Hovey was a true world traveler, so he traveled on. But Kelly wanted to play music in London. <p></p><p>Kelly hooked up with a band from Indiana called Gospel Oak (Gospel Oak was a decommissioned tube station in North London). They had a deal with MCA, and recorded an album on Kapp Records (<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/12/gospel-oakmountain-current33-1969-72.html">for more details, such as they are remembered, see my post here</a>). The bass player left the group, however, so Kelly reached out to his old buddy Dave Torbert, sending him a plane ticket to go from Hawaii to London via San Francisco and join the band. As it happened, when Torbert dropped in at his parents house to get some (presumably warmer) clothes in April, he got a "coincidental" phone call from the New Riders, asking if he wanted to join a new band with Jerry Garcia. Torbert contacted Kelly, who told him to take the offer. Gospel Oak subsequently broke up. Kelly was going to tour the UK and Europe with Champion Jack Dupree, then based in Europe, but he couldn't get a work permit, so he returned to the Bay Area. Tim Hovey, meanwhile, was still following the "Hashish Trail," even though the promised movie was never made. </p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAmKIMZQvyty1gDAI5PtBMo5RN8QXRUcIcFwlzlMMtl7Pz-JZhDQRqYGvQz7TKuA05aYQFO99P8J0UtdiSIs-waBW_TkpVwzm0tt1unBWpHP-peT1rMJZpf_iEym6OhUL1xRWD6ZaiRC68qH1P-SD2jsP97ry0UndpltYwwufx5dOPhrEddXSY58m/s276/Tbone%20and%2033%20Barb%2019710417.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="262" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGAmKIMZQvyty1gDAI5PtBMo5RN8QXRUcIcFwlzlMMtl7Pz-JZhDQRqYGvQz7TKuA05aYQFO99P8J0UtdiSIs-waBW_TkpVwzm0tt1unBWpHP-peT1rMJZpf_iEym6OhUL1xRWD6ZaiRC68qH1P-SD2jsP97ry0UndpltYwwufx5dOPhrEddXSY58m/s1600/Tbone%20and%2033%20Barb%2019710417.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Matthew Kelly and his 33 band backed T-Bone Walker at Berkeley's New Orleans House on Saturday, April 18, 1971 (from the Apr 17 Berkeley Barb--note the Doobie Brothers for $2)<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />1970-71: Johnny Carswell and The Chitlin Circuit</b></i><br />Kelly returned to the Bay Area by the middle of 1970. He had several ongoing bands. He toured with organist Johnny Carswell, whom he had met through Mel Brown, playing authentic blues on the remnants of the Chitlin Circuit. The Chitlin Circuit booked shows in old theaters and venues that catered to African American audiences who liked blues and R&B. As a result, Kelly got to hear and meet many veteran (and legendary) blues performers, and got a chance to learn about the music he loved from the source. <p></p><p>In the Bay Area, Kelly put together the band "33", who backed visiting blues performers for their Northern California bookings. Although the membership of the band wasn't fixed, <a href="https://www.tuckandpatti.com/">one of the regular performers was singer Patti Cathcart, who would later be better known as part of the duo Tuck & Patti</a>. I think 33 would typically play an opening set at a club, and then be joined by the headliner. Kelly and 33 did some touring with guitarist T-Bone Walker, perhaps the greatest blues guitarist ever (certainly according to BB King). </p><p>Also during this period, Kelly continued to play with Mountain Current. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2020/07/22700-old-santa-cruz-highway-chateau.html">Mostly they played at an infamous joint in the Santa Cruz Mountains called Chateau Liberte</a>. The membership of Mountain Current continued to float, although it was built around former NDRB singer John Tomasi. On occasion it would include South Bay guitarist Billy Dean Andrus (from Weird Herald), or young Robbie Hoddinott, then still underage. Chris Herold drummed on occasion, Patti Cathcart would sometimes sing, and different players sat in as needed.<br /></p><p><i><b>1972: New Orleans and The Soul Majestics</b></i><br />Kelly continued to tour around the country with Johnny Carswell, but finally it ground to a halt in early 1972. Kelly found himself in New Orleans. With no other options, he got a job on an oil rig, doing heavy labor under hot, difficult conditions. One day, one of his co-workers nearly lost his life until Kelly took a huge risk to save him. The grateful worker invited Kelly home to meet his family. The African-American family became good friends with him, and through them Kelly met and joined an R&B band called The Soul Majestics. Who knows? Matthew Kelly could have made final landfall in New Orleans, working in the oil industry and playing in an R&B band in a music capital.</p><p>But he didn't. Somehow, Kelly's old buddy Tim Hovey found out that Kelly was in New Orleans and came to visit him there. As you'll recall, Hovey had left Kelly in London in late '69, heading out to the Hashish Trail in Asia Minor. Hovey, a perpetual adventurer, had indeed gone on the fabled Hashish Trail, and even drove across Africa in 1971. In Spring 1972, Hovey followed the Grateful Dead across Europe, apparently catching the last three weeks of the Europe '72 tour. So Hovey hit New Orleans around June 1972, and Kelly decided to return to San Francisco with him. Kelly and Hovey had made it there by the Fall. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1GJGqUZIyli-At2Yn46-sVs6ZQHpVbahYAnKSQDzLFzO67mdqkGsiacBuM1Hyn-zeA52FW1tDnET1MCGLIPhxp3HmJAhwjcRdB8HqqXB-F_GVZyvM03_CSl2XhAedDjolyf89YtTdgg1CUh9lPO7dNcnBFD1eUhSKg4Iw4vxm-G1MytMZD5-YoTc/s606/David%20Rea%20slewfoot%20front%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1GJGqUZIyli-At2Yn46-sVs6ZQHpVbahYAnKSQDzLFzO67mdqkGsiacBuM1Hyn-zeA52FW1tDnET1MCGLIPhxp3HmJAhwjcRdB8HqqXB-F_GVZyvM03_CSl2XhAedDjolyf89YtTdgg1CUh9lPO7dNcnBFD1eUhSKg4Iw4vxm-G1MytMZD5-YoTc/s320/David%20Rea%20slewfoot%20front%20cover.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><br /><i><b>1973: David Rea and Slewfoot</b></i><br />With his return to the Bay Area, Kelly got re-integrated back into the music scene. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">Old buddy Dave Torbert was flying high with the New Riders of The Purple Sage</a>, and Kelly played a little harmonica on their third album, <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i>, which was released in December of '72. Kelly also sat in with the New Riders for two songs on New Year's Eve ‘72 at Winterland. The Torbert connection paid a much more important dividend, however, since it ignited the career-spanning musical partnership between Kelly and Bob Weir. The two had been friends since junior high, of course, but they never played music together until early '73.<p></p><p>Columbia Records had signed Canadian guitarist David Rea, and somewhat peculiarly hired Bob Weir to produce his solo album in San Francisco. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/02/slewfoot-david-rea-columbiawindfall.html">I have written about Rea's album <i>Slewfoot</i>, and what appears to be an odd only-in-the-70s story of how Weir came to produce the album</a>. The sessions for the album were organized by New Riders guitarist Buddy Cage, not only a studio veteran himself but very likely an old Toronto pal of Rea's. Thus it is no surprise that most of the New Riders and their friends played sessions on the album (including Nelson, Torbert, drummer Spencer Dryden, Keith and Donna Godchaux, John Kahn and so on). </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijB00NHHZNURd7FKf-R88sJWSzwG3r0gPhC_ZfwSoovah0MIo9FaZNagBg9jwwCpiDj89Jo00RLNW7nR0fRcmcq1DI8pTD0x9wweTHvBmL5O_a3jLYjKm-CdrBMMzX4XVB7xVm6Gqda_PqNRKzQVoQb1j72IGKS5V5onLoyBCfm4BmeheM0qgXTHd/s1584/Slewfoot%20back%20cover-David%20Rea.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1584" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhijB00NHHZNURd7FKf-R88sJWSzwG3r0gPhC_ZfwSoovah0MIo9FaZNagBg9jwwCpiDj89Jo00RLNW7nR0fRcmcq1DI8pTD0x9wweTHvBmL5O_a3jLYjKm-CdrBMMzX4XVB7xVm6Gqda_PqNRKzQVoQb1j72IGKS5V5onLoyBCfm4BmeheM0qgXTHd/s320/Slewfoot%20back%20cover-David%20Rea.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Matt Kelly (2-r) on the back cover of David Rea's Slewfoot album</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In early '73, in anticipation of the album's release, Rea held auditions for his touring band. Kelly was invited to audition, no doubt through the Torbert connection. Weir--remember, he was the producer--re-connected with his old football pal. Sessions carried on for some time, and so Kelly and the other prospective band members actually played on Rea's <i>Slewfooot</i> album, released in Spring '73. When Rea started to tour around, he named his band Slewfoot. The band's lineup was<p></p><p></p><blockquote> <b>David Rea</b>-guitar, vocals<br /> <b>Bill Cutler</b>-lead guitar<br /><b> Matt Kelly</b>-harmonica, guitar<br /> <b>James Ackroyd</b>-bass<br /> <b>Chris Herold</b>-drums </blockquote><p></p><p><a href="https://www.dead.net/features/dead-world-roundup/bill-cutler-lot-help-his-friends">Bill Cutler was a studio engineer and songwriter transplanted from New York City</a> (his brother John would play a big role for the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia in ensuing years). <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/search/label/James%20And%20The%20Good%20Brothers">James Ackroyd had been the lead guitarist in the band James And The Good Brothers</a>. He had remained in California when his partners (Bruce and Brian Good) had returned to Ontario. Old pal Chris Herold was on drums, another Torbert connection. Slewfoot played around the Bay Area for a few months, but David Rea was dropped by Columbia, probably because Clive Davis was pushed out of his position as President of Columbia Records. </p><i><b>Mid-1973: Lonesome Janet</b></i><br />After July 1973, Kelly, Cutler and Herold seem to have left Slewfoot. Columbia had dropped Rea, but Slewfoot continued on as a trio (with Ackroyd on bass and Jay David on drums). In the meantime, Kelly formed a band called Lonesome Janet (don't google "Lonesome Janet" at work). Lonesome Janet mostly played the Santa Cruz Mountains, and seemed to have played a peculiar mixture of Top 40 and improvised jazz-rock. They played local hippie hangouts, and probably started out an evening playing familiar songs, while jamming them out longer and longer as the night wore on. Today we would probably call them a "Jam Band," but the term hadn't been invented. This formula was an extension of Kelly's band Mountain Current, from a few years earlier, but with a jazzier feel. The one song surviving from the Lonesome Janet repertoire is the Matt Kelly tune "Hypnotized," which was an instrumental in those days (Torbert added lyrics for Kingfish). Lonesome Janet's lineup was:<p><b></b></p><blockquote><b></b><blockquote><b>Patti Cathcart</b>-vocals<br /><b>Robbie Hoddinott</b>-lead guitar<br /><b>Matt Kelly</b>-harmonica, guitar<br /><b>Mick Woods</b>-electric piano<br /><b>Michael Lewis</b>-bass<br /><b>Chris Herold</b>-drums<br /><b>Pablo Green</b>-percussion</blockquote></blockquote><p></p><p>Mick Woods was a black Englishman, as far as I know, and recalled by Kelly and Herold as an excellent musician. He would die in an auto accident in early 1974. Hoddinott (Mar 7 1954-Mar 6 2017) was only 19 when Lonesome Janet formed. I don't have any performance dates, but Chris Herold recalled playing a gay and lesbian bar in Santa Cruz called Mona's Gorilla Lounge when a biker fight broke out and the band had to hide in a walk-in freezer. </p><p>Lonesome Janet probably played most of the Santa Cruz County clubs at the time. Other Santa Cruz Mountains clubs at the time included The Catalyst (then still at the George Hotel on 833 Pacific Avenue), Mountain Charlie's in Los Gatos, <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2020/07/22700-old-santa-cruz-highway-chateau.html">the Chateau Liberte</a>, the Town and Country in Ben Lomond, the Interlude (on Pacific Ave.), The Country Store, Original Sam’s, the Wooden Nickel, Andy Capp's, Chuck’s Cellar (in Los Gatos), The Crow’s Nest, the O.C. Inn, Margarita’s (now Moe’s Alley) and Dave’s Wintergarden. If any readers recall any specific Lonesome Janet gigs, please note them in the Comments.</p><p>Thanks to Rea and the <i>Slewfoot</i> sessions, however, Kelly had gotten into Bob Weir's orbit. In August 1973, the Grateful Dead were recording <i>Wake Of The Flood</i> at the Record Plant, and Kelly overdubbed a little harmonica on "Weather Report Suite." Kelly also sat in with the New Riders of The Purple Sage on occasion. In those days, the Riders shared management and a booking agency with the Dead, so they were very much part of the Dead scene. </p><p>Kelly also sat in at least twice with Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders, once at the Great American Music Hall (on July 19, 1973) and another time at Berkeley Community Theater (October 2, 1973). <br /></p><p><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKLN8kcTaRL2b5LLFCKrvAuJZKBw9Bq3aVmCeUimDRV_f6jUDcHDVqKdrwLcxjCQ5mSAMiWM_vbQ07rM95S4pI4e6Oat1feZ_Wtc_yl86YzSQFlKy8xmZpV7ZniugH3bk6JcrbWNZeSP3_iMJ1i1RrKP8QrgVnJkSDcExu8SDi4SGUwK6M1ROHVcW/s600/Wing%20And%20A%20Prayer%2085%20Relix%20lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="600" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKLN8kcTaRL2b5LLFCKrvAuJZKBw9Bq3aVmCeUimDRV_f6jUDcHDVqKdrwLcxjCQ5mSAMiWM_vbQ07rM95S4pI4e6Oat1feZ_Wtc_yl86YzSQFlKy8xmZpV7ZniugH3bk6JcrbWNZeSP3_iMJ1i1RrKP8QrgVnJkSDcExu8SDi4SGUwK6M1ROHVcW/s320/Wing%20And%20A%20Prayer%2085%20Relix%20lp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Wing And A Prayer, Matt Kelly's 1985 Relix LP, based in part on his unfinished 1973 Harmonica Instruction album</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><br /></i><b>Late 1973: <i>The Harmonica Instruction Album</i></b><br />In late 1973, while performing live with Lonesome Janet, Kelly embarked on the idea of recording a harmonica instruction album. The details are now kind of lost, but I think it was an album designed to illustrate different blues licks. I presume it would have had a companion instruction book, as well as standing on its own as a blues-styled album. Some of the material ultimately came out on Kelly's 1985 solo album on Relix Records, <i>Wing And A Prayer</i>.<p></p><p>In 1973, a lot of aspiring musicians wanted to play blues harmonica. Certainly, if you were the lead singer or rhythm guitarist in a band, and you could "blow some harp," popular songs like the Rolling Stones' "Midnight Rambler" or Canned Heat's "On The Road Again" could be added to your band's set. Yet while it wasn't hard to get a sound out of a harmonica, it was hard to play well, and there wasn't really anywhere to learn. So if there had been a good instruction book with some how-to examples on a record, it could have been a perpetual seller. Remember, music stores would have sold it, not just record stores--it could have been a unique opportunity. </p><p>Kelly found a budget somehow, and started recording some tracks. I think the idea was to demonstrate different styles and techniques, but Kelly never indicated what the plan was for the "instruction" piece. The material was released in 1985 by Relix Records as a Matthew Kelly album called <i>Wing And A Prayer.</i> As is typical with Relix albums, the credits are detailed but confusing (see the Appendix below). Some of the tracks were recorded in 1973 at the Record Plant in Sausalito, as part of the Instruction album, and other tracks were recorded in 1980. Overdubs seem to have been done throughout the 1980s. High profile guests on the album include guitarists Mel Brown, John Cippolina and Bob Weir, keyboardists Nicky Hopkins and Brent Mydland, drummer Bill Kreutzmann, and many other names familiar to Bay Area music fans. <br /></p><p>The <i>Wing And A Prayer</i> credits do indicate that the two tracks Jerry Garcia recorded were done in 1973. Mike Bloomfield was also recorded in '73, as was pianist Mick Woods (whose only known recorded appearance was on the two tracks on the Relix release). Chris Herold's drum parts were almost certainly recorded in 1973, but overdubs were done on every track for the next dozen years. Dave Torbert played bass on ten of the twelve tracks, but he surely recorded in both '73 and '80. <br /></p><p>The "harmonica instruction" album was recorded in late 1973, when the New Riders were off the road after touring behind <i>Panama Red</i>. <i>The Adventures of Panama Red</i> was the Riders' fourth and most successful album (ultimately going Gold), and Torbert had written and sung many of the songs on the album. When Kelly told Torbert that he was planning to form a blues-oriented combo, he was very surprised to find out that Torbert wanted to join him.</p><p>Kelly told me that he actively tried to talk Torbert out of leaving the New Riders. Success can be fleeting in the music industry, and the New Riders had a big hit on their hands. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/10/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The band had toured hard the previous few years, and had built up a good following in the Northeast and the Midwest</a>. Torbert was willing to leave all that and throw in his lot with Kelly, who had really had no success as a recording artist. Now, sure, Kelly and Torbert were old pals, and Torbert's opportunity with the New Riders had only come because Kelly had graciously let him out of his agreement to join Gospel Oak, but Kelly still thought Torbert was foolish. Torbert was adamant, however. He was tired of the New Riders' country sound, and he wanted to play some bluesy rock and roll. So Kelly and Torbert started Kingfish.<br /></p><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9XWxmtqDEullBoo3ZoMk2Cv6L_RS0ANpgGQGLWbUQ6Dc2TbyUvMQ1UQDU28IL9ztV_6TfbBBAeCzsjM0e-ZiqBsZvtFKkF-3aveg1t0-jtiyrM8eCyRR-JM7vy2LiljBXaElLFY8AFlDyEaQ09OerBbbDq7ouA9VLO8zTzvOCGPpd-I3PPdLVIru7/s612/Palo-Alto-City-Hall-250-Hamilton-Ave..png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="612" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9XWxmtqDEullBoo3ZoMk2Cv6L_RS0ANpgGQGLWbUQ6Dc2TbyUvMQ1UQDU28IL9ztV_6TfbBBAeCzsjM0e-ZiqBsZvtFKkF-3aveg1t0-jtiyrM8eCyRR-JM7vy2LiljBXaElLFY8AFlDyEaQ09OerBbbDq7ouA9VLO8zTzvOCGPpd-I3PPdLVIru7/s320/Palo-Alto-City-Hall-250-Hamilton-Ave..png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Tim Hovey's crash pad was near Palo Alto City Hall at 250 Hamilton Ave</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />1974: Kingfish </b></i><br />Dave Torbert and Matthew Kelly started Kingfish in early 1974. Dave Torbert had given notice to the New Riders at the end of 1973, and the band knew that their concerts at Winterland on December 14-15, 1973 would be his last shows with the band. Torbert was replaced by ex-Byrds bassist Skip Battin, who was recommended by booking agent Ron Rainey. The initial lineup of Kingfish was<p><b></b></p><blockquote><b>Robbie Hoddinott</b>-lead guitar<br /><b>Matthew Kelly</b>-harmonica, guitar<br /><b>Dave Torbert</b>-bass, vocals<br /><b>Chris Herold</b>-drums</blockquote><p></p><p>Mick Woods would have been a member of Kingfish--he may even have rehearsed with them--but he died in an auto accident in early 1974. Kingfish would spend the next year trying to find a fifth member to fill out the band. Old pal Tim Hovey had a "crash pad" in downtown Palo Alto, and Kingfish rehearsed in a the warehouse next door, near Hamilton Avenue. Hovey was Kingfish's soundman. Besides being Kelly's buddy from Menlo School, Hovey and Torbert had written songs for the Horses album in 1968. Herold, of course, went all the way back with Torbert to the Good News in Redwood City, and then the New Delhi River Band, Shango, Horses and Wind Wind. Hoddinott had played with Kelly and Herold in Mountain Current prior to playing with them in Lonesome Janet. </p><p>Old Peninsula hands will recognize the passage of time by the location of rehearsal hall downtown. Palo Alto had just built its new city hall 250 Hamilton Avenue, but Silicon Valley money hadn't yet really come into town. So there were still empty warehouses downtown, and cheap rentals in sprawling old Edwardian houses. The dynamics that had allowed Jerry Garcia and his pals to live hand-to-mouth downtown in the early 60s were still intact in the early 70s. Kingfish, however, was probably the last band to actually get started in Palo Alto outside of their parents' houses. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH8bRcHxVWekubK8lz5R_iHwfxHTZvvfaZFl4BuqQO2aVjXyMZ4C3VQhiy62SBVKCotcVE52i64DIOoR2YwCgshSjNBNCxcVHPQ2qVdE00TALhxbKxEgp3e0nRbVGoVbD7l6tvLTKktgtw-mq2jMBF-LxxIdgKtdMNlTWfx0xPE49P4f1Au5zCgjMO/s1408/Foothill%20Paper%20Kingfish%2019740607%20pdf.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1218" data-original-width="1408" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH8bRcHxVWekubK8lz5R_iHwfxHTZvvfaZFl4BuqQO2aVjXyMZ4C3VQhiy62SBVKCotcVE52i64DIOoR2YwCgshSjNBNCxcVHPQ2qVdE00TALhxbKxEgp3e0nRbVGoVbD7l6tvLTKktgtw-mq2jMBF-LxxIdgKtdMNlTWfx0xPE49P4f1Au5zCgjMO/s320/Foothill%20Paper%20Kingfish%2019740607%20pdf.png" width="320" /></a></div><b>June 7, 1974 gym, Foothill College, Los Altos, CA: The Sons of Champlin/Kingfish </b><i>(Friday) Benefit for KFJC-fm</i><br />Kingfish's concert debut was at Foothill College Gym in Los Altos on Friday, June 7, 1974, opening for the Sons Of Champlin. Foothill was the Junior College for the Palo Alto area. All the band members had played Foothill before in various prior bands. Ace researcher David Kramer-Smyth confirmed this with drummer Chris Herold. <br /><p><b>Summer 1974: The Tides, Juneau, AK</b><br />Soon after their debut, Kingfish were booked in Alaska. This seemingly odd booking had to do with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System ">the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline (TAPS), which shipped oil from Prudhoe Bay, above the Arctic Circle, down to Valdez, near Anchorage</a>. TAPS was constructed to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil. The unexpected result, however, was that numerous construction workers were making serious money in Northern Alaska, where they couldn't spend it. When they had time off in the Summer, they came to the warmer parts of Alaska with their pockets full and ready to party. As an added Summer bonus, daytime in places like Juneau lasted about 18 hours.</p><p>Kingfish were booked for two weeks at a club in Juneau, Alaska's capital city. They were a hit, however, and immediately received an offer to play the rest of the Summer, at a Juneau club called The Tides, in the Anchor Room. Kingfish played The Anchor Room for about six weeks. They played six sets a night, six days a week. They had some songs rehearsed, but they had to learn new ones as they went. According to Kelly, the band members would just ask each other if they knew a song (like a Beatles song), and if more than one knew it they would just start it up. After six weeks, Kingfish were a tight, swinging band. </p><p>We actually have a taste of the Kingfish sound from The Tides. In September, they tried out pianist Barry Flast, who had flown up from California. Flast recorded some tapes of his performances, our only record of the
pre-Weir Kingfish sound. Some of the later Kingfish material is in
place, but there are some interesting covers, too, like Dave Torbert
singing the Beatles "Get Back." <a href="http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/asxcards/Kingfish1974-09-x3TheTidesJuneauAK.html">The Flast tapes are dated September, 1974, so presumably that was near the end of Kingfish's residency in Juneau</a>. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/registerguard/name/barry-flast-obituary?pid=168616666">Flast (1950-2013) himself had an interesting history</a>.
While in college in Boston, he had formed the Tom Swift Electric Band
with guitarist Billy Squier. <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/11/psychedelic-supermarket-boston-ma-1967.html">The band became the "house band" at the
Psychedelic Supermarket</a>, opening for many of the famous bands who played
the venue, including the Grateful Dead. Flast had ended up in San
Francisco, and played in various groups. Flast had a lengthy music career in the Bay Area. Despite his failure to lock in a
gig with Kingfish in 1974, he ended up in the band around 10 years
later. </p><p>Kingfish returned to the Bay Area at the end of September. Kelly stayed on in Juneau another two weeks, backing a Nashville singer (whose name he has forgotten), but the band reconvened around October. Around this time, Kelly invited Bill Cutler to join Kingfish. Cutler was not as interested in focusing on the blues sound of Kingfish, however, so he passed and formed his own group, Heroes. Heroes included lead guitarist Scott Quigley (aka Scotty Quik) who had played in Horses, and who would later work with Sammy Hagar (the other Heroes were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_de_Lone">Austin DeLone</a>, bassist <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/The-rhythm-section-rock-of-Bay-Area-bluegrass-17367438.php ">Pat Campbell</a> and drummer <a href="https://carltassi.com/bio%2Flinks">Carl Tassi</a>). </p><p><i><b>Fall 1974: Enter Bob Weir</b></i><br />Kingfish started to play around the Bay Area in October of 1974. Kelly recalled having been booked at a lounge in San Mateo, on or near El Camino Real and the San Francisco Airport (he has forgotten the name of the lounge). Unexpectedly, Bob Weir came to see them perform. As all Deadheads know, after their October 20, 1974 performance at Winterland, the Grateful Dead had "retired" from live performances. This left band members with no opportunities to perform live, nor any real source of income. Only Jerry Garcia had already put together a regular ensemble to play local clubs. It appeared Weir had similar ideas. Weir suggested to Kelly that he join Kingfish. </p><p>Kelly and Kingfish were surprised, flattered and pleased. Weir and Kelly had played together on David Rea's <i>Slewfoot</i> album, notwithstanding their old friendship, so the relationship wasn't out of thin air. Torbert and Weir had shared a stage many times. Torbert, in fact, had played on Weir's <i>Ace</i> album, as well as "Box Of Rain." Of course, Weir was an even bigger "name" than Torbert and would attract immediate attention. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHH-x-kKUtjnbtfw7RZtwAnlYEnJXS1Llok9_bZZUmxW50EILGISQLWRJ0yWC22M0PWga4ZweT_wD9Vi6wR32o1o9jIhbzsdcAfmIaC9RaGN3TO0Jd2H4bnKMROKKboWKigi71tQ_t0DiR6_uHAqEiShxVswEAAsBjP2wybnMZPks1wtzK1NBfemL/s545/Kingfish%20Boots%20N%20Saddle%2019741108.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="545" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHH-x-kKUtjnbtfw7RZtwAnlYEnJXS1Llok9_bZZUmxW50EILGISQLWRJ0yWC22M0PWga4ZweT_wD9Vi6wR32o1o9jIhbzsdcAfmIaC9RaGN3TO0Jd2H4bnKMROKKboWKigi71tQ_t0DiR6_uHAqEiShxVswEAAsBjP2wybnMZPks1wtzK1NBfemL/s320/Kingfish%20Boots%20N%20Saddle%2019741108.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A listing in the Friday, November 8, 1974 Palo Alto Times for a concert with Santa Cruz band Timbercreek and Kingfish at the Boots And Saddle bar in La Honda. Bob Weir sat in with Kingfish at this show, beginning his long association with the band</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><b>November 8, 1974 Boots And Saddle, La Honda, CA: Timbercreek/Kingfish</b><i> (Friday)</i><br />Kingfish had a Friday night booking at the legendary Boots And Saddle bar, at 8129 La Honda Road in La Honda. A general store had been founded in La Honda in 1868, and then a post office in 1873. There had been a bar, hotel and boarding house since 1877. It had changed owners, burned down or blown up (for insurance, apparently) over the decades. Of course it was a transit point for whiskey during Prohibition, as were most bars in the Santa Cruz Mountains in that era.<p><a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-boots-la-47458379 ">In 1945, the new owners re-named it Boots And Saddle. From the late 40s onward, there were Saturday afternoon jazz concerts. Boots And Saddle remained a weekend music bar into the 1980s</a>. Mostly local bands played there. If you were lucky, nearby resident Neil Young might turn up, and maybe even bring his band, as he was as local as anybody. The bar finally burned down in 1984, under mysterious circumstances (it was at least the third time this had happened).</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYiKoMXXLkZzDG8QbBOtRoSK7M1WdKtft8-QhJDJ_EJhvSmlpzL1d9hEObM3IGFOjf6QlJMvtYuam-_aUNnipvjLJgqIyH1xeATKboGmXywvs7dbsRCq7r5ns6NUX9yGY4sr6knN3I0hba1k2VI_NN2JusGynMaSyPUqkSY17u0I3e9V_qCbYtG0S/s600/Timbercreek%20Hellbound%20Highway%20Saddle%20Rec%201975.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="600" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYiKoMXXLkZzDG8QbBOtRoSK7M1WdKtft8-QhJDJ_EJhvSmlpzL1d9hEObM3IGFOjf6QlJMvtYuam-_aUNnipvjLJgqIyH1xeATKboGmXywvs7dbsRCq7r5ns6NUX9yGY4sr6knN3I0hba1k2VI_NN2JusGynMaSyPUqkSY17u0I3e9V_qCbYtG0S/s320/Timbercreek%20Hellbound%20Highway%20Saddle%20Rec%201975.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i><a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/4263193-Timbercreek-Hellbound-Highway">Timbercreek recorded and released their own debut album, Hellbound Highway, in 1975, on Saddle Records</a>. Formerly called Mose, they played original material in the style of Workingman's Dead.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Local band Timbercreek had recently changed their name from Mose. Note that they are on equal footing with Kingfish, since more locals had probably heard of Timbercreek. Note also that Kingfish is not advertised as "featuring Dave Torbert of the New Riders."<p>Weir sat in with Kingfish, but apparently didn't sing any songs. Weir's unique style of guitar playing was more like a pianist than a rhythm guitarist, but that actually fit Kingfish's sound very well. </p><p><b>November 17 and 19, 1974 Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA: Kingfish </b><i>(Sunday and Tuesday)</i><br />There are tapes from both these shows. Weir sings a few songs. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-lions-share-60-red-hill-avenue-san.html">The Lion's Share, at 60 Red Hill Avenue in San Anselmo, just 10 minutes from downtown San Rafael, was the principal Marin County musician's hangout</a>. The club usually wasn't open on Mondays, and Kingfish and Weir probably just invited themselves to play there on Sunday and Tuesday. Other bands probably played, too. Sunday was usually "jam night," and Tuesday was usually "audition night. </p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqPW7W8F-8Hii3T19f2L6mBMmKVdoK1Wsl2-Dty83tKlEjgZylZjy1lR3otLMhRaN_uLp-9TrZxXRZxWlptnrOX6urG0sNram-yjdsSD1ZgjFPDE_7wFy42lgvC7XRbn0QQ5jfUDDt17sm9cz_z_Wgo8jYwAW7eO0lwugdJVG-JyP9uK00yZHw-Pr/s800/Kingfish%20Chateau%2019741129%20flyer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="511" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPqPW7W8F-8Hii3T19f2L6mBMmKVdoK1Wsl2-Dty83tKlEjgZylZjy1lR3otLMhRaN_uLp-9TrZxXRZxWlptnrOX6urG0sNram-yjdsSD1ZgjFPDE_7wFy42lgvC7XRbn0QQ5jfUDDt17sm9cz_z_Wgo8jYwAW7eO0lwugdJVG-JyP9uK00yZHw-Pr/s320/Kingfish%20Chateau%2019741129%20flyer.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><p><b>November 29, 1974 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA: Timbercreek/Kingfish </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />The Chateau Liberte was going through a period of booking more established rock bands. The Kingfish booking there was the first time Bob Weir was advertised as a member of the band. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2020/07/22700-old-santa-cruz-highway-chateau.html">The Chateau, a notorious and unique hideaway in the Santa Cruz Mountains, held about 200 people and mostly appealed to locals</a>. Timbercreek had been a regular band there under the name Mose. We also have a Kingfish tape from the Chateau. Weir sang several songs.<br /></p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJtxnzuZ1uPlCrcxZleQx6Nh1hztZcSEEFBmevJ8wpaX7AN7kL81hTFTgne9q4ECDiEo0ijMkiiyh4bMqT8t4R60pdpP_bvG6li8CfFO8HJ41irXi9qkOmLmTzivCvU3aHGb0jFQYt3MkjY0mB_V0IVUVBQETk5UZIOZThW1303S7eFfBJzjMwr-y/s591/OaklandTribune19741229.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="261" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsJtxnzuZ1uPlCrcxZleQx6Nh1hztZcSEEFBmevJ8wpaX7AN7kL81hTFTgne9q4ECDiEo0ijMkiiyh4bMqT8t4R60pdpP_bvG6li8CfFO8HJ41irXi9qkOmLmTzivCvU3aHGb0jFQYt3MkjY0mB_V0IVUVBQETk5UZIOZThW1303S7eFfBJzjMwr-y/s320/OaklandTribune19741229.jpg" width="141" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Dec 29 '74 Oakland Tribune ad for the Keystone Berkeley </i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>December 29, 1974 Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Kingfish/James And The Mercedes </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br /><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2020/11/keystone-berkeley-2119-university.html">The Keystone Berkeley was the Bay Area's most prominent rock club</a>. Jerry Garcia played there regularly. The Kingfish booking noting that Weir and Torbert were members of the band was advertised in the San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i>, Oakland <i>Tribune</i> and other major papers. To most Bay Area rock fans, the Keystone booking was the public notice that Weir had a new band. </p><p>James And The Mercedes featured guitarist James Ackroyd, from <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/search/label/James%20And%20The%20Good%20Brothers">James And The Good Brothers</a>, and included Frankie Weir, Bob's girlfriend, on backing vocals. </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOIkMHp8vqT-obSFos54UACOgs2ecHHLRlgqSf-zIwGx-o9SuQ5Zn4JWaZYal0CHiaPzr5bCNF8YHxBRwLtUInKaY8x803k28vctDWFbI93gXYiLNQxkxDb3XZB8tkyxYdv7wqnkIvMZpGwcU1laZYrmbbRITHHsRbgqv2O-fSZqwPKqMguMIIHyl/s775/Osiris%20Palo%20Alto%2019741231.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="635" data-original-width="775" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOIkMHp8vqT-obSFos54UACOgs2ecHHLRlgqSf-zIwGx-o9SuQ5Zn4JWaZYal0CHiaPzr5bCNF8YHxBRwLtUInKaY8x803k28vctDWFbI93gXYiLNQxkxDb3XZB8tkyxYdv7wqnkIvMZpGwcU1laZYrmbbRITHHsRbgqv2O-fSZqwPKqMguMIIHyl/s320/Osiris%20Palo%20Alto%2019741231.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>December 31, 1974 Stanford Music Hall, Palo Alto, CA: Kingfish/Osiris </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><br />Kingfish played a New Year's Eve concert at a Movie Theater in Palo Alto, built in 1925 as the Stanford Theater, and then called The Stanford Music Hall. Mostly it booked stage musicals, but it had occasional concerts. The concert was promoted by an old Palo Alto friend named Paul Currier. Osiris was a Palo Alto band that included Kevin "Mickey" McKernan, Pigpen's younger brother, on organ and vocals. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/december-31-1974-keystone-berkeley.html">I have written about this concert at some length, so I needn't recap it all here</a>. Suffice to say, from this point onwards Kingfish was booked regularly in nightclubs all over the Bay Area, and the Kingfish saga began in earnest.</p><p><b>Aftermath: Kingfish with Bob Weir, 1975-1987 </b><br /></p><p><b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history.html"><span> </span>Kingfish Performance History January-June 1975</a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history_07.html"><span> </span>Kingfish Performance History July-December 1975</a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2017/01/kingfish-performance-history-january.html"><span> </span>Kingfish Performance History January-August 1976</a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/06/bob-weir-and-kingfish-1984-1987.html"><span> </span>Kingfish with Bob Weir, 1984-1987</a></b> <br /></p><p>Weir and Matt Kelly would remain partners in Kingfish until the band faded away in 1987--not counting an 1989 reunion. In between, Kelly and Weir worked together in Bobby And The Midnites and Ratdog, until Kelly moved to Hawaii. Nonetheless, they remained friends. In October 2022, Kelly joined Bob Weir and The Wolf Brothers for some of the Bob Weir 75th Birthday Celebration concerts at the Warfield Theater, extending the connection that had gone back to their junior high football team at Menlo School. </p><p><b><a href="http://www.deaddisc.com/disc/Wing_And_A_Prayer.htm">Appendix: <i>Wing And A Prayer-Matt Kelly</i> Relix Records RRLP 2010</a> <i>released 1985 (CD release in 1987)</i></b><br />Five members of the Grateful Dead play on tracks on this album which is a collection of tracks recorded over a long period of time by a various groups of musicians. Bob Weir plays on three tracks, Jerry Garcia on two, Bill Kreutzmann on one, Brent Mydland on four and Keith Godchaux on one.<br /><br /><b><i>Tracks</i></b><br /><br /> Eyes Of The Night (Barry Flast)<br /> Mona (Bo Diddley)<br /> Dangerous Relations (Matt Kelly)<br /> Over And Over (Matt Kelly)<br /> Shining Dawn (Matt Kelly)<br /> I Got To Be Me (Sammy Davis Jnr)<br /> It Ain't Easy (Long John Baldry)<br /> Riding High (Bill Cutler)<br /> Next Time You See Me (Junior Parker / Sam Philips)<br /> Mess Around (Armet Ertugun)<br /> Harpoon Magic (Matt Kelly)<br /> If That's The Way (Matt Kelly) <br /><br /><b>Musicians</b><br />The tracks on this album were recorded at different times with a wide range of musicians. The musicians on each of the tracks are as follows.<br /><br /><i>Eyes Of The Night;</i><br /><br /> Stan Coley - guitar<br /> Barry Flast - vocals<br /> Chris Herold - drums<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar, vocals<br /> Brent Mydland - vocals<br /> Colby Pollard - bass<br /> Rahni Rains - vocals<br /> J.D. & Red - synthesizer<br /> Bob Weir - guitar, vocals <br /><br /><i>Mona</i>;<br /><br /> Patti Cathcart - vocals<br /> John Cipollina - guitar<br /> Robbie Hoddinot - guitar<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar, percussion, vocals<br /> Dave Torbert - bass, vocals <br /><i><br />Dangerous Relations;</i><br /><br /> Ron Eglit - pedal steel<br /> Jerry Garcia - guitar<br /> Chris Herold - drums<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar<br /> Rahni Rains - vocals<br /> Dave Torbert - bass<br /> Bob Weir - guitar, vocals <br /><br /><i>Over and Over;</i><br /><br /> Sam Clayton - congas<br /> Stan Coley - synthesizer<br /> Robbie Hoddinot - guitar<br /> Nicky Hopkins - piano<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar<br /> Brent Mydland - vocals<br /> Mark Nielsen - drums<br /> Dave Torbert - bass<br /> Bob Wright - organ <br /><br /><i>Shining Down;</i><br /><br /> Fred Campbell - bass<br /> Patti Cathcart - vocals<br /> Stan Coley - synthesizer<br /> Barry Flast - vocals<br /> Robbie Hoddinot - guitar<br /> Nicky Hopkins - piano<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar, harmonica, vocals<br /> Bill Kreutzmann - drums<br /> Brent Mydland - vocals <br /><br /><i>I Got To Be Me;</i><br /><br /> Patti Cathcart - vocals<br /> Dave Fogal - piano<br /> Robbie Hoddinot - guitar<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar, slide guitar<br /> San Mateo Baptist Church Choir - vocals<br /> Jerry Miller - guitar<br /> Scotty Quick - guitar<br /> Dave Torbert - bass<br /> Bob Wright - organ <br /><br /><i>It Ain't Easy;</i><br /><br /> Michael Bloomfield - guitar<br /> Patti Cathcart - vocals<br /> Dave Fogal - piano<br /> Matt Kelly - harmonica<br /> Jerry Martini - horns<br /> Jerry Miller - guitar<br /> Scotty Quick - guitar<br /> Rahni Rains - vocals<br /> Dave Torbert - bass<br /> Bob Wright - organ <br /><br /><i>Riding High;</i><br /><br /> Patti Cathcart - vocals<br /> Bill Cutler - vocals<br /> Ron Eglit - pedal steel<br /> Jerry Garcia - guitar<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar, harp, vocals<br /> Rahni Rains - vocals<br /> Dave Torbert - bass<br /> Mick Ward - piano<br /> Bob Weir - guitar, vocals<br /> Bob Wright - organ <br /><br /><i>Next Time You See Me;</i><br /><br /> Mel Brown - guitar<br /> Michael Bloomfield - guitar<br /> Robbie Hoddinot - guitar<br /> Matt Kelly - vocals<br /> Jerry Martini - horns<br /> Jerry Miller - guitar<br /> Mark Naftalin - piano<br /> Mike O'Neil - slide guitar<br /> Dave Torbert - bass <br /><br /><i>Mess Around;</i><br /><br /> Patti Cathcart - vocals<br /> Bobby Cochran - guitar<br /> Chris Herold - drums<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar, harmonica, vocals<br /> Dave Torbert - bass, vocals<br /> Mick Ward - piano <br /><br /><i>Harpoon Magic;</i><br /><br /> Buddy Cage - pedal steel<br /> Patti Cathcart - vocals<br /> Keith Godchaux - piano<br /> Matt Kelly - harmonica<br /> David Nelson - guitar<br /> Rahni Rains - vocals<br /> Dave Torbert - bass, vocals <br /><i><br />If That's The Way;</i><br /><br /> Stan Coley - guitar<br /> Nicky Hopkins - piano<br /> Matt Kelly - guitar, harmonica, vocals<br /> Brent Mydland - vocals<br /> Dave Torbert - bass, vocals<br /> Bob Wright - organ <br /><b><br />Credits</b><br /><br /> Producer - Matt Kelly<br /> Cover art - Karkruff/Canavan<br /> Back cover design - Toni A. Brown<br /> Layout - Brooklyn Bridge Publications<br /> Part recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito, 1973 <br /><br /><i>Notes</i><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Many of the tracks on this release, including the two which include Garcia, were recorded in 1973. Further tracks were recorded in 1980.</li><li>"Riding High" is titled as such on the track list of the CD but is called "Ridin' High" in the liner notes.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-11213345214949572072023-05-26T05:00:00.002-07:002023-05-29T12:19:40.399-07:00The In Room, Swiss Chalet, 635 Old County Road, Belmont, CA 1965<p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUA7Mup4x98BbDPqR5nsgzjcEZ8B5WFwM232l1CcngG4qXQigHO8KzWrFkgIq8q1JrgnQICFDMznkMWu9IHZmxaZrw8xAYEeY6X1H3YqRs_ElQO0meVlEWKKDDAXVWBIG1b0FAu5LEGkLJYuZmIt-4pzQyQLNkMvNRl1N5-KyjFF_wyRSz-OGPIjf/s3000/Warlocks%20In%20Room%20Belmont%201965.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2014" data-original-width="3000" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCUA7Mup4x98BbDPqR5nsgzjcEZ8B5WFwM232l1CcngG4qXQigHO8KzWrFkgIq8q1JrgnQICFDMznkMWu9IHZmxaZrw8xAYEeY6X1H3YqRs_ElQO0meVlEWKKDDAXVWBIG1b0FAu5LEGkLJYuZmIt-4pzQyQLNkMvNRl1N5-KyjFF_wyRSz-OGPIjf/s320/Warlocks%20In%20Room%20Belmont%201965.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Warlocks, In Room, Belmont, Fall 1965 (photo probably by Paul Ryan)<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p></p>The Warlocks made themselves into a real band with a two-month stint at a Belmont, CA, "Lounge" called The In Room. The In Room was a bar attached to a Steak House restaurant called The Swiss Chalet, at 635 Old County Road. Old County Road was a frontage road across the railroad tracks from El Camino Real. El Camino Real ran from San Jose to Daly City (where it would turn into Mission Street), and was the main commercial district for all the towns in between. During the 60s, there was a general trend to make El Camino a center of entertainment like the Las Vegas Strip, so there were hotels, bars and restaurants in each Peninsula city. By the 1970s, the Peninsula had quieted down, and El Camino nightlife faded away.<p></p><p>The Warlocks' time at the In Room has been immortalized by Dennis McNally and others, and all the band members have told stories about how it was where they really became a band. Playing five sets a night, six nights a week for eight weeks, maybe sometimes backing touring singers or burlesque dancers, the Warlocks got a crash course in the 60s music biz, most of which they promptly set out to blow up as the Grateful Dead. The In Room, tacky name and all, was a seminal experience in the Grateful Dead zeitgeist. </p><p>The only actual artefacts of the Warlocks' performance at the In Room, however, are some posed photographs (one of them is above). These were clearly done for promotional purposes, probably by the club itself, as the Warlocks couldn't have afforded it. Note the bright lighting, a clear indication that these were not real "performance" shots with the dark lights of a night club. Still, we can see the band's gear, their clothes, and at least a whiff of their on-stage demeanor. The only hint of things to come is the not-standardized lettering of the "Warlocks" band name. The drum head was painted <a href="https://shubb.com/rick-shubb-musician/">by roommate, future banjo legend and artist Rick Shubb</a>. </p><p>Further non-standardization would follow shortly. Given the importance of the In Room, let's figure out what we can about the brief history of the lounge.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27f9A0o85Hy7RsqY1mxjFdDTeWKAmldNc685dZhrAxTJeXzFCBbEPC4HSHQWK5yJhvVPlt_5Z8m0u6aOQ6vHHxk29HOBQ4Ri6ji3kUlFTO5xvhqTqO-2dkFdBnNqka1ctn4VmGQW-CX8v5jiexWplownw0AYmX_Afu-mwd8cTQWBNMfEBPKEFkuhC/s640/In%20Room%20Belmont%20ca%20late%2050s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27f9A0o85Hy7RsqY1mxjFdDTeWKAmldNc685dZhrAxTJeXzFCBbEPC4HSHQWK5yJhvVPlt_5Z8m0u6aOQ6vHHxk29HOBQ4Ri6ji3kUlFTO5xvhqTqO-2dkFdBnNqka1ctn4VmGQW-CX8v5jiexWplownw0AYmX_Afu-mwd8cTQWBNMfEBPKEFkuhC/s320/In%20Room%20Belmont%20ca%20late%2050s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A rare outdoor shot of The Chalet and The In Room marquee, from 1965 (source unknown)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><i><b>The Warlocks at The In Room</b></i><br />The Warlocks were booked at the In Room for an 8-week stint in September and October of 1965. <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast">Deadcast host Jesse Jarnow</a> and I looked in vain for any advertisement of the Warlocks. We are certain of the timeline, but neither Jesse nor I have never found an ad for the Warlocks at the In Room (and we tried). <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Long-Strange-Trip-History-Grateful/dp/0767911865 ">Per Dennis McNally, they earned at most $800 a week, but that was real money back then</a>. <br /></p><p>Their first week, the Warlocks backed the Coasters. It's not impossible they backed other singers during that time--it was common practice for a "house band" to back up a local singer--and they apparently backed some burlesque dancers. They probably weren't topless, but no one exactly knows. By the end of their 8-week shift, the Warlocks were a real band. Not exactly tight, maybe, but they had a groove.</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Long-Strange-Trip-History-Grateful/dp/0767911865 ">Dennis McNally interviewed Dale O'Keefe, one of the managers of The In Room, so his description reflects the reality rather than the legend</a>: <br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>The Warlocks had found a home at a club halfway between Palo Alto and San Francisco in the town of Belmont. The In Room was a heavy-hitting divorcee's pickup joint, the sort of swinging bar where real-estate salesmen chased stewardesses and single women got plenty of free drinks. Dark, with red and black as the color scheme, it was the kind of place that sold almost nothing but hard liquor. The Warlocks' agent at the time, Al King, booked the headliners, like the Coasters, Jackie DeShannon and Marvin Gaye. Managed by Donald Johnson, also known as Whitey North, and Dale O'Keefe, it was a hot room, with bouncers escorting the waitresses through the crowd. </i></p><p><i>At first the Warlocks seemed a mistake, playing too loud and too strangely. As O'Keefe saw it, the band would be okay for the first two of their fifty-minute sets, but by the third they'd be high, and by the fifth they'd be "barbaric." But in some sort of mysterious transference, they began to develop their own audience, and held their own, avoiding the management of the bar, except for Larry, their favorite bartender. Each night they'd show up with their equipment stuffed into Kreutzmann's Pontiac station wagon, set up, and get to work. One of the complications to their lives was that Kreutzmann and Weir were not only considerably but obviously underage. [Band friend] Bobby Petersen stole some draft cards that somehow passed muster, and the cops would look at the ID, chuckle and warn them not to drink. O'Keefe swore that he did not pay off the cops, so such tolerances could only be ascribed to providence.</i></p></blockquote><p></p><p><i><b>Caution (Do Not Stop On Tracks)</b></i><br />McNally: <i>"The In Room was located quite near the railroad tracks that run up the Peninsula to San Francisco, and as the band grew more and more attuned to the schedule, they learned to play with, instead of going against, the sound of the trains as they rumbled by."</i> [p92]<br /><br />Between sets at the In Room, the band would cross the street and smoke (something) next to the railroad tracks. According to legend, there was a large sign that said "Caution: Do Not Stop On Tracks." The Warlocks heard Them's single "Mystic Eyes," took the chord changes and stapled them to their chugga-chugga train rhythm, and named it after the sign. Versions of "Caution" would appear in Grateful Dead performances at least as late as 1981, a legacy of the In Room. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6u_YsOG5C1FETAHJeieO_pwpHVPCpzl5GGy2Djcv0RElCXasjhOQd4VHEpCKKt-DSVnnmUXhsSbzJhiuqcacYsvW9Zyiovwnv-XToCk27HMNIIg1nnYzLW2c3MTmqVxWiJVoxdgyYoyiw1Tvnmuo6jhlir1xFYYwBJGDG4Uanr9Liw2VRBjoLcxqN/s1140/Ed%20McLanahan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1140" data-original-width="1140" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6u_YsOG5C1FETAHJeieO_pwpHVPCpzl5GGy2Djcv0RElCXasjhOQd4VHEpCKKt-DSVnnmUXhsSbzJhiuqcacYsvW9Zyiovwnv-XToCk27HMNIIg1nnYzLW2c3MTmqVxWiJVoxdgyYoyiw1Tvnmuo6jhlir1xFYYwBJGDG4Uanr9Liw2VRBjoLcxqN/s320/Ed%20McLanahan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kentucky writer (and Kesey pal) Ed McClanahan</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Visitors </b><br />Writer Ed McClanahan, a friend of Ken Kesey and the Pranksters, dropped by the In Room to see the band. In an infamous August 1972 article in <i>Playboy</i> magazine called "Grateful Dead I Have Known." McNally excerpted McClanahan's description of the Warlocks at the In Room (p. 89) <br /><p></p><p>Even though the Warlocks bohemian pals were hardly In Room material, a few friends did drop by. Tom Constanten, who had been friends with Phil Lesh since meeting him at UC Berkeley in 1962, was now in the US Air Force, stationed at Las Vegas. Constanten was also friendly with Garcia and the others, and had hung out a little at the Chateau. TC did find an opportunity to see the Warlocks at the In Room, however.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YTYeyQ2oo3SR-cf10_zTru8xNggaEwAYz1rHRiRnQTp4P-2SstyCHcOaOhNTDF8Rv0Gro7qg9cLYUaF2v01yPze6AfdWu0Co0IMCiZII9WGZkjEHNSLShHQCwkpHBnet8myA9DPCfRlIzJRZF6n7lxu19nupHkQbyLJAO15D2dh1_TQUQFJyRizV/s1280/Human%20Monkey%2045%20Frantics%201965.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YTYeyQ2oo3SR-cf10_zTru8xNggaEwAYz1rHRiRnQTp4P-2SstyCHcOaOhNTDF8Rv0Gro7qg9cLYUaF2v01yPze6AfdWu0Co0IMCiZII9WGZkjEHNSLShHQCwkpHBnet8myA9DPCfRlIzJRZF6n7lxu19nupHkQbyLJAO15D2dh1_TQUQFJyRizV/s320/Human%20Monkey%2045%20Frantics%201965.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Jerry Miller and Don Stevenson, later of Moby Grape, were in The Frantics in 1965. They released the "Human Monkey" single on local Action Records in 1966, with lead vocals from bassist Bob Mosley.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Another late-night visitor at the In Room, was guitarist Jerry Miller, then leading a group called The Frantics. The Frantics had moved from Tacoma, WA, and were currently living in the mountains of San Bruno, not far from the In Room. <a href="http://brunoceriotti.weebly.com/the-frantics.html">The members of the Frantics (Miller, organist Chuck Schoning and drummer Don Stevenson) and their wives had gone to the Steak Pit to eat, only to find out there was a band playing</a>. Miller loved hearing the Warlocks, and hung out a little with Garcia and the others. The Frantics would become regulars on the El Camino Real in early 1966, and would later evolve into the band Luminous Marsh Gas. By the end of '66, Miller and Stevenson would be in a rising band called Moby Grape, jamming with Garcia at The Ark in Sausalito and playing gigs at the Fillmore and Avalon. <br /><p></p><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXJKAQK95P2nBohNfZ_P0omyq3rYJEs7nzGBG1et8RkJfDzfKao3S7xdyvGju67F3CWQh50sv1FOz6g45zqDssxb5JXjQGUCGTg8BNC2FFJ0egd00YVfFbqt8_LPZQERyP5h8SkIfMqmSjoW21LQBixkshOaknprJMmrVLs98nXwIHTaBI6fTBn8J/s401/In%20Room%20Belmont%2019660212%2012%20Feb%201965,%20Page%2021%20-%20The%20Times%20at%20Newspapers%20com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="207" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwXJKAQK95P2nBohNfZ_P0omyq3rYJEs7nzGBG1et8RkJfDzfKao3S7xdyvGju67F3CWQh50sv1FOz6g45zqDssxb5JXjQGUCGTg8BNC2FFJ0egd00YVfFbqt8_LPZQERyP5h8SkIfMqmSjoW21LQBixkshOaknprJMmrVLs98nXwIHTaBI6fTBn8J/s320/In%20Room%20Belmont%2019660212%2012%20Feb%201965,%20Page%2021%20-%20The%20Times%20at%20Newspapers%20com.png" width="165" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The first ad for The In-Room was in the San Mateo Times on February 12, 1965</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><p><b><i>The In Room, 635 Old County Road, Belmont, CA </i></b><i>(Opened February 1965)</i><br />The first notice of the In Room was an (in the San Mateo <i>Times</i>) for the weekend of February 12, 1965. The Furys were advertised as "Young America's Top Entertainment," along with "Leslie, Demonstrating Bay Area's Leading Dance Craze." It adds: Your Hosts: "Rich Romanello and Ralph Silva." Although Romanello and Silva had surely left by the time the Warlocks were booked in September, Romanello's career, at least, is worth noting in the context of 1965 Bay Area Rock and Roll. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKtET7QyeGrOa3VjaVs283ec8cWNz9LAXTe567pCcJKl9QEvqGDnjfblrG7Qlvs_dk2Gbxx_fYVekxIC65nzw5XwoCDChuEfkP5vcNdqWkN_U0zfpMIis_sxpT88JoieiUXK_deakSafhv9GG33t1VhuG6OfWZcfjDPM7ul8IqNX0OIZOL4WM-Oac/s545/19640619%20Beau%20Brummels%20Morocco%20Room%20SMT.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="271" data-original-width="545" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzKtET7QyeGrOa3VjaVs283ec8cWNz9LAXTe567pCcJKl9QEvqGDnjfblrG7Qlvs_dk2Gbxx_fYVekxIC65nzw5XwoCDChuEfkP5vcNdqWkN_U0zfpMIis_sxpT88JoieiUXK_deakSafhv9GG33t1VhuG6OfWZcfjDPM7ul8IqNX0OIZOL4WM-Oac/s320/19640619%20Beau%20Brummels%20Morocco%20Room%20SMT.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A San Mateo Times ad (June 19 1964) for the Beau Brummels at the Morocco Room, on 2010 El Camino Real in San Mateo (near W. 20th Avenue). The hosts were Jimmie and Rich Romanello (father and son). </i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><i><b>Rich Romanello</b></i><br />Rich Romanello is actually an important name in Bay Area rock and roll, and I did not realize until recently that he had any connection to the In Room, and hence by extension to the Grateful Dead story. <a href="https://www.bubbleinfo.com/2019/01/23/beau-brummels-sly/">Since Romanello has been interviewed various times (for good reason) about his rock and roll history, and never mentioned the Warlocks, we can be confident he had no part in booking the Warlocks</a>. Nonetheless he seems to have co-founded the In Room, which made the band, so it only adds to his interesting saga. <br /></p><p>In 1964, Romanello's father James ran a club called The Morocco Room on El Camino Real in San Mateo. The address was at 2010 S. El Camino Real, near W. 20th Avenue. San Mateo is halfway up the Peninsula, midway between Stanford University and San Francisco, and near San Francisco Airport (SFO). The name and pitch of the Morocco Room had a Vegas slant, a cocktail lounge with entertainment and dancing all night long. Rich Romanello had discovered a new San Francisco rock band called The Beau Brummels, who performed original songs in a kind of Beatles-style, and the Morocco Room packed them in. <br /></p><p>Word about The Beau Brummels filtered up the line to KYA dj Tom Donahue, one of the biggest disc jockeys in the Bay Area. KYA (1260) and KFRC (610) were the two big rock stations in town. Donahue, transplanted from Philadelphia, was partners with another Eastern transplant, Bobby Mitchell. The two of them held down the afternoon and evening shifts at KYA, so everyone heard them. They also promoted concerts at the Cow Palace, ran a radio "tip sheet" and also race horses. Donahue and Mitchell had also started Autumn Records, and they had scored a big hit with Bobby Freeman's "C'mon And Swim" in 1964, produced by KSOL dj Sylvester Stewart, later better known as Sly Stone. </p><p>Donahue later claimed to have heard about the Beau Brummels gig in the Morocco Room from a prostitute ("I always listen to prostitutes," he would say). In any case, El Camino Real and San Mateo was not a likely place to find a hit act, but find them he did. Rich Romanello acted as manager for the Beau Brummels, and Donahue and Mitchell knew hit songs when they heard them. Their song "Laugh, Laugh" would reach #15 after it was released on Autumn Records in December, 1964. The Beau Brummels went on to have other hits in 1965. Romanello would later lament that it was too bad that neither he, nor the Brummels nor Donahue and Mitchell knew anything about running an actual business. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJeC1lV_GBTNHPTkJTrLa8UeD6xz7Kp4an9NPNXBWxSCrPiVHH-S62M_fRsob2o83B4clybulVdDLk5_-i6cCPp6usuxiIii9EYhiuSaPGvhAW-vFCQDxEzT5GqORhTESKnA7MBdDD-lqVj0luK15XDvGC_EIxrFtufaAbDJmh210pOz7yWjuKCx5/s7066/19650217%20Redwood_City_Tribune_Wed__Feb_17__1965_.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="7066" data-original-width="3346" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJeC1lV_GBTNHPTkJTrLa8UeD6xz7Kp4an9NPNXBWxSCrPiVHH-S62M_fRsob2o83B4clybulVdDLk5_-i6cCPp6usuxiIii9EYhiuSaPGvhAW-vFCQDxEzT5GqORhTESKnA7MBdDD-lqVj0luK15XDvGC_EIxrFtufaAbDJmh210pOz7yWjuKCx5/s320/19650217%20Redwood_City_Tribune_Wed__Feb_17__1965_.jpg" width="152" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The
February 17, 1965 Redwood City Tribune had an ad for the Grand Opening
of The 'In' Room, describing The Furys as "The NEW ENGLISH SOUND by
America's Top Entertainers DANCING 7 NIGHTS." The small print explains how to cross the tracks from either Freeway exit--there was no GPS. Note the "FURYS", not FURIES, and no "Lesley."</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In December 1964, a notice in the San Mateo <i>Times</i> indicated that James Romanello had sold the Morocco Room. But in early '65, Rich Romanello would have been right in the center of the action, and that action appeared to be on El Camino Real. The suburban Peninsula might seem an unlikely place for a rock and roll explosion, but it was happening on the El Camino just as it was everywhere else. After the Morocco Room and the Beau Brummels, The In Room
would have been the second rock joint on the boulevard, and it was started by the
proprietor of the first one. Fall '65 saw the Cinammon Tree in San
Carlos, and the Tiger A-Go-Go in Burlingame, near SFO. By 1966, it was
followed by the Big Beat in Palo Alto, the Nu Beat in Redwood City
(which was later the Spectrum) and The Trip in San Mateo.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCThMcjfDNio7BXrB8MeVoZB3sWnyHKXDjpp2zF8t_twL4Wpwc4CgRY9n2dfrs4O2gMmhUpdmNoP9PS0iM3TP8KZXzewqPQNgkAPuZdog-VJmIYgeNsy1o0Er16vrEBB5Aw5-EdBZmCCVcchFO7oGUpxOFxijoklYyehXuJHkwWhU_RcIGwRPm63y1/s956/SMTimes651112.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="956" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCThMcjfDNio7BXrB8MeVoZB3sWnyHKXDjpp2zF8t_twL4Wpwc4CgRY9n2dfrs4O2gMmhUpdmNoP9PS0iM3TP8KZXzewqPQNgkAPuZdog-VJmIYgeNsy1o0Er16vrEBB5Aw5-EdBZmCCVcchFO7oGUpxOFxijoklYyehXuJHkwWhU_RcIGwRPm63y1/s320/SMTimes651112.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Tiger A-Go-Go lounge at the SFO Hilton in Burlingame was a hopping scene, with future Fillmore players (Joel Scott Hill was later in Canned Heat, and his band included Lee Michaels, Bob Mosely [Moby Grape] and John Barbata [Turtles, CSNY, Starship]. This ad is from the Nov 12 '65 San Mateo Times.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />The
El Camino Real clubs were rising in exact parallel with the Family Dog,
Fillmore and Avalon underground scene in San Francisco. The El Camino
clubs tried different angles: the In Room and the Tiger A-Go-Go were
bars for adults, primarily pickup joints (<a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/08/november-12-1965-tiger-go-go-san.html">the Tiger A Go Go pointedly emphasized that stewardesses hung out there</a>. In the 60s, stewardesses
were understood to be glamorous unmarried party girls, fairly or not),
The Cinnamon Tree was a "teen club," no liqour. <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/08/december-18-1965-big-beat-palo-alto.html">The Big Beat</a> and its
sister club, The Trip, were pizza-and-beer places that allowed 18 year
olds. There isn't any doubt that they were competing with the Fillmore.
<a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/08/4301-el-camino-real-san-mateo-ca-trip.html">The Trip ads offered "LSD: Lights, Sounds, Delicious Pizza."</a><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxgS1Y_yROWjywXJ7jOlOCP4Pne3vZizcAi0ETZeXB66hOjm18FffwAcYzLjW-OVIZGRfjRx--A250YE9ih4n4AqEqpP3Jd04JVM8gJ9jj9LTKtr1s8TmeggYyUqllT9JZSIOgpuSdm_eXVRVq3fGCWK_sil3D-af9pwgP_qJluvCzV_3JECAuRHw/s2048/Winchester%20Cathedral%2019661231.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipxgS1Y_yROWjywXJ7jOlOCP4Pne3vZizcAi0ETZeXB66hOjm18FffwAcYzLjW-OVIZGRfjRx--A250YE9ih4n4AqEqpP3Jd04JVM8gJ9jj9LTKtr1s8TmeggYyUqllT9JZSIOgpuSdm_eXVRVq3fGCWK_sil3D-af9pwgP_qJluvCzV_3JECAuRHw/s320/Winchester%20Cathedral%2019661231.jpg" width="125" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>New Year's Eve 1966-67 at Winchester Cathedral, 3033 El Camino Real in Redwood City, with Sly and The Family Stone</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />The
last of the important El Camino Real nightspots was also a "Teen Club,"
called Winchester Cathedral. Winchester Cathedral was at 3033 El Camino
Real in Redwood City. It opened around December 1966, managed by Rich
Romanello. Lots of fine band played there, including the Chocolate Watch
Band and the Santana Blues Band. One of the first acts booked at
Winchester Cathedral, however, was Sly And The Family Stone, who first
played on December 16, 1966, and shortly after headlined New Year's Eve.
They were an instant sensation. Sly and The Family Stone played all
over the Bay Area, but at the beginning of 1967 they also played
"Breakfast Shows" at Winchester from 2-5am every Friday and Saturday
night (Saturday and Sunday morning). All of the local musicians showed up,
including Mickey Hart, and were totally knocked out.<p></p><p>Romanello had
an early management role with Sly And The Family Stone, too, but he
lacked the clout to move them up the entertainment ladder. Joel Selvin's
oral history of the band goes into this in some detail, but the short
version of the story is that Columbia Records swooped in and made the
band into huge stars. Winchester Cathedral didn't last until Summer '67,
as far as I know, and El Camino Real more or less gave up on rock and
roll. The Fillmore and Avalon won decisively. Since suburban kids would
have to get into their (parents) cars to go to El Camino, driving
another 30 minutes to the city seemed more enticing. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8zd1GSeyNUolczy_vsbGC_DA2_PKwULFnRzrymp6wJDY1DOszoymr3dkPj99zXD0YSJrLPFHQss3mK103ULiIcfLsRs8_y_GrTyfGQvfWrOYR4HCuXtBNIxsRlnKBf2pcNwe-XXV2x34CIBBSuEdGlZlBPsnLOupbf-K0TFzgrWDXabzCgYVbTC3/s546/Mothers%20SF%2019651219.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="546" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF8zd1GSeyNUolczy_vsbGC_DA2_PKwULFnRzrymp6wJDY1DOszoymr3dkPj99zXD0YSJrLPFHQss3mK103ULiIcfLsRs8_y_GrTyfGQvfWrOYR4HCuXtBNIxsRlnKBf2pcNwe-XXV2x34CIBBSuEdGlZlBPsnLOupbf-K0TFzgrWDXabzCgYVbTC3/s320/Mothers%20SF%2019651219.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>An ad for Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchell's club Mother's, at 430 Broadway (from the Dec 19 '65 Chronicle). Reputedly the first "psychedelic" nightclub, Mother's generally booked standard Broadway nightclub acts rather than hip rock bands</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchell were still thriving when the Warlocks left the In Room in Fall '65. They had signed numerous local bands, such as the Great Society with Grace Slick, and seemed very tapped in to local happenings. They also opened a club at 430 Broadway in San Francisco, amongst the local topless joints. Mother's has been recognized as the first "psychedelic" nightclub, but I think it was mainly for the decor. The usual Broadway lounge acts were booked there, along with a few rock bands, including the Lovin Spoonful. Rhoney Stanley describes going to Mother's in her book, but the context is a bit fuzzy. <p></p><p>Donahue and Mitchell must have heard about the In Room, since they recorded a Warlocks demo in San Francisco on November 3. The tape is now legendary, of course, but while The Warlocks showed promise, they were still an inexperienced rock band somewhere in between the style of the Beatles and the Stones. Autumn Records passed on the band. Within a few months, Autumn would go bankrupt, and their master recordings would be sold off to Warner Brothers.<br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy8AoSjcAxzK5XtqSKsUXASRbxa22mg0N-B7NsbXMm3-gKT2hRCKWc8DQ5hTCZpPZLTiZa63O5kInm9qWADAZRtLny3NQHzwGxYmMuIVESLDET6-Snnq1mMsCxL2hEKcJXKCSk7-YgeFU0xN2LDwSLfz6VrzlqZjooemP78EfD-q3iuwXZqJea5PgF/s4133/19651231%20The_Times_Fri__Dec_31__1965_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2356" data-original-width="4133" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy8AoSjcAxzK5XtqSKsUXASRbxa22mg0N-B7NsbXMm3-gKT2hRCKWc8DQ5hTCZpPZLTiZa63O5kInm9qWADAZRtLny3NQHzwGxYmMuIVESLDET6-Snnq1mMsCxL2hEKcJXKCSk7-YgeFU0xN2LDwSLfz6VrzlqZjooemP78EfD-q3iuwXZqJea5PgF/s320/19651231%20The_Times_Fri__Dec_31__1965_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The last sign of the In Room was an ad for a New Year's Eve party, with the band Group Therapy. The Chalet itself closed shortly afterwards. In January, the San Mateo <i>Times</i> reported that Chalet owner Phil Martinelli was going to start a "Teen Club" at the site selling memberships and putting on dances on weekends. In fact, versions of this business model were tried out up and down El Camino throughout 1966, but this one failed pretty quickly.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaPLeGQzSGvq8TUZq7csowjO_QEoaz0TAUYFmAH_XzEmG19UzPT7iu4RpZ-79JYO88ZnbdlUw8_eiJWIcBSYSJdGHIPdlYbV2OQkc-r7ugqP5t1drxScBQKjvTe2lSUQlNZxZR-D7VP3vIFNowP3iFq_er65bu__6bjx6YuMX2L-r_Xxd8Ca4NcEA/s581/In%20Room%20Teen%20Club%2019660411%20RC%20Tribune.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaPLeGQzSGvq8TUZq7csowjO_QEoaz0TAUYFmAH_XzEmG19UzPT7iu4RpZ-79JYO88ZnbdlUw8_eiJWIcBSYSJdGHIPdlYbV2OQkc-r7ugqP5t1drxScBQKjvTe2lSUQlNZxZR-D7VP3vIFNowP3iFq_er65bu__6bjx6YuMX2L-r_Xxd8Ca4NcEA/s320/In%20Room%20Teen%20Club%2019660411%20RC%20Tribune.jpg" width="301" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>April 11, 1966 Redwood City Tribune</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />A headline in the April 11, 1966 Redwood City <i>Tribune</i> exclaimed "Teen Club Closing Asked By Neighbors." The owners and tenants of the two office buildings next to the Chalet petitioned the Belmont City Council to revoke the permit of the Chalet Teen Club due to vandalism. It must have happened, since the club was closed shortly afterwards.<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX_ze2jmZFOCnKw0NFscLbHSLgzxJp45F2lmMAd8LnkItPXy1tNeyHl4RFwKfKQcFrgjlaMuoal1mhVk2PVjPBJSa-CzcVrwzmm1DgexvApWL8M2HAK6W6TCaX6oBys7fPhpgrlEdcYeYKQCL35rAXJTt1z7pnlyij3JAfbGI4vPEkG5iwov5z6YWA/s781/In%20Room%20demise%20SMT%2019660813.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX_ze2jmZFOCnKw0NFscLbHSLgzxJp45F2lmMAd8LnkItPXy1tNeyHl4RFwKfKQcFrgjlaMuoal1mhVk2PVjPBJSa-CzcVrwzmm1DgexvApWL8M2HAK6W6TCaX6oBys7fPhpgrlEdcYeYKQCL35rAXJTt1z7pnlyij3JAfbGI4vPEkG5iwov5z6YWA/s320/In%20Room%20demise%20SMT%2019660813.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>August 13, 1966 San Mateo Times</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />By August, a headline in the San Mateo <i>Times</i> said "Debris-Ridden Chalet 'Filthy,'" with a picture of the derelict club. At this point, 635 Old County Road truly was on the wrong side of the tracks. Soon there was no sign of the Chalet building. The Madison Apartments, at 649 Old County Road, first appears in listings in 1968. The Madison Apartments remain on the site.<p></p><p>The railroad has changed hands over the decades as well. I do not know if the Caution: Do Not Stop On Tracks sign is original. <br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5m-C6uCyEyviXMRhAxUHQ7qzTTOYUhxITZTFHVb8VQw9MrVm7Bd7cYezAb-yksPmEpvPE3SEs3tuiQEUD2V3KlteBJHDtrgeocYhtExiVvI6xp4HOl_ZsvI_AUSAaXy25sN6I_nqo6k113BQPEzfdM6w5GN7AL9rtRnQDnY6MIN5Pm2n2kXLEeoN/s544/Ralph%20Silva%20wedding%2019650421%20SMT.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="190" data-original-width="544" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb5m-C6uCyEyviXMRhAxUHQ7qzTTOYUhxITZTFHVb8VQw9MrVm7Bd7cYezAb-yksPmEpvPE3SEs3tuiQEUD2V3KlteBJHDtrgeocYhtExiVvI6xp4HOl_ZsvI_AUSAaXy25sN6I_nqo6k113BQPEzfdM6w5GN7AL9rtRnQDnY6MIN5Pm2n2kXLEeoN/s320/Ralph%20Silva%20wedding%2019650421%20SMT.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>April 21, 1965 San Mateo Times, listing the marriage license issued to Ralph N. Silva, 23, of Millbrae, and Leslie J. Renta, 20 of San Mateo. </i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>Appendix 1: Ralph Silva</b></i><br />I know almost nothing about Ralph Silva, but searching "Ralph Silva" gave me some links, so I'm assuming the "Ralph Silva" from Peninsula newspapers is the same one. If anyone knows better, please hit up the Comments and I will add to or change anything I've written here. <p></p><p>The April 21, 1965 San Mateo <i>Times</i> lists marriage licenses, and includes "Silva-Renta--Ralph N. Silva, 23, of Millbrae and Leslie J. Renta, 20 of San Mateo." Millbrae was two towns North of Belmont, and up the hill a little bit. One has to wonder if Leslie Renta was the same Leslie who had demonstrated the Bay Area's leading dance crazes when the In Room opened. I am going with "pretty likely."</p><p>The February 21, 1964 San Mateo <i>Times</i> also includes a notice for the wedding of Thomas Coster of San Bruno, and Ralph Silva is listed as an usher. Those who know too much will recognize the organist later made famous in Santana (who also played with <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/03/loading-zone-performance-list-1971.html">Loading Zone</a>, Larry Coryell, Steve Kimock and many other fine artists). San Bruno is the next town North of Millbrae, so this suggests that young Ralph Silva was a music guy early on. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjUN7Ofks14t4x8CGsudinDeFrJaAF4w30rnXgm5vWjAkYOeZuRLy2gL5gizS1Zxk0vpKWDECUkYq06AtVImjVhIe-mKCeIdDIa-W2TAWsPio31Rezi1-V-Lyx6o94RtXttM36OVf2M4q7NsP8LBvJ5IRCmfHgMk7_q6-u9M5wgS5wB3bRtsXDyG_V/s459/SMTimes660107a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="258" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjUN7Ofks14t4x8CGsudinDeFrJaAF4w30rnXgm5vWjAkYOeZuRLy2gL5gizS1Zxk0vpKWDECUkYq06AtVImjVhIe-mKCeIdDIa-W2TAWsPio31Rezi1-V-Lyx6o94RtXttM36OVf2M4q7NsP8LBvJ5IRCmfHgMk7_q6-u9M5wgS5wB3bRtsXDyG_V/s320/SMTimes660107a.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>January 7, 1966 San Mateo Times</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The January 7, 1966 San Mateo <i>Times</i> has a brief note that "Bob Mitchell and Ralph Silva, former owners of "Mother's" in San Francisco, have opened up a new night club in Redwood City called The Nu Beat." Bobby Mitchell and Tom Donahue's "Mother's" club was at 430 Broadway, and history has marked it as the City's first "psychedelic" night club. If Silva was a co-owner, it seems logical that as a young man partnering with two busy radio station djs, Silva probably actually ran the club for Mitchell and Donahue. The Nu Beat was 1836 El Camino Real in Redwood City (between Belmont and Palo Alto). The address was near "Five-Points," where Woodside Road intersected with El Camino Real. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhty7W0aKD1IZQwrcqRapNCoTaFXhBLGrTY61Wr5hxFyLYqkHQ6rDdcCmm2ixuAfTA6698DNTVoJ8Ykq3tYaTZ6kZ8Lh26k4GEwMrx-G0le9b6qpzURw2-22Y_Hrt6mhlB-GOqzlOwoTH4D5NIfdAZDOoq9N-YexKSAmQlAL_-XPRxe_A7Zv9w2oR3J/s470/SMTimes660107b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="470" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhty7W0aKD1IZQwrcqRapNCoTaFXhBLGrTY61Wr5hxFyLYqkHQ6rDdcCmm2ixuAfTA6698DNTVoJ8Ykq3tYaTZ6kZ8Lh26k4GEwMrx-G0le9b6qpzURw2-22Y_Hrt6mhlB-GOqzlOwoTH4D5NIfdAZDOoq9N-YexKSAmQlAL_-XPRxe_A7Zv9w2oR3J/s320/SMTimes660107b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Starting with the Morocco Room and the Beau Brummels, El Camino Real seemed like a ripe location for a rock and roll explosion. The In Room would have been the second rock joint on the boulevard, started by the proprietor of the first one. Fall '65 saw the Cinammon Tree in San Carlos (at 900 American Way, near El Camino), and <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/08/november-12-1965-tiger-go-go-san.html">the Tiger A-Go-Go in Burlingame, near SFO</a>. By 1966, it was followed by <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/10/tombstones-south-bay-1966.html">the Big Beat in Palo Alto (on San Antonio Road)</a>, the Nu Beat in Redwood City (which was later the Spectrum) and <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/08/4301-el-camino-real-san-mateo-ca-trip.html">The Trip in San Mateo (at 4301 El Camino)</a>. Note that the Nu Beat opening features acts from Autumn Records, including the Mojo Men and the Beau Brummels, and "Leslie, Our Go-Go Girl," most likely Mrs. Silva. </p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/08/1836-el-camino-real-redwood-city-ca-nu.html">When Mitchell and Donahue's businesses went bankrupt, the Nu-Beat seems to have become The Spectrum, and probably changed owners</a>. One of the bands that played The Spectrum was Luminous Marsh Gas, a somewhat more psychedelic version of The Frantics. Ken Kesey gave them their name. Jerry Miller and Don Stevenson were in the band, along with organist Chuck Schoning, <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2018/10/ace-of-cups-performance-history-1967.html">joined by singer Denise Kaufmann, soon to lead The Ace Of Cups</a>. <br /></p><p><i><b>Appendix 2: 635 Old County Road, Belmont, CA</b></i><br /><i><b>The Belmont Casino, 635 Old County Road, Belmont, CA </b>(circa 1959)</i><br />As near as I can figure out, the Chalet was originally called the Belmont Casino, and seems to have opened about 1959. I don't know if the building was new or remodeled. Presumably, no gambling was allowed. I believe the "Casino" name invoked Las Vegas, however. I'm not sure if there was initially entertainment or not. Old County Road was the former main road, on the opposite side of the train tracks from El Camino Real. Thus the location was broadly part of the El Camino Real "strip," but not on the boulevard itself (as noted above, the train tracks would turn out to play a role in the conversion of the Warlocks to the Grateful Dead).</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZ9OTUOYgFPExrPQU94U1BAmI9gcfb5XCoTiMmpCVkpPK7KUGMrmrQlaLLDhg_-_Pdce8FZRjBZ8j2xICdvlWr21dC4W5Ugwilj7DNMGTEfA0VOa6U66XQ_zSsREyKbrYHJnP6uSxr0fc59l1m7g4c-KB7l0e5k76FZuzIr2gRLi-i-uJGhhN6R2V/s825/New%20Belmont%20Casino%20San%20Mateo%20Times%2019541027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="819" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZ9OTUOYgFPExrPQU94U1BAmI9gcfb5XCoTiMmpCVkpPK7KUGMrmrQlaLLDhg_-_Pdce8FZRjBZ8j2xICdvlWr21dC4W5Ugwilj7DNMGTEfA0VOa6U66XQ_zSsREyKbrYHJnP6uSxr0fc59l1m7g4c-KB7l0e5k76FZuzIr2gRLi-i-uJGhhN6R2V/s320/New%20Belmont%20Casino%20San%20Mateo%20Times%2019541027.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>San Mateo Times, October 27, 1954</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><b>[update 20230529]</b></i> <i>Exceptional researcher and friend-of-the-blog David Kramer-Smyth found that the Belmont Casino opened on October 27, 1954. The featured act was The Pratt Brothers Quartet. </i><br /></p><p>From 1959
onwards, there were various mentions of events at the Chalet
such as Singles Club dances. For example "The Peninsula Guys And Dolls
Club," a club exclusively for divorced people, announced that it had
expanded its membership to include widows and widowers (bonus points if
you figure out the connection). The Peninsula Guys And Dolls Club held a
private dance on a Tuesday night, when the Casino was closed. The Casino's draw on the El Camino was thus established early on. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfgh_trc2TO-jYXA63hcphaV-mYv2QyRlyKdYIiHqY01y40bW4pLzcyG2pomlCaBE7V81Jd_2zXJCcOHvibNKuxHksFSa6IKkohYm9n3Enhmko13Jtd0aqja5HP6JvmYg3QX-Gt9XJ6-LzrXiDxZI0SWihUwMR_rANEjG-T8vj7tF1v86oe8E9M8e/s618/CHALET%20opening%20SMT%2019630308.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMfgh_trc2TO-jYXA63hcphaV-mYv2QyRlyKdYIiHqY01y40bW4pLzcyG2pomlCaBE7V81Jd_2zXJCcOHvibNKuxHksFSa6IKkohYm9n3Enhmko13Jtd0aqja5HP6JvmYg3QX-Gt9XJ6-LzrXiDxZI0SWihUwMR_rANEjG-T8vj7tF1v86oe8E9M8e/s320/CHALET%20opening%20SMT%2019630308.jpg" width="283" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The
March 8, 1963 San Mateo Times announced the opening of Phil
Martinelli's Steak Pit restaurant at the historic Chalet, 635 County
Road, Belmont (San Mateo was one town South of Belmont)<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><b>The Swiss Chalet, 635 Old County Road, Belmont, CA</b> (circa 1962)</i><br />The
Belmont Casino was re-named to The Swiss Chalet, or sometimes just The
Chalet, around 1962. By 1963, it principally advertised as a Steak
restaurant, with a heavy emphasis of the "steak pit" on the premises.
Steaks were the height of luxury dining in 1963 California, and the
"Steak Pit" presumably allowed diners to see their dinner being cooked,
instead of just kept in a freezer somewhere. The Chalet advertised
itself as a family restaurant, and encouraged diners to bring their
kids. By 1964, The Chalet advertised "Phil Martinelli's Steak Pit."
Martinelli also had Steak Pit restaurants in other cities on the
Peninsula. <p></p><p>The Chalet continued to hold various private dances,
presumably in an adjacent room. I assume the financial draw was that
many of the
attendees had dinner or drinks at the Steak Pit. I also assume that the
adjunct building was later converted into the In Room. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-74417124235016832562023-02-24T06:11:00.000-08:002023-11-24T14:44:50.184-08:00New Riders of The Purple Sage Tour History, January-April 1973 (NRPS IV)<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwsD2yKCkJD7WwRt1FTBv4xNY2bSTnHeRxUruklw-i1D29Ia-HNZhYC-b2cFGXHyG63u36I0SceAsM_mg1hT4J1ks9jBE2W4rx2TCBMX4NNPjsDa-57ieR-NZUcDKQlDNYTFhTvATop0SKQX6YjwICC4gIs3RE4Rq0piUxayfXJa3cPPw9jqqAclIz/s564/NRPS%20Capitol%2019730318%20VV%2019730222.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="383" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwsD2yKCkJD7WwRt1FTBv4xNY2bSTnHeRxUruklw-i1D29Ia-HNZhYC-b2cFGXHyG63u36I0SceAsM_mg1hT4J1ks9jBE2W4rx2TCBMX4NNPjsDa-57ieR-NZUcDKQlDNYTFhTvATop0SKQX6YjwICC4gIs3RE4Rq0piUxayfXJa3cPPw9jqqAclIz/s320/NRPS%20Capitol%2019730318%20VV%2019730222.jpg" width="217" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The ad in the February 22, 1973 Village Voice mentions "Special
Friends" on the bill, a reference no one would have missed. The Grateful
Dead were booked in Long Island during this weekend.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />New</b> <b>Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History, January-April 1973 (NRPS IV)</b><br />The music of Jerry Garcia casts a large shadow, if a shadow that is bright
rather than dark. It is so large, however, and so bright, that it
outshines many things around it. In the 21st century, the New Riders of
The Purple Sage are best known as the vehicle through which Jerry Garcia
created an opportunity to play pedal steel guitar as a sideman in 1970
and '71. When the demands of playing full-time with both the Grateful
Dead and the New Riders became too gargantuan a task, Garcia stepped
aside from the Riders. For most Deadheads, that's where the story ends. <br /><p></p><p>Yet
the story of the New Riders of The Purple Sage was only beginning. For
obvious reasons, the Riders are always compared to the Dead, and like
almost every other 20th century rock band, the Dead outshone NRPS by
many orders of magnitude. Compared to all the other bands struggling to
make it in the early 1970s, however, the New Riders of The Purple Sage
were hugely successful. After their debut album with Garcia in late
1971, they released four more albums with Buddy Cage on pedal steel in
1972 and 73. The albums sold well--<i>Panama Red</i> eventually was certified
Gold--and the New Riders were a popular concert attraction. </p><p>On
top of the Riders' undeniable success, they were still part of the
Grateful Dead's business operation. Grateful Dead tours were booked by
their in-house Agency, Out-Of-Town Tours, led by Sam Cutler. Cutler and
Out-Of-Town also booked the New Riders. So a review of the New Riders
touring history in 1972 and '73 shows both what lessons Cutler had
learned from the Dead's rise to success in 1970 and '71, and also
provided an avenue for Cutler to expand his relationships with promoters
who worked with the Grateful Dead. So the New Riders touring schedule
was both a do-over for what had come before and a rehearsal for what
would come later for the Grateful Dead. </p><p>This post will continue
the series on the tour history of the New Riders of The Purple Sage in
1972
and '73, with a particular emphasis on how their saga was both similar to and
different from that of the Grateful Dead. These posts would not have
been possible without the stellar research of fellow scholar David
Kramer-Smyth, whose contributions have been both deep and broad. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The first
post focused on the New Riders' performance history from January to
April, 1972</a>. The next posts focused on <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">the New Riders' performance
history
from May through August 1972</a>, and then <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/10/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">the New Riders'
performance history from September through December 1972</a>. This post will focus on the New Riders' performance history from January through April 1973. Anyone with
additions, corrections,
insights or just
interesting speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks
welcome. <br /></p><p><b><i></i></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZieJuZMEp_I0EZnK9H2pcKt8KTDazTOfikwhIQnqjGoT7XDAdTtKFO0OBgUco4AnE2MjMNEeNOokH4OiDvcomoEGbKcbMzFrG5y8W3G1wwQCORP2Res82i30i4xGP5ScXvIPmbvzTYPiqkV66NMLeQizaCfTJlP2Mw5t32bECCynQLSor3Z7MaBkK/s300/Nrps_gypsy_cowboy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZieJuZMEp_I0EZnK9H2pcKt8KTDazTOfikwhIQnqjGoT7XDAdTtKFO0OBgUco4AnE2MjMNEeNOokH4OiDvcomoEGbKcbMzFrG5y8W3G1wwQCORP2Res82i30i4xGP5ScXvIPmbvzTYPiqkV66NMLeQizaCfTJlP2Mw5t32bECCynQLSor3Z7MaBkK/s1600/Nrps_gypsy_cowboy.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The New Riders of The Purple Sage had released Gypsy Cowboy, their third album on Columbia, in December 1972</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><i><br />New Riders Status Report, New Year's Eve 1972</i></b><br />The
New Riders of The Purple Sage had had an excellent 1972. They had
released their second and third albums on Columbia, and established themselves as separate
from Jerry Garcia. Heavy touring in the Northeast, particularly in
colleges, was creating a solid fan base for them. The Grateful Dead were
more popular than ever, and the Riders' association with them only
helped. At the same time, there was an undeniable merger occurring
between hippies and country music, with more "country-rock" bands and more
country bands letting their hair grow a little bit. <p></p><p>The New
Riders were now a tight live band, playing two-hour shows that were a
mix of old and new material, both originals and covers. John Dawson was
still the focal point, but Dave Torbert's singing and writing made a
nice contrast. David Nelson sang the occasional country cover, too, just
to widen the band's scope. The record industry was booming, the concert
industry was booming, and the New Riders were good and signed to a major
record label. By any reasonable standard, the future looked very bright
for the band at the end of 1972.</p><p>The New Riders were still part of
the Grateful Dead family, and not just socially. Grateful Dead manager Jon
McIntire shared the same duties for the New Riders with NRPS road manager Dale Franklin. McIntire was the principal
go-between for the record companies. The Riders were booked by Sam
Cutler and Out-Of-Town Tours, who also booked the Dead. By booking
multiple bands, Cutler had more to negotiate and thus more leverage with
promoters and agents throughout the country. The Riders didn't have to
worry about being left out of the mix--Cutler's principal assistant was
Sally Mann Dryden, the drummer's wife (whom Cutler refers to now as
"Mustang Sally," perhaps a reference to her 428ci Ford Mustang). Travel
arrangements were made by the Grateful Dead's in-house agency, Fly By
Night Travel.</p><blockquote><b>The New Riders of The Purple Sage, <i>January-April 1973</i></b><br /><b>John Dawson</b>-vocals, rhythm guitar<br /><b>Buddy Cage</b>-pedal steel guitar (ex-Great Speckled Bird and Anne Murray)<br /><b>David Nelson</b>-lead guitar, vocals (ex-<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">New Delhi River Band</a>)<br /><b>Dave Torbert</b>-bass, vocals (ex-New Delhi River Band, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Horses</a>)<br /><b>Spencer Dryden</b>-drums (ex-Jefferson Airplane)</blockquote><p><b>February 14-17, 1973 The Gallery, Aspen, CO: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Wednesday-Saturday)</i><br />The New Riders had worked very hard throughout 1972. In the back half of the year they had recorded a new album and that had a grueling, but seemingly very successful National tour. So it's no surprise that they seemed to take a break the first six weeks of 1973. Apparently, their first shows of the year were four nights at a tiny club called The Gallery, in Aspen, CO. We have not yet been able to confirm this booking, but it seems likely.</p><p>Now, we think of Aspen, CO as a wealthy resort town, just a playground of the elite. But of course it became such a playground because it was an appealing place to go. Besides the skiing, and the beautiful Rocky Mountains, a bunch of freaks had congregated around the area. The most famous of these freaks was Hunter S. Thompson, who lived in nearby Woody Creek. So Aspen was a ski resort where long hair and weed were welcome, when that wasn't always the case in comparable destinations.</p><p>The Gallery itself was apparently the main (possibly only) nightclub in Aspen. Most famously, when David Geffen constructed The Eagles out of some Hollywood rock veterans who hung out at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, <a href="https://www.aspendailynews.com/local/five-songs-born-in-aspen/article_0ca91696-e146-11ec-97ff-b37f37e28ac3.html">he apparently sent them to The Gallery to be the house band for several weeks</a>. The new band played a couple of weeks in October of 1971, and then returned for a few more weeks in November. <a href="https://www.aspentimes.com/news/frey-had-strong-ties-to-aspen-partytown/">By the end, they were a real band. Glenn Frey would end up purchasing a house in Aspen, and became a long-time resident</a>. The status of Aspen as a hip playground rose along with the career of Frey and the Eagles. Hunter Thompson remained based in Woody Creek until he traveled on in 2006.<br /></p><p>In February of 1973, the New Riders would have been rusty after several weeks, the Aspen booking seems like a sort of paying rehearsal.<br /></p><p><b>February 19, 1973 International Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday)</i><br />The New Riders of The Purple Sage had built a strong market in the Northeast, but had less of a footprint elsewhere. The strategy for this leg of a tour seems to have been designed to use the Grateful Dead to introduce the Riders to a broader audience. The New Riders had played Chicago in December of '72, opening for Mott The Hoople (of all bands). I think this Monday was a Federal celebration of Washington's Birthday (which was actually February 22, 1732). <br /></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNh9KiVOPA_PhtHe7xDkAY8UE_omX8yZiTtNUets6hPUpz-YGM6qIQCEAdcjMF2jsp124VmtiC6Z7HOLniqIBk5DddVHhTRr717g35FbLs1VoNulkGSt6XTqhA3nWLO71fzT1O2_YHaGpH6738BIow_iDqSshpLANmVE_YBdCDovyDF9MAskx11SH/s1200/GD%20NRPS%20Illiniois%2019730221.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="639" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNh9KiVOPA_PhtHe7xDkAY8UE_omX8yZiTtNUets6hPUpz-YGM6qIQCEAdcjMF2jsp124VmtiC6Z7HOLniqIBk5DddVHhTRr717g35FbLs1VoNulkGSt6XTqhA3nWLO71fzT1O2_YHaGpH6738BIow_iDqSshpLANmVE_YBdCDovyDF9MAskx11SH/s320/GD%20NRPS%20Illiniois%2019730221.jpg" width="170" /></a></b></div><b><br />February 21-22, 1973 Assembly Hall, U. of Illinois, Champaign, IL: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><i> (Wednesday-Thursday)</i><br />The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, colloquially known as the University of Illinois, had been established in 1867. It is a huge school, currently enrolling 56,000 students. It is a few hours South of Chicago, in the flat plains of the agricultural Midwest. The size of the school, however, means it can support a huge rock market. Assembly Hall, at 1800 South 1st Street, was the school's basketball arena. It had opened in 1963, and had a basketball capacity of 15,000. It is surprising to see the Grateful Dead (or any band of the era) play two nights at a University instead of one, but the University of Illinois was large, with many students from the greater Chicago area. I don't know what the attendance was like.<br /><p></p><p><b>February 25, 1973 </b><i>[venue],</i><b> U. of Missouri, Columbia, MO: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />While the Grateful Dead played the University of Iowa (February 24) and the University of Nebraska (February 26), the New Riders of the Purple Sage went West on Saturday night to play the University of Missouri, in Columbia, MO. The University of Missouri had been founded in 1839, and it, too was a large Midwestern school (currently 30,000 students). </p><p>While Columbia, MO was a small college town at the time (population about 60,000), the University of Missouri was on I-70, midway between St. Louis and Kansas City. The New Riders had headlined in both cities, so they would have a ready-made audience at the University. I don't know what venue the band played. <b><br /></b></p><p><b>February 28, 1973 Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, UT: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Wednesday)</i><br />The Dead and the New Riders closed out their tour by playing together at the Salt Palace. Salt Lake City was conveniently located between the Midwest and California, so a lot of bands made tour stops there. The Salt Palace, at 100 S. West Temple street, had opened in 1969. It had a basketball capacity of about 12,000. At this time, the Salt Palace was home to the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association. The Stars would fold in early '75, ultimately replaced in 1979 by the Utah Jazz (who had relocated from New Orleans). </p><p>The New Riders had not played in Utah or generally in the Mountain West, so opening a Dead show was a proven way to introduce them to their future audience. We have a setlist from this show (possibly incomplete). The New Riders followed the Grateful Dead path, making a point to play songs that were not on albums. This was appealing to fans who had seen them before (not likely an issue in Salt Lake), and also allowed the band to hone their arrangements before going into the studio. The Salt Palace set included a cover of Red Allen's "Teardrops In My Eyes" (sung by Nelson), Dawson's new song "One Too Many Stories" and Dave Torbert's homage to Sally Mann Dryden, "Groupie." All three would end up on <i>The Adventures of Panama Red</i>, not recorded until the Summer. <br /></p><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RxUec9oU9mw9-3Es0ZRKn6xU8qz1giNuTWI37jPE_txJV7UwJh2Cs3ENsk057aO2VEWTBzGEWyBv-clkpSnwxxbIZRJsez8-wPRL1105kp96-94QR9VhQGzltTaIdAYIOSLRUH0dwR32C-xYJAL-IbaQp-Zpgjz3wVyO-EN2fksYRAa90bTbRIRP/s546/NRPS%20Cody%20BCT%2019730308.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="546" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RxUec9oU9mw9-3Es0ZRKn6xU8qz1giNuTWI37jPE_txJV7UwJh2Cs3ENsk057aO2VEWTBzGEWyBv-clkpSnwxxbIZRJsez8-wPRL1105kp96-94QR9VhQGzltTaIdAYIOSLRUH0dwR32C-xYJAL-IbaQp-Zpgjz3wVyO-EN2fksYRAa90bTbRIRP/s320/NRPS%20Cody%20BCT%2019730308.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>SF Examiner March 5, 1973</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />March 8, 1973 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen/Ramblin' Jack Elliott </b><i>(Thursday) Jolly Blue Giant Presents</i><br />6'7" Bill Ehlert, known locally as "the Jolly Blue Giant" was a club operator and promoter in Berkeley. <a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Jabberwock%20History.htm">He had run Berkeley's Jabberwock until it had closed in 1967</a>, and ran the Matrix for a while after that. In the 1970s, he promoted local concerts under the name Jolly Blue Giant. Berkeley Community Theater was both the local civic auditorium and the Berkeley High School auditorium. It seated about 3,500. It's unlikely that the New Riders and Commander Cody could sell it out on a Thursday night, but they probably drew a pretty good crowd. The New Riders were now a Bay Area concert headliner.<br /><p><a href="https://berkeleyfolk.blogspot.com/2010/09/commander-cody-and-his-lost-planet.html">Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen had moved from Ann Arbor, MI to Berkeley in Summer 1969.</a> Their hippie honky tonk was instantly popular. They regularly performed locally with the Dead and the New Riders, and were often booked with the Riders around the country. Their weren't a lot of long-haired pot smoking hippie bands playing rocking country music, so they made an excellent fit. George "Commander Cody" Frayne had even played on a few tracks of the <i>NRPS</i> debut album. </p><p>Paramount Records had released Cody and the Airmen's own definitive debut, <i>Lost In The Ozone</i> in November, 1971. They scored a memorable regional hit with Cody's cover of "Hot Rod Lincoln." Their second album, <i>Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Trucker's Favorites</i> had been released in May, 1972. At this time, although the Austin, TX based "Outlaw Country" scene was just starting, "country rock" seemed like a sound whose time had come. The Riders and the Airmen seemed to be among the harbingers.</p><p>Legendary folksinger (and Bob Dylan influence) Ramblin' Jack Elliott lived in the North Bay. He, too, was booked by Sam Cutler's Out Of Town Tours. He would often open for the New Riders, and often joined in to sing backup on a song or two. On this evening, he joined the Riders to help sing the Rolling Stones' song "Connection."</p><p>The New Riders had other guests in Berkeley, both of whom would appear many times in 1973. Singer Darlene DiDomenico was from New York, where she had been part of a singing duo with Dan Healy in 1970 and '71. When Healy returned to the West Coast to sign on as the Grateful Dead's soundman, she went, too, although she split with Healy. DiDomenico sang with a local band (whose name I have lost), but she was also employed as part of the Grateful Dead/New Riders complex (possibly with Out Of Town Tours). Thus she regularly sang with the New Riders, both in the studio and on stage. For example, she had sang on the <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i> album. In Berkeley, she sang on "Whisky," just like on the record.</p><p><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Harmonica player Matthew Kelly had been in various bands with Dave Torbert in 1968 and '69</a>. Kelly had ended up in England, in an American band (Gospel Oak) that had needed a new player. He sent a plane ticket for Torbert, then in Hawaii, to join him in London. David Nelson's girlfriend "coincidentally" called Torbert when he had stopped at his parents' house in Redwood City, and the boys had invited him to join the New Riders. Torbert called Kelly, who graciously told him to take the gig with Jerry Garcia. So Kelly was in good with the New Riders, notwithstanding he had known Nelson and Dawson as long as he had known Torbert. In Berkeley, Kelly sat in on 5 songs, including Torbert's newly-written "It's Alright With Me," which would end up on <i>Panama Red</i>.</p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODxdHXfyfsOR-OGCXrVloZ7yyFtvoWA5-aWZv6H7e5vd2K0LgxET6fwY8BZTsZndCwT5stZvrNyDabBo8KvI9XAEU83Dp2M6LiWgE_bb_uACbecrSuXXl37aQX1ljz6UrnYjxWtHKZDhLe3rzgGBcCiR9f5KuxkX-PFx7yYqkU36PARms87jFzkws/s2916/GD%20Nassau%2019730315.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2916" data-original-width="1912" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgODxdHXfyfsOR-OGCXrVloZ7yyFtvoWA5-aWZv6H7e5vd2K0LgxET6fwY8BZTsZndCwT5stZvrNyDabBo8KvI9XAEU83Dp2M6LiWgE_bb_uACbecrSuXXl37aQX1ljz6UrnYjxWtHKZDhLe3rzgGBcCiR9f5KuxkX-PFx7yYqkU36PARms87jFzkws/s320/GD%20Nassau%2019730315.jpg" width="210" /></a></b></div><b><br />March 16, 1973 Nassau Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />The New Riders had expected to begin their Eastern tour on Saturday, March 17, at SUNY Stony Brook (see below). Meanwhile the Grateful Dead were playing three nights at the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. For some odd reason, the Dead were booked for Thursday (March 15), Friday (March 16) and Monday (March 19). Saturday, March 17, had not been available, <a href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/NYI/1973_games.html">as the New York Islanders had a home game (they beat the St. Louis Blues 6-4</a>). Interestingly, these shows were produced by Bill Graham Presents, making a rare foray out of his Bay Area territory. <br /><p></p><p></p><p>In any case, the opening act booked to open for all three Nassau shows were Marin's Sons Of Champlin. The re-organized Sons had just released a new album on Columbia Records, <i>Welcome To The Dance</i>. The Sons were also booked by Sam Cutler's Out Of Town Tours, so it seemed that the plan was to build an East Coast audience for the Sons by introducing them to the Northeastern Grateful Dead fanbase. The New Riders, meanwhile, having built such an audience, could largely tour on their own. </p><p>The Sons opened the Dead show on Thursday, March 15. Tragically, however, the family of Sons bassist David Schallock was murdered in San Rafael by a disturbed young man with a shotgun. The Sons instantly abandoned their tour and returned home. The New Riders, already on the East Coast, filled in at Nassau on Friday and Monday. </p><p>The Grateful Dead were getting to be very popular in the Northeast, but they were not yet the automatic sellout that they would become. By adding an opening act, the shows were a longer party, and thus more appealing, even if the openers themselves (the Sons or the New Riders) did not in themselves attract a different audience. <br /></p><p><b>March 17, 1973 [<i>venue</i>], SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Ramblin' Jack Elliott </b><i>(Saturday) </i><br />The Grateful Dead had started playing Long Island's SUNY Stony Brook as far back as 1967. The New Riders had opened for the Dead there in 1970. Now, as the Dead had grown too large to play the school, the New Riders had played again on April 20, 1972 and now in '73. Granted, since college students graduate, almost no one in the school would have seen all the shows there. Still, there would have been undergraduate continuity and thus word of mouth. <br /></p><p>The New Riders probably played Pritchard Gym, with a (basketball) capacity of about 2,000, where the Dead had played previously. Ramblin' Jack Elliott opened the show and joined the New Riders for the encore of "Honky Tonk Women." The entire concert was released as an archival CD in 2007.<br /></p><p></p><br /><p></p><p><b><br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlPUHlW5_EwSPzgPr8SYKFMm6Yp8YbdNPUIdGNO1bLO09k1YUJsODcvRaGGWSXkFVnAz4ilNHV5rX3GB5nTu22RdXwCUDhXdzeLAF20HskgO55PzUS02DC5DkL2LP8zUik9WouOAAclyE3DagbpU2yY7YclvdHyVrS6kFv-Yb0oSA5yhkoYNzsZb9/s564/NRPS%20Capitol%2019730318%20VV%2019730222.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="383" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWlPUHlW5_EwSPzgPr8SYKFMm6Yp8YbdNPUIdGNO1bLO09k1YUJsODcvRaGGWSXkFVnAz4ilNHV5rX3GB5nTu22RdXwCUDhXdzeLAF20HskgO55PzUS02DC5DkL2LP8zUik9WouOAAclyE3DagbpU2yY7YclvdHyVrS6kFv-Yb0oSA5yhkoYNzsZb9/s320/NRPS%20Capitol%2019730318%20VV%2019730222.jpg" width="217" /></a></b></div><b><br />March 18, 1973 Felt Forum, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Ramblin' Jack Elliott </b><i>(Sunday) Ron Delsener Presents</i><br />Ron Delsener was a major Manhattan promoter who had taken on a bigger role in the rock market once Bill Graham had closed the Fillmore East. The Felt Forum was a theater in the basement of Madison Square Garden, first opened in 1968 (and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu_Theater">now the Hulu Theater</a>). The concert capacity appears to have been 4,332, although the theater could be configured at various sizes. The Grateful Dead and the New Riders had played four memorable nights at the Felt Forum on December 4-7, 1971. Now, the New Riders hd returned as the headliners.<br /><p></p><p>The March 18, 1973, New Riders Of The Purple Sage
show at The Felt Forum was broadcast in its entirety on WNEW-fm, New York
City's leading rock station. Besides being a fine broadcast of the New
Riders in their prime, the show featured numerous special guests.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Donna Godchaux helped out on vocals on
different songs, Jerry Garcia played electric guitar and banjo on a few
numbers, Bob Weir sang a couple, and Keith Godchaux played grand piano
for much of the show. The most memorable part of the performance,
however, was when Garcia, Weir and Godchaux joined the New Riders and
began the second set with a trio of gospel numbers: "Cold Jordan", "I
Hear A Voice Calling" and "Swing Low". Garcia played banjo and Weir
played acoustic guitar, the only instance of the two playing acoustic
together on the East Coast between 1970 and 1980.<br />
<br />
The
Grateful Dead were playing three nights at the Nassau Coliseum in
Uniondale in Long Island, but they had the Sunday night off to hang out with
the New Riders. It's remarkable enough that the Dead guested on a radio
broadcast, but thanks to the great <i><a href="http://streetsyoucrossed.blogspot.com/2011/03/1973-ads-madison-square-garden-and-felt.html">Its All The Streets You Crossed</a></i> blog, we can now see that the Grateful Dead were all but advertised in the <i>Village Voice</i>.
The ad above is from the February 22, 1973 edition of the <i>Voice</i>, a full
month before the show, and the ad says "New Riders Of The Purple Sage
& Special Friends." The message would be unmistakable: in 70s rock talk,
"Special Guests" would have meant 'opening act who hasn't been booked yet', but
"Special Friends" would imply extra people on stage. It wouldn't take a
genius to note the Dead's performance dates on Long Island and see that
they had the night off.<br />
<br />
There were plenty of live FM
performances in the 1970s, but relatively few of them featured guests,
as the record company was paying for the band to be on the air. The
economics of 70s FM broadcasts depended on some entity, usually a record
company, buying up the ad time that was "lost" during the time the band
was playing live on the air without commercials. Generally speaking, if
a record company paid for their band to be broadcast live on FM radio,
they did not want their sponsored act upstaged by friends, however
talented, when the purpose of the financial subvention was to promote
the company's act. Columbia Records, the New Riders label, would have
paid good money to make sure that the New Riders were broadcast live for
some hours on the biggest New York rock station. As a practical matter,
I suspect that Columbia agreed to purchase a substantial number of ads
through the month of March, rather than laid out cash <i>per se</i>, but the net effect would have been the same. <br />
<br />
In the case of the Dead, however, since they were
bigger than the New Riders and had a unique relationship to them,
Columbia would have been ecstatic to have the Dead join the New Riders
on the FM broadcast throughout the entire Tri-State area. For the Dead,
the significant factor here was that by Spring 1973 they had left Warner
Brothers and were working for themselves, so they didn't have to
concern themselves with whether their own record company "approved" of
them appearing with their friends. Since both the Dead and the New Riders
were booked by Out Of Town Tours, Sam Cutler's agency, coordination
would have been easy.<br />
<br />
In fact, as an indication of the clout of the Dead in this context, not only were the New Riders broadcast in their entirety, <a href="http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/asxcards/ramblinjackelliott1973-03-18feltforum.html">but the set of opening act Ramblin' Jack Elliott was broadcast as well</a>.
At the time, Elliott, though a legend, did not have a label and had not
released an album in three years (his last album had been released in
1970 on Reprise). However, Elliott was also booked by Sam Cutler, and
clearly the presence of Jerry Garcia was enough to induce Columbia to
subsidize the broadcast of Ramblin' Jack's set as well as that of the
Riders.<br />
<br />
However, since the
Dead were performing elsewhere, their contract with the Nassau promoter, old friend Bill Graham, would have prevented them from being
mentioned by name. Also, since the name "Grateful Dead" was not formally
invoked, the band members could show up and perform on whichever or
whatever songs they felt like. Knowing what we know today, <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/11/1972-73-muleskinnerold-and-in-way.html">Garcia
must have had his banjo with him because he was probably practicing
constantly, trying to get up to speed for Old And In The Way, which had
just begun to play in the Bay Area.</a> It's a great touch that he used
it to perform with the Riders--I think March 18, 1973 was almost the
only time he played banjo on stage with them (<a href="http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/04/nrps-matrix-1970-03-of-7-ln19700707.html">Garcia did play banjo briefly at a unique show at The Matrix on July 7, 1970</a>).
Besides the mini-acoustic set, Garcia played banjo on "Henry" as well
as electric guitar on "Glendale Train," obviously just having the kind
of fun he couldn't have if the marquee had said "tonight: NRPS with
Jerry Garcia."</p><p>Of all the unreleased New Riders tapes that circulate, the Felt Forum show is surely the most memorable. Hopefully it will be released in its entirety someday (<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/04/march-18-1973-felt-forum-new-york-ny.html ">I have discussed this concert at some length elsewhere</a>). <br /></p><p></p><p><b>March 19, 1973 Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday)</i><br />On their return to Nassau, Ramblin' Jack joined the New Riders for their "Connection" encore. He did not open the show, however.</p><p>For the opening leg of their Northeastern tour, the New Riders performed on eight consecutive nights (from March 16 through 23). Bands on the road rarely played this often, typically playing a couple of nights in a row and then having a few nights off. One thing to note, however, about this stretch was how the New Riders' gigs clustered around New York City. The travel obligations were a lot smaller, mostly only going from Long Island to Manhattan and back. <br /></p><p></p><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHzKWPyjNnMjjXpR1-vYf6XsKiQfys16azBTBQ4d1gQ6A7iAbnF5yJsjFkjq8_Fx6TDE45ZhM_D8jXVyboZRIlepsttYEAUTPujbP9ZPMUdk2h5hZ9oyyY9YsXCqgKz4cP3UQdWg_9mLlMN6xOp9OKH99y9Jk_sQUpEnBh0KPyJATfBbeo3nwEXC2/s330/NRPS%20Ticket%20Durham%2019730320.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="330" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilHzKWPyjNnMjjXpR1-vYf6XsKiQfys16azBTBQ4d1gQ6A7iAbnF5yJsjFkjq8_Fx6TDE45ZhM_D8jXVyboZRIlepsttYEAUTPujbP9ZPMUdk2h5hZ9oyyY9YsXCqgKz4cP3UQdWg_9mLlMN6xOp9OKH99y9Jk_sQUpEnBh0KPyJATfBbeo3nwEXC2/s320/NRPS%20Ticket%20Durham%2019730320.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />March 20, 1973 Field House, U. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday) S.C.O.P.E Presents</i><br />The New Riders broke out of their New York Metro bookings to play two gigs in New England. The University of New Hampshire is in Durham, about 270 miles from Manhattan (and just 65 miles North of Boston). Given the consecutive dates, the New Riders probably flew from La Guardia to Manchester airport (likely on long-gone Northeast Airlines). Durham, NH, is on the border of Maine, near the ocean, and has a population of about 15,000. The English had made their presence known as far back as 1622. UNH was founded in 1866. The University currently has a student body of 14,000, although I doubt they had that many students in 1973. <p>While Durham is only an hour North of Boston, the school seems pretty isolated. So the students would have heard Boston FM radio, yet there probably weren't that many local concerts. Thus a lot of students might attend a show on campus, even if they had only barely heard of the band. Also, although Durham itself was isolated, the students were often from suburbs or big cities, so a band like the New Riders could build a regional audience by playing colleges. The Riders played at the Field House, which had built in 1938. Most likely they played Lundholm Gym (part of the Field House), which had a capacity of 3,000.<br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdt3mUeh_C2RwHGVTpvwowzIwYpQgm0M1lQMSnlGaIhUGznyJvZc1Ema89MBs9cScMZIMM5epzDnhiq6I6sbptswAFbvpWIROjNnrmzH-foqgwl-lvKQkWBGHg1P8hOteg3HFNpDdVzlbWRK6Ueouz6DA0LO4iP4E90uyN1_xFsnyk9WGduMQVV2NY=s723" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdt3mUeh_C2RwHGVTpvwowzIwYpQgm0M1lQMSnlGaIhUGznyJvZc1Ema89MBs9cScMZIMM5epzDnhiq6I6sbptswAFbvpWIROjNnrmzH-foqgwl-lvKQkWBGHg1P8hOteg3HFNpDdVzlbWRK6Ueouz6DA0LO4iP4E90uyN1_xFsnyk9WGduMQVV2NY=s320" width="144" /></a></div><p><b>March 21, 1973 Palace Theater, Waterbury, CT: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Hot Tuna </b><i>(Wednesday) Shelly Finkel and Jimmy Koplik Present</i><br />On Wednesday night, the New Riders played for promoters Shelly Finkel and Jim Koplik in Central Connecticut. Finkel and Koplik had been promoters in the New England area for about two years, initially using the name Cable Music. They had booked the New Riders in December, 1972 in Boston. <br /></p><p>Jim Koplik had gotten his start as a
promoter in college, putting on a Steppenwolf concert in 1968 at Ohio
State when he was a student. Around 1972 he teamed up with Shelly Finkel
to form Cable Music. Finkel was a bit older, and Koplik was the "house
hippie," a common enough arrangement in concert promotion at the time.
Entrepreneurs who knew the business side were not
necessarily able to navigate who was cool and who was not, so they
needed a younger partner.</p><p>Shelly Finkel (b.1944) wasn't some neophyte
in the concert business. In 1967, Finkel (then running a dating
service) managed to parlay a job passing out flyers into managing the
Action House in Long Island. The Action House was the premier rock club
in the region, breaking local bands like Vanilla Fudge and the Vagrants,
and also putting on shows by touring bands like the Doors, Cream and
the Grateful Dead (on November 9-10, 1970). </p><p><a href="https://msmokemusic.com/blogs/mind-smoke-blog/posts/rock-geography-the-action-house-island-park-ny">The
owner of the Action House was an infamous Long Island club owner named
Phil Basile. Over the years, he was involved in numerous other Long
Island clubs and discos, including Speaks (the re-named Action House),
My Father's Place, Channel 80 and Industry</a>. In the late 60s,
however, thanks to the Action House, Basile had recognized how much
money there was in live rock music. Basile formed the promotion company
Concerts East, who put on most of the Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin
shows in the East in the 68-70 period (the Grateful Dead had opened for
Hendrix at a Concerts East production at the Temple Stadium in
Philadelphia on May 16, 1970). While Finkel had just been Basile's house
manager at the Action House, he would have had plenty of intersection
with the larger business of rock promotion. Finkel and Koplik played a
critical role in the Grateful Dead's success in the early to mid-70s,
and did so for the New Riders as well.</p><p><a href="https://www.palacetheaterct.org/about-us/history">Finkel and Koplik booked the New Riders at a now-legendary venue called the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT</a>.
Waterbury is between Hartford (33 miles to the Northeast) and New York
City (77 miles to the Southwest). It had (and has) a population of
around 110,000. In the first half of the 20th century, it was a thriving
industrial city. From the 60s onward, however, Waterbury underwent a
severe economic decline. As a rock peculiarity, however, Waterbury had a
large movie theater from its glory days, and easy freeway access from
larger areas. The Palace Theater, at 100 E. Main Street in downtown, had
been built in 1922. By the early 1970s, it wasn't apparently in great
shape, but it had a capacity of a few thousand and fantastic acoustics.
It went from being an oversized movie house to a destination rock
concert venue. </p><p>The New Riders had played the Palace in May 1972 (for different promoters), and now they returned to play for Finkel and Koplik. By pairing them with Hot Tuna, the weeknight show was a more appealing draw, while still providing a payday for both bands. The show would not have had to sell out to be worthwhile financially for all concerned. This very same night, <a href="https://jerrybase.com/events/19730321-01">about 200 miles Northwest of Waterbury, Finkel and Koplik were presenting the Grateful Dead in Utica, NY</a>. <br /></p><p></p><p><b>March 22, 1973 46th Street Rock Palace, Brooklyn, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/others <i>(Thursday) (ABC In Concert Taping) broadcast May 11</i></b><br /><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/07/november-2-1972-hofstra-playhouse.html">In December, 1972 ABC debuted <i>ABC In Concert</i>, a bimonthly 90-minute rock show on Friday nights at 11:30pm</a>. <i>In Concert</i> was instrumental in breaking open the late night market for TV networks, paving the way for Tom Snyder's <i>Tomorrow</i> and <i>Saturday Night Live</i>, because the show indicated that young people would stay up to watch interesting "non-family" TV. For suburban teenagers like me, <i>ABC In Concert</i> was like a portal to a New World. The shows were staged for TV, yes, but the bands were playing in real venues with their real equipment in front of a live audience. I was stuck in the suburbs, but <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/vintagerocktv/usa/abc-in-concert">at least I got a glimpse of all the bands touring the United States while I was in High School</a>.</p><p>The New Riders appearance on <i>ABC In Concert</i> was filmed on a Thursday night in Brooklyn. The former Loew's Theater was called Banafish Gardens at the time. Back in 1970, the theater was briefly a competitor to the Fillmore East called The 46th Street Rock Palace. The Grateful Dead and the New Riders had headlined four thinly-attended shows on November 11-14, 1970. <a href="https://abandonednyc.com/tag/brooklyn-rock-palace/">The 3000-capacity former movie theater had first opened in 1927, had been converted into a rock venue around October 1970</a>. The
venue was located at 46th Street and 11th Avenue in Brooklyn, near Alben
Square. The venue booked some of the top touring acts: The Byrds, The
Youngbloods, the Dead, Jefferson Airplane and others. The venue had only been
open for a few weeks. There were plenty of Grateful Dead fans
in New York City, and plenty even in Brooklyn, but for whatever reasons
fans did not come to the 46th Street Rock Palace. By 1973, the theater was called Bananafish Gardens and periodically used for taping <i>ABC In Concert</i>, but it's not clear how many other times the venue was used. <br /></p><p><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/vintagerocktv/usa/abc-in-concert">The New Riders episode of <i>ABC In Concert </i>was broadcast on May 11, 1973. Other acts on the show were Hot Tuna, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gladys Knight And The Pips</a>. I don't know for sure if all three of those acts also recorded this night in Brooklyn (I would bet that Hot Tuna did, since we know where they were the night before). At this time of the <i>In Concert </i>broadcast, I had all three New Riders' albums, but had never seen them live. When they jammed out on"Willie And The Hand Jive," teenage-me was thrilled: I had no idea they sounded that cool in concert. It's impossible to underestimate the impact of <i>ABC In Concert</i> (and competing shows on other networks) on expanding the audience for different touring bands during this era. The New Riders were no exception.<br /></p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpf3fQ1qPF7PSW5Cxgn7tc-vKSmsQ8-swJI_xVJsFBOMrGlnxFb2viZPpSgCtkedQ-9OU6Nd_NUQoxlYFlhSViLIThVD2r5F3i27mLJj7vFgIXBQSyBL3G8QdgpIMaY45BnDevK4mcpoVzMI1rT2TPkN1xEBtrXwzVdVVGrI0EsJl0R_2aq4TjbREw=s452" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="132" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhpf3fQ1qPF7PSW5Cxgn7tc-vKSmsQ8-swJI_xVJsFBOMrGlnxFb2viZPpSgCtkedQ-9OU6Nd_NUQoxlYFlhSViLIThVD2r5F3i27mLJj7vFgIXBQSyBL3G8QdgpIMaY45BnDevK4mcpoVzMI1rT2TPkN1xEBtrXwzVdVVGrI0EsJl0R_2aq4TjbREw=s320" width="93" /></a></div><p><br /><b>March 23, 1973 Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Ramblin' Jack Elliott </b><i>(Friday) </i><br />For this weekend, pity poor John Scher. In New York at the time, Howard Stein and Ron Delsener promoted shows North of the Hudson River (New York City proper) and John Scher generally promoted shows South of it (in New Jersey). Scher's principal venue was the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ. Scher booked both the Grateful Dead and the New Riders throughout 1972 and '73. Scher had booked the New Riders at the Capitol for Friday, March 23, 1973, five days after the Felt Forum show. The New York City (Tri-State) metro area is so large that the Passaic show would have drawn a different crowd than the Felt Forum show, even though they were only 20 miles away from each other.<br /><br />
However, with the Dead having made a
surprise guest appearance at the Felt Forum show, and the Riders opening for the Dead, the buzz would have
been in the air, so everybody in New Jersey must have assumed that the
Dead were going to drop in at Passaic, too. Never mind if that's a
rational judgment: I guarantee you everybody standing in line for the
show that night had heard about New York (probably in a greatly
exaggerated fashion) and was fully expecting Jerry and the boys to make
an appearance. Anyone on the Deadheads mailing list could have seen that
the Dead were booked for Utica on March 22 and the Spectrum March 24,
so it would have seemed perfectly plausible. <br />
<br />
The 1973
New Riders were a great live band, and I'm sure they put on a terrific
show at the Capitol. Kathleen Miller of the Paterson <i>News</i> gave the band a very positive review, although she didn't seem that familiar with the material. Still, I think that the audience was probably still let down. It
must have been tough for the Riders to rock through their best songs
while a crowd of Jersey Deadheads (plus some Philadelphia lunatics, of course)
shouted "Jerrrry!" </p><p>Per the Miller review, Ramblin' Jack's opening set was poorly received, even if he was backed on a few numbers on drums by actor Michael J Pollard. Sound problems marred Elliot's set, a common enough scenario for solo performers playing big halls. <br /></p><p></p><p><b>March 25, 1973 Playhouse, Hofstra U., Hempstead, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday) early and late shows</i><br />The Hofstra University Playhouse was an 1105-seat theater on the Hofstra campus. Hofstra is a private college that was founded in 1935. It currently has about 10,000 students, although I don't know if it had that many in 1972. Ramblin' Jack sang at least one song with the New Riders in the early show, so I wouldn't be surprised if he opened the shows as well. <br /></p><p><b>March 30, 1973 War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday) Festival Presents</i><br />The New Riders played a couple of Grateful Dead dates, where they had a chance to add to the Dead's audience and also pick up some new fans. Although the New Riders' audience overlapped about 100% with the Dead,
by booking them, the show was longer and more of an event, so it would
have been appealing to bored teenagers looking to fill up the whole
evening.</p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-grateful-dead-in-upstate-and.html">The Grateful Dead had been playing Rochester since 1970</a>. After playing some smaller halls, they were moving up. The Community War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester had opened in 1955, and had a capacity of over 11,000 for concert (now the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Cross_Arena">Blue Cross Arena</a>). </p><p>We know that Keith Godchaux played piano on at least some of the New Riders' songs, possibly all of them. Keith would go on to sit in with the New Riders a number of times over the next two weeks, occasionally joined by his wife.<br /></p><b>March 31, 1973 Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday) Harvey n Corky Present</i><br />The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (not "War Memorial") was a big old concrete block, built in 1940 with a concert capacity of around 18,000.<br /><p>
It's doubtful that the Dead sold out an 18,000 seater in Buffalo in
1973, even on a Saturday night. But they probably didn't have to. The
economics of the show were probably that the promoter could break even
on a half-filled arena, and the band and promoter split the overage. Why
was there such a big venue in Buffalo? Buffalo, in its way, is a symbol
of the history of the Erie Canal and New York State. When the Erie
Canal took hold in the 1830s, Buffalo was the gateway to Lake Erie and
thus the city was a critical transportation hub linking Canada, the
Atlantic Ocean (via the St. Lawrence Seaway) and Manhattan, all via
canals and later railways, feeding the Central and Upstate
manufacturers. In 1940, Buffalo had a population of 575,901.<br />
<br />
By 1970, however, the world had changed and Buffalo was declining
significantly, with a population of only 462,768. It was shrinking
during the Baby Boom. Still, there were still a lot of people in
Buffalo, many of them young, and they wanted to rock and roll like
everyone else. The biggest local promoters were "Harvey 'N' Corky." The
independent production company was run by Corky Burger and two brothers,
Harvey and Bob Weinstein. After some years as successful concert
promoters, the Weinstein brothers moved into the movie business. Miramax
pictures was extremely successful in ensuing decades. Harvey Weinstein
is also widely known as a convicted rapist.<br />
<br />
It's pretty likely that Harvey Weinstein, a former SUNY Buffalo student,
had had some engagement with a Howard Wales/Jerry Garcia concert in
Buffalo in January 1972, and at <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">a New Riders show at SUNY Buffalo on April 12</a>, so that probably provided a level of confidence for the
bands to book with an untried promotion company. Things must have gone
well, since the Dead played for Harvey 'N' Corky Productions again later
in the year, and again in 1977. </p><p>Once again, it's known that Keith Godchaux sat in with the New Riders for a few numbers, possibly more.<br /></p><p><b>April 2, 1973 Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday) Cable Music Presents</i><br />The Boston Garden, at 150 Causeway Street, was the city's principal arena. It had been built in 1928 and had a capacity of about 15,000. It was the home arena for both the NHL Boston Bruins and the NBA Boston Celtics. As a result, potential concert dates were limited. At this time, no specific promoter had an exclusive least on concerts at the Garden. Jim Koplik and Shelly Finkel were presenting the Dead for their debut at the Garden.</p><p>Boston was both awash in college students and a big city surrounded by suburbs, so it's no surprise that the Grateful Dead had a big following. Still, the Dead had played Boston less than you might expect prior to 1973. Nonetheless, per a Boston <i>Globe</i> review, the Dead managed to sell out the Boston Garden, even though it as a Monday night. Once again, booking the New Riders as part of the show seems to have been a strategy to help fill out the crowd when the Dead were playing in bigger places than they had played previously. </p><p><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/01/boston-april-2-1973-robert-hunter-and.html">As a funny footnote, sometime earlier in the tour, David Nelson had told Robert Hunter that he had a dream where he was writing songs like "serving up cheeseburgers."</a> Hunter then than turned up in Nelson's hotel in Boston with the lyrics to the song "Crooked Judge" (supposedly adding "do you want fries with that?"). Nelson would write the music, and the song would turn up in New Riders' sets in the Fall. It was later released on the 1974 album <i>Brujo</i>. <br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_mqJ7PRfi1w9d4vO4mnV_ZabI9_PIk5-dbHdmpDJmFQJ2qJ17oHY7ryr6VtHhVZxpMv0d2iflMoCfgg2q5LVBP3YtMn0xJ2LCvlYKJQS89H5aTC2G4Nfo1e-xzorO4_zFnQufCYh8vazH6mNEhsNu_qjfSylZecqFXihsQPiHgD0M-bhsg17YvOKx=s448" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="448" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_mqJ7PRfi1w9d4vO4mnV_ZabI9_PIk5-dbHdmpDJmFQJ2qJ17oHY7ryr6VtHhVZxpMv0d2iflMoCfgg2q5LVBP3YtMn0xJ2LCvlYKJQS89H5aTC2G4Nfo1e-xzorO4_zFnQufCYh8vazH6mNEhsNu_qjfSylZecqFXihsQPiHgD0M-bhsg17YvOKx=s320" width="320" /></a></div><b>April 3, 1973 Orpheum Theater, Boston, MA: Hot Tuna/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday) Don Law Presents</i><br />The Grateful Dead's Spring tour had ended at Boston Garden on Monday night, but the New Riders kept right on rolling. The next night, the band played their first gig for Boston promoter Don Law. <a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/07/december-31-1969-boston-tea-party.html">The Grateful Dead had played for Don Law at the Boston Tea Party in October and December 1969, including New Year's Eve in Boston</a>. Law was one of many promoters in the Boston area, but the Dead had not played for him since '69. By the mid-70s, the Grateful Dead would play the Boston area exclusively for Don Law, a relationship that remained intact until 1995. Similar to John Scher and Jim Koplik, it seems that the New Riders were the ones who re-initiated the Dead's relationship with Law.<p></p><p>Don Law Jr was the son of Columbia Records Staff Producer Don Law Sr (1902-1982). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Law">You can look up Law Sr's remarkable career, yourself</a>, but among many other things he produced Robert Johnson's recordings (yes, that Robert Johnson) and became head of Columbia's Nashville division, steering the careers of the likes of Johnny Cash. Law also produced numerous legendary country hits himself, like "El Paso" (Marty Robbins) and "Battle Of New Orleans" (Johnny Horton). </p><p>Don Law Jr was a Boston University college student when he started presenting local events. By mid-1968 he ran the Boston Tea Party, Boston's principal underground rock venue. The Tea Party was particularly legendary for booking touring English bands like Jethro Tull and Ten Years After. Law also co-owned Boston's first full-time FM rock station, WBCN. WBCN began broadcasting on March 15, 1968, with dj's often spinning records from a studio on an upper floor of the venue itself (the all-night DJ, known as "The Woofuh Goofuh," was future J Geils Band lead singer Peter Wolf). </p><p>The tiny Tea Party had closed by the end of 1970. Law went on to book other venues, but initially he was just one of many promoters in the competitive Boston marketplace. There were numerous college students in the center of town, plus public transport to bring in teenagers from the suburbs, so there was a market for far more events than in some typical bohemian downtown neighborhood. Every hip band came through Boston, whether mainstream or underground, but they didn't just play one or two places.</p><p>By 1973, Don Law Jr's principal, though not only, venue was the 2700-seat Orpheum Theater, at 1 Hamilton Place. On this Tuesday night, Law booked Hot Tuna and the New Riders together, like so many other promoters. One interesting thing to consider is whether Keith and Donna Godchaux played with the New Riders this night, since we know they played at least two of the next three nights. <br /></p><p><b>April 4, 1973 Atwood Hall, Clark U., Worcester, MA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Wednesday early and late shows) </i><br />Worcester, MA is about an hour West of Boston, and <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/03/atwood-hall-clark-university-worcester.html">the Grateful Dead had played at Clark University there in 1967 and '69</a>. The Dead returned to Worcester on May 9, 1970, with the New Riders but this time at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The bands had played Harrington Auditorium (at 100 Institute Road), built in 1968 and home to the school's basketball teams. The venue held about 3,000.</p><p>The New Riders now returned to headline Atwood Hall at Clark. Atwood has only 658 seats, so there were early and late shows. An archival cd of the complete show was released by Kufala Records in 2003. Keith Godchaux sat in with the New Riders for both sets, and Donna Godchaux sang a few numbers as well, including singing lead on Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man." Keith would have known all the New Riders material from all the shows the bands played together, and he adds a lot to the band's sound. </p><p>It's worth noting that the Godchauxs' presence couldn't have been casual. The Grateful Dead had returned home, and yet Keith and Donna stayed on tour. Bringing a piano player on stage also means that a piano has to acquired, and at Clark it seems to have been a grand piano. It may have been a university piano. <br /></p><b>April 6, 1973<i> [venue]</i>, Syracuse, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage (Friday) </b><br />On Friday night the New Riders played Syracuse. I don't know the venue, but given that it was a weekend it could have been Loew's Theater, a 2900-capacity theater at 362 S. Salina Street. I'll bet Keith and Donna sat in, too.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8FNudcqhG6wdQPmpEX0O-AbnSu_5PXIZu9AHe5i20h753EKTIozlsJCiHdR_AP1DQgMvJ06m5IjT4GbCt9MOy0391G6mS7ZEMY82vI9sJInL57kCgeiJEOsfRvTKkyhTqt106XhS7WvWILc6t53V_V0OwnPTwSJvzBW8TeelNfB7_gNDW04Xfy_ze=s1725" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1725" data-original-width="703" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8FNudcqhG6wdQPmpEX0O-AbnSu_5PXIZu9AHe5i20h753EKTIozlsJCiHdR_AP1DQgMvJ06m5IjT4GbCt9MOy0391G6mS7ZEMY82vI9sJInL57kCgeiJEOsfRvTKkyhTqt106XhS7WvWILc6t53V_V0OwnPTwSJvzBW8TeelNfB7_gNDW04Xfy_ze=s320" width="130" /></a></div><p><b>April 7, 1973 McGonigle Hall, Temple U., Philadelphia PA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Meters/Dr. John </b><i>(Saturday) Electric Factory Presents </i><br />McGonigle Hall was a relatively new 3900-capacity basketball arena at Temple University. The arena had only opened in 1969, and was located at Broad and Montgomery, just North of downtown. The concert was co-promoted by the Temple Student Union and Electric Factory. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-grateful-dead-electric-factory-and.html">The Electric Factory were Philadelphia's biggest rock promoters, and had been presenting the Grateful Dead since 1968 (and would continue through 1995)</a>. The size of the venue and Electric Factory tells us that the audience wasn't exclusively students, but also downtown rock fans (although Temple Students got tickets for $4 instead of $5).</p><p>The Electric Factory probably didn't expect the New Riders to sell McGonigle out, but by having a bigger venue they could absorb as big a crowd was available. The show must have been an absolute banger. Dr. John The Night Tripper had played with the New Riders many times in 1972. In late February, he had released his sixth album, <i>In The Right Place</i>, on Atco. It was Dr. John's best selling album, and it would reach #24 later in the summer. The signature hit single "Right Place, Wrong Time" would reach #10 in the Summer. There were other great songs on the album, too: "Qualified," "Such A Night" and "I Been Hoodoo'd," to name a few. </p><p>As if The Night Tripper wasn't enough, his backing band on this tour was the same as his album, namely New Orleans very own Meters. Each member of The Meters--guitarist Leo Nocentelli, organist Art Neville, bassist George Porter and drummer Ziggy Modeliste--was an absolute monster. So The Meters would play an incredibly funky set, Dr. John would come out, and then the New Riders had to follow that.</p><p>At least the New Riders came heavily armed. Keith Godchaux played electric piano for the whole show, and Donna sang on a few songs, including joining in for the "Honky Tonk Women." Such a night, indeed.<br /> </p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYONKsQ3olSD4PYBofaqDQfbJogNnhasaOnaE5YoYTOL3uFsXyeA8u8m7fn7zdfB5W2buJMUGO8OLelFHdcOYskR_X0ZiFpBGeY7mpHg2HKqOMZJNjN8D6Cm05b3K1oNW4q5AX94oWHB3XW-spZVaK1mvb04eAfJPWvDFcnpgB9dVcboabTYvCmaW9=s1277" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="1277" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYONKsQ3olSD4PYBofaqDQfbJogNnhasaOnaE5YoYTOL3uFsXyeA8u8m7fn7zdfB5W2buJMUGO8OLelFHdcOYskR_X0ZiFpBGeY7mpHg2HKqOMZJNjN8D6Cm05b3K1oNW4q5AX94oWHB3XW-spZVaK1mvb04eAfJPWvDFcnpgB9dVcboabTYvCmaW9=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Newsday listing from April 7, 1973 for the Monday, April 9 New Riders show at Queens College</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /><b>April 9, 1973 Colden Auditorium, Queens College, Flushing, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday) 7pm-9:30pm shows </i><br />The Grateful Dead had played Colden Auditorium at Queens College on October 10, 1970. Once again, the New Riders were following a prior trail. <br /></p><p>Queens College had been established in 1937, and by 1970 was part of
CUNY (City University of New York). In 1970, the school had also adopted
an "Open Admissions" policy, allowing any New York High School graduate
to attend regardless of scores and grades. So, no matter what, it was a
forward looking place at the time. There were probably about 15,000
undergraduates in 1970. Colden Auditorium had been built on the campus in
1961, and had a capacity of 2,085. The fact that there were early and late shows suggest that the show was trying to draw people from around the area, not just college students.<br /></p><p></p><b>April 13, 1973 <i>[venue]</i>, Pittsburgh, PA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday)</i><b><br />April 14, 1973 <i>[venue]</i>, Providence, RI: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />A tour ad lists two final weekend dates, in Pittsburgh and Providence. Both seem very plausible, and these may have happened, but we can't find any confirmation. <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTLaqCbkobCjW8Ol81hFpwdWhxYxshbxAjpdfRDi1GhifQkxT-bZT_dEKIyfQ2oRyvDvbt9TdkUWmwEqF8qkBVNJeLFbD0G_UNH-D9vuv3NDGk2ba2aQq7iMBbOMpD44TzNZ3WsVlItXB5evtme4ykyqAA-0fGjcrBknI7Q_G3NDFZd81n1nruMlA/s361/NRPS Bruce Ahmanson 19730501.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="358" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTLaqCbkobCjW8Ol81hFpwdWhxYxshbxAjpdfRDi1GhifQkxT-bZT_dEKIyfQ2oRyvDvbt9TdkUWmwEqF8qkBVNJeLFbD0G_UNH-D9vuv3NDGk2ba2aQq7iMBbOMpD44TzNZ3WsVlItXB5evtme4ykyqAA-0fGjcrBknI7Q_G3NDFZd81n1nruMlA/s320/NRPS Bruce Ahmanson 19730501.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><b>May 1. 1973 Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show/Bruce Springsteen</b><i> (Tuesday) </i><br />Whenever the New Riders Northeastern tour exactly ended, the band returned to California and took most of the month off, prior to a run along the West Coast later in May. In between, however, there was one extremely interesting performance in downtown Los Angeles, a reminder that the hippie New Riders were signed to a very big corporation.<p></p><p>Columbia Records was the largest record label in the world, and also a division of the powerful Columbia Broadcasting System, so the label could do things on a scale beyond that of other labels. In early 1973, Columbia chose to book all their major acts in Los Angeles' finest theater for seven consecutive nights. The real purpose of this mini-festival was to showcase their acts for radio djs, talent agents and Columbia sales staff. This was commonly done at company sales conventions. At a typical sales convention, however, with the drinks flowing, newly-signed bands found themselves playing to drunk industry pros catching up on gossip with their pals. By selling tickets at a big theater, the hall was filled with regular civilians who liked the bands. It was more of a true concert atmosphere, and the pros could more fairly guage the impact of each band. </p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYo8Cjhf0rhVO6vRBheAy2Lyos4drlf2_PbKEm2cyhv1DNiJscV5usucG0jTXQtK3COG0xsVIx0CFWD9IWnhpC0AYXdNBw6GTQ2WqvolEHIf91kU6kEVdQYajAGESZs2dPCxnBzMvUL3-KFOExxiiuGsPbeevXo_bMjD9gnBSue6ECsyQ6Ydnwhec/s1271/Ahmanson 19730501 29 Apr 1973, 577 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers com.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1271" data-original-width="765" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYo8Cjhf0rhVO6vRBheAy2Lyos4drlf2_PbKEm2cyhv1DNiJscV5usucG0jTXQtK3COG0xsVIx0CFWD9IWnhpC0AYXdNBw6GTQ2WqvolEHIf91kU6kEVdQYajAGESZs2dPCxnBzMvUL3-KFOExxiiuGsPbeevXo_bMjD9gnBSue6ECsyQ6Ydnwhec/s320/Ahmanson 19730501 29 Apr 1973, 577 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers com.png" width="193" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmanson_Theatre">The Ahmanson Theatre had opened in 1967</a>, as part of the Los Angeles Music Center. It was Los Angeles' premier theater, and regularly featured prominent Broadway productions. For the week of April 29-May 5, Columbia booked the 2084-capacity Ahmanson for seven nights, with three acts each night. The acts ran the gamut, as Columbia was prominent in rock, soul, country, jazz and pop styles. Billboard reviewed all seven nights, which were apparently 95% sold out (<a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0003.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">Part 1 is here</a>, and <a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0014.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">Part 2 can be seen here</a>). <p></p><p><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/08/may-1-1973-ahmanson-theater-los-angeles.html">The New Riders played Tuesday, May 1, headlining the show over Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show.</a> Dr. Hook had released their album <i>Sloppy Seconds</i>, which included their lasting single "Cover Of The Rolling Stone." Opening the show was one Bruce Springsteen, who had released his debut album <i>Greetings From Asbury Park</i> in January 1973. Columbia recorded and filmed the shows professionally. Bits and pieces of all seven nights have turned up over the years. A tape of the five-song Springsteen set has circulated for decades, and a fragment of the video even turned up in a 1998 BBC documentary. Apparently the entire set can be found on YouTube now.<br /></p><p>An unnamed <i>Billboard</i> reviewer ran down the Ahmanson show in the May 19, 1973 issue:</p><p></p><blockquote><i>If any one artist captured the essence of what the week was really about it was Bruce Springsteen. Latest in Columbia's recent acquisitions of singer-songwriters (Bill Quateman & Andy Pratt) he has an appeal that borders on the universal...a glowing and vibrant performer in his own right.</i></blockquote>Conversely, the reviewer was scathing about Dr Hook, calling them "insufferably self-indulgent...instrumental sloppiness and vocal insipidity did nothing to salvage their performance."<br /><br />All in all, the Riders came out fairly well. He says:<p></p><p></p><blockquote><i>The New Riders of The Purple Sage have uncovered nothing new or outrageous, but they do what they do very well and with more than a little bit of inspiration. The mode is country, mellow and laid back yet ready to set off sparks at a moment's notice. Joined by Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Keith Godchaux and Donna Godchaux they transformed the staid Ahmanson into a veritable hoe-down.</i></blockquote><p></p><p>So Bob Weir made his last appearance with the New Riders, and Keith and Donna played yet another gig with the band, lending a little star power to the proceedings. This was never nothing in status-conscious LA. Also, given that we know the Springsteen material exists, it's just possible that there is professional audio and video of the May 1 NRPS Ahmanson show, deep in the Columbia vaults. </p><p><i><b>New Riders of The Purple Sage Status Report, May 1, 1973</b></i><br />By May, 1973, the New Riders of The Purple Sage had released three albums on Columbia Records, all of which had been moderately successful. The band had established themselves as a successful touring entity independent of Jerry Garcia. They were inevitably associated with the Grateful Dead, which was not at all a bad thing, but it made it harder to establish a fully separate identity. Long-haired country rock seemed to be rising in popularity, although no one suspected that the Outlaw Country sound coming out of Austin at this time would supersede it. The New Riders were becoming an established act in the Northeast, able to fill the smaller halls and college gyms that the Grateful Dead had been filling just a few years earlier. </p><p><i><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2023/11/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">For the next post in the series (NRPS Tour History May-Sep 1973) see here</a></i><br /></p><p></p><br /><br />Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-63183792339304105692022-10-21T14:07:00.003-07:002023-02-24T06:14:18.074-08:00New Riders of The Purple Sage Tour History, September-December 1972 (NRPS '72 III)<p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgddnXQN-YzpdZAwHgyGyckaY8E4k54uVwfNbmi9JvNb16uVjk-zLHhTHjrc_I9mQJ3ZGrnPPA_icupE3a3dGQ-KVB-qbabfWu4hd5qVI-a59nlz10iSukodqkqByWFUKXGwL-4-9febYlCkoX1XODxqJ1xnJKOVqf_ixWdJPc0SG-sXVoEUAgKEuLP=s300" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgddnXQN-YzpdZAwHgyGyckaY8E4k54uVwfNbmi9JvNb16uVjk-zLHhTHjrc_I9mQJ3ZGrnPPA_icupE3a3dGQ-KVB-qbabfWu4hd5qVI-a59nlz10iSukodqkqByWFUKXGwL-4-9febYlCkoX1XODxqJ1xnJKOVqf_ixWdJPc0SG-sXVoEUAgKEuLP" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Gypsy Cowboy, the third album on Columbia by the New Riders of The Purple Sage, was released in December 1972. The name was inspired by a Western botique in St. Louis, MO<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />New</b> <b>Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History, September-December 1972 (NRPS III)</b><br />The music of Jerry Garcia casts a large shadow, if a shadow that is bright
rather than dark. It is so large, however, and so bright, that it
outshines many things around it. In the 21st century, the New Riders of
The Purple Sage are best known as the vehicle through which Jerry Garcia
created an opportunity to play pedal steel guitar as a sideman in 1970
and '71. When the demands of playing full-time with both the Grateful
Dead and the New Riders became too gargantuan a task, Garcia stepped
aside from the Riders. For most Deadheads, that's where the story ends. <br /><p></p><p>Yet
the story of the New Riders of The Purple Sage was only beginning. For
obvious reasons, the Riders are always compared to the Dead, and like
almost every other 20th century rock band, the Dead outshone the NRPS by
many orders of magnitude. Compared to all the other bands struggling to
make it in the early 1970s, however, the New Riders of The Purple Sage
were hugely successful. After their debut album with Garcia in late
1971, they released four more albums with Buddy Cage on pedal steel in
1972 and 73. The albums sold well--<i>Panama Red</i> eventually was certified
Gold--and the New Riders were a popular concert attraction. </p><p>On
top of the Riders' undeniable success, they were still part of the
Grateful Dead's business operation. Grateful Dead tours were booked by
their in-house Agency, Out-Of-Town Tours, led by Sam Cutler. By December 1972, Cutler and
Out-Of-Town were also booking the New Riders. So a review of the New Riders
touring history in 1972 and '73 shows both what lessons Cutler had
learned from the Dead's rise to success in 1970 and '71, and also
provided an avenue for Cutler to expand his relationships with promoters
who worked with the Grateful Dead. Thus the New Riders' touring schedule
was both a do-over for what had come before and a rehearsal for what
would come later for the Grateful Dead. </p><p>This post will continue
the series on the tour history of the New Riders of The Purple Sage in
1972
and '73, with a particular emphasis on how their saga was similar to and
different from that of the Grateful Dead. These posts would not have
been possible without the stellar research of fellow scholar David
Kramer-Smyth, whose contributions have been both deep and broad. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The first
post focused on the New Riders' performance history from January to
April, 1972</a>. The next post <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">focused on the New Riders' performance history
from May through August 1972</a>. This post will focus on the New Riders' performance history from September through December 1972. Anyone with additions, corrections,
insights or just
interesting speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks
welcome.</p><b><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScJZw8hC-_e8pJWRJla3q0QTEK6f7qPRFw-E6if-s4zXWseYnUppS5h5dFo_aRx6bqhF9i7amEUixl9CYACJ-Za1RorHgc1BpPMR1lAr0Pbwh9T2ECeBaATq2gozNwPih41fW-LFPvnIMr8XvupnTgGKiscFTTOit_KOvSvXSGhqr1_5MtC2XBOjc/s254/NRPS%201972%20band%20photo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="254" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgScJZw8hC-_e8pJWRJla3q0QTEK6f7qPRFw-E6if-s4zXWseYnUppS5h5dFo_aRx6bqhF9i7amEUixl9CYACJ-Za1RorHgc1BpPMR1lAr0Pbwh9T2ECeBaATq2gozNwPih41fW-LFPvnIMr8XvupnTgGKiscFTTOit_KOvSvXSGhqr1_5MtC2XBOjc/s1600/NRPS%201972%20band%20photo.jpg" width="254" /></a></div><br />New Riders of The Purple Sage Status Report, September 1972</i></b><br />Buddy
Cage had debuted with the New Riders of The Purple Sage on November 11,
1971. Amazingly, his debut was broadcast live on FM radio, perhaps a
unique occurrence in rock history. Throughout the Fall of 1971, the New
Riders of The Purple Sage had toured the country with the Grateful Dead,
often broadcasting live on FM radio along with them. As far as I can
tell, the <i>NRPS</i> album got a fair amount of FM radio airplay throughout
the country. <i>NRPS</i> had reached #39 on the <i>Billboard</i> charts, fairly respectable
for a debut album without a big AM hit single. Still, although the New
Riders had scored a successful debut, they no longer had their most
high-profile member. Yet while the absence of Jerry Garcia also provided freedom, the New Riders were going to have to make it in 1972 flying under
their own power. <br /><p>Nonetheless, the New Riders were still part of
the Grateful Dead family. Grateful Dead manager Jon
McIntire shared the same duties for the New Riders with NRPS road manager Dale Franklin. McIntire was the principal
go-between for the record companies, while Franklin focused on the day-to-day of touring. The Riders were booked by Sam
Cutler and Out-Of-Town Tours, who also booked the Dead. By booking
multiple bands, Cutler had more to negotiate and thus more leverage with
promoters and agents throughout the country. Cutler pal and henchman Chesley Millikin handled the New Riders for the Agency. In any case, the Riders didn't have to
worry about being left out of the mix--Cutler's principal assistant was
Sally Mann Dryden, the drummer's wife (whom Cutler refers to now as
"Mustang Sally," perhaps a reference to her 428ci Ford Mustang). Travel
arrangements were made by the Grateful Dead's in-house agency, Fly By
Night Travel.</p><p>The New Riders' second album <i>Powerglide</i>, had been
released in April, and had done just about as well as their
debut. The New Riders had toured the East Coast with some seriousness in
the Spring, and had even joined the Grateful Dead in Europe. Performances
were somewhat intermittent in the Summer of 1972, mainly because a number of
shows that were canceled when the Byrds were unavailable to headline.
Nonetheless, Columbia was clearly behind the band, and the New Riders had
begun recording their third album in the Summer. For the fall, the New
Riders were going to tour the Northeast and elsewhere, building on their
Grateful Dead association while trying to stand on their own two feet. </p><blockquote><b>The New Riders of The Purple Sage, <i>September-December 1972</i></b><br /><b>John Dawson</b>-vocals, rhythm guitar<br /><b>Buddy Cage</b>-pedal steel guitar (ex-Great Speckled Bird and Anne Murray)<br /><b>David Nelson</b>-lead guitar, vocals (ex-<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">New Delhi River Band</a>)<br /><b>Dave Torbert</b>-bass, vocals (ex-New Delhi River Band, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Horses</a>)<br /><b>Spencer Dryden</b>-drums (ex-Jefferson Airplane)</blockquote><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoFjgky5lDMX4QEJer_HUNCyPNh94L0OrF0gDOxEFWYEF2lrPyzwUSkDir0U3_h9znL_Qo8qtvwbJc0hDCimJY7y9HLJK_aX051rqx5uDl91gx3O9kUEh3Idm0baWfwpBCTASDuzMRaQp6wEi7AmjBAfzfV5_74lhXgCjgv9CGgAVPzRJUXfFNn1L/s1200/GD%20ticket%2019720919.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="1200" height="101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEoFjgky5lDMX4QEJer_HUNCyPNh94L0OrF0gDOxEFWYEF2lrPyzwUSkDir0U3_h9znL_Qo8qtvwbJc0hDCimJY7y9HLJK_aX051rqx5uDl91gx3O9kUEh3Idm0baWfwpBCTASDuzMRaQp6wEi7AmjBAfzfV5_74lhXgCjgv9CGgAVPzRJUXfFNn1L/s320/GD%20ticket%2019720919.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br />September 19, 1972 Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><br />The New Riders of The Purple Sage had toured hard throughout the Summer of '72, but they only played a few shows in the six weeks between the Springfield Creamery Benefit in Oregon (August 27) and the start of a Canadian tour (October 21). I believe they spent most of their time recording their third album for Columbia Records. <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i> would be released in December. Columbia had the New Riders producing two albums in the same year, a somewhat punishing pace for a band that toured a lot. By 1972, most major-label bands were producing just one album a year. John Dawson had written a slew of songs from 1968 to 1970, so the debut album had featured the best of them. Some of the Dawson songs on <i>Powerglide</i> dated from before the first album. Like in any major-label group, there was a lot of pressure on the songwriters--in this case Dawson and Dave Torbert--to come up with viable new material. <p></p><p>John Scher was the rising young promoter in New Jersey. Once Bill Graham had closed the Fillmore East, New Jersey became viable territory for rock concert promotions. Along with his partner Al Hayward, Scher was booking the Sunshine Inn in Asbury Park and the Capitol Theater in Passaic. Scher had also arranged to put on concerts on a decaying, largely unused minor league stadium in Jersey City, NJ. Roosevelt Stadium, built in 1937, had a baseball or football capacity of about 24,000, and since rock concerts could put people on the field, as well, the concert capacity was even bigger, probably approaching 40,000. <br /></p><p>Roosevelt Stadium was at the Southern end of Jersey City. Its location (Rte 440 at Danforth Avenue) was perfectly positioned for all of Northern New Jersey to reach it by car, since it was at the nexus at what now would be (now) Route 1, Route 9 and the New Jersey Turnpike (Exit 14). Roosevelt Stadium had a big parking lot, so suburban kids in their parents' station wagon did not have to circle the block in strange neighborhoods looking for street parking. At the same time, Jersey City was just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, so New York City fans had a relatively easy time getting to the stadium as well. Roosevelt was cheap to rent, had twice the capacity of Madison Square Garden, and no regular sports tenants competing for dates (<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/12/roosevelt-stadium-danforth-ave-and-nj.html">I wrote about the history of the Grateful Dead and Roosevelt Stadium at length elsewhere</a>). </p><p>Scher booked the band Chicago to headline the first Roosevelt Stadium rock concert, on July 13, 1972. For the second one, however, he booked the Dead, and they drew 23,000 fans on a Tuesday evening. Who knew the Grateful Dead could draw so many on a weeknight? Roosevelt, with low upfront costs and easy access for both New York Metro and the Jersey suburbs, was a sign of the future growth of American rock concerts into football stadiums. Scher booked the Grateful Dead to return to Roosevelt Stadium just three months later, joined by the New Riders of The Purple Sage. </p><p>John Scher would go on to become one of the most successful American rock promoters, and he played a critical role in the Grateful Dead's rise to concert prominence. From 1976 onwards, Scher booked every Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia concert East of the Mississippi (Bill Graham covered the West). Yet Scher's relationship with the Dead actually began with the New Riders. T<a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">he New Riders had played at Scher's Capitol Theater in Passaic (at 326 Monroe St) on April 22, 1972</a>. It must have gone well, since Scher booked the Dead at Roosevelt shortly afterwards (as the July 18 show must have been booked by May). Now, both the Dead and the New Riders were returning to Roosevelt together. Although the New Riders were probably busy recording their next album, it would have been worth their while to fly out and join the Dead for such a high-profile show. <br /></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe45dLS0XyoJZ_md_OfCaHvr2pSARhalMEtgreiSAw_IFSgT5kKShRuR5ViCZIYobSWYCIqOnE2WQqvtbuyo49eWw6C_7jsT_iltVxEtfoDHnoDamwTOXzozRqjcYRAViItmXi5L4v_fio1KjYtQDwgbB-UZWoCnxTe7BkPNAhwHmt3X9_NwImYtHH/s988/Miles%20Davis%20NRPS%20Frost%2019721001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="988" data-original-width="840" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe45dLS0XyoJZ_md_OfCaHvr2pSARhalMEtgreiSAw_IFSgT5kKShRuR5ViCZIYobSWYCIqOnE2WQqvtbuyo49eWw6C_7jsT_iltVxEtfoDHnoDamwTOXzozRqjcYRAViItmXi5L4v_fio1KjYtQDwgbB-UZWoCnxTe7BkPNAhwHmt3X9_NwImYtHH/s320/Miles%20Davis%20NRPS%20Frost%2019721001.jpg" width="272" /></a></b></div><b><br />October 1, 1972 Frost Amphitheatre, Stanford U., Palo Alto, CA: Miles Davis/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday) 2:00pm</i><br />Stanford University had a complex, contested history with rock bands performing on campus. The Grateful Dead, for example, seem to have been informally banned from campus as many as three times in three different decades. Stanford had great facilities in a county where there were no proper rock venues, but the University didn't really need any revenue from concerts. Frost Amphitheatre, a beautiful open-air grass bowl holding up to 11,000, had been used off an on for rock concerts since the 1960s. The venue wasn't very secure, however, and locals knew how to sneak in. A Sly Stone concert in October 9, 1970--Sly was hours late--and a Tower Of Power concert in 1971--Santana made an unannounced guest appearance--were particularly troublesome. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/09/palo-alto-rock-concerts-1970-73-palo.html">Stanford responded by banning having any rock concerts on campus</a>. <p></p><p>Stanford didn't ban jazz concerts, however. <a href="http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/06/jgms-october-3-1971-frost-ampitheater.html">In October, 1971, the "Stanford Jazz Festival" had featured Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders, along with some conventional jazz acts</a>. The next year, in '72, Miles Davis headlined at Frost. Miles' 9-piece band was probably as loud as any rock band, although I don't think you could dance to it. The New Riders supported Miles, although in fact for some reason they came on stage after Miles. Both Miles and the Riders were on Columbia, which probably explains the connection, but it's still an odd booking. What happened? <a href="http://www.plosin.com/MilesAhead/Sessions.aspx?s=721001">According to a Miles Davis site, the same old same old:</a><br /></p><p></p><p><span id="lblNotes"></span></p><blockquote><span id="lblNotes"><i>Fistfights and gate crashing marred the performance of Miles Davis and the New Riders
of the Purple Sage yesterday at Frost Amphithetare. ASSU organizers opened the gates
at 4 pm after a crowd of 300 outside the amphitheater repeatedly rushed the gate
and threw rocks at Santa Clara County Sheriff's deputies hired to provide security. </i></span></blockquote><p></p><p><span id="lblNotes">The Miles Davis set was apparently broadcast on the campus radio station, KZSU-fm, who had been broadcasting live since 1968. </span></p><p><span id="lblNotes"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtQJTH9j0rAUwa1TB_5Jn2pOAIjg3ZA438KzMcf3-ZQlQ7AOeCkTZxp62TqYEuYI09CMsB2ey8Oq3xq-tvdyx3H3kqSXc9JtHOuYdJVBh9Kw_JVdrv6Dhe3-F6lBeDxCcqB_zFvMdvRyQUpHJNDpXl1sMo6vZk27fvKvcvc1AhvixMxga1hs9o_Ro4/s800/Torbert%20Frost%2019721001%20ph%20Mazzy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtQJTH9j0rAUwa1TB_5Jn2pOAIjg3ZA438KzMcf3-ZQlQ7AOeCkTZxp62TqYEuYI09CMsB2ey8Oq3xq-tvdyx3H3kqSXc9JtHOuYdJVBh9Kw_JVdrv6Dhe3-F6lBeDxCcqB_zFvMdvRyQUpHJNDpXl1sMo6vZk27fvKvcvc1AhvixMxga1hs9o_Ro4/s320/Torbert%20Frost%2019721001%20ph%20Mazzy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Dave Torbert (top), David Nelson (b-r) and John Dawson (l) of the New Riders of The Purple Sage, at Frost Amphitheatre on the Stanford University campus, October 1, 1972. Photo "Mazzy"</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><span id="lblNotes"> <a href="https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/new-riders-of-the-purple-sage-an-open-discussion-of-everything-nrps.873597/page-29">Over on the Hoffman Forums, user "Mazzy" posted some photos of the New Riders from that day</a>. </span><p></p><table class="fullWidth"><tbody><tr><td class="bold"><br /></td></tr><tr><td><br /></td></tr><tr><td><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9Epj4_o_WcoumU09s1lZwbqVouH2XmnihkL0ltQlO5is5uZ_4LMkKPBQfQN3OFQ8TvJpV_ppZ913Wld2bZuUzOynU7k8Z__5ehFTW57pVlM7J4MS8GXDepwuIN5EpvXP288De28kOBttjiNQVfxMz5usE0E14GUrBNU2BKnR8HQplIg4ltkreWUJI=s591" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="439" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9Epj4_o_WcoumU09s1lZwbqVouH2XmnihkL0ltQlO5is5uZ_4LMkKPBQfQN3OFQ8TvJpV_ppZ913Wld2bZuUzOynU7k8Z__5ehFTW57pVlM7J4MS8GXDepwuIN5EpvXP288De28kOBttjiNQVfxMz5usE0E14GUrBNU2BKnR8HQplIg4ltkreWUJI=s320" width="238" /></a></div><b><br />October 9, 1972 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday) Benefit for Grateful Dead Crew</i><br />The Grateful Dead, in a unique event in the history of rock, had a Monday night benefit for crew members so they could afford to buy houses. What few benefits bands have ever held for crew members have always been for some tragedy--only the Dead ever had one for healthy living crew members. The New Riders opened the show. Grace Slick made a guest appearance during the second Dead set. <br /><p></p><p><b>October 21, 1972 The Gardens, Vancouver, BC: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr John </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />With recording presumably done for <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i>, the New Riders set out on a tour of the Pacific Northwest. We have announcements of a number of dates, but there seems to have been some cancellations, and some of the venues are unclear. The Riders were supposed to have played a place called The Coral (more likely "The Corral") in Calgary on Thursday, October 19, but that show seems to have been moved to the Victoria Pavilion. A review in the Calgary <i>Herald</i> (October 20) mentions opener Dr. John playing the show, and notes that the New Riders were no-shows. <br /></p><p>Both the New Riders and Dr. John were booked two nights later at a place in Vancouver called The Gardens. I have no idea where "The Gardens" were, or if the New Riders actually played. </p><b>October 24, 1972 The Garden, Seattle, WA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr. John </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><br />The tour continued into Seattle. I don't know anything about a place called The Garden in Seattle, and indeed with a similarly-named place in Vancouver, I wonder if there isn't a transcription error. <p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSuT18WobpauFYX06J6oSh5UljRjdl5XCzW1zdPl-hHJ5sRPUNqUHHJYNNi_yK-HeY1Qbh7bzcKcb1FkZ354iTR3lvvr2YxPLBsWe7woSlK_Ma2eFPOvak9CMa6VDleOYeVByEghAeFzAL1h7MVnOnzqAj073GbY1PWTxQOE0Rr6kqd4di0_vTcixR=s1832" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1352" data-original-width="1832" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSuT18WobpauFYX06J6oSh5UljRjdl5XCzW1zdPl-hHJ5sRPUNqUHHJYNNi_yK-HeY1Qbh7bzcKcb1FkZ354iTR3lvvr2YxPLBsWe7woSlK_Ma2eFPOvak9CMa6VDleOYeVByEghAeFzAL1h7MVnOnzqAj073GbY1PWTxQOE0Rr6kqd4di0_vTcixR=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The October 16, 1972 Spokane Chronicle describes the week of events for Homecoming at the University of Idaho. The New Riders played the gym on Wednesday, October 25</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>October 25, 1972 Memorial Gym, U. Of Idaho, Moscow, ID: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Wednesday) </i><br />Universities were lucrative gigs for bands willing to travel. At this juncture, the New Riders were a nice cross between a genuine (pot-smokin') hippie rock band and country music, which probably reflected the musical tastes of a lot of areas outside of big cities. Universities had entertainment budgets, so ticket costs only had to cover a portion of the expenses. The New Riders concert in the gym was part of week-long festivities for Homecoming, culminating in a big football game on Saturday (October 28)<br /><p></p><p>The University of Idaho is a public land-grant
research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and
primary research university. Formed by the
territorial legislature on January 30, 1889 (Idaho only became a state on July 3, 1890), the university opened its
doors in 1892 on October 3, with an initial class of 40 students. The
first graduating class in 1896 contained two men and two women. UI now has
an enrollment exceeding 12,000, with over 11,000 on the Moscow campus. I don't know how many it had in 1972. War Memorial Gymnasium is a 2,500-seat multi-purpose indoor arena that had opened in November, 1928. </p><p><b>October 26, 1972 Kennedy Pavilion, Gonzaga U, Spokane, WA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Thursday)</i><br />Gonzaga University is a Jesuit school in Spokane, which had opened in 1887. It currently has 7,500 students, although I don't know how many it had at this time. <a href="http://midcenturyspokane.org/property/john-f-kennedy-pavilion/">The band played the John F. Kennedy Memorial Pavilion</a>. The Pavilion was named in honor of JFK as the country's first Catholic president. The building was completed in 1965, and the basketball gym could hold 3,800 fans. The building is now known as the Charlotte Y. Martin Centre. The highly-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team played in the Martin Centre until 2002, when they moved into the 6000-seat McCarthy Athletic Center.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMU02lyPu1KwS-yLEqlg6qGsSBL_93uyJwqGT6unlAhkNnm_VLt884sQKCmEzSZgrJYvudZUZfGfwR6QVeWZT_pRD5lxbc1wOcAWuswB9w1T0c6ErBWdp0PypPtni7FcQ6jbvRV2E7TIhbnF1ORj76u7JJQHC_LS5A9oTBN5IpOt2pkJ7YqGu_ff2E=s2592" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1944" data-original-width="2592" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMU02lyPu1KwS-yLEqlg6qGsSBL_93uyJwqGT6unlAhkNnm_VLt884sQKCmEzSZgrJYvudZUZfGfwR6QVeWZT_pRD5lxbc1wOcAWuswB9w1T0c6ErBWdp0PypPtni7FcQ6jbvRV2E7TIhbnF1ORj76u7JJQHC_LS5A9oTBN5IpOt2pkJ7YqGu_ff2E=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, at 1515 J Street, as it appeared in 2009</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>October 27, 1972 Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, CA: Tower of Power/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Doobie Brothers </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />Befitting the capital city of a booming state, Sacramento opened the Memorial Auditorium downtown at 1515 J Street in February, 1927. It had a capacity of 3,687, huge for the time. The Sacramento rock market in the 60s wasn't large, but its proximity to San Francisco made it an attractive "extra" booking for bands touring on the West Coast. By the 1970s, the rock market had exploded, so Bay Area bands would play the Sacramento Auditorium regularly. Multiple acts would be booked to draw different ticket buyers.<p></p><p>For this Friday night, there were three rising Bay Area bands that had established themselves, but were not yet big draws. There seems to have been a conscious effort to book contrasting bands who would not draw from the same core audiences. Anyone who went, however, regardless of who they intended to see, would have found themselves at a great show. </p><p>Tower Of Power had been playing around the Bay Area since early 1970 (and long before under different names). In May, 1972 they had released their epic second album on Warners, <i>Bump City</i>. That record is so far ahead of its time that it sounds contemporary now. Big songs off the album were “Down To The Nightclub” and the ballad "You're Still A Young Man." The latter got huge airplay in the Bay Area, and while it wasn't a giant National hit, it was huge in Northern California. On top of their recent recorded success, Tower were absolute monsters on stage, and surely brought down the house (because they always do).</p><p>Shows are usually booked about 90 days in advance, so back in July the Doobie Brothers would have just released their second album on Warners, <i>Toulouse Street.</i> The Doobies' debut had not done particularly well, and the band had been slugging it out at all the local clubs like the Keystone Berkeley in the meantime. By October of '72, however, the Doobie Brothers had a giant hit on their hands with "Listen To The Music," and the <i>Toulouse Street</i> album was racing up the charts. </p><p>The New Riders had really gotten their act together by the end of '72, and they sounded great as well. Ironically enough, they would have been facing off against two classic Bay Area bands just hitting their prime. All in all, this would have been a great show for anyone who went. All three bands would be stand-alone headliners by the next year. <br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0uo0ximlRAwZmpXBuHKto6JTlqOj_hzhLznplUyrYyfAD2Imyc1F2xn6HCDnG2MzIJzvVXodbvl9TxtKowvsxaBzfyFpaSOFA_ZqJzhV2Hf22_gnPzeEa5SuxqPVaK5uZB2hHYuljxK9-X0sZmCXDXXRb_8ZYl3kVX1FReEhzFSFBK5LwGaGDV4N3=s1498" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1498" data-original-width="760" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0uo0ximlRAwZmpXBuHKto6JTlqOj_hzhLznplUyrYyfAD2Imyc1F2xn6HCDnG2MzIJzvVXodbvl9TxtKowvsxaBzfyFpaSOFA_ZqJzhV2Hf22_gnPzeEa5SuxqPVaK5uZB2hHYuljxK9-X0sZmCXDXXRb_8ZYl3kVX1FReEhzFSFBK5LwGaGDV4N3=s320" width="162" /></a></div><b>November 3-4, 1972 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Hot Tuna/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Rowan Brothers </b><i>(Friday-Saturday) </i><br />The New Riders returned to familiar territory, booked for Friday and Saturday night underneath Hot Tuna. Jefferson Airplane had recently completed a tour, and were on a hiatus that would last for seventeen years, although no one knew that at the time. Hot Tuna, meanwhile, in contrast to the other Airplane members, played around as much as they could. At this time, Tuna's most recent album was <i>Burgers</i>, their third on the Airplane's label Grunt (distributed and financed by RCA). <i>Burgers</i> had been the group's first studio album. Hot Tuna now had a stable lineup, which hadn't really been the case in previous years. Along with Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, Sammy Piazza was the drummer and Papa John Creach played his inimitable electric violin. Papa John was also a member of Jefferson Airplane. <p></p><p>The Rowan Brothers opened the show. Cutler had probably wangled the Rowans onto the bill as a favor. Brothers Chris and Lorin Rowan had released their debut album on Columbia a few months earlier. Since they lived in Stinson Beach, their uphill neighbor Jerry Garcia had been sincerely, but unfortunately, quoted as saying they were "like the Beatles." They weren't bad, actually, but they weren't the Beatles. In electric concert configuration, Lorin Rowan played lead guitar and shared vocals with his brother (who played rhythm). Their producer "David Diadem" played keyboards, along with bassist Bill Wolf and drummer Jack Douglas. </p><p>The one time I saw the Rowan Brothers, opening for the Grateful Dead a month later (<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/10/december-10-12-1972-winterland-grateful.html">December 12 '72</a>), I was quite surprised when "David Diadem" jumped out from behind the organ and played a blazing electric mandolin solo. Later in life, I figured out that the Diadem monicker was the <i>Nom Du Rock</i> of David Grisman, so the mandolin solo finally made sense. </p><p><a href="https://jerrybase.com/events/19721103-01">According to the most reliable source, on Friday (November 3) the Rowans were joined by Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar for two numbers</a>. Garcia had played on the album and a few live shows with the band, so he knew the tunes. There is no evidence, however, that Garcia played with the New Riders on Friday.<br /></p><b>November 8, 1972 Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA: Hot Tuna/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Wishbone Ash <i>(Wednesday) two shows 7 & 11pm</i><i> </i></b><br />Hot Tuna and the New Riders played Wednesday night at the fairly substantial Hollywood Palladium. The Palladium, at 6215 Sunset Boulevard, had opened as a big band hall in 1940. It had a capacity of about 4,000. A weekday show wasn't expected to sell out, most likely, but a bill with different bands might draw different fan-bases. <br /><p>Opening the show was the English quartet Wishbone Ash. The Ash were a unique band with twin lead guitars, who managed not to fall into the blues'n'boogie cliches of so many other English bands. Their classic album <i>Argus</i>, their third record, had been released in May on MCA. The band were touring America hard--they had just opened for the New Riders back in San Diego, on August 23. Richard Cromelin of the LA <i>Times</i> reviewed the show (on November 10) and said that Wishbone Ash stood out, while Hot Tuna was simply too laid back. He only mentioned the New Riders in passing, as they had been reviewed more recently in the paper, but he refrained from any praise. Rightly or wrongly, Cromelin's dismissiveness of the two San Francisco bands reflected a music industry view that the "Fillmore sound" was <i>passe</i>. <br /></p><p><b>November 14, 1972 Municipal Auditorium, Atlanta, GA: The Byrds/New Riders of The Purple Sage (Tuesday) <i>canceled</i></b><br /><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJR3eNs-FDqZtVI7XoyHqNNVMM6PjuWHkSlfKG0G_DDSAP5LzjgkOv7X0YcPSLt24PzHQt9QlbjtoifhnM4cZHLg0Bu-cc1bFmKv7G3rNFP8sDJQpYLiPGxA7_QzdcQkrO9OenJ9n1wHTJZWRIGIoE26SS3o2eglm0piLopB0W-1TFVkICOA7LbAuP=s657" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiJR3eNs-FDqZtVI7XoyHqNNVMM6PjuWHkSlfKG0G_DDSAP5LzjgkOv7X0YcPSLt24PzHQt9QlbjtoifhnM4cZHLg0Bu-cc1bFmKv7G3rNFP8sDJQpYLiPGxA7_QzdcQkrO9OenJ9n1wHTJZWRIGIoE26SS3o2eglm0piLopB0W-1TFVkICOA7LbAuP=s320" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A
Monday (Nov 20) review of the New Riders in the UNC's Daily Tar Heel of
the Friday night show at Carmichael found them "enjoyable."</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /><b>November 17, 1972 Carmichael Auditorium, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />The New Riders kicked off their Fall '72 tour at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. There had been a Tuesday night show booked in Atlanta, opening for The Byrds, but it had been canceled. The New Riders' next album, <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i>, would not be released until December, but it must have been worthwhile to start the tour a little before the release. </p><p>While touring was about generating interest in new albums, to stimulate album sales, Sam Cutler had learned with the Grateful Dead that a band also had to play in new territories to recruit new fans, even if the payoff took a long time. The New Riders' initial audience was rooted in the Northeast, particularly in Metro areas and college towns, so it's no surprise that the tour supporting their album was concentrated there. Yet Cutler took the time to book a (no doubt well-paying) gig in North Carolina, which was very much unconquered territory.</p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-grateful-dead-in-north-carolina-and.html">By the 1980s, North Carolina and Virginia would become a hugely successful market for the Grateful Dead.</a> Back in '72, however, the Dead and the New Riders had only played a solitary gig in North Carolina, a thinly attended show at the Duke University football stadium on April 24, 1971. With their merger of hippie rock and twangy country, however, the New Riders seemed well-placed for young Southern fans. </p><p>Carmichael Auditorium was the basketball arena for the UNC Tar Heels, already a fabled NCAA power since the late 1950s. The 8800-capacity building was one of the largest venues that the band would headline during the year. I assume that part of the arena was cordoned off, since the New Riders couldn't have drawn 8,000 fans in Chapel Hill. In 1973, Dean Smith had been the coach of UNC since 1961, and Carmichael had opened in 1965. The '73 team included future NBA All-Star Bobby Jones, future NBA coach George Karl and future NBA GM Mitch Kupchak. In the next decade, famous players like Walter Davis, Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and James Worthy would all shine at Carmichael. The Tar Heels would move into the Dean Smith Center (the "Dean Dome") in 1986. The UNC Women's team now uses Carmichael Arena as their home court. </p><p>The New Riders' show was reviewed in the campus Daily <i>Tar Heel</i> on Monday (November 20). Reviewer Gary Miller, clearly unfamiliar with their music, found them enjoyable and mentioned that they played a two-hour set. The New Riders would return to the region a year later, playing Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke on October 20, 1973, but unlike the Dead, they never really built a live audience in North Carolina. <br /></p><p><b>November 19, 1972 </b><i>[venue]</i><b>, University of Maryland, College Park, MD: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />Much of the Fall '72 tour was at colleges. Colleges always paid, and young fans stuck in the dorms were generally up for anyone who came to campus. I don't know what venue they played at Maryland, so I can't draw any conclusions. It is surprising that the band doesn't seem to have played a Saturday night show, rare for a touring band. </p><p><b>November 21, 1972 The Dome, CW Post College, Greenvale, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday) </i><br />CW Post College had been founded in 1954 as an extension of Long Island University, which had been founded in Brooklyn (go figure) in 1926. The college was named after Marjorie Meriweather Post, who had sold the school her old estate near Greenvale, NY (the school is actually in Brookville, but Greenvale is the nearest LIRR stop). The school is now known as LIU Post and currently has around 8,000 students.<br /></p><p>The Dome was a 3500-seat auditorium, built in 1970. It was a popular venue for touring rock bands (<a href="http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/dome-cw-post-university-greenvale-ny.html">Jerry Garcia played it in 1974, '76 and '77, for example</a>). On January 21, 1978, the dome collapsed between 2:00 and 3:00am under mounds of snow and ice. The students were all on Christmas break, and no one was injured. <br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguDk12-fNb19no8JJ0n8jPi0wpHunaMGe5Fz0dbpu0S-iqXwpMaEK2dqESV9ejJW1MiVyavYyjfhW1IWsrDe2m4ld3QwMMS17PjlyclRIKrrPz2SjxK212osXctvWInZTNrNSynEAOCbZghCtrvFdT5eKX0xRSQORpubXg_nvJthPHqfdb5dE4okv6=s599" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="599" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguDk12-fNb19no8JJ0n8jPi0wpHunaMGe5Fz0dbpu0S-iqXwpMaEK2dqESV9ejJW1MiVyavYyjfhW1IWsrDe2m4ld3QwMMS17PjlyclRIKrrPz2SjxK212osXctvWInZTNrNSynEAOCbZghCtrvFdT5eKX0xRSQORpubXg_nvJthPHqfdb5dE4okv6=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>November 22-23, 1972 Academy of Music, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Johnathan Edwards </b><i>(Wednesday-Thursday) early and late shows</i><br />The most high profile show of the tour was two nights at the Academy of Music on 14th Street. The New Riders had played the venue before, headlining two shows on May 2. Now they had returned, this time headlining two nights, both with double shows. One of them was on Thanksgiving itself, so these were effectively weekend shows. On Thanksgiving day, plenty of kids could have had an afternoon family dinner, and then hopped the train to catch the show. <p></p><p>Although the official release of <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i> wasn't until December, I would be surprised if New York Metro record stores didn't already have the album by this time. It would have been poor planning by Columbia to have a high profile holiday show and not have the new record available in stores. In any case, the Academy house sound crew made a great sounding board tape, and in 2019 both sets from Thanksgiving (Thursday November 23) were released as <a href="http://nrps.net/music/index.html#17pine ">a double-cd called <i>Thanksgiving In New York City</i></a><i>.</i></p><p>Compared to the Syracuse tape from earlier in the year (April 13, broadcast on college station WAER), the Riders by this time were a smoking hot road band, in command of all their material. Similar to the Dead, they added some lively covers done in the band's style, so every show wasn't "just like the album." Joining in for a few numbers on the late show was guitarist David Rea. Rea probably knew Buddy Cage from Toronto, but in any case, Rea had signed with Columbia. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/02/slewfoot-david-rea-columbiawindfall.html">He would record his solo debut in San Francisco with members of the Dead and the New Riders, produced by Bob Weir (of all people)</a>. I suspect that Rea had already started recording at the Record Plant, and finished early in 1973, but I don't know for certain. </p><p>Opening the show was Jonathan Edwards. Edwards, a singer-songwriter based in the Boston area, had released his debut album on Capricorn Records in 1971. He had scored a surprise hit with the song "Sunshine," which would reach #4 on the <i>Billboard</i> charts. <br /></p><p><b>November 25, 1972 </b><i>[venue]</i><b>, Jersey City State College, Jersey City, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Orphan </b><i>(Saturday) </i><br />For the weekend, Cutler had booked two weekend college gigs in New Jersey. Jersey City State College in Jersey City (now <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_City_University">New Jersey City University</a>) had been established as a teachers college ("Normal School") in 1927. The name had been changed to Jersey City State College in 1958. The campus is at 2039 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, much nearer to the Hackensack River and the former site of Roosevelt Stadium than to the Hudson River and Manhattan. Opening act Orphan was probably the band on London Records who released the album <i>Everyone Lives To Sing</i>. While this was Thanksgiving weekend, I suspect most Jersey City State College students were commuters, and could attend the show if it appealed to them.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVbFKLtzxN6emkYgzPippd_tScPJeTYCJ7YGAPYz4WWiku9N3OIn-RdplgWAar9FSJGG-7tt12oVg3Hs11_Vo6WhDvTtvxaVdTdVTqOqCdQnvIaXvv77GKmIqe3bnQvCEb4YaU8B77_33KBxD1hDkyoygIqlal4_G7Zd1VGYggkAig7OBDQEFbT-vd=s308" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="308" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVbFKLtzxN6emkYgzPippd_tScPJeTYCJ7YGAPYz4WWiku9N3OIn-RdplgWAar9FSJGG-7tt12oVg3Hs11_Vo6WhDvTtvxaVdTdVTqOqCdQnvIaXvv77GKmIqe3bnQvCEb4YaU8B77_33KBxD1hDkyoygIqlal4_G7Zd1VGYggkAig7OBDQEFbT-vd" width="308" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>From the Asbury Park Press on Wednesday, November 22, 1972</i><b><br /></b></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>November 26, 1972 Morris Union, Newark State College, Union, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Black Kangaroo/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Sunday) 2 shows 7pm and 11pm</i><br />Newark State College had been founded in 1855 as a teacher's college. It was the first public post-secondary school in the state. By 1958, it had moved to nearby Union, NJ, and was a comprehensive liberal arts college. In 1973, it would change its name to Kean College (since 1997 it has been Kean University). As this was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, this was probably a "welcome back to Campus" event. I don't know the specific venue that the band was playing (the listing just says "Morris Union," which is the name of the Student Union). <br /></p><p>Black Kangaroo was led by guitarist and singer Peter Kaukonen, younger brother of Jorma. Jefferson Airplane had been given their own "Imprint" by RCA, Grunt Records, which Jefferson Airplane members used to release albums by all their friends and relations. <i>Black Kangaroo</i>, primarily recorded by Peter Kaukonen himself, had been released in 1972. Full of overdubs, it was far more interesting than some Grunt releases. Black Kangaroo toured around the East Coast a little bit, probably as a power trio, but never got any real traction. <br /></p><p>Opening act Eric Andersen was a veteran singer-songwriter, who had recently been signed to Columbia Records. <i>Blue River</i>,
his Columbia debut, had been released in February 1972. It was
Andersen's 9th album. He had released 6 albums on Vanguard (1965-69),
dating back to his Greenwich Village folk days, followed by two 1969
Warner Brothers albums. Since that time, Andersen had moved to Mill
Valley, CA, and was Bob Weir's next-door neighbor. In early '73, Weir
would ask Andersen to help him finish the lyrics to "Weather Report Part
I." So despite the different musical history, Andersen was part of the
Marin rock scene, and regularly toured with the New Riders as their
opening act. On some occasions, he would join them for some encore
performances.</p><p></p><b><i>November 29, 1972 Palace Theater, Albany, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen-cxld</i></b><br /><b>November 29, 1972 Hawkins Hall, Plattsburgh St, Plattsburgh, NY NRPS/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Wednesday) 2 shows 7:30 and 10:00</i><br />Plattsburgh State College (now SUNY Plattsburg) had opened in 1890. It is in Clinton County, on the far Northern border of New York State. The school currently has about 5,000 students. Hawkins Hall has 789 seats, so two shows wasn't a huge number of tickets. There isn't a lot to do in Plattsburgh, NY on a Wednesday night in November--indeed many students may have been off-campus. Still, the show would have been underwritten by the school, so the payday was secure. At an isolated place like SUNY Plattsburgh, a lot of curious students and locals would show up, so it was a great way to get new fans. <br /><p>Earlier ads had the New Riders at the Palace Theater in Albany on this night. That would have been a bigger booking, but SUNY Plattsburgh wasn't going to be canceled.<br /></p><b>December 1, 1972 Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday) 7:30 and 11:00</i><br />As noted above, John Scher had an essential role in the history of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, but he booked the New Riders before he ever booked the Dead. Scher had first booked the New Riders at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ, an aging 3200-seat theater at 326 Monroe Street downtown. It must have gone well, since he booked the Dead at Roosevelt Stadium on July 18, and then the Dead and the New Riders again at Roosevelt on September 19. Now the New Riders returned to the Capitol for two Friday night shows.<p>The New Riders had played two nights at the Academy of Music in Manhattan a few weeks earlier (November 22-23, above), and now they were appearing about 15 miles and 30 minutes due West. The Capitol drew on a different market of suburban New Jersey teens, who may not have been able to (or allowed to) see bands in the big, bad, city, while still being near enough for determined City folk to come. Two shows on Friday night equaled 6400 tickets--even if the Riders didn't sell out, this was a substantial booking. <br /></p><p>Eric Andersen isn't listed in any of the papers, but I suspect he opened the shows. <br /></p><b>December 2, 1972 Men's Gym, SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen</b><i> (Saturday)</i><br /><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/11/week-of-may-2-1970-suny-binghamton.html">The Grateful Dead and the New Riders of The Purple Sage had played a legendary show at SUNY Binghamton on May 2, 1970</a>. Not only was it 7 hours long, with an acoustic set, a New Riders set and two crushing electric ones, it was taped and broadcast nationally on the Pacifica Radio Network (KPFA, WBAI, etc), thus becoming one of the first Grateful Dead shows to be widely bootlegged. SUNY Binghamton was a fairly large school, full of students from New York City and its suburbs, and had a regular parade of hip touring acts. The New Riders returned in 1972. The band headlined the Men's Gym, which is where the Dead and New Riders had played just 2 1/2 years earlier. <br /><p>Up until 1965,
the school had been known as Harpur College, until it was absorbed by
the SUNY system. The school currently has 17,000+ students. While it
surely had fewer students in 1972, it wasn't tiny. Binghamton, NY
doesn't resonate with most people, but IBM got started nearby, and
General Electric and Alcoa had big operations there. Binghamton is near
the Pennsylvania border, at the confluence of the Susquehanna and
Chenango Rivers. Binghamton had been a main stop on the Chenango Canal
(now NY Highway 12). The Chenango Canal connected the Susquehanna River
to the Erie Canal, which made the city into a manufacturing hub. The
canal was replaced by the Erie Railroad (later the Erie Lackawanna,
which was the parent of NJ Transit's Morristown Line), but the town
retained its importance. GE, IBM and others continued to make the area
economically prosperous from the 1950s through the 80s.<br /> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1tNap0HyTmY0BKWc8tl-dY4Z5Z93-RLbUozjryO2SB11YVu7hhhBZ0dBsyfvomjlgOv45hH0TFzyjqm9Ed3WoAXqrqN4Ce9LVgavgdKPvFNZxUS6lHwggDsltdplSI6oBLfxSaSIYVRmBNJitmucxatnohLudnoJfugRaMfFyrlksNfKPOLVknkHM=s1152" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="981" data-original-width="1152" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1tNap0HyTmY0BKWc8tl-dY4Z5Z93-RLbUozjryO2SB11YVu7hhhBZ0dBsyfvomjlgOv45hH0TFzyjqm9Ed3WoAXqrqN4Ce9LVgavgdKPvFNZxUS6lHwggDsltdplSI6oBLfxSaSIYVRmBNJitmucxatnohLudnoJfugRaMfFyrlksNfKPOLVknkHM=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>December 3, 1972 Keaney Gym, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />The University of Rhode Island had been founded in 1892 and currently has about 18,000 students. It is in Kingston, about 30 minutes South of Providence. Keaney Gym, built in 1953, had a basketball capacity of 3835. It was the home of the URI Red Rams until they moved to the larger Ryan Center next door. Keaney Gym is currently the home of the URI Women's Volleyball team.</p><p>A surprising number of bands have played at Keaney Gym over the years, including Traffic (1971), Bruce Springsteen (1973), Elvis Costello (1989) and Bob Dylan (1989 and 2002). Besides having a built-in audience of students, Kingston is midway between Providence and New Haven, so it makes a good intermediate stop on a tour. </p><p>David Kramer-Smyth found <a href="https://archive.org/details/YEARBOOK1973/page/n43/mode/2up?q=%22new+riders%22+%22purple+sage%22">a photo of the New Riders and Eric Andersen from the concert in the 1972-73 University of Rhode Island Student Yearbook</a>. </p><p><b>December 5, 1972 Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen Cable Music Presents <i>(Tuesday)</i><i> </i></b>{cd} <br />Back on July 16, Cable Music had booked the Grateful Dead to headline Dillon Stadium in Hartford, CT. While Dillon was a smaller minor league football stadium, the show was a financial success for the band and the promoters. Thus began a decades-long relationship between Cable co-founder Jim Koplik and the Grateful Dead. Subsequently, Cable Music booked the New Riders to headline the Boston Music Hall on Tuesday, December 5, so the relationship forged between Cable and the Dead in the Fall had continued. The New Riders got an enthusiastic review in the Boston <i>Globe</i> (December 6). </p><p>The Boston Music Hall, at 268 Tremont Street, had been built in 1925 as
the Metropolitan Theater. It had been renamed the Boston Music Hall in
1962. Boston Music Hall had a capacity (at the time) of 4225, large for
the era (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Theatre">now, as The Wang Theater, the capacity is around 3500</a>).
Performers included the Ballet and Symphony as well as music acts. In
the 60s, rock bands had played a place called The Back Bay Theater, but
it had been torn down in 1968. After that, big rock acts played Boston
Music Hall. The theater was not the province of a single promoter,
however, and was just a hall for rent.</p><p></p><p>There had been an early wave of hippie concert promoters in the
1960s, and like all pioneers, some thrived and some did not. Rock music
and live rock concerts really became big business in the 1970s, and
there was room for new, younger promoters because there were no
"old-time" rock promoters. The business was fairly territorial--bands
would only book shows with a certain promoter in certain areas. You can
decide for yourself if that was a violation of anti-trust laws. Concert
promotion was a messy business that depended on trust, and bands like
the Grateful Dead tended to trust promoters they had worked with for a
long time.</p><p>From the 1970s through the 1990s, the key promoters in
the Northeast were John Scher (Metropolitan Entertaiment), who was down
in New Jersey, along with Larry Magid (Electric Factory) over in
Philadelphia, Don Law Jr in Boston and Cable Music's Jim Koplik in Connecticutt and
other parts of New England, including Upstate New York. Key promoters in
the West, for the Grateful Dead at least, included Bill Graham in San
Francisco, Sepp Donahower (Pacific Presentations) in Southern California
and Barry Fey (Feyline) in Denver. Some promoters, like Howard Stein
(New York), Pacific Presentations and others also worked with promoters
in smaller regions throughout the country. The business ties that the
Grateful Dead formed in the early 1970s remained intact until 1995. Most
of those promoters sold out to SFX (later Clear Channel, now
LiveNation), and Jerry Garcia's death likely played a big part in those
promoters' decisions to sell.</p><p>Jim Koplik had gotten his start as a
promoter in college, putting on a Steppenwolf concert in 1968 at Ohio
State when he was a student. Around 1972 he teamed up with Shelly Finkel
to form Cable Music. Finkel was a bit older, and Koplik was the "house
hippie," a common enough arrangement in concert promotion at the time.
Entrepreneurs in their 30s who knew the business side were not
necessarily able to navigate who was cool and who was not, so they
needed a younger partner.</p><p>Shelly Finkel (b.1944), however, wasn't some neophyte
in the concert business. In 1967, Finkel (then running a dating
service) managed to parlay a job passing out flyers into managing the
Action House in Long Island. The Action House was the premier rock club
in the region, breaking local bands like Vanilla Fudge and the Vagrants,
and also putting on shows by touring bands like the Doors, Cream and
the Grateful Dead (on November 9-10, 1970). </p><p><a href="https://msmokemusic.com/blogs/mind-smoke-blog/posts/rock-geography-the-action-house-island-park-ny">The
owner of the Action House was an infamous Long Island club owner named
Phil Basile. Over the years, he was involved in numerous other Long
Island clubs and discos, including Speaks (the re-named Action House),
My Father's Place, Channel 80 and Industry</a>. In the late 60s,
however, thanks to the Action House, Basile had recognized how much
money there was in live rock music. Basile formed the promotion company
Concerts East, who put on most of the Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin
shows in the East in the 68-70 period (the Grateful Dead opened for
Hendrix at a Concerts East production at the Temple Stadium in
Philadelphia on May 16, 1970). While Finkel had just been Basile's house
manager at the Action House, he would have had plenty of intersection
with the larger business of rock promotion. With Cable, Finkel was a principal partner along with Koplik. Finkel and Koplik played a critical role in the Grateful Dead's success in the early to mid-70s, and they did so for the New Riders as well.</p><p><a href="http://nrps.net/music/livearchives_old.html">In 2003, Kufala Records released a double-cd of the entire Boston Music Hall performance by the New Riders.</a><br /></p><p><b>December 7, 1972 </b><i>[venue]</i><b>, Quinniapiac College, Hamden, CT: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Thursday)</i><br />The New Riders tour continued throughout colleges in the Northeast. As these schools' academic terms would be ending, they all wanted to book concerts to let the students celebrate. With a new album out, the New Riders would have been getting a push from Columbia on regional FM radio stations. Thus they would at least be a "name band" at these schools, even if many undergraduates were only vaguely familiar with the Riders' music. It probably didn't matter--if you were 19 years old and on an isolated New England campus in December, you would likely see whoever came to the school. No doubt the New Riders made plenty of new fans at these schools, who would return to whichever suburb they came from as a new convert. </p><p>Quinniapiac College had been established in 1929 in Hamden, CT. Hamden was in New Haven County, just 5 miles South of Yale. Today it has 10,000 students. New Haven in the winter probably wasn't that exciting, so I'm sure that for a Thursday night in Hamden, the New Riders were the most happening thing in town. <br /></p><p><b>December 8, 1972 Greene Hall, Smith College, Northhampton, MA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Friday) </i><br />Smith College, one of the "Seven Sisters" women's colleges, had been founded in 1875 in Northhampton, MA. It was (and is) a prestigious school with about 2500 students. The New Riders were booked at John M. Greene Concert Hall, a 2000-seat auditorium (at 60 Elm Street) that was built in 1911. </p><p>We have a setlist for the show, which usually implies a tape. Eric Andersen joined in for the encore, so I assume he opened the show. <br /></p><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5d72fziiJ6SiEQVx1ShuMi3Ur2_OHN_7za0L61vpH6h1SEGyiKOpu5lko82mfJHlZiIj8sjCb_CjfRU4OJBFUC_nGSaJ8f4N24yZOgtnDKOCSVB_wn1bEKh4WjX0PCT4NEWdSTJ3n-ZFU5GjqCczY8ghyujdiuNjcoJopX2WOVbf6w3G14Y72fAh/s1200/McDonough%20Gym%20Georgetown%20U%20ca%201959.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="925" data-original-width="1200" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5d72fziiJ6SiEQVx1ShuMi3Ur2_OHN_7za0L61vpH6h1SEGyiKOpu5lko82mfJHlZiIj8sjCb_CjfRU4OJBFUC_nGSaJ8f4N24yZOgtnDKOCSVB_wn1bEKh4WjX0PCT4NEWdSTJ3n-ZFU5GjqCczY8ghyujdiuNjcoJopX2WOVbf6w3G14Y72fAh/s320/McDonough%20Gym%20Georgetown%20U%20ca%201959.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>McDonough Gym, Georgetown U., ca 1959</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />December 9 1972 McDonough Arena, Georgetown U, Washington DC New Riders of The Purple Sage/Livingston Taylor/Jon Pousette-Dart </b><i>(Saturday) presented by Michael Schreibman (New ERA Follies), and the Students of Georgetown University </i><br />Georgetown University was founded in 1789. Currently it has 19,000 students, although only 7,000 undergraduates. Given its location in the Nation's capital, it is no surprise that Georgetown has many schools providing graduate and professional degrees for industry and government. I think Georgetown was a bit smaller in the 1970s, but was still a substantial school. <br /><p>McDonough Arena had been built in 1951, and had a basketball capacity of about 2200. The arena had been the home of Georgetown Hoyas NCAA Men's Basketball team until 1981, when they moved to the larger Capital Center in Landover, MD (as did the Grateful Dead), just in time for the arrival of Patrick Ewing. McDonough is now the home of the Hoyas' Women's Basketball team. Per various sources, "McDonough Arena" refers to the actual venue, and "McDonough Gym" refers to the entire building, which includes the arena. </p><p>An earlier ad had the New Riders playing Urbine Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania on this Saturday, but it appears that the Georgetown gig took its place. Opening act Livingston Taylor was based in Boston. Livingston Taylor was two years younger than his brother James. He played in a bluesier style than his older brother. Livingston, managed by Boston promoter Don Law, had been signed to Capricorn Records, the Allman Brothers Band's label. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liv_(Livingston_Taylor_album)">Livingston</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liv_(Livingston_Taylor_album)"> had released his second album, Liv, in November 1971</a>. Jon <a href="https://www.pousette-dart.com/">Pousette-Dart was from Cambridge, MA, and played in a country-bluegrass style</a>. He would form the Pousette-Dart Band, a sort of string band trio, also managed by Don Law. Pousette has continued to record and perform since then. <br /></p><b>December 11, 1972 Alexander Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday)</i><br />When Bill Graham controlled the rock market with the Fillmore East, Princeton was one of the few places within 50 miles of Manhattan that could put on rock concerts, since they were generally exempt from Graham's contractual restrictions. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/03/april-17-1971-dillon-gym-princeton.html">This peculiarity (which I explained at length elsewhere) was how the Grateful Dead and the New Riders came to play their epic show at Dillon Gym back on April 17, 1971</a>. With Graham's departure, John Scher started to take over the New Jersey rock market. Still, since Princeton did not require ticket sales to cover all costs they could still book solid acts. <br /><p><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html ">Earlier in the year, the New Riders had played two shows at Princeton (on April 24 '72) in the venerable 1100-seat Alexander Hall, which had been built in 1892</a>. The early show (at 8pm) was sold out days earlier, so everything clearly went well. The New Riders returned for another show on Monday, December 11. This would have been term-end at Princeton, so the fact that it was a Monday would not have been a concern to the students. </p><p><b>December 12, 1972 </b><i>[venue]</i><b> SUNY, New Paltz, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday) </i><b><i>canceled?</i><br />December 12 1972 DAR Constitution Hall Washington, DC: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><b> canceled</b>?<br />Two different bookings for Tuesday, December 12 can be found for the New Riders, but we have been unable to determine which--if either--the band actually played. A tour schedule listed the band at SUNY New Paltz (presumably at Elting Gym). New Paltz was midway between New York City and Albany, and would become a common college stop for touring bands in the late 70s. But back in October, an ad had listed the New Riders at Constitution Hall, promoted by the owner of the DC club Cellar Door (Jack Boyle), but there were no subsequent traces of either show. Since it was a Tuesday, it's very possible neither show happened. Note also that the New Riders had played Saturday night (December 9, above) at Georgetown. While the Georgetown show would likely have mostly sold tickets to students, it doesn't seem as likely that a promoter would also book a Tuesday headline show nearby a few days later.<br /></p><b>December 13 1972 Tower Theater Philadelphia, PA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Wednesday) </i><br />The Tower Theater, in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Darby, has opened as movie theater in 1927. The theater had fallen to a low ebb by 1972, when it was taken over as a concert venue by Midnight Sun Productions, out of New Jersey. The 3,119 seat venue (at 69th and Ludlow Streets) was instantly popular with fans. In the early 70s, the rock market had evolved to create room for acts to headline smaller venues, rather than being second on the bill at huge basketball arenas. In 1975, the Tower was taken over by the much larger Electric Factory, and it has been one of the premier East Coast venues ever since. <br /><p>The New Riders played on a Wednesday night, supported by Eric Andersen. They probably didn't sell out, but as a band on the road, they wouldn't have needed a sell-out to make it worth their time. Note that the New Riders had apparently booked a show at Penn (Saturday December 9) that had been replaced by a show in DC (at Georgetown), so it makes sense that they had booked a different date in Philadelphia. </p><p><i>Gypsy Cowboy</i> had been released in December, and promotional copies were probably being played on FM stations a little before that. With the Northeast as the first anchor of the New Riders' fan base, the band had played 18 shows over 14 dates in 25 days (from November 19 through December 13), not to mention the opening show in Chapel Hill. The band was touring hard. Ultimately it would pay off with <i>Panama Red</i>, the album that would follow the current one.<br /></p><p><b>December 15, 1972 Ohio Theater, Columbus, OH: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />After their hard run through the Northeast, the New Riders slipped in five dates in the Midwest. The Ohio Theatre, at 39 E. State St in Columbus, had opened in 1928 and had a capacity of 2700. Loew's had closed the building as a movie theater in 1969, but the local community preserved the elegant hall as a concert venue. The Grateful Dead and the New Riders had played the Ohio Theatre on October 31, 1971. The Halloween show was Jerry Garcia's last appearance on pedal steel guitar with the New Riders. At the next show (Atlanta November 11), Buddy Cage would take over the chair. 15 months later, the New Riders returned to headline the venue themselves. </p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfUISLO_JSvU4JZvjmR9U-jdPNsxdzFose2ONSgv3rYKjINMrd3qEbpg-HHD3vABARL9bbFt4t-0qNQliwWbHhorL_s7YFMigUq2TsZGZNVUoVFjDpGgl6hA-ltb6EPDk12mrGT8X2BAOlIM7nDbBTZXILFQ2LjKA38ALN31UXNJvcE3F0QvmyJZAr/s220/Auditorium%20Theater%20Chicago%20from%20Michigan%20Avenue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="174" data-original-width="220" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfUISLO_JSvU4JZvjmR9U-jdPNsxdzFose2ONSgv3rYKjINMrd3qEbpg-HHD3vABARL9bbFt4t-0qNQliwWbHhorL_s7YFMigUq2TsZGZNVUoVFjDpGgl6hA-ltb6EPDk12mrGT8X2BAOlIM7nDbBTZXILFQ2LjKA38ALN31UXNJvcE3F0QvmyJZAr/s1600/Auditorium%20Theater%20Chicago%20from%20Michigan%20Avenue.jpg" width="220" /></a></b></div><b><br />December 16, 1972 Auditorium Theater, Chicago, IL: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Mott The Hoople/Eric Andersen</b><i> (Saturday) Celebration Concert Presents</i><br />By the early 1970s, record companies had finally grasped how big the album market really was. There were teenagers all over the country, they all wanted records, and they wanted a lot of them. It wasn't just promoting the small number of mega-hit artist, but promoting rock music of all types. Radio play was the most desirable, but the hardest to come by. Live concerts was the next best way to get music heard, and make fans excited about bands. The record companies subsidized touring all over the country--against future record royalties, of course--with the goal of getting bands heard.<br /><p></p><p>The English glam rock band Mott The Hoople and the countrified New Riders of The Purple Sage seem like a really peculiar pairing. Would fans of one band actually like the other? I mean, I did, but was I typical or an outlier? Why were they booked together? I think the logic was that both bands were on Columbia, with their own followings, and neither were really big enough to sell out the 3,800-seat Auditorium Theater on their own. The assumption seems to have been that both bands would sell a certain number of tickets, and it would add up to a good house. The Auditorium Theatre (at 50 Ida B Wells St) had been built in 1889. The Dead and the Riders had played two nights there the previous year (Oct 21-22 '71), but unlike some cities, the New Riders didn't appear to have the legs to headline the show on their own.<br /></p><p>Mott The Hoople had just released their fifth album, <i>All The Young Dudes</i>. The English band had released four excellent, but poor-selling, albums on Island, and their sound was like Bob Dylan and The Band, with a bit of a harder edge. For their first Columbia album, Columbia had assigned them to David Bowie, then a huge act in England, and seen as one of the two pioneers of "Glam Rock" (along with Marc Bolan of T. Rex). The title-track single, written by Bowie, had come out in July, and the album came out in September. It was huge in England, and made some noise in the States. Over on FM, Mott The Hoople got a lot of airplay for the first track on their album, a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane." Lou Reed was also produced by David Bowie at this time ("Walk On The Wild Side" was released in November of '72). Mott The Hoople still rocked hard, but they wore some silky jackets on stage instead of jeans and sweatshirts, in honor of their new affilation with "Glam."<br /></p><p>Within a few years, David Bowie and Lou Reed would be hugely popular national acts, with the <i>Young Americans</i> and <i>Rock And Roll Anima</i>l albums, respectively. This wasn't the case in 1972, however. David Bowie and The Spiders From Mars had toured America, but weren't popular except in a few cities (mainly Cleveland and LA), and didn't get much FM airplay. Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground were a trivia question, and the Velvets had never received any FM play at all. </p><p>As for Mott The Hoople's outfits, while English bands had always been allowed to dress more theatrically than American ones, I don't know if any New Riders fans would have been converted by sticking around for Mott The Hoople. If not, it was their loss. Lead singer and principal songwriter Ian Hunter is a true rock-and-roll character, and guitarist Mick Ralphs would go on to great fame and success in Bad Company (<i>All The Young Dudes</i> included a version of "Ready For Love," later a big hit for Bad Co). </p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRP-qOGiZ0KIhVlJe6KOJQ5RhKIn6qXLFg7jxdBhioy00bgtdmbv2Giq3Z9WJ_DHicjCwc8OaK-0Iqk_gSmeUqXNhQ5aNcX_Pn-mOz79VE4knvBKmMIpaOfnbMO7-KhJRlfJ4Q5quy3_7yQd-5FLkGq_k70dr9Z8gjW9Qe7KBFfPD_YlVdjw5FPWs/s457/Diary%20Of%20A%20Rock%20N%20Roll%20Star%20Ian%20Hunter%2074%20book.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRP-qOGiZ0KIhVlJe6KOJQ5RhKIn6qXLFg7jxdBhioy00bgtdmbv2Giq3Z9WJ_DHicjCwc8OaK-0Iqk_gSmeUqXNhQ5aNcX_Pn-mOz79VE4knvBKmMIpaOfnbMO7-KhJRlfJ4Q5quy3_7yQd-5FLkGq_k70dr9Z8gjW9Qe7KBFfPD_YlVdjw5FPWs/s320/Diary%20Of%20A%20Rock%20N%20Roll%20Star%20Ian%20Hunter%2074%20book.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Ian Hunter's 1974 book, Diary Of A Rock N Roll Star (Flash Books). Originally titled Rock And Roll Sweepstakes, it is a day-by-day diary of Mott The Hoople's 1972 US Tour. The band were not yet stars <br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />[update 18 February 2023</b>]: There is a detailed description of this gig in Mott lead singer <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Rock-Roll-Star-Hunter/dp/1897783094">Ian Hunter's 1974 book Diary Of a Rock N Roll Star</a>, a day-by-day tour diary of Mott The Hoople's 1972 US Tour, and a classic read [<u>highly recommended!</u>]</i><p></p><p></p><blockquote><p><i><b>December 16, 1972</b><br />"Drama, too at the sound check. New Riders said if we sound checked more than two numbers they were going home and the promoter said he'd cancel the gig if they did. We conceded and then they tried to get us to go on before the folk singer, Eric Anderson [sic], who would get the mood going for the quiet C.W. approach. This we wouldn't agree to that was OK in the end. The two numbers sounded bad and we all came back to the hotel somewhat jaded....<br /><br />Eric Anderson was on when we got there and I liked him, but it's going to be difficult for him. James Taylor, Cat Stevens, the syndrome is saturated and it's difficult for a folk singer to captivate. He did well, however, and got an encore. <br /></i></p><p><i>The promoter laid on wine and sandwiches and the hospitality was good. The Chicago Auditorium is a beautiful place and the feeling is good, but somewhere between the encored folk singer and the New Riders I think we might die. My doubts proved groundless, though, and apart from the high-hat stand freaking Buff [Mott drummer Dale Griffin], things turned out well. We did a long and lusty encore--went back on but just felt like rocking and we didn't do "[All The Young] Dudes" just "Honk Tonk [Woman]" and the audience was great. We worked with the crowd at the end..."Give me, give me the honky tonk blues." It was a gas of a gig overall.<br /><br />Chicago don't forget us. We left during the New Riders' act and the slide player [Buddy Cage] was absolutely great.I turned from the stage to leave, [roadie] Stuey was hustling, and I'll swear I saw Jeff Beck; in fact, I know I saw Jeff Beck, but he was engrossed in the slide player too so I left it that."</i></p></blockquote><p><b>December 17, 1972 Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, MN: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />The Guthrie Theater, at 818 South 2nd Street in Minneapolis, was primarily used for repertory theater. There were occasional concerts, however, when the stage was dark. The theater, built in 1963, had 1,441 seats.</p><b>December 19, 1972 Ottumwa Coliseum, Ottumwa Iowa: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday) </i><br />A tour poster lists the New Riders as playing the Ottumwa Coliseum on December 19. We have not been able to confirm the show. Since the band was playing Minneapolis on Sunday and St. Louis on Wednesday, a Tuesday Iowa booking seems logical. I'm not sure of the size or exact location of the Ottumwa Coliseum, as it appears to have been torn down some decades ago.<p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-xDmuGNxpRQhIyONg-irYY5Sile7vQhkXll5p58bjpn5gkbWfuiqh27SCSLx9MQaNomzqDsI_Gm1d7E4cLv0PKISZWFEadWnIkgm36mgUeW8ow2tP1zZFm1fbkJbFZqMbp7CaWMv__x4u0X3NZ8bYnX1IJxHOMFMQ42kTckGXPQ8ZURu2vlV95mg/s600/Gypsy%20Cowboy%20401%20N%20Euclid%20St%20L%20Herbie%20Balaban.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin-xDmuGNxpRQhIyONg-irYY5Sile7vQhkXll5p58bjpn5gkbWfuiqh27SCSLx9MQaNomzqDsI_Gm1d7E4cLv0PKISZWFEadWnIkgm36mgUeW8ow2tP1zZFm1fbkJbFZqMbp7CaWMv__x4u0X3NZ8bYnX1IJxHOMFMQ42kTckGXPQ8ZURu2vlV95mg/s320/Gypsy%20Cowboy%20401%20N%20Euclid%20St%20L%20Herbie%20Balaban.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Proprietors Adelaid and Herbie Balaban, in front of the Gypsy Cowboy boutique at 401 North Euclid (at McPherson) in St. Louis, some time in the 1970s. The boutique name inspired the Dave Torbert song and the New Riders' album title (from <a href="https://losttables.com/balabans/balabans.htm">Lost Table</a>s)<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />December 20, 1972 Fox Theater, St. Louis,MO: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Wednesday)</i><br />The initial strongholds of Grateful Dead fans were in San Francisco, and then in Brooklyn and the Northeast. It's no surprise that the New Riders initial fan-base mirrored the Dead's audience in Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey and New England. On a cold day in the Northeast, the New Riders stood for clean air, blue skies and sunny days. Still, the Grateful Dead were popular in other pockets, and one of those places was St. Louis. <br /><p></p><p>I<a href="https://store.dead.net/listen-to-the-river-st-louis-71-72-73-20-cd-1.html">n 2021, the Grateful Dead released their stellar box set <i>Listen To The River,</i> a collection of all the music the Grateful Dead made at the Fox Theater in St. Louis over seven shows in 1971, 1972 and 1973</a>. In support of that release, noted <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/listen-river-fox-theatre-october-1972">scholar Jesse Jarnow did some deep research into the Dead in St. Louis, and it turned out that there was an entire, self-contained universe there, largely unseen by either Brooklyn or San Francisco. The details were laid out with interviews with the local and national promoters, as well as others on the scene, in the <i>Deadcast</i> podcast</a>. </p><p>The Fox Theater, at 527 N. Grand Boulevard, was a movie palace built in 1929. It had 5060 seats and beautiful acoustics. Although the owner preferred to show movies, <a href="http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-grateful-dead-in-st-louis-1968-1971.html ">it was periodically rented out for rock shows</a>. The Grateful Dead played wonderfully there. It's no surprise that the New Riders also booked a show at the Fox. Remember that the rock audience was pretty young in 1972, and a huge percentage of rock fans were students, so in late December every night was like a weekend night. I doubt that the New Riders sold out the huge Fox, but they probably drew a good crowd. </p><p>In fact, the title of the New Riders album <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i> had come from a store in St. Louis. Gypsy Cowboy was a sort of "hippie Western boutique," selling clothes and art, at 401 N. Euclid (at McPherson). Dave Torbert wrote the song "Gypsy Cowboy" sometime after the New Riders came through in late '71, and the title cannot have been a coincidence. Gypsy Cowboy is long gone, <a href="https://losttables.com/balabans/balabans.htm">first replaced by the Balaban Cafe</a>, and now Herbie's Vintage '72. Across the street, however, Left Bank Books remains open, just as it had been back in the seventies. </p><p><b>December 31, 1972 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Sons Of Champlin </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />The New Riders of The Purple Sage ended the year as they had ended the previous two, opening for the Grateful Dead at Winterland. The band was broadcast on FM radio, just as they had done previously. The New Riders would not return to Winterland open for New Year's Eve until 1977, but no one would have known that at the time. Joining the New Riders on harmonica for a few numbers was Matthew Kelly, an old friend of Dave Torbert. Kelly had played a little bit on the <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i> album.</p><p>Kelly would play critical parts in the New Riders' history, albeit from outside of the band. Torbert and Kelly had been in a number of bands in 1968 and '69, and <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">one of them (Horses) had even released an album</a>. At the end of the Summer of '69, Torbert had gone to Hawaii and Kelly had gone to London. In London, Kelly had joined a band of expatriates from Indiana called Gospel Oak, and they had released an album. By March 1970, Gospel Oak needed a bass player, and Kelly wrote Torbert and sent him a plane ticket. Yet Torbert had stopped in California to pick up some clothes, and he was "coincidentally" called by his old pals John Dawson and David Nelson, and offered a chance to join a band with Jerry Garcia. Kelly graciously told Torbert to take the offer.</p><p>After various adventures, Kelly had returned to the Bay Area in the Fall of '72, and he had reconnected with Dave Torbert. A year later, after Torbert worked on an album project with Kelly, he would quit the New Riders to throw in his lot with Kelly and his new band Kingfish at the beginning of 1974. Kelly himself discouraged Torbert from doing so, since the New Riders had just released their best selling album (<i>Panama Red</i>), but Torbert was insistent. So Kelly would turn out to be essential in both Torbert's arrival and his departure in the New Riders, albeit through no direct action of his own. </p><p><b><i>New Riders Status Report, New Year's Eve 1972</i></b><br />The New Riders of The Purple Sage had had an excellent year. They had released two albums on Columbia, and established themselves as separate from Jerry Garcia. Heavy touring in the Northeast, particularly in colleges, was creating a solid fan base for them. The Grateful Dead were more popular than ever, and the Riders' association with them only helped. At the same time, their was an undeniable merger occurring between hippies and country music, with more country rock bands and more country bands letting their hair grow a little bit. </p><p>The New Riders were now a tight live band, playing two hour shows that were a mix of old and new material, both originals and covers. John Dawson was still the focal point, but Dave Torbert's singing and writing made a nice contrast. David Nelson sang the occasional country cover, too, just to widen the band's scope. The record industry was booming, the concert industry was booming, the New Riders were good and signed to a major record label. By any reasonable standard, the future looked very bright for the band at the end of 1972.</p><p><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2023/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html"><i>For the next post in the series (NRPS Tour History January-April 1973), see here</i></a><br /></p><p> </p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-34005956190575728442022-08-12T11:27:00.000-07:002022-08-12T11:27:24.599-07:00May 1, 1973 Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show/Bruce Springsteen (Ships In The Night)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTLaqCbkobCjW8Ol81hFpwdWhxYxshbxAjpdfRDi1GhifQkxT-bZT_dEKIyfQ2oRyvDvbt9TdkUWmwEqF8qkBVNJeLFbD0G_UNH-D9vuv3NDGk2ba2aQq7iMBbOMpD44TzNZ3WsVlItXB5evtme4ykyqAA-0fGjcrBknI7Q_G3NDFZd81n1nruMlA/s361/NRPS Bruce Ahmanson 19730501.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="358" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQTLaqCbkobCjW8Ol81hFpwdWhxYxshbxAjpdfRDi1GhifQkxT-bZT_dEKIyfQ2oRyvDvbt9TdkUWmwEqF8qkBVNJeLFbD0G_UNH-D9vuv3NDGk2ba2aQq7iMBbOMpD44TzNZ3WsVlItXB5evtme4ykyqAA-0fGjcrBknI7Q_G3NDFZd81n1nruMlA/s320/NRPS Bruce Ahmanson 19730501.jpg" width="317" /></a></div><p>A few decades into the 21st century, we look back at the iconic names of iconic 20th century rock and rollers with reverence, reflecting on the days when they criss-crossed the country playing modest gigs to modest acclaim. Bruce Springsteen and the Grateful Dead are two of the most important and popular acts in rock history, and the performance history of both has been researched in great detail. Their paths only crossed twice. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/03/november-22-1970-middlesex-county.html">Bruce Springsteen attended a Grateful Dead concert at a junior college gym in Edison, NJ on November 22, 1970</a>. Bruce, nonplussed at the event itself, admitted later that he didn't get it until a long time afterwards.</p><p>Even Bruce does not seem to recall, however, that early in his career, he opened for the New Riders of The Purple Sage at an event sponsored by Columbia Records. The New Riders had some status at the time--unlike Bruce--and no doubt in the interests of making an impression on Columbia, had invited three members of the Grateful Dead to sit in with them that night. Bob Weir and Keith and Donna Godchaux made their final live appearances with the New Riders, at the very show when Springsteen was the opener. None of the Riders nor Dead members have ever mentioned Bruce's presence on the bill, nor has Bruce referred to the Dead members' presence.<br /></p><p>This post will look at the different arcs of both bands at the time, and review what little we can discern about the show. Oh yeah--Columbia made video and audio tapes of the event. We even know for a fact that the Springsteen tape was shown and still exists. And yet the full event remains lost in the mists of time. <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYo8Cjhf0rhVO6vRBheAy2Lyos4drlf2_PbKEm2cyhv1DNiJscV5usucG0jTXQtK3COG0xsVIx0CFWD9IWnhpC0AYXdNBw6GTQ2WqvolEHIf91kU6kEVdQYajAGESZs2dPCxnBzMvUL3-KFOExxiiuGsPbeevXo_bMjD9gnBSue6ECsyQ6Ydnwhec/s1271/Ahmanson 19730501 29 Apr 1973, 577 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1271" data-original-width="765" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibYo8Cjhf0rhVO6vRBheAy2Lyos4drlf2_PbKEm2cyhv1DNiJscV5usucG0jTXQtK3COG0xsVIx0CFWD9IWnhpC0AYXdNBw6GTQ2WqvolEHIf91kU6kEVdQYajAGESZs2dPCxnBzMvUL3-KFOExxiiuGsPbeevXo_bMjD9gnBSue6ECsyQ6Ydnwhec/s320/Ahmanson 19730501 29 Apr 1973, 577 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers com.png" width="193" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Columbia promoted the seven nights at the Ahmanson as "A Week To Remember"</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><b>May 1, 1973 Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show/Bruce Springsteen</b><i> (Tuesday)</i><b> </b><br />Columbia Records was the largest record label in the world in 1973, and also a division of the powerful Columbia Broadcasting System, so the label could do things on a scale beyond that of other labels. In early 1973, Columbia chose to book all their major acts in Los Angeles' finest theater for seven consecutive nights. The real purpose of this mini-festival was to showcase their acts for radio djs, talent agents and Columbia sales staff. This was commonly done at company sales conventions. At a typical sales convention, however, with the drinks flowing, newly-signed bands found themselves playing to drunk industry pros catching up on gossip with their pals. By selling tickets at a big theater, the hall was filled with regular civilians who liked the bands. It was more of a true concert atmosphere, and the pros could more fairly gauge the impact of each band. <br /><p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmanson_Theatre">The Ahmanson Theatre had opened in 1967</a>,
as part of the Los Angeles Music Center. It was Los Angeles' premier
theater, and regularly featured prominent Broadway productions. For the
week of April 29-May 5, Columbia booked the 2084-capacity Ahmanson for
seven nights, with three acts each night. The acts ran the gamut, as
Columbia was prominent in rock, soul, country, jazz and pop styles.
<i>Billboard</i> reviewed all seven nights, which were apparently 95% sold out (<a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0003.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">Part 1 of the review is here</a>, and <a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0014.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">Part 2 can be seen here</a>). </p><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6Cv6Iv7ptYpZysrpdckldFMiOBFtS0ZRO-u_vSwfL0owK2O3Xn1ooIfUnzJfQuNqeNaGOaflR6-lznaSpq9CF_ZOvJcOCci9grvdbEUQBiXggQisHtNYou_gUmkN4BaoOV18VdTMA0mVEkiySidhvk_NqdxEJhDraTk1na8ssE81Pc138IzglvJ2/s300/Nrps_gypsy_cowboy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu6Cv6Iv7ptYpZysrpdckldFMiOBFtS0ZRO-u_vSwfL0owK2O3Xn1ooIfUnzJfQuNqeNaGOaflR6-lznaSpq9CF_ZOvJcOCci9grvdbEUQBiXggQisHtNYou_gUmkN4BaoOV18VdTMA0mVEkiySidhvk_NqdxEJhDraTk1na8ssE81Pc138IzglvJ2/s1600/Nrps_gypsy_cowboy.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gypsy Cowboy, by the New Riders of The Purple Sage, released by Columbia in December 1972</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Status Report, May 1973: New Riders/Dr Hook/Bruce Springsteen</b></i><br />By May 1973, the <b>New Riders of The Purple Sage</b> had released three albums on Columbia Records (<i>NRPS</i>, <i>Powerglide</i> and December '72's <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i>). None had been big hits, but they had peaked in the 30s in the <i>Billboard</i> album charts. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The New Riders had toured relentlessly, which not every rock band would actually do, so they were building audiences in the Northeast and elsewhere</a>. After a Midwestern tour in February, the band had played numerous gigs in the Northeast from mid-March to mid-April '73. Here and there the band still opened for the Grateful Dead, but they were now headlining smaller theaters on their own. <br /><p>While the New Riders were inevitably associated with the Grateful Dead, back in '73 the Dead weren't some "old hippie band." Indeed, hippies weren't even old yet. The Dead themselves had put out four gold albums in a row, so commercially the New Riders connection to the Dead was positive. Also, musical taste was evolving, and young long-hairs were starting to appreciate the directness and good nature of country music. Long-haired country rockers like the New Riders seemed well-placed to capitalize on this trend. In fact, it would turn out that real country singers who grew their hair long--Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, most prominently--would be the ones to get real attention, but that wasn't clear in Spring '73. The New Riders had a level of success and a promising commercial future, so it's no surprise that Columbia was having them headline on the Tuesday night showcase.</p><p><b><br /></b></p>@<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7E0MkP_zmKwOPWRjW4hmhdO_go2hUCDJKu5_RoICypLVaTBEbUWwDjftgAtOvq3o6Fu6_mMRnijmquhdxbSHHhe-dTc6_yniaXh6ddLg3aimSLgoMmGBDyv4RrtqqYPZv3PEfJZ2oe7TTmcCd3We9DpSc98btBGJxmh99lGgmdIL3QupR44Gm1_W3/s600/Sloppy%20Seconds%20Dr%20Hook%20CBS%201972.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="596" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7E0MkP_zmKwOPWRjW4hmhdO_go2hUCDJKu5_RoICypLVaTBEbUWwDjftgAtOvq3o6Fu6_mMRnijmquhdxbSHHhe-dTc6_yniaXh6ddLg3aimSLgoMmGBDyv4RrtqqYPZv3PEfJZ2oe7TTmcCd3We9DpSc98btBGJxmh99lGgmdIL3QupR44Gm1_W3/s320/Sloppy%20Seconds%20Dr%20Hook%20CBS%201972.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show had released their second album on Columbia, Sloppy Seconds, in 1972. It included their big hit "Cover Of The Rolling Stone."<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show</b> were another band that mixed rock sensibilities with Nashville songwriting. The band had been playing in New Jersey around 1970 when they were discovered by Nashville producer and songwriter Shel Silverstein, and had performed for him on a movie soundtrack. Silverstein wrote most of the songs on the band's first two albums, combining country song structures with a comic pop edge. Their initial hit, "Sylvia's Mother," was a sincere parody of a pop country weeper. Their follow-up album, <i>Sloppy Seconds</i>, included the band's iconic hit "Cover Of The Rolling Stone" (written by Silverstein). The single would sell a million copies. In Spring '73, Dr. Hook was probably better known than the New Riders.<p></p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi534Pk1h_7Y1lNNpUebmSzzniQLLrQtPWJsXkFbe8BZa7DyDCM8CDXEdglL4_Zx1wDhCTXm3gxe2nlGnv6KDmseN3urwWyhDDaRgJVzCVyBhnCm5EEsn1TsN8VMohLSTWOfrrY0PviYngtZGjpCFOBMrpbmZJt5YpIox8k9JTBaXhDPU6U5l130_rY/s599/Greetings%20From%20Asbury%20Park%20Springsteen%20Jan%2073.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="599" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi534Pk1h_7Y1lNNpUebmSzzniQLLrQtPWJsXkFbe8BZa7DyDCM8CDXEdglL4_Zx1wDhCTXm3gxe2nlGnv6KDmseN3urwWyhDDaRgJVzCVyBhnCm5EEsn1TsN8VMohLSTWOfrrY0PviYngtZGjpCFOBMrpbmZJt5YpIox8k9JTBaXhDPU6U5l130_rY/s320/Greetings%20From%20Asbury%20Park%20Springsteen%20Jan%2073.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Bruce Springsteen's debut album Greetings From Asbury Park had been released by Columbia in January 1973</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />Bruce Springsteen</b> had been signed to Columbia by legendary talent scout John Hammond, who had also signed Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson and Bob Dylan to the label. He had just released his first album, <i>Greetings From Asbury Park</i>, in January of 1973. Although Bruce had a following in the Northeast, he was unknown on the West Coast. He had played a record company showcase at the Troubadour on February 26, 1973, with only a few dozen invited guests in attendance. He had also been booked for a tour with the Butterfield Blues Band right around then, too, yet all but a few shows were canceled. His manager had hustled Bruce into few opening slots, but nobody in California had heard of Springsteen unless they had a cousin from New Jersey (which I did, but that's another story). Bruce was opening so that local djs and talent agents could hear Columbia's latest signing in a good setting. <p></p><p>As far as Columbia was concerned, Bruce Springsteen was a singer/songwriter rather than a rock and roller. The label saw him as someone like John Prine. Bruce had a backing band, but they were not using the name "E Street Band" yet. Clarence Clemons was on sax, "Phantom Dan" Federici was on organ, Garry Tallent on bass and Vini Lopez was on drums. They had all played a little bit on the <i>Greetings</i> album, and would all play on the following album, <i>The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle,</i> where they would be joined by pianist David Sancious (the band would rehearse at Sancious' house at 1107 E Street in Belmar, NJ). <a href="http://www.brucespringsteen.it/e_streetx.htm">The five piece lineup had been playing together since October, 1972</a>. <br /></p><p></p><b><i>The Show</i></b><br /><a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0014.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">An unnamed <i>Billboard</i> reviewer ran down the Ahmanson show in the May 19, 1973 issue</a>:<p></p><blockquote><i>If
any one artist captured the essence of what the week was really about
it was Bruce Springsteen. Latest in Columbia's recent acquisitions of
singer-songwriters (Bill Quateman & Andy Pratt), he has an appeal
that borders on the universal. His songs are interesting, thoughtfully worked out and often exciting. Material aside, he has about him that glow, the elusive X factor that spells STAR. Comparisons to Van Morrison and Bob Dylan have been made, but he is no carbon, rather than glowing and vibrant performer in his own right.<br /></i></blockquote><p>Note that the reviewer compares Springsteen to two recently signed songwriters, both now largely forgotten (I had an Andy Pratt record, though, it wasn't bad). <br /></p><p>Conversely, the reviewer was scathing about Dr Hook:<br /></p><blockquote><i>Dr Hook and His [sic] Medicine Show were insufferably self-indulgent during their truncated set. They were obviously more concerned with their own enjoyment rather than that of the nearly full house. Engaging in oblique repartee and unfunny asides, their instrumental sloppiness and vocal insipidity did nothing to salvage their performance.</i></blockquote><p></p><p>All in all, the Riders came out fairly well. He says:</p><p></p><p></p><blockquote><i>The
New Riders of The Purple Sage have uncovered nothing new or outrageous,
but they do what they do very well and with more than a little bit of
inspiration. The mode is country, mellow and laid back yet ready to set
off sparks at a moment's notice. Joined by Grateful Dead members Bob
Weir, Keith Godchaux and Donna Godchaux they transformed the staid
Ahmanson into a veritable hoe-down.</i></blockquote><p></p>So Bob
Weir made his last appearance with the New Riders, and Keith and Donna
played yet another gig with the band, lending a little star power to the
proceedings. This was never nothing in status-conscious LA. Save for the <i>Billboard</i> review a few weeks later, the show all but disappeared from the memory of participants or audience.<br /><p></p><p><i><b>Legacy</b></i><br />Most of what we know about this Ahmanson Theater show comes from the thorough research of Bruce Springsteen historians. The indispensable Killing Floor site has some great details. <a href="http://www.brucespringsteen.it/Showdx.htm">Per the site</a>:<br /><i></i></p><blockquote><i>All 7 shows in the Ahmanson series were recorded by CBS and professionally filmed in colour by Arnold Levine Productions on behalf of CBS, whose intent was to show the performances at the CBS Sales Convention in July. This did indeed happen - Bruce's entire performance was shown several times at the Convention - but has never been shown anywhere since. </i></blockquote><p>So this means that the New Riders were filmed and recorded, with Bob Weir and the Godchauxs. This, too, may have been shown at the July '73 Columbia sales convention. I'm not aware of any such video in collector's circles, however. If it could be extracted, it would make a great archival release. Of course, Springsteen fans have been trying to disentomb his full live video, and they have had no luck yet. So near and yet so far. </p><p>Since their were three acts, I would guess that the New Riders played about an hour, half of their usual show in those days. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/nrps-with-keith-and-donna-godchaux-1973.html">Keith Godchaux had played with them a number of times in the previous two months</a>, so it's reasonable to assume he sat in for the entire show. Donna Godchaux probably sang harmonies on one or two numbers, which was her typical contribution when Keith sat in. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/04/march-18-1973-felt-forum-new-york-ny.html">Weir, however, had only played with the New Riders once onstage since 1970, in a unique show at the Felt Forum on March 18, 1973</a>. That show included Jerry Garcia as well as Keith and Donna. My guess about the Ahmanson set--pure speculation--is that Weir joined the Riders for a final or encore number, perhaps two.<br /></p><p></p><p>It's important to remember that while the Ahmanson shows would have seemed like regular rock shows to the paying customers, the experience would have been very different for the performers. One purpose of these events was to introduce bands to radio and concert professionals who might like them, and to encourage Columbia sales people to talk up the acts. Both before and after the shows, all three acts would have been backstage being introduced and shaking hands. Drinks--and perhaps other things--would have been flowing freely. The <i>Billboard</i> reviewer leaves the distinct impression that Dr. Hook were there just for the party, and that their performance suffered as a result. Springsteen was known not to over-indulge, and while you couldn't really say that about the New Riders, they were nonetheless professional enough to ensure that they always came on stage in good shape to play. </p><p>Thus it's extremely unlikely that any of the New Riders or the Dead members had a chance to observe the opening acts. By the same token, Springsteen and his band would have been equally consumed by what would now be called "networking" right after their set, so I doubt any of them had any chance to see the New Riders. Nor do I think they would have had time to care that half the Grateful Dead had joined them onstage, since all the djs and talent agents in Los Angeles were likely chatting them up.</p><p>Still, it happened. Bruce Springsteen and the soon-to-be-E-Street-Band opened a show for the New Riders of The Purple Sage and half the Grateful Dead. There is audio. There is video. It remains glimmering on the horizon, just outside our field of vision.</p><p><b><i>Appendix A:</i> Bruce Springsteen Set, May 1, 1973, Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, CA </b><br /><a href="http://www.brucespringsteen.it/Showdx.htm">Per the Killing Floor site</a>, one track was officially released, audio circulates, and there are eyewitness accounts of seeing the video. <a href="https://www.jambase.com/article/bruce-springsteen-thundercrack-1973-video">"Thundercrack" is now accessible on the internet</a> (brace yourself if you’ve never seen Ur-Bruce). Of the five songs, only one was from his current album, and only one would even be on his next album. Since other pieces of the video have been used in documentaries, the material is accessible, somewhere.</p><p></p><blockquote>01 Spirit In The Night<br />02 Circus Song<br />03 Tokyo<br />04 Thundercrack<br />05 Twist and Shout</blockquote><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>[An audio] tape of the five-song Springsteen set has circulated for decades. </li><li>Bruce plays piano on "Spirit In The Night". </li><li>"Tokyo" is preceded by the long "Ducky Slattery Gas Station" monologue. </li><li>For "Thundercrack," a giant Asbury Park Turnpike sign descends from the back of the stage - the only time this prop was ever utilized. </li><li>"Twist And Shout" is performed as an encore. </li><li>The entire video definitely survives to this day - in CBS's archives. It has still yet to leak out to collectors. </li><li>Very brief film snippets of "Circus Song" and "Thundercrack" were used by CBS as part of a promo-only video clip put together by the company in late 1973 to promote the newly released "<i>Wild & Innocent</i>" LP. This promo spot video circulates among collectors (and indeed was shown in the VH1 <i>Rockumentary</i>). </li><li>The very brief colour film snippet of Bruce performing "Spirit In The Night" on piano in the 1998 BBC Documentary "<i>Bruce Springsteen - A Secret History</i>" is from this show as well. </li><li>The recording of "Circus Song" from this show is released by CBS on July 7, 1973 on the promotion-only 7" CBS Playback EP.</li></ul><p><i><b>Appendix 2: A Week To Remember</b></i><br /><b>April 29-May 5, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, CA: <i>Columbia Records "A Week To Remember: An Extraordinary Music Festival" </i></b><br />For the May 19, 1973 <i>Billboard</i> Review of all these shows (uncredited) see <a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0003.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">Part 1 here</a>, and <a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-Index/IDX/1973/1973-05-19-Billboard-Page-0014.pdf#search=%22purple%20sage%22">the longer Part 2 here</a>.</p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOTZkw4MhrajunSslc-Yhz6viVV9VKGssjcP4TA0Y0UM6hB-FQUDdwY369Q3L6tDTrZooDQ17hjfa8jbaZW2Tne9xZoRwhVAdsPKf-xeIJwzrqRhqxol9FAIHBw_nAnxrwgJiT5SxdnBA3gJxf8Co1YufDBrrAwGyy09fcRosQXQjuPWJeaMiGJteG/s600/Mahavishnu%20Birds%20Of%20Fire%20Columbia%20Jan%2073.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOTZkw4MhrajunSslc-Yhz6viVV9VKGssjcP4TA0Y0UM6hB-FQUDdwY369Q3L6tDTrZooDQ17hjfa8jbaZW2Tne9xZoRwhVAdsPKf-xeIJwzrqRhqxol9FAIHBw_nAnxrwgJiT5SxdnBA3gJxf8Co1YufDBrrAwGyy09fcRosQXQjuPWJeaMiGJteG/s320/Mahavishnu%20Birds%20Of%20Fire%20Columbia%20Jan%2073.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Columbia had released Mahavishnu Orchestra's second album, Birds Of Fire, in January 1973. Despite the daunting music, the record would reach #15</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />Sunday, April 29, 1973 Mahavishnu Orchestra/Loudon Wainwright III/Anthony Newman</b><br /><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Mahavishnu Orchestra's <i>Birds Of Fire</i> had been released in January 1973, and had reached #15</li><li>Loudon Wainwright's single "Dead Skunk" had been released in November 1972, and had peaked at #16.</li><li><a href="https://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/music-notes-anthony-newman-gets-spme-respect/">Anthony Newman was a classical pianist who Columbia was marketing to hip young rock fans</a><br /></li></ul><p><b>Monday, April 30, 1973 The Staple Singers/Johnny Nash/Billy Paul</b><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Staple Singers classic "I'll Take You There" had been released in February 1972, reaching #1</li><li>Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" released in June 1972, had also reached #1 </li><li>Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs Jones" released in September 1972, had peaked #1 for three weeks in December '72.</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Tuesday, May 1, 1973 New Riders Of The Purple Sage/Doctor Hook/Bruce Springsteeen </b><br /><br /><b>Wednesday, May 2, 1973 Miles Davis/Earth, Wind & Fire/Ramsey Lewis</b><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Miles Davis band at this time was: Miles Davis (tpt); Dave Liebman (ss, ts, fl); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g); Khalil Balakrishna (sitar); Lonnie Liston Smith (keyb); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); Badal Roy (tabla); Mtume (cga, perc) </li><li>Miles Davis had played the previous day Santa Monica Civic, and some of that performance would appear on <i>ABC-In Concert</i></li><li>Earth, Wind & Fire's <i>Head To The Sky</i> album (their fourth) was released in May 1973. It would reach #2 on the <i>Billboard</i> Soul chart and #27 on the Pop chart</li><li>Jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, who had been releasing albums since 1959, had released <i>Funky Serenity</i> in 1973. It would reach #6 on the <i>Billboard</i> jazz charts.</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Thursday, May 3, 1973 Loggins and Messina/Taj Mahal/Albert Hammond</b><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Loggins and Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" had been released in October 1972. It had peaked in early 1973 at #4 </li><li>Albert Hammond's "It Never Rains In Southern California," released in November 1972, had peaked at #5</li><li>Taj Mahal was joined onstage by the Pointer Sisters</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;"><b>Friday, May 4, Johnny Mathis/Peter Nero/Maxine Weldon</b><br /><br /><b>Saturday, May 5 Johnny Cash/Lynn Anderson/Charlie Rich</b><br /><br /> </p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-39564337385778380962022-05-27T16:01:00.007-07:002022-09-16T19:42:37.103-07:00January 30-31, 1970: Grateful Dead/Family Dog Merger (Not To Be) [FDGH VI]<p> </p><p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQgT3_CymxZ4hATsIbpvoukFTcdyWjNhpXAt9-lDlxXq94loEo-Cp0UlnidLHj7pqCad7HcV9dOTM69INceiRmaweOCw7tRHFiCS0gRME7c4wLXqEPBPlZN2VGCcDkyEVw8qjDStq2a_w/s1759/Chet+Helms+and+Jerry+Garcia+60s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1759" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQgT3_CymxZ4hATsIbpvoukFTcdyWjNhpXAt9-lDlxXq94loEo-Cp0UlnidLHj7pqCad7HcV9dOTM69INceiRmaweOCw7tRHFiCS0gRME7c4wLXqEPBPlZN2VGCcDkyEVw8qjDStq2a_w/s320/Chet+Helms+and+Jerry+Garcia+60s.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chet Helms, late 60s (also: some guy)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><i><b></b></i></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><p>From the very beginning, the Grateful Dead had always tried to become a self-contained organism. One of their goals was to have some sort of permanent venue, where they could rehearse and perform at will. In the earliest days, the band even strove to live in such a place, although they only achieved it briefly at Rancho Olompali in Marin in the early Summer of 1966. Even though the band members' expanded personal lives pushed against communal living, the band was still looking for a room of its own. In old 1967 interviews, you can read about a mythical "Deadpatch." In 1968 the Dead took over the Carousel. These ideas persisted, and after 1995 the plan was resuscitated with "Terrapin Station," a permanent installation in San Francisco proper. </p><p>In early 1970, however, it nearly happened. The Grateful Dead office nearly merged with Chet Helms and the Family Dog on The Great Highway. The Dead and the New Riders had played the beautiful old ballroom on 660 Great Highway (near 48th and Balboa) many times in 1969, and they always played well. Why not make it home? The Family Dog would have had a "House Band" that ensured some financial security, and Jerry Garcia, Owsley and the Grateful Dead could have the run of the place. If they had released <i>Workingman's Dead</i> and had been anchored at a home base, the arc of their career might have been different.</p><p>Dennis McNally wrote about it, but it mostly gets forgotten. The very weekend that manager Lenny Hart was moving the offices, the Grateful Dead were getting busted down on Bourbon Street. On top of that, while Lenny Hart was moving, he wasn't showing Chet Helms the books, and Helms realized that Lenny's management was bent. Helms called off the merger. Calling it off was a sad but shrewd decision, since Hart was stealing from the Dead and would have stolen from Helms. Helms was counting on the Dead's capital infusion, and all they had was debt. </p><p>The Grateful Dead/Family Dog merger never reached fruition. Nor could it have worked, really, given the financial realities. But let's consider it anyway, as a path not taken. </p><i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSh6Mc7QzX8XKQ-u8TGT0KFIGOUCEm6xLuFdz__HNpz41W4dTlga7vjj7zdbj3PtrsEApP4vGMlBL9uHYHhpJiM-DvgqSGHsMKCaQdmwHs3v-9RmEZX1rA-P81SQtG6uLq1pFGuKB2bD8/s1738/live%253Adead+album.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1736" data-original-width="1738" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSh6Mc7QzX8XKQ-u8TGT0KFIGOUCEm6xLuFdz__HNpz41W4dTlga7vjj7zdbj3PtrsEApP4vGMlBL9uHYHhpJiM-DvgqSGHsMKCaQdmwHs3v-9RmEZX1rA-P81SQtG6uLq1pFGuKB2bD8/s320/live%253Adead+album.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The Grateful Dead, 1970: State Of Play</b></i><br />The Grateful Dead had been underground rock legends since their inception. More people had probably heard of them, however, than actually heard them. Their first three albums had not been successful. <i>Aoxomoxoa</i>, their third album, had cost over $100,000 and gone way over budget, so even if record sales were adequate, they wouldn't see any money from it for some time. The double album <i>Live/Dead</i>, however, constructed in parallel, had been released in November of 1969. It got spectacular reviews, probably got some FM airplay at new stations around the country, and probably sold a little bit.<br /><br />Grateful Dead manager Lenny Hart had renewed the Grateful Dead's contract with Warner Brothers in 1969. Their initial 4-album deal would have expired with <i>Live/Dead</i>, but Lenny had extended it. The band didn't even know they were up for renegotiation. Hart probably pocketed the advance, since after he was fired it was revealed that he had stolen over $150,000. Meanwhile, the Dead were touring hard, winning fans everywhere they went, but without any strategy. Hart took gigs for the band as they were offered, and the Dead's touring schedule was not efficient, so they probably wasted money traveling unnecessarily to make gigs.<p>Meanwhile, the ambitious Jerry Garcia had numerous other plans. He was learning pedal steel guitar, and backing songwriter John Dawson in the New Riders of The Purple Sage. T<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/04/riders-of-purple-sage-old-new-and.html">here was also a nascent plan to have some sort of country "Revue," seemingly called Bobby Ace And The Cards Off The Bottom Of The Deck</a>. An ensemble that included Garcia, Bob Weir, the New Riders, Peter Grant and possibly others would play honky-tonk music and perhaps some originals, broadly in the style of the <i>Porter Wagoner Show</i>, which Weir and Garcia regularly watched on syndicated television. There was a lot going on in Deadland, and I'm not even counting soundman Owsley Stanley's mad experiments and Alembic Engineering's newly modified electric instruments.<br /></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_F_NBzJy5ZY-3bCI-I-QlQ2tBC9sBq6_T_GENeOKCxg1NDGMusMb8O3deMPLTz1-n0IVPqEJvSm1YVpNVbrZPgVs7ywQorRlA0gWXL0ffDf3_q-B73OhtJ5recDFsHpjZbnvMyq9PNo/s931/jg19691119.nrps.ad-hannan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="931" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_F_NBzJy5ZY-3bCI-I-QlQ2tBC9sBq6_T_GENeOKCxg1NDGMusMb8O3deMPLTz1-n0IVPqEJvSm1YVpNVbrZPgVs7ywQorRlA0gWXL0ffDf3_q-B73OhtJ5recDFsHpjZbnvMyq9PNo/s320/jg19691119.nrps.ad-hannan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>In the end, the Family Dog benefit was moved from Winterland to the smaller Fillmore West</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />Family Dog, 1970: Plans and Portents</b></i><br /><a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2021/12/family-dog-on-great-highway-navigation.html">In 1969, the Family Dog on The Great Highway had mostly featured San Francisco bands as weekend headliners, while also open many nights of the week for a variety of community and entertainment events</a>.
Economically, the Dog had been a dismal failure. Undercapitalized to
start with, the organization also had to get out from under a $5000 IRS
tax lien, a substantial sum in 1969. By year's end, the Dog told the San
Francisco <i>Examiner</i> that they were $50,000 in debt. A benefit
concert, held at the Fillmore West of all places, had helped to keep the
Great Highway operation afloat. At the time Helms promised, albeit vaguely, to have
a new plan for the next year that focused on larger weekend events. The
New Year had opened with some modest bookings the first two weekends
(January 2-3 and 9-10), and then the Family Dog was dormant until
month's end. <br /><p></p><p>All the evidence we have for the first part
of 1970 points to an ambitious, sensible plan by the Family Dog on the
Great Highway. Helms was never explicit about these plans, however, for
reasons that will become clear. I have had to piece together the
outlines of the Family Dog's new arrangement from external evidence and a
few after-the-fact reminisces, some of them from anonymous sources on
Comments Threads (@anoldsoundguy, always hoping you can weigh in). I am
providing my best guess, always subject to modification, and I should
add that even if I am largely correct, Chet Helms and the Family Dog may
not have used the modern terminology with which I describe the
approach. Nonetheless, here's what all the evidence points to for the
Family Dog's planned road to stability, even if they never got very far.</p><i><b></b></i><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5EuUm50jOEXR3UWxKnYa6dIug7Itdf1hGTbWWOqZAFk5rkiIJq7xlp2o4G_fk8AJEqwwwM7mOI5KGf6-IXzwS94bhwQsW2ayjRpD_qFo2hKqv3tp6UwqktP1pg1hP94cubhQDC342QSI/s400/FDGH+660+Great+Highway.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5EuUm50jOEXR3UWxKnYa6dIug7Itdf1hGTbWWOqZAFk5rkiIJq7xlp2o4G_fk8AJEqwwwM7mOI5KGf6-IXzwS94bhwQsW2ayjRpD_qFo2hKqv3tp6UwqktP1pg1hP94cubhQDC342QSI/s320/FDGH+660+Great+Highway.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Family Dog on The Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, ca. 1969</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;"><i><b>The Family Dog on The Great Highway, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA</b></i><br />The
Family Dog was a foundation stone in the rise of San Francisco rock,
and it was in operation in various forms from Fall 1965 through the
Summer of 1970. For sound historical reasons, most of the focus on the
Family Dog has been on the original 4-person collective who organized
the first San Francisco Dance Concerts in late 1965, and on their
successor Chet Helms. <a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/FD%20Shows.htm">Helms took over the Family Dog in early 1966, and after a brief partnership with Bill Graham at the Fillmore, promoted memorable concerts at the Avalon Ballroom from Spring 1966 through December 1968</a>. The posters, music and foggy memories of the Avalon are
what made the Family Dog a legendary 60s rock icon.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/01/june-13-15-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">In June, 1969, Chet Helms had opened the new Family Dog on The Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway in San Francisco</a>. It was on rocky Ocean Beach at the edge of the city--indeed, the edge of North America--far from downtown, far from Marin and Berkeley, and not even that accessible to the Peninsula by freeway. The former Edgewater Ballroom, built 1926, was a wonderful little venue. The official capacity was under 1500, though no doubt more people were crammed in on occasion, and it was smaller than the old Fillmore. Bill Graham, meanwhile, had moved out of the old Fillmore into the larger, more freeway-friendly Fillmore West, and he still dominated the rock market. Helms had opened the Family Dog on The Great Highway on June 13, 1969, with a sold-out Jefferson Airplane show, but the going had been rocky for the balance of the year.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"> </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsw6njARnklRBJ6e0a3FlqwaQcS3-qtbOCJUTXUL_pIPBPEIoo07XJo8hatFArKrCBYnMrzISKoBOuj5gV_i1Qzsi6EMJCG8PRDFXrSnWWYQ9y-3cwxTFnQrwWl9VMtCRUvGV_AriNSyG5/s768/FDGH+660+Great+Highway+inside.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsw6njARnklRBJ6e0a3FlqwaQcS3-qtbOCJUTXUL_pIPBPEIoo07XJo8hatFArKrCBYnMrzISKoBOuj5gV_i1Qzsi6EMJCG8PRDFXrSnWWYQ9y-3cwxTFnQrwWl9VMtCRUvGV_AriNSyG5/s320/FDGH+660+Great+Highway+inside.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr style="text-align: left;"><td class="tr-caption"><i>One
of the only photos of the interior of the Family Dog on The Great
Highway (from a Stephen Gaskin "Monday Night Class" ca. October 1969)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>Step 1: Weekends Only</b></i><br />From
January 30, 1970 onward, the Family Dog on The Great Highway only booked
weekend shows, and the headliners were established bands with albums. It
was a fact of San Francisco that just about all the headliners were Bay
Area bands, as San Francisco was at the center of rock music at the
time. So the Family Dog was in a unique position to feature largely
local acts while still having headline bands with albums. In many cases,
the albums were successful, too. So it wasn't exactly a "local" venue,
but definitely home-grown. San Francisco is an insular place, so this
was a potentially viable strategy. The Dog wasn't opposed to hiring
touring bands, but they were more expensive, and in any case preferred
the higher-profile Fillmore West.<br /><p>Here and there the Family Dog
was used on weekdays for a few events, but it stopped trying to be a
community center. Weekend ticket prices were typically $3.50. That was
high, but not excessive. The shows were booked in order to make a profit
for the bands and the venue. The headliners in February and March read
like it was 1967 again: Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver, Steve Miller,
Big Brother, the Grateful Dead, Lee Michaels and Country Joe and The
Fish. All those bands were from the Avalon days, but they all had record
contracts and current or forthcoming albums, too. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/08/660-great-highway-san-francisco-family.html">The first weekend booking was Jefferson Airplane, on January 30-31, 1970</a>. <br /></p><p><b>Step 2: New Finance</b><br />Clearly,
the Family Dog was recapitalized by the end of January. Although Chet
Helms had loyal support from the local bands that had played the Avalon,
they were all working bands as well. Helms could not have booked the
bands that he did from February through April without some cash on hand.
It is the source of the new finance that has never really been
explained, and that I have had to infer. Anyone who has insights or
knowledge into this area, please Comment or email me. I am noting in
advance that these are my most plausible guesses, and I am open to
substantial corrections.<br /><br />As near as I can tell, Helms collected
contributions from local hippie entrepreneurs. My guess is that most of
them sold products that were--shall we say--not subject to taxation, nor
available in stores. Similarly, these same entrepreneurs did not want
their names publicly identified as a source of cash. </p><p><i><b>Step 3: A New Implied Business Model</b></i><br />Chet
Helms is often unfairly criticized as a poor businessman, because he
has always been compared with Bill Graham. Pretty much anyone wasn't as
good a businessman as Graham, certainly not in the rock and roll
business. Helms had his flaws as a business operator, but he was very
innovative, and in many ways I believe his approach to the Family Dog on
The Great Highway was innovative as well. For simplicity's sake, I will
use modern terminology to explain what appear to have been the outlines
of his plan. I'm sure that Helms himself would have used different
terms, but I'm not aware of a public or written statement. </p><p>The traditional criticism of Helms' business practices <i>vis-a-vis</i>
Graham was that Bill charged everybody for tickets, and Chet let all of
his friends in for free. By 1970, I do not believe that was the case.
Based on Comment Threads, it appears that the Family Dog doorman had a
Rolodex (address card file), and if your name was in that Rolodex, you
got let in for free. Many of the names on that Rolodex were the hippie
entrepreneurs that had laid out cash to keep the Dog going. In return,
they got in for free whenever they wanted.</p><p>Was this a new model?
Not really. It's how every museum in America was run, and largely still
is. It's true that museums are not-for-profit and donations are
tax-deductible, but Chet may have got to that over time. Certain people
in the hippie community had money, and they contributed more of it in
return for guaranteed admission. Today, <a href="https://thefreight.org/corporate-foundation-donors/">the venerable Freight And Salvage club in Berkeley runs on this model</a>. It's a very sound plan that could have worked.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpFElqEai5VjccnLgiZeobRaEkNcdLORwH0Jxl3qnXALgbyuyJPCag7nCNHPl6h2CFgCa8CiT8HUJsg1FNO4fxJaeu7DY8X7CagBd9BcHt_KfhVYcbJhvCxygzrHs8rLpQf0gQY7DVyaj/s534/Rosenbaum+column+FDGH+25+Feb+1970%252C+33+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="534" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUpFElqEai5VjccnLgiZeobRaEkNcdLORwH0Jxl3qnXALgbyuyJPCag7nCNHPl6h2CFgCa8CiT8HUJsg1FNO4fxJaeu7DY8X7CagBd9BcHt_KfhVYcbJhvCxygzrHs8rLpQf0gQY7DVyaj/s320/Rosenbaum+column+FDGH+25+Feb+1970%252C+33+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>SF
Examiner columnist Jack Rosenbaum mentioned on Wednesday, February 25,
that the Grateful Dead had taken over the Family Dog on the Great
Highway (although in fact Chet Helms had backed out already, and the
deal was off)<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /><b><i>Step 4: A High Profile Partnership</i></b><br />It
seems that Helms wasn't going to do this alone. He had a partnership
lined up, and his partners were going to be no less than the Grateful
Dead. The Dead were going to move their operation from Novato to the
Family Dog on The Great Highway. It some ways this may have been
designed as a replay of the Carousel Ballroom, but with an experienced
producer like Helms as part of the team. The New Riders of The Purple
Sage had played numerous dates at the Family Dog in 1969, so Jerry
Garcia clearly liked the place. Remember, there were only a few, tiny
rock clubs to play in the Bay Area at the time, so the 1000>1500
capacity Dog left room for the Riders to consider building their own
audience. <br /></p><p>Of course, the Dead and the Family Dog did not
merge. The merger was scheduled for early February 1970, and that is
precisely when everything fell apart for the Grateful Dead. The band was
busted in New Orleans, putting the freedom of soundman Owsley Stanley
in great jeopardy, due to a prior LSD arrest. More critically, the Dead
discovered that manager Lenny Hart (drummer Mickey Hart's father) was an
outright crook, and had ripped the band off for $150,000, an enormous
sum at the time. The Grateful Dead were dead broke, without a manager
and without a soundman. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XU8E8W/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">Dennis McNally mentions the abandoned merger in his epic Dead history <i>A Long Strange Trip</i></a>, but it is remarked on almost in passing amidst
all the other tumult. McNally:<br /></p><blockquote><i>As the Dead had been
busted in New Orleans [January 31], [Lenny Hart] had been in the process
of moving their office from Novato to the Family Dog on the Great
Highway, with Lenny to become manager of the FDGH as well as the Dead,
and with Gail Turner to be the FDGH secretary as well as Lenny's. The
idea of sharing space with the Dead appealed to Chet Helms, but became
evident to him and Gail that the numbers weren't adding up and that
there had to be at least two sets of books. Before anyone in the band
even knew, Lenny moved the office back to Novato. [p.360-361]. </i></blockquote>So
just as Jefferson Airplane are re-opening the Family Dog, the Grateful
Dead office is relocating to merge their businesses. Helms, while not Bill Graham, was neither a sucker nor a crook. Lenny Hart would have
stolen from him, too, so he canceled the merger. The Grateful Dead
themselves were probably unclear about what was happening, in between
recording <i>Workingman's Dead</i>, worrying about Owsley and constantly
performing. But the planned merger can't have been a secret in the
local rock community. On Wednesday, February 25, <i>Examiner</i> columnist Jack Rosenbaum (the <i>Ex's</i> Herb Caen, if you will), had an item (posted above):<br /><blockquote><i>Love
Generation: to help the Grateful Dead rock group build a defense fund
for their pot-bust in New Orleans, Bill Graham staged a benefit Monday
night [Feb 23] at Winterland, raising a tidy $15,000. So-0, the Grateful
Dead have taken over the Family Dog rock-dance auditorium on the Great
Highway--in competition with Graham.</i></blockquote>Rosenbaum was wired
to local gossip, but not the freshest of rock news. Now, thanks to
McNally (writing in 2003), we know that by late February the Dead-Dog
deal was off. Still, the point here was that the word was around and had
gotten to a city paper columnist, even if it was already a stale item.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOBgfUb5nbkg1fKUPVyxV6gSTgwZ_TZPDPCyznCTaJj4cBFE6rJaq0o6N4J6AHmkKUDLfpfRCDemVZj2-AEofN4HSp8xkWDvuGYU6ZC3lXRQgklXXIFT2CvsubKwN94usI3xUuPFWwOOC4/s1200/kleiner-perkins+Sand+Hill+Road.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOBgfUb5nbkg1fKUPVyxV6gSTgwZ_TZPDPCyznCTaJj4cBFE6rJaq0o6N4J6AHmkKUDLfpfRCDemVZj2-AEofN4HSp8xkWDvuGYU6ZC3lXRQgklXXIFT2CvsubKwN94usI3xUuPFWwOOC4/s320/kleiner-perkins+Sand+Hill+Road.jpg" width="320" /></a>1</td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kleiner Perkins HQ on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, a mile or so from the former site of Perry Lane</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><i>A Brief Reflection</i></b><br />It's
world-changing to imagine Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead with their
own performance venue doubling as a rehearsal hall, on the beach in San
Francisco. It's important to remember that it could not have happened.
Lenny Hart had organized the deal, Helms had seen through the scam, and both
entities were fairly broke. It's ironic that the local dealers probably
loved the idea of supporting a partnership with the Dead, but could not
publicly acknowledge themselves. The Dead/Dog merger could never have
worked in the form in which it was conceived.<div><p>But let's take a
moment to respect Helms for his forward thinking. The Edgewater
Ballroom, which evolved into the Family Dog on The Great Highway, was
torn down in 1973. But, just for a moment, let's say there was still an
elegant 1500-capacity dance hall at Ocean Beach. What does the funding
structure look like in 2022?</p><b>Proposition</b>: <br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A Jam Band palace at Ocean Beach, on the edge of San Francisco</li><li><a href="https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/closing-upper-great-highway-for-good-is-popular-survey-finds/">The Great Highway converted to pedestrian only access (or nearly so)</a></li><li>Cannabis entrepreneurs providing capital, and now able to publicly sponsor the hall</li><li>For a membership fee, you would be guaranteed entrance without needing a ticket (within the confines of safety laws, of course)</li><li>Participation and partnership from and with the Grateful Dead organization</li></ul><p>Ocean
Beach is near Interstate 280. You could head South and turn off at the
Sand Hill Road exit into Menlo Park, where Kleiner Perkins and all the other
Venture Capitalists started the tech boom. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiner_Perkins">Kleiner Perkins helped found Amazon, Google and Twitter, among many other companies</a>.
You could arrange infinite financing on your iPhone before you even got
to Sand Hill Road--before Crystal Springs, honestly--and just sign the
deal when you got out of the car. Helms was just ahead of his time by 50
years or so.</p><p>It wasn't to be. J<a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/08/660-great-highway-san-francisco-family.html">efferson Airplane re-opened the Family Dog on Friday, January 30</a>, but the plan was already crumbling
around the Dog.</p><i><b>Appendix</b></i><br /><i><b>Grateful Dead and The New Riders of The Purple Sage at the Family Dog on The Great Highway</b></i><br />The Grateful Dead and the New Riders of The Purple Sage played many shows at the Family Dog. The band and particularly Garcia must have enjoyed playing there, or Lenny Hart wouldn't have made the proposition to merge the operations. <br /><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/02/august-1-1969-family-dog-on-great.html"><b>August 1, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: </b><i>Light Show Strike</i><b> </b></a><i><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/02/august-1-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">[Grateful Dead canceled]</a> (Friday) <br /></i></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/03/august-2-3-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">August 2-3, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Albert Collins/Ballet Afro-Haiti</a> </b><i>(Saturday-Sunday) <br /></i></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/03/august-12-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">August 12 or 13, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: New Lost City Ramblers/New Riders of The Purple Sage</a> </b><i>(Tuesday or Wednesday)</i><br />There is some uncertainty as to whether the Riders played on Tuesday (12th) or Wednesday (13th). Garcia and Nelson jammed with Mike Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers for the encores. There was also an August 14 jam with the New Lost City Ramblers and Mickey Hart and The Hartbeats. It's not clear if that was a public event, or just a musicians jam.<br /></p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/04/august-19-1969-family-dog-on-great.html"><b>August 19, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b></a><i> (Tuesday)</i><br /><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">For New Riders setlists during this period, see here. </a><i><br /></i><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/04/august-28-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">August 28, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Mickey Hart and The Hartbeats/New Riders of The Purple Sage</a> </b><i>(Thursday) </i></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/04/august-29-30-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">August 29-30, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen/Rubber Duck</a> </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)<br /></i></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/05/september-6-1969-family-dog-on-great.html"><b>September 6, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead </b><i>(Saturday) </i></a><br /></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/05/september-6-1969-family-dog-on-great.html"><b>September 7, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: </b><i>jam (Sunday)</i></a><br />Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady and others had some kind of jam on Sunday, September 7. It's unclear if other bands played. <i> </i></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/05/september-12-14-1969-family-dog-on.html"><b>September 11, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Purple Earthquake/Johnny Mars Blues Band/Wisdom Fingers/Osceola</b><i> (Thursday)</i></a><br />There is a Grateful Dead tape fragment dated September 11. There is no other evidence that the Dead played the Family Dog, but it was "New Band Night" so maybe they showed up. </p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/06/october-17-30-1969-family-dog-on-great.html"><b>October 22, 1969 Family Dog on the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA New Riders of the Purple Sage/Lazarus </b><i>(Wednesday) Ecological Ball</i></a></p><p><a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2022/01/halloween-weekend-1969-loma-prieta-room.html"><b>November 1-2, 1969, Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Danny Cox/Golden Toad </b></a><i><a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2022/01/halloween-weekend-1969-loma-prieta-room.html">(Saturday-Sunday)</a><br /></i></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/07/november-19-1969-fillmore-west-san.html"><b>November 18, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday)</i></a><br /></p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/07/november-19-1969-fillmore-west-san.html"><b>November 19, 1969 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: Family Dog Benefit
with Steve Miller Band/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Barry McGuire and
The Doctor/Humble, Mumble, Fumble and Dumble (formerly Big Brother and
The Holding Company) </b><i>(Wednesday) </i></a><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/07/november-19-1969-fillmore-west-san.html"><b>November
22-23, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: New
Riders of The Purple Sage/Anonymous Artists of America/Devil's Kitchen
</b><i>(Saturday-Sunday)</i></a></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/07/november-19-1969-fillmore-west-san.html"><b>November 27, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA:
Cleveland Wrecking Company/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Lamb/Deacon and
The Suprelles/East Bay Sharks/Pitschell Players/Morning Glory Theater
</b><i>Free City Puppet Ball (Thursday)</i></a></p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-4-1970-family-dog-on-great.html"><b>February 4, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Santana/Kimberly </b></a><i>"A Night At The Family Dog" (Wednesday)</i><b><br /></b>There was also <a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2022/06/february-3-1970-family-dog-on-great.html">a rehearsal/soundcheck on Tuesday, February 3</a>.<p><b><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/08/february-27-march-1-1970-family-dog-on.html">February 27-March 1, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen</a> </b></b><i>(Friday-Sunday)</i></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2022/09/march-18-1970-family-dog-on-great.html"><b>March 18, 1970 Family Dog on the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA:
Rolling Thunder (Shoshone Medicine Man)/Hot Tuna/New Riders of the
Purple Sage </b><i>[Benefit for the Sons of Thunder] (Thursday) </i></a></p><p><b><b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/11/april-17-19-1970-family-dog-on-great.html">April
17-19, 1970 Family Dog On The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Mickey
Hart and The Hartbeats/Bobby Ace And The Cards Off The Bottom Of The
Deck/Charlie Musselwhite/New Riders Of The Purple Sage</a></b> </b><i>(Friday-Sunday)<a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2021/12/family-dog-on-great-highway-navigation.html"><b><br /></b></a></i></p><p><a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2021/12/family-dog-on-great-highway-navigation.html"><i>[For current links to all the listed Garcia and Dead shows at the Family Dog on The Great Highway, see the Tracker here]</i></a><b><br /></b></p></div>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-13509759759804433662022-04-22T16:22:00.002-07:002022-10-21T14:11:09.115-07:00New Riders of The Purple Sage Tour History, May-August 1972 (NRPS '72 II)<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrFntxA_CGQd9yoh1jwFOvwkbf2FnXgLETr9WSkf4rOlcLB0PCGlLtEpH4bY-7AtMi1N7OjvKJn2M8cMw9FCd1MZQbaHe6yj0YW5Ey0q1304TAniWZv40NDEbd4LaQ-66Z-htlcrBZUQ54Z761bUHcg4wLrQoYViGTcQHQv4dtp3Z9wjuVjy94GMca=s300" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrFntxA_CGQd9yoh1jwFOvwkbf2FnXgLETr9WSkf4rOlcLB0PCGlLtEpH4bY-7AtMi1N7OjvKJn2M8cMw9FCd1MZQbaHe6yj0YW5Ey0q1304TAniWZv40NDEbd4LaQ-66Z-htlcrBZUQ54Z761bUHcg4wLrQoYViGTcQHQv4dtp3Z9wjuVjy94GMca" width="300" /></a></b></div><b><br />New Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History, May-August 1972 (NRPS II)</b><br />The
music of Jerry Garcia casts a large shadow, if a shadow that is bright
rather than dark. It is so large, however, and so bright, that it
outshines many things around it. In the 21st century, the New Riders of
The Purple Sage are best known as the vehicle through which Jerry Garcia
created an opportunity to play pedal steel guitar as a sideman in 1970
and '71. When the demands of playing full-time with both the Grateful
Dead and the New Riders became too gargantuan a task, Garcia stepped
aside from the Riders. For most Deadheads, that's where the story ends. <br /><p></p><p>Yet
the story of the New Riders of The Purple Sage was only beginning. For
obvious reasons, the Riders are always compared to the Dead, and like
almost every other 20th century rock band, the Dead outshone NRPS by
many orders of magnitude. Compared to all the other bands struggling to
make it in the early 1970s, however, the New Riders of The Purple Sage
were hugely successful. After their debut album with Garcia in late
1971, they released four more albums with Buddy Cage on pedal steel in
1972 and '73. The albums sold well--<i>Panama Red</i> eventually was certified
Gold--and the New Riders were a popular concert attraction. </p><p>On
top of the Riders' undeniable success, they were also still part of the
Grateful Dead's business operation in 1972. The Grateful Dead tour booking was handled by Sam Cutler, apparently working through a variety of talent agents. Cutler also had a key role in booking the New Riders, although they would have also worked directly with certain agents. So a review of the New Riders
touring history in 1972 and '73 shows both what lessons Cutler had
learned from the Dead's rise to success in 1970 and '71, and also
provided an avenue for Cutler to expand his relationships with promoters
who worked with the Grateful Dead. Thus the New Riders' touring schedule
was both a do-over and a rehearsal for what had come before and what
would come later for the Grateful Dead. </p><p>This post will continue the series on the tour history of the New Riders of The Purple Sage in 1972
and '73, with a particular emphasis on how their saga was similar to and
different from that of the Grateful Dead. These posts would not have
been possible without the stellar research of fellow scholar David
Kramer-Smyth, whose contributions have been both deep and broad. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The prior post focused on the New Riders performance history from January to April, 1972</a>. This post will focus on the New Riders performance history from May through August 1972. Anyone with additions, corrections, insights or just
interesting speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks
welcome.</p><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV18_YlQX3WMKhr6Ol_0srPHbj8GGiAuDVzBO4GvSLimNPR3kpxoaE_iO8pPmOIffm56DHsvSyPcZDyC7pKetp0SUtw71hKlUFxjpFNy79TDjFZavi7TPKjERzfmrsV1IDNez6zr1xUKWocpf6FK7bZp3bdsEyg8H0J_pSKLZTuPqyBTFrrPgpWzW_=s254" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="193" data-original-width="254" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjV18_YlQX3WMKhr6Ol_0srPHbj8GGiAuDVzBO4GvSLimNPR3kpxoaE_iO8pPmOIffm56DHsvSyPcZDyC7pKetp0SUtw71hKlUFxjpFNy79TDjFZavi7TPKjERzfmrsV1IDNez6zr1xUKWocpf6FK7bZp3bdsEyg8H0J_pSKLZTuPqyBTFrrPgpWzW_" width="254" /></a></div><i><br />New Riders of The Purple Sage Status Report, May 1972</i></b><br />Buddy Cage had debuted with the New Riders of The Purple Sage on November 11, 1971. Amazingly, his debut was broadcast live on FM radio, perhaps a unique occurrence in rock history. <a href="http://nrps.net/music/1971.html">Throughout the Fall of 1971, the New Riders of The Purple Sage toured the country with the Grateful Dead, often broadcasting live on FM radio along with them</a>. As far as I can tell, the <i>NRPS</i> album got a fair amount of FM radio airplay throughout the country. It reached #39 on the <i>Billboard</i> charts, fairly respectable for a debut album without a big AM hit single. Still, although the New Riders had scored a successful debut, they no longer had their most high-profile member. The absence of Jerry Garcia had provided freedom, but the New Riders were going to have to make it in 1972 flying under their own power. <br /><p>Nonetheless, the New Riders were still part of
the Grateful Dead family, and not just socially. Their manager had initially been Jon
McIntire, who also managed the Dead. McIntire was the principal
go-between for the record companies. Sam Cutler would have been the principal connection with the booking agents, as he was for the Grateful Dead. By representing
multiple bands, Cutler had more to negotiate and thus more leverage with
promoters and agents throughout the country. The Riders didn't have to
worry about being left out of the mix--Cutler's principal assistant was
Sally Mann Dryden, the drummer's wife (whom Cutler refers to now as
"Mustang Sally," perhaps a reference to her 428ci Ford Mustang).<br /></p><p>In January, 1972, the New Riders had recorded their second album <i>Powerglide</i>. Jerry Garcia had visited Wally Heider Studios for a day (January 17) and contributed banjo and piano(!) parts on three numbers, but Buddy Cage held down the pedal steel guitar chair. John Dawson wrote and sang lead on five of the songs, but Dave Torbert sang five (and wrote two) of them, and David Nelson sang a cover as well. The 1972 New Riders were more of a band than the earlier incarnation. The group had begun to perform outside of the Bay Area on their own, rather than just opening for the Grateful Dead as they had in 1971. In April 1972, they had toured the East Coast, promoting <i>Powerglide</i>, which was officially available in stores around April 15. The East Coast touring had ended May 2, and the New Riders then flew on to Europe.<br /></p><blockquote><b>The New Riders of The Purple Sage, <i>May-August 1972</i></b><br /><b>John Dawson</b>-vocals, rhythm guitar<br /><b>Buddy Cage</b>-pedal steel guitar (ex-Great Speckled Bird and Anne Murray)<br /><b>David Nelson</b>-lead guitar, vocals (ex-<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">New Delhi River Band</a>)<br /><b>Dave Torbert</b>-bass, vocals (ex-New Delhi River Band, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Horses</a>)<br /><b>Spencer Dryden</b>-drums (ex-Jefferson Airplane)</blockquote><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiTmqKf17kZOpgeO3duidNuzw1qjCSV3eNBamR2gLOGJHqIGwuOh9Zjvf8cpY7vnGKgcFcEXkMKy_yR-wU-lj-4WcHBFFy41ErGrKOFT40YtRwo7IcmA4RQ_c60wScRlH8_VRTjhZS7R3VHEkFinBlapH_p9yEe_cdPyksPhGaTqjGHnhGW27DccXs=s1139" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="1139" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhiTmqKf17kZOpgeO3duidNuzw1qjCSV3eNBamR2gLOGJHqIGwuOh9Zjvf8cpY7vnGKgcFcEXkMKy_yR-wU-lj-4WcHBFFy41ErGrKOFT40YtRwo7IcmA4RQ_c60wScRlH8_VRTjhZS7R3VHEkFinBlapH_p9yEe_cdPyksPhGaTqjGHnhGW27DccXs=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The restored Palace Theater, at 100 E. Main St in Waterbury, CT</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />May 1 1972 Palace Theatre Waterbury CT New Riders of The Purple Sage/Henry Gross Produced by Web LTD</b><i> (Monday)</i><br />Web LTD had booked the New Riders for the "Folk Festival" shows in Virginia back on April 8, and they also booked a Monday night at a now-legendary venue called the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. Waterbury is between Hartford (33 miles to the Northeast) and New York City (77 miles to the Southwest). It had (and has) a population of around 110,000. In the first half of the 20th century, it was a thriving industrial city. From the 60s onward, however, Waterbury underwent a severe economic decline. As a rock peculiarity, however, Waterbury had a large movie theater from its glory days, and easy freeway access from larger areas. The Palace Theater, at 100 E. Main Street in downtown, had been built in 1922. By the early 1970s, it wasn't apparently in great shape, but it had a capacity of a few thousand and fantastic acoustics. It went from being an oversized movie house to a destination rock concert venue.<p>In the early 1970s, bands figured out that in order
to make touring profitable, they had to play as many nights as possible
with reasonably short trips in between. If a band on a road had, for
example, a lucrative weekend booking in Manhattan, and another the next
weekend in Boston, they had to do something in between that paid. A
night or two at a place like Waterbury was perfect. It was just far
enough from major cities that it didn't tread on the major bookings, and
attracted fans who wouldn't (or couldn't) go to a big-city show. FM
radio was everywhere, anyway, and there were plenty of kids in the
suburbs who wanted to see the bands that played Manhattan or Boston.
Whoever owned the aging Palace Theater would have been happy to rent it
out profitably, unconcerned if some hippies might raise a little ruckus. <a href="http://www.palacewaterbury.com/palace_bands/palace_bands.html">All the good touring bands of the 1970s played the Palace in Waterbury, some of them many times.</a></p><p>I
doubt the New Riders sold that many tickets on a Monday night, but on
the road it may not have mattered. If they covered their expenses, then
it was better than just spending the night in a hotel. Sam Cutler,
meanwhile, would have learned about the Palace, and the Dead would
return in September.</p><p><b>May 2, 1972 Academy Of Music, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Alex Taylor/Tranquility </b><i>(Tuesday-8:00 and 11:30 pm)</i><br />The Academy of Music, at 126 E.14th Street, had opened as a movie theater in 1922 (taking its name from the Opera House that had been across the street in the 19th century). The 3000-seat venue had been used intermittently for rock concerts in the 1960s, but had mostly been a movie theater. Promoter Howard Stein (1945-2007) had been putting on shows at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, just outside the City, in 1970 and '71. When the Fillmore East closed in June, 1971, Stein took over the The Academy of Music. Stein had been promoting rock shows in the New York area throughout the 1960s. The Academy of Music would change its name to the Palladium in 1976. In the 1980s, Stein would move away from the rock concert business and into the nightclub business, opening some legendary New York discos. Back in '71, however, Stein was a key promoter filling the void left by Bill Graham's departure.<br /></p><p>In March of 1972, the Grateful Dead had
played six shows in seven nights at the The Academy of Music (Hot Tuna
filled in the other night), a legendary event in Deadhead history. In
this case, the New Riders provided a
kind of encore to the six sold-out Dead shows in March.<br /></p><p>The English band Tranquility, label mates (on Epic), opened the show. In the middle of
the bill was Alex Taylor, the older brother of James. Alex had a more
bluesy sound than James, and he just released <i>Dinnertime</i>, his
second album on Capricorn. Since Capricorn was the Allman Brothers
label, it's not surprising to see other fellow travelers on the record, like
Chuck Leavell, Tommy Talton and Jaimoe. <br /></p><p>Following their
Northeastern tour, the New Riders of The Purple Sage headed off to
England and Europe, including hooking up with the Grateful Dead for the
end of their epic <i>Europe '72 </i>tour.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQFOTkh22PgWPEI93wD6JyShav9s0iu-L870FOTzp1pEnaqf1c-7r4X2q3_zPinxhWf1rOyeVwEJyUf-dDY6TnoLnTq1M10EMextCHdnxbXaeBBiXs6xqog6MK0uld42gJ-qnbY4HVV1q_19KXhL3fOx43Mbn4sleDzCrPBe591ynAVxJaspWckkOp=s250" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="250" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQFOTkh22PgWPEI93wD6JyShav9s0iu-L870FOTzp1pEnaqf1c-7r4X2q3_zPinxhWf1rOyeVwEJyUf-dDY6TnoLnTq1M10EMextCHdnxbXaeBBiXs6xqog6MK0uld42gJ-qnbY4HVV1q_19KXhL3fOx43Mbn4sleDzCrPBe591ynAVxJaspWckkOp" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>NRPS on stage at Bickershaw Festival, Wigan, GB May 7 '72</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>May 7, 1972 Bickershaw Festival, Wigan, England: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Country Joe McDonald/Brinsley Schwarz </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />In the early 70s, Europe and the UK still had rock festivals on the Woodstock model, with masses of people gathering on a muddy farm for several days and music 24/7 . Wigan, in the Greater Manchester area, was the only major multi-day festival with camping in the Northwest of England during this period. Of course, it rained constantly and everything fell apart. The Grateful Dead were the headliners on Sunday, the third and final day of the Festival. According to David Nelson (via Jesse Jarnow), the New Riders were not originally on the Bickershaw bill. Sam Cutler and his associate Chesley Millikin, however, were able to wrangle the band into the lineup. Both Cutler and Millikin were veterans of the 60s London rock scene, so they would have known how to make things happen.<br /><p></p><p><a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/europe-72-empire-pool-newcastle-city-hall">The Dead had kicked off their epic Europe '72 tour back on April 7 with two shows in London, followed by one in Newcastle (April 11)</a>. They had since played nine shows in Denmark, West Germany and Paris, before returning to England for Bickershaw. The New Riders flew over from the East Coast to make their European debut opening for the Dead. The Riders came on after Country Joe. Brinsley Schwarz--a truly great band fronted by Nick Lowe--had played before Joe. </p><p>By Sunday, organization was chaotic. New Riders office Admin Michelle McFee had flown over from California to join the tour, but was unable to find her way backstage. A veteran concertgoer herself, she made her way through the muddy crowd to get near the stage, and shouted at the band until they recognized her. <a href="https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/setline.html">The saga of the Bickershaw Festival is too much for me to summarize, but stories abound on the website.</a> For a <a href="https://www.djtees.com/blogs/djtees-blog/bickershaw-festival-1972 ">useful overview of the entire 3-day Bickershaw festival, see the DJT blog post here</a>.<br /></p><p><b>May 9, 1972 Old Refectory, University College, London, UK: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><br />The history of the New Riders of The Purple Sage '72 European tour has been entirely obscure up until now. A few events have been noted, but always in the context of the storied Grateful Dead '72 tour. In fact, the Riders were only briefly involved with the Dead on tour, but that is often the only thread we can pull. David Kramer-Smyth has rescued some dates from obscurity, and there are clearly stories to tell, yet we have little to go on.</p><p>An e-tree listing indicates a tape of a New Riders show at the Old Refectory at University College in London, the Tuesday after Bickershaw. UCL (as it is known) was established in 1826, and has been a London institution ever since. The Old Refectory, just opposite the Jeremy Bentham Room, seems to have been the original cafe at UCL. It is between Gower and Gordon Streets. Gordon Street is the site of the Bartlett School of Architecture, founded in 1841. The Bartlett seems to about a 1/4 mile from the Old Refectory.</p><p>My father graduated from the Bartlett School in the late 1940s, so he probably found time to make it over to the Old Refectory--probably just called "The Refectory" then--for some tea or eggs. He would come to California in the 1950s, and meet a teacher at Peninsula School in Menlo Park (who may have taught John Dawson), thus leading to--among other things--this blog. <b><br /></b></p><b>May 12, 1972 Main Hall, Surrey University, Guildford, London, UK; New Riders of The Purple Sage/Colin Scott </b><i>(Friday)</i><br />Surrey University was officially established in 1966. located in Battersea Park, on the Thames River just opposite Chelsea. Its roots, however, go back to the Battersea College of Technology, founded 1891. The University has expanded substantially since then, so I do not know the size or location of "The Main Hall," although it could very well be extant. <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXlyq-_hweylYl6EIpb0pQ5uikoGLNTDN4snl0354xRmkBb4j4gNxeLV205OdxP8fcio-ESdSuDjpQlSNHThMxr-Vky5t8svrobMrYfKA8aSwWJ4e-U0uTiLEfkT_CkeGv6zeUQsDDE3qhPatXA8DhenKLzCkd9nOQvXAajJrnl4yui8uTH41nUlYJ=s500" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="500" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgXlyq-_hweylYl6EIpb0pQ5uikoGLNTDN4snl0354xRmkBb4j4gNxeLV205OdxP8fcio-ESdSuDjpQlSNHThMxr-Vky5t8svrobMrYfKA8aSwWJ4e-U0uTiLEfkT_CkeGv6zeUQsDDE3qhPatXA8DhenKLzCkd9nOQvXAajJrnl4yui8uTH41nUlYJ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>May 13 1972 Main Hall Kingston Polytechnic, Kingston, UK: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Rab Noakes </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />A ticket survives from the Saturday night show at Kingston Poly. The Institute had been founded in 1899, and was located in Southwest London, at Kingston-Upon-Thames. <a href="https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/supporting-starman-out-world-david-7166416">There were apparently regular shows at the venue</a>. For those not familiar with London, the different shows at colleges around greater London would not at all have drawn on the same pools of fans. Based on David Kramer-Smyth's research, a tape may exist of this show. </p><p>Scottish singer/songwriter Rab Noakes released his self-titled second album in 1972, on A&M Records (his 1970 debut <i>Have You Seen The Lights</i>, had been released on Decca in 1970).</p><p><b>May 14, 1972 Essex Arts Festival, Dance Hall, Essex University, Essex UK: New Riders Of The Purple Sage/Dr John</b><i> (Sunday)</i><br /><a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/72/Record-Mirror-1972-04-01-S-OCR.pdf">The indefatigable David Kramer-Smyth found a note about this show in the April 1, 1972 issue of <i>Record Mirror </i>(see page 6)</a>.</p><p>Per <i>Record Mirror</i>, the Essex Arts Festival took place from May 7-14, and included a number of San Francisco acts: Quicksilver Messenger Service (May 8), Country Joe McDonald (May 12) and finally the New Riders. The University of Essex had been established in 1963. A mere 10 year-history was common for a lot of American colleges and State Universities, but for England that was pretty much the day before yesterday. <br /></p><p><b>May 18 1972 Zoom, Frankfurt, West Germany New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>presented by Lippman-Rav-Zoom </i><i>(Thursday) {source poster}</i><br />By the next week, the New Riders had gotten over to the continent. A poster for the Zoom club shows the band's booking for Thursday night. What they did in between, whether they played any gigs or just hung out in London is completely unknown. <br /></p><b>May 20 1972 Paradiso, Amsterdam NL New Riders of The Purple Sage/Strrrriptoneel </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />The Paradiso was a legendary, indeed infamous, Amsterdam rock club. The Riders appeared on the schedule for Saturday night. The Paradiso is near Der Melkweg, another legendary Amsterdam venue.<br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5wEliNIH2dmJFkE1d_vZ65xAjF0m-yS-pT3U19YGZKpe7a0tauVAXZhXrJAyCjt5doRV1oZbNPx23hMOdleP9nVZiQDogsZuX98yUbOHRmX3zksDezJ8aWEWVbU9QjOmkZNsa8uxn3Ne9205i4MZ4gz_rTiGAwo98M9_HVkp6SM1df5R5_yoB2UNt=s600" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="600" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5wEliNIH2dmJFkE1d_vZ65xAjF0m-yS-pT3U19YGZKpe7a0tauVAXZhXrJAyCjt5doRV1oZbNPx23hMOdleP9nVZiQDogsZuX98yUbOHRmX3zksDezJ8aWEWVbU9QjOmkZNsa8uxn3Ne9205i4MZ4gz_rTiGAwo98M9_HVkp6SM1df5R5_yoB2UNt=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /><b>May 21, 1972 Germersheim, Pfalz, West Germany: British Rock Meeting 2 Festival- The Faces/Kinks/ Family/Rory Gallagher/Country Joe McDonald/Savoy Brown/Status Quo/Beggar's Opera/Sam Apple Pie/Nazareth/Uriah Heep/Frumpy/Ekseption/Amon Düül 2/New Riders of the Purple Sage/Billy Joel/Spencer Davis Group/East of Eden/Lindisfarne/Jerusalem/Max Merrit </b><i>(Sunday)--NRPS were no shows</i><br />The <a href="http://www.pinkfloydarchives.com/posters/Gfest70/Gfest70.htm#052072p2"><i>Second British Rock Meeting</i></a> was a 2-day rock festival. Above is the second poster made for the festival, which had been moved from Mannheim to Germersheim, West Germany. The prior day (May 20) saw performances from Pink Floyd, Humble Pie, Curved Air and many other bands. The Doors were just a trio at this point, since of course Jim Morrison was not available. Curved Air has released their performance at the festival on CD.</p><p><a href="https://www.festivival.com/history/2-british-rock-meeting-1972">According to an online source,</a> the US Army initially supported the organization of rock festivals in
the Rhine-Main area, including the 2nd British Rock Meeting. The
soldiers made an average of 50 to 70 percent of festivalgoers. <a href="http://www.jessejarnow.com/about/">Jesse Jarnow</a>, as part of his <i><a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast">Deadcast</a> </i>research, spoke with a Canadian who attended the British rock meeting. Much of the audience were GIs, who were very good at helping everyone set up temporary shelters. The New Riders, however, were no-shows. At 70s rock festivals, no-shows and last-minute substitutions were common. Most likely transit difficulties caused the problem. </p><p><b>May 22, 1972 Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, NL: <i>Rock Circus- </i>Pink Floyd/Donovan/Gene Clark/Spencer Davis and Sneaky Pete/Dr. John The Night Tripper/Tom Paxton/Buddy Miles/Memphis Slim/The New Riders Of The Purple Sage/Pacific Gas & Electric/Sgt. Peppers Band/Het Gewestelijk Orkest <i>(Monday) </i></b><br />I don't exactly know what Columbia's booking strategy was for the European New Riders' tour. In the States, the goal was to enhance FM airplay, but European radio didn't work the same way. The Riders played some UK college gigs, some "underground" clubs and were part of the bill on some big festivals. Was this a sound strategy? Who can say? Clearly, opening for the Dead and playing West German TV (<i>Beat Club,</i> below) were the key gigs, and the rest may have just been filler. Remember, however, the costs of this tour would have been deducted from future New Riders royalties, so the band was paying for it.<br /></p><p>Jesse Jarnow did determine that the New Riders played this festival, and even left on the early ferry, because they had to get back to the UK for the London gig with the Dead. This information came from the festival light crew, who were the recipients of the New Riders' extra hash. The lighting crew made a visit to the Van Gogh Museum before catching a later ferry. <br /><br /><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6ZU8eN2s-LyGIFFANc-0gQ0bubbvqQ_xwcECwG4XvlkQQJbBPEO0wziKadd5PiR5rqnXu2HAXTGLqu1JY0MjWDgGDBEjZtmfudqQejPgw0ypiVyRq2PWIvOSf3gnzHKJQWP9AU9d3lYfdJ9VTrYGzNdExWuwfHwymXIvpqO8Y_eCmPpsiIIJ6Ywa9=s466" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="322" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6ZU8eN2s-LyGIFFANc-0gQ0bubbvqQ_xwcECwG4XvlkQQJbBPEO0wziKadd5PiR5rqnXu2HAXTGLqu1JY0MjWDgGDBEjZtmfudqQejPgw0ypiVyRq2PWIvOSf3gnzHKJQWP9AU9d3lYfdJ9VTrYGzNdExWuwfHwymXIvpqO8Y_eCmPpsiIIJ6Ywa9=s320" width="221" /></a></b></div><b><br />May 23-26, 1972 The Strand Lyceum, London, England: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i> (Tuesday-Friday)</i><br />The Grateful Dead concluded their Europe '72 tour with a 4-night stand at the Strand Lyceum. The New Riders opened all four shows, as far as I know. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyceum_Theatre,_London">The Lyceum, originally opened in 1834, only had a capacity of 2,100</a>. The Riders weren't "needed" to sell the tickets, but this was clearly intended as a Central London showcase for both bands by Warner Brothers and Columbia.<p></p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10207226217428421&set=bc.AbohD_WJujrC-qDJNIqpvkjUi4KfPDLlQzmiWxfHAQdXLrUhGmEjRaK9bqlmN6nBFH1eKlsa5oJTOTx-awyKSpjLPBQk3ARCZ7DBRvicxQqPHQCIanoKsJ4AklkXroqGmtS4ACWy8R3B-m-A9kPJj_1r&opaqueCursor=AbpNYwZ9pIcUYEvE9VZyOsfxwfAHYWAwwaC-R-6OjCRHTEvV9EGIoWDo5148GypUhSuWwkuQtIwtAkjbkygJYAUzZCbQPn4EpSmYjsKo8WFc4e2Av_oqoXpzJXEWxyHVaEDAG_r_nx7ZIN4R7RwToSMrNm-zHNYM0bi-3LbIbjyvdyoVWKypTQYLs9nW2_nSjgQ-GEDYjeOU6y1i09vXOwQKQ-kEp-uRs1sK_LqOHd7r4ijZPAtdou2ikN3HRl3M03MkRjO2ToMvSN-Wb8vq6so8kZdRV5cz04fzadGgL2FfiQL_2BYeCnA-jyYun3ahB2TAy2sJYSu57XszZ-0_NnfDo073eT9scP-9hBh0Gr2mk4FVW-kz4t06XAzS8h9xEY0HY3Ug0MLQKKqtMMJs3dCXF78bOWijxRiW0Gsv6t3utJ9ujGHezaUZscKFCycnSsEpRn8DFTaLZulaFkJSyL806QLvLlYdk9BYzqJ-U4FCnyjGOqQhH3AhQhYKW4JaQL3ult1wJ7FDKRiJ4y3UUQd6Gno3mbTzpXZPaQ25M15Povw4twETvSr5hA3psGFtbRZwA-Ate-qbQ8QCxVzSWUN5ikis35dJEraXWgzUx8ty3YA4HssTa834wKQmcWS758U">There is a photo of Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and members of the New Riders strumming acoustic guitars at a Private Chapel in St. John's Jerusalem House in Sutton-at-Hone in Kent</a>, about an hour from the Lyceum. The timing suggests it must have been during the stretch at the Lyceum. I have no idea how the bands got there or what they might have been doing in Kent.</p><p><b>May 29, 1972 [TV Studio], <i>Beat Club</i>, Bremen, Germany: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday)</i><br /><i>Beat Club</i> was a West German public television show that broadcast weekly live performances of touring rock bands. It is one of the best sources of professionally-filmed and recorded live rock music from 1965-72. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyWeqmk3E-w">Many of the episodes can be found on YouTube</a> and elsewhere. The New Riders played for about a half-hour, probably the first live video of the post-Garcia lineup. Staying a few extra days in Europe and flying over from London would have been well worth it for Columbia Records. Of course, the additional expenses would have been charged against the Riders' future royalties. We have not been able to find any European Riders' dates after <i>Beat Club</i>, so it probably ended the European leg.<br /></p><p>The Grateful Dead had played on <i>Beat Club</i> back on April 21. </p><p><b>June 4-5, 1972 Carnegie Hall, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage /Eric Andersen </b><i>(Sunday-Monday) Presented by Ardee Productions & Ron Delsener</i><br />The New Riders returned to the United States from Europe, but played some high profile Manhattan shows before returning home. On Sunday and Monday, the band played no less than Carnegie Hall. The Carnegie Hall facility actually has two auditoriums. Stern Hall, the main auditorium, seats 2,800. The smaller Zankel Hall seats 1000. I'm assuming that the Riders played their two nights at Zankel.<br /></p><p>Producer Ron Delsener was a major New York Metropolitan area promoter well into the 21st century, but he did not work much with the Grateful Dead. There's no direct conclusion to draw from that, except to note that the relationships built by the likes of Larry Magid (in Philadelphia) and John Scher were forged early in the 70s and continued on into the 1990s.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCGAegi908EwtUYYGdIAb7xmu-p-vuDBsZc8h6P2QD5CgVWDVp6nZJKv2m43caVH__Ws2P0l4kCShe3rm63ooRibLbOJkG7wYWKLw5pNXff5aN77-ljnIXPx8ZCcnI1xCgbOEkQpAT_BYZaAkBGK6vzq0_K54ku1lUIxY_Y6Gxxe2wx4IU6p6gspHf=s450" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="450" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCGAegi908EwtUYYGdIAb7xmu-p-vuDBsZc8h6P2QD5CgVWDVp6nZJKv2m43caVH__Ws2P0l4kCShe3rm63ooRibLbOJkG7wYWKLw5pNXff5aN77-ljnIXPx8ZCcnI1xCgbOEkQpAT_BYZaAkBGK6vzq0_K54ku1lUIxY_Y6Gxxe2wx4IU6p6gspHf=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br />Opening act Eric Andersen was a veteran singer-songwriter, recently signed to Columbia Records. <i>Blue River</i>, his Columbia debut, had been released in February 1972. It was Andersen's 9th album. He had released 6 albums on Vanguard (1965-69), dating back to his Greenwich Village folk days, followed by two 1969 Warner Brothers albums. Since that time, Andersen had moved to Mill Valley, CA, and was Bob Weir's next-door neighbor. In late '72, Weir would ask Andersen to help him finish the lyrics to "Weather Report Part I." So despite the different musical history, Andersen was part of the Marin rock scene, and regularly toured with the New Riders as their opening act. On some occasions, he would join them for some encore performances. <a href="https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1972/Cash-Box-1972-06-17.pdf">One of the Carnegie performances by Andersen and the New Riders was favorably reviewed in <i>Cash Box</i> (see p.28</a>).<p></p><p><b>June 7, 1972 Central Park Bandshell, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b> <i>(Wednesday) presented by WNEW radio </i><br /><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/06/first-free-grateful-dead-concert-in.html">In 1967 and '68, the Grateful Dead had played a number of free concerts in Manhattan that attracted a lot of attention</a>, crucial since they were not being played on the radio. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The New Riders had even played a free concert in Central Park in May, 1970, although it went almost unnoticed at the time</a>. So it was pretty logical that the New Riders would follow the Grateful Dead playbook of giving as many curious fans a taste of the live New Riders for free. The New Riders would go on to become a very successful concert attraction in and around New York Metro for several more years, so the strategy clearly worked. <br /></p><p>When the Dead had first come to Manhattan in June, 1967 free concerts were a stealthy underground thing. By '72, the free concerts were in Central Park, sponsored by the biggest FM station in the city (<a href="http://nrps.net/gallery/nine_.html">for a photo from Central Park, see here</a>). </p><b>June 15, 1972 Keystone Korner, San Francisco, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><i> (Thursday)</i><br />The New Riders had been regular performers in Bay Area rock nightclubs in 1970 and '71, mainly because those were the gigs that Jerry Garcia was available to play. Once Buddy Cage joined up, however, New Riders club dates were a lot rarer. The Keystone Korner, at 750 Vallejo Street in San Francisco, had been one of the first clubs that had exclusively booked original rock bands since it had opened in late 1968. Since 1971, Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders had played there regularly, and the Riders had played two dates back in February, probably to try out new material. I'm not sure why they booked this gig (<i>thanks to DKS for finding this one</i>). <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinyCfhX8xkpwgjDvIOJOcHK1q4o5yl7aGqe-ESPRjjLR4H_tYAA1dTKExaEUMbkpBBJFERAJ1DCfzoOEjIZMfBO8LvFX-YcZP4PFPBCQ5gMb6FPYbZkJobrvbWpCHc1Nxyvo3fDdWekTIHCbt_GFYQQjjyvnwrsd20P_IwM64-oAVjDrKEozMFUtro=s3361" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3361" data-original-width="2607" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinyCfhX8xkpwgjDvIOJOcHK1q4o5yl7aGqe-ESPRjjLR4H_tYAA1dTKExaEUMbkpBBJFERAJ1DCfzoOEjIZMfBO8LvFX-YcZP4PFPBCQ5gMb6FPYbZkJobrvbWpCHc1Nxyvo3fDdWekTIHCbt_GFYQQjjyvnwrsd20P_IwM64-oAVjDrKEozMFUtro=s320" width="248" /></a></div><br /><b>June 17, 1972 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday) Pacific Presentations</i><br />The Grateful Dead and the New Riders had returned from their mutual European adventures. They played a Saturday night show at the Hollywood Bowl. The Bowl was quite large, and also quite suburban. Located at 2301 North Highland, the outdoor bowl had opened in the 1920s and could seat as many as 17,500. The LA Philharmonic regularly played there. The prohibition against too much noise was probably lifted somewhat by the early 70s, but the show still started at 7:00pm, so that it would not run too late. The Hollywood Bowl show was Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's last show with the Dead. He played organ on a few numbers, but was unable to sing. <br /><p></p><b>June 28 1972 Met Center, Bloomington, MN: The Byrds/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen</b> <i>(Thursday)</i><b> <i>canceled</i><br /></b>Throughout the Summer of '72, the New Riders had numerous concerts booked, mostly with other acts on Columbia Records. A number of them were canceled, in itself not significant, as tour schedules often changed for any number of reasons. As a result, however, it's hard to figure out how many gigs the Riders really played. Are we missing a bunch of shows, or did the band just play some random bookings where they were getting good FM airplay? Either scenario is possible, but I'm more inclined to think that the band just flew out to play a show when the money made sense, rather than grind it out on a tour bus. <br /><p>David Kramer-Smyth found ads for numerous shows in the Summer of ' 72 where the New Riders were booked to open for The Byrds. The Byrds were also on Columbia, and while not the best-sellling band they had been in the 1960s, they were still popular and were actually a much better live band than previously. Booking the New Riders with the Byrds made perfect sense. According to Christopher Hjort's definitive Byrds chronology <i>So You Wanna Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star </i>(2008: Jawbone Press), however, all the Summer Byrds shows were canceled. The Byrds did not have a drummer (Gene Parsons had quit), and the band took a break. Byrds' bassist Skip Battin would actually end up replacing Dave Torbert in the New Riders in early 1974, but they don't seem to have met out on the road this Summer.<br /></p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgS-6L_oRioiC-RzlS9u0T4pFHxHQddTAD0LztPvcfMUUWj5i5CysD7V5z1zEhSzUVICnpCVLfFoQfri6a7AZjX1ShUceBW7RaiCI3oMxweM6f4XaW0FjjzFPVGlVd6gpj3xu_tRXMQcUbH2MXajfBICprOORQCtkg9KmwBxbw5gwzH9_MDRGxOi-0K=s508" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgS-6L_oRioiC-RzlS9u0T4pFHxHQddTAD0LztPvcfMUUWj5i5CysD7V5z1zEhSzUVICnpCVLfFoQfri6a7AZjX1ShUceBW7RaiCI3oMxweM6f4XaW0FjjzFPVGlVd6gpj3xu_tRXMQcUbH2MXajfBICprOORQCtkg9KmwBxbw5gwzH9_MDRGxOi-0K=s320" width="230" /></a></div><br /><b>June 30, 1972 Memorial Auditorium, Kansas City, KS (New Riders of The Purple Sage/Loggins & Messina </b><i>(Friday) Good Karma Productions Presents</i><br />The New Riders were headlining in Kansas City, Kansas on Saturday night. I suspect that this meant that they were getting good FM airplay on a KC radio station. The opening band was a new Columbia act, Kenny Loggins. His debut album had been produced by former Buffalo Springfield and Poco guitarist Jim Messina, which was why it was billed as Kenny Loggins Band with Jim Messina. Loggins' album <i>Sittin' In</i> had been released in November, 1971 and was starting to get some good airplay. Messina had taken on a much larger role than he had initially anticipated, so his name had been added to the album in order to attract attention (a strategy that worked very well). <p></p><p>By the time of their second record, the "accidental duo" of Loggins & Messina was on their way to mega-stardom, ultimately selling 16 million albums. In the Summer of '72, however, they were still an opening act, and they played a very peculiar role in Grateful Dead history. Betty Cantor was at the show, presumably working the soundboard for the New Riders as a hired hand, on behalf of Alembic Sound, who were her actual employers. Betty being Betty, and all, recorded Loggins & Messina's opening set. Loggins played a slowed down version of "Friend Of The Devil," and Betty eventually played it for Jerry Garcia, who liked the slow version so much that he brought the song back in that fashion a few years later (<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/04/june-30-1972-memorial-auditorium-kansas.html">I wrote about this exchange at great length elsewhere</a>). </p><p>Good Karma Productions was a Kansas City-based management team associated with Brewer & Shipley, among other acts.</p><p><b>July 2 1972 Bosse Field Freedom Festival, Evansville, IN: Ike & Tina Turner/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Edgar Winter/Dr. John/Cactus/Black Oak Arkansas/Spirit/Country Joe McDonald/Howlin ' Wolf/Herd/Gandalf </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />After various rock festival debacles in 1970, most famously Altamont, promoters tried to shift festival events to more permanent facilities. The Bosse Field Freedom Festival was held at a minor league ballpark in Evansville, IN. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosse_Field">Bosse Field had been opened back in 1915, and had a baseball capacity of around 6,000</a>. At the time, the Evansville Triplets were the AAA franchise of the Milwaukee Brewers (in the American Association). By using the outfield for General Admission, the promoters drew around 30,000 to the all day event. <a href="https://www.djtees.com/blogs/djtees-blog/bosse-field-freedom-and-ice-cream-festival-evansville-indiana-1972">An interesting summary of the day's events mentions</a>:</p><p></p><blockquote><p><i>Outside, a riot erupted when the promoters, who had promised free admittance after 9 p.m., changed their minds. It was a strange policy to announce in the first place because it would obviously lead to a crowd of people gathering, happy to turn up for the last couple of hours and pay nothing for the pleasure. And then to say, actually no, you’re not getting in, well it was bad ju ju all round, baby.</i></p><p><i>One of [the promoters], Bob Alexander said of the Bosse Field show which had pulled in 30,000 people “I made the most money that I'd ever made in my life at that point by doing that event. I don't remember exactly how much we made because it was so long ago, but I remember that I took my whole family down to Montego Bay, Jamaica, after it was over, and I had a real ball.” </i></p></blockquote><p>The promoters went on to produce <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Canal_Soda_Pop_Festival">the infamous Labor Day '72 Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival, in Griffin, IN, a notorious disaster.</a> <br /></p><p><i><b>July 4 Spirit of 76 Festival, Illinois--<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=dw9RAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA17&dq=%22new+riders%22+%22purple+sage%22+1972&article_id=5016,7527428&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjpkqbX54L2AhWQgnIEHTTYDO04WhDoAXoECAgQAg#v=onepage&q=%22new%20riders%22%20%22purple%20sage%22%201972&f=false">canceled</a></b></i> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgj1NW5sviWjTC5W9tLMRGub4SjwrwbeXkgyArB6uH9w-1ihJUdPTQ9mVvqv9IBpnWGxFqziUGsNYwi_lW-m1xVaW2-SFtHke3aSM5eIU4G5m4aV8Ldy94zVbWAeUHaq6dhbC7GxdBWvIzajk9k9VHbjw0WQE0687gx-V4WXDPnGlfjDacT6yWYeNwA=s571" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="571" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgj1NW5sviWjTC5W9tLMRGub4SjwrwbeXkgyArB6uH9w-1ihJUdPTQ9mVvqv9IBpnWGxFqziUGsNYwi_lW-m1xVaW2-SFtHke3aSM5eIU4G5m4aV8Ldy94zVbWAeUHaq6dhbC7GxdBWvIzajk9k9VHbjw0WQE0687gx-V4WXDPnGlfjDacT6yWYeNwA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Ritz, at 3430 N. Illinois St in Indianapolis as it appeared in 2004</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /><b>July 5 1972 Ritz Theater, Indianapolis, IN: New Riders of The Purple Sage [2 shows] </b><i>(Wednesday)</i><br /><a href="https://historicindianapolis.com/indianapolis-then-and-now-ritz-theatre-3422-n-illinois-street/">The Ritz Theater, at 3430 N. Illinois Street in Indianapolis, had opened in 1927. It had a movie capacity of 1400 seats</a>. In June 1970, the seats were removed and it was turned into a rock concert venue called Middle Earth. In January 1972, the name reverted to the Ritz, but the venue closed by the end of the year. The building remained intact in the 21st century.</p><p><b>July 7 1972 Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Fabulous Rhinestones </b><i>(Friday) Jan Winn Productions</i><br />The Aragon Ballroom, at 1106 W. Lawrence in Uptown Chicago, had opened as a Big Band showcase in 1926. After various incarnations, it became the Cheetah Club in 1966, and then in 1968 became a leading rock venue. It competed with the <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/06/kinetic-playground-4812-n-clark-st.html">Kinetic Playground</a>, the <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/march-19-1971-syndrome-chicago-il.html">Syndrome</a> and other halls. It had stopped putting on rock shows in 1970. In 1972, the Aragon re-opened as a rock venue. <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89359611/new-riders-of-the-purple-sage-cocert/">The show was reviewed in the July 10 <i>Chicago Tribune.</i> The reviewer praised the New Riders, but wasn't happy with the sound at the Aragon</a>. </p><p>The Fabulous Rhinestones opened the show. Chicago guitarist Kal David (ex-Illinois Speed Press) was the main songwriter, but the band had actually formed in San Francisco. Members included bassist Harvey Brooks (ex-Electric Flag), organist Marty Grebb (another Chicagoan, ex-Buckinghams) and drummer Gregg Thomas (ex-Mint Tattoo). The band had moved to Woodstock, NY, and would ultimately release three albums. Still, they weren't a local band, despite some Chicago connections, another sign of how the early 70s concert industry hamstrung opportunities for local bands to get heard. <br /></p><p><b>July 9 1972<i> </i>Edgewater Park, Edgewater OH: James Gang/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Buffy St Marie/Raspberries/Tony Joe White/Brewer&Shipley/Brownsville Station/Lobo/Country Joe McDonald</b><i> (Sunday 12-8 pm) Spirit of ‘72 WIXY Free Festival</i><br />This seems to be a free event sponsored by WIXY 1260 AM in Cleveland. Edgewater is a Cleveland district near Lake Erie (apparently photos of the event can be found on Facebook). <br /></p><p>We may be missing a Saturday night (July 8) New Riders show in the area. <br /></p><p><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0UEcIbzvaliOT3xbKARKiRIMuFKnJCqv4yKnDWbRG5QQrLAx_u1wsn0C3J756ivOAfamNQlTkFb57VX5JXWxSPoD9hoOB7xp2gvqFKvorVM-pIvzpN-s3f8BATH2TX2H7G-pmEn-a7uJBCVSs-TRYqu_D_4ATY4EP6LTWfgEpigByPH66dYbNwq6s=s914" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="774" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0UEcIbzvaliOT3xbKARKiRIMuFKnJCqv4yKnDWbRG5QQrLAx_u1wsn0C3J756ivOAfamNQlTkFb57VX5JXWxSPoD9hoOB7xp2gvqFKvorVM-pIvzpN-s3f8BATH2TX2H7G-pmEn-a7uJBCVSs-TRYqu_D_4ATY4EP6LTWfgEpigByPH66dYbNwq6s=s320" width="271" /></a></div><p><b>July 10, 1972 Minneapolis Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr Hook and The Medicine Show/Fanny </b><i>(Monday) </i><br />A Monday night show in Minneapolis makes sense if you realize that the New Riders were already in the Midwest, and that they had booked a Tuesday night show in Madison, WI (even though it apparently was canceled--see below). The Minneapolis Auditorium had been built in 1927, and had a capacity of 10,000. It had originally mainly been a hockey arena, but after 1967 it had been superseded by the Met Center. I doubt that the full capacity of the arena was in use on a weeknight, so I assume some sections were roped off.<br /></p><p>Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show was another rising Columbia band with a countrified hippie edge. Nashville producer Shel Silverstein had engaged the band as a vehicle for his songwriting. The band had released their debut album in February1972, and the Silverstein song "Sylvia's Mother" had become a big hit in the Spring. Note that the New Riders are listed with the song "I Don't Need No Doctor," from <i>Powerglide</i>. While not a hit single, the mention suggests that fans may recognize it from FM radio. </p><p>Fanny were an "All-Girl" group on Reprise. They had just released their third album <i>Fanny Hill</i> in February. While they were treated as a gimmick (not surprisingly), all four of the women in Fanny were good musicians, particularly sisters June (guitar) and Jean Millington (bass). <b><br /></b></p><p><b>July 11 1972 Dane County Coliseum Madison Wisconsin: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show/Fanny </b><i>(Tuesday) <b>canceled</b></i><br />The timeline suggests that the New Riders spent July and early August of 1972 recording their next album. Columbia would release <i>Gypsy Cowboy</i> in December 1972.</p><p><b>July 30 1972 Pine Knob Music Theater, Pine Knob MI: The Byrds/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Sunday)</i><b><i> canceled</i><br />July 31 1972 Arie Crown Theater, Chicago IL: The Byrds/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Eric Andersen </b><i>(Monday) Howard Stein Productions</i><b><i> canceled</i><br />August 2 1972 Sports Arena, Atlanta, GA: The Byrds/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Wednesday)</i><b><i> canceled</i><br />August 4 1972 Fort Homer Hesterly Armory, Tampa, FL: The Byrds/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday)</i><b><i> canceled</i><br />August 5 1972 Sportatorium, Fort Lauderdale FL The Byrds/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday)</i><b><i> canceled</i></b> <br /></p><p><b>August 23, 1972 Balboa Park Bowl, San Diego, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Wishbone Ash </b><i>(Wednesday) 2 & 8pm shows </i><br />The New Riders headlined a pair of shows at San Diego's Balboa Park Bowl on a Wednesday afternoon. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-grateful-dead-and-airline.html">Thanks to a peculiarity of Airline regulation, it cost around $20 to fly from San Francisco to San Diego</a>, so it made sense for the band to play a one-off. Now called the Starlight Bowl (at 2005 Pan American Plaza), the 4300-capacity arena had been constructed for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. <br /><br />Wishbone Ash was an English band who had just released their third album, <i>Phoenix</i>. Wishbone Ash had a twin-guitar lineup and a unique approach. They were great live and very influential. <br /></p><p><b>August 24, 1972 Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Thursday)</i><br />The Grateful Dead played four nights at the Berkeley Community Theater (August 21, 22, 24 and 25). The Dead did not need help to sell tickets, nor was there any financial benefit for the promoter if the crowd came early, since there were no concessions for sale. Nonetheless, the New Riders opened on Thursday night anyway. </p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7ZDguyFc2UVlju6yYfDSYbHEMWYQuhWu9DsdB_vdFXADZR2gdYCOdMCoXBXjoOOM_cA7_vqXE3Xj-7sULP46PP5KZQCZQD4WdBN7VWXKBy8j3tUiC6_xgdVNwr36aaNOrheKYRNv1r3p9Stgo5bLIjdxTEbx9n6dpLaoX6zAzQj9Sp5m0tGgPqCm0=s480" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7ZDguyFc2UVlju6yYfDSYbHEMWYQuhWu9DsdB_vdFXADZR2gdYCOdMCoXBXjoOOM_cA7_vqXE3Xj-7sULP46PP5KZQCZQD4WdBN7VWXKBy8j3tUiC6_xgdVNwr36aaNOrheKYRNv1r3p9Stgo5bLIjdxTEbx9n6dpLaoX6zAzQj9Sp5m0tGgPqCm0=s320" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br />August 27, 1972 Renaissance Fairgrounds, Veneta, OR: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />On Sunday, the Grateful Dead headlined the legendary "Springfield Creamery Benefit" at the Renaissance Fairgrounds in Veneta, OR, near Springfield. The entire event was filmed and recorded, released many years later as the movie <i>Sunshine Daydream</i>. There is a little footage of the New Riders live, and <a href="https://stores.portmerch.com/newridersofthepurplesage/music/field-trip-cd.html">the entire New Riders set was released in 2004 as the archival cd <i>Field Trip</i>.</a><p></p><p>The New Riders were advertised for a show with John Lee Hooker in Vancouver on August 27, but that was superseded by Oregon. The New Riders would go on to play Vancouver in October. </p><p><b><i>New Riders of The Purple Sage Status Report, September 1972 </i></b><br />The New Riders of The Purple Sage had begun 1972 by touring without their most famous member, as Jerry Garcia had been replaced by Buddy Cage at the end of 1971. Their second album <i>Powerglide</i> had been released in April, however, and had done just about as well as their debut. The New Riders had toured the East Coast with some seriousness in the Spring, and had even joined the Grateful Dead in Europe.</p><p>Performances were somewhat intermittent in the Summer of 1972, due to a number of shows that were canceled when the Byrds were unavailable to headline. Nonetheless, Columbia was clearly behind the band, as the New Riders had begun recording their third album in the Summer. For the fall, the New Riders were going to tour the Northeast and elsewhere, building on their Grateful Dead association but trying to stand on their own two feet. </p><p><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/10/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html"><i>For the next post in the series (New Riders of The Purple Sage Tour History, September-December 1972), see here</i></a><br /></p><p><br /></p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-15509053311532328662022-02-25T10:10:00.005-08:002022-04-22T16:24:53.568-07:00New Riders of The Purple Sage Tour History, January-April 1972 (NRPS '72 I)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJefxTYJFdz7mmSY8TGZZrDA2VXd0fwG83w4_dE0fBMmbMe25RBmG2r09bIzQBAkaCM1J70_61ouA1zzB2K7fOM5-iyCI3DgiAjd1w9HzvMt1fTt9lOlFn_V7S9uGLVvXPXrjCNxLOtQsi_RX9ue4Jfyu-y8p2nGzLjNi7cz2HiO6ugcCrxq2cs5NA=s280" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="280" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJefxTYJFdz7mmSY8TGZZrDA2VXd0fwG83w4_dE0fBMmbMe25RBmG2r09bIzQBAkaCM1J70_61ouA1zzB2K7fOM5-iyCI3DgiAjd1w9HzvMt1fTt9lOlFn_V7S9uGLVvXPXrjCNxLOtQsi_RX9ue4Jfyu-y8p2nGzLjNi7cz2HiO6ugcCrxq2cs5NA" width="280" /></a></div><br /><b><br />New Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History, January-April 1972 (NRPS '72 I)</b><br />The music of Jerry Garcia casts a large shadow, if a shadow that is bright rather than dark. It is so large, however, and so bright, that it outshines many things around it. In the 21st century, the New Riders of The Purple Sage are best known as the vehicle through which Jerry Garcia created an opportunity to play pedal steel guitar as a sideman in 1970 and '71. When the demands of playing full-time with both the Grateful Dead and the New Riders became too gargantuan a task, Garcia stepped aside from the Riders. For most Deadheads, that's where the story ends. <br /><p>Yet the story of the New Riders of The Purple Sage was only beginning. For obvious reasons, the Riders are always compared to the Dead, and like almost every other 20th century rock band, the Dead outshone NRPS by many orders of magnitude. Compared to all the other bands struggling to make it in the early 1970s, however, the New Riders of The Purple Sage were hugely successful. After their debut album with Garcia in late 1971, they released four more albums with Buddy Cage on pedal steel in 1972 and '73. The albums sold well--<i>Panama Red </i>eventually was certified Gold--and the New Riders were a popular concert attraction. </p><p>On top of the Riders' undeniable success, they were also still part of the Grateful Dead's business operation. Grateful Dead tours were booked by their in-house Talent Agency, Out-Of-Town Tours, led by Sam Cutler. Cutler and Out-Of-Town also booked the New Riders. So a review of the New Riders touring history in 1972 and '73 shows both what lessons Cutler had learned from the Dead's rise to success in 1970 and '71, and also provided an avenue for Cutler to expand his relationships with promoters who worked with the Grateful Dead. So the New Riders touring schedule was both a do-over and a rehearsal for what had come before and what would come later for the Grateful Dead. </p><p>This post will begin a series on the tour history of the New Riders of The Purple Sage in 1972 and '73, with a particular emphasis on how their saga was similar to and different from that of the Grateful Dead. These posts would not have been possible without the stellar research of fellow scholar David Kramer-Smyth, whose contributions have been both deep and broad. This post will focus on the New Riders performance history from January to April, 1972 (<a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html"><i>for the next post in the series, covering May-August '72, see here</i></a>). Anyone with additions, corrections, insights or just interesting speculation, please include them in the Comments. Flashbacks welcome. <br /></p><p><i></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAuh4pNmpoHR_ckZInQ_b79_oe5C2Kx1svoYT1yWoxQ16qEfW_P2fCFRwPkcwUYd9qNIjg64vb_gcXSIKYf0PKw9k-Ih2LHZig1PtQOnVFjg_gh9oHbvzKIWZ965oW-vLwqmI9-FdEqYcxP-hrfzcP7T0_4iHhQhaKLgLFeETmIHYXvUQ6YEjXNuBb=s300" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhAuh4pNmpoHR_ckZInQ_b79_oe5C2Kx1svoYT1yWoxQ16qEfW_P2fCFRwPkcwUYd9qNIjg64vb_gcXSIKYf0PKw9k-Ih2LHZig1PtQOnVFjg_gh9oHbvzKIWZ965oW-vLwqmI9-FdEqYcxP-hrfzcP7T0_4iHhQhaKLgLFeETmIHYXvUQ6YEjXNuBb" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Powerglide, the second album by the New Riders of The Purple Sage, was released by Columbia in April 1972</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />Status Report: New Riders of The Purple Sage, 1972</b></i><br /><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/06/jerry-garcia-sneaky-pete-kleinow-and.html ">After Jerry Garcia heard Sneaky Pete Kleinow play pedal steel guitar over Owsley's sound system at the Avalon Ballroom (on the weekend of April 4-6, 1969), he bought a Zane Beck DB10 steel at Guitar City in Lakewood, CO, the next week (either April 13 or 14, 1969)</a>. He had it shipped back to the Bay Area, as the Dead were on tour. A weeks later, when he found out that old pal John Dawson had a Wednesday night coffee house gig in Menlo Park performing his own songs, Garcia showed up to practice his steel guitar chops by supporting him. Mutual friend David Nelson was invited along, and they became a band. By August of 1969, they had a drummer (Mickey Hart) and a bassist (Bob Matthews) and a name. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">The New Riders of The Purple Sage played tiny joints around the Bay Area for the balance of the year, and opened for the Dead once in a while</a>,<a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html"> too.</a> <p></p><p><a href="http://nrps.net/music/1970.html">Starting in May, 1970, the New Riders toured the country as the opening act for the Grateful Dead. Since Garcia (and Mickey Hart) was in the band, save for the occasional Bay Area club gig, opening for the Dead was their only real option</a>. New bassist Dave Torbert (ex-<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">New Delhi River Band</a>, with Nelson) added a lot of color, but the band was boxed in by the Garcia association. Garcia himself knew it. When they spotted Buddy Cage on the legendary Canadian Festival Express tour in Summer 1970, the Riders had found their man, At the time, Cage touring with Ian & Sylvia Tyson. Later, around July 1971, by which time Cage was touring with Anne Murray ("Snowbird"), Dawson and Nelson went to Vancouver and invited him to move to the Bay Area and take Garcia's place. </p><p>By early 1971, the New Riders of The Purple Sage had been signed to Columbia and recording their debut album. <a href="http://nrps.net/music/1971.html">Spencer Dryden (ex-Jefferson Airplane) had replaced Mickey Hart on drums, but Garcia was still in the band, and the Riders still opened most Grateful Dead shows</a>. By the time the album was ready for release in September 1971, Cage was already in the Bay Area, rehearsing with the band. The loyal Garcia performed with the New Riders for the first leg of the tour, attracting a huge amount of attention to the band. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/03/grateful-dead-live-fm-broadcasts-1971.html">Columbia paid up to ensure that the New Riders were broadcast on FM radio along with the Dead, so thanks to the presence of The Garcia, the New Riders weren't just another band with a new album</a>. Garcia's last show as the Riders' steel guitarist was October 31, 1971 in Cincinnati. </p><p>Buddy Cage debuted with the New Riders of The Purple Sage on November 11, 1971. Amazingly, his debut was broadcast live on FM radio, perhaps a unique occurrence in rock history. Throughout the Fall of 1971, the New Riders of The Purple Sage toured the country with the Grateful Dead, often broadcasting live on FM radio along with them. As far as I can tell, the <i>NRPS</i> album got a fair amount of FM radio airplay throughout the country. It reached #39 on the <i>Billboard</i> charts, fairly respectable for a debut album without a big AM hit single. Still, although the New Riders had scored a successful debut, they no longer had their most high-profile member. The absence of Jerry Garcia had provided freedom, but the New Riders were going to have to make it in 1972 flying under their own power. </p><p>Nonetheless, the New Riders were still part of the Grateful Dead family, and not just socially. Initially their manager had been Jon McIntire, who also managed the Dead. McIntire had been the principal go-between for the record companies. By 1972, McIntire seemed to have little role in the New Riders affairs, however. It seems that management decisions were made by one Chesley Millikin, a London pal of Sam Cutler and a record company veteran. Road manager Dale Franklin, who had been sent over by Bill Graham, also played a critical role. </p><p>The Riders were booked by Sam Cutler, who also booked the Dead, working with a variety of talent agents. By booking two bands, Cutler had more to negotiate and thus more leverage with promoters and agents throughout the country. The Riders didn't have to worry about being left out of the mix--Cutler's principal assistant was <a href="https://www.blurb.com/b/9043957-the-band-s-with-me">Sally Mann Dryden, the drummer's wife</a> (whom Cutler refers to now as "Mustang Sally," perhaps a reference to her 428ci Ford Mustang). </p><blockquote><b>The New Riders of The Purple Sage, <i>January-April 1972</i></b><br /><b>John Dawson</b>-vocals, rhythm guitar<br /><b>Buddy Cage</b>-pedal steel guitar (ex-Great Speckled Bird and Anne Murray)<br /><b>David Nelson</b>-lead guitar, vocals (ex-<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">New Delhi River Band</a>)<br /><b>Dave Torbert</b>-bass, vocals (ex-New Delhi River Band, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Horses</a>)<br /><b>Spencer Dryden</b>-drums (ex-Jefferson Airplane)</blockquote><p><b><i></i></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg87ywJoJnUHXd29vwiNuUbvNfvIVA6gmLa0jzGd3C_baliqpVXZYj3F8yIw0iwdrZ7QuDXEjkd2rwQrXlfx3KrnaRLw8Rvkzu_n3NbJrb4XC3hqDV5-H16OTQujsDdL2I8IjzS4LHCfIjdqChikN4H3UGKyksGu2hE3EBdFC_qSYdX-2LaINsRmEor=s398" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="398" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg87ywJoJnUHXd29vwiNuUbvNfvIVA6gmLa0jzGd3C_baliqpVXZYj3F8yIw0iwdrZ7QuDXEjkd2rwQrXlfx3KrnaRLw8Rvkzu_n3NbJrb4XC3hqDV5-H16OTQujsDdL2I8IjzS4LHCfIjdqChikN4H3UGKyksGu2hE3EBdFC_qSYdX-2LaINsRmEor=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>SF Examiner listing, New Year's Eve 1971</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><i><br />New Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History, January-April 1972</i><br />January 2, 1972 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Yogi Phlegm </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />The New Riders had played with the Grateful Dead at Winterland on New Year's Eve (Friday, December 31, 1971), and they had also participated in the FM broadcast on KSAN. It must have been a surprise to fans who had bought the NRPS album to find out that Garcia was no longer in the band.Yogi Phlegm was the new (widely unpopular) name for the Sons Of Champlin. The bands skipped Saturday night (January 1) but returned Sunday night.<br /><p></p><p><b>January 17, 1972 Wally Heider's Studio, San Francisco, CA: <i>New Riders of The Purple Sage w/Jerry Garcia </i></b><i>("Lochinvar" plus 4 other tacks) 6pm and 10 pm sessions</i><br />Triangulation suggests that the New Riders recorded their follow-up album at Wally Heider's Studio in San Francisco during January of 1972. <a href="https://jerrybase.com/events/19720117-01">We know the date that Garcia found time to participate, namely January 17</a>. Garcia added banjo to two numbers ("Sweet Lovin' One" and "Duncan and Brady"), and piano (of all things) to another ("Lochinvar"), but Buddy Cage handled all the pedal steel parts. John Dawson had written and sang lead on all ten songs of the debut, but this time Dave Torbert took a more prominent role, singing lead on five songs, two of which he wrote. David Nelson sang a lead as well, and Nicky Hopkins played piano on several tracks. The New Riders were still country rock, but the new album would have a much more honky-tonk feel. <i>Powerglide</i> would be released in April. <br /></p><b>February 11-12, 1972 Keystone Korner, San Francisco, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)</i><br />The New Riders had been regular performers in Bay Area rock nightclubs in 1970 and '71, mainly because those were the gigs that Jerry Garcia was available to play. Once Buddy Cage joined up, however, New Riders club dates were a lot rarer. My assumption here is that the band had some new material from recording, so they needed a few gigs to work out how they would sound live. <br /><br />The Keystone Korner, at 750 Vallejo Street in San Francisco, had been one of the first clubs that had exclusively booked original rock bands since it had opened in late 1968. Since 1971, Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders had played there regularly, so booking the Riders made good sense.<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhGt80oln4wfl5UDEr9AuvxgUTBMRuTJl1LavGnmN0PEKTGoHDE58N2TN6KdfruwRSwyus3HxvdAYMp6NQxC2pb5njU51GoYFv7B_CD_LCN9n3nC84h8LD0Pgx-4lFGyDRoOr3akl0pg/s740/NRPS+LA+19720218+13+Feb+1972%252C+505+-+The+Los+Angeles+Times+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="722" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbhGt80oln4wfl5UDEr9AuvxgUTBMRuTJl1LavGnmN0PEKTGoHDE58N2TN6KdfruwRSwyus3HxvdAYMp6NQxC2pb5njU51GoYFv7B_CD_LCN9n3nC84h8LD0Pgx-4lFGyDRoOr3akl0pg/s320/NRPS+LA+19720218+13+Feb+1972%252C+505+-+The+Los+Angeles+Times+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="312" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Sunday, February 13, 1972 LA Times ad for the New Riders and the Flying Burrito Brothers playing three nights in Los Angeles<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><b>February 18-19-20, 1972 Fox West Coast Theater, Long Beach CA New Riders of The Purple Sage/Flying Burrito Brothers </b><i>(Friday-Sunday)</i><br />This three-day booking in Los Angeles were the very first performances of the New Riders of The Purple Sage that were outside the Bay Area where they were not opening for the Grateful Dead. It was appropriate that the Riders shared the bill with the Flying Burrito Brothers. As mentioned above, when the Burritos had opened for the Dead at the Avalon, on the weekend of April 4-6, 1969, Jerry Garcia had been so impressed with the sound of Sneaky Pete Kleinow's pedal steel guitar that he purchased one the next week.<p></p><p>Three years later, the New Riders had released their Columbia debut, while the Flying Burrito Brothers had all but disintegrated. The Burritos had released 4 albums on A&M, mostly well-reviewed and influential to other musicians. Yet the Burritos had barely sold any albums and were inconsistent live. Founding members Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman and Sneaky Pete had all left. Oddly enough, the Flying Burrito Brothers were only popular in Holland, so a version of the band was reconvened for a brief European tour. </p><p><a href="http://www.burritobrother.com/fbb3.htm">The Winter '72 Flying Burrito Brothers were lead by Rick Roberts, who had joined the band in 1970. Also on board were pedal steel guitarist Don Beck, drummer Erik Dalton (ex-Southwind) and guitarist/singer Kenny Wertz</a>. Also in the band were fiddler Byron Berline, banjo player Alan Munde and bassist Roger Bush. Those three, along with Wertz, were also the bluegrass band Country Gazette, and they would do an acoustic mini-set as part of the Burritos. These Long Beach shows were a live warmup for the European tour (for a good taste of the 72 Burritos, see the UK-only <i>Live In Amsterdam</i> album on Phillips).</p><p>The New Riders were likely the headliners because they would have had the support of Columbia, whereas the Burritos were effectively without a label. Columbia probably used the gigs to hand out free tickets to local booking agents and djs, since the New Riders would have been unknown outside of Grateful Dead circles. The Fox West Coast was a converted movie theater that put on regular rock shows during this period. It was at 333 E. Ocean Blvd, now the site of the Westin Long Beach. <br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAbuMUbKiNPlB0rgRPz5cwamSjnu4EMTGJyUFg5_LH6G9D5biHS6RJfXaOzRfaeLVVEDh7VjmCxPG4SfuQauBV9LTPbREJ4jkMuMXt0tdtOuZ4PHvi0Qxc4p8wg3L3y5OhRGq-gD8kqs/s300/chateau-liberte.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="300" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAbuMUbKiNPlB0rgRPz5cwamSjnu4EMTGJyUFg5_LH6G9D5biHS6RJfXaOzRfaeLVVEDh7VjmCxPG4SfuQauBV9LTPbREJ4jkMuMXt0tdtOuZ4PHvi0Qxc4p8wg3L3y5OhRGq-gD8kqs/s0/chateau-liberte.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><b>February 23, 1972 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Wednesday) </i><br />The Chateau Liberte was a converted resort hidden in the Santa Cruz Mountains, well off the highway. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2020/07/22700-old-santa-cruz-highway-chateau.html">Infamous doesn't tell half the story. The actual address was 22700 Old Santa Cruz Highway in Los Gatos, but it was a long, twisting drive to any town. The Santa Cruz Mountains at the time were full of loners, oddballs, pot growers, bikers and layabouts--many of whom fit more than one description--and they all hung out at the Chateau. The swimming pool had a tile mosaic of the "Zig Zag Man." </a><p></p><p>Needless to say, rock bands enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the Chateau, particularly if they weren't in a hurry. For much of late 1970, Hot Tuna and the newly-formed Doobie Brothers alternated weekends. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/12/gospel-oakmountain-current33-1969-72.html">Matt Kelly's band Mountain Current also performed there regularly</a>. The front cover of the Doobie Brothers' debut album showed the quartet seated at the Chateau bar. Hot Tuna's second album (<i>First Pull Up, Then Pull Down</i>) was recorded live at the Chateau Liberte, with a fuzzy interior photo of the band on stage.<br /></p><p>As the seventies rolled on, more bands were booked at the Chateau Liberte, although getting to the club was an adventure, and apparently being there was even more so. Bands liked to play the club to work things out away from any prying eyes. The soundman at the Chateau Liberte was reputedly amenable to letting tapers plug in, so we have a surprising number of tapes from the club, given how small it was. We have a New Riders setlist, derived from a tape. Almost all the songs are from <i>Powerglide</i>, so the band was just working on new material. The crowd at the Chateau would have been very familiar with their first album, and when Dawson probably introduced "Henry" as he always did, saying "If you smuggle dope for a living, this one's for you," it wasn't some ironic joke. </p><p><i>[The Chateau Liberte closed as a rock club in the later 70s. It's now owned by a real estate agent. The Zig Zag Man still reigns in the swimming pool, by all accounts.]</i></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfpgTpwDnDAqqKCVWwlhPTmyOvVYHZlgk1VT86KNDUjk5ys17IkigvgQF5j6ffzcSrqn7dIIHaZ2q_gTtjEukIoMbJ69FjgJE8uQ8PYs2jPNdiFQvOpvTHpLPIQKZroCTP2rkExuRWbk/s1140/Youngbloods+NRPS+Sacramento+19720227+20+Feb+1972%252C+137+-+The+Sacramento+Bee+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1140" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfpgTpwDnDAqqKCVWwlhPTmyOvVYHZlgk1VT86KNDUjk5ys17IkigvgQF5j6ffzcSrqn7dIIHaZ2q_gTtjEukIoMbJ69FjgJE8uQ8PYs2jPNdiFQvOpvTHpLPIQKZroCTP2rkExuRWbk/s320/Youngbloods+NRPS+Sacramento+19720227+20+Feb+1972%252C+137+-+The+Sacramento+Bee+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Sacramento Bee from Sunday, February 20, 1972, advertising the upcoming show (on February 27) with the Youngbloods, Joy Of Cooking and the New Riders of The Purple Sage<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>February 27, 1972 Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento, CA: Youngbloods/Joy Of Cooking/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />The New Riders made their concert debut in the Bay Area away from the Grateful Dead by opening for the Youngbloods on a Sunday night in Sacramento. Paradoxically, the New Riders had a lower profile in the Bay Area, since they had played tiny clubs for so long. In Sacramento, they were just third on the bill.<p></p><p>The Youngbloods had relocated from the East Coast to Marin County in September, 1967, recognizing that their music was going to thrive in the Bay Area. Ultimately, the Youngbloods had a huge, surprise hit in Summer '69 with the song "Get Together," which they had released back in '67. The hit got the Youngbloods a huge contract with Warner Brothers, which included their own "imprint" label (Raccoon Records). The Youngbloods did well, but they never reached the heights of "Get Together" again. At this time, <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/2721130-Jesse-Colin-Young-Together">Jesse Colin Young had released a solo album (<i>Together</i>, on Raccoon)</a>. The Youngbloods would release one more album in November '72 before breaking up. </p><p>The Joy Of Cooking were a popular Berkeley band, distinguishing themselves in having two women out front. Guitarist Terry Garthwaite and pianist Toni Brown not only sang and wrote, but could jam it up like a band full of boys. The group had come out of <a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Mandrakes.htm">tiny Berkeley bars like Mandrake's</a>, and by 1972 they had released their first of three albums on Capitol. <br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2jBRKhjIoZOUgbhNy0shlKcsLQY8IJagZvHDA3JcMz3k-YKPqnwopPRTO9YvdzGcEeHEhyGCaODl6gqFH0ZxsVPxksa54JFyN68tz0a5kfhzCCltncQY3VpSXfQxlozTnTi-cHAg2BSs/s560/NRPS+UCSC+19720304.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="560" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2jBRKhjIoZOUgbhNy0shlKcsLQY8IJagZvHDA3JcMz3k-YKPqnwopPRTO9YvdzGcEeHEhyGCaODl6gqFH0ZxsVPxksa54JFyN68tz0a5kfhzCCltncQY3VpSXfQxlozTnTi-cHAg2BSs/s320/NRPS+UCSC+19720304.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /><b>March 4, 1972 UCSC College V Dining Hall, Santa Cruz CA New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday) Presented by Dead-Shot Non-Prophet</i><br />The New Riders were still playing a few local gigs to warm up for their tour supporting their impending album release. UC Santa Cruz had only been opened in 1965, and was still fairly new. "College V" would later become Porter College, but old Banana Slugs intentionally date themselves by calling it "College Five." "Dead-Shot Non-Prophet" was a student group formed in order to produce the show. </p><a href="http://cryptdev.blogspot.com/ ">Esteemed scholar and fellow blogger CryptDev</a>, then a UC Santa Cruz student, recalls this event: <br /><blockquote><i>The NRPS show at College 5 Dining Hall was pretty wonderful. There was a group called Deadshots, based out of [College V] that were hoping to bring the Dead to UCSC, and the Riders show was their first (and apparently only) foray into that direction. </i><p><i>The show was well attended - not sure if it was sold out, but the dining hall was definitely full. They set up the stage at the western end of the dining hall, and it was your typical festival standing/seating, with a motley mix of students, mountain folk, and plain old Santa Cruz hippies. I didn't know it at the time, but the Riders had played at the Chateau Liberte a couple of weeks earlier, and a tape of that show exists. Here's the setlist from the Chateau: Brown Eyed Handsome Man / Rainbow / Lochinvar / Hello Mary Lou / Henry / California Day / Linda / Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) / Sailin' / Duncan And Brady / Big Yellow Taxi / Second Set : Garden Of Eden / The Bottle Let Me Down / I Don't Need No Doctor / Runnin' Back To You / Willie And The Hand Jive. <br /></i></p><p><i>It was a pretty similar show at UCSC - the first time I heard the riders play "Big Yellow Taxi" and of course they played most of Powerglide, including long, jammed out versions of "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "Willie and the Hand Jive." It was also the first time I had heard a live version of "Garden of Eden," which I only knew at that point from the fast Marmaduke and Friends version I had heard on KSAN. It was the first generous look I had at NRPS 2.0, with Torbert pretty much alternating lead vocals with Dawson in contrast to the 1970/71 shows where Marmaduke took the lion's share of lead vocals. Also only the second time I had heard Buddy Cage as the steel player after the 12/31/71 New Years extravaganza. I'm not sure what happened to the Deadshots, but <a href="https://cryptdev.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-season-with-kingfish-part-three.html">the next time a Dead member played on campus was the Kingfish show we did three years later at Crown</a>. Blessed with college-age vigor, I had no problem being raring to go to see the NRPS with the Dead the next night at Winterland, when the show went until Graham called curfew at 2 AM. Those were the days. </i></p></blockquote><p></p><b>March 5, 1972 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Yogi Phlegm</b><i> (Sunday) Benefit for American Indians</i><br />The Grateful Dead put on a benefit for "American Indians" on Sunday, March 5, joined by the New Riders and the Sons Of Champlin (then using the name Yogi Phlegm). Three members of the Sons were stuck in traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge, and were not available when the Sons were due to come on stage. A furious Bill Graham told Bill Champlin and drummer Bill Vitt to find a guitarist and a bassist and to get on stage, or they would never play one of his shows again. An anxious Champlin corralled his friends Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh, who jammed the blues with them for a few numbers--at their own show--until the rest of the band made it. <br /><p> </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEu7tbMJWa-NBLt8QIBZ3Ey2q3GtVxOg6WJqA-PEpenSrT9DirMmmofRwhDZQ2Mg6oiGAb8jxcW9vfwTURpmZI4uPvSs9DVFyELsBS1Xweup8fkQ6civBgrrJp0-YkvRqlxa4d_6s73IQ/s414/NRPS+Keystone+Berkeley+19720323+23+Mar+1972%252C+31+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="146" data-original-width="414" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEu7tbMJWa-NBLt8QIBZ3Ey2q3GtVxOg6WJqA-PEpenSrT9DirMmmofRwhDZQ2Mg6oiGAb8jxcW9vfwTURpmZI4uPvSs9DVFyELsBS1Xweup8fkQ6civBgrrJp0-YkvRqlxa4d_6s73IQ/s320/NRPS+Keystone+Berkeley+19720323+23+Mar+1972%252C+31+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>SF Examiner listing for Thursday, March 23, 1972</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>March 23-24, 1972 Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Thursday-Friday)</i><br />Keystone Korner owner Freddie Herrera took over a Frat pizza-and-beer joint called The New Monk and turned it into the Keystone Berkeley. Much larger than the San Francisco club, the Keystone Berkeley would become the home base for Jerry Garcia and all the Grateful Dead satellites. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2020/11/keystone-berkeley-2119-university.html">The Keystone Berkeley had only opened on March 1, 1972</a>, and the New Riders were booked for two shows there later in the month.<br /><br /><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmSaSi9lRDOEB3jcTT8l9Oi46sVtKKaBbZkVDmud4Spen2RFDvlTFJs065QM0qCpGfhA5sxEeOmZxcwY2omwNjmZ8sfMaY3AkAnwvrt2caLNoldDadr0lKw4jZYTIHHPUjAdjTsqiou4/s1276/NRPS+photo+19720326+Cal+Poly+Mustang+Daily%252C+April+28%252C+1972+-+Mustang+Daily+April+28+1972+pdf.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1172" data-original-width="1276" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmSaSi9lRDOEB3jcTT8l9Oi46sVtKKaBbZkVDmud4Spen2RFDvlTFJs065QM0qCpGfhA5sxEeOmZxcwY2omwNjmZ8sfMaY3AkAnwvrt2caLNoldDadr0lKw4jZYTIHHPUjAdjTsqiou4/s320/NRPS+photo+19720326+Cal+Poly+Mustang+Daily%252C+April+28%252C+1972+-+Mustang+Daily+April+28+1972+pdf.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>David Nelson at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA on March 26, 1972 (<a href="https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2848&context=studentnewspaper">from The Mustang Daily, Apr 28 '72</a>)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b>March 26, 1972 Men's Gym, Cal Poly, San Luis Obiso, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/California Express </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />One lesson that Sam Cutler had learned from helping the Grateful Dead tour their way back to solvency in 1970 and '71 was the value of playing colleges. In the early 70s, many colleges had "entertainment budgets" designed to bring artists and performers to campus. Typically, some hippies would get on the "entertainment committee" and lobby for some hip rock bands. Since the college had funding, ticket sales only had to cover part of the cost, and the bands got paid well. On top of that, if a band played a college, all sorts of curious undergraduates would show up--at a lot of colleges, there was nothing to do at night--so a good band made new fans. <p></p><p>The California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, known as "Cal Poly," had been chartered by the state of California in 1901. By 1960, it had become part of the California State College system (along with San Jose State, San Francisco State and so on). The school had continued to grow and is generally seen as the most prestigious school of the CSU system. Today the school has 22,000 students, although I don't know how many it had back in '72. San Luis Obispo is beautiful, but there isn't much to do there if you are young and restless, so undergraduates would be inclined to see any band coming to campus. The New Riders were playing The Men’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Mott_Athletics_Center_">Gym, a fairly large 3,000-capacity venue built in 1960</a>. A local bluegrass band was the opening act. <a href="https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2865&context=pao_rpt">Here's how the New Riders were described in the student paper</a><a href="https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2865&context=pao_rpt">:</a><br /></p><p></p><blockquote><i><b>ROCK CONCERT SLATED SUNDAY EVENING </b><br />The New Riders of the Purple
Sage, a country rock group that rode to prominence with the
Grateful Dead will appear in the Men's Gym at Cal Poly at 8
p.m. on Sunday (March 26). The concert is being sponsored by
the Assemblies Committee of the Associated Students, Inc. <br /><br />The
New Riders of the Purple Sage, featuring strings and drums, play
country music with a rock beat to it. They appear as a warm-up
group for the Grateful Dead. The New Riders record on the
Columbia label. <br /><br />The concert is open to the public.
General admission is $2.50 for college students and $3.50 for
all others. Tickets will be on sale in the College Union
Plaza during registration on Thursday and Friday (March 23-24)
and at the door. </i></blockquote><p></p><p><a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/32415755.pdf">A review of the show a few days after was modestly positive,</a> although it's clear that the writer had only barely heard of the band (the venue is now known as Mott's Gym).<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7Dzl8PuuaWrlJ4sYiAMeRxB2tzxzmply4X1bcAKM8XrSDw_OjKS72XpkIi2aAbZ4MnI_XWK8nb13l46_IzO-fMGdczf8KUJNBsxZ4B_lQU3Ac6inZootC3Ka2fH829biAQhwebw-sa4/s1152/VA+Music+Festival+NRPS+19720408.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="911" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN7Dzl8PuuaWrlJ4sYiAMeRxB2tzxzmply4X1bcAKM8XrSDw_OjKS72XpkIi2aAbZ4MnI_XWK8nb13l46_IzO-fMGdczf8KUJNBsxZ4B_lQU3Ac6inZootC3Ka2fH829biAQhwebw-sa4/s320/VA+Music+Festival+NRPS+19720408.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><b>April 7 or 8 1972 William & Mary Hall, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA: V<i>irginia Folk Festival</i> </b><i> </i><i>(7pm-1am each night) Produced by Web LTD. & Free Flow Productions</i><b><br />Richie Havens/Kris Kristofferson/Country Joe McDonald/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Linda Ronstadt/Earl Scruggs Review/John Prine/Dave Von Ronk/McKendree Spring/Goose Creek Symphony/Keith Sykes/David Rea/Ramblin Jack Elliott/Rosalie Sorrells/Bob Brown/Mick Greenwood</b><br /><i>Powerglide</i>, the second album by the New Riders of The Purple Sage, was released by Columbia Records in April, 1972. Release dates were not precise in the early 70s, and on-stage comment from John Dawson (on the April 13 tape) suggested that the album wouldn't be generally distributed until mid-April. As the tour started the album would have already been available to FM radio stations, and probably some of the hipper stores were already selling it. <br /><p></p><p>The New Riders touring schedule was modeled on the Grateful Dead's touring schedule back in 1970, when the Dead were trying to get <i>Workingman's Dead</i> heard and build a fan base. The key was to get heard by as many young rock fans as possible, both through FM airplay and concentrating on certain areas. Since the Dead were popular in the Northeast, the initial tour focused on colleges and college towns where the Grateful Dead already had a footprint.</p><p>The tour began at a 2-day weekend indoor "folk festival" at the College Of William & Mary. College students were not inclined to "country music," but "folk" didn't have a redneck connotation. As a practical matter, I assume that the New Riders played Saturday, April 8. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/horn-tour-september-1973-tour-itinerary.html">Note that the Grateful Dead would return themselves to the College Of William & Mary in September, 1973.</a><br /> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoKtConVS9EhVVQ6m8cbwobKxC0G65PFUPTxRO7nSsoWAPaudGCdb2evOC73n7zAIiz38Zq0cFjrjqvRjhLGHyttwnvSjm8QpNUXrrQm6YJXrmSrzhyLKQh_2e17oW99b8OtHrxf6zvnw/s682/Hot+Tuna+NRPS+Cherry+Hill+19720409+8+Apr+1972%252C+Page+13+-+Courier-Post+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="682" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoKtConVS9EhVVQ6m8cbwobKxC0G65PFUPTxRO7nSsoWAPaudGCdb2evOC73n7zAIiz38Zq0cFjrjqvRjhLGHyttwnvSjm8QpNUXrrQm6YJXrmSrzhyLKQh_2e17oW99b8OtHrxf6zvnw/s320/Hot+Tuna+NRPS+Cherry+Hill+19720409+8+Apr+1972%252C+Page+13+-+Courier-Post+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></div><b>April 9, 1972 Cherry Hill Arena, Cherry Hill, NJ: Hot Tuna /New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody & his Lost Airmen </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br />Cherry Hill is near Camden, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, so the town was part of the Philadelphia Metropolitan area. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-grateful-dead-electric-factory-and.html">The Grateful Dead had been establishing themselves in Philly since April 1970</a>. It made sense to start building the New Riders fanbase there. <br /><p></p><p>There weren't that many hippie "San Francisco bands" actually touring, so Hot Tuna, the New Riders and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were often booked together in various combinations around the country. <br /></p><p><b>April 12, 1972 Clark Gym, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen </b><i>(Wednesday) 2 shows 8 & 11:30</i><br />Clark Gym at SUNY Buffalo was built in 1948. I don't know the exact capacity but I don't think it was very large. The fact that there were two shows was a sign that there was some demand. In the case of SUNY Buffalo, I think they also sold tickets to rock fans around town, not just students. Harvey Weinstein (later a film producer and convicted rapist) was a SUNY Buffalo student around this time, soon to become a major concert promoter in the Buffalo area, so he may have had some contact with Sam Cutler at this time. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-grateful-dead-in-upstate-and.html">Certainly the Dead were slowly building an audience in the Buffalo area, and having the New Riders pass through could only help</a>.</p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcrwAJanjq-TLDX-zo07vSe__W3s-iHjGoGz_Z1O0NXxFitZCm19hI5fgKRvfVzNkWvHE0vrIL2Ijv13m2ZnHsexRJsVI3uGD_q1QEr12ylIw8upY2kjJdm2K7SoJMjdbAE8xjQxEVMgVPK78bVLuU5SYvfvkj36_ixn_Gz1a4KMHyu_-FNlL10i7_=s746" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="746" data-original-width="508" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhcrwAJanjq-TLDX-zo07vSe__W3s-iHjGoGz_Z1O0NXxFitZCm19hI5fgKRvfVzNkWvHE0vrIL2Ijv13m2ZnHsexRJsVI3uGD_q1QEr12ylIw8upY2kjJdm2K7SoJMjdbAE8xjQxEVMgVPK78bVLuU5SYvfvkj36_ixn_Gz1a4KMHyu_-FNlL10i7_=s320" width="218" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The concert listings from the April 13, 1972 edition of Tangerine, the Utica College student newspaper</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />April 13, 1972 Women's Gym, Syracuse U, Syracuse, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><i> (Thursdays Early and Late shows) broadcast WAER-fm </i><br />This Thursday night show in Syracuse is interesting for any number of reasons. Firstly, the show was broadcast in its entirety on WAER-fm, the Syracuse University radio station, so we have an excellent tape. It's a great snapshot of the Riders on tour in the East, mixing together most of the debut album with a number of songs from <i>Powerglide</i>. John Dawson is still the primary singer, but Dave Torbert took the lead every fourth song or so. <br /><p></p><p>David Kramer-Smyth found a listing for the show (in the Utica College paper--above), and the show was held at the Syracuse University Women's Gym. Confusingly, the tape of the show has been listed as "Manley Field House, Le Moyne College," which is a contradiction. LeMoyne College is a long-established Jesuit College in Syracuse, whereas Manley Field House was the basketball arena for Syracuse University, about 3 miles West of LeMoyne. We know that the show was broadcast on WAER, as the introducing dj's mention the station, but they didn't say where they are. </p><p><a href="https://cuse.com/facilities/womens-building/16">The Women's Gym, now known as Women's Building A, was the center for Women's Sports at Syracuse up until 1982.</a> The men's basketball team played in nearby Manley Field House, a 5400-capacity gym. By 1980, the men's team had moved to the Carrier Dome, and in 1982 the Women's team moved to Manley Field House. Somehow, "Women's Gym" got retconned into Manley Field House. I don't know the capacity of the building, but eyeballing the current facility it was probably barely 1000, which seems right for two New Riders shows in 1972. <br /></p><p>My current theory is that LeMoyne College was producing the show at nearby Syracuse University. WAER was the Syracuse U radio station, but since the event was on campus it would not have mattered much if it was "sponsored" by someone else. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-grateful-dead-in-upstate-and.html">The Grateful Dead were also building an audience in Syracuse, having played at the Onandoga War Memorial in downtown Syracuse on October 27, 1971</a>. That show, too, had been broadcast on WAER. Jerry Garcia had also played with Howard Wales in Syracuse back in January, so the New Riders would have benefited from the prior Dead association. </p><p>In the between-song patter, John Dawson says "an Irish Friend reminds me that we have a record coming out next week." This is surely a reference to Chesley Millikin. Millikin was subsequently Sam Cutler's second-in-command at Out-Of-Town Tours, and while his exact duties remain a mystery, he later seems to have functioned as the New Riders' booking agent. Although Dawson is noting that Millikin said he should tell the audience to go out and buy the album, it's not plain whether this was a general directive or if Millikin was actually in the house. In any case, Dawson tells the crowd that <i>Powerglide</i> will be in stores "by next week." The album would reach #33 in the <i>Billboard</i> charts.<br /></p><b>April 14, 1972 Proctor's Theater, Schenectady, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Tranquility </b><i>(Friday) presented by Union College</i><br />This Friday night show was presented by Union College, a 2000-student liberal arts college founded in 1795. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proctor%27s_Theatre_(Schenectady,_New_York)">Proctor's Theater, capacity 3250, had opened back in 1926</a>. Back in the first part of the 20th century, Schenectady had been an important commercial and manufacturing center, with General Electric and other major companies. The city and region declined from the 1950s onward, however, so large old theaters like Proctor's were available for rock shows. Union College students seem to have rented the theater to put on the show. <p>David Kramer-Smyth did find an ad for the New Riders at the "Wisconsin Folk Festival" in Madison for the weekend of April 14 and 15. It was produced by Free Flow Productions and Web LTD, and featured the same headliners as the Virginia Folk Festival (April 7-8, above). The New Riders were initially advertised, but later there was no mention of them, either in ads or the review. They were probably booked for Saturday (April 15) and then withdrew. Since they would have had to fly from Schenectady to Madison, hardly a direct flight, it may simply have not been worth it. </p><a href="https://archives.albany.edu/downloads/bk128b281?locale=es ">The Proctor's show was reviewed in the SUNY Albany paper a few days later</a> (April 18 1972)<br /><blockquote><i>Flying high on their music were the New Riders themselves, their warmth and friendliness, coupled with their obvious enjoyment of their now show, summoned up a healthy dose of those special "Live Dead" vibes. After nearly two hours of playing live they were still rocking on strong when midnight struck and the theater manager turned into a pumpkin, forcing them into an abrupt finale. Despite that (which the Union College people assure me won't happen again; they'd rented the theater "for the day" and didn't realize that the management would be quite so literal about it.. Next time round they'll have it covered). It was a lovely evening. <br /></i></blockquote><p><a href="https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn96027707/1972-04-18/ed-1/seq-5/#date1=01%2F01%2F1972&index=12&date2=12%2F31%2F1972&searchType=advanced&SearchType=phrase&sequence=0&words=Purple+Sage&proxdistance=&to_year=1972&rows=20&ortext=&from_year=1972&proxtext=&phrasetext=purple+sage&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=1">Another review in the Union College paper was less charitable</a>. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2JmMLRmhT_OpDE8_Dius7TH-jbqoqh5Rk-uQjZNksKZ15mYlagV4Xio3FVaZB9e4QII32zTJWlp7ilKlpQeW9-7EOteLvfq27cbxWS5djSNQpiTiSzSo6x87gj7uAF_AGAz-yEHL8Bg/s606/Tranquility+Epic+1972.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq2JmMLRmhT_OpDE8_Dius7TH-jbqoqh5Rk-uQjZNksKZ15mYlagV4Xio3FVaZB9e4QII32zTJWlp7ilKlpQeW9-7EOteLvfq27cbxWS5djSNQpiTiSzSo6x87gj7uAF_AGAz-yEHL8Bg/s320/Tranquility+Epic+1972.jpg" width="316" /></a></div><p></p><p>The concert business has really changed by the early 70s. In the late
60s, bands were focused on making a profit on the road. By the early
70s, record companies had figured out that there was huge money in hit
rock albums, so touring was seen as an engine to generate radio play and
record sales. Record companies would support their bands that had new
albums by buying ads or running promotions in underground papers or on
local FM stations. They would also subsidize the tours in various
ways--the usual term was "Tour Support"--by covering certain expenses,
like airline tickets or hotel rooms. This meant that bands only had to
break even on the road, covering their day-to-day costs, so they could
afford to take chances on smaller gigs. Of course, this wasn't
charity--the record companies charged the Tour Support costs against
future royalties. But if an album became a big hit, a few plane tickets
weren't going to matter.</p><p>For rock fans in the early 70s (like me),
that meant that lots of good bands were touring around the country,
deficit-financed by their record companies. You could be in any large or
medium sized city in America, or most college campuses, and see a "real
band" with an album, whether were from England, New York or California.
The New Riders were probably getting plenty of tour support on their
1972 tours, because Columbia wanted to build on their hit debut album.
As a result, the New Riders didn't have to worry if their touring
entirely made financial sense.</p><p>Second on the bill in Schenectady, and opening various Riders' dates throughout April was Tranquility, a band on Epic (a sister label to
Columbia), getting a big promotional push from CBS. As I recall, <a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/4366615-Tranquility-Tranquility ">Tranquility was an English quartet or quintet (not sure) that played sort of sophisticated guitar pop, somewhat like Badfinger</a>.
Tranquility--who could very well have been good, I don't know--seemed to have a burgeoning American following, and were getting a big push from the record
company. Tranquility may have been a very enjoyable act, but even at the
time it was noted that record company promotions like this pushed out
local bands. In the Fillmore days, the best local bands would open for
touring headliners and get heard, but that happened less when big
companies were promoting their new albums. Tranquility opened for various CBS acts in the Spring, including the Byrds, and did well enough that Epic would support a second album (<i>Silver</i>) and a Fall tour, but ultimately they never made it over the top. <br /></p><p><b>April 15, 1972 Kenyon Hall, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Orleans </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />On a Saturday night, the New Riders were headlining at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, just 95 miles South of Schenectady. Vassar had been founded as a private liberal arts Women's College back in 1861, and was one of the original "Seven Sisters," Women's Colleges that had served as a sort of separatist Ivy League for women. By 1969, Vassar had gone co-ed, but men weren't yet a huge portion of the student body. <a href="https://www.vassar.edu/vcencyclopedia/buildings-grounds/buildings/kenyon-hall.html ">Kenyon Hall, built in 1934, was the Vassar gym, with a capacity of about 1200</a>.</p><p>Reviewer Michael Kimmel in the Vassar student paper--it says so much that the Vassar rock critic was
a man--had high expectations for the New Riders. His opinion was that
the New Riders were good, but not transcendent. Tranquility was apparently originally booked as the opening act (a <i>Billboard</i> Tranquility ad includes this date), but according to the review, the opening act was Orleans. Orleans was a quartet from Woodstock, NY, at the time unsigned, but who would later go on to great success. Guitarist and singer John Hall was the best-known member (along with Larry and Lance Hoppen and drummer Wells Kelly). Orleans was playing around the club circuit, and was known informally as "the best unsigned band in the Northeast." In this case, they took over the slot that had been reserved for Tranquility. In previous years, the opening slot at a small college show would have inevitably gone to a local band, but now that was no sure thing. Orleans would release their debut album on ABC in Fall 1973 and ultimately have a big hit with "Still The One."</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfjZdZO5C5pnOBGUJgAUJVpjAG4bd7enijoqhoMr9FlRqda6qfPdsRuOz2Ei9Z8ewsPqxRJpmgi_5JyKMdE6s0fsgSYiW6ccXLOQsas-a2uMsNOoxw4KepAfBzUunJQc_l_EPlCl2WO8/s522/NRPS+Hofstra+19720418+15+Apr+1972%252C+32+-+Newsday+%2528Nassau+Edition%2529+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="152" data-original-width="522" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfjZdZO5C5pnOBGUJgAUJVpjAG4bd7enijoqhoMr9FlRqda6qfPdsRuOz2Ei9Z8ewsPqxRJpmgi_5JyKMdE6s0fsgSYiW6ccXLOQsas-a2uMsNOoxw4KepAfBzUunJQc_l_EPlCl2WO8/s320/NRPS+Hofstra+19720418+15+Apr+1972%252C+32+-+Newsday+%2528Nassau+Edition%2529+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Newsday (April 15 '72) listing for the Hofstra show on April 18, 1972</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>April 18 1972 Hofstra University Playhouse, Hempstead NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Tuesday)</i><br />The Grateful Dead were well-established in Long Island, so booking the New Riders there made good sense. The Hofstra University Playhouse was an 1105-seat theater on the Hofstra campus. <b><br /></b><p></p><p><b>April 20, 1972 [<i>venue</i>], Stony Brook, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage<i> </i></b><i>(Thursday)</i><br />The New Riders continued their tour of Long Island with a show at Stony Brook. The Grateful Dead had played Stony Brook in 1967, '68 and Halloween '70. The Riders had opened there in 1970, so they would have been somewhat of a known quantity, compared to some places. </p><p>We may be missing some additional nights for the New Riders in April, as a touring band always tried to work Friday and Saturday nights. <br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8O2NpmcmB5JzHvMIVlwY9edfaiZrdfylEXrfz0dz-RgWPSntUKhYY3aJvCCrZbpaE73vNj1MRCq-B6-SifKktq6of8GyUfnWHVa8o56cpz505rurGhR3Bm70OsN0FaUXcnKbVvLuxyU/s458/Capitol+Passaic+NRPS+19720422+21+Apr+1972%252C+18+-+The+Herald-News+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="458" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8O2NpmcmB5JzHvMIVlwY9edfaiZrdfylEXrfz0dz-RgWPSntUKhYY3aJvCCrZbpaE73vNj1MRCq-B6-SifKktq6of8GyUfnWHVa8o56cpz505rurGhR3Bm70OsN0FaUXcnKbVvLuxyU/s320/Capitol+Passaic+NRPS+19720422+21+Apr+1972%252C+18+-+The+Herald-News+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><i>The Passiac Herald-News (Friday Apr 21 '72) list the New Riders at both the Capitol Theater on Saturday and Princeton on Monday</i><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><b>April 22, 1972 Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Dr. John/Tranquility </b><i>(Saturday-8:00 and 11:30pm) </i><br />Once Bill Graham stopped booking the Fillmore East, the door opened for rock shows in Northern New Jersey. John Scher, from West Orange, NJ, began booking shows at the Capitol Theater in Passaic. The Capitol, at 326 Monroe Street, had been built in 1921 and had a capacity of 3,200. By late 1970, it was showing "adult" films. Scher and his partner Al Hayward booked their first rock show at the Capitol on December 16, 1971 (J. Geils Band/Humble Pie). <a href="https://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/2012/01/john_scher_four_decades_of_bri.html">Scher would go on to dominate the New Jersey rock concert market for several decades</a>.<p></p><p>Scher would have a crucial relationship with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. Scher not only promoted many Garcia and Dead shows himself, from the 1980s onward, Scher's company booked all Grateful Dead and Garcia shows East of the Mississippi (Bill Graham handled the West). So the relationship with Scher was essential to the historical success of the Grateful Dead. Yet the very first contact between the Dead organization and Scher was when the New Riders headlined the Capitol Theater in April of 1972, right when <i>Powerglide</i> was actually released. </p><p>Booking agents often work through intermediaries, with agents from different regions cooperating and sharing fees. So it's not impossible that the initial contact between Sam Cutler and John Scher was indirect. Nonetheless, things must have gone well. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/12/roosevelt-stadium-danforth-ave-and-nj.html ">Three months after the Captiol show, Scher and Hayward were booking the Grateful Dead at an old stadium in Jersey City (July 18 '72 at Roosevelt Stadium), and the long history of the Dead and John Scher began</a>. The Jersey City show must have been planned soon after the Riders played the Capitol, so something good happened there. Note that there are early and late shows at the Capitol, so ticket sales must have been pretty good. The Passaic newspaper listing (above) also mentions that the two shows in Princeton were sold out. Now, Alexander Hall at Princeton (capacity 1100) was a lot smaller than the Capitol, but that's still a lot of tickets sold for a band that had just released its second album. </p><p>Also billed at the Capitol show was Dr. John. Dr. John had just released <i>Gumbo</i>, his fifth album on Atco, marking a move away from being an eccentric to a traditional New Orleans musician with a rock twist. <br /></p><b>April 23 1972 Franklin & Marshall College Mayser Center Lancaster PA New Riders of The Purple Sage/Tranquility </b><i>(Sunday) Produced by S.U.B. & F&M</i><b> </b><br />One theme of the New Riders’ April ‘72 tour supporting <i>Powerglide</i> was how it revisited some of the touchstones of the Grateful Dead’s successful touring in 1971. Sam Cutler had done this before for the Dead, and it had worked out very well, so it was smart to draw from the same playbook. Back on April 10, 1971, the Grateful Dead and the New Riders had played Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. Lancaster was in Amish country, about an hour West of Philadelphia (great pretzels out there, trust me). <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-grateful-dead-electric-factory-and.html">The gig had been part of the Dead’s strategic assault on the Philadelphia Metro area, which would lead to the Dead becoming a perennial attraction in Philadelphia. The strategy, conceived by Rock Scully, was to play the outlying areas to build interest on FM radio.</a><p>Franklin and Marshall was a highly regarded liberal arts school of about 2000 students. There would have been a lot of students from the Philadelphia suburbs, so playing there was also a way to build a future audience in the City. In this case, the New Riders would have actually played the school the year before, so some of the underclassmen might have remembered the band's name. In 1971, the Dead’s gig had been facilitated by Philadelphia’s Electric Factory, who also booked the Spectrum and were the principal promoters for the region. No doubt the return gig for the Riders at F&M helped Cutler keep his relationships with the Electric Factory in tune. On September 21, 1972 (and then again on March 24, 1973) the Dead would play for the Electric Factory at the giant Spectrum, home of the NBA 76ers and NHL Flyers. The Dead would go on to rule the Spectrum, so these relationships were important.</p><p><b>April 24, 1972 Alexander Hall, Princeton, NJ: New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Monday 8pm-11pm shows)</i><br /><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/03/april-17-1971-dillon-gym-princeton.html">Back on Saturday, April 17, 1971, the Grateful Dead and the New Riders had played Dillon Gym at Princeton University, one of the most legendary gigs in Dead history</a>. All of the 1971 college shows were outright bangers, mostly, and many people got On The Bus right then. The difference was that Princeton (then as now) was at the vortex of American cultural hegemony, so the young men who burned some fat ones and danced all night went on to the State Department or Wall Street. So it was no surprise to see the New Riders reappear at Princeton almost exactly a year later. Similar to F&M, there would have been plenty of undergraduates who could have vouched for the New Riders. <br /></p><p>In the early 1970s, numerous rock bands played at Princeton. The reason, peculiarly, was Bill Graham. Bill Graham’s contracts at the Fillmore East (like almost all rock promoters) prevented a booked band from playing any advertised show within 50 miles of the East Village within 3 weeks of the show date (or some criteria approximating that). Since Fillmore East booked everyone, Graham effectively crushed any nascent rock promotions in Northern New Jersey from 1968-71. An exception to this rule was shows presented by colleges that were not advertised off campus. This specific exemption was what had allowed the Grateful Dead to play old Jadwin Gym (built 1949, capacity 3200) in 1971 just a week before their Fillmore East booking. The show was only “promoted” in the Princeton school newspaper, and sold out instantly.</p><p>As a result of the Fillmore East clause, bands played Princeton (and other schools) constantly in 1970 and ‘71. Princeton had money for entertainment, so ticket sales didn’t have to cover all of the costs. Lots of great acts played there. Princeton had enough money to pay for bigger acts on occasion, even when the venues were small. Until John Scher got fully established in 1974, touring bands regularly played the school. The New Riders played Alexander Hall, built in 1892. It seated about 1100. As noted in the Passaic clipping above, the early show was sold out, so things must have gone well.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU6BOTtstk2QEs83PxI7r1DNXp5afphFWHvfp-i_x0ZPTcyj2XZjPVrc91avUJ4Yzy8Azin769LmqFZf777im-Hi7xJuELXRfh6xAeBBcqKpXSV5eU8w31NnjsLC8Y2nuD0PAVJu2gR39_izx_PqDqawBfYuuMZzv8Ad7rcRaqspNmfQD-7sO9FrHc=s358" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="114" data-original-width="358" height="102" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiU6BOTtstk2QEs83PxI7r1DNXp5afphFWHvfp-i_x0ZPTcyj2XZjPVrc91avUJ4Yzy8Azin769LmqFZf777im-Hi7xJuELXRfh6xAeBBcqKpXSV5eU8w31NnjsLC8Y2nuD0PAVJu2gR39_izx_PqDqawBfYuuMZzv8Ad7rcRaqspNmfQD-7sO9FrHc=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>April 26, 1972 at the Boston Music Hall (from The Globe). The New Riders, in between showings of a the "Blacksploitation" movie Cool Breeze<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>April 26, 1972 Boston Music Hall, Boston, MA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Tranquility </b><i>(Wednesday)</i><br />The Boston Music Hall, at 268 Tremont Street, had been built in 1925 as the Metropolitan Theater. It had been renamed the Boston Music Hall in 1962. Boston Music Hall had a capacity (at the time) of 4225, large for the era (now, as <a href="https://www.bochcenter.org/">The Wang Theater, the capacity is around 3500</a>). Performers included the Ballet and Symphony as well as music acts. In the 60s, rock bands had played a place called The Back Bay Theater, but it had been torn down in 1968. After that, big rock acts played Boston Music Hall. The Grateful Dead would go on to play the Music Hall numerous times in the 1970s.<p></p><p>The Boston Music Hall was not booked by a single promoter, but was just available for rent. The Dead had played Boston Music Hall for Howard Stein in April, 1971, and for unknown promoters in December, 1971. In September of 1972, the Dead would play the theater for Cable Music, part of their long relationship with promoter Jim Koplik. But I don't know who promoted the April 1972 New Riders show.</p><p>At this time, the Boston Music Hall was mainly a movie theater. During this week, per the Boston <i>Globe</i> (above), the feature was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_Breeze_(film)">"Blacksploitation" crime flick called <i>Cool Breeze</i>. It does not sound like a very good</a> movie. In this case, the 8:00 showing was replaced by the New Riders. Tranquility listed this show in their <i>Billboard</i> ad, so presumably they opened the show. Keep in mind, even if the New Riders did not sell out the hall--I'm sure they didn't, on a weeknight--they still got more money than they would have if they had been just doing nothing. <br /></p><p><b>April 28, 1972 Meehan Hall, Brown U, Providence, RI: Mahavishnu Orchestra/New Riders of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Friday) superseded?</i><br />Brown University was founded in 1764, and it is located in downtown Providence. Indeed, I think it precedes downtown itself. Meehan Auditorium is the 3000-capacity hockey facility, and the largest indoor facility at the school. It opened in 1961 at Hope Street and Lloyd Avenue. As a lesson in 1970s rock economics, the Mahavishnu Orchestra had opened for Jerry Garcia (with Howard Wales) a few months earlier, and now as Mahavishnu's album became hotter, the New Riders were opening for them. Howard Wales, Mahavishnu and the New Riders were all on Columbia, so record company support was easier to come by when the label could share promotional costs. <br /></p><p>The seemingly strange pairing of the New Riders and
Mahavishnu makes more sense if you consider that the University was
probably striving to get a cross-section of undergraduates. <a href="https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:986039/">Note the descriptions from that day's <i>Brown Daily Record</i></a> (from David Kramer-Smyth's stellar research):</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>John Mclaughlin & the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Fri. 8 p.m.Meehan. Intense synthesis of jazz, rock, classical, blues and Eastern music, lead with spiritual conviction by dynamic guitarist McLaughlin, who sees his music as "an offering to the supreme being." <br /><br />NEW RIDERS of the Purple Sage. Fri.. 8 p.m.. Meehan. A light, peppy. Poco-like brand of country-rock-western, guaranteed to have you bouncing in your seat.</i></blockquote><p></p><b>April 29, 1972 [venue], Bayside Community College, Bayside, Queens, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Tranquility </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />The Tranquility ad has them supporting the New Riders at Bayside Community College. Bayside was 222-05 56th Street in Bayside, in Queens. The school had been founded in 1959, and by 1965 it was part of CUNY. A Saturday night gig at a Community College followed the Cutler playbook, building fans one gig at a time, while covering expenses.<p>The Tranquility <i>Billboard</i> ad also has them supporting the New Riders on Sunday at Brown (April 30), but since the Riders opened for Mahavisnu on Friday (above) that must have been changed. <br /></p><p><b>May 1 1972 Palace Theatre Waterbury CT New Riders of The Purple Sage/Henry Gross </b><i>(Monday)</i><b> </b><i>Produced by Web LTD</i><br />Web LTD had booked the New Riders for the "Folk Festival" shows in Virginia on April 8 (above), and they also booked a Monday night at a now-legendary venue called the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. Waterbury is between Hartford (33 miles to the Northeast) and New York City (77 miles to the Southwest). It had (and has) a population of around 110,000. In the first half of the 20th century, it was a thriving industrial city. From the 60s onward, however, Waterbury underwent a severe economic decline. As a rock peculiarity, however, Waterbury had a large movie theater from its glory days, and easy freeway access from larger areas. The Palace Theater, at 100 E. Main Street in downtown, had been built in 1922. By the early 1970s, it wasn't apparently in great shape, but it had a capacity of a few thousand and fantastic acoustics. It went from being an oversized movie house to a destination rock concert venue.<br /></p><p>In the early 1970s, bands figured out that in order
to make touring profitable, they had to play as many nights as possible
with reasonably short trips in between. If a band on a road had, for
example, a lucrative weekend booking in Manhattan, and another the next
weekend in Boston, they had to do something in between that paid. A
night or two at a place like Waterbury was perfect. It was just far
enough from major cities that it didn't tread on the major bookings, and
attracted fans who wouldn't (or couldn't) go to a big-city show. FM
radio was everywhere, anyway, and there were plenty of kids in the
suburbs who wanted to see the bands that played Manhattan or Boston.
Whoever owned the aging Palace Theater would have been happy to rent it
out profitably, unconcerned if some hippies might do a little damage. <a href="http://www.palacewaterbury.com/palace_bands/palace_bands.html">All the good touring bands of the 1970s played the Palace in Waterbury, some of them many times.</a></p>I
doubt the New Riders sold that many tickets on a Monday night, but on
the road it may not have mattered. If they covered their expenses, then
it was better than just spending the night in a hotel. Sam Cutler,
meanwhile, would have learned about the Palace, and the Dead would
return there in September. <p>Henry Gross had been the original guitarist in Sha Na Na, appearing at Woodstock, but by 1972 he had gone to a more conventional solo career. He had just released his debut album on ABC/Dunhill. In 1976, Gross would have a big hit with his song "Shannon."</p><p><b>May 2, 1972 Academy Of Music, New York, NY: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Alex Taylor/Tranquility</b><i> (Tuesday-8:00 and 11:30 pm)</i><br /><a href="http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1301">The Academy of Music at 126 E. 14th Street, near Greenwich Village, had opened as an movie theater back in 19</a><a href="http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1301">26</a>. The 3500-seat venue had been used intermittently for rock concerts in the 1960s, but had mostly been a movie theater. Promoter Howard Stein (1945-2007) had been putting on shows at <a href="https://www.thecapitoltheatre.com/">the Capitol Theater in Port Chester</a>, just outside the City, in 1970 and '71. When the Fillmore East closed in June, 1971, Stein took over the The Academy of Music. Stein had been promoting rock shows in the New York area throughout the 1960s. The Academy of Music would change its name to the Palladium in 1976. In the 1980s, Stein would move away from the rock concert business and into the nightclub business, opening some legendary New York discos. Back in '71, however, Stein was a key promoter filling the void left by Bill Graham's departure. </p><p>In March of 1972, the Grateful Dead had played six shows in seven nights at the The Academy of Music (Hot Tuna filled in the other night), a legendary event in Deadhead history. In this case, Cutler would have been able to have the New Riders provide a kind of encore to the six sold-out Dead shows in March.<br /></p><p>Tranquility opened the show. In the middle of the bill was Alex Taylor, the older brother of James. Alex had a more bluesy sound than James, and he just released <i>Dinnertime</i>, his second album on Capricorn. Since Capricorn was the Allman Brothers label, it's not surprising to see other labelmates on the album, like Chuck Leavell, Tommy Talton and Jaimoe. </p><p>Following their Northeastern tour, the New Riders of The Purple Sage headed off to England and Europe, including hooking up with the Grateful Dead for the end of their epic <i>Europe '72 </i>tour. <i><b><br /></b></i></p><p><i><b>New Riders of The Purple Sage Status Report, May 1972</b></i><br />By May of 1972, the New Riders of The Purple Sage were a fully separate musical entity from the Grateful Dead, while retaining the family and business ties. <i>Powerglide</i>, their second Columbia album, and first without Jerry Garcia, had been released in mid-April. The New Riders had toured the Northeast that month, prime territory for newly-minted Deadheads from the hard touring the Dead and the Riders had done the previous few years. In May, the New Riders would once again travel on the Grateful Dead path, touring England, the Netherlands and Germany. <br /></p><p><a href="for the next post in the series, covering May-August '72, see here"><i>For the next post in the series (NRPS Tour History May-August 1972), see here</i></a></p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-1482227717341240702021-12-17T12:52:00.010-08:002022-02-08T15:34:47.955-08:00James And The Good Brothers: Overview and Performance Listings, 1970-71 (Next Riders I)<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPD1s0ory10XmSWBHgiSRwZ65KdFkxGpw22jc7660HFy8pZ2Dq2In-Jd_Fm6xZdBPfX2JaJg9lsGEDD1j2I3RGWMndgU44vmaeyUiV83aCx5uZxRLDZRaYULEfY3dc5ZUPOzL5C_ROW5U/s889/JATGB+NOH+19701016.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="763" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPD1s0ory10XmSWBHgiSRwZ65KdFkxGpw22jc7660HFy8pZ2Dq2In-Jd_Fm6xZdBPfX2JaJg9lsGEDD1j2I3RGWMndgU44vmaeyUiV83aCx5uZxRLDZRaYULEfY3dc5ZUPOzL5C_ROW5U/s320/JATGB+NOH+19701016.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>An ad from the Oct 16, 1970 Berkeley Barb for upcoming shows at The New Orleans House. James and The Good Brothers "Courtesy Of The Grateful Dead" are booked for the weekend of October 23-24<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>James And The Good Brothers</b><br />James And The Good Brothers were a Canadian acoustic trio who were an extended part of the Grateful Dead family. Guitarist James Ackroyd had teamed with twin brothers Brian and Bruce Good, on guitar and autoharp, respectively. All sang, and their music was in a country-folk style, but without a pronounced Southern twang. The trio had met the Grateful Dead when they played on the infamous Festival Express cross-Canadian tour. The Dead invited them to San Francisco, and the group came down to San Francisco, where the Dead helped them get gigs. <b><br /></b><p>James and The Good Brothers sang original songs, more or
less in the vein of Crosby, Stills and Nash or America. They were more
country than either of those bands, but since they had Canadian accents
rather than Southern ones, their music had a different resonance with American
listeners. Also, since the Good Brothers used an autoharp, a rarely used
instrument, their music had a different feel to it. It's no surprise
that James And The Good Brothers were signed to Columbia, since major label record companies were snapping up any band in the CSN vein. </p><p><a href="https://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/local-arts/the-good-the-dead-and-janis-brothers-remember-a-special-train-ride">According to Bruce and Brian Good, in a 2015 interview, they went into one of the "music cars" on the Festival Express train, and wound up picking with Garcia</a>. They played bluegrass with him, and Garcia took a liking to them. Per Bruce, at the end of the train tour, the Dead would invite them to San Francisco record an album at their studio. Now, the story is a little more complicated than that, but for a broad brush 40-some years later, it was an accurate description. <br /></p><p>James
And The Good Brothers would record at Wally Heider's with Grateful Dead
engineer
Betty Cantor. Jerry Garcia and Bill Kreutzmann likely played on the
initial sessions, although their tracks were not used on the final album.
Ultimately, parts of the album seems to have been re-recorded in
Toronto. Columbia would release the James And The Good Brothers album in
November, 1971.<br /></p><p>By March, 1971,
however, the band had opened a weekend for the New Riders Of The Purple
Sage at Fillmore West (on February 25-28). <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/february-27-1971-fillmore-west-james.html">When they had played there,
Jerry Garcia (pedal steel guitar), Jack Casady ("balalaika" bass) and
Spencer Dryden (drums) had joined the trio</a>. Now, Garcia and Dryden were
playing with the New Riders that night anyway, but the fact that a trio of heavyweights
joined them got the band mentioned in a review. It also made their
status as Grateful Dead "family members" apparent. </p><p>Ultimately, James Ackroyd would
stay in California, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Brothers">the
Good Brothers would return to Canada, where they had a successful
musical career along with their banjo-playing younger brother Larry</a>. </p><i><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqY6NU4FKJTTyogbQWee8NmFN__j83AsqCAaiy-Rt7QvTA1j4jpJk5mq19Mjf8N_yBFJI2DReVg__a38OqOJoMdkhsauugjzsJwEYswxiVB2Emsz4gaalJKLw1XG2Rab9xKhS5OCyq_M/s300/James+And+The+Good+Brothers+onstage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="244" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqY6NU4FKJTTyogbQWee8NmFN__j83AsqCAaiy-Rt7QvTA1j4jpJk5mq19Mjf8N_yBFJI2DReVg__a38OqOJoMdkhsauugjzsJwEYswxiVB2Emsz4gaalJKLw1XG2Rab9xKhS5OCyq_M/s0/James+And+The+Good+Brothers+onstage.jpg" /></a></div><br />Rock Music Economics ca. 1970: New and Next Riders</b></i><br />In early 1970, the Grateful Dead had been in dire economic straights. In March, 1970, they had fired their manager Lenny Hart because he had absconded with $150,000 of the band's money, an enormous sum at the time. Their previous studio album had run way, way over budget, so they weren't getting royalties from that. The recently-released <i>Live/Dead</i> was promising, but it wasn't going to be any kind of conventional hit. All of the band members were functionally broke. Throughout 1970, under the guidance of road manager Sam Cutler, the Grateful Dead played there way back into solvency. Along the way, they had put out an album that was cheaply recorded and widely played on FM stations across the country. The album in turn increased concert receipts, so the Dead were finally doing pretty well. By the end of the year, band members had bought cars, and they had stopped living in overcrowded communal quarters.<p>The Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia did things in their own manner, but they always had an entrepreneurial streak. Unhappy with Bill Graham and Chet Helms, they had taken over the Carousel Ballroom in 1968. Though it had failed, they had nearly merged with Helms and his Family Dog in early 1970, until Helms had demurred at the idea of being in business with Lenny Hart. The Dead had also been instrumental in the formation of Alembic Engineering, creating a business where Ron Wickersham, Owsley Stanley, Bob Matthews and others could focus on high quality sound gear for live performance. Various other schemes had gotten floated over the years (google "Deadpatch"), even if they hadn't gotten off the ground. So Garcia and the Dead always had big schemes, even if they didn't go the way that they planned.</p><p>One of Jerry Garcia's unconventional enterprises was appearing as a sideman in a group completely separate from his main band. <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html">Garcia had been playing pedal steel guitar for the New Riders of The Purple Sage since Summer 1969</a>. It was rare enough for rock stars to play outside their own group for more than a single recording session, but Garcia had a whole different band. The only real comparison was Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady in Hot Tuna, but Jorma and Jack led that band. Garcia actually played a different instrument in the Riders and let John Dawson be the frontman. </p><p>Still, Garcia's unorthodoxy had gotten the New Riders noticed. The Riders opened for Dead shows and played around the Bay Area, to the extent Garcia was available. By the Summer, Garcia knew that in order for the New Riders to thrive, they would need their full-time pedal steel guitarist, and he had spotted Buddy Cage. Cage was on the Festival Express tour playing with Ian and Sylvia Tyson's band Great Speckled Bird. Some sort of invitation resulted from the train trip, and Cage would join the New Riders in November of 1971, after relocating to the Bay Area. </p><p>I don't think Garcia reflected much on what he was doing, but I am confident that he was conscious of what he was trying to do. Unlikely as Garcia's efforts with the New Riders were in the world of hippie rock, they were pretty common in the worlds of jazz or country music. Plenty of jazz musicians would play around New York outside of their usual combos, bringing attention to lesser known musicians. Similarly, most jazz fans had bought a jazz album by someone they hadn't heard of just because another, more famous musician was on the record. </p><p>Generally, when a Nashville star toured, they usually brought along an ensemble of other singers and players, helping to build those careers. Porter Wagoner, a huge country star since the 1950s, had a singer in 1965-66 named Jeannie Seely, who was part of his show and duetted with him. No one really remembers her. But we all remember Dolly Parton, who replaced Seely in the Wagoner show (on TV and on tour) from 1966-74. So when the New Riders played on a Dead show, with Garcia in the band, there was an existing business model.</p><p>Other wings of the fledgling Grateful Dead enterprise were benefiting from the New Riders. Sam Cutler was organizing tours and booking shows, Jon McIntire was working with the record companies and Alembic was providing sound gear. With another band "in development," all these enterprises had a chance to benefit. In turn, those enterprises gave the New Riders access to people and equipment they would not have had without the Dead connection. So when Garcia invited James and The Good Brothers to come to San Francisco to help them make a record, he wasn't just being friendly--it was part of a plan.</p><p>Although only partly articulated, the pillars of the early 1970s Grateful Dead empire was built on three legs:</p><p><i><b>Generosity</b></i>: at his core, Garcia was a generous man when it came to music and musicians. He didn't need much--a guitar, an amp, something to smoke, and a gig--and he was going to share what else he had. Garcia also implicitly realized that his status could help other musicians without any harm to his own future, so why not be generous? Garcia's attitude defined the entire Grateful Dead enterprise: if your own needs are met, look out for someone else.</p><p><i><b>Community</b></i>: some parts of the Grateful Dead team were specifically interested in building community. Jon McIntire was an important voice here. Blair Jackson and David Gans quote him as saying his principal interest was in building community, not business (<i>This Is All A Dream We Dreamed</i>, p.214). The Grateful Dead grasped early that their own audience could be self-sustaining, if they were treated properly. In general, the Dead were interested in creating a tiny ecosystem where goods and services were largely supplied by an interlocking group of people. This could keep a lot of friends and family employed, without those people having to be musicians or have other rare skills. Old friends and band girlfriends could look after the warehouse or answer phones or any number of other roles, and they did.</p><p><i><b>Transactional</b></i>: in order to function safely in the Capitalist world, the Grateful Dead had to thrive in it. Garcia, nor Cutler, nor McIntire, had no problem with any of this, beyond not wanting to wear a suit and tie. The businesses created by the Grateful Dead--, booking, tour management, recording studios, live sound equipment--still needed additional customers beyond the Dead. At the same time, the clients of these enterprises (Out Of Town Tours, Alembic, etc) benefited from the expertise of the likes of Sam Cutler, Jon McIntire or Ron Wickersham. </p><p>So when Garcia invited James And The Good Brothers to come to San Francisco, it went beyond a musician helping some guys he liked who were a bit lower on the ladder than he was. Garcia was providing fuel for the Grateful Dead economy to thrive, and James And The Good Brothers were going to benefit. I'm not imagining this--Garcia would do exactly the same thing a few months later when he invited David Grisman, Richard Loren and the Rowan Brothers to relocate from Manhattan to Stinson Beach. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/02/album-economics-round-records-1974-76.html">On a larger scale, these pillars were the thinking behind Round Records. Garcia didn't have to risk his capital on albums by bluegrass bands, Robert Hunter or electronic composers, but he did</a>. </p><p>So the invitation for James And The Good Brothers wasn't just a generous suggestion by Jerry Garcia, but a test run of Garcia's new recognition that the success and fame of the Grateful Dead could be a magnet for the success of others. Thus, reviewing the performance history of James And The Good Brothers in the Bay Area isn't just archival, but a roadmap for Garcia to replicate his contribution to the New Riders on to another band, a Next Riders. It was only partially successful, but it was no less informative for that.<br /></p><div><i><b>James and The Good Brothers: Canada 1970</b></i><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.canadianbands.com/Good%20Brothers.html ">Brian and Bruce Good were from Richmond Hill, Ontario, part of greater Toronto. They had formed a country-folk quartet called the Kinfolk with Marty Steiger and Margaret McQueen, playing traditonal country with a distinct Canadian flavor</a>. They played the coffeehouses in Toronto and fairs in Ontario. By early 1970, two members of the Kinfolk had left (well, McQueen married Bruce, but she did leave the band). <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91084122/james-and-the-good-brothers/">The Good Brothers would meet guitarist James Ackroyd by chance in a Yorkville (Toronto) coffee shop called The Penny Farthing around February of 1970.</a> Ackroyd, from Winnipeg, had been the lead guitarist in groups such as Barry Ennis and The Keymen and The Knack. The trio re-named themselves James And The Good Brothers. After playing around Ontario, the trio was then invited on the Canadian Express Train Tour with the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and others</div><div><br /></div><div><b>April 3, 1970 Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON Grand Funk Railroad/James and The Good Brothers</b></div><div>The band's initial performance was, apparently, opening for Grand Funk Railroad at the Maple Leaf Gardens. Presumably they also played other shows around Ontario. James And The Good Brothers had been advertised as part of the Festival Express Tour as early as May 4 (from a wire service article in the Los Angeles <i>Times</i>). <br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAI6DUw-jv7cju8zqNCLmxOLhpbnTviXhmXFkU38x68N5SswIJHR-2u-gI9WrDD_Ec6jfznQgLZSg7InSccPL6DA9XQrEkDhXKPPZbms608WZFH_SnHdoLc3nkA3em3I4kRpdEoZx00nc/s1551/Festival+Express+19700627.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1551" data-original-width="1152" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAI6DUw-jv7cju8zqNCLmxOLhpbnTviXhmXFkU38x68N5SswIJHR-2u-gI9WrDD_Ec6jfznQgLZSg7InSccPL6DA9XQrEkDhXKPPZbms608WZFH_SnHdoLc3nkA3em3I4kRpdEoZx00nc/s320/Festival+Express+19700627.jpg" /></a></div><br />June 27-28, 1970 Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, ON </b><i>Festival Express Tour</i><br /></div><div>It's unclear if James And The Good Brothers played one day at the stadium or on both. <br /></div><div><b>June 28, 1970 Coronation Park, Toronto, ON </b><i>(Sunday) </i><i>Free Concert</i><br /></div><div>The Grateful Dead agreed to play a free concert in a Toronto park on Sunday afternoon, between the paid shows, in order to assuage the feelings of hippies who thought music should be free. The Dead and The New Riders played, but it's unclear who else performed. Since James And The Good Brothers were an acoustic trio, it may have been easier for them to play the free show in the park.</div><div> </div><div>After the Toronto show, the musicians boarded the infamous train, and the trio met Garcia during a bluegrass jam. Apparently the actual invitation to come to San Francisco was extended by Gail Hellund, who was sort of an operations manager (I'm not sure of her official title). Some evidence suggests that Hellund acted as the manager of James And The Good Brothers along with any Dead or New Riders duties. This would fit in with the model of cooperation and expansion outlined above. Gail Hellund's time and skills could be usefully distributed to another enterprise.<br /></div><div> </div><div><b>July 1, 1970 Winnipeg Fairgrounds, Winnipeg, MB (Wed) </b><i>Festival Express Tour</i></div><div><i> </i></div><div><b>July 4-5, 1970 McMahon Stadium, Calgary, AB (Saturday-Sunday) </b><i>Festival Express Tour</i></div><div>By the end of the train trip, Ackroyd and the Good Brothers had been invited to San Francisco. Presumably the band played other gigs around Toronto until their Fall arrival in the Bay Area.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i><b>James And The Good Brothers in San Francisco, Performance Listing 1970-71</b></i><br /></div><div><b>October 15, 1970 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Thursday) "Courtesy of The Grateful Dead" </i></div><div>The first booking we can find for James And The Good Brothers is on Thursday, October 15 at the Matrix. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/12/the-matrix-3138-fillmore-street-san.html">The tiny Matrix, capacity at most 150, while it had been the original San Francisco hippie club, had been bumped aside by larger clubs. By 1970, as I have documented, the Matrix was mainly a musicians' hangout.</a> The most prominent of the musicians who regularly played there was Jerry Garcia, who used weeknights there for jamming explorations with Bill Vitt, John Kahn, Howard Wales and (by October) Merl Saunders. </div><div> </div><div>Garcia's stature at the Matrix was such that a request by the Grateful Dead office to book an unknown out-of-town band would be accepted on its face. At the same time, it's worth noting that the Matrix wasn't booking premier club acts in any case. The most intriguing thing about the notation in the San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i> <i>Datebook</i> listings was that James And The Good Brothers are noted as "Courtesy Of The Grateful Dead." On one hand, this was unprecedented. On the other hand, the sort of tuned-in hippie who went to the Matrix would have heard of the New Riders, so they could probably guess a little about what was going on.<br /></div><div> </div><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRwGtb9r0zg7CBPqo_zAi7c_hP4Gb6cpihE7mCf8bPnvvGYbeJ9BZjLz1gC_qqNTJw_6FDaABQdeMvFeVnAJ0Fgd5cQYP4OUitb16S6Wm-tyNRCnfWWd-mMh9JVGesDQLSaYxP8M91o8A/s2048/Inn+Of+The+Beginning+20100712-4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRwGtb9r0zg7CBPqo_zAi7c_hP4Gb6cpihE7mCf8bPnvvGYbeJ9BZjLz1gC_qqNTJw_6FDaABQdeMvFeVnAJ0Fgd5cQYP4OUitb16S6Wm-tyNRCnfWWd-mMh9JVGesDQLSaYxP8M91o8A/s320/Inn+Of+The+Beginning+20100712-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Inn Of The Beginning, at 8201 Old Redwood Highway in Cotati, CA, as it appeared in 2010</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />October 16-17, 1970 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: Cat Mother/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)</i></div><div><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/07/8201-old-redwood-highway-cotati-ca-inn.html">The Inn Of The Beginning, at 8201 Old Redwood Highway in Cotati wasn't large, but it was still larger than the Matrix.</a> The capacity of the club was about 200, and it was a regular gig for Bay Area bands. The New Riders of The Purple Sage had played there regularly since 1969. So a phone call from the Dead office would surely have gotten James And The Good Brothers booked. In this case, they were opening for Cat Mother. </div><div> </div><div>Cat Mother And The All Night News Boys were a Greenwich Village folk-rock band who had been making their second album (<i>Albion Doo-Wah</i>) at Pacific High Recorders, and had simply decided to stay in the Bay Area. Pacific High Recorders was at 60 Brady Street, right behind the Fillmore West, and would be sold to Alembic in 1971, although they would continue to use the name Pacific High Recorders on occasion. <br /></div><div> </div><div><b>October 23-24, 1970 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Redwing/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Friday-Saturday) "Courtesy of the Grateful Dead"</i></div><div><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/New%20Orleans%20House.htm">The New Orleans House, at 1505 San Pablo Avenue in North Berkeley, had been one of the first clubs in the Bay Area to book original rock bands, back in 1966</a>. It had a capacity of around 250, but it wasn't in a central, accessible part of Berkeley, so it was feeling the pressure of the growing competition. The New Orleans House ad in the San Francisco Good Times says JATGB are "Courtesy Of The Grateful Dead."</div><div><b> </b></div><div>Redwing was a Sacramento group that had evolved out of a popular
60s band called The New Breed. The best known member was bassist Tim
Schmidt, who by 1970 had joined Poco (and would later join The Eagles).
Redwing had made an album in 1970 for United Artists, and some of their
material had also been released under the band-name Glad.</div><div> </div><div><b>October 26, 1970 Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA: </b><i>Janis Joplin's Wake (Monday)</i><br /></div><div>Janis Joplin had died the night of October 5, 1970. As part of her will, she had a gigantic party thrown for her at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo. The Lion's Share was another musician's hangout, and about 10 minutes from downtown San Rafael. The Grateful Dead flew back from the East Coast to perform. In the 2015 interview, Bruce Good mentioned how honored they were to be invited. They had become friendly with Janis on the Festival Express train.</div><div><br /></div><div>Every hippie in the Bay Area would have wanted an invite to Janis' wake, but James And The Good Brothers actually went. The fact that they got invited was a clear, if sad, indicator that they were part of the extended Grateful Dead family. I don't know if the band actually played, but it's entirely plausible they got up and sang a few songs (and plausible that no one, including the band, remembers for sure).<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>October 27-November 1, 1970 Troubadour James and The Good Brothers/Alliotta Haynes </b><i>(Tuesday-Sunday)</i></div><div>Doug Weston's Troubadour in West Hollywood was one of the most important rock nightclubs in the 1970s. The club was essential to launching the careers of numerous iconic singer-songwriters in that era. Among the most prominent were James Taylor, Elton John, Cat Stevens and Kris Kristofferson--and that was just 1970. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-troubadour-west-hollywood-and-san.html">Yet it is all but entirely forgotten that in August, 1970 Weston opened a San Francisco branch of The Troubadour</a>. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2020/10/september-1-6-1970-960-bush-st.html">Elton John even played there</a>.<br /></div><div> </div><div>The San Francisco Troubadour flopped miserably after only four months. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-troubadour-west-hollywood-and-san.html">James And The Good Brothers were booked for the final week that the club was open</a>. At that point, probably no other band really wanted the gig. Still, there was an interesting subplot: <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2021/09/960-bush-street-downstairs-san.html">Troubadour house manager David Allen would re-open the club at 960 Bush Street the next March. James and The Good Brothers were booked for the opening weekend, and they played the Boarding House a number of times throughout 1971</a> (see below).</div><div><br /></div><div>I have found no dates for James And The Good Brothers in November. Both Brian and Bruce Good had family in Canada, so it's possible that they took a trip back home.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><b>Update</b>: David Kramer-Smyth confirmed this</i>. <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91084122/james-and-the-good-brothers/">An article in the November 20, 1970 Ottawa Journal mentions an upcoming show at Le Hibou Cafe in Ottawa.</a> It also mentions that the group had just played the Crypt and The Riverboat in Toronto. <br /></div><div> </div><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTqdeGmQSawPpI-UKmjIgIbZ2dzCqDN6LqsZnJsrcUfp8dcUaNZ20hbB5A4gQZK_3sn9cvGYoevYqMY68ZOQoXTrZW_S8sduK9knlIzOJlV-etE0QAUhFTOpaUV27xLHLlh8eb7cxAZu4/s320/Lions+Share+60+Red+Hill+Ave+San+Anselmo.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTqdeGmQSawPpI-UKmjIgIbZ2dzCqDN6LqsZnJsrcUfp8dcUaNZ20hbB5A4gQZK_3sn9cvGYoevYqMY68ZOQoXTrZW_S8sduK9knlIzOJlV-etE0QAUhFTOpaUV27xLHLlh8eb7cxAZu4/s0/Lions+Share+60+Red+Hill+Ave+San+Anselmo.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Lion's Share, at 60 Red Hill Avenue in San Anselmo, sometime in the early 1970s</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />December 4-5, 1970 Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA: James and The Good Brothers /The Pipe </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)</i></div><div>Since the Lion's Share was a musician's hangout, James And The Good Brothers were probably known around town by this time. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-lions-share-60-red-hill-avenue-san.html">The Lion's Share sometimes booked prominent bands, but there were plenty of weekends where local acts headlined the club</a>.</div><div> <br /></div><div><b>December 11-12, 1970 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Pamela </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)</i></div><div>James And The Good Brothers returned to headline a weekend at the Inn Of The Beginning. They must have been good enough in October for the Inn to give them a chance to co-headline a weekend. Sonoma State College was probably out of session, so it would have been a less high-profile night, but coming back to a club two months later as a weekend headliner was still a healthy sign for the trio.</div><div> </div><div><a href="https://music.pamelapolland.com/">Co-headliner Pamela was almost certainly Pamela Polland</a>. Polland was a singer-songwriter who had moved to Mill Valley after she had been signed to a solo contract by Columbia. Previously, she had been in a Los Angeles duo called Gentle Soul, who had released an album back in 1968. Polland's story is quite interesting (some readers may recognize her subsequent persona "Melba Rounds"), but it's mostly a sidelight to James And The Good Brothers.</div><div><br /></div><div>A critical detail to the Polland story, however, was her manager Diane Sward (later Diane Rapaport). <a href="https://homesweetjeromedrapaport.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/1969-bill-graham-hires-diane-sward-rapaport-as-an-artists-manager/">Sward (1939-2019) was a band manager under the umbrella of the Bill Graham organization from 1969 to '74, and her stories from those days (while also a sidetrack here) are well worth reading</a>. </div><div> </div><div>In one post <a href="https://homesweetjeromedrapaport.wordpress.com/tag/diane-sward-pamela-polland/">Sward described what faced local singers who weren't in a loud rock band</a>:<blockquote><i>Gigs in Bay Area coffeehouses were easy to get, but they didn’t make a
lot of money for anyone, including the performers. They were able to get
a few gigs in clubs at 8 or 8:30 p.m., prior to when many rock bands
began setting up for a 9:30 show. I told club owners that my band would
help warm up the audience, didn’t need a big stage setup (no drums, no
big amps, no stage monitors) and would make them enough extra bucks
selling drinks to pay us.<br /><br />However rock fans and acoustic music
fans didn’t always mix well. More often than not the audience would
start getting impatient around 9:15. “We want Jerry (Garcia); we want
Elvin (Bishop) and so on.”<br /><br />I attended a lot of Lamb gigs and saw
such other Bay Area acoustic performers as Lambert & Nuttycombe,
Jeffrey Cain and Uncle Vinty. They were all bucking up against rock ‘n
roll. The audiences for rock bands were larger; and that meant more
money for the club owners.</i></blockquote>Sward went on to find unique bookings for her acts, and helped them record as well. Still, her reflections point up an historically unnoticed barrier for James And The Good Brothers. In the 60s and 70s, San Francisco was renowned for breaking new and interesting bands: Jefferson Airplane, The Dead, Big Brother, Sly and The Family Stone, Santana, Tower Of Power and the Doobie Brothers, to name the most prominent. While those groups were not confined to a single genre, they were all loud, danceable bands that could rock the Fillmore and Winterland. </div><div><br /></div><div>Starting with the August 1969 release of the Crosby, Stills and Nash album, listeners, radio and record companies expanded their tastes to include rock musicians who, while writing original songs, were quieter. The new breed of singer/songwriters emphasized sincerity, acoustic guitars and sophisticated harmonies. James And The Good Brothers fit right into the vein that would lead groups like America and Seals And Crofts to huge success. A parallel success story at the time was The Band, whose first two albums sold well and got perhaps the best reviews any rock bands ever received. James And The Good Brothers were Canadian, too, so in acoustic way they evoked The Band's countrified harmonies.<br /></div><div> </div><div>Musicians from all over America had been coming to San Francisco to make it since the mid-60s, and James And The Good Brothers had relocated along with man others. It turned out, however, that for all its openness, early 70s San Francisco was a terrible place to break acoustic acts. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-troubadour-west-hollywood-and-san.html">Singer/songwriters who played the Troubadour in West Hollywood did great</a>, but acoustic trios didn't make it out of San Francisco. Diane Sward, for one, had figured this out and was trying to crack the egg, but in the end San Francisco wasn't a good place for acoustic bands. But James And The Good Brothers, nor the Dead's management, would not find that out until later.<br /></div><div> <br /></div><div><b>December 18, 1970 Burbank Auditorium, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Victoria/Tim and Jan </b><i>(Friday)</i><br /></div><div>The Junior College system in California was an outgrowth of both the GI Bill and the massive migration to California during and after World War 2. With numerous ex-GIs able to afford college, and a big population, California had to expand its college options. Not only did the University of California expand, and the State College system, too, but just about every county had a 2-year junior college with open admissions. Residents over 18 could go to college locally, effectively for free, and if they succeeded they could transfer to the State College or UC Systems.</div><div> </div><div>In the case of Santa Rosa Junior College, it had existed since 1918, but had fully integrated into the State Junior College system by 1969. It was located downtown at 1501 Mendocino Road. Santa Rosa is in Sonoma County, 50 miles North of San Francisco.<br /></div><div> </div><div>A breathless article in the December 17, 1970 <i>Oak Leaf</i>, the Santa Rosa Junior College student newspaper, gives the band the full push (article courtesy of JGMF-transcribed as published)</div><div><blockquote><i>The Christmas seasons festivities will begin tomorrow in Burbank Auditorium at 4.p.m when the student body of this campus will have the opportunity to hear three farout Canadians who call themselves JAMES AND THE GOOD BROTHERS.<br /><br />Their manager, Gail, met them on the Festival Express while on a tour of Canada last summer, with the Grateful Dead and persuaded them to give California a go.<br /><br />The first performance of James and The Good Brothers was two months ago at the Inn Of The Beginning. The audience response was so enthusiastically overwhelming that they are currently in the process of recording their first album. <br /><br />According to one of the college sponsors of the group, the Grateful Dead, Eric Anderson, Gordon Lightfoot and countless others, who have heard James and the Good Brothers really freak out when they hear them.</i></blockquote>The article goes on to say that the show's ticket sales will not even cover the costs, a sign that the school was dipping into its entertainment budget for this. In the early 70s, even Junior Colleges had entertainment budgets, and local bands could be the beneficiaries. It's likely that the fact that all three acts were acoustic, rather than full-out rock and roll, made them more palatable to the college. Tickets for the show were available at the Inn Of The Beginning, so it suggests that the Inn helped Gail Hellund book the band. Now, while I find it pretty likely that Gordon Lightfoot liked James and The Good Brothers, I doubt he would "really freak out" when he heard them. One can't help but suspect that a Mr. Rock Scully was helping to explain things to an eager cub reporter. <br /></div><div> </div><div>Although some comments in the article need to be taken with a grain of salt, note that there is already talk of a James And The Good Brothers album. At this exact moment, artists like James Taylor and Cat Stevens were hitting it big, so record companies would have been very interested in their sound. At the same time, the Grateful Dead had just released <i>American Beauty</i>, and with two hit albums in a row, their sponsorship of the band would mean a lot more to a record company.</div><div><br /></div><div>Opening act "Victoria<b>" </b>(Victoria Domagalski) was a singer-songwriter, also part of the Bill Graham stable. Her debut album, <i>Secret Of The Bloom</i>,
had been released on Graham's San Francisco Records label (distributed
by Atlantic) in 1970. Victoria was a solo singer/songwriter, and one of
the acts often booked by Diane Sward as part of her acoustic packages.</div><div> <br /></div><div><b>December 31, 1970 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Hot Tuna/New Riders of The Purple Sage/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Thursday)</i><b><br /></b></div><div>The Grateful Dead headlined at Winterland on New Year's Eve, along with Hot Tuna and the New Riders. At this time, Bill Graham had lost the lease on Winterland, and New Year's Eve was handled by promoter Paul Barrata. <a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/february-1971-capitol-theater-bob-weir.html"> </a><a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/february-1971-capitol-theater-bob-weir.html ">In a subsequent interview in the Harvard <i>Independent</i> (from March 11, 1971), manager Jon McIntire mentioned that James And The Good Brothers played the show</a>. The trio was not on any of the ads, nor appeared in any broadcasts, nor mentioned in any review. Still, it's important to remember that an acoustic trio without a lot of equipment could be fit in during a set change, and a New Year's Eve show was a chance for big exposure. The promoter would have happily accepted James And The Good Brothers upon the Dead's request. </div><br /><div><b>January 21, 1971 Freeborn Hall, UC Davis, Davis, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Thursday)</i></div><div>The Grateful Dead played on a Thursday night at UC Davis, just outside of Sacramento. They were joined by both the New Riders and James and The Good Brothers. While the Dead no longer did the acoustic set and the full "An Evening With The Grateful Dead," they were providing four sets with an acoustic opener.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>January 27-28, 1971 Keystone Korner, San Francisco, CA: Big Brother and The Holding Company w/Nick Gravenites/James and The Good Brothers/Gideon and Power </b><i>(Wednesday-Thursday)</i></div><div>Big Brother and The Holding Company had disintegrated at the end of 1968 when Janis Joplin left the band. Still, the band had reformed at the end of 1969, with the four original (pre-Janis) members and guitarist David Schallock (although James Gurley and Peter Albin had switched to bass and guitar, respectively). They had released a good, but unnoticed album on Columbia in 1970 called <i>Be A Brother</i>. Nick Gravenites was their producer and sometimes sang with them. They were still a name around the Bay Area, but no longer a major act.</div><div> </div><div>Keystone Korner was mainly a blues club, although the actual bookings ranged from white rock bands to soul to Chicago blues. Still, just about all the acts were loud and bluesy, and in that respect, James And The Good Brothers may have been a little out of place.</div><div> </div><div>Gideon and Power was a sort of Gospel-Rock band featuring singer Gideon Daniels. He would release one album in 1972, and Gideon and Power became a sort of farm team for the Elvin Bishop Group. In later years, Gideon and Power would include backup vocalist Mickey Thomas and organist Melvin Seals, both of whom would join Elvin Bishop sometime later (and then Jefferson Starship and Jerry Garcia Band, respectively). <br /></div><div> </div><div><b>January 29-30, 1971 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: Lamb/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)</i></div><div>Lamb had initially been a songwriting duo featuring singer and pianist Barbara Lamb and guitarist Bob Swanson. They were another act managed by Diane Sward, and this booking fit her idea of pairing acoustic acts in nightclubs. I think Lamb had a bass player and a drummer by this time, but I'm not sure of that.</div><div> </div><div>I think by this time James And The Good Brothers had been signed to Columbia and started recording. The absence of any shows in the next month, plus some other clues, suggest that the band recorded throughout the month of February. Their Columbia album would be released in November, 1971. The producer was long-time Grateful Dead engineer Betty Cantor. She shared the engineering duties with Bob Matthews, so the Dead had assigned the A-Team that had delivered <i>Live/Dead </i>and <i>Workingman's Dead.</i> Initial recording took place at Pacific High Recorders, at 60 Brady Street behind the Fillmore West. Later, the studio would be purchased by Alembic and used primarily for mixing. </div><div> </div><div>In late 1970, Columbia Records had signed the New Riders Of The Purple Sage. Columbia boss Clive Davis was high on Garcia (to coin a phrase). He had apparently tried to sign the Grateful Dead when their contract had come up in 1969, but Lenny Hart had extended the Warner Brothers deal for a few more albums. Davis was playing a long game, though. In his cosmology, the key to the Grateful Dead was Garcia--he wasn't wrong--so Davis took numerous steps to show Garcia favor. Not only did Davis sign the New Riders, a Columbia imprint (Douglas Records) had also signed Howard Wales to do an album. Columbia had also helped finance Mickey Hart's studio, according to <i>Billboard</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>On one hand, we can see Columbia's signing of James And The Good Brothers as a continuation of Clive Davis' ongoing efforts to make Garcia feel wanted when the Dead's contract renewal came up. Although the Dead surprised everybody by going it alone in '72, when Grateful Dead Records crumpled a few years later, Clive Davis--by now running Arista Records--finally got his opportunity. It took a while, but eventually the Grateful Dead had a massive hit with <i>In The Dark</i>, and sold a lot of other albums in between. So whether or not Garcia specifically recommended James And The Good Brothers to Clive Davis, we know that Davis had a vested interest in making Garcia see him favorably. </div><div><br /></div><div>In 1970 and '71, Clive Davis signed the New Riders, James And The Good Brothers and the Rowan Brothers, all San Francisco bands with intimate ties to Jerry Garcia. In 1976 he got his man. Yet, to give Davis credit, he was also a pretty good record man. For one thing, the first four New Riders albums were pretty successful (<i>NRPS, Powerglide, Gypsy Cowboy</i> and <i>Panama Re</i>d). Certainly Columbia turned a profit on those albums. So whatever Davis' motives for signing the Riders, it turned out pretty well financially for Columbia. </div><div><br /></div><div>As for James And The Good Brothers, they were not really a success and broke up in 1972, as we will see. Afterwards, however, Brian and Bruce Good returned to Canada and teamed up with their younger brother Larry, and had a pretty successful career in Canada. So when Clive Davis had signed them in late 1970, he must have heard the talent and appeal. In that sense, Davis' signing of the band was retroactively justified by the Good Brothers' ultimate Canadian success. So while Garcia's "sponsorship" was essential for getting James And The Good Brothers' signing to Columbia, their own talent ultimately proved that the commercial sense of that investment, even if Columbia itself didn't benefit.<br /></div><div> </div><div>As for the album itself, I am pretty sure that Columbia was not pleased with the finished product, and took James And The Good Brothers to Toronto to re-record some different songs, without Bob and Betty. Contractually, Betty Cantor's name had to be on the album, but the record company seems to have overruled her mixes. Some cryptical details suggest that Jerry Garcia probably played on the initial sessions, but I suspect that any tracks that he played on were re-recorded in Toronto.</div><div> </div><div><b>February 5-6, 1971 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Abel </b><i>(Friday-Saturday) </i><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3ExPpHz0tRrmjnHehnCxd_ObpluesIyz-SKH4Ec988vYADGY2SuvxDiKTeWMpY3xgU-pAMSnCFdTtEcOMzy5ppKZpIxlJeI6UzTKHS0J0WeLibxwwpCFE7DB6ii24oHGKsUzKbxD4wrFhqlbwWIBKADWKE6Bvn2m4jjDk32ssPJnmHnwaFUEr_VHN=s1053" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1053" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3ExPpHz0tRrmjnHehnCxd_ObpluesIyz-SKH4Ec988vYADGY2SuvxDiKTeWMpY3xgU-pAMSnCFdTtEcOMzy5ppKZpIxlJeI6UzTKHS0J0WeLibxwwpCFE7DB6ii24oHGKsUzKbxD4wrFhqlbwWIBKADWKE6Bvn2m4jjDk32ssPJnmHnwaFUEr_VHN=s320" width="166" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A picture and listing from the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat of February 15, 1971 for the Saturday night (February 20) show at the Veterans Memorial</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>February 20, 1971 Veterans Memorial Building, Santa Rosa, CA: Bronze Hog/Cat Mother and The All-Night Newsboys/James and The Good Brothers/Abraxas Rising </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br /></div><div>Ace researcher David Kramer-Smyth found this date. All of these bands were local. Bronze Hog were effectively the "house band" at Inn Of The Beginning.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikWDFMwWtmzBPEaBmXn6Oefkw8BUx5o9vzt-HvKVe98ltlK8ysgezh1ggQTuqIeuPfqLICO7p6sRdrKSiwjbTQYkQ6f7M2TTt0ng-J8M4008gM_5l8yEistbgse4memTxX1zw5zHhIscI/s2048/NRPS+FW+19700225.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1377" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikWDFMwWtmzBPEaBmXn6Oefkw8BUx5o9vzt-HvKVe98ltlK8ysgezh1ggQTuqIeuPfqLICO7p6sRdrKSiwjbTQYkQ6f7M2TTt0ng-J8M4008gM_5l8yEistbgse4memTxX1zw5zHhIscI/s320/NRPS+FW+19700225.jpg" /></a></div><br />February 25-28, 1971 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage/Boz Scaggs/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Thursday-Sunday)</i><br /></div><div>By early 1971, the Fillmore West was as legendary as ever, but it was starting to become too small for the booming rock market. Fillmore West's 2500-capacity had been 60% larger than the original Fillmore, but Winterland was over twice as big as the Fillmore West. Bigger bands didn't headline the Fillmore West as often as they had. They would still play for Bill Graham, but at bigger local venues.</div><div><br /></div><div>At this time, the New Riders of The Purple Sage did not have an album. Save for some brief radio broadcasts, and a few demos on KSAN, the only people who had heard the New Riders had seen them in concert. Of course, Jerry Garcia was still their pedal steel guitar player. Boz Scaggs had released a fine debut on Atlantic in 1969, and he had a new release (<i>Moments</i>, on Columbia) coming out in March. So Boz was known, but he wasn't yet a major artist either. Thus the 4-day weekend at the Fillmore West was not anchored by acts that were currently big hits, either on FM radio or on tour.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>One of these Fillmore West shows was written up in the suburban Hayward <i>Daily Review</i> by "KG", the team of Kathie Staska and George Mangum. The duo probably saw the Saturday (February 27) show. The most remarkable detail of the review was that James And The Good Brothers were joined by Jack Casady on "balalaika bass," Spencer Dryden on drums and Jerry Garcia on banjo. For one thing, the rhythm section would have helped the band go over in a rock hall like Fillmore West. </div><div><br /></div><div>For another, Garcia's presence means that he knew the songs, so he must have been around for the recording of the album, or at least some of it. This public performance is the key reason that I think Garcia played on the album sessions. He is thanked on the album, but not listed in the credits. On the other hand, the tracks with Toronto musicians include a banjo player (younger brother Larry Good), which is why I think the tracks with Garcia were re-recorded. The album would not come out for another 8 months, so Clive Davis must have been unhappy with the results. I should add that in such circumstances, record company complaints were generally oriented toward the actual sound of the recording--particularly focused on how it would sound on the radio--rather than the musical quality itself. To a record guy, if the sound wasn't right, it wouldn't matter how Garcia or anyone else played on the tracks. </div><div><br /></div><div>There's every reason to assume that Garcia played with James And The Good Brothers all four nights at Fillmore West. Thus Garcia was following the model of the New Riders, playing with them to let them benefit from the glow of his status. Garcia would do the same a few months later with the Rowan Brothers, playing a few local gigs and then joining them for their Fillmore West show when they opened for the Grateful Dead. The Rowan Brothers had also been signed to Columbia by Clive Davis. Was it a coincidence that Garcia played a similar role for all three Columbia bands? I doubt it.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>March 7, 1971 Burl Theater, Boulder Creek, CA: Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Sunday) 2pm show</i></div><div>By 1971 Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen were a popular local band, and had probably already been signed to Paramount Records. But they had not yet recorded their debut album (it would be released in November '71), so the Airmen weren't that well known outside of the East Bay. Cody and his crew had already played with the Dead and New Riders many times, however, so linking up with James And The Good Brothers was pretty logical.</div><div><br /></div><div>Boulder Creek is on Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz Mountains, 13 winding miles from downtown Santa Cruz, about halfway to Saratoga. I don't know anything about the Burl Theater, but since Boulder Creek is in a forest of Redwood trees, it's easy to guess. At the time, the area was full of hippies, loners, bikers, pot growers and other peculiar characters. Many of the residents would have fit more than one of these categories. The show was booked for 2pm, leaving plenty of time for the band to get to Berkeley for their show later that evening.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>March 7, 1971 Mandrake's, Berkeley, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Lizard </b><i>(Sunday)</i></div><div><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Mandrakes.htm">Mandrake's, at 1048 University Avenue in Berkeley, was near the corner of University and San Pablo Avenue, nearly two miles from campus</a>. During World War 2, with the Oakland and Richmond shipyards booming, tired workers with money in their pockets needed to relax. San Pablo Avenue was known as "Music Row," with clubs from one end to another. Mandrake's was a remaining legacy. The 200-seat room had opened in 1965, initially a pool hall that sometimes booked music. It focused on blues and jazz, initially, but rapidly expanded to include rock. The little club served beer, wine and food, and was a good place for bands to build an audience.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>March 10-11, 1971 Mandrake's, Berkeley, CA: Cat Mother/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Wednesday-Thursday)</i></div><div><b>March 12-13, 1971 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: Cat Mother/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Friday-Saturday)</i></div><div>Cat Mother, a much more established band, played four nights in Berkeley, supported by James And The Good Brothers. The two clubs were about a half mile apart, both on San Pablo Avenue. <br /></div><div> </div><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZbxwXTsGomDV99wBGsWXB_zBF3Y_B_mdA4WD7ng9i6Mwc-Pxq45qlcqzwQuuvfL3eN3cM4JFYJz4-Gx1NtSprMzwEy5TwMVRTguG4CsCehIqbvF32AJ3v53TbspsblPVe-8mSC0MqWI/s891/960+Bush+St+Boarding+House.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="891" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIZbxwXTsGomDV99wBGsWXB_zBF3Y_B_mdA4WD7ng9i6Mwc-Pxq45qlcqzwQuuvfL3eN3cM4JFYJz4-Gx1NtSprMzwEy5TwMVRTguG4CsCehIqbvF32AJ3v53TbspsblPVe-8mSC0MqWI/s320/960+Bush+St+Boarding+House.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Boarding House, at 960 Bush St in San Francisco</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />March 26-28, 1971 Boarding House, San Francisco, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Melissa </b><i>(Friday-Sunday)</i></div><div>James And The Good Brothers had been the last group to headline at Doug Weston's ill-fated San Francisco Troubadour, back in October. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2021/09/960-bush-street-downstairs-san.html">It must have gone well, since when the club opened up four months later as The Boarding House, they were the first group to headline the new club</a>. Weston's house manager, David Allen, had re-opened the room as an "acoustic music salon," in his words. Over the next year, the Boarding House became a nexus for local acoustic acts who didn't really fit at noisy rock clubs. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2021/09/960-bush-street-downstairs-san.html">The Boarding House was at 960 Bush Street (at Taylor), and I have written about its opening at some length</a>. The Boarding House was an important club for the San Francisco music scene throughout the 1970s. In this initial version, however, the club was in the same space as The Troubadour, a downstairs dining room with long tables and a stage at one end, seating about 225. Most Bay Area rock fans from the era recall something different. That is because somewhere around 1972, Allen moved the club upstairs into what was initially called "The Boarding House Theater." The Theater was an elegant bowl-shaped room, with great sightlines and good sound. It had the same address, though, so the shows that we all recall are from the upstairs room, not the downstairs one. The downstairs room was still occasionally used for comedy during the later era.<br /></div><div> </div><div><b>April 2, 1971 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Loose Gravel </b><i>(Friday)</i></div><div><b>April 3, 1971 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Clover </b><i>(Saturday)</i></div><div>James And The Good Brothers returned to the Inn Of The Beginning. On Friday night, they were paired with Loose Gravel, a band led by former Charlatans guitarist Michael Wilhelm. On Saturday night, it was the Marin band Clover. At the time, Clover was a quartet led by guitarists John McFee and Alex Call. They would release two albums on Fantasy (their 1970 self-titled debut and 1971's <i>Fourty Niner</i>) before they were dropped.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>April 6-11, 1971 The Boarding House, San Francisco, CA: James And The Good Brothers/Jo Ellen Yester </b><i>(Tuesday-Sunday)</i></div><div>Things must have gone well in March, because James And The Good Brothers returned for another week. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>April 29, 1971 Ives Hall, Sonoma State College, Rohnert Park, CA: Rick Taylor/CiCi/James and The Good Brothers/Lamb Peace Week Folk Festival</b><i> (Thursday)</i></div><div>David Kramer-Smyth found <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91051845/peace-week-sonoma-state/">a link to the Peace Week event</a>.<br /></div><div> </div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9huSjPvAEQNyUG2rhyyXRwMpwrUy9EUckKVauKntE1I5EYDegYQzvM10tb2fXE60tA6ChqhkxbcG2bCnyq_h0vmMOmwz-WROMrIPNt8m3qYt7BsqClNGHNTtyMgb5XyoDZ8aMKqGJMs/s2048/GD+Winterland+19710529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1544" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9huSjPvAEQNyUG2rhyyXRwMpwrUy9EUckKVauKntE1I5EYDegYQzvM10tb2fXE60tA6ChqhkxbcG2bCnyq_h0vmMOmwz-WROMrIPNt8m3qYt7BsqClNGHNTtyMgb5XyoDZ8aMKqGJMs/s320/GD+Winterland+19710529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />May 29-30, 1971 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/RJ Fox/James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Saturday-Sunday)</i><br /></div><div>Bill Graham had recaptured the rights to Winterland, and he had booked the Dead to headline two shows on Friday and Saturday, May 28-29. Support acts were the New Riders Of The Purple Sage, James and The Good Brothers and RJ Fox. Once again, this was effectively another Evening With The Grateful Dead, with the exception that James And The Good Brothers were doing the acoustic set, instead of Garcia and Weir. </div><div><br /></div><div>RJ Fox was a vocal trio with songwriters Joel Siegel and Richard Hovey, along with singer Sherry Fox. The trio apparently had remarkable harmonies, and had somehow talked their way into Wally Heider Studios in 1970 when David Crosby was recording. Crosby and producer Stephen Barncard were so impressed that they got them signed to Atlantic. <a href="http://madshoesmusicology.blogspot.com/2017/07/rj-fox-retrospective-dreams-1971.html">Barncard would produce an album, scheduled for Fall '71, but due to politics at Atlantic the record was scrapped (it was eventually released some decades later)</a>. RJ Fox would split up, and Sherry Fox would go onto become the lead singer of the band Cookin' Mama. In 1973, Siegel and Fox would reunite as Oasis. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thus the entire booking was part of the Grateful Dead "Family." RJ Fox was present courtesy of Crosby and Barncard, but those two were family members if anyone was. As it happened, Garcia fell ill. The Friday, May 28 show was canceled, and the shows were moved to May 29 and 30 (Saturday and Sunday). Garcia did not play with the New Riders on Saturday night, a sign of how poorly he must have felt [<i><b>update</b>: <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/12/james-and-good-brothers-overview-and.html?showComment=1642801602830#c7268939430187782948">as noted by LIA in the Comments</a>, while James And The Good Brothers were advertised, they may not have played either night]</i>.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I have been able to find no James And The Good Brothers bookings from June through August. My assumption is that the band returned to Toronto to re-record parts of the album. Of course, since the Good Brothers were from Toronto, they probably had a vested interest in spending a few months there. Based on the credits, at least three tracks seem to have been recorded (or re-recorded) in Toronto. </div><div> </div><div><i><b>update</b>: David Kramer-Smyth is on the case</i><br /></div><div><b>July 27-31, 1971 Le Hibou Cafe, Ottawa, ON, Canada: James And The Good Brothers </b><i>(Tuesday-Sunday)</i></div><div>We now know that the band was definitely in Canada. They were favorably reviewed in <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91051106/james-good-brothers-review-le-hibou/">the Ottawa Citizen</a> and <a href="https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91050936/james-good-bros-review/">the Ottawa Journal</a>.<br /></div><div> </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrAgtSQkETT5DNxBXTdgHZgBnCNpZXOpQZYI-JNvB236kwF0kMk85_tSwvWmvTevq53pwDJU3Es2BOstfYLQa4czsFAM1rHrAGrp3_ZGapk6w8SBFq3L_jZJ2mNB0mKektJDVwv8qJHgPqCarhMmeyDjgLGNTLig7w3M8D6hjxwRHQ5XwBaNpmW-8z=s658" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="546" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrAgtSQkETT5DNxBXTdgHZgBnCNpZXOpQZYI-JNvB236kwF0kMk85_tSwvWmvTevq53pwDJU3Es2BOstfYLQa4czsFAM1rHrAGrp3_ZGapk6w8SBFq3L_jZJ2mNB0mKektJDVwv8qJHgPqCarhMmeyDjgLGNTLig7w3M8D6hjxwRHQ5XwBaNpmW-8z=s320" width="266" /></a></div><br />Remarkably, DKS also found the Fictitious Business Name Statement for James And The Good Brothers, published in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat of August 1, 1971. The address given is 8201 Old Redwood Highway, the site of the Inn Of The Beginning. IOTB manager Ward Maillard is listed as their manager. This tells us when the band had to "get serious" as a California business, with an album on the way. <br /></div><div><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieM1jmp0GFP_zu-4yzD6FY9B8AVo7kHPHN1Gov-03PJKapMRCV68EAAIj5yjZrbFp5-FjXlY5j7airwZm0Ql3aG84_gn7_cT_cnXVgQDyUevidihlqEI0s_TryHmHC1rWvHeQxRLF7MRE/s300/James+and+The+Good+Brothers+CBS+71+lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieM1jmp0GFP_zu-4yzD6FY9B8AVo7kHPHN1Gov-03PJKapMRCV68EAAIj5yjZrbFp5-FjXlY5j7airwZm0Ql3aG84_gn7_cT_cnXVgQDyUevidihlqEI0s_TryHmHC1rWvHeQxRLF7MRE/s0/James+and+The+Good+Brothers+CBS+71+lp.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The James And The Good Brothers album was released on Columbia in November 1971</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />September 5, 1971 Pacific High Recorders (Alembic Studios), San Francisco, CA: James and The Good Brothers </b><i>(Sunday)</i><br /></div><div>James And The Good Brothers reappeared in San Francisco, broadcast live on KSAN-fm, the biggest rock station in Northern California. At this time, KSAN had a regular Sunday night show where rock bands would perform live in the studio. KSAN supremo Tom Donahue would announce the studio as Pacific High Recording (at 60 Brady), but in fact by this time it was actually called Alembic Studios. I don't know exactly why there was this subterfuge, but I assume that Alembic did not want to attract attention, so that riffraff would not come to the studio "looking for Jerry." By using a name that didn't exist, it added a layer of obscurity to the location.</div><div><br /></div><div>The weekly KSAN broadcasts have been the source of many great tapes from the era (<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/10/february-6-1972-pacific-high-recorders.html">Deadheads will be most familiar with the February 6, 1972 KSAN broadcast with Merl Saunders</a>). On this particular night there were three bands. The headliner, so to speak, was Van Morrison, who played a 90-minute set with his band that was for the ages. The highlight was a cover of Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman" which was played on KSAN regularly for the next decade. The middle act was Joy Of Cooking, a Berkeley band with a good album on Capitol. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>While KSAN controlled the broadcasts, there were always complicated record company politics behind the scenes. We don't know what they were of course, but considering that James And The Good Brothers did not have an album, their presence couldn't have been a coincidence. Of course, they were signed to Columbia and managed by the Grateful Dead organization. So whether there was an explicit quid pro quo (such as Columbia purchasing ads) or just some mutual backscratching, connections count. </div><div><br /></div><div>For us, however, <a href="http://ia802701.us.archive.org/7/items/JamesAndTheGoodBrothers1971-09-05PacificHighRecordingStudiosSanFranciscoCA/JamesAndTheGoodBrothers1971-09-05PacificHighRecordingStudiosSanFranciscoCA.mp3?cnt=0">the high quality 53-minute tape gives us a clear picture of how James And The Good Brothers sounded. </a>The band has nice harmonies and an easy flow, and they are right in line with popular groups like America or Seals and Crofts. Their Canadian accents "de-countrify" the essentially country sounds. Since hippies and rednecks were not aligned at the time, the distinction was important. It's no surprise that Garcia liked their playing, nor that Clive Davis wanted to sign them. Success didn't happen, because the record industry is always a crapshoot, but it wasn't due to lack of talent. <br /></div><div> </div><div><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFqhGU0hXJqTP4ZIGExie7CV0Sx6QdYaQpiot6ZkSAE8w9LDEfIHFe_cih8j_t_WJ9nYAgAMX7UXL7g_ohvTo3vMW_6Y4t6fKxLofaB8UcrmrLzMLnwL27N2gEVDP1bv3bZOgOcNfzAk/s1117/SF+Good+Times+Boarding+House+19710903.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1117" data-original-width="795" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzFqhGU0hXJqTP4ZIGExie7CV0Sx6QdYaQpiot6ZkSAE8w9LDEfIHFe_cih8j_t_WJ9nYAgAMX7UXL7g_ohvTo3vMW_6Y4t6fKxLofaB8UcrmrLzMLnwL27N2gEVDP1bv3bZOgOcNfzAk/s320/SF+Good+Times+Boarding+House+19710903.jpg" /></a></div><br />September 7-12, 1971 Boarding House, San Francisco, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Cris Willliamson/Uncle Vinty </b><i>(Tuesday-Sunday)</i></div><div>James And The Good Brothers returned to headline another week at The Boarding House. It had to have helped to have played an hour on the biggest rock station in San Francisco. They were supported by Cris Williamson and Uncle Vinty, both of them further examples of the types of interesting acoustic acts that were struggling to find a foothold.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cris Williamson, from Deadwood, SD, had put out three folk albums on Vanguard as a teenager in 1964-65. By 1971, she had released an album on Ampex, recorded in San Francisco and New York. She was getting the typical singer/songwriter push of the era, but getting nowhere. At this time, she was booked as "Chris" Williamson, whether by choice or not isn't clear. In 1975, having been dropped by Ampex, Williamson founded Olivia Records, a label run for women that was run by women. Olivia Records released excellent music for its own audience. For all Williamson's talent, the music industry in San Francisco (nor elsewhere) was unable to find that audience.</div><div><br /></div><div>Uncle Vinty (Vinton Medbury, 1947-94) was essentially a performance artist who played the piano. He sang and played the piano, told jokes and did magic tricks. He often performed in a Viking hat. Originally from Rhode Island, he had come out to San Francisco around 1971. He ultimately ended up in Milwaukee, although he continued to tour around. He died early, but is fondly remembered on the internet. Uncle Vinty didn't fit into any pre-existing box, however, and San Francisco music scene didn't really know what to make of him.<br /></div><div> </div><div><b>September 17-20, 1971 Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA: James and The Good Brothers/Cris Williamson/Uncle Vinty </b><i>(Thursday-Monday)</i></div><div>The same bill went on for four days at the Lion's Share. The ads are confusing, and James And The Good Brothers may have done a night at the New Orleans House during this weekend.</div><div> </div><div><b>September ?, 1971 The Ash Grove, Los Angeles, CA: James And The Good Brothers/Carol Hunter</b></div><div><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.28039952?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=%28%22good+brothers%22%29&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fgroup%3Dnone%26q0%3D%2522good%2Bbrothers%2522%26q1%3D%26q2%3D%26q3%3D%26q4%3D%26q5%3D%26q6%3D%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26pt%3D%26isbn%3D%26f0%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26f1%3Dall%26c2%3DAND%26f2%3Dall%26c3%3DAND%26f3%3Dall%26c4%3DAND%26f4%3Dall%26c5%3DAND%26f5%3Dall%26c6%3DAND%26f6%3Dall%26acc%3Doff%26la%3D%26so%3Dold%26efqs%3DeyJjdHkiOlsiWTI5dWRISnBZblYwWldSZmMyVnlhV0ZzY3c9PSJdLCJjb2xsZWN0aW9uX2lkcyI6W119%26groupefq%3DWyJzZWFyY2hfYXJ0aWNsZSIsImNvbnRyaWJ1dGVkX3RleHQiLCJjb250cmlidXRlZF9pbWFnZXMiXQ%253D%253D%26pagemark%3DeyJwYWdlIjoyLCJzdGFydHMiOnsiSlNUT1JCYXNpYyI6MjV9fQ%253D%253D&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_phrase_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Aa9a775d3620d5f7657fe7ce2b826d952&seq=24#metadata_info_tab_contents">David Kramer-Smyth found a review in a late September LA Free Press of a Good Brothers show at the The Ash Grove</a>. The Ash Grove, at 8162 Melrose Avenue, had opened in 1958 and had been Los Angeles' premier folk club. By 1971, it had rock and blues bands at well, but it was being outshone by other clubs in the area. The Ash Grove would close in 1973, and a comedy club called The Improv took its place. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>At this point, the performing trail of James And The Good Brothers goes cold. We know that Columbia released their debut album in November. Various websites say that the band toured around the country in 1972. The Good Brothers website mentions memories of playing the Troubadour in West Hollywood with Mother Earth and John Hammond. It's very hard to find out historical bookings at the Troubadour--I seem to be the only person who has tried--but I can't find a trace of a date for them in 1971 or '72. That in itself doesn't mean anything, but it makes it harder to track the band. Bookings at the Troubadour were generally two acts for six days (Tuesdays through Sundays), so they probably played two different weeks with different headliners.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Per the websites, James And The Good Brothers didn't like touring around. Also, the album didn't go anywhere, and it was very hard for a band to get much traction if their record company had lost interest in them. Bruce and Brian Good wanted to return to Canada and their families, so the band broke up. Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead had heard them, recognized their talent and kick-started their careers. Since the band had met Garcia in July 1970, James And The Good Brothers had released an album, played all over the Bay Area and then the country. That was a bigger bite of the apple than most bands got. The Grateful Dead would try the model one more time with the Rowan Brothers (the subject of a future post), before Garcia and the crew decided on an entirely new and different model for building their musical empire.</div><div><i><b><br /></b></i></div><div><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpNijPo9fcNk09KNXyBq7VZuFdJE_0mKCoIhGjeKwnQU19bCCQIIvUTffaouszy4X1iB45T_725SNiE9YVGgc6Qfspo14D2w_9BVbPeBkLlQ97XOP6tGWitOHIT3XQjZcSS6JKEfZAwY/s342/Pretty+Aint+Good+Enough+Good+Brothers+LP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpNijPo9fcNk09KNXyBq7VZuFdJE_0mKCoIhGjeKwnQU19bCCQIIvUTffaouszy4X1iB45T_725SNiE9YVGgc6Qfspo14D2w_9BVbPeBkLlQ97XOP6tGWitOHIT3XQjZcSS6JKEfZAwY/s320/Pretty+Aint+Good+Enough+Good+Brothers+LP.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pretty Ain't Good Enough, the 1977 lp by the Good Brothers</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Aftermath</b></i></div><div>Bruce and Brian Good returned to Richmond Hill, outside of Toronto. They joined with their younger brother Larry Good, who mainly played banjo. Initially, they started gigging around in 1972 as The Good Brothers. By 1975, they had a thriving career in Canada. They put out numerous albums, many of them went gold in Canada, and they won various awards in a career that extended over 40 years. Now, Canada isn't the States, and success there is on a narrower scale. Still, the goal of almost every professional musician is to make a living making music, and not have to get a real job, and the Good Brothers did that.</div><div><br /></div><div>As if the Good Brothers success wasn't enough, if you will recall, singer Margaret McQueen had left the Kinfolk and married Bruce Good. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sadies">Their sons Dallas and Travis Good formed The Sadies in 1994</a>. They started recording in 1998. They, too, have had a thriving career. They have recorded numerous albums, as well as collaborating with artists like Neil Young, Neko Case and John Doe. </div><div><br /></div><div>In mid-72, when James And The Good Brothers broke up, James Ackroyd returned to California. Initially, he was the bass player for Canadian guitarist/songwriter David Rea and his band Slewfoot. This, too, was a Grateful Dead connection, as <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/02/slewfoot-david-rea-columbiawindfall.html">Bob Weir (of all people) had co-produced Rea's <i>Slewfoot</i> album for Columbia in 1973</a>. Ackroyd stayed on as Rea's bassist until at least the end of 1973. By late 1974, Ackroyd was fronting the local band James And The Mercedes, which included Frankie Weir (Bob's then-wife). Ackroyd seems to have died in 1999, fondly remembered by his friends and former bandmates.<br /></div><div><br /><br /></div>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-8308288215359862902021-10-15T12:05:00.001-07:002021-10-30T08:04:20.825-07:00Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog November 1969 (Lost Owsley-FDGH III)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQ0ss-fFzib9SxBGYjwaTdkbm5Sg-OqUbHz6rJztBKb5QpoEQFSroSSj25xY1sLf_5b_YJILR53eY-tdxCeQZtKpaS_-EVI5MRk7M_EwbSCqEid7RprPtt9Uoh0KNWmVD_MQKib2oFC8/s600/Danny+Cox+Live+At+The+Family+Dog+Sunflower+1970.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDQ0ss-fFzib9SxBGYjwaTdkbm5Sg-OqUbHz6rJztBKb5QpoEQFSroSSj25xY1sLf_5b_YJILR53eY-tdxCeQZtKpaS_-EVI5MRk7M_EwbSCqEid7RprPtt9Uoh0KNWmVD_MQKib2oFC8/s320/Danny+Cox+Live+At+The+Family+Dog+Sunflower+1970.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>1960s Folksinger Danny Cox was hardly a major figure, but he did have a career in music, which is every musician's goal. Cox was born in Cincinnati, and had released a few albums in the early 1960s. Around 1967, he moved to Kansas City. Cox released a few albums in the late 60s and early 70s. In the narrow universe of Grateful Dead history, Cox's place is that during 1970 demo sessions at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco, John Kahn and Merl Saunders played on the recordings. During the sessions, Kahn introduced Jerry Garcia--recording in another room at Heider's--to Merl Saunders, and an important partnership was born. </p><p><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Cox-Live-At-The-Family-Dog/master/576779">Cox's fifth album, <i>Live At The Family Dog</i> was released in 1970</a>. Recording details are scant. If, in fact, the album really was recorded at the Family Dog, then the odds are very high that the source tape for the album was recorded by Owsley Stanley himself. Cox only played Chet Helms' Family Dog on The Great Highway on two consecutive weekends. On one of those weekends, Danny Cox opened for the Grateful Dead for two nights, and Owsley made his usual excellent tapes of the Dead. So the odds seem pretty reasonable that Cox was recorded by Owsley on one or both of those nights, and those tapes might have been turned into the 1970 <i>Live At The Family Dog</i> lp. So we may have a secret lost Owsley tape. Or maybe not. Let's review. </p><p>[<i><b>update</b></i>: <i>we have a definitive answer that Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog was not recorded by Owsley, delicious as that theory was. See below</i>] <br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"><i><b></b></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHShbqfkNyRrorK-MS1VJhwclwSQpWEqAVrtZDryHqdkxtH5YpgVC8aaA6QCUfSRIfg4dmZb7IBB6dgLlV1iT_XOl30ScRLoxeKvE4R5gLShsxA0E2gCYePql9yhH9mcn_yqHih4sh9-Q/s400/FDGH+660+Great+Highway.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHShbqfkNyRrorK-MS1VJhwclwSQpWEqAVrtZDryHqdkxtH5YpgVC8aaA6QCUfSRIfg4dmZb7IBB6dgLlV1iT_XOl30ScRLoxeKvE4R5gLShsxA0E2gCYePql9yhH9mcn_yqHih4sh9-Q/s320/FDGH+660+Great+Highway.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></i></div><i><b><br />The Family Dog on The Great Highway, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA</b></i><br />The
Family Dog was a foundation stone in the rise of San Francisco rock,
and it was in operation in various forms from Fall 1965 through the
Summer of 1970. For sound historical reasons, most of the focus on the
Family Dog has been on the original 4-person collective who organized
the first San Francisco Dance Concerts in late 1965, and on their
successor Chet Helms. Helms took over the Family Dog in early 1966, and
after a brief partnership with Bill Graham at the Fillmore, promoted
memorable concerts at the Avalon Ballroom from Spring 1966 through
December 1968. The posters, music and foggy memories of the Avalon are
what made the Family Dog a legendary 60s rock icon.<p></p>In the Summer
of 1969, however, with San Francisco as one of the fulcrums of the rock
music explosion, Chet Helms opened another venue. The Family Dog on The
Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, on the Western edge of San
Francisco, was only open for 14 months and was not a success. The Family Dog on The Great Highway was
smaller than the Bill Graham's old Fillmore Auditorium. It could hold up
to 1500, but the official capacity was probably closer to 1000. Unlike
the comparatively centrally located Fillmore West, the FDGH was far from
downtown, far from the Peninsula suburbs, and not particularly easy to
get to from the freeway. For East Bay or Marin residents, the Great
Highway was a formidable trip. The little ballroom was very appealing,
but if you didn't live way out in the Avenues, you had to drive. As a
result, FDGH didn't get a huge number of casual drop-ins, and that
didn't help its fortunes. Most of the locals referred to the venue as
"Playland."<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><b></b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGWDxGojqAmXIvWaPC2x7eS6H3KwzNK1I5J2tuN51w15yDWVYSEFe1DNvFle4qgzjULam0yTsPiJbxdzJ_NRXcw4AMNx2Ho6tYn65Y0iH8UQXru-d01jvi5tpgfn1g-IwiTb5m579sMQ/s1857/FDGH+GD+19691101.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="631" data-original-width="1857" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRGWDxGojqAmXIvWaPC2x7eS6H3KwzNK1I5J2tuN51w15yDWVYSEFe1DNvFle4qgzjULam0yTsPiJbxdzJ_NRXcw4AMNx2Ho6tYn65Y0iH8UQXru-d01jvi5tpgfn1g-IwiTb5m579sMQ/s320/FDGH+GD+19691101.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p><b><br />October 31, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Danny Cox/Alan Watts/Golden Toad/Hells Angels Own Band</b><i> (Friday)</i><b><br />November 1-2, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Danny Cox/Golden Toad </b><i>(Saturday-Sunday)</i><br />The Grateful Dead played Halloween 1969 at the tiny Student Union Ballroom at San Jose State, but they played the Saturday and Sunday of that weekend at the Family Dog. Danny Cox opened the shows at The Dog, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/07/february-19-1969-fillmore-west-grateful.html">along with the unique Golden Toad, led by Owsley pal Bob Thomas</a>. Owsley recorded the Grateful Dead at the Family Dog on November 1 and 2. It's fairly plausible that Owsley recorded Danny Cox, as he regularly recorded opening acts.</p><i><b>Update</b>: much as I love my theory, the Owsley Stanley foundation reports that </i><br /><blockquote><i>we recently confirmed that Owsley did not record Danny Cox at the Family Dog because Cox's manager, Howard Wolf, would not let him tape any acts that Wolf managed. We learned this from the dedicated house tech at the Family Dog at the time, Lee Brenkman, currently a faculty member at the California Jazz Conservatory. Lee believes the live Danny Cox recording that was released actually came from the Hell's Angels Halloween party, and adds that it was the last calm thing that occurred that night.</i></blockquote>[for more about Howard Wolf, see below] <br /><p></p><p><b>November 7-9, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Velvet Underground/Danny Cox/John Adams </b><i>(Sat-Sun only)</i><b>/Maximum Speed Limit </b><i>(Friday-Sunday) </i><br />The legendary Velvet Underground played the next weekend at the Family Dog, prior to a three-week booking at the Matrix. Law student and guitarist Robert Quine, a friend of the band, taped just about all the shows with his cassette recorder. Some of the Family Dog tapes were released on a 2001 Polydor Records box set called as <a href="https://www.discogs.com/The-Velvet-Underground-Bootleg-Series-Volume-1-The-Quine-Tapes/master/35394"><i>The Velvet Underground Bootleg Series, Volume 1: The Quine Tapes</i></a> (sadly, there never was a
volume 2). While Quine recorded all the Velvet sets, there's no evidence (nor likelihood) that he would have recorded any opening acts. Also, the tapes would have been kind of crude, and not suitable for release in the 60s. I suppose it's not unthinkable that someone else recorded Cox on this weekend, but it's highly unlikely. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj844HPR6VcU78XYDhY-CMgCD0C5msqT5XDqAChUCv0KLiPCSyir_1azQfhXtpLb8SrtlhFZYWurp7tEWAh7uEyJyBIN0n9ISCmcRBDWmGhLJC5sswEN-nz-FkE1kp4OHd8zHOVr8EkKVh8/s608/Danny+Cox+Birth+Announcement+69+2lp+Together.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj844HPR6VcU78XYDhY-CMgCD0C5msqT5XDqAChUCv0KLiPCSyir_1azQfhXtpLb8SrtlhFZYWurp7tEWAh7uEyJyBIN0n9ISCmcRBDWmGhLJC5sswEN-nz-FkE1kp4OHd8zHOVr8EkKVh8/s320/Danny+Cox+Birth+Announcement+69+2lp+Together.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Danny Cox's 3rd album was Birth Announcement, a double-LP released on Together Records in 1969 and produced by Gary Usher</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Cox_(musician)"><b>Danny Cox</b> (b. 1943) was from Cincinnati, but he had relocated to Kansas City in 1967</a>. Cox, a large African-American man, defied rather conventional 60s expectations by singing folk music instead of blues. Danny Cox's debut album was <i>At The Seven Cities</i>, released in 1963. His
next album, <i>Sunny</i>, on Pioneer Records, was not released until 1968.<a href="https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Cox-Birth-Announcement/release/2944791"> When Cox played at the Family Dog, his current album was his 3rd, <i>Birth Announcement</i>, a double-lp on Together Records produced by Gary Usher</a>. On the album, Cox sang folk classics along with Beatles and Dylan songs, lightly backed.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVo5FP8to8F1leC2xx4LEF28vQIrWGkcagb-kFHQUokZbvlOBXZVj2uKMxl9DJKA5caAnHh-sW0NC4wb9z4ZI_RxprUiMo2bVT4e2sX4dJSn4NgXH9G_Mj9MUeLAcB_99Bg0mRN-WdpYA/s300/Danny+Cox+ABC+1971.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVo5FP8to8F1leC2xx4LEF28vQIrWGkcagb-kFHQUokZbvlOBXZVj2uKMxl9DJKA5caAnHh-sW0NC4wb9z4ZI_RxprUiMo2bVT4e2sX4dJSn4NgXH9G_Mj9MUeLAcB_99Bg0mRN-WdpYA/s0/Danny+Cox+ABC+1971.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Danny Cox's 1971 self-titled album on ABC/Dunhill, recorded in San Francisco with Nick Gravenites. The backing band was John Kahn, Bill Vitt, Merl Saunders, guitarist Tim Barnes and the Tower Of Power horn section</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In 1970, Cox shared management with Brewer And Shipley, and like them <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Cox-Danny-Cox/release/2112800">he
would record an album for ABC/Dunhill in San Francisco with producer
Nick Gravenites. Recorded at Wally Heider Studios, it was released in
1971</a>. In between 1969 <i>Birth Announcement</i> and his 1971 ABC/Dunhill albums, <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Cox-Live-At-The-Family-Dog/release/2588844">Sunflower Records released <i>Live At The Family Dog</i></a>. We know almost nothing about the <i>Family Dog</i> record save for the listings in Discogs.com (linked). <br /><p></p><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhal1LcFaWDgDH_P3YEIKv2OTmFPIinpb98PjMr3BhoQ2MaQDQkh5L3JI4X4pVxlY5r5NKNPin9KastueJ60EtkP7oD7Ws96vePcEX6K3EaWIybNzK9fTA18kFPG7jcTCHSaqS4qQQ8Zok/s600/Preflyte+lp+Together+Records+1969.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhal1LcFaWDgDH_P3YEIKv2OTmFPIinpb98PjMr3BhoQ2MaQDQkh5L3JI4X4pVxlY5r5NKNPin9KastueJ60EtkP7oD7Ws96vePcEX6K3EaWIybNzK9fTA18kFPG7jcTCHSaqS4qQQ8Zok/s320/Preflyte+lp+Together+Records+1969.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Preflyte, Byrds recordings from 1965, was released on Together Records in 1969</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Together Records>Sunflower Records</b></i><br />Back in 1969 and 1970, there was a lot of money to be made selling records. A lot. Most of it didn't go the artists or the songwriters, sure. But a lot of money was made. Why do you think there were so many albums released by bands you never heard of, who maybe played the Fillmore once, and disappeared? Because on the whole, those records made money. Outside of big cities and a few big college towns, there weren't even dedicated record-only stores. Most albums were sold at department stores, drug stores, musical instrument stores and other general merchandise places. The store would have a few hundred albums for sale, not all of them hits. If you had already bought the last Beatles album and wanted something new, you flipped through the racks until something caught your eye. Of course you hadn't heard it--radio was terrible. But if it had a cool cover and the song titles were interesting, why not? So those racks were filled up with quickie albums.<p>Together Records had released Danny Cox's 1969 double album, <i>Birth Announcement</i>. <a href="https://www.discogs.com/label/109709-Together-Records-2">Together was a new label, started by producers Gary Usher, Curt Boettcher and Keith Olsen</a> (yes, the future Grateful Dead producer). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Usher">Usher 1938-90) had produced some surf hits (like "Go Little Honda") and some Byrds albums, like 1968's great <i>Sweetheart Of The Rodeo</i></a>. Together's best known release was <i>Pre-Flyte</i>, an album of Byrds recordings that pre-dated the band's signing with Columbia. Remember, in 1969, there were only a few Byrds albums, and no cassette tapes circulated, so if you wanted some more Byrds, you took what you could find in the Macy's rack. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOJSwjw6HLY85a4z1C-QGKLkJdLzb4Gc-HrdQwB4y_0cq09tiCQK788hSQqEEmq3J_Ng0I5mWYkhKIDzv5LHWl7ldwqoWdF_8UW_EhvZwLQ2WrzwRViXLKIHo-g5s-vpzXPCRuDYWgc0/s500/Vintage+Dead+Sunflower+1971.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBOJSwjw6HLY85a4z1C-QGKLkJdLzb4Gc-HrdQwB4y_0cq09tiCQK788hSQqEEmq3J_Ng0I5mWYkhKIDzv5LHWl7ldwqoWdF_8UW_EhvZwLQ2WrzwRViXLKIHo-g5s-vpzXPCRuDYWgc0/s320/Vintage+Dead+Sunflower+1971.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Vintage Dead, recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in 1966, and released on Sunflower in 1971</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Usher had a good idea, though. He approached former Avalon Ballroom soundman Bob Cohen about all the tapes he had recorded there in 1966, long before the bands were signed. The idea was to make a triple album of the Dead, Quicksilver, Big Brother, Steve Miller, Moby Grape and others from the very beginning. The concept was that the album would support the Family Dog itself. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/07/august-26-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">I wrote about this whole complicated story earlier. The summary of the story is that Together folded its tent, and Gary Usher sold out his contracts to Sunflower Records, a subsidiary of MGM.</a> At that point, the only band that had agreed to the triple-lp was the Dead. <a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/1971-sunflower-records-story.html">Ben Fong-Torres wrote about it in <i>Rolling Stone</i> in 1971</a>:<p></p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><p><i>With the Dead set, all Together had to do was get releases from
enough of the other groups, like Big Brother, Moby Grape, Steve Miller,
Quicksilver, Great Society, and Daily Flash. The idea was a three-LP
package.</i></p><p><i> But, Cohen said, "they had trouble getting those releases." Then, "all
of a sudden I find out that in one day Together ceased to exist! To
settle everything, Gary Usher should have told me to get my tapes; I
assumed the deal was off. My tapes are sitting there. But when I try to
get them, I can't. MGM bought them." <br /></i></p><p><i>A year later, out of the blue, there's an album on the market, Vintage
Dead, on another new label, Sunflower (with MGM Records taking
manufacturing and distributing credits) - not an anthology but, rather, a
Dead album featuring five cuts</i></p></blockquote><p><i></i></p><p>Sunflower had released <i>Vintage Dead</i> in October 1970, with the legal rights but not the explicit permission of the Grateful Dead. As a fan at the time, this was the only window into the lost world of the early Dead, but the Dead themselves weren't very happy. But that was the record biz back in the day--the handling of the rights favored the label, not the artists, and once the band had agreed to sign, Gary Usher could sell Together Records contracts to Sunflower, and the band was stuck.</p><p>Gary Usher had produced Danny Cox's album on <i>Together</i> in 1969. Come 1970, Sunflower Records releases a Danny Cox album, produced by Gary Usher. It sure looks like a precursor for <i>Vintage Dead</i>. Yet why would Sunflower be releasing an album by Danny Cox--he had a following, yes, but nothing like the Grateful Dead. What could Sunflower have been thinking?</p><p>Since Sunflower probably wasn't going out of their way to pay Danny Cox, or anyone else, they didn't need to sell that many records to make a buck. Cox looked like a cool black dude, and the Family Dog, via the Avalon, had some hip credentials around the country. </p><p>The runout matrix (on the inner groove) suggests the album was pressed in September 1970, for release shortly thereafter. By that time, Sunflower would have known that Nick Gravenites was recording Danny Cox in San Francisco for ABC/Dunhill. So Together might have been hoping that ABC would push Cox, and that <i>Live At The Family Dog</i> would be the beneficiary. This was a common record company strategy in the day.</p><p>Sunflower had paid for Together's assets, and Danny Cox's recording was never going to make them any money sitting on the shelf--why not release it and hope for the best? Crooked or straight, that's what the record business was all about.</p><p><b><i>[Update]: </i></b>It turns out that in 1969, Cox was managed by Howard Wolf. Wolf had been the booking agent for the Avalon Ballroom in the late 60s. Wolf was also the one who had brokered the deal between Gary Usher, Together Records and Bob Cohen (<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/07/august-26-1969-family-dog-on-great.html">more complete details are here</a>). So, presumably when Together Records' assets were sold to MGM/Sunflower, the Danny Cox recording went along with the material that would become <i>Vintage Dead</i>. <br /></p><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJT4BZdESAIkHsgQ8OJrr8DD_Xd0ZuHEYF7E81cM2AYOUkBMOseN6QNq4cQEs_iNScYCJkvYcJZI6FUi3He4Ftxp_PPqXxCtGMNK7uADDT5zpHIqbJlvKdNqynfgCJVOpfO0cF64jeC8/s201/Shout-Chambers+Brothers.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgJT4BZdESAIkHsgQ8OJrr8DD_Xd0ZuHEYF7E81cM2AYOUkBMOseN6QNq4cQEs_iNScYCJkvYcJZI6FUi3He4Ftxp_PPqXxCtGMNK7uADDT5zpHIqbJlvKdNqynfgCJVOpfO0cF64jeC8/s0/Shout-Chambers+Brothers.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Shout!, by the Chambers Brothers, recorded ca. 1966 but released by Vault Records in 1969. The cover was shot at Frost Amphitheatre at Stanford in Summer '68. Carlos Santana (in blue) can be seen at the side of the stage (Santana Blues Band opened the show)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></b></i><i><b><br />Did Owsley Record Danny Cox at The Family Dog?</b></i><br />The 1960s record business was full of strange deceptions, perpetrated by everyone involved. It was common practice in the 60s to release an outdated live album of a newly-popular artist, and slap a contemporary cover on it. The Chambers Brothers had been part of the folk circuit from the early 60s onwards. They recorded for the tiny label Vault Records. In late 1967, however, their souls got psychelicized, and the Chambers Brothers recorded the huge hit "Time Has Come Today" for Columbia. So in 1969 Vault released an earlier live recording, and called it <i>Shout! The Chambers Brothers Live</i>. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2020/07/july-28-1968-frost-amphitheatre.html">Although it had been recorded around 1966 or so, Vault used a picture of the Chambers Brothers in concert at Frost Amphitheatre in Stanford University from Summer 1968</a>. The album doesn't say where it was recorded, but it lets you draw the conclusion that it was a contemporary live album. <i>Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog</i> may be asking you to draw the same conclusion, that it was current when it was not.<p>If the recording is not from the Family Dog, the title may reflect another contractual issue. Artist contracts in those days controlled all their output, including live recordings. So it may have been in the commercial interests of Gary Usher and Together to represent these recordings as coming from a year when Together controlled Cox's output. Since Cox only played the Family Dog in 1969, that may have been a fig leaf to ensure that Together, and hence Sunflower, could claim that the recordings were controlled by them. If they had been recorded in 1968 or 1970, for example, the rights may have been different. But unless Cox (or ABC) could definitively prove otherwise, the release couldn't be blocked.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu05jx1LLaPHySpPVoJWJmhn3JNjX8e9uwlR44yD5VaAiuILybTtluvISk10adBFpfBo2DRZr2Rb1lQC98y1_tqM1OW7U9wxkHzESPotiWEf7jafxm0tWFX8-eY3HnmB2EMmDSjRqP49s/s599/Canned+Heat+Live+At+Topanga+Corral+1970+Wand.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu05jx1LLaPHySpPVoJWJmhn3JNjX8e9uwlR44yD5VaAiuILybTtluvISk10adBFpfBo2DRZr2Rb1lQC98y1_tqM1OW7U9wxkHzESPotiWEf7jafxm0tWFX8-eY3HnmB2EMmDSjRqP49s/s320/Canned+Heat+Live+At+Topanga+Corral+1970+Wand.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />In 1970, the band Canned Heat, desperate for cash for various reasons, released an album called <i>Live At Topanga Corral</i>. The album was ostensibly recorded in 1966, back when the then-unknown band had played the tiny roadhouse in Topanga Canyon. <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/6230-sunset-boulevard-hollywood-ca.html">In fact, it had been recorded in 1968 at the Kaleidoscope in Hollywood</a>, but Canned Heat wanted to hide that from their record company and cash the check. Was Liberty Records fooled? Probably not. But how would you prove to a jury that a 19-minute Canned Heat boogie was definitely recorded in 1968 rather than '66? So the Cox recording may have been purposely bereft of any relevant recording details.<p></p><p>Still, there's at least a 50-50 chance that Owsley did indeed record Danny Cox when he opened for the Grateful Dead. According to Hawk at the <a href="https://owsleystanleyfoundation.org/">Owsley Stanley Foundation</a>, there's no record of the Cox recording in the Owsley vaults, and Hawk is certain that Owsley would not have sold the tape at that time. Nonetheless, the tape could be in the Grateful Dead vaults, as an "add-on" to a Grateful Dead reel. Also, per Hawk, Owsley might have shared the tape with the artist if he liked the performance. Given that Together Records, via Howard Wolf, was considering working with the Family Dog and the Grateful Dead, there would have been some social connections between the Dead organization, Owsley and Cox management.</p><p>Together collapsed around 1970, and sold out their assets to Sunflower Records. Given how Sunflower acted without concern for the artist in the case of <i>Vintage Dead</i>, there's every reason to think they would have acted similarly with Danny Cox. If Sunflower realized they had a good sounding live tape for an artist signed to another label, they would have released it. If the tape was from Owsley and he hadn't intended it for release, Sunflower wouldn't have cared. The writing on the matrix run-out (inner groove), from the pressing plant, says "SUN 5002 MGS 2420 15 Sept. '70 Ɛ.O." This suggests a September manufacture date for a release in Fall 1970, exactly the same schedule as <i>Vintage Dead</i>. If that was the case, since Owsley had been in San Pedro Correctional Facility since July, he was hardly going to notice the album in his local record store. Such cynical calculation was also typical of the record industry back in the day.</p><p><i><b>Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog--Sunflower Records 50002, 1970</b></i><br />My curiosity was too great, so I ordered the album, and it arrived on my doorstep. I have no special knowledge, I don't have golden ears. On the other hand, I've heard plenty of Owsley recordings, both of the Grateful Dead and other groups as well. I've also heard plenty of "board tapes" of 60s acts, the usual ones that circulate. Much as I enjoy all that material, there are plenty of circulating board tapes that are awfully tinny and wouldn't make great releases.</p><p><i>Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog</i> isn't like other old 60s tapes. The recording has tremendous presence, as if you are at the venue. There's a big crowd, too (for a folk artist), and the sound doesn't sound dubbed in (another 60s trick). Sure, live albums recorded in the 80s and afterwards sound really good, but not many 60s tapes sound this good. The end of side 1 seems to be the end of a set, so probably the album is an edit of two nights, which makes sense.</p><p>Did Owsley record the tapes that were the basis of <i>Live At The Family Dog</i>? I have no facts or knowledge that I haven't stated here--and there aren't many--and we may never know the answer. But if you ask me to guess if the album is based on tapes recorded by Owsley, it sure seems likely to me. I don't think it was a coincidence that Sunflower Records released two Gary Usher projects in October 1970, so I have to think that <i>Vintage Dead</i> and <i>Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog</i> are intimately connected. Since we will probably never get other facts, you can decide for yourself. I'm voting for Owsley as the recording engineer.</p><p><i><b>Update</b></i>: as I've pointed out above, my vote was plausible but incorrect. Since Cox manager Howard Wolf wouldn't let Owsley record his opening acts, the most likely result was that the Cox set was recorded on Halloween 1969, by some other party. With Owsley managing the soundboard for the rest of the weekend, it seems less likely that the Bear would let someone take over his board to record. <br /></p><p><br /><i><b>Danny Cox/Grateful Dead Summary</b></i><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Danny Cox opened two shows for the Grateful Dead on November 1 and 2, 1969 at the Family Dog on The Great Highway in San Francisco.</li><li>It's possible that Owsley Stanley recorded Cox at the Family Dog, and his tape may have been the source for the album <i>Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog</i>, released on Sunflower Records in 1970</li><li>Whether or not Owsley actually recorded Cox, Cox and the Grateful Dead had the unique experience of having a deal with Gary Usher and Together Records, only to have the material released on MGM/Sunflower. In the Dead's case (<i>Vintage Dead</i>) it was legal but not welcome--we know nothing about how Cox felt about the Sunflower release</li><li>Around August 1970, Cox was recording at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco with producer Nick Gravenites, and his supporting musicians included John Kahn and Merl Saunders. Kahn took a moment to introduce Saunders to Jerry Garcia, recording in Heider's at another room. A month or two later, Saunders would join the pair at the Matrix. </li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGwDj1d_C7uCHGBynfcIsDq_4Ve381T3k9OZcW7f73YJui32FK6MrX0zCGGngI43c_Km0VDhvm7J4hx156S6kMH8Q5ql51eDvbffJH1c3hfZYSpx0OiMFOWBhpZcWuLuijAuJfBoZsP4/s600/Danny+Cox+Live+At+The+Family+Dog+side+2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGwDj1d_C7uCHGBynfcIsDq_4Ve381T3k9OZcW7f73YJui32FK6MrX0zCGGngI43c_Km0VDhvm7J4hx156S6kMH8Q5ql51eDvbffJH1c3hfZYSpx0OiMFOWBhpZcWuLuijAuJfBoZsP4/s320/Danny+Cox+Live+At+The+Family+Dog+side+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Track 4, side 2 of Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog is "Me and My Uncle" (Trad.-Arr. by Danny Cox)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />And finally, on the <i>Live At The Family Dog</i> album, Danny Cox performed his own arrangement of "Me And My Uncle," adding yet another strand to the elaborate history of the song (celebrated in both <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2017/07/me-and-my-uncle-1966-95-folk-tradition.html">my blog</a> and <a href="https://www.dead.net/deadcast/deadcast-skull-roses-50-side-c">Jesse Jarnow's Deadcast episode</a>).<br /><br /><p><i><b><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Cox-Live-At-The-Family-Dog/release/2588844"></a></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6ZB4_IdcZc4KTwLiXVJeHoK-Nf8JegoajHBh5Gs4hL8J26K49dpzcCvY47b0bjS2tBUev3GbdjDvzjjl_uCvzeFgK1DnNlUh9Td6pnQWyqmHGI7qDJbF2wZjxoQ_rgzfBkgaNNR-51w/s599/Danny+Cox+Live+At+The+Family+Dog+back+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS6ZB4_IdcZc4KTwLiXVJeHoK-Nf8JegoajHBh5Gs4hL8J26K49dpzcCvY47b0bjS2tBUev3GbdjDvzjjl_uCvzeFgK1DnNlUh9Td6pnQWyqmHGI7qDJbF2wZjxoQ_rgzfBkgaNNR-51w/s320/Danny+Cox+Live+At+The+Family+Dog+back+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The back cover to Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Cox-Live-At-The-Family-Dog/release/2588844"><br />Danny Cox Live At The Family Dog</a></b></i><p></p><p>Tracklist<br />A1 Hang Down Blues Written-By – Cox* 4:06<br />A2 Keep Your Hands Off It Arranged By – Danny Cox Written-By – Trad.* 3:03<br /> Medley (12:01)<br />A3a Universal Soldier Written-By – St. Marie* <br />A3b God Bless America Written-By – Berlin*<br />A3c Aquarius / Let The Sun Shine In Written-By – Ragni*, MacDermot*, Rado* <br /></p><p>B1 Rake And Rambling Sailor Lad Written-By – Cox* 3:26<br />B2 Just Like A Woman Written-By – Dylan* 7:13<br />B3 Jelly, Jelly Arranged By – Danny Cox Written-By – Trad.* 5:32<br />B4 Me And My Uncle Arranged By – Danny Cox Written-By – Trad.* 3:25<br /><br /> Record Company – Sunflower Enterprises<br /> Copyright © – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.<br /> Manufactured By – MGM Record Corporation<br /> Recorded At – The Family Dog, San Francisco<br /> Pressed By – MGM Custom Pressing Division<br /> Distributed By – TRC (2)<br /> Published By – Bealin Music Publ. Co.<br /> Published By – Woodmere Music<br /> Published By – Irving Berlin Music<br /> Published By – United Artists Music<br /> Published By – Dwarf Music<br /><br />Credits<br /><br /> Producer – Gary Usher<br /> Producer [Associate], Edited By, Mixed By [Remix] – Richard Delvy<br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><br />Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-78324622436501041222021-09-10T15:56:00.001-07:002021-09-10T16:16:59.743-07:00The Grateful Dead and the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (Intersections)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSbXBaVF_pQ5qatRy7sUgVGoee-p5fB8iT5uimmgAhVxY5RLm3QJ7DjfJlg6LIxz_MSrGkrZEOE4ALaJB-5qVEz4pW_oZgC40YMw8gQpgtw-Okk2oJdCtdyO4kYAsvbr9hqOoZhlc9Is/s800/Come+Fly+With+Me+1969+UAL+ad.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSbXBaVF_pQ5qatRy7sUgVGoee-p5fB8iT5uimmgAhVxY5RLm3QJ7DjfJlg6LIxz_MSrGkrZEOE4ALaJB-5qVEz4pW_oZgC40YMw8gQpgtw-Okk2oJdCtdyO4kYAsvbr9hqOoZhlc9Is/s320/Come+Fly+With+Me+1969+UAL+ad.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Since the Civil Aeronautics Board had to approve all flights and fares, US airlines competed on other grounds. This is a 1969 magazine advertisement for United Airlines. The pretty (and thin and unmarried) stewardess invites us all to "Come Fly With Me," and to "fly the friendly skies of United."</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 1983, the Grateful Dead defied most of the orthodox music industry of the time by offering advance mail order tickets to their shows for each upcoming tour. While many 60s-era bands had persisted into the 80s, few of them were drawing more than they had back in the day. The few that were doing better, like Fleetwood Mac or the remodeled Jefferson Starship, had significantly revised their music to the point that their legions of newer fans hardly recognized their earlier incarnations. Yet the Dead had never had a meaningful hit, and while their live music had evolved, it was still presented in a radio-unfriendly way that only appealed to people who saw the band over and over.</p><p>In fact, the Grateful Dead created the template for 21st century (and late 20th century) presentation of "Classic Rock," a lesson easily applicable to bands younger than themselves. In the 1970s, bands had striven to constantly expand their audience, generally watering down their music from its striking past. Sometimes it worked (see Floyd, Pink or Clapton, Eric). But usually, the expansion reached its limit and bands went into decline. The Grateful Dead had the opposite model.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUqQCYra_DBUuZ7coJrJyOVEKvNPXte-pp39Zp9_So9k2Ihi5PP5lUtacD0LQrlRV64XeSdqcifQopMFU5Bh87o_95keIzGv5tGmJLFRv7hcbZVMhMCd41tVs5iMgVbkegkHJQ6JRDVh4/s1200/GDTS+Mail+Order+Envelope.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1200" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUqQCYra_DBUuZ7coJrJyOVEKvNPXte-pp39Zp9_So9k2Ihi5PP5lUtacD0LQrlRV64XeSdqcifQopMFU5Bh87o_95keIzGv5tGmJLFRv7hcbZVMhMCd41tVs5iMgVbkegkHJQ6JRDVh4/s320/GDTS+Mail+Order+Envelope.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A sample of a fan-embellished mail order request for Grateful Dead tickets</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />The Grateful Dead's assumption, going all the way back to the 1970s, was that the most likely person to attend a Grateful Dead concert was someone who had attended one previously. The more concerts they had attended, the more likely they were to attend another one. Even more importantly, they would travel to do so. The Grateful Dead concentrated--way back in 1983--in making it easy for people who had seen numerous shows to see as many more as they could get to. Now, with modern technology--the internet, the I-phone, Uber and everything else--every established band does that. When the Rolling Stones announce a tour, their whole fan base can get tickets to any show, whether in New England or in New Zealand, and it's the die-hards who are the target, those who have seen the band dozens or even hundreds of times. But it's the Grateful Dead who started this, back in '83. <p></p><p>Why could the Grateful Dead initiate this, way back in the eighties? There were three reasons:</p><blockquote><i><b>Every Show Was Different</b></i><br />It is a foundation stone of the Grateful Dead that every show is different. They improvise and they vary their set lists, and no major bands did that Back In The Day. So every show had unique elements, and there was inherent drama as each set unfolded. </blockquote><blockquote><i><b>Cassette Decks</b></i><br />Every Dead show had always varied, but it wasn't until the proliferation of cassette decks in the 1970s that the taped evidence could easily be exchanged. Reel-to-reel recorders and bootleg records had helped to pique interest (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heads-Biography-Psychedelic-Jesse-Jarnow-ebook/dp/B017QL8UJ8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=jesse+jarnow+heads&qid=1630780219&sr=8-1">as Jesse Jarnow has documented in his great book <i>Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America</i></a>), but it was cassettes that made listening to tapes universally viable. The mid-70s introduction of high-quality portables (like the Sony D5) made audience taping easy, too, so a steady stream of intriguing tapes energized enthusiastic Deadheads to make every effort to catch more shows. </blockquote><blockquote><i><b>The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978</b></i><br />The factor that has gone unnoticed in the vast expansion of Deadhead territory was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_Deregulation_Act">the Airline Deregulation Act, signed into law by President Jimmy Carter on October 24, 1978</a>. <br /></blockquote><p></p><p>Yes, really, the Airline Deregulation Act was the fuel that turbocharged traveling Deadheads from a casual trend to a music industry phenomenon, a fact that has largely been ignored. This post will rectify that oversight. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYGefwMh4-aKrp7eAtvfaa0mliuoeXKzR0Nncb6IMG5hHQdwWGJ1tUS9sGGVcontp62x7pPQASlspudsj4Lh44-clXo_K1c_nTRpF19kHCnIuhi2t7XP4nbWl5pE7LmoVVrC6kKI2llk/s800/deadheads-3.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="800" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYGefwMh4-aKrp7eAtvfaa0mliuoeXKzR0Nncb6IMG5hHQdwWGJ1tUS9sGGVcontp62x7pPQASlspudsj4Lh44-clXo_K1c_nTRpF19kHCnIuhi2t7XP4nbWl5pE7LmoVVrC6kKI2llk/s320/deadheads-3.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><b><i><br />Traveling Deadheads</i></b><br />While the Grateful Dead were a San Francisco band, the most motivated Deadheads really came from the East Coast. What we now consider "Deadheads,"--not just people who liked the Grateful Dead's music, but those who saw the band as central to their identity--seem to have first reached critical mass in Brooklyn, and then New Jersey. Jarnow has documented the earliest tape trading circles and the first Grateful Dead cover band (in 1969!), and they were just on either side of the HudsonRiver. <br /><p>In the 1970s, there were plenty of enthusiastic Grateful Dead fans in the Bay Area, and we even called ourselves "Deadheads." But by and large, Bay Area Deadheads wouldn't go outside of the Bay Area to see Grateful Dead shows. Why would we? The Dead played all the time, and Jerry Garcia played tiny bars during the time in between. There wasn't an urgent need to go see them in Santa Barbara or Portland unless you wanted to go there anyway. The situation was not the same elsewhere in the country.</p><p>For those outside the Bay Area, while the Dead toured relentlessly, they would only come to your city once or twice a year, and maybe play two nights if you were lucky. On the more compact East Coast, however, if you were willing to drive a few hours in one direction or another, you could multiply the number of Dead shows you saw. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-grateful-dead-in-upstate-and.html">So someone in Rochester would also drive to see shows in Buffalo (to the West) and Syracuse (to the East), seeing three shows on a tour instead of one</a>. There are also anecdotal, but generally confirmed stories, of colleges in and around Brooklyn where students chartered buses to see shows in Virginia (a 7 hour drive), so they could party all the way. The seeds were planted--Deadheads would travel to see the Dead, and that culture was particularly strong on the I-90 and I-95 corridors in the Northeast.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJI3vs1xPJU0rOmn47V0B-sPieOnMEEre69aHzT1KQ2kMkpuax61XQDxjQOddzkb9kOq83Ud6GKMYG1HM22HbQ6abxwy_9LPofcrMbL7efpgecz5IIO7fcBLpLKue5wTXJ5uL-fHNFgHs/s638/Kaiser+Convention+W+parade+20150619.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="638" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJI3vs1xPJU0rOmn47V0B-sPieOnMEEre69aHzT1KQ2kMkpuax61XQDxjQOddzkb9kOq83Ud6GKMYG1HM22HbQ6abxwy_9LPofcrMbL7efpgecz5IIO7fcBLpLKue5wTXJ5uL-fHNFgHs/s320/Kaiser+Convention+W+parade+20150619.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Kaiser Convention Center, June 19, 2015. The lawn in front of the former Oakland Auditorium after the parade for the first Golden State Warrior championship in 40 years. A rare moment where the outdoors crowd was bigger than the Grateful Dead "Shakedown Street" encampment<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>December 26-31, 1979 Oakland Auditorium Arena, Oakland, CA: </b><i>"Shakedown Street"</i><br />Another cornerstone of Grateful Dead mythology was the christening of the parking lot vending scene, colloquially known as "Shakedown Street." I had no real contact with any of that, so I am repeating mythology, but mythology is more important than fact here. In the last week of 1979, the Dead played five shows (over six nights) at Oakland Auditorium. The Auditorium is on Lake Merritt, and fronted by a little park. The story goes that there since so many people from out of town hanging around the arena, intrepid Heads asked for permission camp out in the park. BGP Operations Manager Peter Barsotti consented, and there was a six-day party outside the Auditorium, interrupted only to attend shows each night. Somehow, the name "Shakedown Street" got attached, and the name stuck.<p>I went to all five of those Oakland Auditorium shows. I lived in Berkeley at the time, and drove to the shows, parking in the nearby Junior College lot. I only faintly recall any big scene outdoors, and in any case I only arrived a few minutes before showtime. Throughout the week, however, I was struck by how many people there were from out of town. And I don't mean Sacramento or Los Angeles, but New York, Boston, Philadelphia and so on. These weren't people with family ties or some other reason to come West, either--they had flown out after Christmas just to see the Grateful Dead. So even though I didn't notice the outdoor camping, I did note the preponderance of people who had traveled to see the band.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UvOwCwgxOgwwKupCu43cZ9BUtnAXjFidhNbdGzOfO2Szhjxs4tHjJyU67Rb7JMZHB6gsn5YTdXZ-NeUpv8zdufqqGrxaOxHQgvgQdcKzJzfonWfDvPe6WjJNi884PKhg4Eyf-XHFD34/s800/PSA+Low+Fare+Magic+photo.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="581" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0UvOwCwgxOgwwKupCu43cZ9BUtnAXjFidhNbdGzOfO2Szhjxs4tHjJyU67Rb7JMZHB6gsn5YTdXZ-NeUpv8zdufqqGrxaOxHQgvgQdcKzJzfonWfDvPe6WjJNi884PKhg4Eyf-XHFD34/s320/PSA+Low+Fare+Magic+photo.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Air travel was different back then</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>The Civil Aeronautics Board and Airline Deregulation</b></i><br />The Civil Aeronautics Board had been established in 1938, modeled on the Federal regulation of railroads. Up until 1978, the flights and fares from city-to-city between states was set by the CAB. If United Airlines had three flights a day from San Francisco to JFK in New York, and wanted to add a fourth, they had to make a formal request to the government. If they wanted to raise or lower the fare by $50, they also had to petition the government. Sometimes these requests took years to enact. The CAB set fares high enough to ensure that the airlines were financially solvent even when passenger traffic was low. To the extent airlines competed, it was often over what now would be called "branding"--one Airline would have in-flight movies, and another would have stylishly dressed stewardesses (all of whom would be fired if they gained weight or got married, I kid you not). Interstate air travel was expensive, because it was designed that way.<p>Airline travel within a single state was not regulated by the CAB, however, but by the State itself. The pioneer of this model was Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), which in 1949 initiated service from San Diego Airport, to Burbank Airport and then to Oakland Airport, serving the three main metro areas in the state. By 1958, PSA had 37 flights a week from Burbank to San Francisco, costing only $9.99, which was not much money even then. PSA was free from CAB regulations, and could add, subtract or re-price flights at will. In 1964, the short-haul Boeing 727 jet entered commercial service, and suddenly passengers could get from LA to San Francisco in about an hour. The California airline business boomed, and there were competitors like Air California and Hughes Air West, flying in and out of every California airport in short-haul jets, as did the major airlines like United. All were exempt from the CAB when they stayed within the state.</p><p>When you read about rock bands in the 60s, it may seem surprising that the Grateful Dead played a weekend at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and yet played an afternoon rock festival in Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon (May 18, 1968). It makes more sense when you realize that flights were only 10 or 15 dollars per person, and uncrowded airports made the trip quick. Airports were uncrowded because the CAB limited the total number of flights, even though intra-state travel was unfettered.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5_JRpTnezBoqheF8QTI2_BHytiDh6z99JCXhq5IFC4zN6_fcWS1P92V5gXWXxCXHK__JqmXArXRReUhl3GdsFb5e4EHAEGTkFn-TsDot6oCzRCwU-cWiNRdPTiM1s2lGoi6QGSnz0eI/s2048/southwest-airlines-fifty-years-hostesses-alt.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_5_JRpTnezBoqheF8QTI2_BHytiDh6z99JCXhq5IFC4zN6_fcWS1P92V5gXWXxCXHK__JqmXArXRReUhl3GdsFb5e4EHAEGTkFn-TsDot6oCzRCwU-cWiNRdPTiM1s2lGoi6QGSnz0eI/s320/southwest-airlines-fifty-years-hostesses-alt.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Southwest Airlines flight attendants, early 70s</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In 1967, Southwest Airlines was established in Texas using the same model as PSA. Due to some lawsuits, Southwest did not initiate service until 1971, but Texas was an even better model for short-haul flying. There are miles and miles of Texas, of course, so the new Boeing 737 was perfect for moving Texans around the the state quickly and cheaply. The national airlines had a lot of frustration with the sluggishness of the CAB, compounding their abilities to compete, and the oil shock of the early 1970s, and the recession that followed, did not help their financial prospects.<p></p><p>The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 removed the Civil Aeronautics Board, a rare instance of a government agency being fully deactivated. While safety and other certification issues remained in Federal hands, as they should, airlines were free to set fares and routes on the basis of market demand. Technology then was not what it was today, so while there was a free-for-all with prices and routes, there was also a lot of experimentation, some successful and some not. Travelers from 1979 through the early 1980s recall getting crazy flights, where you could go from Chicago to Salt Lake City for 49 dollars, but with a five hour layover in Dallas.</p><p>For mostly young Deadheads, however, the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 may as well have been the United States Deadhead Act. Why were there so many out-of-towners at the Oakland shows in 1979? Because there were cheap flights. It had taken several months for the Airlines to figure it out, and for people to figure out the airlines. But word had traveled that there were going to be 5 shows in the Bay Area, and Deadheads all over the country said to themselves "hey, I could fly cheap to Oakland and see the Dead five times, and it will be warmer in California than where I live." So they did. </p><p>By the time the Dead instituted mail order tickets in 1983, the pattern was established. Grateful Dead tours were in legs, and depending on your geography, you either flew to the starting point or flew home from the end. You got some 59 dollar flight that left at midnight or 6:00AM, possibly stopping in some out of the way airport for a few hours. But so what? You were going or coming from a Grateful Dead tour, so a few idle hours drinking diet Pepsi in Nashville or Denver was no big deal. It didn't matter now if the tour started in Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine, since the only difference was how long the layover might be. Thanks to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the American transportation system had been reconfigured for Deadheads. </p><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQSY-VtZeMgso4SQ5y7tR_L-viDzqIEPwZfuRUSpewnI7Hv0IRUtQn12D6BJFhAaYXjtiV9gHoZNePCwKeLTPXkucnsV1zmwY5sBLGs8AkmUOXrVn498Eo-lbPfGOmVQdT3OBkDzQMGU/s389/Route+666+Book+Cover+%25281993%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="389" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQSY-VtZeMgso4SQ5y7tR_L-viDzqIEPwZfuRUSpewnI7Hv0IRUtQn12D6BJFhAaYXjtiV9gHoZNePCwKeLTPXkucnsV1zmwY5sBLGs8AkmUOXrVn498Eo-lbPfGOmVQdT3OBkDzQMGU/s320/Route+666+Book+Cover+%25281993%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gina Arnold's indispensable history Route 666 (St. Martin's Press 1993)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />New Wave, Punk Rock and Airline Deregulation</b></i><br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Route-666-Nirvana-Gina-Arnold/dp/0312093764">Music scholar Gina Arnold wrote <i>Route 666: On The Road To Nirvana</i></a>, the definitive book on the rise of the Alternative ("Left Of The Dial") Rock music scene in the United States. She is also the <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190859565.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190859565">co-editor of <i>The Oxford Handbook of Punk-Rock</i></a> (ok, also she's my sister but that is a side note). Some years ago, she pointed out to me how Airline Deregulation was essential to the history of English rock bands touring America in the 1980s. When I reflected on it later, I realized that Deregulation had been critical for Deadheads, and an important component for building the Grateful Dead audience back in the day. <br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9F5J-Z5u4AM41shD1MJZGAv2Zo2-352zLN4wV8joNU_dDPL1tLC3GEGX6cM-hp1Yc2TcvjPMyWXMs751aBd88d2PpxGbRH0vXjU9O32oinIM7gENWeJN0jguzsmfm1me4I5GQ7jAWVJU/s474/braniff+airlines+ad+1971+style.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="474" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9F5J-Z5u4AM41shD1MJZGAv2Zo2-352zLN4wV8joNU_dDPL1tLC3GEGX6cM-hp1Yc2TcvjPMyWXMs751aBd88d2PpxGbRH0vXjU9O32oinIM7gENWeJN0jguzsmfm1me4I5GQ7jAWVJU/s320/braniff+airlines+ad+1971+style.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>At the beginning of the Jet Age, fares and routes were fixed, so
airlines had to find something else to sell. By 1971, Braniff Airlines
(which mostly had South American routes) had Pop Art colors and
high-fashion stewardess uniforms (<a href="http://brandedskies.com/2012/08/jingle-braniff-youll-like-flying-braniff-style-1971/">check out the funky ad jingle, to the tune of "Everybody's Talking At Me," done in a Stax-Volt style</a>)</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In the late 1960s and then the 1970s, numerous English rock bands toured the United States, seeking fame and fortune. They flew around the country, often lugging lots of equipment, and did so at great expense. There was literally no way to fly cheaply, as it was against CAB regulations. On top of that, the English bands had to pay enormous sums to fly across the Atlantic, separately regulated but no less onerous. The record companies would charge the expense against a band's royalties, so bands had to sell a huge amount of records to make that money back and get out of debt to the label. Some groups, like Foghat or Queen, managed to sell that many albums. But a mid-level band like Wishbone Ash, for example, somewhat popular and with a following, but no mega-hit, found themselves perpetually in debt.<p></p><p>The seminal event for Alternative rock promotion was the 1979 US Tour by The Police, supporting their debut album (<i>Outlandos D'Amour</i>). The trio was perceived in the States a sort of punk/New Wave band, because of their short hair, although in fact they were all veteran musicians (<a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Eric%20Burdon.htm">guitarist Andy Summers had played Fillmore West with Eric Burdon, for example</a>). Their manager, Miles Copeland--also manager of Wishbone Ash--had the band fly over and travel around the country in a van, staying out of debt while promoting their album. It was a revelation for managers and bands--you could push your album and not go bankrupt.</p><p>One of the key economic building blocks of 80s New Wave and Punk tours by English groups was cheap transatlantic flights, primarily on Laker Airways. By 1977, Laker Airways was selling same-day tickets from London to New York for $99. This allowed the likes of the Police to get across the Atlantic cheaply, which had hitherto been impossible. Now, the history of transatlantic air travel regulation and Laker Airways is byzantine indeed, far more complicated than the Airline Deregulation Act, so I won't try and go into it here. The notable point was that Airline Deregulation, both nationally and internationally, was critical to the expansion of live rock music for both fans and bands, and it never gets any attention. Without the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, the economic history of the Grateful Dead would have had a different path.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-26138383288295901872021-07-23T11:20:00.001-07:002021-07-23T14:15:09.529-07:00August 26, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: The Great SF Light Show Jam (Vintage Dead: Found and Lost)<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEYK6eZTC6W80rzLi2gOwh5MTAoHPjmAZJoqMs5S9Xu0aSpqFl_aRCkSFWgnI-RivaR10GL8ggFQdh5CS_JmpDjZ7fN0OHEXoWlkyaVP6T5_haSTckEWaXUU5WkL0ivMd0t4xFH-e3bks/s422/SFC19690825cc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEYK6eZTC6W80rzLi2gOwh5MTAoHPjmAZJoqMs5S9Xu0aSpqFl_aRCkSFWgnI-RivaR10GL8ggFQdh5CS_JmpDjZ7fN0OHEXoWlkyaVP6T5_haSTckEWaXUU5WkL0ivMd0t4xFH-e3bks/s320/SFC19690825cc.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ralph Gleason's Chronicle column from Monday August 25, 1969</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b>August 26, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: <i>The Great SF Light Show Jam </i></b><i>(Tuesday)</i><b><i> </i></b><br />The paragraph from Ralph J. Gleason's column in the August 25, 1969 San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i> (above) says<br /></p><blockquote><i>Tomorrow
night at the Family Dog on The Great Highway there will be a lightshow
spectacular--The Great SF Light Show Jam--with 13 different light shows
and taped music from three years of unissued tapes from the Matrix
including tapes of Big Brother, Steve Miller, the Grateful Dead,
Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service.</i></blockquote><p>At
the beginning of August 1969, many of the Light Shows in the Bay Area
rock fraternity had joined together as the "Light Artists Guild" and tried
to strike rock venues by picketing and withholding their services. The
sole real attempt was Friday, August 1 at the Family Dog, for a Grateful
Dead concert. Jerry Garcia purposely showed up late, the Dead did not
play, and the "Guild" folded. Bill Graham, meanwhile, had simply laughed them off,
threatening to do without light shows. Graham was ultimately correct, as
Light Shows were no longer an important part of the attraction of rock
concerts.</p><p>Light Show operators saw themselves as Artists, however,
and fairly enough. This Tuesday night show at the Family Dog attempted
to make Light Shows an attraction in themselves. Bill Ham had tried this
at a San Francisco place called The Audium, but that hadn't really worked.
The Family Dog effort would fail, too, after one more try in September. I don't
actually know of an eyewitness to either event. This blog has a
different interest, however.<br /><br /><a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/02/660-great-highway-san-francisco-august.html ">I
had seen the Great SF Light Show Jam listed on various obscure flyers
and thought little about it, since Light Shows are inherently of the
moment</a>. The idea that the Light Shows were performing to years of
unissued live shows recorded at the Matrix--well, that's something else
entirely. In the previous week's Berkeley <i>Tribe</i>, in an article about The Common and the Family Dog, there was some explanation:<br /></p><blockquote><p><i>Next Tuesday night Howard Wolfe [sic] will be playing tapes of some of the
classic San Francisco rock concerts of the past few years. Wolfe, who
worked with the Family Dog for two and a half years, wants to get
together a musical and pictorial history of what went down in San
Francisco. Nobody is better qualified to do it, he feels, than the
people who created it in the first place.</i></p></blockquote><p>Howard Wolf, based mostly in Los Angeles, had been the Avalon's booking agent in the 60s, as well as <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/6230-sunset-boulevard-hollywood-ca.html">the booking agent for the Kaleidoscope</a>.
Wolf still had some involvement with the Family Dog on the Great
Highway, although I'm not sure exactly what. However, with a little
sleuthing, I'm pretty confident I've figured out what tapes Wolf was
playing. For Deadheads, it's pretty interesting, with the caveat that
the tapes were likely destroyed later and have never been heard since.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5EuUm50jOEXR3UWxKnYa6dIug7Itdf1hGTbWWOqZAFk5rkiIJq7xlp2o4G_fk8AJEqwwwM7mOI5KGf6-IXzwS94bhwQsW2ayjRpD_qFo2hKqv3tp6UwqktP1pg1hP94cubhQDC342QSI/s400/FDGH+660+Great+Highway.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO5EuUm50jOEXR3UWxKnYa6dIug7Itdf1hGTbWWOqZAFk5rkiIJq7xlp2o4G_fk8AJEqwwwM7mOI5KGf6-IXzwS94bhwQsW2ayjRpD_qFo2hKqv3tp6UwqktP1pg1hP94cubhQDC342QSI/s320/FDGH+660+Great+Highway.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Family Dog on The Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, ca. 1969</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><i><b>The Family Dog on The Great Highway, 660 Great Highway, San Francisco, CA</b></i><br />The
Family Dog was a foundation stone in the rise of San Francisco rock,
and it was in operation in various forms from Fall 1965 through the
Summer of 1970. For sound historical reasons, most of the focus on the
Family Dog has been on the original 4-person collective who organized
the first San Francisco Dance Concerts in late 1965, and on their
successor Chet Helms. Helms took over the Family Dog in early 1966, and
after a brief partnership with Bill Graham at the Fillmore, promoted
memorable concerts at the Avalon Ballroom from Spring 1966 through
December 1968. The posters, music and foggy memories of the Avalon are
what made the Family Dog a legendary 60s rock icon.</p><p>In the Summer
of 1969, however, with San Francisco as one of the fulcrums of the rock
music explosion, Chet Helms opened another venue. The Family Dog on The
Great Highway, at 660 Great Highway, on the Western edge of San
Francisco, was only open for 14 months and was not a success.</p><i><b><br /></b></i><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsw6njARnklRBJ6e0a3FlqwaQcS3-qtbOCJUTXUL_pIPBPEIoo07XJo8hatFArKrCBYnMrzISKoBOuj5gV_i1Qzsi6EMJCG8PRDFXrSnWWYQ9y-3cwxTFnQrwWl9VMtCRUvGV_AriNSyG5/s768/FDGH+660+Great+Highway+inside.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsw6njARnklRBJ6e0a3FlqwaQcS3-qtbOCJUTXUL_pIPBPEIoo07XJo8hatFArKrCBYnMrzISKoBOuj5gV_i1Qzsi6EMJCG8PRDFXrSnWWYQ9y-3cwxTFnQrwWl9VMtCRUvGV_AriNSyG5/s320/FDGH+660+Great+Highway+inside.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>One
of the only photos of the interior of the Family Dog on The Great
Highway (from a Stephen Gaskin "Monday Night Class" ca. October 1969)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />The Family Dog On The Great Highway</b><br />The
Great Highway was a four-lane road that ran along the Western edge of
San Francisco, right next to Ocean Beach. Downtown San Francisco faced
the Bay, but beyond Golden Gate Park was the Pacific Ocean. The aptly
named Ocean Beach is dramatic and beautiful, but it is mostly windy and
foggy. Much of the West Coast of San Francisco is not even a beach, but
rocky cliffs. There are no roads in San Francisco anywhere West of the Great
Highway, so "660 Great Highway" was ample for directions (for reference,
it is near the intersection of Balboa Street and 48th Avenue). The
tag-line "Edge Of The Western World" was not an exaggeration, at least
in North American terms.<br /><br />The Family Dog on The Great Highway was
smaller than the Bill Graham's old Fillmore Auditorium. It could hold up
to 1500, but the official capacity was probably closer to 1000. Unlike
the comparatively centrally located Fillmore West, the FDGH was far from
downtown, far from the Peninsula suburbs, and not particularly easy to
get to from the freeway. For East Bay or Marin residents, the Great
Highway was a formidable trip. The little ballroom was very appealing,
but if you didn't live way out in the Avenues, you had to drive. As a
result, FDGH didn't get a huge number of casual drop-ins, and that
didn't help its fortunes. Most of the locals referred to the venue as
"Playland."<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4p-8SQ69EqXs7YloT0NMgPD4JKh6Da8NHYjZfhgTml6_R-uwRKr_dHdgrvIYvuGJSy8-P1qpYJWr9JjXVmhN97onyOILue0wYEWxlcPS1_SbED2IMBJ9s__OK61KmoE3lvWDZfnC4TQn/s500/Vintage+Dead+Sunflower+1971.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4p-8SQ69EqXs7YloT0NMgPD4JKh6Da8NHYjZfhgTml6_R-uwRKr_dHdgrvIYvuGJSy8-P1qpYJWr9JjXVmhN97onyOILue0wYEWxlcPS1_SbED2IMBJ9s__OK61KmoE3lvWDZfnC4TQn/s320/Vintage+Dead+Sunflower+1971.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Old Deadheads are familiar with <i>Vintage Dead</i>,
a 1970 Grateful Dead album on MGM/Sunflower. The album featured Dead
tapes recorded at the Avalon Ballroom in 1966, with a vintage Avalon
poster (from September 16-17, 1966) on the cover. <i>Vintage Dead</i>
was raw, but back in the pre-cassette days it was literally the only
window into the lost Grateful Dead world prior to the first album, the
only hint of what the original Grateful Dead sounded like. But how had
early Dead ended up on MGM Records 4 years later? <a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/1971-sunflower-records-story.html">Ben Fong-Torres explained the story in the October 28, 1971 <i>Rolling Stone</i> (reproduced at the wonderful Deadsources site</a>):<blockquote><p><i>NOT-SO-GOOD OLD DEAD RECORDS<br />SAN
FRANCISCO - All Bob Cohen knows is that he didn't mean for it to
happen, and he wishes the Grateful Dead wouldn't give him such weird
looks whenever he's around them. <br /></i></p><p><i>Cohen is a sound man, and he was half-owner, with Chet Helms, of the
Family Dog, back in the days of the Avalon Ballroom. As such, Cohen
made, saved, and owns a pile of tapes of most of the bands that played
there - the Grateful Dead among them. <br /></i></p><p><i>And when Cohen was approached, in spring of 1969, by a Los Angeles
record company to sell some of his tapes for an anthology of
circa-hippie San Francisco bands, he could see no problem. It was Howard
Wolf doing the talking, and Wolf's immediate past included the two
Great Society albums Columbia had issued. And he was representing
Together Records, a frisky new label headed by Gary Usher, former
producer of the Byrds and Firesign Theatre, among others. In fact, the
Dead saw no problems either when they were asked to sign releases for
nine cuts. "We didn't dig the tapes, the quality that much," said Rock
Scully, "but we thought it'd be nice to have this anthology of all the
bands." With the Dead set, all Together had to do was get releases from
enough of the other groups, like Big Brother, Moby Grape, Steve Miller,
Quicksilver, Great Society, and Daily Flash. The idea was a three-LP
package.</i></p><p><i> But, Cohen said, "they had trouble getting those releases." Then, "all
of a sudden I find out that in one day Together ceased to exist! To
settle everything, Gary Usher should have told me to get my tapes; I
assumed the deal was off. My tapes are sitting there. But when I try to
get them, I can't. MGM bought them." <br /></i></p><p><i>A year later, out of the blue, there's an album on the market, Vintage
Dead, on another new label, Sunflower (with MGM Records taking
manufacturing and distributing credits) - not an anthology but, rather, a
Dead album featuring five cuts, all Cohen's, along with, strangely
enough, liner notes signed by Cohen. The Dead are wondering. </i></p><p><i>Then, three
months ago, another album, Historic Dead, four cuts, two credited to
Cohen, two to Peter Abram, owner and tape machine-operator at the old
Matrix club. It is absolute bottom of the bag, the four songs totalling
29 minutes. Warner Bros., trying to sell contemporary Dead, are pissed.
("The Dead were freaked out because of the timing," Cohen said. </i></p><p><i>Vintage
was released in fall of 1970, just after Warners had put out
Workingman's Dead. Vintage Dead has sold more than 74,000 according to
the latest word from Rick Sidoti, general manager of Sunflower Records.)
The Dead, not knowing what's happening and not wanting to sound like
they're being milked by the phone company, are pissed. And Cohen is
suffering from this persecution complex, spinning around dizzily,
wondering where to point his finger [for the complete article, see below or <a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/1971-sunflower-records-story.html">follow this link</a>].</i></p></blockquote><p>With the Berkeley <i>Tribe</i>'s
mention of Howard Wolf, and the timing described here, it seems plain
that the live concerts from the Avalon and the Matrix were the ones
intended for Wolf's 3-album anthology. <a href=" http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/1971-sunflower-records-story.html?showComment=1577110928625#c1852959431560454313">Fellow scholar runonguinmess tracked down Jerry Garcia's comment on the origins of the Vintage Dead material</a>.<br /></p><blockquote><i>Jerry is asked about the Sunflower LPs in a
KSAN interview from 1972-06-13 and comes up with a different angle. He
says it was originally intended to be a fundraiser for the Family Dog on
the Great Highway / The Common. Here's a transcript from fanzine "Hot
Angel" No 9.<br /><br /><b>KSAN</b>: What did you think - I don't want to get into
areas of controversy but - what did you think of the live Dead? A couple
of albums that were done for MGM - one I think and maybe another one in
the works or something?<br /><b>Jerry</b>: There's the Historic and the Vintage.<br /><b>KSAN</b>: Bob Cohen asked for your permission I recall.<br /><b>Jerry:</b>
Yeah well, see the thing was it was originally gonna be a whole
different thing. It was originally gonna be - this was back in the days
when there was a sort of a - an attempt to sort of communityise the
Family Dog. It was after the - in the wake of that whole light show
strike and all that stuff that was going on, and originally that record
was gonna be made - the proceeds were gonna go toward keeping the Family
Dog running at the time, and it was originally a whole different record
company. But that - the record company that was originally doing it was
bought up by MGM, there was some weird swindle went down and actually,
as far as the music goes, well it's what we were doing in 66 and we
weren't as good then of course as we are now, and - you know, but it is
what it is. </i></blockquote><p>Both of these sagas make sense--a
record company mining historic material, for which there was a genuine
market, while the Family Dog would have been one of the beneficiaries. Since the
material had all been recorded back in 1966, none of the bands would
have signed contracts yet, so the music was available for licensing. Using
the tapes to finance the new Family Dog venue was a very hippie San
Francisco concept, and one that was clearly not to be. </p><p>In the
saga, the Dead are quick to give their consent, but no one else does.
It's hardly surprising in retrospect. By Summer '69, Moby Grape was in
litigation with their manager Matthew Katz--litigation that would go on
throughout the balance of the 20th century--so no approval was likely
there. Janis Joplin had a high-powered manager, Albert Grossman, who
managed Bob Dylan among many others, and he wasn't going to be giving away historic
product to support some hippie ballroom. Quicksilver Messenger Service
and the Steve Miller Band had ambitious management, too, and they
weren't going to cheerily sign away any rights any quicker than Albert
Grossman. So the enterprise was never going to reach fruition. </p><p>It
seems pretty clear, though, that 1966 music from the Avalon and the
Matrix, recorded by the Dead, Big Brother, Steve Miller, Quicksilver, Moby Grape,
Daily Flash and Great Society was blasted out over the Family Dog sound
system, while the Light Shows did their thing on a Tuesday night. For
those few who went, it would have been a genuine flashback to a recent
era that was already long gone.</p><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhla9FIi6smKAmp86rFHRYu0AUDikQn9OnFQPUndjJiNzM47uhLctE3kC_nornfRac_FSWEJ7XK5QajIxMEahMuQ8UU5QQUc6jQ9QavReZYOXYJ-EwPD5JF-I3PGmei-eFaYG6uPCf1rd8q/s604/Historic+Dead+Sunflower+1971.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="604" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhla9FIi6smKAmp86rFHRYu0AUDikQn9OnFQPUndjJiNzM47uhLctE3kC_nornfRac_FSWEJ7XK5QajIxMEahMuQ8UU5QQUc6jQ9QavReZYOXYJ-EwPD5JF-I3PGmei-eFaYG6uPCf1rd8q/s320/Historic+Dead+Sunflower+1971.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Historic Dead, released on Sunflower/MGM in 1971, and recorded at the Avalon and the Matrix in 1966</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Which Dead Tapes?</b></i><br />All Deadheads always have the same questions: which tapes were they, and where are the reels? <i>Vintage Dead</i> and <i>Historic Dead</i> had a total of 9 tracks, if only about sixty minutes of music. The five tracks on <i>Vintage Dead </i>were
recorded by Bob Cohen at the Avalon. Because the cover of the album is
the poster from September 16-17, it has generally been presumed that
represented the show on the record. <a href="http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-1966-mystery-reels-guest-post.html">Scholar
LightIntoAshes looked into the subject in detail, however, and
determined that the most likely date was December 23 and/or 24, 1966
(not least because Weir sings "Winter's here and the time is right/ For
dancing in the streets")</a>. <i>Historic Dead</i>, much more poorly
recorded, seems to be a mix of material from the Matrix (Nov 29 '66) and
the Avalon. The Avalon date can't really be determined.<p>But what of
the source tapes? Deadheads should brace themselves: Fong-Torres
continues his story. Bob Cohen had discovered the tapes were sold to
MGM, and tried to wreck the project:</p><blockquote><i>[Cohen made] one desperate attempt at sabotage. He had
given Together a set of mix masters, keeping the original tapes himself.
"I went to their studios," ostensibly to identify tapes for MGM. "I
looked at each box, and I had a big magnet with me and erased the
tapes." To no avail. "They had quarter-track dubs made, too, and they
were going to release those." Still, he contributed the liner notes for
the Vintage album. He said he refused to do anything on the second one,
which carries no information on recording dates or places. </i></blockquote>So
Bob Cohen went and destroyed the tapes, but MGM had made safety copies
and they released those. So there were some vintage Avalon tapes from
1966 played at the Family Dog in 1969, never heard before in the outside
world. Some were probably played again in September (when a similar
show was held on September 25). And then the tapes were destroyed, with
only some dubs remaining, released on <i>Vintage </i>and<i> Historic Dead</i>. What else did the Grateful Dead play on December 23 and 24 1966? We won't ever hear.<p>You
can hold out hope, if you want, that Cohen kept his own copies of the
Grateful Dead tapes, as he implies that he had. But they have never
turned up in the Grateful Dead Vault or anywhere else, and Cohen himself says he has no Grateful Dead tapes in his
basement, although he has lots of other stuff. So 1966 Dead tapes, from
the Avalon, were played at the Family Dog in 1969, never to be heard
again. <i>Sic transit gloria psychedelia</i>.<br /></p><p><i><b>Appendix: </b></i><a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/1971-sunflower-records-story.html"><i><b>Vintage Dead article in Rolling Stone (complete transcript)</b></i></a></p><u><b>NOT-SO-GOOD OLD DEAD RECORDS</b>-Ben Fong Torres, <i>Rolling Stone</i>, October 28, 1971</u><br />SAN
FRANCISCO - All Bob Cohen knows is that he didn't mean for it to
happen, and he wishes the Grateful Dead wouldn't give him such weird
looks whenever he's around them. <br /><p>Cohen is a sound man, and he was half-owner, with Chet Helms, of the
Family Dog, back in the days of the Avalon Ballroom. As such, Cohen
made, saved, and owns a pile of tapes of most of the bands that played
there - the Grateful Dead among them. <br /></p><p>And when Cohen was approached, in spring of 1969, by a Los Angeles
record company to sell some of his tapes for an anthology of
circa-hippie San Francisco bands, he could see no problem. It was Howard
Wolf doing the talking, and Wolf's immediate past included the two
Great Society albums Columbia had issued. And he was representing
Together Records, a frisky new label headed by Gary Usher, former
producer of the Byrds and Firesign Theatre, among others. In fact, the
Dead saw no problems either when they were asked to sign releases for
nine cuts. "We didn't dig the tapes, the quality that much," said Rock
Scully, "but we thought it'd be nice to have this anthology of all the
bands." With the Dead set, all Together had to do was get releases from
enough of the other groups, like Big Brother, Moby Grape, Steve Miller,
Quicksilver, Great Society, and Daily Flash. The idea was a three-LP
package.</p><p> But, Cohen said, "they had trouble getting those releases." Then, "all
of a sudden I find out that in one day Together ceased to exist! To
settle everything, Gary Usher should have told me to get my tapes; I
assumed the deal was off. My tapes are sitting there. But when I try to
get them, I can't. MGM bought them." <br /></p><p>A year later, out of the blue, there's an album on the market, <i>Vintage
Dead,</i> on another new label, Sunflower (with MGM Records taking
manufacturing and distributing credits) - not an anthology but, rather, a
Dead album featuring five cuts, all Cohen's, along with, strangely
enough, liner notes signed by Cohen. The Dead are wondering. <br /></p>Then, three
months ago, another album, <i>Historic Dead</i>, four cuts, two credited to
Cohen, two to Peter Abram, owner and tape machine-operator at the old
Matrix club. It is absolute bottom of the bag, the four songs totaling
29 minutes. Warner Bros., trying to sell contemporary Dead, are pissed.
("The Dead were freaked out because of the timing," Cohen said. <i>Vintage </i>
was released in fall of 1970, just after Warners had put out
<i>Workingman's Dead</i>. <i>Vintage Dead</i> has sold more than 74,000 according to
the latest word from Rick Sidoti, general manager of Sunflower Records.)
The Dead, not knowing what's happening and not wanting to sound like
they're being milked by the phone company, are pissed. And Cohen is
suffering from this persecution complex, spinning around dizzily,
wondering where to point his finger.<br /><p>
Actually, the Dead are more upset with Sunflower/MGM than with Cohen.
"We feel they've perpetuated a hoax on us," said Scully, once a manager
of the band. "At the very least, it was a misrepresentation." The Dead
just recently got hold of copies of the contract, the original having
vanished with Lenny Hart, the ex-manager they recently filed
embezzlement charges against. Hart was the Dead representative in the
deal, Scully said. "We found that those masters they said we'd signed
for had all been penciled in," he said. "Everybody who signed swears
there were three masters in there now that weren't in there before." But
the fact is, they signed, and there's little, legally, that they can
do. <br /></p><p>Sunflower Records actually paid royalties to the band, $3650.51 in April
for 51,683 albums sold between September 1st, 1970, and February 8th,
1971. <br /></p><p>Another statement to Cohen, citing identical sales figures, didn't
include a check, instead claiming that a $5000 advance cancelled out any
money owed. Which got Cohen further upset. "I haven't got any money
from them," he claimed, and when he wrote to Sunflower about it, "they
called me up and said they're putting out another album. Now they've
told me they're going to take both of them and put them together as a
two-LP package for Christmas!" <br /></p><p>So Cohen was thinking about legal action. His friend and attorney,
Creighton Churchill, exchanged letters with Sunflower, and he learned
that the advance promised to Cohen was contingent on releases being
secured from all the bands on the 37 cuts Cohen had provided, and that
Sunflower, in the middle of the Together-to-MGM transaction, thought a
payment had been made. "So he can get the royalties," Churchill said,
"if he's lucky." Churchill also said that Cohen had in fact been paid a
separate fee of $1500 for giving the tapes to Together. <br /></p><p>Cohen himself says Howard Wolf got the most money - "about $10,000 in
fees and expenses." But Cohen did more than his share of work. After
learning about Sunflower's plans for the Dead cuts, he said, "I talked
them into at least making it groovy. I put together the <i>Vintage</i> album,
because they would've put it out anyway, with or without me. They were
gonna put it out as a bootleg. There was no way I could stop them." <br /></p><p>So he joined them - after one desperate attempt at sabotage. He had
given Together a set of mix masters, keeping the original tapes himself.
"I went to their studios," ostensibly to identify tapes for MGM. "I
looked at each box, and I had a big magnet with me and erased the
tapes." To no avail. "They had quarter-track dubs made, too, and they
were going to release those." Still, he contributed the liner notes for
the <i>Vintage</i> album. He said he refused to do anything on the second one,
which carries no information on recording dates or places. <br /></p><p>"We had no liner information," Sunflower's Sidoti claimed, "because we didn't want to take away from the artwork." <br /></p><p>Sidoti said he couldn't help Cohen point fingers. "There was nobody
involved in the Dead albums from the executive standpoint," he said.
"This was a deal made by Together and we just picked up the contract.
When Together was disbanded or whatever, the tapes were laying around in
the Transcontinental office, and Mac Davis [the veteran songwriter and
president of the eight-month-old Sunflower label] bought the tapes from
Transcon." <br /></p><p>Transcontinental Investment Corporation is the holding group that formed
Transcontinental Entertainment Corporation and hired young Mike Curb,
now president of MGM Records, to be its head. Curb in turn, hired Gary
Usher to form "an avant-garde artist-oriented record label, a division
of TEC," as Usher put it. "They made a lot of promises - $1 million to
work with, total autonomy, and a three-year minimum. TEC owned 40
percent of the racks in the country; they had lots of money." Usher had
been successful with the Beach Boys, co-writing some tunes with Brian
Wilson, as well as with the Byrds and Chad and Jeremy (as a producer).
He was looking to do something different. <br /></p><p>"I always wanted to do a series called 'Archives.'" In fact, Together
put out two interesting collections, one of the <i>Pre-Flyte</i> Byrds, and one
of various L.A.-area artists and bands. "<i>Pre-Flyte</i> sold well, it got
the company off, and other people started bringing me tapes - Lord
Buckley and good material like that." That's when he told Howard Wolf
about "Archives" and sent him off to San Francisco. <br /></p><p>But six months into Together's existence, Usher said, "Transcon started
fudging with money, saying, 'We think the San Francisco scene is
bullshit and we don't know who Howard Wolf is.' [Wolf, Usher said, had
been advanced $5000 on the project.] I took Howard over there, he
explained it, and they bought the idea of one full album from the
Grateful Dead." Transcon stock then dropped, Usher said, and Curb split.
"I simply walked out of there and went to RCA. I signed all my rights
and interest over to TEC, who then sold out of the record business, and
MGM took over all the properties." <br /></p><p>So now you have MGM Records, whose president had so loudly announced a
purge of all MGM artists who "advocate and exploit drugs," squeezing out
every acidic second of Grateful Dead music that they can. </p><p>Sidoti says Sunflower is "a solely-owned label owned by Mac Davis." But
MGM, it says on the liners, manufactures and distributes, and even the
lion head appears on the two Dead albums. "Well, it's a joint venture
with MGM." Watch your choice of words. <br /></p><p>"Mike Curb has nothing to do with it," Sidoti continued. "There's lots
of controversy surrounding whatever he does. God bless Mike Curb,
whatever his thing is." <br /></p><p>But how do you justify putting out shit and misrepresenting a group at the same time? <br /></p><p>"There was no motive of hurting the Grateful Dead," Sidoti said. Earlier
in our conversation - and this helps explain the motive - he had said,
"Since the first one sold well, we decided to go ahead with another. We
had four masters left over - they were decent tapes. There were a lot of
dropouts on the tape, but we got rid of all those. I really think this
helped the group. Actually the record buyer would have to be a Grateful
Dead freak to be interested, and there's an X amount of people who
otherwise couldn't buy the LP and compare." <br /></p><br /><br /><p> </p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-22244795104747540182021-02-12T06:40:00.002-08:002021-06-10T18:45:58.621-07:00Slewfoot-David Rea Columbia/Windfall Records KC 32485 (1973: Produced by David Rea and Bob Weir<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PUehWeeE_BXqWX3ItC6MmvsoA0rR3EUrAardHjt6xfh5qGVmv1KYBaGegVSPchfwgayUXVcW8B9pkiFs-HTzPAwMyCGuDFzR0KFLh5DKgsxBC-kAlKA_c3APvgvm_WuSgr0VVPw-elY/s606/David+Rea+slewfoot+front+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="599" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4PUehWeeE_BXqWX3ItC6MmvsoA0rR3EUrAardHjt6xfh5qGVmv1KYBaGegVSPchfwgayUXVcW8B9pkiFs-HTzPAwMyCGuDFzR0KFLh5DKgsxBC-kAlKA_c3APvgvm_WuSgr0VVPw-elY/s320/David+Rea+slewfoot+front+cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>David Rea's Slewfoot album, released on Columbia/Windfall in 1973, co-produced by Rea and Bob Weir</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>David Rea was an East Coast singer/songwriter signed to Felix Pappalardi's label, Windfall Records. Rea had also briefly been in the English folk/rock band Fairport Convention. By a series of circumstances I will speculate about, Bob Weir ended up co-producing Rea's solo album in San Francisco in 1972. The supporting musicians for the country-rock sounding music included Keith and Donna Godchaux, various members of the New Riders of The Purple Sage, John Kahn and other familiar suspects. The album, entitled <i>Slewfoot</i>, was released by Columbia Records in early 1973. <br /><br />The band Slewfoot was formed to tour behind the album. As auditions were held during recording, all of the members ended up working on the record as well. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Through his long association with Dave Torbert, harmonica player Matt Kelly won a spot in Rea's band.</a> From one perspective, the significance of Slewfoot was that it triggered the professional association of Matt Kelly and Bob Weir. Both Kelly and Weir like to tell the story that they went to the same junior high school, and had played football together but not music. Left out of this story is how they connected musically. Of course, their junior high connection gave Weir and Kelly something to talk about, but it was <i>Slewfoot</i> that gave them their musical link. </p><p>The <i>Slewfoot</i> album is enjoyable, though nothing special, and in many ways it is a typical of many record company efforts in the early 1970s. The particular outlier is that not only were the Grateful Dead heavily involved, but that Bob Weir was the outside producer for the only time in his career. Weir shared co-producer credits with David Rea. No one every really talks about <i>Slewfoot</i>, so in this post I will try and fit together the pieces of the puzzle.</p><p><i><b>David Rea</b></i><br />David Rea (1946-2011) was born in Ohio. In the early 60s, Rea moved to Toronto, working as a guitarist for Gordon Lightfoot and Ian & Sylvia. Joni Mitchell and Neil Young encouraged him to write his own songs, and some of them were recorded by Ian & Sylvia. <a href="http://davidreamusic.com/Biography.asp">Rea became an established sideman in Toronto and elsewhere, recording with a wide variety of of artists. </a>Rea released two albums on Capitol Records in 1969 (<i>Maverick Child)</i> and 1971 (<i>By The Grace Of God)</i>, both produced by Felix Pappalardi. Pappalardi had helped produce Cream, among other bands, and played bass and produced the band Mountain. </p><p>Since Rea was produced by Pappalardi, he worked with the members of Mountain on his record. As it happened, Rea ended up co-writing a song with Mountain guitarist Leslie West, the immortal "Mississippi Queen." If you say "I don't know 'Mississippi Queen'" you are probably wrong. It was a classic rock tune if there ever was one, and it was in regular use for beer commercials well into the 21st century. When you hear drummer Corky Laing's ringing cowbell, and West's blazing guitar intro, you know what avalanche is coming. To my knowledge, "Mississippi Queen" was the only song West and Rea wrote together, and way out of Rea's normal range, but it confers immortality on its own.</p><p>In 1972, Rea rather unexpectedly joined Fairport Convention for a few months. Fairport was in flux (in between <i>Babbacombe Lee</i> and <i>Fairport Nine)</i>, and guitarist Simon Nicol had left. Roger Hill had joined as guitarist, and Rea joined as the lead guitarist. Stalwarts Dave Swarbrick on fiddle and Dave Pegg on bass remained, along with drummer Tom Farnell. Odd as this seems--it's odd--I do know that David Rea opened for Fairport at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on September 3-6, 1970, so at least there was some connection. They recorded an album that was never released, since Rea was, essentially, "too American" for Fairport (t<a href="https://www.discogs.com/Fairport-Convention-Come-All-Ye-The-First-Ten-Years/release/10663344">agged <i>The Manor Sessions</i>, it was ultimately released as part of disc 4 of Come All Ye: The First Ten Years 7-disc set in 2017</a>). Rea even toured a little bit in Summer '72 (I think I heard a tape from My Father's Place in Long Island), <a href="https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2017/07/fairport-convention-come-all-ye-the-first-10-years/2/ ">but it just wasn't a fit</a>. Rea left Fairport, replaced by Jerry Donahue.</p><p>Come late 1972, and Columbia Records had signed Rea. Since <i>Slewfoot</i> was released as a "Columbia/Windfall" imprint, that tells us that Pappalardi was in the picture. Pappalardi still had clout as a producer, and all the Mountain albums were on Windfall. Windfall had been distributed by Bell Records, but after 1972, Windfall was distributed by Columbia. So even though Pappalardi's name does not appear on the record, he lay behind the signing. The metadata tells us that Columbia Records head Clive Davis was financing the David Rea album as part of a collaboration with Felix Pappalardi.<br /></p><b><i>Producers</i></b><br />Bob Weir is credited with co-producer of <i>Slewfoot</i>, along with David Rea. Weir's credit was not only unprecedented, but never repeated. The strangeness of the credit is magnified by the fact that Weir and Rea clearly did not know each other prior to the album. Although Weir received the occasional producing credit or co-credit for his own work over the years, his solo studio work was largely produced by others. We can only assume that the effort to produce <i>Slewfoot</i> was unsatisfying enough that Weir never wished to repeat it. How did Weir end up in the producer's chair?<br /><p>The only hypothesis that makes sense for Weir's production is that Columbia Records head Clive Davis was trying to curry favor with Weir. Remember, in July 1972, the Dead had announced that the band was not only leaving Warner Brothers, they were going to become totally independent and start their own record company. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/grateful-dead-solo-album-contracts-1970.html">Not only was this unthinkable in the 1970s record industry, players like Clive Davis must have just thought it was a negotiating tactic. Thus getting on the good side of key members of the band was part of a difficult dance by Davis to get the Dead signed to Columbia</a>. </p><p>What did record producers do in the 1970s? A producer could play a variety of roles, but to use some modern terminology, a record producer was both Risk Manager and Project Manager. There were a variety of models for producers, not at all exclusive to each other.</p><p><i><b>Risk Manager</b></i><br />Producers got a royalty for producing an album (as part of their contract), but they were also responsible for their assigned budget. A producer would have to decide whether to rush a band, or change studios, or take his time, weighing the cost of the record against the resulting sales. When you see a band or artist listed as their own producer, this mostly refers to the financial risk/reward associated with the record. The band is getting producing royalties, weighed against the cost of the album.</p><p><i><b>Chief Engineer</b></i><br />Some producers were renowned for their distinctive sounds, and had risen to prominence as brilliant engineers. A classic example of this was Glyn Johns. Johns had engineered many classic English rock albums, such as <i>Beggars Banquet, Abbey Road</i> and <i>Led Zeppelin</i>, and mixed many 60s classics as well (like <i>Joe Cocker!</i> and <i>Let It Bleed</i>). From 1971 onwards, he was largely a producer, engineering his own work, including <i>Who's Next</i> and the first four Eagles albums (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyn_Johns_discography">Johns' discography is amazing</a>). Johns' sound is the sound of classic rock.</p><p><i><b>Band Director</b></i><br />Some producers left the engineering to some hired gun, and focused on the songs and the players. A producer like Nick Lowe was always trying to find the right people to play the right song the right way, rather than worrying about the aural landscape. This approach worked very well when the emphasis was on songwriting, like Lowe's production of early Elvis Costello (<i>My Aim Is True, This Year's Model</i> and <i>Armed Forces</i>)</p><p><b><i>Politician</i></b><br />Some producers' most critical function was as a filter between the artist and record company. Legendary producer Tom Wilson produced "Like A Rolling Stone" for Bob Dylan, and the groundbreaking debut albums by the Mothers of Invention, the Velvet Underground and Soft Machine. On those projects, his principal value seems to have been keeping the record company at bay so that the musicians could do their thing.<br /><br />Every project would be different, and for each the producer had to figure out how to manage the budget, how much to interfere with the songs, how much to modify the actual soundscape and how to navigate any record company politics. The best producers, like Glyn Johns, George Martin or Todd Rundgren, could wear any and all of those hats with ease.</p><p>[With respect to the history of the Grateful Dead, "staff" producers like Bob Matthews, Betty Cantor, Owsley or Dan Healy focused on the engineering. That also seems true of Dave Hassinger (the debut album). Stephen Barncard (<i>American Beauty</i>) and Gary Lyons (<i>Go To Heaven</i>). Keith Olsen, during <i>Terrapin Station</i>, was his own engineer, but he also directed the band far more than any other Grateful Dead producer, demanding section rehearsals and overdubbing an orchestra. Lowell George, for <i>Shakedown Street,</i> was much more of a Band Director and far less focused on the sound itself. Since he never finished the project, we won't ever know how it could have come out]. <br /></p><p><b><i></i></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv9CYKwLflgVdI1iYvi_C5cjvgooAG714aug7OaNYW2AYqsp1L1iANfcu7cnarPiYxv1HZEjQllc1L5Je-lozC8vHeq4cibD2qIYEUtmlhLMWHB_IUPrTbAH6FCAHzlYclIV0DhhPu500/s480/Buddy+Cage+photo+70s.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv9CYKwLflgVdI1iYvi_C5cjvgooAG714aug7OaNYW2AYqsp1L1iANfcu7cnarPiYxv1HZEjQllc1L5Je-lozC8vHeq4cibD2qIYEUtmlhLMWHB_IUPrTbAH6FCAHzlYclIV0DhhPu500/s320/Buddy+Cage+photo+70s.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The great Buddy Cage (1946-2020) on stage</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><i><br />Bob Weir, Buddy Cage and Recording</i></b><br />So what really happened when Weir produced <i>Slewfoot</i>? Rea was pretty much a flatpicker with a country-style voice, so the Buck Owens sound of the 1972 live Grateful Dead seemed made to order. Still, it wasn't Weir who had captured that sound on tape. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Record_Plant" target="_blank">Slewfoot was recorded at the newly-opened, state-of-the-art Record Plant studio in Sausalito</a>. This alone tells us that Columbia was paying top dollar for this. In early 1973, the New Riders would record <i>Panama Red</i> at The Record Plant, but I'm not sure whether that was before or after the <i>Slewfoot</i> sessions. <p></p><p>On board as engineers for <i>Slewfoot</i> were Stephen Barncard and Tom Scott. Barncard was already an experienced producer in his own right--he had produced <i>American Beauty</i>--so I don't know why he was just an engineer for <i>Slewfoot</i>. It's possible he didn't have enough time. Tom Scott (not the saxophonist) was a well-regarded engineer, but I think he may not yet have had the experience to get the call as producer. The plan, however, seems to have been to send Rea to San Francisco for a Grateful Dead-styled country rock album, and perhaps the concept was that Weir was the conduit to the right guests.</p><p>Bob Weir has always been the nicest and most agreeable member of the Grateful Dead, avoiding many of the feuds and factionalism that are integral to any long-running organization. A diplomatic personality can be an essential trait in a record producer. In contrast, however, Weir was always legendary for being the most disorganized member, and the most likely to be late for any meeting, rehearsal or show. Disorganization was never a helpful trait in producing albums. There is a hint of this on the back cover: Buddy Cage is listed as "Session Coordinator." That is a very rare credit for an album. I have to think it arose only because studio veteran Cage did far more work than might normally have been expected, work that probably should have been done by co-producer Bob Weir. </p><p>Weir had been in the studio many times with the Grateful Dead by 1972, but the Dead had their own teams of technical wizards to manage the hardware. Jerry Garcia, and to some extent Phil Lesh, had already demonstrated some interest in the actual making of albums, but there was no sign that Weir had been particularly hands-on. What was he bringing to <i>Slewfoot</i>?</p><p>The album consisted of 10 tracks, five of them written or co-written by David Rea, and five cover songs, played in a honky-tonk country rock style. The album covers two country songs, a variation of a blues classic, a countrified version of a Fairport Convention song (less strange when you realize Rea had just left that group) and a Chuck Berry song. Save for the Fairport song, the other four are all in the vein that the Dead or Kingfish might do, so I suspect Weir played a part in selecting songs. I also assume that Rea had a fair amount of original material, and some choices were made regarding his songs as well. </p><p>For new artists at the time, it was common to include some original material and then cover some recognizable songs, so record buyers could get a feel for an album just by reading the back cover. "Run That By Me One More Time" was not a big hit for Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, but it was well-known (from the 1970 album <i>Porter Wayne and Dolly Rebecca,</i> actually written solely by Parton), and "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" had been a big hit for Tom T Hall in 1971. Those songs, along with the Chuck Berry song (the classic "Nadine"), would have given a prospective buyer a view of David Rea's range without actually having heard his music.</p><p><i><b>Who Played The Sessions?</b></i><br />The enduring curiosity for Deadheads is the credits on the back of the album (see the complete list below). Joining Weir are Keith and Donna Godchaux from the Grateful Dead, and John Kahn on bass. Four of the New Riders are on the album (Cage, Torbert, David Nelson and Spencer Dryden), and there are some familiar faces from other albums, including Richard Greene on fiddle, and Darlene DiDomenico on vocals. DiDomenico was a friend of the NRPS crowd, and sang in various local bands, as well as on some Riders albums. DiDomenico also sang with the infamously notorious Sparky And The Assbites From Hell (a "band" consisting mostly of Grateful Dead road crew). The first track on side one--an important decision back then--is"'Run That By Me One More Time," and DiDomenico shares the call-and-response vocal with Rea.</p><p>Richard Greene, an old friend of David Nelson's, plays some prominent fiddle parts. The biggest surprise in the credits is Charles Lloyd on flute and saxophone. Lloyd was known to be friendly with the Dead, but it's surprising to see him play on a country session (in any case, he's inaudible to me on saxophone, but noodles on the flute for one track). The countrified grand piano of Keith Godchaux is plain in a few places, as well. The album credits "Vocal Arrangements" to "Weir/Godchaux," presumably Donna Godchaux. Many tracks have 70s-style "choir" vocals, with plenty of "ooh-oohs," but none of them are distinctive, certainly not as either Bob or Donna.<br /></p><p>The last four names on the credits actually became the band Slewfoot, formed to tour and support the album. The fact that the band members effectively auditioned at the Record Plant and even played a little bit on the album tells us that the sessions were fairly extensive, and that Columbia was footing the bill. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">Harmonica player Matt Kelly, as I have extensively detailed elsewhere, had been in a number of bands with Dave Torbert around 1968</a>. Torbert and Kelly had parted ways but stayed in touch. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/12/gospel-oakmountain-current33-1969-72.html">Kelly had returned to the Bay Area in '72, having spent a lot of time touring on the Chitlin Circuit, playing the blues</a>. It was Torbert who invited Kelly to the <i>Slewfoot</i> sessions, triggering his reunion with Bob Weir.</p><p>The other "Slewfoot" band members had similar connections. Guitarist Bill Cutler had worked with Stephen Barncard before, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html">drummer Chris Herold had worked with Kelly and Torbert previously</a>, and <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/february-27-1971-fillmore-west-james.html">bassist James Ackroyd had been part of the "greater Dead family" as one of James and The Good Brothers</a>. Cutler said that he spent a long day jamming and talking, and agreed to join the Slewfoot band at the end. It's not clear which tracks the new band members played on, save for Kelly's harmonica parts.<br /></p><b><i>Where Was Jerry?</i></b><br />Of course, if Clive Davis' concept was to record in San Francisco in order to affiliate David Rea with the Grateful Dead, where was Jerry Garcia? Davis' longstanding affinity for the Grateful Dead was mostly focused on Garcia. I have to presume that Garcia could have produced Rea's album if he chose, whether or not he was asked directly by Columbia. I also have to think that hiring Weir as a producer would come with the assumption that Garcia would drop in for the sessions.<p>It's not clear when <i>Slewfoot</i> was recorded, but it was probably late '72/early '73. During that time, Garcia was very busy: writing songs for the upcoming Grateful Dead album, <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/11/1972-73-muleskinnerold-and-in-way.html">practicing his banjo to get up to speed for Old And In The Way</a>, and gigging at night with Merl Saunders. Now, Rea sounds like a terrific flatpicker in a wide variety of styles, and probably would have had a gas playing bluegrass in Stinson Beach with Garcia, David Grisman and Peter Rowan. And--who knows--maybe some hot-picking acoustic sounds would have set <i>Slewfoot</i> apart, in a way that just covering some country hits did not. But none of it happened.</p><p>David Rea and the band Slewfoot played the CBS Record Convention in San Francisco, I think in March of 1973. I think the album came out in the Spring, April or May perhaps. Slewfoot played a few shows around the Bay Area throughout the Summer (see below). But Clive Davis was pushed aside from the top position at Columbia Records, and many of the acts that had been signed under Davis, including David Rea, the Sons of Champlin and the Rowan Brothers, were all dropped. <a href="http://davidreamusic.com/Biography.asp">Rea continued to live and perform in the Bay Area for the next 15 years</a>, but his connection to the Grateful Dead ran dry, leaving only an out-of-print album. <br /></p><p><b><i></i></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36_HBuLti1EwVmo5uEn6teZeQCJrgD7hYMsQu7C_LZAd_bCLuQLGFCFdnKMlvRqdnhwzprkh1r95hqxqcPnuIABZW7CgMOXXS7YwDlJZR7HaPoFwoHDamDfMXlO6aCpjctBE2_DtodYw/s1584/Slewfoot+back+cover-David+Rea.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1584" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36_HBuLti1EwVmo5uEn6teZeQCJrgD7hYMsQu7C_LZAd_bCLuQLGFCFdnKMlvRqdnhwzprkh1r95hqxqcPnuIABZW7CgMOXXS7YwDlJZR7HaPoFwoHDamDfMXlO6aCpjctBE2_DtodYw/s320/Slewfoot+back+cover-David+Rea.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The back cover of David Rea's 1973 Slewfoot album on Windfall/Columbia, with his new band of the same name. Matthew Kelly (2-r) carrying the guitar case.<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><b><i><br />Slewfoot</i> Album Credits</b><p></p><p><b>Side 1</b><br /> Run That By Me One More Time (Dolly Parton / Porter Wagoner)[<i>sic: just Parton</i>]<br /> The Year That Clayton Delaney Died (Tom T Hall)<br /> Stagger Lee And Billy (Ike Turner)<br /> Rosie (David Swarbrick)<br /> Saturday Night Woman (David Rea / Judi Corbo)<br /><br /><b>Side 2</b><br /> Tell Me Where Do All The Good Times Go (David Rea)<br /> The Light Of The World (David Rea)<br /> Nadine (Chuck Berry)<br /> Thank You For Being My Friend (David Rea)<br /> I Love You (David Rea / Gary Ship) </p><p><b>Musicians</b><br /> David Nelson - guitar<br /> Buddy Cage - pedal steel guitar<br /> David Torbert - bass<br /> John Kahn - bass<br /> Spencer Dryden - drums, percussion<br /> Bob Weir - guitar, vocals<br /> Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals<br /> Keith Godchaux - organ, piano, vocals<br /> Darlene DiDominico - vocals<br /> Matthew Kelly - harmonica, percussion, vocals<br /> Richard Green - fiddle<br /> Charles Lloyd - saxophone, flute<br /> David Rea - guitar, piano, organ, chimes, vocals<br /> James Ackroyd - bass, vocals<br /> Chris Herold - drums<br /> Bill Cutler - guitars, vocals <br /><br /><b>Album Credits</b><br /> Producer - David Rea & Bob Weir<br /> Vocal Arrangements - Weir-Godchaux<br /> Engineers - Steve Barncard, Tom Scott<br /> Assistant Engineer - Kurt Kinzel<br /> Remix & Windfall Quality Control - Bob D'Orleans<br /> Technical Assistance and Advice - Spencer Dryden<br /> Session Co-ordinator - Buddy Cage<br /> Photos & Design - Bob Seiderman, George Hunter<br /> Communications - Rock Scully<br /> Recorded at the Record Plant, Sausalito, California <br /></p><p><i><b>Slewfoot Live</b></i></p><p><b>Slewfoot</b> (early 1973)<br /><br /> <b>David Rea-</b>guitar, vocals<br /> <b>Bill Cutler</b>-lead guitar<br /> <b> Matt Kelly</b>-harmonica, guitar<br /> <b> James Ackroyd</b>-bass<br /> <b>Chris Herold-</b>drums</p><p>The band Slewfoot was formed to tour behind the album. As auditions were held during recording, all of the members ended up working on the album as well. Matt Kelly had been leading bands in the South Bay since 1967. Chris Herold had been in a number of those bands, <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/03/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html">including the New Delhi River Band</a>, Shango and Horses. Horses had even released an obscure album in 1968. <a href="https://www.dead.net/features/dead-world-roundup/bill-cutler-lot-help-his-friends" target="_blank">Bill Cutler was a transplanted songwriter from New York city, who also worked as a studio engineer</a>. James Ackroyd had been with <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/february-27-1971-fillmore-west-james.html" target="_blank">the Canadian group James And The Good Brothers, who had been encouraged to relocate to San Francisco after the Festival Express tour</a>. The Good Brothers would return to Canada, but Ackroyd had stayed on.</p><p>Interestingly, according to Bill Cutler, Pete Sears was part of the
auditions as well. Sears was a great player, and wouldn't have "flunked"
at either bass or keyboards. Presumably Sears didn't see a fit for
himself, possibly because Sears was more interested in the studio at the
time rather than playing nightclubs.<br /><br />Slewfoot played very few live shows, as far as I can tell. They did play the Columbia Records Convention in early 1973 with the Sons Of Champlin, but I'm not sure precisely when or where that was. When Clive Davis was fired as the head of Columbia Records, David Rea was dropped by the label and Slewfoot ground to a halt. Supposedly there has been an edition of the <i>Grateful Dead Hour</i> with a live recording of the Slewfoot band, but I have been unable to track it down.</p><p>My assumption so far is that Columbia was anxious to have David Rea put a band together for a CBS Records convention in San Francisco. Since they played with the Sons Of Champlin, another CBS act (with a new album, <i>Welcome To The Dance</i>), I think the convention was late February/early March. Both the Sons and David Rea ultimately got dropped, in the purge that followed Clive Davis' departure, but I think Davis had big plans. Remember--at the same time, Davis and Columbia were promoting The Rowan Brothers, so Davis was big on San Francisco bands.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJoFuNeYzDkI3N-kHy9aGQyzT7Gk7NGPcce5wmHQZCgqo0ouu2o7LyiCK_AesdRzPKralHxPJ7tQEFXB85lQNyP0rZUpEB4on_dqdLZsv2csd6coLjjag-vpCTZOJ-kx1_JPBFQsCBfP4/s2048/David+Rea+Orphanage+19730723.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1353" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJoFuNeYzDkI3N-kHy9aGQyzT7Gk7NGPcce5wmHQZCgqo0ouu2o7LyiCK_AesdRzPKralHxPJ7tQEFXB85lQNyP0rZUpEB4on_dqdLZsv2csd6coLjjag-vpCTZOJ-kx1_JPBFQsCBfP4/s320/David+Rea+Orphanage+19730723.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Rowan Brothers and Slewfoot, both Columbia Records acts, are booked for three nights at The Orphanage in San Francisco, July 23-25, 1973.</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The only other date I have been able to find in the first part of 1973 was at The Orphanage, at 807 Montgomery in San Francisco, a new club at the time. Since the Rowans and Slewfoot were booked together, it implies a Columbia connection. Of course, the Monday-Wednesday booking wasn't ideal. David Grisman was still probably the organist (yes, organist) for the Rowans at the time, and I assume Kelly and Herold were still onboard. So there's a lot of Grateful Dead history here, but I think the bands were at the end of the line. I haven't been able to pin down Clive Davis' departure but it's about this time. <p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBEss8dcqlDUrRzUFA71lCSZnDw1IjQz7oNXTfbnO3xRMVWjPy4fCdNJYH01WrNjaGyjYf1krV6KQefBied9h9gjhb8pXwBhPTzEcGC0q3Ukn-Ec0FcY5OMCJnq4OrseOVrFWziHhkrJ0/s498/David+Rea+and+Slewfoot+30+Dec+1973%252C+97+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBEss8dcqlDUrRzUFA71lCSZnDw1IjQz7oNXTfbnO3xRMVWjPy4fCdNJYH01WrNjaGyjYf1krV6KQefBied9h9gjhb8pXwBhPTzEcGC0q3Ukn-Ec0FcY5OMCJnq4OrseOVrFWziHhkrJ0/s320/David+Rea+and+Slewfoot+30+Dec+1973%252C+97+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>David Rea and Slewfoot (Mk 2) described in the San Francisco Examiner Bay Area band guide, from December 30, 1973 (part one was Dec 23)<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><i><b>Slewfoot Mark 2 (late '73/early '74)</b></i><br />Some other evidence I have found suggests that the original Slewfoot band scattered in late Summer '73. Evidence of Bill Cutler's and Matt Kelly's activities all point this way (in another forthcoming and incredibly lengthy blog post). Still, there was another lineup of Slewfoot led by David Rea. At the end of 1973, the SF <i>Examiner</i> ran a piece with the "Mighty 99," the top working rock bands in the Bay Area. It's a great guide to who was in what band at the time. Slewfoot, by the end of '73, was just Rea, bassist James Ackroyd and drummer Jay David. The group seems to have played in late '73 and early '74.<br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3hdiUMNiSjRfiGbyUkf66V0hlE6Jkf9OXrvelbmH6V8aohX5QcMzr8AP4pPnsJ72cxOwISglBxxaGHqvjC8AWxBqtaFueunfop3rBEgGmz_POVXSQPaGhZJ0OHfn8Ws_oixrJcNAVriA/s762/Wailers+Matrix+19731019+19+Oct+1973%252C+45+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="108" data-original-width="762" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3hdiUMNiSjRfiGbyUkf66V0hlE6Jkf9OXrvelbmH6V8aohX5QcMzr8AP4pPnsJ72cxOwISglBxxaGHqvjC8AWxBqtaFueunfop3rBEgGmz_POVXSQPaGhZJ0OHfn8Ws_oixrJcNAVriA/s320/Wailers+Matrix+19731019+19+Oct+1973%252C+45+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Bob Marley and The Wailers play two nights at "The New Matrix" at 412 Broadway on October 19-20, 1973, later better known as The Stone. Yes really. Stuart Little Band were booked, replacing a band who canceled, who I'm pretty sure were Slewfoot.<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />The most fascinating booking is this one, but I am all but certain that Slewfoot canceled and was replaced by the Stuart Little Band from Stockton, CA. Bob Marley and The Wailers, then thoroughly unknown, were booked for two nights at a club called The New Matrix. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2011/03/412-broadway-san-francisco-ca-mr-ds.html">Grateful Dead fans may recognize the address of 412 Broadway as the future address of The Stone</a>. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0166E38T8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">The Stuart Little Band, from Stockton, have described in one band member's book (<i>The Mouse That Almost Roared</i>: yes, I read it) about opening for the Wailers.</a> They replaced some other band on the bill, and I'm pretty sure it was Slewfoot.</p><p><i><b>update</b>: <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/02/slewfoot-david-rea-columbiawindfall.html?showComment=1623374346596#c7200666924455294558">scholarly Commenter David Kramer-Smyth</a> found out that it was the Sons Of Champlin that canceled, and Slewfoot did indeed open for Bob Marley and The Wailers. </i><br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic3UFNPKAlEveZ7J0r4odb0Xsie3d5d3z2LErAncPD5PupOMo3AYOp_YzuwANx9wRF7JBGYFVYxbFHwNu7n3vNq4ZphHgC4WG0nUSCXR3t-XB1zxgJZI0tbtbIVwj7Oomb2FvIR-arPR0/s890/Slewfoot+19731231+30+Dec+1973%252C+126+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="226" data-original-width="890" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic3UFNPKAlEveZ7J0r4odb0Xsie3d5d3z2LErAncPD5PupOMo3AYOp_YzuwANx9wRF7JBGYFVYxbFHwNu7n3vNq4ZphHgC4WG0nUSCXR3t-XB1zxgJZI0tbtbIVwj7Oomb2FvIR-arPR0/s320/Slewfoot+19731231+30+Dec+1973%252C+126+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slewfoot at The Wharf Rat Tavern at Fisherman's Wharf, New Year's Eve '73<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Slewfoot appeared to have some sort of residency at a joint called The Wharf Rat Tavern, at 101 Jefferson Street. near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. Slewfoot appears to have been playing Thursday through Saturday nights throughout January, and probably before that, based on the New Year's Eve booking. The Wharf Rat was on the corner of Jefferson and Mason, right near the waterfront (close to Pier 43). Although Fisherman's Wharf had been a genuine port for fisherman in its day, by the 1970s it was more focused on tourists. Playing one of clubs there on a weekend was probably really good money, much better than opening for the Rowan Brothers on a Wednesday. But Slewfoot was probably playing a lot of covers, too, and they weren't ever going to be reviewed in the newspaper if they played Fisherman's Wharf.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSd4xGbTdmZZInZidUCdt_3si36vHUUZKSc6RoyfOcW9_YbgxVEgRYK8HcKtaHofCeLHOIyzBzTjYZUfTRaeQhlShV_I7rfoPpRvb7lZAtCZYxAhbHFJIx5NHPkllhGq5bL_Rz7nKwFg/s1122/Slewfoot+Davis+19740208+8+Feb+1974%252C+26+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="90" data-original-width="1122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOSd4xGbTdmZZInZidUCdt_3si36vHUUZKSc6RoyfOcW9_YbgxVEgRYK8HcKtaHofCeLHOIyzBzTjYZUfTRaeQhlShV_I7rfoPpRvb7lZAtCZYxAhbHFJIx5NHPkllhGq5bL_Rz7nKwFg/s320/Slewfoot+Davis+19740208+8+Feb+1974%252C+26+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>February 8, 1974 Freeborn Hall, UC Davis, Davis, CA: Jesse Colin Young/David Rea with Slewfoot</b><br />Jesse Colin Young had left the Youngbloods and gone solo, like so many singer/songwriters at the time. His album <i>Song For Juli </i>was getting a lot of local airplay, and he was playing the college circuit. The fact that Slewfoot opened for a rising artist was a sign that David Rea still had an agent, and wasn't exclusively on the cover circuit. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiss8YVpzMoDnhNpB1nZyWk5tZviYR56EScBa4-GxFhJmaHHo0LtvYDGBb6eB0XrxY2MpoWy24qVLDsz4PKlZ-QQ6n9eJosWd0d9wIX9imzXrTaTXYCtBqpzHavYNdox-uCiLQqBld3Zus/s1326/Slewfoot+IOTB+1940328+28+Mar+1974%252C+30+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="152" data-original-width="1326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiss8YVpzMoDnhNpB1nZyWk5tZviYR56EScBa4-GxFhJmaHHo0LtvYDGBb6eB0XrxY2MpoWy24qVLDsz4PKlZ-QQ6n9eJosWd0d9wIX9imzXrTaTXYCtBqpzHavYNdox-uCiLQqBld3Zus/s320/Slewfoot+IOTB+1940328+28+Mar+1974%252C+30+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>March 28, 1974 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: Cris Williamson and Melba Rounds/David Rea and Slewfoot</b><br /><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/07/8201-old-redwood-highway-cotati-ca-inn.html">The Inn Of The Beginning was a delightful little club in bucolic Cotati,</a> off in Sonoma County, near to Sonoma State College. It was a wonderful place to see a show, but it was tiny. <a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Inn%20of%20The%20Beginning.htm">Opening at the Inn Of The Beginning on a Thursday night was for young guys on the rise, not someone who wrote a hit single and recorded an album produced by a member of the Grateful Dead.</a></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Z8rg3AVXCUJQw0zxZaSOK9b-SyemxVP65XKrLfcmE0HBdM9eIThhpekZzrXI5Lt6SDKUVdWsb-5TsZ12W3iCkADWTVDRUCJBe21WFqQRLrA_X8ZKr8eItUGd4J6dpa8kxELyVVeemL0/s490/DavidRea+2010.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="327" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Z8rg3AVXCUJQw0zxZaSOK9b-SyemxVP65XKrLfcmE0HBdM9eIThhpekZzrXI5Lt6SDKUVdWsb-5TsZ12W3iCkADWTVDRUCJBe21WFqQRLrA_X8ZKr8eItUGd4J6dpa8kxELyVVeemL0/s320/DavidRea+2010.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Rea in 2010 (photo:Jack Bawden)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />Aftermath</b></i><br />Slewfoot seems to have ground to a halt, as I found no trace of advertised David Rea performances after the Cotati gig. Now, to be clear, Rea did not give up music. However, he had three kids, and by the 1980s he focused on raising his family. I believe he still played and taught guitar around the Bay Area, but with a greater emphasis on gigs that paid. Good for him. <a href=" http://davidreamusic.com/home.asp">In the mid-80s, with his kids older, Rea took up writing, performing and recording original material again. Ultimately he moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1995, and he had a thriving career in the region until he passed away in 2011.</a><p></p><p>The <i>Slewfoot</i> album has never been released on cd. Vinyl copies float around, and every once in a while Deadheads look at it and say "what's this?" It's not a bad record, actually, though not a memorably good one, but so many questions are left unanswered.<br /></p><p><br /></p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-66573409166023259852020-11-28T16:07:00.006-08:002020-11-29T03:37:07.725-08:00Febraury 25, 1975 Berkeley or Fairfax--Good Old Boys (Stealth Jerry?)<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30bP5SV6RdME3kRi1pt96vy8DzCZRaidgwYChrHXLHBELB643SOdYnF4C0jtr3OjyhWhxbVOKWVm-s8aBDeduQpdn44Xd-z_pN2AVdNtHtUGGALXVYxEwPWKnnxabr7S4sM5BScjcXI/s668/Good+Old+Boys+Keystone+19750225+25+Feb+1975%252C+22+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="274" data-original-width="668" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB30bP5SV6RdME3kRi1pt96vy8DzCZRaidgwYChrHXLHBELB643SOdYnF4C0jtr3OjyhWhxbVOKWVm-s8aBDeduQpdn44Xd-z_pN2AVdNtHtUGGALXVYxEwPWKnnxabr7S4sM5BScjcXI/s320/Good+Old+Boys+Keystone+19750225+25+Feb+1975%252C+22+-+The+San+Francisco+Examiner+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Tuesday February 25, 1975 San Francisco Examiner entertainment listings include "Country Rock Dance--The Good Old Boys and Soundhole, at Keystone Berkeley, 2119 University Ave 9pm"</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Jerry Garcia is one of the most thoroughly researched popular musicians in the late 20th century. For the sheer volume of analysis, Garcia's career is like those of Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley or John Lennon. Fans, journalists and scholars have attempted to leave no stone unturned. And yet it is remarkable that 25 years after Garcia's passing, we can still find undiscovered landscapes. I am going to make a case here for a missing Jerry Garcia performance from 1975, possibly two. Not only was Garcia already a substantial rock star by this time, but the show or shows were listed in the press under a familiar band name, and yet no one seems to have noticed.<p></p><p>Garcia scholars now know that Jerry, Frank Wakefield and David Nelson played two shows at a club called Margarita's in Santa Cruz, on the weekend of February 20 and 21, 1975. <a href="https://cryptdev.blogspot.com/2012/06/jerry-garcia-and-his-banjo-in-santa.html">We know this not only because a fellow blogger was an eyewitness who recalled the events clearly</a>, but because a fine double-cd was released of the performances in 2019. At the end of January 1975, Garcia and Nelson had recorded the All-Star bluegrass album with Wakefield, fiddler Chubby Wise and banjo player Don Reno. The album <i>Pistol Packin' Mama </i>was not released until January 1976, and the band was called The Good Old Boys. Yet The Good Old Boys had played Margarita's in February of 1975, with Garcia playing banjo in place of Don Reno. Reno and Chubby Wise had left town, so Garcia had surely practiced his banjo to get ready to stand in.</p><p>Guess what? Three days later, on Tuesday, February 25, the listing in the day's San Francisco <i>Examiner</i> noted "Country Rock Dance: The Good Old Boys and Soundhole at Keystone Berkeley, 2119 University Avenue, 9pm." <a href="https://jerrybase.com/venues/430">Garcia, per the golden source of Jerrybase, was known to have played Keystone Berkeley 242 times</a>. I'm going to argue that Garcia didn't work up his banjo chops just for a weekend in Santa Cruz, and make the case for 243.<br /></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2Xhy74b1FAenlL2haBcOSyC0eY1fg0ai95ViyVH3-pAVG6nF_wutDUjTQNYL7wue-Y-ZxCxWnTQQJe0P6XojeOpQCfd2NOvGphksZ7CgCrN7hmJC5tE_h0HNpWbv-qhEArlu9TkNmQE/s285/Good+Old+Boys+Fairfax+19750225+Barb+0221+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2Xhy74b1FAenlL2haBcOSyC0eY1fg0ai95ViyVH3-pAVG6nF_wutDUjTQNYL7wue-Y-ZxCxWnTQQJe0P6XojeOpQCfd2NOvGphksZ7CgCrN7hmJC5tE_h0HNpWbv-qhEArlu9TkNmQE/s0/Good+Old+Boys+Fairfax+19750225+Barb+0221+copy.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>From the Feb 21-28 Berkeley Barb Scenedrome entertainment listings. For Tuesday, February 25, the Good Ol' Boys are listed at the Sleeping Lady Cafe</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Once I discovered the <i>Examiner</i> listing, like any competent scholar I looked for corroboration, in this case in the relevant week of Entertainment Listings (aka <i>Scenedrome</i>) of the Berkeley <i>Barb</i>. Guess what? There was a listing for the Good Ol' Boys on that Tuesday, but at a tiny hippie hangout in Marin County. So that sure points to a Garcia plan to play with the Good Old Boys after the Santa Cruz weekend. Which place was it? I'm going to make the case that Garcia played both--Keystone Berkeley on Tuesday, February 25, and the Sleeping Lady in Fairfax on the day before (February 24) or after (February 26).<p></p><p>Let's review.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhRL_M3Gw13C0JLwdmMqquaJdY41k358NwyeUFm6oqdFrTZ6JWcAWuFR5c-DnOi8tZc_K5mi93iVpiu4wOmxTRCY8ESOeIrRh43ZPHe0srEddwMEKBFpQLp62esnp74X8rhtYo8sJOyA/s300/Good+Old+Boys+Drink+Up+And+Go+Home+cd.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhRL_M3Gw13C0JLwdmMqquaJdY41k358NwyeUFm6oqdFrTZ6JWcAWuFR5c-DnOi8tZc_K5mi93iVpiu4wOmxTRCY8ESOeIrRh43ZPHe0srEddwMEKBFpQLp62esnp74X8rhtYo8sJOyA/s0/Good+Old+Boys+Drink+Up+And+Go+Home+cd.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Drink Up And Go Home, an archival double cd on RockBeat Records,
released in 2019. Featuring Jerry Garcia, Frank Wakefield and David
Nelson, recorded in Santa Cruz, CA on February 20& 21, 1975</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>February 25, 1975 Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Good Old Boys/Soundhole </b><i>"Country Rock Dance" (Tuesday)</i><br />While the Keystone Berkeley was generally a thriving nightclub throughout the 1970s, as far as I can tell, it wasn't flying as high in 1975 as it had a few years earlier. The Keystone had a Fillmore West feel to it, a lot of people on their feet, a lot of blues, a lot of guitar solos. In retrospect, we look back and see Jerry Garcia, Elvin Bishop and John Lee Hooker, and it sounds pretty cool. And it surely was. But in 1975, it wasn't forward looking. Hippies weren't unhip yet, as that would happen when punk and New Wave arrived in Berkeley two years later, but they were a bit <i>passe</i>. Very few touring acts played Keystone Berkeley at this time, save for blues acts who had fewer venues than ever. The bands were mostly local, even though some of them (like Garcia or Bishop) were substantial locals with albums.<p>Still, Keystone Berkeley sold beer, lots and lots of beer, so it was a hangout as well as a destination. Keystone Berkeley was at Shattuck and University, right below the UC Berkeley Campus and right downtown. Plenty of students and former students lived within walking distance of Keystone, and enough of them would have been over 21. There were almost no music bars on Shattuck Avenue at the time, and frankly almost no bars either. So if you liked to spend a weeknight with a cold one and some loud guitar, Keystone Berkeley was about your only choice near campus. Most nights of the week save Tuesday, Keystone Berkeley was open, and mostly for $1.00 or no cover at all, with a local band playing. It was the Bay Area--often the local bands were pretty good. Sunday and Monday were for local bands for a $1.00, and Tuesdays and sometimes Wednesdays were dark unless there was something unique to book.<br /></p><p>On Monday, February 24, Keystone Berkeley had booked Soundhole. Soundhole was Marin County band that had formed around 1973. <a href="http://www.bay-area-bands.com/bab00018.htm">In 1974, Soundhole had hired on as Van Morrison's backing band, so they had a certain status around the Bay Area, even if they had never made an album</a>. Soundhole played rock with some jazz and soul edges, appropriately enough in the style of mid-70s Van Morrison. Soundhole never did make an album (<a href="https://youtu.be/ejeo2YLIpbQ">you can find a Nov 26 '74 Winterland tape if you poke around Wolfgang's Vault</a>), but most of the band members went on to bigger things. Guitarist Brian Marnell was in SVT, with Jack Casady, organist John Farey was in Zero, and saxophonist Johnny Colla, bassist Mario Cipollina and drummer Bill Gibson would go on to Huey Lewis and The News (tenor saxophonist Brian Hogan was the other member). Soundhole were good, the type of band who would be booked for $1.00 on a Monday night at Keystone Berkeley. University and Shattuck was just an hour from San Rafael, and what else would Soundhole have been doing? Have a little fun, maybe make some coin.</p><p>But here's what--Soundhole were Marin funky, like the Sons Of Champlin. They don't play country rock. So why does the Examiner listing say "Country Rock Dance?" Keep in mind, the <i>Examiner</i> was San Francisco's afternoon paper (the larger <i>Chronicle</i> was the morning paper). A club could get a listing added to the paper the day before, and possibly that same day if they called at the beginning of the day. Here's what I think--the Good Old Boys enjoyed their weekend gig in Santa Cruz. I think they decided to keep playing, so someone in the Dead office made some calls.</p><p>Soundhole was booked for Monday, February 24. On Wednesday, Keystone had a relatively big show with a touring band--the great Welsh band Man, with Deke Leonard--so that left Tuesday, usually a dark night. I think Freddie Herrera told Soundhole they should stick around, and booked Garcia and the Good Old Boys on the fly. Keystone staff would have called the <i>Examiner</i> on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, which was too late for the Tuesday <i>Chronicle</i> deadline.</p><p>We know that Garcia would have been sensitive to being advertised at a place like Keystone when he wasn't going to be playing electric guitar and covering Motown and Dylan songs, so I think he didn't want his name on the booking. But Keystone saying "country rock dance" even when the band was the funky Soundhole was code for Herrera letting people who had heard a rumor about Garcia think "this might be him..." I think they played. My guess is Good Old Boys played a set or two of bluegrass, and Soundhole plugged in and funked out until well after midnight.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Ju9WBQGEwxXhyphenhyphentOfAmFMTUmkxQ7ZVN0yQ3WE98iAPFp9hbLnTYKUUCkJq7MPy_gUiEaTraoGoxYMix6mqPz3cG8nv_4iLl_8dPEGNSYodpCfrLgdQd9fYNxVeUJnQgucUlX18E0UVUw/s600/Tazmanian+Devils+Sleeping+Lady+19790418.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="461" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Ju9WBQGEwxXhyphenhyphentOfAmFMTUmkxQ7ZVN0yQ3WE98iAPFp9hbLnTYKUUCkJq7MPy_gUiEaTraoGoxYMix6mqPz3cG8nv_4iLl_8dPEGNSYodpCfrLgdQd9fYNxVeUJnQgucUlX18E0UVUw/s320/Tazmanian+Devils+Sleeping+Lady+19790418.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Reggae Rock band Tazmanian Devils played The Sleeping Lady in Fairfax some time in the late 70s or early 80s. Most flyers for bands at the Sleeping Lady don't even include the address, since all the locals knew the place, and Fairfax was tiny.<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><b><i>The Good Old Boys at The Sleeping Lady Cafe, Fairfax, CA</i></b><br />The Berkeley <i>Barb</i> for the week of February 21-28, 1975 has a listing for the Good Old Boys at the Sleeping Lady Cafe in Fairfax for Tuesday, February 25. This conflicts with the Keystone date. The deadline for the Barb would have been the week before (probably Tuesday February 18), so I'm confident that the Tuesday <i>Examiner</i> listing at the Keystone supersedes the Sleeping Lady. Still, I think the band played there, probably on Monday or Wednesday.</p><p><a href="http://www.deaddisc.com/GDFD_Sleeping_Lady.htm ">The Sleeping Lady Cafe was at 58 Bolinas Avenue in Fairfax, in Marin County</a>. Fairfax is a tiny town, just 2.2 square miles, incorporated in 1931. It is 3 miles Northwest of San Rafael, and at the time had a population of about 7,500 (as it does now). As for the Sleeping Lady itself, it was the first vegetarian restaurant in Marin County, and the first restaurant in Marin to ban smoking indoors. So that made it a hippie hangout from its inception. It had singers and bands from the beginning, and the performers were local, as in "lived down the street" local. <a href="http://www.thefairfaxstreetchoir.com/thechoirband.html">For a long time in the mid-70s, the Sleeping Lady hosted a band called the Fairfax Street Choir, a full rock band with a dozen singers</a>. This quixotic enterprise had numerous Marin connections (e.g. Donna Jean Godchaux's future husband was the bass player, and so on), but was financially impossible. The Sleeping Lady was just a hangout for hippies who liked music. <br /></p><p>It sounds to me like The Good Old Boys booked a gig there, and when Keystone Berkeley called, they bumped it. Makes sense. There is one extremely intriguing piece of evidence, however, that makes me think the Good Old Boys actually played the Sleeping Lady. Garcia scholars may know of Michelle McFee, a wonderful person with whom I have not been in touch with in a while (wherever you are, Michelle, I hope you are well). Michelle McFee, who lived in Kentfield, was among many other things the Office Manager for the New Riders of The Purple Sage, and as connected as one could be to the Marin County music scene. For many years, her on-line handle was "Pistol Packin' Mama" (and in other contexts, "MizShely"). So she identified with the Good Old Boys (and remember, she knew them all). <br /></p><p>A google search of The Sleeping Lady and the Good Old Boys, rather surprisingly, turns up a stale website called Marin Nostalgia. Under the header, "Memories of The Sleeping Lady" what do we find? <a href="http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/sleeping-lady-2/ ">Well, well, Michelle---</a><br /></p><blockquote>Was a hideous ugly place in the 70s…small and somewhat scary, my fondest memory of the place was one night The Good Old Boys were playing and Peter Sheridan went to sitting in a chair and sat right on through it, thuddng on to the floor. In the immortal words of one of Bette Davis’ characters, “WHAT a dump…” — Michelle McFee</blockquote><p></p><p>Yes, it's possible that Michelle McFee was referring to seeing later versions of The Good Old Boys, without Garcia (most Wakefield ensembles since have been called "The Good Old Boys"). But since Michelle thought it was a scary dump, why would she go? The answer, to me, was that Garcia was playing. Remember, she worked for and with David Nelson at the time, so she would have known. </p><p>So I think the Good Old Boys weekend in Santa Cruz went well, and they called Freddie Herrera, who offered them Tuesday. The boys told the Sleeping Lady that they would play a different day, probably Monday February 24, and they did. A few friends of the band, like Michelle McFee, dropped by, and some Bolinas locals dropped in.</p>Comments, Wayback Machine searches, and any rank speculation widely encouraged. For now, I'm going with this:<br /><b>February 25, 1975 Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Good Old Boys/Soundhole </b><i>"Country Rock Dance" (Tuesday)</i><b><br />February 24 or 26, 1975 Sleeping Lady Cafe, Bolinas, CA: Good Old Boys <i>(Monday or Wednesday)</i></b><p> </p><p> </p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-47329409101960575302020-11-13T11:27:00.001-08:002020-11-13T16:59:24.275-08:00Week of May 2, 1970 SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, NY (The Whole Story)<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6u-KOM9jWeb2bUHt0GZeGj9eROM07kov5R9fDRCey-1CT7DHWeEINE3HNvnb1lBY_WSO590UYPgYoI0TSQphMDQIyhVdpJA6-MIyw1OZzmoJ1Qg4jn1oC5MVRT6nF0T7QO_zdBBY04Y/s1038/Binghamton+19700418+18+Apr+1970%252C+Page+25+-+Press+and+Sun-Bulletin+at+Newspapers+com.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="876" data-original-width="1038" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6u-KOM9jWeb2bUHt0GZeGj9eROM07kov5R9fDRCey-1CT7DHWeEINE3HNvnb1lBY_WSO590UYPgYoI0TSQphMDQIyhVdpJA6-MIyw1OZzmoJ1Qg4jn1oC5MVRT6nF0T7QO_zdBBY04Y/s320/Binghamton+19700418+18+Apr+1970%252C+Page+25+-+Press+and+Sun-Bulletin+at+Newspapers+com.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin, Saturday April 18, 1970</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />The Grateful Dead's performance at SUNY Binghamton on May 2, 1970 is the stuff of legend, even for a band with a lengthy history of such events. Not only was the show seven hours of music, not only was it all broadcast on FM radio several weeks later and not only <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/03/bootleg-grateful-dead-lps-east-and-west.html">was it widely bootlegged</a> and finally released as <i>Dick's Picks Vol. 8</i>. The show epitomized the expansion of the Grateful Dead from a cultish phenomenon in San Francisco and Manhattan to an extended community throughout the United States and beyond. I would argue that no show did more than Binghamton to expand the band's legend, since it was broadcast, circulated on bootleg lps, circulated on tape and then finally released, so Heads of every era absorbed it as their own.<p></p><p>Given how well most of us know the music, from the haunting acoustic "I Know You Rider" to Phil Lesh's awesome bass bombs that open the solos on "Dancing In The Street," it's hard not to have imagined yourself there. A college student in a city somewhat distant from big cities, probably a long, cold winter, typical of that part of New York State, and that it was followed by a spectacular Spring. What better way to celebrate Spring and the end of Winter Semester with an entire Saturday Evening With The Grateful Dead? What a night it would have been, were any of us lucky enough to be there.</p><p>And yet--Saturday night with the Grateful Dead wouldn't have been the whole story, indeed, it appears to have been about a quarter of it. Let's go back and try and piece together the rock and roll week of May 1, 1970 at SUNY Binghamton.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vV8og8PkRwbf-Sx2xj36joegM3lf4eZDJ9ns1mlORIsIzYpzSGC5ocjDyg5gL7lim47WfqkdJgLJ_CyawYJVMQbtLleKl_5vT4GViSS2K5yUcxdPakaT-CuAknzSgYVijW2tpumCcbY/s2048/GD+Bootleg+Cowboys+Dead+19700502.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1530" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vV8og8PkRwbf-Sx2xj36joegM3lf4eZDJ9ns1mlORIsIzYpzSGC5ocjDyg5gL7lim47WfqkdJgLJ_CyawYJVMQbtLleKl_5vT4GViSS2K5yUcxdPakaT-CuAknzSgYVijW2tpumCcbY/s320/GD+Bootleg+Cowboys+Dead+19700502.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An early 70s Grateful Dead bootleg lp recorded from the Binghamton show</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />The listing on page 25 of <i>The Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin</i> from Saturday April 18, 1970, posted above has some interesting information about upcoming events at SUNY Binghamton:<br /><blockquote><i>Four leading pop groups are scheduled to perform at State University at Binghamton. The lineup:<br />May 1: Pentangle and Paul Butterfield Blues Band<br />May 2: Grateful Dead with Riders of The Purple Sage<br />May 5: Incredible String Band<br />May 8 or 9: James Taylor, country singer Sweet Baby James </i></blockquote><p>What? Four rock shows at the College? In the same week? Now, it's hard to recall that State Universities cost about $50 a semester in those days, not a lot of money even then, and the schools provided all sorts of benefits. One of those benefits was an entertainment budget to bring acts to distant colleges, for no other reason than to make undergraduate life broader and better. So every college back then had a rock show each semester, and some of them had more than one. It made a good payday for touring bands, and rock audiences were largely college-age at the time. But four in a week? All with albums, not just local yokels, and indeed, three of them had played Woodstock the Summer before. The week of May 1 at SUNY Binghamton was booked like a week at Fillmore East.</p><p>Why didn't we hear about this? It seems we have far fewer eyewitnesses from Binghamton than I thought, because this week of rock shows seems like an all-timer. Indeed, the only eyewitness account I am aware of the review from the student paper that appeared in <i>Dick's Picks Volume 8</i>.<br /></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHA7trveG5WC3U9zw84fyhJlRrsKlmcALDFdVRZAgPoqFn4uq8T24Imz-hHz5D5vtg4rGRX_L5VE21yhCOnIUks_ZT4ccSbC94ucmox1ySlLKNQy2suZ5QxiqiCcKtIIqPkeoXqHZif7Q/s600/Basket+Of+Light+Pentangle+69+lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHA7trveG5WC3U9zw84fyhJlRrsKlmcALDFdVRZAgPoqFn4uq8T24Imz-hHz5D5vtg4rGRX_L5VE21yhCOnIUks_ZT4ccSbC94ucmox1ySlLKNQy2suZ5QxiqiCcKtIIqPkeoXqHZif7Q/s320/Basket+Of+Light+Pentangle+69+lp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Basket Of Light, the classic Pentangle album released in October 1969 (Warners)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><i><b><br />An Hypothesis</b></i><br />I have a theory. I can't prove it, yet, it's just some logical deduction. If anyone out there has any information, recollections, flashbacks or irrational speculation, please include them in the Comments. There has to be a story. But here's my speculation.<p></p><p>Every College and University in those days had an "Entertainment Budget," designed to bring cultural enrichment and fun to undergraduate (or graduate) lives. The budget paid for Dance Troupes, and jazz musicians, and helped support the Performing Arts in any number of ways. This was particularly true for campuses that were far from big cities, and even more so for places with dreary winters (UC Santa Barbara was a little different). If there was someone playing on campus, and it was Friday night and snowy, almost anything seemed interesting, and a lot of students discovered some Art that they might not have attended in the big city. </p><p>Of course, although any Entertainment Budget was controlled by College administrators, there was always a student-led "Entertainment Committee" that decided on the acts coming to campus. They may not have had a interest in say, Dance Troupes, but when it came to music, the students had a lot to say, and a lot of sway. It was a famous trope of the 60s and 70s that a bunch of hippies would take over the Entertainment Committee and conspire to get Fillmore East bands to play. The Grateful Dead benefited from this effect many times--<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/04/october-21-1972-alumni-lawn-vanderbilt.html">how do you think the Dead came to play a free concert at Vanderbilt University as late as 1972?</a></p><p>It doesn't take a genius to see that some students with hip tastes were the driving forces on the Entertainment Committee. Don't forget, the Grateful Dead, though legendary, were still very much underground, as were Pentangle and Incredible String Band. The Butterfield Blues Band were an established act, but James Taylor was brand new. Somebody knew something. Whatever you think of the Binghamton area--I was only there once, and it seemed nice--basic demography suggests that there would have been plenty of students from big cities, whether Syracuse, Manhattan, Brooklyn or elsewhere. It wasn't all a bunch of innocent countryside folk. They knew what they wanted.</p><p>All of the six acts listed, however, seem to have been connected to the same record company. While I don't think the record companies themselves were directly involved, it does suggest the same talent agent. Talent agents were the ones who booked tours, and while they worked with all record companies, some synergy was inevitable. I think some hippies took over the Entertainment Committee, and some sharp talent agent offered them a package of multiple shows, and the students took it all. It would have made more sense to spread out four shows throughout the semester, but somehow they all happened in a week. Someone made a proposal, the students persuaded the Administrators to say yes, and the talent agent must have hit the bid and booked the shows.</p><p><i><b>Imagine The Week</b></i><br />Let's set our Wayback Machine and think what kind of week a young music fan could have had that week.</p><p><b></b></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_VWpcwvn5hWbIr0PkanNk1GazaeRFn5ALnyqPP4o-0MAjRbhmapenK7RVDAwXjorfJZJRRnwxxgRxoco0rdeJv2-uGlXdhATrVMOPoTbwPQasOZyR2-gEiH4KBhuAvsvy6iF0w-fC-zw/s588/Keep+On+Moving+Butterfield+69+lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_VWpcwvn5hWbIr0PkanNk1GazaeRFn5ALnyqPP4o-0MAjRbhmapenK7RVDAwXjorfJZJRRnwxxgRxoco0rdeJv2-uGlXdhATrVMOPoTbwPQasOZyR2-gEiH4KBhuAvsvy6iF0w-fC-zw/s320/Keep+On+Moving+Butterfield+69+lp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Keep On Moving, the fifth album by the Butterfield Blues Band (Elektra Oct '69)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><b><br />Friday, May 1, 1970: Paul Butterfield Blues Band/Pentangle</b><br />We don't know the venue, since we only have the newspaper listing, but I think it was the same gym that the Dead played (West Gym). The Paul Butterfield Blues were better known than the Grateful Dead, and would have qualified as a genuine headliner on either coast. If the gym was going to be set up for a rock concert, it would make sensed to do it two nights in a row.<p></p><p>Now, in fact, by 1970 the Butterfield Blues Band had already crested from their peak, since guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop had both moved on some years earlier. Still, Butter was still an exceptional blues harpist, and they were a "name" band. The lineup was probably pretty close to the lineup that Buttterfield had used at Woodstock, which included Buzzy Feiten on lead guitar, Dave Sanborn leading the horn section on alto sax, and a tough rhythm section of Philip Wilson on drums and Rod Hicks on bass (Deadheads will note that Rod Hicks beat out one John Kahn for the bass slot). The Butterfield Blues Band's current album was their fifth lp on Elektra Records, <i>Keep On Moving.</i> It had been released in October 1969. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxzrxI31RBNlrUxIh46Hpx_Udgscv5fJ6KDDUekb4hGvxVpkLQL76U1fq28RjkydzrF13Y1YdvrCc2l9PShV3JoMLmy7YsDWYgC71vNSz56UWNFZi1DCSWmd9mmP9YWo7NANeFrgggdM/s1565/69-03-01-Pentangle+3_1_69+3.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="1565" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxzrxI31RBNlrUxIh46Hpx_Udgscv5fJ6KDDUekb4hGvxVpkLQL76U1fq28RjkydzrF13Y1YdvrCc2l9PShV3JoMLmy7YsDWYgC71vNSz56UWNFZi1DCSWmd9mmP9YWo7NANeFrgggdM/s320/69-03-01-Pentangle+3_1_69+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pentangle opening for the Grateful Dead at Fillmore West, March 1, 1969 (photo by and courtesy of Michael Parrish)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Pentangle, however, were not only in their prime, but one of the great bands of the 60s. I know how dramatic that sounds, but go listen to them--if you like the Grateful Dead, you'll very likely love Pentangle. If my recommendation isn't enough, how about Jerry Garcia's?<p></p><p>Pentangle, who only existed in their original form from 1967 to '73, is mostly forgotten these days by all but their fervent fans--of whom there are quite a few--and in any case they are fairly or unfairly lumped together with English folk-rock bands like Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span. Much as I love the Fairports, Pentangle doesn't sound like them or anyone else. However, the band's relevance to the Grateful Dead is that they apparently dramatically influenced Jerry Garcia and the Dead's interest in performing acoustic music live. Pentangle had a unique lineup for the time, with two phenomenal acoustic guitarists and an amplified rhythm section, underlying the brilliant vocals of singer Jacqui McShee. Pentangle played disciplined arrangements and yet improvised freely, seamlessly merged numerous styles of music, performed brilliant originals and surprisingly arranged cover versions--does this sound like a band we like?--and did it all sitting down, with two acoustic guitarists. </p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/03/fillmore-west-february-27-march-2-1969.html">Pentangle had opened for the Grateful Dead at Fillmore West for four nights in February and March, 1969. </a>The Dead were in the midst of recording <i>Live/Dead</i>, but somehow Garcia found time to watch some or all of eight sets by Pentangle. Many years later, in a 1985 interview (in <i>Frets</i>, an acoustic guitar magazine), Garcia said his inspiration for the acoustic Dead configuration in 1970 and 1980 was Pentangle: two acoustic guitars and a rhythm section. By 1970, Pentangle was even better than they were in 1969. Their current album was the fantastic <i>Basket Of Light,</i> released in the US on Warner Brothers Records in October 1969. They still had their classic lineup of Jacqui McShee on vocals, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn on guitars, Danny Thompson on upright bass and Terry Cox on drums. </p><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-7ruDNc_t-V92PmwkKHCU-G0w_Zma46ullHVGqr1l35EXovUL9EeEP9FAUKSfmjWRjX1ny3HCWB4w6mjhvuJONxt2vKUJf5WmpvfZnoO3-0YcJt6lM1OpXmyZ3FO7xQ-87RnGb_WrZ8/s2048/GD+Bootleg+Acoustic+Dead+NRPS+19700502.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1530" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-7ruDNc_t-V92PmwkKHCU-G0w_Zma46ullHVGqr1l35EXovUL9EeEP9FAUKSfmjWRjX1ny3HCWB4w6mjhvuJONxt2vKUJf5WmpvfZnoO3-0YcJt6lM1OpXmyZ3FO7xQ-87RnGb_WrZ8/s320/GD+Bootleg+Acoustic+Dead+NRPS+19700502.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Another early 70s Grateful Dead bootleg from Binghamton. Side 2 was a (terrible) recording of the New Riders from that show, for many years the only evidence that they had played</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></b><b><br />Saturday, May 2, 1970 West Gym Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />The Dead and the Riders played Saturday night. The "acoustic Dead" opened, modeled on Pentangle, who had just played the night before. I wonder if any Dead fans noticed the similarity? The New Riders of the Purple Sage followed, and then two incredible sets of electric Grateful Dead, apparently going on well past 2am. I would note in passing that the newspaper listing above may be the first public note of the New Riders of The Purple Sage outside of the West Coast (<a href="https://jerrybase.com/">yo</a>).<p>The Grateful Dead would have been booked at Binghamton around March of 1970. At that time, their current album would have been <i>Live/Dead,</i> released by Warner Brothers in November 1969. It was a popular album, in a cultish sort of way, well-reviewed in <i>Rolling Stone</i>, but it wasn't exactly hit material. I don't even know if there was an FM rock station in the Binghamton area. I'll bet "St. Stephen" was getting played on WABC and WNEW in New York city, and some students were from there, but <i>Live/Dead</i> would have had to have been a hit in the dorms, rather than the radio, for anyone to have heard it.</p><p><i>Workingman's Dead </i>would not be officially released until June 14, 1970, so much of the countrified material would have been a complete surprise to any Grateful Dead fans from the dorms. The Pacifica Radio broadcast of the Binghamton show did not happen until (as far as I know), June 21, which makes sense considering it would have been promoting <i>Workingman's</i>. The Dead pioneered live broadcasts as promotions, but it wasn't just luck. How many young hippies heard the Binghamton broadcast on KPFA or WBAI and went out and bought <i>Workingman's Dead</i> the next day?<br /></p><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0gcLEO4BXsByIOp8LgqGJKdmTk_27KJNYdqikRP_WPZ5JCWfr2prHJrldGVtvu1MtJCh6_GXbj0HJM7EFT1-zL5kDuvO-AxYoY8KYjzqiVTIajJvzn1LjgVd2voZs1QfRvpn8odD7Mbs/s600/I+Looked+Up+Incredible+String+Band+1970+lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0gcLEO4BXsByIOp8LgqGJKdmTk_27KJNYdqikRP_WPZ5JCWfr2prHJrldGVtvu1MtJCh6_GXbj0HJM7EFT1-zL5kDuvO-AxYoY8KYjzqiVTIajJvzn1LjgVd2voZs1QfRvpn8odD7Mbs/s320/I+Looked+Up+Incredible+String+Band+1970+lp.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I Looked Up, by The Incredible String Band, released April 1970 on Elektra</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Tuesday, May 4 Incredible Sting Band</b><br />The Incredible String Band were another variation on "English Folk-Rock." They have not aged as well as Pentangle or Fairport, but in any case they were always sort of an acquired taste. The Incredibles stood out for borrowing from numerous world-wide folk traditions and stringed instruments, not being beholden to any kind of specific genre. Originally a trio, by 1970 they had released their sixth album on Elektra, <i>I Looked Up. </i><br /><p>Founders Mike Heron and Robin Williamson sang, wrote and played guitars and other instruments. They were supported on stage by their girlfriends, Licorice McKechnie and Rose Simpson (on vocals, bass and various instruments). Fairport drummer Dave Mattacks had played on the record, but I don't believe they toured with a drummer. Legendary producer Joe Boyd ("See Emily Play," Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, etc) had produced the album, as always.</p><p>Incredible Sting Band had played Woodstock, and they had a following, but they weren't a band that would have sounded good in a gym, nor sold that many tickets. I suspect they played in a theater on campus, hopefully one with good sound (as a footnote, Tom Constanten would briefly join the Incredibles in early 1971, through his Scientology connection).<br /></p><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_RgnGe6TF7cRVu4_WZC6zyIxnS5tUUW8hwCe3mK24qyU_CiqPBk0HclI7f3cCGpukQIxUepX4w7adhkEUj-xPO1SC5SkywTjFvAjH2ll4xvToSIz4YUV7ZmWIfyv9C9ogG4N0NPOzBOs/s600/Sweet+Baby+James+James+Taylor+1970+lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_RgnGe6TF7cRVu4_WZC6zyIxnS5tUUW8hwCe3mK24qyU_CiqPBk0HclI7f3cCGpukQIxUepX4w7adhkEUj-xPO1SC5SkywTjFvAjH2ll4xvToSIz4YUV7ZmWIfyv9C9ogG4N0NPOzBOs/s320/Sweet+Baby+James+James+Taylor+1970+lp.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Sweet Baby James, by James Taylor, released in February 1970 on Warner Brothers Records</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Friday, May 8 James Taylor</b><br />Huge as James Taylor would shortly become, I highly doubt he played the gym. He probably played the same theater where Incredible String Band had played. I don't know this for a fact, of course--it just seems reasonably likely (I did confirm from a newspaper search that Taylor played Friday, not Saturday).<br /><p>James Taylor had released his debut album on Apple Records in 1968, to no acclaim. His effective debut was his second album, <i>Sweet Baby James</i>, released on Warner Brothers in February, 1970. After the hard rocking acid jams of Cream, Led Zeppelin and the like had dominated 60s music, James Taylor would usher in the 70s with his gentle and memorable songs, simply performed but deeply personal. <i>Sweet Baby James</i> would spawn a massive hit single, "Fire And Rain," which would peak at #3 on the Billboard charts in October 1971. These days, the title track is just as well known. But that was all in the future for the young James Taylor.<br /></p><p>It's true that the kind of dorm hipster who wanted to see the Grateful Dead, Pentangle and Paul Butterfield might not be so excited about seeing James Taylor. Still, consider the fact that many of the students at SUNY Binghamton must have been from the New York Metro area. Let's face it--when James Taylor got huge by early '71, every one of those dorm groovers (I was definitely one, let's be clear) would have enjoyed saying "oh yeah, James Taylor, I saw him last year at a tiny hall in my school." </p><p>Of the six bands booked here, the connecting tissue is that all of them were on either Warner Brothers or Elektra Records. Warners and Elektra were separate companies, but they shared distribution through a company called WEA (for Warner-Elektra-Atlantic). Since there were corporate ties between the companies, they probably shared a lot of other services, like promotion. That meant that any booking agents who worked with any of the bands found it easier to work with other bands in the corporate stable. </p><p>It's still surprising that some talent agent, or consortium of them (talent agents often worked together) got SUNY Binghamton to book four rock concerts in a week. There must have been some sort of deal--maybe WEA was running some kind of promotion. Still in all, epic as the Grateful Dead show in the West Gym must have been, it seems to have been part of an amazing musical week that was of Fillmore East quality, out in the friendly hinterlands. Here's to hoping we can find out more about this whole week.</p><p><i><a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/07/may-2-1970-harpur-college-binghamton-ny.html">Update: Esteemed scholar LightIntoAshes is all over it (and has been since 2012!). Here's the story</a></i></p><p></p><blockquote><p>The reason for so many bands in one weekend was "Spring Weekend" at Harpur. The music schedule:<br />Friday May 1 -<br />Pentangle 8:00, men's gym<br />Paul Butterfield 10:30, women's gym<br />Sat May 2 -<br />Grateful Dead with light show 8:30, men's gym<br />Dance featuring the "Jam Factory" 11:30, women's gym<br /><br />The April 17 Colonial News clarified the Spring Weekend schedule:<br />"Friday, May 1 at 8:15 pm, Pentangle will be featured in a concert in the men's gym. This will be followed by a dance-concert given by Paul Butterfield in the women's gym.<br />On Saturday, the Grateful Dead will perform at 8:30 pm in the men's gym. There will be none of the usual seating arrangement. At 11:30, the Jam Factory will play for a dance to be held in the women's gym.<br />Tickets for the above events will go on sale Saturday, April 25. Prices will be: Pentangle $1.00, Paul Butterfield $1.00, The Grateful Dead $1.50, Jam Factory $.50.<br />...Because the Grateful Dead concert will have no seats and Paul Butterfield is a dance concert, only Pentangle will have reserved seats."<br /><br />The Incredible String Band played in the Women's Gym on Tuesday May 5. James Taylor also played the Women's Gym on Friday May 8. These shows were presented by the Convocations Committee. Tickets had gone on sale at the end of April, and they were unconnected to Spring Weekend. (Tickets were $1.00 each.)<br /><br />On May 6, by the way, the university went on strike. While James Taylor played, there was a mass meeting going on in the Men's Gym. Classes ceased, and the student paper stopped printing the following week as the campus emptied. Needless to say there were no reviews of the final concerts.<br /></p><p>I also added another article on the Spring Weekend schedule at Dead
Sources. The newspaper itself seems surprised at how many bands were
appearing that week. The student events group (called the Convocations
Committee) was flush with cash: the committee told the paper it had met
its budget even after spending $17,000 on all these bands, was "able to
forego profit necessities," and was even thinking of putting on a
concert every month. <br />As a result, Harpur students could go see six separate concerts that week at a total cost of $6.00. </p></blockquote><p></p><p>Here's to The Jam Factory, whoever they might have been--presumably a local band--starting their dance in the Women's Gym at 11:30 pm, while the Dead were still probably wailing through their first electric set, with hours to go. <br /></p><i><b>Appendix</b></i><br />The Grateful Dead at SUNY Binghamton (<a href=" http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-grateful-dead-in-upstate-and.html">from my post on the Grateful Dead in Upstate and Central New York, 1969-79</a>)<br /><p><b>May 2, 1970 West Gym, Harpur College, SUNY Binghamton, Binghamton, NY: Grateful Dead/New Riders Of The Purple Sage </b><i>(Saturday)</i><br />The Grateful Dead had another paying college gig on Saturday, May 2, and this one was another legendary show. The band was playing at the State University of New York at Binghamton, in Binghamton, NY. Up until 1965, the school had been known as Harpur College, until it was absorbed by the SUNY system. The school currently has 17,000+ students. While it surely had fewer students in 1970, it wasn't tiny.<br /><br />Binghamton, NY doesn't resonate with most people, but IBM got started nearby, and General Electric and Alcoa had big operations there. Binghamton is near the Pennsylvania border, at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. Binghamton had been a main stop on the Chenango Canal (now NY Highway 12). The Chenango Canal connected the Susquehanna River to the Erie Canal, which made the city into a manufacturing hub. The canal was replaced by the Erie Railroad (later the Erie Lackawanna, which was the parent of NJ Transit's Morristown Line), but the town retained its importance. GE, IBM and others continued to make the area economically prosperous from the 1950s through the 80s.<br /><br />As we all know, what was remarkable about the Binghamton show was that the entire 7-hour extravaganza was recorded and broadcast on the Pacifica Radio network (including KPFA in Berkeley and WBAI in New York). Although the show was not simulcast, to my knowledge, but rather broadcast sometime in June (probably June 21), nonetheless much of the country got several hours of the real, live 1970 Grateful Dead. No wonder the show was bootlegged and taped so widely. From a Grateful Dead touring point of view, however, it was just another gig that paid, if a good one. <br /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-83562350097421704672020-09-19T14:43:00.020-07:002024-03-09T09:03:50.005-08:0060s Rock History and GD Spinoff Bands (non-JG) Overview and Navigation<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHkT4avS89s5XfwfOKNxqCd_VCnQTk-IjO9RWcQVvUK07IULdcOmONpZ9sUWzxzsLbCRrFrFRL4l1SLN8-F35keT-8MFKAmNbt1ZAsILgX0CS1TUX8RgoGBCozZVDK1wMOMHUonqTU-Q/s2048/75-08-31-kingfish+alpine+meadows+13.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcHkT4avS89s5XfwfOKNxqCd_VCnQTk-IjO9RWcQVvUK07IULdcOmONpZ9sUWzxzsLbCRrFrFRL4l1SLN8-F35keT-8MFKAmNbt1ZAsILgX0CS1TUX8RgoGBCozZVDK1wMOMHUonqTU-Q/s320/75-08-31-kingfish+alpine+meadows+13.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Kingfish rocking it at Alpine Meadows, near Lake Tahoe, CA August 31 1975 (l-r Hoddinott, Weir, Torbert, Chris Herold hidden)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Over time, I have made an effort to document many of the bands related to the Grateful Dead. In particular, I have tried to document the personnel and recording history of many such bands that did not feature Jerry Garcia. <a href="http://jerrybase.com/">Garcia himself, and his numerous musical ventures, are well-covered over at <i>Jerrybase.</i></a> Ensembles that didn't feature Jerry Garcia, however, are rather harder to find out about. <p></p><p>I have assembled all my posts about such groups here. In some cases, I have included posts that are not complete, so readers can see what is planned. Here and there, I have included some groups with Garcia, just because they are needed to clarify the arc of the different musicians. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/03/lost-live-dead-individual-show-list.html">All of these posts are accessible on my main Navigation post</a>, but this post is easier to navigate when trying to answer specific questions. Since I needed to build this for myself, I decided to share it.<br /></p><p><b><i>David Nelson>Dave Torbert>Matt Kelly>Bob Weir Performance History Posts</i></b><br />
I have an ongoing project to sort out the histories of the various
Grateful Dead spin-off bands that played multiple shows but did not
include Garcia. Some of these posts have complete lists of shows, and
others just emphasize the personnel changes and time frames. In this
list, I have not included posts about individual shows or events that
feature some of these bands.</p><b>60s Rock History Lists</b><br />I have a variety of Navigation posts, for <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2020/12/palo-alto-rock-history-landscape-and.html">Palo Alto</a>, Berkeley and <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2021/04/60s-and-70s-rock-nightclub-history.html">Rock Nightclubs</a>. Some posts don't fit in any of them, however, so I have included any posts who don't fit into those trackers below.<br /><p>
<br />
<a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/03/good-news-performance-history-1966.html"><b></b></a></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNC6zl0SoBk2I2rUz6ZzyqNb3aAM95ozAeRTBfDZAAyMj7aal1Ap1bKAhlRe_rcS_LlFBmyqAOpxKTefjcvyydtkqeWcEUrzwflCQ6vS6oxH8lzO72cRhZNyBkXGq0ueQNg2KKM6PCx8/s2048/75-08-31-kingfish+alpine+meadows+15a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1620" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyNC6zl0SoBk2I2rUz6ZzyqNb3aAM95ozAeRTBfDZAAyMj7aal1Ap1bKAhlRe_rcS_LlFBmyqAOpxKTefjcvyydtkqeWcEUrzwflCQ6vS6oxH8lzO72cRhZNyBkXGq0ueQNg2KKM6PCx8/s320/75-08-31-kingfish+alpine+meadows+15a.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dave Torbert at Alpine Meadows Aug 31 1975<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/03/good-news-performance-history-1966.html"><b><br />The Good News Performance History 1966</b></a><br />
The Good News were from Redwood City, CA, and featured Dave Torbert and Chris Herold.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/02/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html"><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoLyzV4jKAx2SQfoh2Ow_TPnznQIndISD3mR1_UiBEFYrVDEfC9yjmQd9uJwPeIsl3-vKppa_23GfoQCun3Zh69dLnASkCn5DjMCMFCokbG0xa4llAwQtoTnwPx-_mZ0fd5dCgTdkcwSY/s1016/LosersSouth19660821.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1016" data-original-width="726" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoLyzV4jKAx2SQfoh2Ow_TPnznQIndISD3mR1_UiBEFYrVDEfC9yjmQd9uJwPeIsl3-vKppa_23GfoQCun3Zh69dLnASkCn5DjMCMFCokbG0xa4llAwQtoTnwPx-_mZ0fd5dCgTdkcwSY/s320/LosersSouth19660821.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The New Delhi River Band opened for Them in August 1966, at Losers South in San Jose. Their name was often spelled differently on different posters (here it is New Dalie River Band)</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></b></a><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/02/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html"><b><br />New Delhi River Band Performane History Summer 1966 (David Nelson I)</b></a><br />
Palo Alto's second psychedelic blues band, The New Delhi River Band, featured David Nelson, Dave Torbert and Chris Herold<br />
<p></p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/03/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html"><b>New Delhi River Band Performance History Fall 1966 (David Nelson II)</b></a>
<b> </b></p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/05/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html"><b>New Delhi River Band Performance History January-June 1967 (David Nelson III)</b></a><b> </b></p><p><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/08/david-nelson-and-new-delhi-river-band.html"><b>New Delhi River Band Performance History July 1967-February 1968 (David Nelson IV)</b></a><br /></p><div>
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/09/david-nelson-musical-activities.html"><b>David Nelson Musical Activities February 1969-May 1969 (David Nelson V)</b></a><br />
After the demise of The New Delhi River Band, David Nelson lays fairly low</div><div><i> </i></div><div><i>I have written numerous posts about the New Riders of The Purple Sage, and they are outside the scope of this Navigation post. In order to keep the Nelson/Torbert straight, some NRPS chronology is required, so I have included these posts (<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/03/lost-live-dead-individual-show-list.html">other NRPS posts can be found on the main Navigation post</a>).</i><br />
</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div><br />
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-personnel.html"><b>New Riders Of The Purple Sage Personnel 1969-81</b></a><br />
This post has a
complete list of their personnel changes from 1969-1981. Jerry Garcia's
last performance as a member of the New Riders was on October 31, 1971.</div><div><i><br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/04/riders-of-purple-sage-old-new-and.html"><u><b>Riders Of The Purple Sage: Old, New and Resurrected (Who Was Bobby Ace?)</b></u></a><br />
</i>2019 archival releases for the New Riders tell us not only about the
genesis and evolution of the band, but give us a glimpse of some other
plans that may have been afoot.</div><div><i> <br /></i></div><div><i><i><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html"><b>New Riders Of The Purple Sage Tour History May 1969-April 1970 (NRPS Itinerary I) </b></a></i><br /></i>
Includes existing setlists from the Owsley Stanley Foundation, plus other supporting information. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/05/shango-horses-and-matt-kelly-1968-matt.html"><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKfZUX_PZQ-zGQFmpLFAls8Cl49RlrkjJvmzNg3TxDVA24YNP3B5MABPum9RO7ckygnpaR6HiUZwaHBnUpZirev97REleeMmZeFouWa5J2_MpTMXwWKTh8jtMZy2vSlXCKqo45a079nE/s2048/75-08-31-kingfish+alpine+meadows+19a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2016" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFKfZUX_PZQ-zGQFmpLFAls8Cl49RlrkjJvmzNg3TxDVA24YNP3B5MABPum9RO7ckygnpaR6HiUZwaHBnUpZirev97REleeMmZeFouWa5J2_MpTMXwWKTh8jtMZy2vSlXCKqo45a079nE/s320/75-08-31-kingfish+alpine+meadows+19a.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Matthew Kelly and Bob Weir with Kingfish, August 31 '75 at Alpine Meadows<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Shango, Horses and Matt Kelly 1968 (Matt Kelly I)</b></a><br />
The backstory to Matt Kelly's links to the Grateful Dead start with his band Shango, with Torbert and Herold, back in 1968.</div><div><br />
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2013/12/gospel-oakmountain-current33-1969-72.html"><b>Gospel Oak/Mountain Current/33 1969-73 (Matt Kelly II)</b></a><br />
The Matt Kelly story goes to England, the Santa Cruz Mountains and throughout the United States.</div><div> </div><div><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/12/james-and-good-brothers-overview-and.html"><i><b>James And The Good Brothers: Overview and Performance Listings, 1970-71 (Next Riders I)</b></i></a><br />The
Canadian trio of James Ackroyd and Bruce and Brian Good met the
Grateful Dead on the Festival Express, and Jerry Garcia invited them to
San Francisco. For about a year, the band was part of the extended
Grateful Dead family. <br /></div><div> </div><div><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2021/02/slewfoot-david-rea-columbiawindfall.html"><b>Slewfoot-David Rea (Columbia/Windfall Records, 1973)</b></a><b><br /></b></div><div>Bob Weir produced an album for guitarist David Rea, and it featured numerous members of the Grateful Dead family. This album triggered the reunion of childhood pals Matt Kelly and Bob Weir. Rea formed the band Slewfoot afterwards.<br /></div><div><br />
<i><b><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2023/08/lonesome-janet-kingfish-origin-story.html">Lonesome Janet: The Kingfish Origin Story--1974 (Kingfish Part Zero)</a></b></i><br />Kingfish was formed by Matthew Kelly from a band called Lonesome Janet, and Bob Weir joined in late 1974.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history-1974.html">Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History Fall 1974 (Kingfish I,</a> Matt Kelly IV)</b>-Bob Weir joins Kingfish, as the Dead have stopped performing</div>
<div>
<b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history.html">Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History January-June 1975 (Kingfish II</a>, Matt Kelly V)</b></div>
<div>
<b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history_07.html">Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History July-December 1975 (Kingfish III</a>, Matt Kelly VI)</b></div>
<div>
<b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2017/01/kingfish-performance-history-january.html">Bob Weir and Kingfish Tour History January-August 1976 Kingfish IV</a>, Matt Kelly VII) </b></div>
<div>
<b>Kingfish Performance History 1977-82 (Kingfish V, Matt Kelly VIII)</b> [<i>in development]</i></div>
<div>
--after Weir's departure, and until his return, Kingfish had a strange, complicated history</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/05/formation-of-bob-weir-band-fall-1977.html"><i><b><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfv49Mt1I1tvWjDO_RUvfV7EmaMUr1x91AxMVUGHPQDDpG0ySSaEn2VK8UA9sT5cDcVnmCE332NvIFobg8Mw-AzQEBhOIr2kn4fkPl7v-6p0Hvekbd9yZye3TAGkVIw5bED91JQtMPwXU/s225/Heaven+Help+The+Fool+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfv49Mt1I1tvWjDO_RUvfV7EmaMUr1x91AxMVUGHPQDDpG0ySSaEn2VK8UA9sT5cDcVnmCE332NvIFobg8Mw-AzQEBhOIr2kn4fkPl7v-6p0Hvekbd9yZye3TAGkVIw5bED91JQtMPwXU/s0/Heaven+Help+The+Fool+cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Heaven Help The Fool, Bob Weir's second solo album, released on Arista Records Jan '78</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Formation of The Bob Weir Band Fall 1977 (Enter Brent)</b></i></a><br />
Brent Mydland joined the Bob Weir Band, and then the Grateful Dead. But
how did he even get there? No one has looked into it, so I did</div><div> </div>
<div>
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/02/october-26-1978-paramount-theater.html"><b>Bob Weir Band Performance History Fall 1978</b></a></div><div><b> </b></div>
<div>
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/04/bob-weir-bandbobby-and-midnites-1977-84.html"><b>Bob Weir Band and Bobby And The Midnites 1977-84</b></a></div>
<div>
An overview of the connections between the Bob Weir Band and Bobby And The Midnites</div><div> </div>
<div>
<b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/06/bob-weir-and-kingfish-1984-1987.html">Kingfish with Bob Weir 1984-87</a> (Kingfish VI, Matt Kelly IX)</b></div>
<div>
Weir began to re-appear regularly, though not permanently, with Kingfish in late 1984</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div><i>
In the interests of completeness, here are the other spinoff group posts:</i></div>
<div>
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<div>
<b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2015/01/hoffmans-bicyclebycycle-1968-69-secret.html"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMnMigzqjJMfFCj618k7FOZKEynIkLaqzm4c5DzHnSsmk2KIOf0BpWSfuEOxQuhEKJM1CqGAPUGYOITl6AY8KiqsEhzigG1akogIGmHaRa4Y5xGJptYZRgcA_MBTk52TDFRdQiNvI9FI/s629/NO+House+19681018+Dr+Hoffman.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="629" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicMnMigzqjJMfFCj618k7FOZKEynIkLaqzm4c5DzHnSsmk2KIOf0BpWSfuEOxQuhEKJM1CqGAPUGYOITl6AY8KiqsEhzigG1akogIGmHaRa4Y5xGJptYZRgcA_MBTk52TDFRdQiNvI9FI/s320/NO+House+19681018+Dr+Hoffman.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hoffman's Bicycle, featuring Dan Healy, played on Oct 18-19, 1968 at the New Orleans House<br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Hoffman's Bicycle>Bycycle (The Secret Life Of Dan Healy) 1968-69</a> (Healy I)</b></div>
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<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/09/keith-and-donna-band-tour-history-1975.html"><b>Keith and Donna Tour History April-December 1975</b></a></div><div><b><b><i><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/05/may-30-1975-speedway-meadows-golden.html">Diga Rhythm Band May 1975</a></i></b><br /></b></div>
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<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/11/robert-hunter-and-roadhog-performance.html"><b>Robert Hunter and Roadhog Performance History May-October 1976</b></a></div>
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<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/robert-hunter-and-comfort-performing.html"><b>Robert Hunter and Comfort Performance History 1977-1978</b></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/1981-high-noon-with-mickey-hart.html">High Noon Performance History May-December 1981</a></b><br />
<b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2016/09/dinosaurs-with-robert-hunter-1982-84.html">Dinosaurs with Robert Hunter 1982-1984</a></b> </div>
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<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/bill-kreutzmanns-all-stars-1984.html"><b>Bill Kreutzmann's All-Stars 1984</b></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/kokomo-with-brent-mydland-and-bill.html">Kokomo Performance History 1985</a> (Brent Mydland I)</b></div>
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<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/11/go-ahead-with-brent-mydland-and-bill.html"><b>Go Ahead Performance History 1986 (Brent Mydland II)</b></a></div>
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<b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2014/07/go-ahead-and-bob-weir-1987-88-brent.html">Go Ahead and Bob Weir Performance History 1987-88 (Brent Mydland III)</a></b></div>
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<b><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2014/04/march-17-1980-masonic-hall-seattle-wa.html">Robert Hunter, The Ghosts and Healy-Treece Band 1980</a> (Healy II)</b></div><p><i><b>Rock Band Performance Histories</b></i><br />Just because there isn't anywhere else to put them, here are some old Performance Histories for a few Grateful Dead contemporaries. I have linked to the last post in each series. In turn they will lead you to the full set.</p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/07/october-december-1969-jefferson.html"><b>Jefferson Airplane Performance List 1965-69 (9 Parts)</b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/moby-grape-performance-history-january_9971.html"><b>Moby Grape Performance List 1966-69 (6 Parts)</b></a></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/08/steve-miller-band-performance-history_4745.html">Steve Miller Band Performance List 1966-68 (4 Parts) </a><br /></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/11/sons-of-champlin-performance-list-july.html"><b>Sons Of Champlin Performance List 1966-70 (5 Parts)</b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2018/10/ace-of-cups-performance-history-1967.html"><b>Ace Of Cups Performance History 1967-72 (3 parts) <br /></b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/07/sanpaku-performance-list-1968-69.html"><b>Sanpaku Performance List 1968-69</b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/05/initial-shock-performance-list-1967-69.html"><b>Initial Shock Performance List 1967-69</b></a></p><p><b><a href="https://berkeleyfolk.blogspot.com/2010/09/commander-cody-and-his-lost-planet.html">Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen Performance List 1969: Berkeley Beginnings </a><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Big%20Brother.htm">Big Brother and The Holding Company </a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Country%20Joe%20Shows.htm">Country Joe and The Fish </a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Phoenix.htm">Blue House Basement/Mt. Rushmore/Phoenix </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/04/emerald-tablet-avalon-ballroom-san.html">The Emerald Tablet, Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco June 25-July 16, 1967 </a><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Eric%20Burdon%20-%20Appendix%201.htm">Eric Burdon 1969 </a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Eric%20Burdon.htm">Eric Burdon and The Animals 1966-68 </a><br /></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/11/animals-summer-1966-american-tour_30.html"><b>The Animals Summer US Tour 1966</b></a></p><p><b><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Eric%20Burdon%20-%20Appendix%203.htm">Dantalian's Chariot 1967-68</a><br /></b></p><p><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Sky%20Blue.htm"><b>Second Coming/Sky Blue/Eggs Over Easy/Grootna </b></a><b> </b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/01/jorma-kaukonen-and-jack-casady.html">Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady Performance History, January-February 1969 (early Hot Tuna) </a><br /></b></p><p><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Formerly%20Fat%20Harry.htm"><b>Formerly Fat Harry </b></a></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/english-rock-bands-at-fillmore-1966-67.html">English Rock Bands at The Fillmore 1966-67 </a><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/11/european-tours-by-west-coast-rock-bands.html">European Tours by West Coast Rock Bands, 1967-68 </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/04/some-notes-about-whitey-davis.html">Some Notes About Whitey Davis </a> <br /></b></p><p><i><b>City And Venue Performance Lists</b></i><br />Here are posts on lists of performances for miscellaneous cities and venues in the 60s and 70s.</p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/08/fillmore-west-lost-concerts-tuesday.html">Fillmore West Lost Concerts: Tuesday Night Auditions 1968-69 (FW Auditions I) </a></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/09/fillmore-west-lost-concerts-tuesday.html"><b> Fillmore West Lost Concerts: Tuesday Night Auditions 1970-71 (FW Auditions II) </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/11/1859-geary-blvd-san-francisco-geary.html">1859 Geary Blvd, San Francisco: The Geary Temple 1966-68 </a></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/10/boston-psychedelic-rock-concert.html"><b>Boston Psychedelic Rock Concert Chronology, January-June 1967 (Boston I)</b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/06/boston-psychedelic-rock-concert.html"><b>Boston Psychedelic Rock Concert Chronology, July-December 1967 (Boston II)</b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-ark-15-landsdowne-street-boston-ma.html"><b>The Ark, 15 Landsdowne St, Boston, MA January-June 1969 (Boston V) <br /></b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/donovans-reef-2200-great-highway-san.html"><b>Donovan's Reef, 2200 Great Highway, San Francisco February-March 1967 </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/09/san-jose-ca-outdoor-rock-festivals-1967.html">San Jose, CA: Outdoor Rock Festivals 1967-69 (An Overview) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/05/895-ofarrell-street-at-polk-san.html">895 O'Farrell Street (at Polk), San Francisco, CA The Western Front </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2023/07/lake-tahoe-rock-concerts-summer-1967.html">Lake Tahoe Rock Concerts Summer 1967-Winter 1968 (Lake Tahoe I)</a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2024/01/lake-tahoe-rock-concerts-1968-69-tahoe.html">Lake Tahoe Rock Concerts 1968-69 (Lake Tahoe II) </a> <br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/08/swing-auditorium-san-bernardino-ca.html">Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA: Major Rock Shows 1967-69 </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/08/bank-19840-south-hamilton-avenue.html">The Bank, 19840 South Hamilton Avenue, Torrance, CA: 1968 Performance List (Updated) </a><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/crystal-ballroom-1332-w-burnside_09.html">The Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burnside, Portland, OR Performance List January-June 1968 (Oregon III) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/caffe-espresso-portland-or-rock.html">Caffe Espresso, Portland, OR Rock Performance List 1966-1967 (Oregon IV) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/oregon-rock-concerts-1967-oregon-v.html">Oregon Rock Concerts 1967 (Oregon V) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/oregon-rock-concerts-1968-oregon-vi.html">Oregon Rock Concerts 1968 (Oregon VI) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/6230-sunset-boulevard-hollywood-ca.html">6230 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, CA The Kaleidoscope 1968 Performance List </a></b></p><p><b><a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/06/2201-arch-street-philadelphia-pa.html">2201 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA The Electric Factory: Concert List February-June 1968 (Electric Factory I) </a><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/06/2201-arch-street-philadelphia-pa_26.html">2201 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA The Electric Factory: Concert List July-December 1968 (Philadelphia II) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/02/2201-arch-street-philadelphia-pa.html">2201 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA The Electric Factory: Concert List January-June 1969 (Philadelphia III) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/03/2201-arch-street-philadelphia-pa.html">2201 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA The Electric Factory: Concert List July-December 1969 (Philadelphia IV) </a> <br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/thee-image-and-miami-rock-scene-march.html">Thee Image and The Miami Rock Scene, March 1968-April 1969 </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/06/kinetic-playground-4812-n-clark-st.html">Kinetic Playground: 4812 N. Clark St, Chicago, IL Performance List 1968 (New! Improved!) </a><br /></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/11/late-60s-rock-concerts-in-utah-work-in.html"><b>Late 60s Rock Concerts in Utah-- A Work In Progress </b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/10/1825-salvio-street-concord-ca-concord.html"><b>1825 Salvio Street, Concord Coliseum, Concord, CA: Performance History 1967-68</b></a></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2016/06/2925-willow-pass-road-concord-ca.html">2925 Willow Pass Road, Concord, CA: Concord Armory and Eastern Contra Costa Performances 1967-69 (Concord II) </a></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/03/dream-bowl-vallejo-ca-february-april.html"><b>The Dream Bowl, Vallejo, CA February-April 1969 (Solano & Napa County Rock History) </b></a><b><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/11/316-congress-avenue-austin-tx-vulcan_5409.html">316 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX: Vulcan Gas Company Performance List 1969 (Austin III) </a><br /></b></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/09/4742-mission-street-san-francisco-ca.html"><b>4742 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA: The Rock Garden (1967)>The Ghetto Club (1967>1971) </b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/11/mammoth-gardens-denver-co-performance.html"><b>Mammoth Gardens, Denver, CO Performance List April-October 1970 </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Pacific%20Northwest.htm">Pacific Northwest Poster Art</a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/11/where-its-at-tv-show-vancouver-bc-late.html">"Where Its At" TV show, Vancouver, BC late 1960s </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/11/roosevelt-stadium-jersey-city-nj.html">Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ: Concert History 1972-74 (Stadium Rock I)</a></b><br />A look at the complete concert history of Roosevelt Stadium, the first stadium to have regular rock shows all summer. <b> </b></p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2023/11/1746-us-20-west-lebanon-ny-lebanon.html">746 US-20, West Lebanon, NY, Lebanon Valley Speedway Concert History (1973, 1977, 1980) </a></b><br />As rock concerts grew larger, the search for new rock venues in the 1970s meant trying out some different places. Lebanon Valley Raceway, in the tiny hamlet of West Lebanon, NY, held a few rock concerts. Things went OK--until they didn't.<p><b><i>60s and 70s Rock Events</i></b><br />Posts on individual 60s and 70s rock events</p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/06/hwy-14-middleton-wi-bunny-hop-april-25.html">Hwy 14, Middleton, WI The Bunny Hop April 25, 1966: The Sir Douglas Quintette </a></b></p><p><a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/08/1545-market-street-san-francisco-ca.html"><b>1545 Market Street, San Francisco, CA: The Bachelors Live at The Carousel Ballroom, May 21, 1966 </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/05/307-church-street-santa-cruz-ca-santa.html">307 Church Street, Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, May 28, 1966: Jefferson Airplane/Mystery Trend/Flowers Of Evil </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/09/august-17-1966-fillmore-auditorium-san.html">August 17, 1966 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane (and a new PA) </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/11/2850-19th-avenue-san-francisco-ca.html">2850 19th Avenue, San Francisco, CA September 10, 1966 The Mothers/Oxford Circle </a><br /></b></p><p><b><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/01/aliens-whisky-go-go-san-francisco.html">The Aliens, Whisky A Go Go, San Francisco October 14-27, 1966 </a> </b><br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/matrix-san-francisco-october-29-1966.html">The Matrix, San Francisco October 29, 1966 Jefferson Airplane </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2023/01/november-12-1966-campus-hall-uc-irvine.html">November 12, 1966 Campus Hall, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA: Oxford Circle/Magnificent VII</a><br /></b>Chet Helms and the Family Dog produce their only Southern California event.</p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2023/01/november-12-1966-campus-hall-uc-irvine.html"><b>January 14, 1967 Campus Hall, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Magnificent VII </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/january-13-14-15-san-francisco-rock.html">January 13-14-15, 1967 San Francisco--Rock Weekend </a></b></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/10/1-casino-terrace-newport-ri-bambis.html"><b>1 Casino Terrace, Newport, RI: Bambi's, January-February 1967 </b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/02/steiniger-hall-uc-medical-center.html"><b>505 Parnassus Avenue, Steiniger Auditorium, UC Medical Center Auditorium, San Francisco, CA March 4, 1967: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Steve Miller Blues Band/Robert Baker </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/10/orpheum-theater-madison-wi-eric-burdon.html">Orpheum Theater, Madison, WI: Eric Burdon and The Animals, March 8, 1967</a></b> </p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/10/reedy-creek-park-raleigh-nc-raleigh-be.html">Reedy Creek Park, Raleigh, NC-Raleigh Be-In, May 7, 1967 </a></b><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/10/november-18-19-1967-cow-palace.html">November 18-19, 1967, Cow Palace-Hollywood Bowl: Free Concerts </a></b></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/09/700-m-street-fresno-ca-selland-arena.html"><b>700 M Street, Fresno, CA: Selland Arena, Big Brother And The Holding Company/Mint Tattoo April 19, 1968 </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/09/may-25-1968-santa-clara-county.html">May 25, 1968 Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, San Jose, CA: McCarthy is Happening </a></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/11/june-5-1968-fillmore-east-wbai-fm.html"><b>June 5, 1968 Fillmore East WBAI-fm Benefit with The Incredible String Band </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/09/july-20-1968-lagoon-opera-house-ogden.html">July 20, 1968, Lagoon Patio Gardens, Farmington UT: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Blue Cheer </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2014/10/november-21-1968-santana-quicksilver.html">November 21, 1968: Santana, Quicksilver Messenger Service – Los Altos High School Gym, Los Altos, CA </a> <br /></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-10-11-1969-tnt-alpine-meadows.html">January 10-11, 1969 TNT-Alpine Meadows: Santana Blues Band </a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/11/matrix-san-francisco-ca-february-19.html">The Matrix, San Francisco, CA February 19, 1969 Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady/Weird Herald</a></b></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/12/convocation-center-ohio-university.html">Convocation Center, Ohio University, Athens, OH May 19, 1969 Junior Prom Jose Feliciano/Led Zeppelin </a> <br /></b></p><p><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/05/frost-amphitheater-stanford-university.html"><b>Frost Amphitheater, Stanford University, October 5, 1969 Sanpaku </b></a></p><p><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/06/415-geary-blvd-san-francisco-ca.html"><b>415 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA December 29, 1969: Big Brother and The Holding Company/Youngbloods/Ramblin Jack Elliott/Penny Nichols </b></a><br /></p><p><b><a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/12/york-farm-poynette-wi-april-24-26-1970.html">York Farm, Poynette, WI April 24-26, 1970 Sound Storm: Grateful Dead/Illinois Speed Press/Mason Profitt/others </a></b></p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/07/november-2-1972-hofstra-playhouse.html">November 2, 1972 Hofstra Playhouse, Hempstead, NY: ABC In Concert with Allman Brothers/Alice Cooper/others </a><br /></b>ABC brings rock to the suburbs, and changes late night TV in the process. 8 bands are filmed at Hofstra U, broadcast over two 90-minute Friday nights. <b><br /></b><p><b><a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2022/05/april-6-1974-ontario-motor-speedway.html">Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, CA: April 6, 1974: Emerson Lake & Palmer/Deep Purple/The Eagles/Black Sabbath/<i>others</i> "California Jam" </a><br /></b><b></b></p><blockquote><b><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">includes</span></i><br />November 24, 1973 Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, CA: Guess Who/Three Dog Night/<i>others</i> "November Jam"<br />March 18, 1978 Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, CA: Aerosmith/Foreigner/Heart/<i>others</i> "Cal Jam II"</b></blockquote><p><b> </b></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-48791770794155704682020-07-26T15:23:00.001-07:002020-07-26T15:23:56.420-07:00The Grateful Dead at The Oakland Coliseum Arena and Stadium (1974-95)<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuISd0dBzN-91kvhMGArVASvsbm8ZQE1-2DFFrngd0luQngeKdBPmuamKL1wIkxZavk2X1DyAoy7DDIgTJRB9-WCIqVzOIkxnBfInSnoLhjYrz2-8YGEJAvM-xlgxF5hYrS5tgwCNRrM/s646/Oakland+Coliseum+and+Stadium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="646" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnuISd0dBzN-91kvhMGArVASvsbm8ZQE1-2DFFrngd0luQngeKdBPmuamKL1wIkxZavk2X1DyAoy7DDIgTJRB9-WCIqVzOIkxnBfInSnoLhjYrz2-8YGEJAvM-xlgxF5hYrS5tgwCNRrM/s320/Oakland+Coliseum+and+Stadium.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Stadium, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621</b><br /><i>now</i>: <b>O.co Coliseum</b><br /><i>First Grateful Dead show</i>: <b>June 8, 1974</b><br /><i>Last Grateful Dead show:</i> <b>May 27, 1989</b> (5 shows)<br /><i>Also</i>: Bob Weir and Kingfish (<b>June 29, 1975</b>, opening for Doobie Bros/Eagles), and Nelson Mandela (<b>June 30 '90</b>, Mickey Hart part of drum procession)<br /><br />The Oakland Coliseum Stadium always shared a parking lot with the indoor basketball arena. It was part of the thrust for "multi-use" stadiums that were popular in the 1970s. As such, it housed both the Raiders (from 1966-81, then from 1995-2019) and the Oakland Athletics (since 1968). Amazingly, although the Raiders finally departed last year, it still houses the A's. Once, the Coliseum was a gleaming new cement palace that was superior to cold Candlestick across the bay. Now, it's a rundown cement block that pales before PacBell Park or Levi's Stadium. The strange return of the Raiders in 1995 caused new centerfield bleachers (known colloquially as "Mt Davis") to be constructed, ruining the pleasant view of the Oakland hills. Nonetheless, the stadium perseveres, even if its tenants perpetually threaten to move.<br /><br />The Coliseum Stadium was the primary spot for most of the huge outdoor rock shows in the Bay Area in the 20th century, save for the Beatles appearance at Candlestick (August 29 1966), which preceded the stadium. The few subsequent Candlestick rock concerts were only held there, grudgingly, because the A's or Raiders had prior bookings at the Coliseum,<br /><br />The Dead played five shows at the Stadium, all pretty legendary. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/05/june-8-1974-oakland-coliseum-stadium.html">They headlined over The Beach Boys on June 8, 1974</a>, they were <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/08/october-9-10-1976-oakland-coliseum.html">double-billed with The Who on October 9-10, 1976</a>, they played with Bob Dylan on July 24, 1987 and they headlined over <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2014/07/may-27-1989-oakland-coliseum-stadium.html">John Fogerty (who was backed by Jerry and Bob, among others) on May 27, 1989</a>. It's kind of like the A's: the Coliseum itself isn't that memorable, but what happened there remains etched in your mind long after you have departed.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdJzH0ItY66Tr5SFO-VOUyNxQxfeUPRNH2l4cpSfgXA-weBcE140ndO4R9CQYAJil1HGg8pydmIrhDfyeMTC_wFWM__54ZTUrDTIc8hbyo-GkdpEKUVv5MB2oeTc4x47mFC8MMSoupQk/s300/Oakland+Coliseum+Arena.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJdJzH0ItY66Tr5SFO-VOUyNxQxfeUPRNH2l4cpSfgXA-weBcE140ndO4R9CQYAJil1HGg8pydmIrhDfyeMTC_wFWM__54ZTUrDTIc8hbyo-GkdpEKUVv5MB2oeTc4x47mFC8MMSoupQk/s0/Oakland+Coliseum+Arena.gif" /></a></div><b>Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland, CA 94621</b><br /><i>replaced by</i>: Oracle Arena (re-opened 1997), now the <b>Oakland Arena</b> (re-named 2019)<br /><i>First Grateful Dead show</i>: <b>February 17, 1979</b><br /><i>Last Grateful Dead show</i>: <b>February 26, 1995</b> (66 shows)<br /><i>Also</i>: Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, <b>Dec 4 '88</b> (Bridge Concert), Jerry Garcia Band <b>Oct 31 '92</b><br /><br />Ask a veteran Deadhead, perhaps yourself: what building did the Grateful Dead play the most? Go ahead, look it up on Deadlists. The Fillmore East (43 shows)? The original Fillmore Auditorium (51)? Madison Square Garden (52)? The Philadelphia Spectrum (53)? Winterland (60)? 1545 Market Street, the location of both the Carousel Ballroom (16) and Fillmore West (46--total=62)?<br /><br />What building did the Grateful Dead play most often? The answer turns out to be the mostly unloved Oakland Coliseum Arena, which the Grateful Dead played 66 times between 1979 and 1995. The Coliseum complex, with the indoor arena and the outdoor stadium, was built in 1966 to house the Oakland Raiders and tempt the (at the time) San Francisco Warriors and Kansas City Athletics. It did just that. No one really loved the Coliseum, but it had and has a spectacularly central location, right off Highway 880. It had its own BART stop, it was near the Airport, you could get there easily from every Bay Area county, but it was just sort of--there.<br /><br />As a result, the 15,000+-capacity Coliseum Arena was the prime spot for top rock acts in the Bay Area from the late 60s through the 90s. Initially, the Arena was too big for rock acts, but when bands like Cream, Blind Faith and the Rolling Stones had their most famous tours, the Coliseum was not only the biggest venue, but also the best located. Thus the roster of bands that have played the Coliseum Arena is like a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction list. Even when Shoreline Amphitheatre came along in 1986 and superseded the Coliseum as the flagship Bay Area venue, the Coliseum still handled all the Fall and Winter shows, so everybody still played the venue regularly.<br /><br />Most long-tenured Deadheads, myself included, have seen some Dead shows at the Arena. Some of them were pretty good, too. But they don't have the sense of place that the Oakland Auditorium had. Maybe it was the size, or the nondescript architecture of the building. Maybe it was just because I went to the Coliseum so many times, and have so many great memories, that the Dead are just one of many (Back in the early 80s, I saw 6'4 Adrian Dantley of the Utah Jazz drop 46 on the Warriors one night, mostly from the paint, and it was a thing to behold. Come to think of it, I saw Swen Nater do the same--don't get me started on Joe Barry Carroll's defense...Which just shows you that I don't even think of the Dead first at the Coliseum). There were actually a number of social connections between the Grateful Dead and the popular but usually underperforming Golden State Warriors. The most famous of these was the Dead's contributions to the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic Team (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606829/">captured in the movie The Other Dream Team)</a>.<br /><br />After the 1996-97 NBA season, the Coliseum Arena was fully remodeled into a much larger configuration, and now can seat just over 20,000 for basketball. It spent a decade as the Oracle Arena, the home of the unexpectedly mighty Golden State Warriors. The Warriors, too, have now moved on, leaving just the A's. The answer hasn't changed, though--the building the Grateful Dead played the most was the Oakland Coliseum Arena.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>(<a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2015/08/grateful-dead-and-jerry-garcia-landmark.html"><i>For a more Oakland-centric version of this material, see here</i></a>)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-65420162888982231622020-07-18T11:47:00.003-07:002020-07-19T12:46:44.924-07:00Merl Saunders: Late 60s Highlights (Stairway To Jerry)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlK3sLX2bqSxFCLKlEweGCy6ck8MXKp0mcB6MZBxBJmB_2JtIJegS-gBxsTyfooCeIN_XRCcpskSuYNboLG1w9jByBb2IeM-ubCRIukyScxh4BVO3jNZN7bws9wZGl8tyHkslfzxlmpYc/s607/Merl+Saunders+Trio+Soul+Groovin.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlK3sLX2bqSxFCLKlEweGCy6ck8MXKp0mcB6MZBxBJmB_2JtIJegS-gBxsTyfooCeIN_XRCcpskSuYNboLG1w9jByBb2IeM-ubCRIukyScxh4BVO3jNZN7bws9wZGl8tyHkslfzxlmpYc/s320/Merl+Saunders+Trio+Soul+Groovin.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Soul Grooving, by the Merl Saunders Trio and Big Band, released on Galaxy Records in 1968</i></td></tr>
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Merl Saunders (1934-2008) is now well-known for his famous association with Jerry Garcia, playing with Garcia and other members of the Dead in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Once Saunders became part of the extended Garciaverse, Deadheads kept track of his musical doings. But Merl Saunders had an extensive career prior to Garcia. He would occasionally allude to it, but most interviewers wanted to turn the story back to Jerry, so all we got were bits and pieces. I am trying to put together Merl Saunders' pre-Jerry arc here, so we can see the components of Saunders music before the inflection point.</div>
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Merl Saunders, born Merl Washington, was San Francisco born and raised. I don't know exactly where he lived, but I'm pretty sure it was in the Haight-Ashbury or the Western Addition (which included the Fillmore district). Saunders went to San Francisco Polytechnic High ("Poly"), which was at 710 Frederick Street, just across from Kezar Stadium. All we really know is that Saunders had a band in high school, because he was the first one to offer singer Johnny Mathis a gig (Mathis went to Washington High, but I think they knew each other from sports). [<i><b>update</b>: Fellow scholar and regular Commenter Bill sends over an interview he did with Merl on KZFR-fm in Chico in 1999: Merl's high school band in the late 40s was called the Educated Men Of Music. It included singers Jean Turner (later with Stan Kenton) and Mathis, plus flute player Freddie Gene Smith (later with Smokey Robinson</i>].[<i><b>update II</b>: fellow scholar JGMF reports that Mathis lived a few blocks from the Saunders family in the Haight-Ashbury</i>].</div>
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Saunders was in the US Air Force from 1953 to 1957. Since getting drafted was all but inevitable, a four-year hitch often let the recruit choose his specialization, instead of just being a grunt. Since the US had a true citizen army in the 50s, I wouldn't be surprised if Merl spent much of his Army time playing music (certainly Mickey Hart did that in the US Air Force)[<i><b>update</b>: the KZFR interview confirms that Merl mainly played music in the Service</i>]. After the Air Force, Saunders seems to have become a musical professional. I know that Saunders was a postman in San Francisco at some point, perhaps the early 60s, but many aspiring musicians (<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/07/warlocks-resumes-1965-pre-grateful-dead.html">ok, well, not Jerry Garcia</a>) take regular day jobs when they have to.</div>
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Since Saunders was an organ player, he most likely played more extended gigs at various places, rather than one-nighters. It's hard to lug a Hammond organ around, and it makes more sense to leave it in one place for a week or more. Organ trios were a distinctly African-American musical style from the late 50s onwards, based on the style of the great Jimmy Smith [<b>update</b>: t<i>he KZFR interview confirms that Merl toured organ lounges coast-to-coast on the "Chitlin Circuit." He hung out and played a little with Jimmy Smith as well</i>].</div>
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There was a circuit of those kinds of clubs around the Bay Area back then, like Jack's (at 1601 Fillmore, across from the Fillmore Auditorium) or Minnie's-Can-Do Club (at 1915 Fillmore) in the Fillmore. Jack's, originally Jack's Tavern, and later Jack's On Sutter (it was at 1931 Sutter), had been one of the first and most important jazz clubs in the Fillmore district back in the 1940s. One of the house bands at Jack's was led by Saunders King, whose presence was so powerful that young Merl Washington changed his stage name to Merl Saunders. It had to be a kick for Merl to play Jack's himself, even if the club had moved to the new location at Fillmore Street (<a href="https://boomboomroom.com/">which is now The Boom Boom Room</a>).</div>
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<a href="https://louispain.com/blog/blog/bay-area-b-3-heyday">There was a circuit of other organ clubs around the Bay Area, too, like the Keyhole in South San Francisco (later the Monte Carlo), the Continental Club in Oakland, and various other now forgotten places</a>. At some point, Saunders got to touring around outside of Northern California, but the exact art can only be discerned in glimpses.</div>
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<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>An article in the October 18, 1967 Oakland Tribune notes a performance by Merl Saunders at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco</i></td></tr>
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In the October 18, 1967 Oakland <i>Tribune</i>, jazz critic Russ Wilson gave a good review of the Merl Saunders Trio's appearance at San Francisco's Jazz Workshop. The trio included Jimmy Daniels on guitar and drummer Eddie Moore. Moore was Merl Saunders' first cousin. From the description, it sounds like the trio was a quality band, but pretty much in the typical groove of organ trios of the time, jazzing up popular songs.</div>
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Wilson mentions some of the bookings for the Saunders Trio, including The Trident in Sausalito, Harvey's Wagon Wheel in Lake Tahoe, Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and a gig in Chicago. So Saunders was definitely getting around by this time.</div>
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<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Russ Wilson reviewed the Merl Saunders Trio appearance at The Trident in the May 24, 1968 Oakland Tribune. Saunders was filling in for Vince Guaraldi</i></td></tr>
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<b>May 21-June 9, 1968 The Trident, Sausalito, CA: Merl Saunders Trio</b><br />
Sausalito was once a fishing village on the opposite side of the bay from San Francisco. Ultimately it became a Ferry terminus to the North Pacific Coast Railroad. However, when the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, Sausalito's waterfront declined rapidly. Sausalito had always had a colorful history, with bootleggers, rum runners and bordellos, and that aspect of the community was ascendant for some years. By the 1960s, however, the seedy history of Sausalito had made it a desirable bohemian enclave.<br />
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The Trident was owned by one Frank Werber, who had made a fair amount of money as the producer of The Kingston Trio. Under his Trident Productions banner, he produced a variety of other acts as well. In the mid-60s, he dipped his toes in the folk-rock waters, signing and producing Bay Area acts like Blackburn & Snow and The Sons Of Champlin. In 1966, Werber and the Kingston Trio opened up The Trident Restaurant on the water (at 558 Bridgewater), which also regularly featured jazz. It instantly became the in place for upscale downsiders and downscalers with an upside.<br />
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In 1967 Frank Werber gave up the record business, a rare man who took his money out of the biz before he lost it. He kept The Trident, however. As the San Francisco bohemian underground became rock and roll royalty, The Trident was a main hangout for record company people, Bill Graham, rock stars, film stars and other cool people. The Trident was famous for having spectacularly beautiful waitresses, all reputedly braless. The Trident also booked jazz five or six nights a week, an interesting paradox in a club that celebrated the rock and roll life. Nonetheless, the quality of jazz performers at The Trident was uniformly high, whether local performers or recruited from out of town.<br />
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<a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/09/may-23-1968-trident-sausalito-ca-merl.html">According to Russ Wilson's review in the Oakland <i>Tribune</i></a><i>,</i> the Merl Saunders Trio was engaged when, per Wilson, "oddly enough... pianist Vince Guaraldi sprained a finger Saturday night getting off an airplane, and notified the club he couldn't keep his booking for the following Tuesday, according to club manager Lou Ganapoler" (Vince Guaraldi scholars take note). The peculiar tone of Wilson's explanation suggests that there was more to Guaraldi's sprained finger than he is saying, but no matter: Merl and his trio were on board. Apparently Saunders had filled in for a few days the previous year (1967) when another headliner had been unable to make it, so they weren't a complete unknown to The Trident.</div>
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Wilson names a few songs that the Saunders trio played, such as "Up, Up
And Away," "You Better Love Me," "Little Bird" and "Sometimes I'm
Happy." Wilson praises Saunders as "an organist who knows his stops as
well as his keyboards, and who builds on this foundation with
musicality, taste and a strong ability to swing..."[Saunders] perceptive
use of these basics often makes his output superior to that of widely
known jazz organists." The critic does add that "there are times when
Saunders and his cohorts fall into a dismal swamp, as they did with the
current pop tune "Up, Up And Away." These two points fairly sum up
Saunders ability as a keyboard player: he is versatile, sticks to the
basic and knows how to swing, while sometimes falling into unneeded
noodling.<br />
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It is interesting also to read Wilson's comments about guitarist Jimmy
Daniels. He says "on appropriate numbers he utilizes a blues vibrato
that gets into the nitty-gritty and on ballads he plays with a full
melodic sound that enhances the tune." A few years later, Saunders would
play with another guitarist who would utilize even more blues vibrato
and play with a full melodic sound, as well. It is interesting to see
that Merl Saunders's sound was well established prior to playing with
Jerry Garcia and John Kahn in 1970.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>From Russ Wilson's July 28, 1968 column in the Oakland Tribune</i></td></tr>
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<a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2009/10/merl-saunders-trio-far-eastern-tour.html">This brief listing in Russ Wilson's Jazz column in the Oakland Tribune of July 28, 1968, gives an insight into Saunders true breadth, and serves as a reminder to one of the forgotten markets of sixties music.</a> The notice says<br />
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<i>Organist Merl Saunders' trio is on a Far Eastern tour that has included Bangkok, Manila and Tokyo, where the group now is playing club and TV engagements.</i></blockquote>
While I would love to know more about this tour, it's a reminder that up to 500,000 American soldiers were in Vietnam, which meant that at any given time a lot of soldiers were in Manila, Bangkok and Tokyo. The perennial presence of American soldiers had in turn given Asian nations a taste of American music, too, so there were many opportunities to tour Asia. Many groups toured Vietnam, too, under some quite weird conditions (for example, rock bands were always told not to play The Animals song "We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place").<br />
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Merl Saunders was interviewed many times, but of course almost all those interviews were Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, so I don't recall ever hearing about a Far Eastern tour. Whether Merl's trio played venues that attracted servicemen, locals or both, it had to be an odd experience to play American music in Asia at the height of the Cold War. Saunders himself was a veteran, so that too may have added a different perspective. It certainly puts playing the Keystone Berkeley for a bunch of hippies in a different light. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An ad for Meile Saunders Trio (sic) at the EXIT in Palo Alto, from the January 24, 1969 Stanford Daily</i></td></tr>
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<b>January 24-25, 1969 the Exit, Palo Alto, CA: Smoke/Merle Saunders Trio</b></div>
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<a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2020/06/palo-alto-psychedelic-rock-shows-1968.html">By 1969, Palo Alto actually had a groovy little rock scene downtown</a>. But it wasn't much of a jazz town. In the January 24, 1969 Stanford Daily there is an ad for an apparently new club called the EXIT. There had been a juke joint over the county line in East Palo Alto called The Exit Inn, but I don't know if they played organ music. In any case, Exit is a typical sort of hipster club name, and may have had no connection to the East Palo Alto place. 3489 El Camino Real was way south of downtown, not far from a lengthy strip of motels. So there would have been plenty of potential patrons, but it wasn't any part of the downtown bohemian scene that had been pioneered by young folkies like Jerry Garcia. </div>
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Although I don't know when Merl's <i>Soul Grooving</i> album had been released, it was sometime in 1968. In 1968, just having an album, even if no one had really heard it, was an important credential for a working jazz musician. Galaxy Records was a subsidiary of Fantasy Records, apparently created for musicians who were in the union. In the 60s, Fantasy Studios were in Oakland, on 30th Street and Peralta, near the Emeryville border. Creedence Clearwater recorded their early, famous albums there, and Merl became friends with the band. Thus when Tom Fogerty left Creedence in late 1970, he was already friendly with Merl, so it was a natural fit to join Jerry Garcia, Merl and John Kahn in their casual pickup band.</div>
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The cover of <i>Soul Grooving</i> is also the only photo I have seen of Merl prior to meeting Jerry. Merl has said he went from being a snappy looking dude in a suit to a casual guy with a beard and tennis shoes, just one of the many ways that Garcia influenced Saunders.</div>
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<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Playbill for "Big Time Buck White," starring Muhammad Ali, with Merl Saunders as musical director. The show lasted a week. </i></td></tr>
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<b>November 15-December 6, 1969 George Abbott Theater, 152 W. 54th St, New York, NY</b></div>
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<i><b>"Big Time Buck White"</b></i></div>
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<b>First Preview: November 15, 1969</b> <i>(16 preview performances)</i></div>
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<b>Performances: December 2-6, 1969</b> <i>(5 performances)</i></div>
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"Big Time Buck White" was a musical about a black labor organizer. Based on a play by Joseph Dolan Tuotti, it had been adapted as a musical by Oscar Brown, Jr. Although I don't know the exact origins of the show, Brown had starred in a San Francisco production for quite some time, at The Commitee Theater on 836 Montgomery, starting about February, 1969. At some point, Merl Saunders had become the musical director of the San Francisco production[<i><b>update</b>: JGMF sent over some remarkably detailed information, and Saunders seems to have been the musical director of the SF production from its beginning in February '69</i>].</div>
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<a href="https://www.playbill.com/production/buck-white-george-abbott-theatre-vault-0000003713">When the production moved to "Off-Broadway" in New York, however, it had a new star: none other than Muhammad Ali</a>. Ali was banned from boxing at the time, so he tried his hands at, of all things, musical theater. Per the New York Times review, Ali had a real stage presence, and wasn't a bad singer.</div>
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<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The musicians roster from the 1969 Playbill for "Big Time Buck White." Merl Saunders played organ and piano and led the 10-piece band. Billy Cobham was the drummer.</i></td></tr>
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I don't know whether Merl Saunders had played New York before, but what a way to debut. Saunders led a 10-piece band. The most memorable name was none other than Billy Cobham on drums.</div>
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Nonetheless, the show closed quickly, after just a week. Sometime shortly after that, Merl Saunders opened for Miles Davis for a week or two at a Manhattan jazz club--I think the Village Vanguard. Most likely, it was the same band from the show. Since "Buck White" closed quickly, and the band was in New York anyway, it made sense for them to play a club. When they were rehearsing one afternoon, Miles came by and listened, and apparently briefly sat in, a benediction for any musician</div>
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There isn't a Miles Davis concert history online, surprisingly, but I know Miles was touring in Europe in November and recording in Manhattan in December, so the timeline fits.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4QhiI5x8VzHhqC7wRWKGRnFl2kmRnkF0mBKjCe5YoMf8X5JcbnAcFHuF9shYGXV30e1tAqKVBI0UoqWyn40qh1nQ0ksLjt3hAf2rkChV-AUcL12OYDrnSk_yqGNnnwdAaTUiFBWSr1Zo/s300/Danny+Cox+ABC+1971.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4QhiI5x8VzHhqC7wRWKGRnFl2kmRnkF0mBKjCe5YoMf8X5JcbnAcFHuF9shYGXV30e1tAqKVBI0UoqWyn40qh1nQ0ksLjt3hAf2rkChV-AUcL12OYDrnSk_yqGNnnwdAaTUiFBWSr1Zo/s0/Danny+Cox+ABC+1971.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The debut album by Danny Cox, released in 1971 on ABC/Dunhill Records, produced by Nick Gravenites. Musicians on the album include Merl Saunders, John Kahn, Bill Vitt, Chepito Areas and the Tower Of Power horns. </i></td></tr>
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By 1970, Merl Saunders was back in San Francisco. He was writing and recording "jingles for cigarette commercials" (his description) and playing some organ gigs around town. Thanks to the Fillmore rock explosion, however, San Francisco had a thriving recording studio team. Record companies were not only signing the local bands, they were sending in players from out of town to catch some of the vibe. One of the new producers was Nick Gravenites, songwriter, former lead singer of the Electric Flag and general all-around character. A<a href="https://www.discogs.com/Danny-Cox-Danny-Cox/release/12079704">BC/Dunhill Records hired Gravenites to produce the debut album for Kansas City-based folksinger Danny Cox</a>, and booked Wally Heider Studios.</div>
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In those days, producers often recorded a "demo" version of the album first, with just basic tracks, so the record company could see what they were getting. Gravenites had hired John Kahn to play bass, whom he knew well from working with Mike Bloomfield. Merl Saunders was hired to play organ. I think Kahn knew Merl from seeing him at places like Jack's. In any case, Gravenites probably knew Merl as well. Bill Vitt, another Gravenites regular, was on drums, and future Stonegrounder Tim Barnes was on lead guitar.</div>
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<a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/03/john-kahn-live-performance-history-1970.html">Kahn had a casual weeknight gig at The Matrix, playing bass with Vitt, organist Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia</a>. Garcia was around Wally Heider Studios a lot in those days, working on albums with Paul Kantner and others. So that was how Garcia and Merl Saunders met, in the hallway at Wally Heider, while Merl and John were working on the Danny Cox album. When Howard Wales decided he didn't always want to show up to Matrix gigs, Kahn suggested calling Merl, and Jerry assented. And so it began.</div>
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Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-47987133470783064132020-07-14T17:42:00.001-07:002020-07-14T17:42:49.833-07:00March 17, 1969 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Members of the Airplane, Dead and Sons "Monster Jam For Olompali"<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6mWsQmfBvmAgkZCChpy_8RKSoSmM6NkFd_NFTmdzwKU91HtFtadsVow0QipbM8DD7a7j3sl8jX_fYP70unDJ72a0nw2hNCFe_1yWn1T_DMQ5WYVJ7xGHiKjbarUDo5nCdNBzWBQDcLs/s698/69-03-17-Winterland_19690317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="287" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc6mWsQmfBvmAgkZCChpy_8RKSoSmM6NkFd_NFTmdzwKU91HtFtadsVow0QipbM8DD7a7j3sl8jX_fYP70unDJ72a0nw2hNCFe_1yWn1T_DMQ5WYVJ7xGHiKjbarUDo5nCdNBzWBQDcLs/s320/69-03-17-Winterland_19690317.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>An article from the March 17, 1969 Berkeley Barb, describing the planned "Super Jam" at Winterland to raise money for the former residents of Rancho Olompali</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div><b>March 17, 1969 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: "Super Jam" with members of Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Sons Of Champlin" <i>Benefit for Rancho Olompali (Monday)</i></b><br /></div><div>About a decade ago, <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/04/winterland-san-francisco-monster-jam.html">I had found a reference to this show and speculated that a 1969 Benefit Jam for Olompali might include members of the Grateful Dead or Jefferson Airplane</a>. Expert research by Ross turned up the goods, <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/04/march-17-1969-winterland-san-francisco.html">namely an article from the March 17, 1969 Berkeley <i>Barb (</i>above) promising that members of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Sons of Champlin and others would perform</a>. The article says<br /><blockquote><i>A "Superjam" dance and concert will be thrown at Winterland this Monday, St. Patrick's Nite, to benefit the Chosen Family that was busted and burned out at Rancho Olompali in Novato.<br /><br />Featured will be musicians from the leading Bay Area rock groups, according to Bob McKendrick from Olompali, the Airplane, the Dead, and Sons of Champlin are expected to show up; also jamming will be the Garden of Delights, and a blues-rock group new to San Francisco, Red Mountain. Glen McKay's Headlights will provide enlightenment for all. The Superjam is for a good cause . . . something like 18 to 20 people from Olompali haven't the bread to pay their attorney's fees, and they are all homeless, as Burdell Mansion on Olompall burned down after the bust.<br /><br />The Benefit is being sponsored by the Deja Vu Foundation, Inc., in association with Crinkle Productions, and will happen at Winterland, Post and Sterner Streets in The City. That's Monday, March 17th, from 8:30 pm till 1 am; donation asked at the door will be $3.00 . . .for some beautiful people.</i></blockquote>Rancho Olompali was the Marin County retreat for the Grateful Dead in Spring 1966, before they moved to 710 Ashbury (via Western Marin) in September. It was owned by Don McCoy, who later lived across the street at 715 Ashbury. In 1967, McCoy started a commune called The Chosen Family. A fire caused by faulty wiring burned down the mansion, possibly connected to a drug bust at the same time.<br /><br />Most San Francisco bands didn't work Monday nights, so a benefit for friends was somewhat easier to put together. Some will recognize Bob McKendrick (the Olompali resident quoted in the article) as a promoter of San Francisco rock shows in 1966 and 1967. Mind you, calling the event "Super Jam" and not mentioning the groups by name means that its not an absolute guarantee that the complete Dead or Airplane showed up. The show could very well have featured some combination of Hot Tuna and/or Mickey and The Hartbeats instead, although to me that makes the show even more intriguing.<br /><br /><a href="http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/09/rancho-olompali-8901-old-redwood.html">Rancho Olompali, and the mansion on it, had a long and complicated history dating back to 1843, General Vallejo and Mexican California</a>. The property had ended up in the hands of the University of San Francisco by the 1950s. In the 1960s, they attempted to sell it various times, but when various buyers defaulted, the property kept reverting back to USF. I assume Don McCoy gave up on the property as well. In 1977, the State of California purchased the property from USF, and turned it into Olompali Historic State Park. The address of the park is 8901 Old Redwood Highway, 3.5 miles East of Novato, CA. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Rancho Olompali had been an important way station for the fledgling Grateful Dead. In early Summer 1966, they had lived there for a month or two, throwing epic parties. Garcia recalled (in <i>Signpost To New Space</i>, <a href="http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2015/01/whos-who-in-aoxomoxoa-photo.html">via LIA</a>: <br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div>It was a great place. It had a swimming pool and barns and that sort of thing… We didn’t have that place very long, only about eight weeks. It was incredibly intense for everybody… Novato was completely comfortable, wide open, high as you wanted to get, run around naked if you wanted to, fall in the pool, completely open scenes. And I think it was the way they went down and the way people responded to that kind of situation. Everything was just super-groovy. It was a model of how things could really be good. If they really wanted to be. All that was a firming up of the whole social world of rock and roll around here…all the musicians in the Bay Area, most of them are from around here, they’ve known each other for a really long time in one scene or another – and that whole thing was shored up…at those parties. The guys in Jefferson Airplane would get together with Quicksilver and different guys, 81 different players, would get together and get high and get loose and have some fun… That was when we started getting tight with Quicksilver… They came and hung out at our place in Novato when we had our parties. And a lot of people like the various filmmakers and writers and dope dealers. All the people who were into doing stuff. People who had seen each other at rock and roll shows…in that first year. Those parties were like a chance to move the whole thing closer, so to speak. It was good times – unselfconscious and totally free. After that we moved back into San Francisco.<br /></div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>In 1968-69, the members of the Dead were all over the North Bay, but they still hung out at Olompali. They regularly held jams outdoors there, with the likes of Jack Casady. <a href="http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2015/01/whos-who-in-aoxomoxoa-photo.html">Fellow scholar LightIntoAshes has a fascinating article detailing the complicated connection of the Grateful Dead to Olompali</a>, with photos and eyewitness accounts. Most fascinatingly, the back cover photo of <i>Aoxomoxoa</i> was taken there, in early 1969. Besides the Dead, there are all sort of Chosen Family members, band friends and girlfriends, and even pianist Vince Guaraldi (a pal of the Dead's at the time) (no, Courtney Love is not in the photo). So the Grateful Dead in particular were very connected to the land and the residents, and it must have been no small thing when it burned down after a drug bust.<br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbXAfx9u6P-ogW4ksiZXFr9iSeJ0qt2I0t3bcJ0a6lxurxt96rW7PF5I7KtGMYMUcxXl_E7d1gWNUT9OEOFebV2WaZkATROO33bZU5t2JuiaT3t2Y-wSQZgdWL65CC5RxjnsfVsK1bT8/s720/Ralph+Gleason2+03-17-1969-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="166" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbXAfx9u6P-ogW4ksiZXFr9iSeJ0qt2I0t3bcJ0a6lxurxt96rW7PF5I7KtGMYMUcxXl_E7d1gWNUT9OEOFebV2WaZkATROO33bZU5t2JuiaT3t2Y-wSQZgdWL65CC5RxjnsfVsK1bT8/s320/Ralph+Gleason2+03-17-1969-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ralph Gleason mentioned the benefit in his Monday night column of March 17, 1969</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Ultimately, in the way of the Long Tail, an eyewitness turned up. <a href="https://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/04/winterland-san-francisco-monster-jam.html?showComment=1425784911279#c5230380564667265804">"Terry Nails" said</a></div><div><blockquote><i>As someone who was living at Olompali at the time of this concert I have vague memories of this gig. Most of the members of both the Airplane and the Dead showed up to play as well as Elvin Bishop and some of the member of It's a Beautiful Day and others. It was a good gig though not as successful monetarily as was hoped and the ranch was sadly closed not too long afterwards due to the drowning of 2 of the ranch's resident children in the unattended swimming pool... </i></blockquote>Here's to hoping something good came of a bad event. Maybe someone else out there might realize the strange flashback they keep having really actually happened...<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-2157684758070329902020-05-03T12:46:00.005-07:002022-05-15T15:47:02.631-07:00New Riders of The Purple Sage Tour History May 1969>April 1970 (NRPS Itinerary I)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The December 2019 release by the Owsley Stanley Foundation of the 5cd box set Dawn Of The New Riders of The Purple Sage opened up new vistas in Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia history</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://owsleystanleyfoundation.org/product/dawn-of-the-new-riders-of-the-purple-sage/">The recent release by the Owsley Stanley Foundation of the 5cd box set <i>Dawn Of The New Riders Of The Purple Sage</i></a> was a revelation. Not only was a new window opened wide onto the music of the early New Riders, but the intricate evolution of the music of Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir played with the Grateful Dead could be woven into the tapestry of both bands.<br />
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The Owsley box shed some light in the much larger role played by Weir in the formative New Riders. Since May 1970 would bring forth "An Evening With The Grateful Dead," where the band would do sets as the "Acoustic Dead," then the New Riders of The Purple Sage and finally the full electric Dead, the reaffirmation of country and folk music for Garcia and Weir in 1969 informs the music in the following year. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/04/riders-of-purple-sage-old-new-and.html">I made the case, perhaps somewhat too affirmatively, that what would become the Acoustic Dead was originally conceived of as a country revue called Bobby Ace And The Cards Off The Bottom.</a><br />
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<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/04/riders-of-purple-sage-old-new-and.html">You can read my argument for yourself</a> and decide to what extent the Cards Off The Bottom were an inside joke or a serious proposition. But now, thanks to Hawk of the Owsley Stanley Foundation, we have a lot of new information here, beyond what was just in the box set. Again, everybody gets to decide for themselves what it all means, but Hawk was kind enough to include all the available setlists from the Foundation tapes.<br />
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Combined with other information that I have gathered, here is a new and improved concert chronology for the New Riders of The Purple Sage from 1969 through Spring 1970. <a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/04/riders-of-purple-sage-old-new-and.html">For the bigger picture of the New Riders genesis, and how Garcia and Dawson connected in the first place, see the prior post</a>.<br />
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For songs that I haven't heard, I have made reasonable guesses as to what they were. I identified the most famous performer associated with the songs, rather than seeking out the publishing details, which are easily googlable in any case. I am trying to guess which versions Garcia, Weir and Dawson might have heard, rather than pursuing the vinyl details. Even a cursory glance shows the prevalence of George Jones and Buck Owens songs, even if most of them dropped away in subsequent years. Tracks released on <i>Dawn Of The New Riders</i> are in <b>bold</b>. Please note inaccuracies in the Comments.<br />
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Insights, corrections, additions, speculation eagerly welcomed in the Comment section. Thanks again to Hawk for the new information.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gilded Palace Of Sin,</i> the first album by The Flying Burrito Brothers, was released on A&M Records in 1969. Sneaky Pete Kleinow played pedal steel guitar</td></tr>
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<b><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/06/jerry-garcia-sneaky-pete-kleinow-and.html">April 4-6, 1969 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Flying Burrito Brothers/AUM/Sanpaku</a></b><br />
Jerry Garcia hears Sneaky Pete Kleinow playing pedal steel guitar on Owsley's sound system. The next week he bought his second pedal steel guitar, a Zane Beck Double 10. He had owned and sold a Fender pedal steel around 1967, but it had been too hard to tune. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovMR8R-3b344pRiwC-QK7oPdTGDA3Y75-3VGzQtprqklgV0UQaCtJKuochbYy00sPnqRN9aC4thyphenhyphenI9UIK5KG0lw1FDlh0Tk_NGQ1yyncCFrszIMQdnhdnnG1WUyHAqnN4dX5Ew2hmfko/s1600/Don+Edwards+Guitar+City+Lakewood+CO.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="1161" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovMR8R-3b344pRiwC-QK7oPdTGDA3Y75-3VGzQtprqklgV0UQaCtJKuochbYy00sPnqRN9aC4thyphenhyphenI9UIK5KG0lw1FDlh0Tk_NGQ1yyncCFrszIMQdnhdnnG1WUyHAqnN4dX5Ew2hmfko/s320/Don+Edwards+Guitar+City+Lakewood+CO.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The site of Don Edwards' Guitar City in Lakewood, CO, a famous steel guitar emporium (I think the photo is actually from the later 1970s). Jerry Garcia bought his ZB10 pedal steel here on April 13 or 14, 1969.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>April 13 or 14, 1969</b> Don Edwards Guitar City, Lakewood, CO<br />
Jerry Garcia buys a pedal steel guitar from a well-known steel shop in Colorado. <br />
<br />
<b>May 7, 1969 The Underground, Menlo Park, CA: John Dawson</b><br />
This was probably the first Wednesday night that Garcia sat in with Dawson. At the time, Dawson was alternating sets with a Flamenco guitarist named Daniel Crisman. If this was the first night, and Crisman was still on the bill, I wonder how it felt when Dawson got on stage with a genuine rock star?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB4uP7SRHRY2zgQtbWo6DxbScpl4UaDk1L0v3kBGImWlf3_N8ct4TfdmQg7oQHb_4uoQwMjXU1yXxcA9IDUODmIIrPKqT0jWXYN-4WqVzzZjkKlJe8bMji6bgzVH1TIG4Ly_Cj3XmeId4/s1600/Menlo+Hub+1029+E+l+Camino+20121116.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB4uP7SRHRY2zgQtbWo6DxbScpl4UaDk1L0v3kBGImWlf3_N8ct4TfdmQg7oQHb_4uoQwMjXU1yXxcA9IDUODmIIrPKqT0jWXYN-4WqVzzZjkKlJe8bMji6bgzVH1TIG4Ly_Cj3XmeId4/s320/Menlo+Hub+1029+E+l+Camino+20121116.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Menlo Hub restaurant, at 1029 El Camino Real in Menlo Park, as it appeared in 2012. It was probably the site of The Underground hofbrau, where Jerry Garcia first performed with John Dawson in May, 1969. Next door at 1035 El Camino (Su Hong) was the location of Guitars Unlimited, where Garcia and Bob Weir worked briefly in late 1965.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>May 14, 1969 The Underground, Menlo Park, CA: John Dawson</b><br />
Dawson and Garcia played, for certain, because the Owsley Foundation has a tape. Nelson had not yet joined. There are three reels of tape, so it's reasonable to assume the duo played at least three sets.<br />
<ol>
<li>A-11 (<i>Buck Owens-1964</i>)</li>
<li>If You Hear Me When I'm Leaving</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>To Have the Hurting End</li>
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore (w<i>ritten Tim Hardin, released Bobby Darin-1967, later recorded by Joan Baez-1967</i>)</li>
<li>I've Got a Tiger By the Tail (<i>Buck Owens-1965</i>)</li>
<li>Together Again (<i>Buck Owens-1964--per Peter Grant, Tom Brumley's pedal steel ride on this song inspired both Grant and Garcia to want to play the instrument</i>)</li>
<li>Six Days On the Road</li>
<li>I Shall Be Released (<i>Dylan/The Band-1969</i>)</li>
<li>Crossover</li>
<li>Hello Trouble (<i>Buck Owens-1964</i>)</li>
<li>Garden of Eden</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>Sweet Lovin' One</li>
<li>Superman</li>
<li>Hey Melinda</li>
<li>Just Like a Fool</li>
<li>Jailbait (<i>per Hawk, this appears to be a John Dawson original about being careful about underage women, sometimes called "Jailbait Gets You Busted." Unsettling as this sounds, there wais a California country tradition of songs like "San Quentin Quail" which never get covered anymore</i>)</li>
<li>Don't Take Any Chances</li>
<li>Delilah</li>
<li>I Still Miss Someone (<i>Johnny Cash-1958</i>)</li>
<li>All I Ever Wanted</li>
<li>I Don't Know You</li>
<li>The Weight (<i>The Band-1968</i>)</li>
<li>I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (<i>Bob Dylan, from John Wesley Harding-1968</i>)</li>
<li>Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line (<i>Waylon Jennings-1968</i>)</li>
<li>Long Black Veil (<i>Lefty Frizzel-1959</i>)</li>
</ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFeLWIfRdBhE1vjoTMTjhcGCJ3sRLT41hCo_dKypqOR2jR7wu8Xa_O46C3jxm5L1m6vWkJnWWEGuheKpPg4YyoTwrKxWPHOz3Bmiu4PnEvr6tiDWB45rUQKwQAhIytdO03TwvmKCBi0a4/s1600/Country+Gentlemen+1960+lp.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="355" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFeLWIfRdBhE1vjoTMTjhcGCJ3sRLT41hCo_dKypqOR2jR7wu8Xa_O46C3jxm5L1m6vWkJnWWEGuheKpPg4YyoTwrKxWPHOz3Bmiu4PnEvr6tiDWB45rUQKwQAhIytdO03TwvmKCBi0a4/s320/Country+Gentlemen+1960+lp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Country Gentlemen's 1960 debut album <i>Country Songs Old & New</i>. The Gentlemen were from Washington, DC, not the Appalachians, and their approach to bluegrass was hugely influential on the likes of Jerry Garcia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Marmaduke & Jerry, Rehearsal, "Home" May 17, 1969<br />
The tape box (per Hawk) apparently says "Home." Whose home? Jerry's? Owsley's? <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2015/08/grateful-dead-and-jerry-garcia-landmark.html">I'm more inclined to think it was Owsley's, at 6024 Ascot Drive in the Oakland Hills, </a>but of course it's hard to be sure. </div>
<ol>
<li>If you Hear Me When I'm Leaving (take 1)</li>
<li>If you Hear Me When I'm Leaving (take 2) </li>
<li>Delilah (take 1)</li>
<li>Delilah (take 2)</li>
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore</li>
<li>I Still Miss Someone</li>
<li>Sweet Lovin' One</li>
<li>Roving Gambler (<i>Country Gentlemen-1960</i>))</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>All I Ever Wanted</li>
<li>To Have the Hurting End</li>
<li>Handsome Molly (<i>this folk song goes back to the 19th century, but it was a well-known bluegrass song played by the Country Gentleman and many others</i>)</li>
<li>Unknown J. Dawson original </li>
<li>Superman</li>
<li>Don't Take Any Chances</li>
<li>Hey Melinda</li>
<li>Crossover</li>
<li>Somebody Loves You </li>
<li>The Next In Line (<i>presumably Johnny Cash-1957</i>)</li>
<li>Jailbait</li>
</ol>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzz_JMVqnbHb-0fRUNtuG5WouePaCF1zLAYP2hCfn_hOg6phdDVNStucqhacwZ_rpbETAn5tLll2EmKHM7OsYA19x3oa_h_QtatFWtazFG2_1HT7R-MaFVBbCFg_3u7EqyHx7BoQge2I/s1600/2012-owsleyhouse-68to70-6024+Ascot+Drive+Oakland-EXT+1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTzz_JMVqnbHb-0fRUNtuG5WouePaCF1zLAYP2hCfn_hOg6phdDVNStucqhacwZ_rpbETAn5tLll2EmKHM7OsYA19x3oa_h_QtatFWtazFG2_1HT7R-MaFVBbCFg_3u7EqyHx7BoQge2I/s320/2012-owsleyhouse-68to70-6024+Ascot+Drive+Oakland-EXT+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In summer 1969, Owsley Stanley lived in a house in the Oakland Hills at 6024 Ascot Drive (shown here in a 21st century real estate listing)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Marmaduke, Jerry, & Mickey, "Home" May 18, 1969</div>
<ol>
<li>Roving Gambler</li>
<li>Stagger Lee (<i>I wonder which version?</i>)</li>
<li>Fair Chance to Know</li>
<li>Garden of Eden</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>Sweet Lovin' One</li>
<li>The Next In Line</li>
<li>Hey Melinda</li>
<li>Crossover</li>
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore</li>
<li>Truck Drivin' Man (<i>Terry Fell-1954, a hit again for Buck Owens-1965</i>)</li>
<li>If You Hear Me When I'm Leaving</li>
</ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1-QA2DLDYHcSizWhvPsHNgjT8q023jwwbPFIyyvQCoT4OFbwNjgDd71WaJJWxhQAjeyiGXnMx-TtpY3516GlnZ77u4t2sHvXtJcyTRIvFAJ797NVNkfmCBQWTOkfdw463p8VWWmF5dk/s1600/SFC19690106b-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="669" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1-QA2DLDYHcSizWhvPsHNgjT8q023jwwbPFIyyvQCoT4OFbwNjgDd71WaJJWxhQAjeyiGXnMx-TtpY3516GlnZ77u4t2sHvXtJcyTRIvFAJ797NVNkfmCBQWTOkfdw463p8VWWmF5dk/s320/SFC19690106b-1.jpg" width="201" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An SF <i>Chronicle</i> listing from January 6, 1969, advertising Peter Albin and David Getz hosting a "Jam" at Monday night at the Matrix. David Nelson played this gig, along with a few others, in anticipation of a reformed Big Brother and The Holding Company. Peter Albin and Nelson had been best friends in Carlmont High in Belmont, and Peter's older brother Rodney has introduced Nelson to both bluegrass and Jerry Garcia.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>May 21, 1969 The Underground, Menlo Park, CA: John Dawson</b><br />
Likely another night that Garcia backed Dawson (the Dead were booked May 28), without Nelson.<br />
<br />
<i>(<b>update</b>: <a href="https://www.blogger.com/oy,%20I%20had%20forgot%20about%20this.%20But%20as%20my%20own%20comments%20on%20your%20post%20say,%20I'm%20pretty%20sure%20I%20have%20an%20eyewitness.%20(To%20recap:%20Jerry%20Garcia%20and%20Friends/Sanpaku%20played%20Matrix%20Tues/Wed%20May%2020-21.%20Sanpaku's%20road%20manager%20told%20a%20story%20about%20playing%20in%20front%20of%20Owsley%20and%20Garcia%20and%20trying%20to%20impress%20them%20and%20melting%20down,%20thanks%20to--ahem--Mr.%20Owsley).%20Assuming%20that%20to%20be%20Tuesday%20May%2020.%20Garcia%20and%20Dawson%20could%20have%20had%20a%20Menlo%20Park%20Hofbrau%20gig%20on%20Wednesday%20(May%2021)%20and%20Garcia%20still%20could%20have%20made%20the%20Wednesday%20Matrix">JGMF reminds us that Jerry Garcia and Friends were booked at The Matrix on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 20-21</a>). </i>I had forgot about this. But as my own comments on the post say,
I'm pretty sure I have an eyewitness. (To recap: Jerry Garcia and
Friends/Sanpaku played Matrix Tues/Wed May 20-21. Sanpaku's road manager
told a story about playing in front of Owsley and Garcia and trying to
impress them and melting down, thanks to--ahem--Mr. Owsley). I'm assuming
that to have been Tuesday May 20. Garcia and Dawson could have had a Menlo Park
Hofbrau gig on Wednesday (May 21) and Garcia still could have made the
Wednesday Matrix show. Presumably, Garcia and Friends was some sort of Hartbeats jam thing, but that remains mysterious (and my eyewitness can't help, of course). <br />
<br />
Also, there is another twist to the David Nelson story, namely that he was more or less a member of Big Brother and The Holding Company at this time. During at least some of May, he was (per himself, via Gans) recording in Los Angeles with Sam Andrews and others, probably Peter Albin, drummer Dave Getz and singer Kathi McDonald. So Nelson may not have even been in town when Dawson and Garcia played together the first few times.<br />
<br />
A<a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Big%20Brother.htm">nother scholar spoke with Peter Albin of Big Brother about that band's timeline</a>. Around Christmas 1968, Albin asked Nelson to join a reformed Big Brother. At the time, Nelson was staying in Big Brother's rehearsal warehouse in San Francisco. Albin and Nelson were close friends from their days going to school together at Carlmont High in San Carlos, just south of San Francisco. Indeed, Peter's older brother Rodney had introduced Nelson to both bluegrass and Jerry Garcia.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/09/david-nelson-musical-activities.html">Although the putative Big Brother played at least one gig at the Matrix (Jan 6 '69)</a>, plans for a reactivation were put on hold when Albin and Getz toured with Country Joe and The Fish throughout Europe in March and April of that year. The recording started in May (for the album which would become the underrated <i>Be A Brother</i>), but Big Brother didn't have much going on. Per Peter Albin, Nelson took the opportunity to join the New Riders instead, because they had more momentum. Still, we don't know when Nelson joined Garcia and Dawson, and I'm starting to think it wasn't until June.<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/12/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html">May 1969 GD/Garcia Tour Itinerary</a><br />
<br />
<b>June 3 or 4 (?), 1969 Peninsula School, Menlo Park, CA: unbilled benefit </b><br />
Although undetermined, the most likely date for the gig described in Blair Jackson's book is during this week. The lineup was apparently Dawson, Garcia, David Nelson and Phil Lesh (per Jackson). So Nelson must finally have been involved, and somehow Lesh had gotten in the picture as well.<br />
<br />
Peninsula School was a "progressive" K-8 school for the Ban The Bomb crowd in the South Bay, located at 925 Peninsula Way in Menlo Park, near Willow Road. Bob Weir and Bob Matthews had attended, as had John Dawson. Future GDTS operator Steve Marcus had grown up nearby, and probably attended this show. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/02/jerry-garcia-new-riders-of-purple-sage.html">Jerry Garcia had a long history of playing at the school</a>. His daughter Heather was probably a student, and his ex-wife Sara may have been a music instructor at the time. It's likely that the proceeds from the show offset Heather's tuition (as the New Riders would play the next few years as well).<br />
<br />
My general theory, unproven, is that Garcia played the Peninsula date on the afternoon that he had a date at the Underground. <br />
<br />
<b>June 4, 1969 The Underground, Menlo Park, CA: John Dawson</b><br />
I
have indirect confirmation of this date. It's plausible to think that
the Peninsula School gig was in the afternoon, and the club in the
evening. There was a Bay Area rock group called Southern Comfort who had a show at Palo Alto's only real rock club, The Poppycock. The band's drummer, Bob Jones (who played with John Kahn, Mike Bloomfield and many others) told me in an email that he recalled that he had heard that members of the Dead were playing nearby, so they left the club prior to going on stage. They were immediately busted by the Palo Alto police, who took their weed but did not arrest them, which--I assure you--is very Palo Alto. Jones didn't recall the exact date or where they were heading, exactly. but the pieces fit. <br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBdfXHzk5B1qJ0io3Ec8oQ4OfowS6jPsRGmc-Gg1sQkULeHZyW085q9zu1QvJlqnA-54ybsfMK7-eR6xDFxdzJNXyfZwLXL_94Vnm-93E4MYiyZrTR2wByQvJdqDjiO6mgSwmN32gM8Q/s1600/Cal+Hall+19690611.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZBdfXHzk5B1qJ0io3Ec8oQ4OfowS6jPsRGmc-Gg1sQkULeHZyW085q9zu1QvJlqnA-54ybsfMK7-eR6xDFxdzJNXyfZwLXL_94Vnm-93E4MYiyZrTR2wByQvJdqDjiO6mgSwmN32gM8Q/s1600/Cal+Hall+19690611.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>June 11, 1969 California Hall, San Francisco, CA: Bobby Ace and The Cards Off The Bottom Of The Deck</b><br />
<a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2020/04/riders-of-purple-sage-old-new-and.html">Recently I posted a lengthy theory that Garcia and the Grateful Dead were considering expanding the performing Dead into a sort of revue, like a touring C&W band</a>. Your mileage may vary with regards to my proposal. The New Riders of The Purple Sage would have been one leg, and an ensemble called Bobby Ace And The Cards Off The Bottom might have been the other. The "Bobby Ace" name had not been applied to Weir prior to June 1969, even casually. <br />
<br />
The Cards Off The Bottom name was only used a few times, and this June 11, 1969 benefit seems to have been a sort of experiment (ignore the Scientology
Benefit side-story, which is tangential).Thanks
to McNally (p.321), we know the band consisted of Garcia, Weir, TC,
Phil, Hart, Peter Grant, Nelson and Dawson. <br />
<br />
The only other time that Bobby Ace And The Cards Off The Bottom name was used again on a bill was when the band debuted the "acoustic Dead" in April 1970. The "Revue" idea seems to have been reduced somewhat, but the band toured while playing up to 4 sets of music with three different ensembles. McNally also found a setlist
(not a tape), which consists of the typical covers performed by the
"Acoustic Dead" in 1970. A tantalizing clue to any future plans, whatever you choose to make of it.<br />
<br />
Set One<br />
<ol>
<li>Let It Be Me (<i>Everly Brothers-1960</i>)</li>
<li>Silver Threads and Golden Needles (<i>Wanda Jackson-1956, and numerous other recordings</i>)</li>
<li>Mama Tried (<i>Merle Haggard-1968</i>)</li>
<li>Cathy's Clown (<i>Everly Brothers 1960</i>)</li>
<li>Me and My Uncle (<i>John Phillips via Jim Stalarow-1964</i>)</li>
<li>Slewfoot (<i>Johnny Horton '61, Porter Wagoner '68</i>)</li>
<li>Dire Wolf</li>
<li>Games People Play (<i>Joe South-1968</i>)</li>
<li>The Race Is On (<i>George Jones-1965</i>)</li>
<li>Green Green Grass Of Home (<i>Porter Wagoner-1968</i>)</li>
</ol>
Set Two<br />
<ol>
<li>Tiger By The Tail</li>
<li>I've Just Seen A Face (<i>Beatles, from Rubber Soul-1965</i>)</li>
<li>All I Have To Do Is Dream (<i>Everly Brothers-1958</i>)</li>
<li>Wabash Cannonball (<i>Trad, Roy Acuff-1936 and Carter Family-1932 made famous)</i></li>
<li>Railroading Across The Great Divide (<i>Carter Family ca. 1932</i>)</li>
</ol>
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<td align="left" colspan="3" valign="top" width="569"><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" style="width: 661px;"><tbody>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top" width="92"><br /></td><td align="left" valign="top" width="92"><br /></td><td align="left" valign="top" width="92"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="left" valign="top" width="92"><br /></td>
<td align="left" colspan="3" valign="top" width="569"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>June 18, 1969 The Underground, Menlo Park, CA: John Dawson</b><br />
Impossible so far to confirm, but presumably the trio played the Underground this Wednesday as well.<br />
<br />
<b>June 25, 1969 The Underground, Menlo Park, CA: John Dawson</b><br />
Fascinatingly,
McNally uncovered a setlist from Judy Dawson (no relation to John), a serious fan who kept such things.
Until the Owsley foundation released the May 14 setlist (above), this was
our only insight into what the trio played in Menlo Park:<br />
<ol>
<li>Tiger By The Tail</li>
<li>Fair Chance To Know</li>
<li>Mama Tried </li>
<li>The Next In Line</li>
<li>I'm In Love With You</li>
<li>Stagger Lee </li>
<li>Coat Of Many Colors (<i>not sure of this one--the Dolly Parton song was released in April 1971</i>)</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>Truck Drivin' Man</li>
<li>If You Hear Me When I'm Leaving</li>
<li>The Race Is On (<i>George Jones-1964</i>)</li>
<li>Six
Days On The Road (<i>Dave Dudley-1963</i>)</li>
<li>Jailbait Gets You Busted</li>
<li>Close Up The
Honky Tonks (<i>Buck Owens-1964</i>)</li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<li>For What It's Worth (<i>Buffalo Springfield-1966</i>)</li>
<li>I Still Miss Someone</li>
<li>Together Again </li>
<li>Superman</li>
<li>Lay Lady
Lay (<i>Bob Dylan, from Nashville Skyline-1969</i>)</li>
<li>If You Want To Run (<i>not sure if this was a Dawson original or not</i>)</li>
<li>Buckaroo (<i>Buck Owens instrumental-1965, regularly played live by Clarence White and The Byrds</i>)</li>
<li>Long Black Veil</li>
<li>Me &amp; My Uncle</li>
<li>Delilah</li>
</ol>
<i><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/05/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html">June 1969 GD/Garcia Tour Itinerary</a></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VgstU1IAHk8i7F1JD0qzN9B2gjKUtJkKYa4eU3VKr-lcOHJvkiXtzwXz-t_cCiuKQJ2b6hcjpqJoeASeGdzNRexqSFA3vXHsWiIDdpNriO7twfIA2wYes9TMRHY8fAP0lPiKxxuxi3w/s1600/19690627pc100.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="461" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VgstU1IAHk8i7F1JD0qzN9B2gjKUtJkKYa4eU3VKr-lcOHJvkiXtzwXz-t_cCiuKQJ2b6hcjpqJoeASeGdzNRexqSFA3vXHsWiIDdpNriO7twfIA2wYes9TMRHY8fAP0lPiKxxuxi3w/s320/19690627pc100.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
<b>June 27-28, 1969 Veterans Memorial Hall, Santa Rosa, CA: Grateful Dead/Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady and Joey Covington/Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band </b><br />
The Grateful Dead played Friday and Saturday nights in Santa Rosa, supported by a proto-version of electric Hot Tuna and t<a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Cleanliness%20and%20Godliness.htm">he Berkeley group Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band</a>. CGSB had originally been a sort of hip skiffle band--essentially New Orleans string band music--but had electrified somewhat and were now a sort of swinging country band with a drummer.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/june-27-1969-sonoma-county-fairgrounds.html">On the first night, Mickey Hart was late, and CGSB drummer Tom Ralston was invited to sit in for him</a>. Obviously, Kreutzmann could have handled it, so I assume the band was just poking Mickey, hinting that he could be replaced by someone else. Ralston played the first six songs or so, before Hart showed up.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/june-28-1969-sonoma-county-fairgrounds.html">On the second night (Saturday, June 28), as a "thank you" or just for fun, Jerry Garcia sat in on pedal steel guitar.</a> Hawk reports that Owsley taped Garcia joining CGSB on Buck Owens' "A11," a regular number for CGSB. He may have played on a few other numbers, but I'm not sure. The band certainly recalled the weekend clearly, in any case.<br />
<br />
Also on Saturday, for "Me And My Uncle," Peter Grant played electrified banjo, and John Dawson sang along with Weir. This adds another data point for my theory, however speculative, that Garcia and the Dead were at least considering some kind of expanded country ensemble. <br />
<br />
<b>June 29, 1969 The Barn, Rio Nido, CA: Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady/Jerry Garcia and Friends<i> </i></b><br />
The Owsley Foundation release of Jorma Kaukonen/Jack Casady/Joey Covington <i>Before We Were Them</i>
was recorded on June 28, At the
end, the announcer mentions a "jam" at Rio Nido and says that "Jerry
Garcia and a friend" will be playing. This is all but certainly Garcia
and Dawson, most likely with David Nelson as well. <i><br /><a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/05/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html">June 1969 GD/Garcia Tour Itinerary</a></i><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZTpw0kakg-lDuIRSioOLx8-wfd_yhHrkZ2de3vRRCTEi-hIKRYjlTbewB0_c7m5HDprFLqezE7HdvCbpDLYYikXf7xKey59rrEHPGspc3eH0VxFJ10DWnGgu6L-xwhThfQFf1HdCUFTE/s1600/Inside+A+Hippie+Commune+book+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1592" data-original-width="1258" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZTpw0kakg-lDuIRSioOLx8-wfd_yhHrkZ2de3vRRCTEi-hIKRYjlTbewB0_c7m5HDprFLqezE7HdvCbpDLYYikXf7xKey59rrEHPGspc3eH0VxFJ10DWnGgu6L-xwhThfQFf1HdCUFTE/s320/Inside+A+Hippie+Commune+book+cover.jpg" width="252" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cover of Holly Harman's photomemoir, I<i>nside A Hippie Commune</i>, from 2013</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Summer 1969 Pacific High Recorders, San Francisco, CA: Cloud Brothers session <i>"Strange Way"</i></b><br />
Perhaps the most obscure release featuring Jerry Garcia was a cd called <i>Inside A Hippie Commune: Music Soundtrack</i>. Author Holly Harman wrote a sort of coffee table book about her 60s Santa Cruz Mountains commune, called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Hippie-Commune-Holly-Harman/dp/0977655113/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2B19UKG55R9G0&dchild=1&keywords=inside+a+hippie+commune&qid=1588455407&s=books&sprefix=inside+a+hippie%2Cstripbooks%2C155&sr=1-1"><i>Inside A Hippie Commune</i></a>. She also created a DVD documentary from some surviving footage. Her husband Eric Levin did the soundtrack music. It was released privately, but officially, on cd in 2015, as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Hippie-Commune-Eric-Levin/dp/B00UEXXX1Q/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=inside+a+hippie+commune&qid=1588455459&s=music&sr=1-1"><i>Inside A Hippie Commune: Music Soundtrack.</i></a> <br />
<br />
Here's the short version, and it's not even short: Eric Levin was a Santa Cruz hippie guitarist in a band called Spirits (whom you'll see on ancient Bay Area posters). His wife (then girlfriend) Holly Harman was and is an extremely interesting source for Santa Cruz Bay Area hippiedom, as she was a teenager back then. <a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Barn%20Scotts%20History.htm">She's one of my principal and best sources on The Barn, the core text for my research</a>. Harman was full of other interesting details, too--s<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-was-curly-jim-me-and-my-uncle.html">he's the one who tipped me to the fact that the Curly Jim who taught Bob Weir "Me And My Uncle" wasn't Curly Cooke of the Steve Miller Band</a> (and she even emailed Curly Cooke, whom she knew, to confirm it--a researcher's dream). There's lots more to say about Harman, but leave that aside for now.<br />
<br />
Most of the tracks were recorded by Eric Levin around 2009, with his bar band, who played a local Sonoma brewpub. Their music is okay, and some tracks include the bass player for Blue Cheer (Dickie Petersen) in the band. However, there are a few tracks from 1969 by The Cloud Brothers, recorded at Pacific High Recorders. The Cloud Brothers were Levin and a guy named David Russek on guitars and vocals. On one track, "Strange Way" Curly Jim Stalarow plays rhythm guitar, and Jerry Garcia plays pedal steel. This was in mid-69, sometime, and per Holly Harman, Garcia did the session in return for weed. I assume the engineer was Dan Healy, but that information is uncertain. This may have been Garcia's first session as a steel player.<br />
<br />
Garcia basically plays a scale, as far as I can tell. But whatever. It's Garcia's first pedal steel studio session, and he plays with the guy who taught Bob "Me And My Uncle." <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqH92XV3tmG6odkp4u-3sc6BpyZ9ZfHKkfejs3lT71Rg9MrKXMwL5isM2OePkOx5Z27c5ESttDOYYkfCIwSsCJbBYyul-LhMiWD_5XMtlruxhHEFaxp_-uZjIRaEcHVhAxGrYXXlp79g/s1600/19690716bo+Longshoremans.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="467" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqH92XV3tmG6odkp4u-3sc6BpyZ9ZfHKkfejs3lT71Rg9MrKXMwL5isM2OePkOx5Z27c5ESttDOYYkfCIwSsCJbBYyul-LhMiWD_5XMtlruxhHEFaxp_-uZjIRaEcHVhAxGrYXXlp79g/s320/19690716bo+Longshoremans.jpg" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A flyer for a Hells Angels Benefit at Longshoreman's Hall in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 16, 1969. Besides the Grateful Dead, Cleveland Wrecking Company and Ice, the future New Riders made their debut with a brief, messy set.</td></tr>
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<b>July 16, 1969 Longshoreman's Hall, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Cleveland Wrecking Company/Ice <i>Hell's Angels Benefit</i></b><br />
Unbilled,
the soon-to-be Riders opened for the Dead. They came on late, due to
equipment problems apparently caused by Owsley. The band played briefly,
and per Blair Jackson's eyewitnesses, shambollically. Presumably
Matthews and Hart debuted. Given that the Dead had toured much of early
July, there can't have been much rehearsal.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJI_yYEFvosWOlUdyIMKdxFbPQmaIKqx-HhU6IkTyRyXOCMqrQohY0o8rI0PDzuiyEa5g9tjJuvbpWjTYipHNAtyhAEdljWoT8c6V3MBls9pqjBgphPV0H1iqO2rl4u1kOONS-83z-_kY/s1600/Truckin+with+Albert+Collins+Blue+Thumb+69.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJI_yYEFvosWOlUdyIMKdxFbPQmaIKqx-HhU6IkTyRyXOCMqrQohY0o8rI0PDzuiyEa5g9tjJuvbpWjTYipHNAtyhAEdljWoT8c6V3MBls9pqjBgphPV0H1iqO2rl4u1kOONS-83z-_kY/s320/Truckin+with+Albert+Collins+Blue+Thumb+69.jpg" width="305" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Albert "Ice Man" Collins legendary 1965 album <i>The Cool Sound of Albert Collins</i> was re-released by Blue Thumb Records in 1969 as <i>Truckin' ith Albert Collins</i></td></tr>
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<b>July 24-29 (?), 1969 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: Albert Collins </b><br />
As part of the research into Big Brother history, Peter Albin mentioned that he backed blues guitarist Albert "The Iceman" Collins for a week at The Matrix and then a weekend at the Family Dog. Remarkably, the band was Albin (presumably on guitar), Big Brother drummer Dave Getz, David Nelson, and most surprisingly, Dave Torbert. Torbert was based in Hawaii at the time, but his parents still lived in Redwood City, so he could have been visiting them.<br />
<br />
Bookings advertised at The Matrix for the week were<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div>
Wed July 22 -Lonnie Mack/Marvin Gardens (probably Tues-Thurs July 21-23)</div>
<div>
Sat 25 July-Southern Comfort/Dementia (theater troupe) (probably Sat July 24 as well)</div>
<div>
Wed 29 July-Linn County /Terry Dolan (probably Thurs Jul 30 as well)</div>
</blockquote>
<div>
Matrix bookings weren't set in stone, and Albert Collins could have been added or substituted to any of the nights. The shows were probably like rehearsals, setting them up for the weekend gig. Thanks to Bob Hite of Canned Heat, Collins had just been signed in 1968 by Imperial Records, and he had moved to Palo Alto (of all places) by November 1968. We'll have to guess which days Collins may have played at the Matrix. Collins famous 1965 album (<i>The Cool Sound Of Albert Collins</i>) had been re-released as <i>Truckin' With Albert Collins</i> in 1969.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSJyDcPN9Gg5NqbIwOVUjemGYv37HVR8ZMB90MxziJ-PLZHnCjmi7SR-nras_4hNXnW8ODSVauWuwvciHozbLoVw11gNSc_bORkJn-0UlK6IQAYjbcOChJWtqxw7Ie-vfyihE2Uta7lY/s1600/Bear%2527s_Lair_19690801.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="74" data-original-width="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSJyDcPN9Gg5NqbIwOVUjemGYv37HVR8ZMB90MxziJ-PLZHnCjmi7SR-nras_4hNXnW8ODSVauWuwvciHozbLoVw11gNSc_bORkJn-0UlK6IQAYjbcOChJWtqxw7Ie-vfyihE2Uta7lY/s1600/Bear%2527s_Lair_19690801.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Berkeley <i>Barb</i> listed "Jerry Garcia backing Marmaduke" at the Bear's Lair. $1.50, two shows.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>August 1, 1969 Bear's Lair, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: Jerry Garcia and Marmaduke</b><br />
The
band plays two sets, starting at 10:30pm, at the tiny, newly-opened
beer joint on the Berkeley campus. Confusingly, the Dead were booked at
the Family Dog this night, but did not play. A union of light show
workers were striking, and Garcia--union-born through his mother--would
never cross a picket line. It's telling that in a non-confrontational
Garcia move, he simply booked another gig and clearly had no intention
of participating in any dramatic showdown at the Family Dog event.<br />
<br />
Garcia did eventually turn up, later that night, when some of the dust had
settled. The strike fizzled out, since Graham had correctly sussed out
that rock fans weren't really paying to see light shows.<br />
<br />
Set 1<br />
<div>
<ol>
</ol>
<ol></ol>
<span class="im"></span><br />
<ol><span class="im">
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">The Next In Line</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Truck Drivin' Man</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>A-11</b></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">I Don't Know You</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Garden of Eden</b></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Hello Trouble</b></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Mama Tried</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Superman</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Big Fool of the Year</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">The Weight</li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Last Lonely Eagle</b></li>
<li style="margin-left: 15px;"><b>Whatcha Gonna Do</b></li>
</span></ol>
<span class="im">
</span>
<br />
<ol></ol>
<ol>
</ol>
</div>
Set 2:<br />
<br />
1. <b>Six Days On The Road<br /> 2. Henry<br /> 3. What Made Milwaukee Famous</b> (<i>Jerry Lee Lewis-1968</i>)<br />
4. <b> I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail<br /> 5. Don’t Take Any Chances<br /> 6. Connection<br /> 7. Delilah</b><br />
8. <b>Zebra Dun (Traditional) (</b><i>this may have been the start of the 3rd set)</i><b><br /> 9. [Jerry explains his instrument]<br /> 10. Kaw-Liga (Hank Williams-1953)<br /> 11. Sweet Lovin' One</b><br />
12. <b> Fair Chance To Know<br /> 13. Long Black Limousine</b> (<i>Glen Campbell-1964, Elvis Presley-1969, among many</i>)<br />
14. <b>All I Ever Wanted</b><br />
15. <b>Truck Drivin' Man<br /> 16. The Lady Came From Baltimore<br /> 17. Games People Play<br /> 18. [i<i>ntroducing the "Murdering Punks"</i>]</b><br />
19. <b>To Have the Hurting End<br /> 20. I Am Your Man<br /> 21. Henry </b> <br />
<br />
Note that "Henry" was played twice in the second set--there may have been three sets.<br />
<ol></ol>
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<b>August 1-2-3 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Albert Collins/Ballet Afro-Haiti</b><br />
These shows have been written about at great length. Most famously, the Light Show artists were unionizing and striking, and Bill Graham was dead-set against them. Chet Helms was trying to thread the needle, and there was a picket line at the Friday night (Aug 1) Family Dog show. Negotiations stalled the show, and the Dead never played, although a few members probably jammed. Decide for yourself if Garcia booked a conflicting gig on this night on purpose, or not. He ceratainly never did this again, in any case.<br />
<br />
The interesting tidbits here are that it seems that David Nelson had a gig as well, with Albert Collins, and he too missed the action. More interestingly, Nelson seems to have sat in with the Dead on both Saturday (August 2) and Sunday (August 3). At least it sure sounds like Nelson and his distinctive "B-Bender" on "Mama Tried" both nights. It makes a lot more sense if Nelson was already at the show, with his guitar and amp.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzM94qc_QjCYSI_Kx3EolJm790sq3U-8aYdfQUZkEhxwUEPbY6fqkZdYASSfzqUKCbZAsCL_g38R6Tz33LZbcPwHYJ4nebA5iRHRe0pUTE5rvJqlCk0mjcwK8ctMqj5huZ-JoQnVqtdAg/s1600/SFC19690806a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="418" height="74" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzM94qc_QjCYSI_Kx3EolJm790sq3U-8aYdfQUZkEhxwUEPbY6fqkZdYASSfzqUKCbZAsCL_g38R6Tz33LZbcPwHYJ4nebA5iRHRe0pUTE5rvJqlCk0mjcwK8ctMqj5huZ-JoQnVqtdAg/s320/SFC19690806a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The New Riders of The Purple Sage name first appeared in print in Ralph J Gleason's column in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 6, 1969. The listing announced the band's appearance at The Matrix "tonight and tomorrow" (Aug 6 and 7)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b> August 6-9, 1969 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
The New Riders of The Purple Sage name first appears in print in the San Francisco <i>Chronicle</i>,
when the band plays Wednesday thru Saturday night at The Matrix in the
Marina District. We have a tape from Thursday (August 7, sometimes dated
differently). For decades, this was one of only two existing live 1969 New Riders tapes (September 18 was the other).<br />
<br />
NRPS August 7, 1969-The Matrix<br />
<ol>
<li>Kaw-liga</li>
<li>If You Hear Me When I'm Leaving</li>
<li>Superman</li>
<li>Mama Tried</li>
<li>Games People Play</li>
<li>Truck Drivin' Man</li>
<li>Me
& My Uncle</li>
<li>Delilah</li>
<li>Long Black Veil</li>
<li>All I Ever
Wanted</li>
<li>Henry</li>
<li>Don't Take Chances</li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<li>Six Days On The Road </li>
</ol>
<br />
<b>August 12 or 13, 1969 Family Dog On The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: New Lost City Ramblers/New Riders of The Purple Sage</b> <i>"Hoe Down"</i><br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/04/family-dog-at-great-highway-august-13.html">This hitherto unknown show was mentioned in the Berkeley <i>Tribe</i> newspaper</a> (August 22-29).<b> </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/04/family-dog-at-great-highway-august-13.html?showComment=1272726193203#comment-c5794731571269825865">It appears that</a>
old South Bay pal Pete Grant sat in with the New Riders on banjo for a
few numbers. Not surprisingly, Garcia and Nelson were very excited to
play on the same bill with the New Lost City Ramblers, and at the end of
the show members of both bands played a few tunes together.<br />
<br />
As a side note, it appears that either the Grateful Dead or Mickey and The Harbeats played at the Family Dog on Thursday, August 14 (1969). The diary of (New Lost City Rambler) John Cohen mentions his attendance. Cohen wouldn't have known or cared about the difference, but it suggests that there were more Thursday night Family Dog "jam shows" than we thought. <br />
<br />
<b>August 19, 1969 Family Dog At The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
Although this date had been listed in the Berkeley Barb, I had doubted the likelihood of it actually having been played. This was a Tuesday night, and the Grateful Dead set at Woodstock had ended Saturday midnight, and they had to be in Seattle on Wednesday. Nonetheless, the Owsley Foundation has a tape, so Garcia and Hart got home, and it happened. <br />
<ol>
<li>The Next In Line</li>
<li>The Mighty Quinn (<i>Bob Dylan Basement Tapes, via Manfred Mann-1968</i>)</li>
<li>Fair Chance to Know</li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore</li>
<li>Henry</li>
<li>Six Days On the Road</li>
<li>All I Ever Wanted</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>Truck Drivin' Man</li>
</ol>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfRN36f7v3llrHhpXKiC_LaiDGduw3u8Hejh_Lz-e2SzY4mMDvV97DgNfG-7YjUumNuk1oZvnnUhTdDS2zSYvotJPw5ZvtYrl5vVK97sPsNlftP24XB6y1ex6VxWD_GZjLZsD8dPlr7c/s1600/El+Roach+2010front.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="972" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUfRN36f7v3llrHhpXKiC_LaiDGduw3u8Hejh_Lz-e2SzY4mMDvV97DgNfG-7YjUumNuk1oZvnnUhTdDS2zSYvotJPw5ZvtYrl5vVK97sPsNlftP24XB6y1ex6VxWD_GZjLZsD8dPlr7c/s320/El+Roach+2010front.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The former site of El Roach Tavern, at 5419 Ballard Avenue in outer Seattle. When the Dead were rained out of the Agua Theaater on August 20, they decamped to the El Roach, which was supposedly a "Biker Bar." They played, too. Musta been some night. By 2010, when seen here, it was a sporting good store called Kavu.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>August 20, 1969 El Roach Tavern, Ballard, WA Grateful Dead</b><br />
The Dead, The New Riders of The Purple Sage and a group called Sanpaku
were scheduled to play an outdoor venue in Seattle. They got rained out,
so the Dead played a scary biker bar in Seattle called El Roach. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/august-20-1969-roach-seattle-wa-updated.html">I have written about this at length</a>.Possibly the New Riders played as well, or at least joined in the fun.<br />
<br />
<b>
</b>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7emujLV328qcFEyI14kqBODqcm9tN6I-n_SDGLdwhaCGBQy8L-ONg18o7a4PaHVxkhMKG8I3KaCeqOdXLSCWOsjpvUPEKJRnhxoH_8yhOLEh1A0Vu3PrvwE8vAnotunVc8ukx1ugae0/s1600/Aqua+Theatre+20100129_1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="972" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7emujLV328qcFEyI14kqBODqcm9tN6I-n_SDGLdwhaCGBQy8L-ONg18o7a4PaHVxkhMKG8I3KaCeqOdXLSCWOsjpvUPEKJRnhxoH_8yhOLEh1A0Vu3PrvwE8vAnotunVc8ukx1ugae0/s320/Aqua+Theatre+20100129_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Aqua Theater in Seattle was an outdoor performance venue. Led Zeppelin played there on May 11,1969, but the Grateful Dead played the last show there on August 21. The stage was in the lake. The theater was torn down in 1970, but a piece of the grandstand remains, in a park commemorating the venue (5900 W. Green Lake Way N)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b></b></div>
<b>August 21, 1969 Aqua Theatre, Seattle, WA Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Sanpaku</b><br />
After the rainout, the Dead and their support acts came back and played Seattle's Aquatheatre, <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/guest-flute-players-with-grateful-dead.html">joined by Sanpaku flautist Gary Larkey</a>. This was <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/august-20-1969-unnnamed-bar-west-15th.html">the last performance at the unique outdoor venue</a>, and I have <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/august-21-1969-aqua-theatre-seattle-wa.html">written about it</a> as well. This booking was the first time the New Riders were billed as opening for The Grateful Dead. As a side note, its a relevant point that Bob Matthews was still the bassist, because the NRPS origin myth talks about Phil Lesh going out on the road as their bassist. It never actually happened. What few gigs Phil played were around the Bay Area.<br />
<ol>
<li>Truck Drivin' Man</li>
<li>To Have the Hurting End</li>
<li>Games People Play</li>
<li>Long Black Veil</li>
<li>Garden of Eden</li>
<li>The Mighty Quinn</li>
<li>I Am Your Man</li>
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore</li>
<li>Six Days on the Road</li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<li>The Weight</li>
</ol>
<br />
<br />
<b>
</b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkcHgbeVIK1U_xTIPQ3L9Rz5mpYYpdCXQxe-rh06PJxsWWihvEGkHvC9HNKjkwLe_QwL-jjXoozvN-pG0r-i9YTmjQsPiLcF1aTJg8nfFXVf7mIHvzfEn10uZ-zrwpqIFFi1Jt0CPqRlc/s1600/19690823+Oregon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="803" data-original-width="494" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkcHgbeVIK1U_xTIPQ3L9Rz5mpYYpdCXQxe-rh06PJxsWWihvEGkHvC9HNKjkwLe_QwL-jjXoozvN-pG0r-i9YTmjQsPiLcF1aTJg8nfFXVf7mIHvzfEn10uZ-zrwpqIFFi1Jt0CPqRlc/s320/19690823+Oregon.jpg" width="196" /></a></b></div>
<b>August 23, 1969 <a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19690823.html">Bullfrog 2 Festival, Pelletier Farm, St Helens, OR</a>
Grateful Dead/Taj Mahal/Portland Zoo/Sabatic Goat/River/Sand/Notary
Sojac/Searchin Soul/The Weeds/New Colony/Chapter Five/Trilogy/Bill
Feldman/Don Ross/Mixed Blood/Ron Bruce</b><br />
The Grateful Dead headlined a rock festival in Oregon. This festival
was originally scheduled for the Columbia County Fairgrounds in St.
Helens, Oregon, about 30 miles North of Portland, but a local judge
voided the promoters contract. The festival was moved to private
property nearby. <br />
<br />
The festival ran three days (August 21-22-23). I assume Taj Mahal
headlined Friday night (Aug 22) and the Dead headlined Saturday. The
rest of the groups were Oregon bands. An eyewitness once reported (in a
letter to an Oregon newspaper) that the New Riders (and Country Joe)
played the show also, and I find that plausible since we know that
Nelson, Dawson and their equipment were with the band.<br />
<br />
As a side note, I don't believe in biographical criticism as a key to meaning in Art. Comparing the lives of artists with their creative works can be misleading. I, for one, do not think that Johnny Cash shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. But if you do believe in biographical research as a research method, its worth noting that this weekend would be the only one where John Dawson could have met him a Portland woman.<br />
<br />
[<i><b>update</b></i>: <a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2020/05/new-riders-of-purple-sage-tour-history.html?showComment=1592433480568#c8284415567524655610">Fellow scholar RunOnGuinness reports an eyewitness account that says the New Riders played on Friday night August 22</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>An attendee reports that the New Riders played Bullfrog 2 on Friday 1969-08-22 and the Dead on Saturday 1969-08-23.</i><br /><br /><i>Terry
Smith "I went to the Bullfrog festival when I was 15 years old. I don't
remember ever seeing Taj Mahal. Friday night, the NRPS played on a very
dark flat bed trailer. There was only one or two light bulbs for
lighting. The next night the Dead played on two flat bed trailers.They
started very late and heated up the cold night air. The next morning,
they were gone. I walked through they're campground and found an ounce
of weed and a sword."</i><br /><br /><i>From an OSF 2020-04-13 comment</i></blockquote>
<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/OwsleyStanleyFoundation/posts/2847488328667487?__tn__%3D-R&source=gmail&ust=1592520080163000&usg=AFQjCNHnK68c0o8JEVqQN72u1CMjgaSv0Q" href="https://www.facebook.com/OwsleyStanleyFoundation/posts/2847488328667487?__tn__=-R" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/<wbr></wbr>OwsleyStanleyFoundation/posts/<wbr></wbr>2847488328667487?__tn__=-R</a><br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<b>August 28, 1969 Family Dog at The Great Highway: Mickey and The Hartbeats/New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
<b>August
29-30, 1969 Family Dog at The Great Highway: Grateful Dead/Commander
Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Phoenix (</b><i>replaced Rubber
Duck Company)</i><br />
Thanks to the Owsley box, we have music from this
weekend. The Thursday night "Hartbeats" set was a jam, it's not clear
if the Dead proper actually played. The event was promoted via handbill
and was probably more like a public rehearsal. <a href="https://berkeleyfolk.blogspot.com/2010/09/commander-cody-and-his-lost-planet.html">Commander Cody's band had only recently relocated from Ann Arbor, MI to Emeryville</a>.<br />
NRPS, August 28, 1969, Family Dog<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Six Days On The Road</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>I Am Your Man</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Last Lonely Eagle</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Whatcha Gonna Do</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>[introducing the famous Bobby Ace]</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Mama Tried (w/Bob Weir)</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Cathy's Clown (w/Bob Weir)</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Old, Old House (w/Bob Weir) (<i>George Jones-1965</i>)</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Me And My Uncle (w/Bob Weir) </b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Seasons Of The Heart (w/Bob Weir) (<i>George Jones-1965</i>)</b></li>
<b>
</b>
<li><b>Slewfoot (w/Bob Weir)</b></li>
<b>
</b></ol>
<br />
NRPS, August 29, 1969, Family Dog<br />
<ol><span class="im">
<li><b>To Have the Hurting End</b></li>
<b>
</b></span><b>
</b>
<li><b>Games People Play</b></li>
<li>All I ever Wanted</li>
<li>Connection (<i>Rolling Stones, from Between The Buttons-1967</i>)</li>
<li>Mama Tried (w/Bob Weir)</li>
<li>Cathy's Clown (w/Bob Weir...and Mickey on cowbell)</li>
<li>Fair Chance to Know</li>
<li>Seasons of My Heart (w/Bob Weir) </li>
</ol>
<br />
<div>
NRPS, August 30, 1969, Family Dog</div>
<ol>
<li><b>Superman</b></li>
<li>Henry</li>
<li>All I Ever Wanted</li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<span class="im">
<li>Six Days on the Road</li>
</span>
<li><b>Saw Mill (</b>w/ Bob Weir) (<i>Buck Owens-1963</i>)</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>Cathy's Clown (w/Bob Weir)</li>
<li>Mama Tried (w/Bob Weir</li></ol><b>September 6, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead</b><i> (Saturday)</i><br /><a href="https://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2021/11/september-6-1969-family-dog-on-great.html?showComment=1652629562924#c4126184375647083647">We know about the Dead and Airplane performances only from tapes</a>, but new information has confirmed that there was a New Riders set as well on this date. <br /><ol></ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLezZFpyBYg2sG8oA1ZkbfaNuuxOWT0ZUazvwfsDoRg9POBHayx6kOPIHoQKIJ1ecMInu-qjyzSN3YzB1id2m5njI2S8iTNQziXwWZefE1qXXACVYSMewVUdSxorFwHian2IuUk2hb4WE/s1600/SFC19690917a1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="77" data-original-width="406" height="60" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLezZFpyBYg2sG8oA1ZkbfaNuuxOWT0ZUazvwfsDoRg9POBHayx6kOPIHoQKIJ1ecMInu-qjyzSN3YzB1id2m5njI2S8iTNQziXwWZefE1qXXACVYSMewVUdSxorFwHian2IuUk2hb4WE/s320/SFC19690917a1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The NRPS are mentioned playing at The Inn Of The Begining in Cotati in Ralph Gleason's column in the September 17, 1969 SF Chronicle.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>September 18, 1969 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
Bob Matthews last gig as the New Riders bass player (per himself) was at t<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/07/8201-old-redwood-highway-cotati-ca-inn.html">his tiny bar in Sonoma County, which had opened only the year before</a>. Matthews hung his taping rig over a roof beam. The Dead promptly went on tour on the East Coast. <br />
<br />
Thanks to the <i>Dawn of The New Riders</i> box, however, we know that Matthews played more gigs with the Riders, since he was on the Mandrake's tape from October. Did that mean his last show was in Cotati, but not this date? Or that he simply misremembered the whole thing? Another interesting thing is that Matthews tape may have circulated over the years, it's about six songs long, but Owsley appears to have taped the whole show.<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/02/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html">GD/Garcia tour itinerary September 1969 </a><br />
<ol>
<li>The Next in Line</li>
<span class="im">
<li>Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line</li>
</span>
<li>Superman</li>
<li>Me & My Uncle</li>
<li>All I Ever Wanted</li>
<li>Truck Drivin' Man</li>
<li>Zebra Dun</li>
<li>What's Made Milwaukee Famous </li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<span class="im">
<li>If You Hear Me When I'm Leaving</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>I Don't Know You</li>
<li>Garden of Eden</li>
<li>Six Days On the Road</li>
</span>
<li>I Still Miss Someone</li>
<li>Jailbait</li>
<li>Fair Chance to Know</li>
<li>Long Black Limousine</li>
<li>Connection</li>
<span class="im">
<li>To Have the Hurting End</li>
</span>
<li>Games People Play</li>
<li>Hello Trouble</li>
<li>Quinn the Eskimo</li>
<li>Delilah</li>
<li>Death & Destruction (<i>this Dawson song was not released by NRPS until 1972's Gypsy Cowboy</i>)</li>
<span class="im">
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore</li>
<li>Henry</li>
</span>
<li>The Weight</li>
<li>Mama Tried</li>
</ol>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIs3drhp6aPzX37s9EqlVVFI7MII8j6dn8BDuK2Vt8AdBM3NfFCYjhuZh5hukzm9dM4qCyf5lvKkTFsAuoj6ZqpPk4kEy4UHCbBDAi-DRtwYpyw8zSLtsRQStQqR5P9eatGO79sHP7y34/s1600/SFC19691008a1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="112" data-original-width="599" height="59" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIs3drhp6aPzX37s9EqlVVFI7MII8j6dn8BDuK2Vt8AdBM3NfFCYjhuZh5hukzm9dM4qCyf5lvKkTFsAuoj6ZqpPk4kEy4UHCbBDAi-DRtwYpyw8zSLtsRQStQqR5P9eatGO79sHP7y34/s320/SFC19691008a1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once again, Ralph Gleason's column announces another Thursday show at Cotati's Inn Of The Beginning (Oct 8 '69 SF <i>Chronicle</i>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>October 9, 1969 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
I thought this was Phil Lesh's debut as the New Riders' bass player. But it wasn't, or wasn't likely to have been, since Matthews played with the band at Mandrake's the next week.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOG5ggtg5QVIhq5c1zeKE9nbjEs7wA0CsLnf_1bDXh5OaLjxERrgGnEOFzpuOLL6IemNKHu51zZtWrotqzQhAqzHaoXEqum5F9SJC_-0HS4TQnWKKQUu-K3rV8OG_IZvirccn4mWETBsk/s1600/1048+University+20110129-3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOG5ggtg5QVIhq5c1zeKE9nbjEs7wA0CsLnf_1bDXh5OaLjxERrgGnEOFzpuOLL6IemNKHu51zZtWrotqzQhAqzHaoXEqum5F9SJC_-0HS4TQnWKKQUu-K3rV8OG_IZvirccn4mWETBsk/s320/1048+University+20110129-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The site of Mandrake's, at 1048 University and Tenth Street, as it appeared in 2009.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>October 14-16, 1969 Mandrake's, Berkeley, CA New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
Some of this material was released on <i>Dawn Of The New Riders of The Purple Sage</i>. Now that he knows the songs, Matthews bass playing has improved considerably. The band was advertised as playing three nights (Tuesday through Thursday). Owsley appears to have only taped the first two.<br />
<br />
<div>
NRPS, October 14, 1969, Mandrake's (set 1)</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Death & Destruction</li>
<span class="im">
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore</li>
</span>
<li>Lodi (<i>Creedence Clearwater Revival, single released April 1969</i>)</li>
<li>I Am Your Man</li>
<li>Henry</li>
<li>All I Ever Wanted</li>
</ol>
NRPS, October 14, 1969, Mandrake's (set 2)<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line</b></li>
<li><b>Fair Chance To Know</b></li>
<li><b>Mama Tried</b></li>
<li><b>I Still Miss Someone</b></li>
<li><b> Crossover</b></li>
<li><b>The Weight </b></li>
</ol>
<ol>
</ol>
</div>
<div>
NRPS, October 15, 1969, Mandrake's</div>
<div>
<ol><span class="im">
<li>Next In Line</li>
<li>The Mighty Quinn</li>
</span>
<li>Long Black Limousine</li>
<span class="im">
<li>Six Days On the Road</li>
<li>To Have the Hurting End</li>
</span>
<li>Henry</li>
<li>Superman</li>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>Lodi</li>
<span class="im">
<li>The Lady Came From Baltimore</li>
</span>
<li>Me & My Uncle</li>
<li>Connection</li>
<li>Mama Tried</li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<li><b>Garden of Eden</b></li>
<li>Games People Play</li>
<li>I Still Miss Someone</li>
<li><b>Long Black Veil</b></li>
<li>I Am Your Man</li>
<li><b>Death & Destruction</b></li>
<li>Fair Chance To Know</li>
</ol>
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHT4-Yfap_bQAucPk8BhNxWyHLhVZYzdDkeV3ZFpuF9hZISgmCZDdO_VY2X93tr49vt3BwcIei7lLZ8P9RJ23gcVG_684WGWzWNCo_81qAeQh-JvlcZ7czGg9yW5ooaku_Xrv3YzlAUGI/s1600/SFC19691017b1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="538" height="87" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHT4-Yfap_bQAucPk8BhNxWyHLhVZYzdDkeV3ZFpuF9hZISgmCZDdO_VY2X93tr49vt3BwcIei7lLZ8P9RJ23gcVG_684WGWzWNCo_81qAeQh-JvlcZ7czGg9yW5ooaku_Xrv3YzlAUGI/s320/SFC19691017b1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A listing for the NRPS show at the (then) San Jose State College Student Ballroom (Gleason column, SF Chronicle Oct 17 '69)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>October 17, 1969 Student Union Ballroom, San Jose State College, San Jose,CA New Riders Of The Purple Sage/The Fourth Way</b><br />
This
may have been the very first rock concert at the newly opened ballroom
(soon known as The Loma Prieta Room). The Grateful Dead would return to
headline two weeks later. The Owsley Foundation has the tape.<br />
<ol>
<li>Crossover</li>
<li>Hello Trouble</li>
<li>Long Black Limousine</li>
<span class="im">
<li>Six Days on the Road</li>
</span>
<li>Next In Line</li>
<li>Games People Play</li>
<span class="im">
<li>To Have the Hurting End</li>
</span>
<li>Whatcha Gonna Do</li>
<li>The Race Is On (w/Bob Weir)</li>
<li>Cathy's Clown (w/Bob Weir)</li>
<li>Saw Mill (w/Bob Weir)</li>
<li>Mama Tried (w/Bob Weir)</li>
<li>Me & My Uncle (w/Bob Weir)</li>
<li>Fair Chance to Know</li>
</ol>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxGFOzp37rhnNO3Gy-LUqS2Ybme6pbNRDMDI7nT-Ruqpz915unDRkJY8WlEF3ZdYnJeFM7PRYB7UQ54xmrQqdxhGBcOl6JLwsW9kqG1riE3m90gLhAyEoVfcCWEo6BAtSPBKN3jJPKjJE/s1600/SFC19691022b1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="492" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxGFOzp37rhnNO3Gy-LUqS2Ybme6pbNRDMDI7nT-Ruqpz915unDRkJY8WlEF3ZdYnJeFM7PRYB7UQ54xmrQqdxhGBcOl6JLwsW9kqG1riE3m90gLhAyEoVfcCWEo6BAtSPBKN3jJPKjJE/s320/SFC19691022b1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>A listing in the October 22, 1969 SF Chronicle Datebook section of the Ecological Ball "Happening" at the Family Dog</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>October 22, 1969 Family Dog on the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA:
"Ecological Ball" with Lazarus/Garden Of Delights/Heavy Water/New Riders
Of The Purple Sage and films</b><br />
This show had been known from an obscure flyer, but this listing in the
Wednesday, October 22 Chronicle sheds slightly more light on the event.
Only the Riders and Lazarus were rock bands, as Garden Of Delights and
Heavy Water were light shows. The evening sounds like what today would
be called a "multi-media" event. The Riders probably played one set.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/02/nrps-tour-itinerary-october-1969.html">NRPS Tour Itinerary October 1969</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYMml1UrfA5yibrnXaNmLJKjmk_HKcKxbpxnt5xYYgE3Z8LB1ej7nhWltI-44iRC2q-vXS9j7_w-96Ild_LU1NJC33s0sDDQgMOIAyibaLbdYU6voeVnDE_0-rhDS2NIp03673nIQnpY/s1600/SFC19691103c-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="212" data-original-width="416" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEYMml1UrfA5yibrnXaNmLJKjmk_HKcKxbpxnt5xYYgE3Z8LB1ej7nhWltI-44iRC2q-vXS9j7_w-96Ild_LU1NJC33s0sDDQgMOIAyibaLbdYU6voeVnDE_0-rhDS2NIp03673nIQnpY/s320/SFC19691103c-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>November 3-4, 1969 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
The New Riders returned to the Matrix for Monday and Tuesday shows. Maybe this was a sort of rehearsal for the demo sessions, since they hardly would have gotten paid.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMxk4aMETdpZZlAVXxh7ZvD5nzg0wuhSJZ3S8RMSrDDrfXAlFQ-2C7MPBYWGLsWo5DbXJf5QLUgFOyF-C6Ci5ymxyMmRtQlb7IicUUzUtVh-dRUoVk6mYcInpzv1zJLfHMgT76QCTgLI/s1600/Before+Time+Began+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMxk4aMETdpZZlAVXxh7ZvD5nzg0wuhSJZ3S8RMSrDDrfXAlFQ-2C7MPBYWGLsWo5DbXJf5QLUgFOyF-C6Ci5ymxyMmRtQlb7IicUUzUtVh-dRUoVk6mYcInpzv1zJLfHMgT76QCTgLI/s1600/Before+Time+Began+cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Before Time Began, the 1986 Relix Records album by the New Riders, featured four songs recorded in November 1969 at Pacifid High Recorders.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>November 1969: Pacific High Recorders, San Francisco, CA New Riders demo </b><br />
The four-song New Riders demo was taped at Pacific High Recorders in San Francisco sometime in November, with Phil Lesh on bass. Bob Matthews was the engineer. The tracks were later released on the 1986 Relix album <i>Before Time Began</i>. These demos got played on KSAN, on occasion. <br />
<ol>
<li>Henry</li>
<li>All I Ever Wanted</li>
<li>Last Lonely Eagle</li>
<li>Cecilia </li>
</ol>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLRLIcpzth6GL4T_KZMyFQw-Otndx8EwwuaR8zqB6pSd7NhYNPMhbD48bcr_hI28rWoZ4msD1Q-Z7HibBuiScWPB51xHEdFBObV3k03Ohd-zL3P1P8Ze4bD4Cvnfd0u92iaujpyY7Jv4c/s1600/Inn+Of+The+Beginning+20100712-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLRLIcpzth6GL4T_KZMyFQw-Otndx8EwwuaR8zqB6pSd7NhYNPMhbD48bcr_hI28rWoZ4msD1Q-Z7HibBuiScWPB51xHEdFBObV3k03Ohd-zL3P1P8Ze4bD4Cvnfd0u92iaujpyY7Jv4c/s320/Inn+Of+The+Beginning+20100712-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The Inn Of The Begining, at 8201 Old Redwood Highway in Cotati, as it appeared in 2010. It was another establishment by then, but the IOTB sign was still there</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>November 6, 1969 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
Was Lesh the bass player by this time? There is still no firm evidence one way or the other.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzvS2Oxru9F7c8EiyrxEDT0CLPQ-MKFYsPYlucl36svlnUNWln5M5VKC_sXMStVa9Dq2OQ693FSsNlAgpZew1kNxqIi0R7nqNj6gBFt4xuJknxyykmMKGAt5tGHpVcFgRbdKflAHg5XY/s1600/Poppycock--19691108+flyer.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="616" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyzvS2Oxru9F7c8EiyrxEDT0CLPQ-MKFYsPYlucl36svlnUNWln5M5VKC_sXMStVa9Dq2OQ693FSsNlAgpZew1kNxqIi0R7nqNj6gBFt4xuJknxyykmMKGAt5tGHpVcFgRbdKflAHg5XY/s320/Poppycock--19691108+flyer.jpg" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>The
Poppycock, at 135 University Avenue in Palo Alto, was one of the steady
rock clubs around the Bay Area in 1969. This flyer is for November 8,
1969 and following. </i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><b>November 13, 1969 The Poppycock, Palo Alto, CA: New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
</b><a href="http://rockarchaeology101.blogspot.com/2010/02/135-university-avenue-palo-alto-ca.html">The
Poppycock, at 135 University Avenue (at High Street) in Palo Alto, was a
fish and chips/beer joint that was also Palo Alto's first regular rock
venue.</a><b> </b><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtPAJjjyJ4AxwPvV0w4ZxbPkYHK3-SVVocLbgQ5eFh7YezCxzna1pzkdg5eD6XpFnxBok746TJ5hvEb5yEl-VM3PcaXJK8YiGT6eHzlGw2vFiIirEOjB1akSvDZQaSW9k0C0_jx4dO6E/s1600/jg1969-11-19.nrps.ad-hannan.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="931" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwtPAJjjyJ4AxwPvV0w4ZxbPkYHK3-SVVocLbgQ5eFh7YezCxzna1pzkdg5eD6XpFnxBok746TJ5hvEb5yEl-VM3PcaXJK8YiGT6eHzlGw2vFiIirEOjB1akSvDZQaSW9k0C0_jx4dO6E/s320/jg1969-11-19.nrps.ad-hannan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>Ads from the Berkeley Barb. The Winterland benefit for The Dog was moved to Fillmore West. Mumble, Fumble, Jumble, Dumble were Big Brother, not ready to go fully public.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><b>November 18, 1969 Family Dog On The Great Highway, San Francisco New Riders Of The Purple Sage/David LaFlamme <i>"Square Dance"</i></b></b><br />
LaFlamme likely sat in with the New Riders.<br />
<br />
<b><b><i> </i></b></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2w40UEvElzpUp0FiXX0G-jCCoM1SY-NBwtlwiLBAyQSdsAEpr9sAu61l9KXySUfSugxll39fQ9C1ZXGDMqci_ggrM1_vqpS3K8WO8KLTWuN5RDtZDOu-mSuNlsZ63udOmCJfcYV0RjaQ/s1600/SFC19691119-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="428" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2w40UEvElzpUp0FiXX0G-jCCoM1SY-NBwtlwiLBAyQSdsAEpr9sAu61l9KXySUfSugxll39fQ9C1ZXGDMqci_ggrM1_vqpS3K8WO8KLTWuN5RDtZDOu-mSuNlsZ63udOmCJfcYV0RjaQ/s320/SFC19691119-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><b><b>November 19, 1969 Fillmore West, San Francisco New Riders Of The
Purple Sage/Big Brother and The Holding Company/Barry McGuire &amp; The
Doctor Naut Family</b><i><br />
</i></b></b>A Family Dog benefit was originally advertised for
Winterland, but the show was moved to
Fillmore West. The Dog was never on firm ground financially after 1967<br />
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gwiUdWJsZeajZcqQww3pzbQOutV1EC8fyCij7rahLl6YBl6lot9_l-bN7nUPVHu_riNxxW-yH0-VNRhPVILotl-3zer9BCphcFdIjvzg_Mpdf2QA0alsrmlWTmFsUW_vLjPqWKP-b_o/s1600/SFC19691119-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="89" data-original-width="417" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6gwiUdWJsZeajZcqQww3pzbQOutV1EC8fyCij7rahLl6YBl6lot9_l-bN7nUPVHu_riNxxW-yH0-VNRhPVILotl-3zer9BCphcFdIjvzg_Mpdf2QA0alsrmlWTmFsUW_vLjPqWKP-b_o/s320/SFC19691119-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gleason column from SF Chronicle (Nov 19 '69)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>November 20, 1969 The Poppycock, Palo Alto, CA: New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
NRPS played a few Wednesdays in a row at the Poppycock.<br />
<br />
<b><b>November 22-23, 1969 Family Dog On The Great Highway, San Francisco&lt; CA:
New Riders Of The Purple Sage/Anonymous Artists Of America/Devil's
Kitchen</b> </b><br />
The second night, and possibly the first night as
well, was likely canceled due to a Grateful Dead show in Boston on
November 23.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghkFpdase6jXgnk_eyso_-0q8oT73jrwXrxGZ2keHWfUFKrqwvauGKHvoJYoH6HKaxjTUBELbDn9TsZsmihrYV2y2lD9n6dZtHdXCmbbPa07svNh_BmJ768wR6jdDFZUOeGh6IT8Klyc4/s1600/jg1969-11-26.nrps.listing.GT19691120p-unk.jgmf.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghkFpdase6jXgnk_eyso_-0q8oT73jrwXrxGZ2keHWfUFKrqwvauGKHvoJYoH6HKaxjTUBELbDn9TsZsmihrYV2y2lD9n6dZtHdXCmbbPa07svNh_BmJ768wR6jdDFZUOeGh6IT8Klyc4/s1600/jg1969-11-26.nrps.listing.GT19691120p-unk.jgmf.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>November 26, 1969 The Poppycock, Palo Alto, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
J<a href="http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2013/05/nrps-november-26-1969-poppycock-palo.html">GMF found this listed in the Berkeley <i>Tribe</i></a>. Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the third week in a row that the Riders were booked at the Poppycock<br />
<b><b><i> </i></b></b><br />
<b>November 27, 1969 Family Dog on The Great Highway New Riders Of The
Purple Sage/Lamb/Cleveland Wrecking Company/Deacon and The
Suprelles/Rafael Garrett Circus</b><br />
This was part of a multi-media extravaganza including stage performers and films (whom I have not listed).Kind of a strange booking for Thanksgiving Thursday. Still, there may have been a lot of hippies far from home with nothing to do.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1wywPsvZw67jQ8jfrSwFmxby9nUlNqGFdYnllxTjgpmMjbv8c190eCUvdlqFAR9nXD21kF_pzKhBri9ixkyeTYs3vXxq8Nl3mtKOBETKuicljFmhcgkrsG0Q_ae2xi3xp2x1Cr9RIiOs/s1600/SFC19691128a-1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="57" data-original-width="412" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1wywPsvZw67jQ8jfrSwFmxby9nUlNqGFdYnllxTjgpmMjbv8c190eCUvdlqFAR9nXD21kF_pzKhBri9ixkyeTYs3vXxq8Nl3mtKOBETKuicljFmhcgkrsG0Q_ae2xi3xp2x1Cr9RIiOs/s320/SFC19691128a-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A clip from Ralph Gleason's SF Chronicle Ad Lib column on Nov 28 '69</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>November 28-29, 1969 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
The New Riders returned to Cotati for yet another show, this time
apparently for a full weekend. Its possible that the Riders played
Friday (28) and that Joy Of Cooking played Saturday (29), but I will
take Gleason at his word here, even though his hastily-typed <i>Ad Lib</i> section often had typos or casually elided certain bills.<br />
<br />
The IOTB show had to have been Phil Lesh's last show with the New Riders in 1969, and possibly ever.<br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/04/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html">GD/Jerry Garcia tour itinerary November 1969 </a><br />
<br />
<b>January 19, 1970 Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage Benefit</b><br />
This benefit show was advertised. It's not clear if it happened, or if the New Riders played at it if it did.<br />
<br />
Keep in mind that the Dead had a crazy touring schedule, thanks to Lenny Hart: early January at Fillmore East, Oregon in the middle, then Hawaii. If the Riders played Pauley, it would have been the Monday after a weekend in the Pacific Northwest. <br />
<br />
<b>February 7, 1970 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Taj Mahal/Big Foot</b><br />
I
am no expert on tape lineage, but some old circulating audience tapes
had John Dawson singing with the Dead (I think on "Together Again"). The
old tapes were compilations of some sort, and could have been
mis-dated.<br />
<br />
The absence of New Riders activity also makes sense considering the Dead's frantic schedule. After firing Lenny Hart, the band was busted in New Orleans, played St Louis, the Family Dog and Fillmore West, laid down rehearsal tracks for <i>Workingman's Dead </i>and then toured Texas and played the Family Dog again.<br />
<br />
<b>March 12, 1970 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/06/march-11-1970-inn-of-beginning-cotati.html">Booked, but the Riders canceled (check out the great Comment Thread)</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>March 13-14, 1970 New Orleans House, Berkeley, CA: New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/06/march-1970-new-riders-shows-did-they.html">Once again, the Riders canceled, because they either had no bass player or Phil simply wasn't interested. </a>The reformed Big Brother took up the dates, it seems.<br />
<br />
The Dead were recording <i>Workingman's Dead</i> during this week, anyway (March 9-16, most likely), so NRPS gigs would have gotten in the way. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_UNxSMBHcxdyd6MOK1-kZ-lh3LZJPvEdkcboZ7SfX4hLDgSRWO38uZUmOeO3R2kbx1Ah8fbdjtqWTEK3QNzr-f9MCISdS0FXNXqDxTNV1m5gfawSjhfGVUteInx7sW74Tb2Ba7YnFZs/s1600/Tape+Vault+Compendium+%25281970318%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA_UNxSMBHcxdyd6MOK1-kZ-lh3LZJPvEdkcboZ7SfX4hLDgSRWO38uZUmOeO3R2kbx1Ah8fbdjtqWTEK3QNzr-f9MCISdS0FXNXqDxTNV1m5gfawSjhfGVUteInx7sW74Tb2Ba7YnFZs/s320/Tape+Vault+Compendium+%25281970318%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"><i>This
photo from p.4 of Tapers Compendium V1 shows tapes in the Grateful Dead
Vault, probably ca. 2004. If you blow it up and look on far right of
the upper shelf, you can see several tapes marked "3/18/70 Hot Tuna" and
"3/18/70 NR," in Owsley's handwriting. So some recording of the night was made. Investigations
continue (thanks JJ and DM for the photo)</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><br /></b>
<b>March 18, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA: Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady/New Riders of The Purple Sage</b><br />
For
many years I thought it was impossible that the Riders played this
date, since the Dead were between Buffalo (Mar 17) and Port Chester (Mar
20-21). <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/06/march-1970-new-riders-shows-did-they.html?showComment=1347145557037#c668224265330859656">Incredibly, however, there is a photograph of the tape boxes.</a>
(<i>Hawk adds that the labels are all Owsley's handwriting, too</i>). Maybe Garcia, Lesh and Hart flew home to help mix Workingman's Dead? I
hope the Owsley Foundation still has this...was it Phil's last gig as a
New Rider?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh22fY5U9TCahyphenhyphenCe3LaN-_bvenk6tYUdQn1bDmBwMtb3yH9QNF9M4JsF0mGEklAHQo8FU-88fkxFos0lMaz0SP1JeVZks7Q8kqp7ubxSAz8EO9ChQTRP_Rrl6bg1bp9JJzPn6VTZY1TgpE/s1600/19700417.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="503" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh22fY5U9TCahyphenhyphenCe3LaN-_bvenk6tYUdQn1bDmBwMtb3yH9QNF9M4JsF0mGEklAHQo8FU-88fkxFos0lMaz0SP1JeVZks7Q8kqp7ubxSAz8EO9ChQTRP_Rrl6bg1bp9JJzPn6VTZY1TgpE/s320/19700417.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><p>
<b><br /></b>
<b>April 17-19, 1970 Family Dog on The Great Highway, San Francisco, CA:
Mickey Hart and His Heartbeats/Bobby Ace And The Cards Off The Bottom
Of The Deck/New Riders of The Purple Sage/Charlie Musselwhite</b><br />
<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/11/april-17-19-1970-family-dog-on-great.html">The
formal debut of the Acoustic Dead, all but certainly the debut of Dave
Torbert as the New Riders bass player, and the last glimpse of the Cards
Off The Bottom Of The Deck.</a> <br /></p><p>Bobby Ace? April 18, 1970-Family Dog<br />
</p><ol>
<li> I Know You Rider (<i>Traditional, ca. 1930s</i>)</li>
<li> Don’t Ease Me In (<i>Henry Thomas, others ca. 1930s</i>)</li>
<li> Silver Threads and Golden Needles
</li>
<li> Friend of the Devil
</li>
<li> Deep Elem Blues(<i>Georgia Crackers-1923</i>)</li>
<li> Wake Up Little Susie (<i>m</i>)</li>
<li> Candyman
</li>
<li> Cumberland Blues
</li>
<li> New Speedway Boogie
</li>
<li> Me and My Uncle
</li>
<li> Mama Tried
</li>
<li> Katie Mae
[Pigpen solo]</li>
<li> Ain't It Crazy (The Rub) [Pigpen solo]
</li>
<li> Roberta
[Pigpen solo]</li>
<li> Bring Me My Shotgun [Pigpen solo]</li>
<li> The Mighty Flood [Pigpen solo]</li>
<li> Black Snake [Pigpen solo]</li>
</ol>
Keep in mind, that as Jerry Garcia was working to integrate Dave Torbert into the New Riders, he was also touring frantically with the Grateful Dead, as Sam Cutler was working on rescuing the band from bankruptcy by touring hard. As if that wasn't enough, Garcia was regularly dropping in to the Matrix on Monday nights, to jam with organist Howard Wales and drummer Bill Vitt, along with a bassist pal of Vitt's named John Kahn.<br />
<br />
We are fortunate to have a tape of the acoustic set from the middle night at the Family Dog (April 18), but we don't have an eyewitness account. I assume the Riders played, but was their an electric Dead set as well? How were the acoustic Dead introduced? As the Grateful Dead, or as Bobby Ace And The Cards Off The Bottom? Still, as more information surfaces, perhaps more old memories will be rebooted back into service, and the mysteries will continue to unravel.<br />
<br />
<br />Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-18264034455870398802017-10-14T15:48:00.001-07:002017-12-22T15:17:18.420-08:00Grateful Dead Performance List January-June 1968<br />
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I have been working on this list for my own purposes, so I thought I would post it. Since there is no longer a definitive list of Grateful Dead shows that is easily accessible online, I have decided to post my own lists for brief periods of time. I will include links to where I have information on some dates that are not widely known, but I will be minimizing discussion of individual performances. In Tour Itinerary posts I have talked about even shorter periods of time, with the intent of creating a narrative that describes the Grateful Dead's activity during that window. This post is more of a simple list, however, to use as an anchor for research. My plan is to keep these lists up to date on an ongoing basis. Please suggest any additions, corrections or reservations in the Comments. For other posts listing Grateful Dead performances, see the link here. This post will list Grateful Dead performance dates from January through June of 1968<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680117.html">January 17, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service</a>/Blue Cheer</b> (<i>Wed</i>)<br />
The major San Francisco bands felt that Bill Graham and Chet Helms were doing good business from their performances and the bands should make themselves the beneficiaries. Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and The Grateful Dead formed a sort of collective that would rent the Carousel Ballroom and share the profits. Big Brother and The Holding Company were not part of the collective, but they were supportive. Janis Joplin, though on board, tellingly, said "I give you hippies six months." <a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Carousel%20Shows.htm">She called it almost to the day</a>.<br />
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The Dead and their compatriots negotiated a foolishly ruinous agreement with Irish Ballroom operator Bill Fuller to operate the Carousel Ballroom, at 1545 Market Street (at Van Ness). The Carousel had been in operation in San Francisco for many years. Naively, the Dead and Quicksilver put on a Wednesday night show and then went on tour for the next few weeks. Any possible momentum from a grand opening was frittered away.<br />
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680120.html"><b>January 20, 1968 Eureka Municipal Auditorium, Eureka, CA: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service</b></a> (<i>Sat</i>)<br />
The Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service set out to conquer the Pacific Northwest. Eureka, CA, is far enough North that it is nearer to the Oregon border than San Francisco. Oddly enough, however, the band seems to have flown to Eureka, and presumably flown home. Its not clear to me whether the equipment flew home or was trucked up to Seattle. In any case, this was the Grateful Dead's first and only appearance in this part of California.<br />
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680126.html"><b>January 26-27, 1968 Eagles Auditorium, Seattle, WA: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service</b></a> (<i>Fri-Sun</i>)<br />
The Northwest tour began in earnest on the next weekend. The Grateful Dead had played Eagles Auditorium in July and September 1967. The Eagles Auditorium was at 1416 7th Avenue, at Union Street. It had been built in 1924 for The Fraternal Order Of The Eagles. By 1967, it had become Seattle's principal psychedelic ballroom (<i>note</i>: tapes labeled "Eagles January 22-23 '68" are clearly spuriously dated).<br />
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680129.html"><b>January 29, 1968 PSC College Center Ballroom, Portland State College, Portland, OR: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/PH Phactor Jug Band</b></a> (<i>Mon</i>)<br />
With a week between relatively big weekend bookings in Seattle and Portland, the Quick and the Dead played some smaller college venues in Oregon. However small some of those college gigs may have been, the bands would have had the same expenses in any case. The Crystal Ballroom in Portland was the major venue, but it was too casually run to have (or to enforce) non-compete clauses at nearby places. <a href="http://pnwbands.com/phphactor.html">The PH Phactor Jug Band, though not a major musical group, was a crucial fulcrum in the social network of Portland psychedelia</a>.</div>
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At most American universities, a student organization was required to "sponsor" an event in order for a promoter to use the facilities. SDS (Students For A Democratic Society) was a radical Anti-War group, but most of the long-haired hippies were probably in it</td></tr>
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680130.html">January 30, 1968 EMU Ballroom, U. of Oregon, Eugene, OR: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/PH Phactor Jug Band/P</a>alace Meat Market </b>(<i>Tues</i>)</div>
Eugene was about 112 miles South of Portland, a quick two hours by freeway. Now, of course, we all think nothing of driving two hours to see rock bands we like, but that wasn't a likely scenario back then. Thus Eugene was a separate concert market than Portland. This show was the band's Eugene debut, a city where the band would go on to play many legendary shows. Palace Meat Market was a Portland folk-rock band.</div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680202hb.html"><b>February 2-3, 1968 Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/PH Phactor Jug Band</b></a> (<i>Fri-Sat</i>)<br />
<a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/04/crystal-ballroom-1332-w-burnside_09.html">The Crystal Ballroom, at 1332 W. Burnside (at NW 14th), played a peculiar role in Portland rock history</a>, as it was the highest profile venue in the city, but it was run on a shoestring basis. When the Crystal was functioning well, however, it provided some of the great memories of 60s Portland rock. When the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver tour hit the Crystal on a Friday and Saturday night, all the stars were aligned. After a few smaller shows at Portland State and U of O, hip Portland was primed for the shows at the Crystal.<br />
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According to Toody Conner, who was one of the volunteers who helped run the Crystal (per Tim Hills' book), there were lines around the block, and there was so much money in gate receipts that they had to borrow an equipment case to stuff it into, which she sat on during most of the show. The Crystal had had financial struggles throughout its entire existence as a psychedelic venue, but for this weekend, with the audience ready and the Dead firing on all cylinders--not to mention the formidable Quicksilver Messenger Service--everything happened the way it was supposed to, if only for a weekend.<br />
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We know how well the Grateful Dead played, too, because they taped it. Partial tapes of Dead sets from both nights circulate —the only live tapes I know of from The Crystal—and one track was released on a Grateful Dead vault cd in 2009 (“Dark Star” from 2/2/68, as a bonus track on <i>Road Trips Vol. 2 No. 2: Carousel 2/14/68</i>).<br />
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680204.html"><b>February 4, 1968 [gym], South Oregon College, Ashland, OR: Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service</b> </a>(<i>Sun</i>)<br />
The "Quick and The Dead" Northwest tour concluded with a Sunday night show in Ashland, OR at the Gymnasium of South Oregon College, 290 miles South of Portland. South Oregon College (today Southern Oregon University) had been founded in 1926. This was the Dead's only appearance in Southern Oregon, as their increasingly popularity in Oregon insured that they played the larger population centers around Portland the two largest State Universities for the rest of their career.<br />
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I assume the Dead and Quicksilver played McNeal Pavilion at 1250 Siskiyou Boulevard, since it was opened in 1957. The Pavilion was renovated in 1990, doubling its capacity to 1,400. Thus the Dead and Quicksilver played a tiny gym with 700 seats--and no doubt some people on the floor. Did they get to dance? No information or tape has ever surfaced about this interesting event, to my knowledge.</div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680214b.html"><b>February 14, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Country Joe And The Fish </b></a>(<i>Wed</i>)<br />
The Grateful Dead returned to San Francisco to play one of their most famous shows. The band's second appearance at the Carousel also featured Country Joe And The Fish, and sets from both bands were broadcast live on KMPX-fm. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/02/grateful-dead-live-fm-broadcasts-1968.html">This was the first live remote FM broadcast of a Grateful Dead concert</a>, and <a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/Road_Trips_2_2_Carousel_1968.htm">later released in 2009 as <i>Road Trips Vol. 2 #2</i></a>. Parts of this show were also used for side two of <i>Anthem Of The Sun, </i>as were pieces of the Northwest tour that had just finished.<br />
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<b>February 15, 1968 outside of San Quentin Prison, San Quentin, CA</b> (<i>Thurs daytime</i>)<br />
During this period, many rock musicians participated in ongoing protests against the Death Penalty on the grounds outside of San Quentin State Prison. San Quentin is on an isolated promontory of Marin County, just South of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Some prison staff families live next to the prison itself, so there is a small park-like area. Protesters would bring a flatbed truck, and members of some rock bands would jam. Photos exist from this daytime event, and they show Jerry Garcia and bluesman Nick Gravenites on guitars, with Bob Weir playing bass.<br />
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<b>February 16, 1968 Turlock Fairgrounds, Turlock, CA: Grateful Dead/Crystal Syphon </b>(<i>Fri</i>)</div>
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The Grateful Dead played the Central Valley, starting out Friday night in tiny Turlock. Crystal Syphon was a local band, all of them friendly with Bob Weir's half-brother (not that any of them knew it at the time). <a href="https://mercedmusic.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/grateful-dead-crystal-syphon-turlock-feb-16-1968/">The show (and the flyer) were recalled by Crystal Syphon and their friends</a> (h/t JGMF for pointing this out).<br />
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<b>February 17, 1968 Selland Arena, Fresno, CA: Grateful Dead/Country Joe and The Fish/Valley Fever </b>(Sat)<br />
The Grateful Dead played their first concert at Selland Arena, which had just opened. Valley Fever was a local band.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680223.html">February 22-24, 1968 Kings Beach Bowl, North Lake Tahoe, CA: Grateful Dead/Morning Glory</a> </b>(<i>Thur-Sat</i>)<br />
Lake Tahoe was a few hours East and North of San Francisco, and had been the City's Sierra playground since the turn of the century. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the area was full of vacationing families, and <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/11/august-19-25-26-1967-grateful-dead-lake.html">in the 60s there was an active rock scene that has mostly been forgotten</a>. The hippest venue, the Kings Beach Bowl in North Lake Tahoe, attempted a Winter encore of the summer scene. Although these shows were recorded, and later mostly released, the economics in the winter must have been different, since there were far fewer Tahoe rock events than in the Summer.</div>
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<b>March 1-2, 1968 Clifford's Catering, Walnut Creek, CA: Grateful Dead/The Looking Glass</b> (<i>Fri-Sat</i>)</div>
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Underground psychedelic rock had plenty of teenage fans in the suburbs, but the suburbs weren't quite ready for venues. One early effort was Clifford's Catering, in Walnut Creek, then a pretty sleepy community. For years this event was misidentified, <a href="http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/09/grateful-dead-at-cliffords-catering.html">but JGMF finally tracked down the whole story</a>, including eyewitnesses and the flyer. </div>
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<b>March 3, 1968 Haight Street Fair, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead</b> (<i>Sun daytime</i>)<br />
The Haight-Asbury district had become more crowded and more dangerous since the Summer of Love, so the Grateful Dead moved out of 710 Ashbury. While the Haight was declining, however, 1968 saw the first Haight Street Fair, a free all-day event with bands that has been held regularly ever since. The Grateful Dead were refused a permit to perform, even though they lived there. No matter: they rented two flatbed trucks that drove up from different directions, blocked the street, and the band walked from their house onto the makeshift stage and let it rip for the 'hood. At concert's end, the band members vacated 710 Ashbury and did not return.</div>
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<b>March 8-9, 1968 Melodyland Theater, Disneyland, Anaheim, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead </b>(<i>Fri and Sat early and late shows</i>)<br />
During this period, Disneyland held regular weekend rock concerts with popular bands for teenagers. Somehow the Dead got on the bill with the Jefferson Airplane for two nights of double shows. The show was billed as "Jefferson Airplane and Friends," and the friends were the Grateful Dead. Neither band was invited back.<br />
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Meanwhile, back at the Carousel, the last booking from before the Dead's takeover was completed. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/08/march-9-1968-carousel-ballroom-san.html">Amazingly, it was Buck Owens, who played the Carousel on March 9, 1968</a>. Who in San Francisco--besides Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir--would have predicted that Buck would be one of the biggest influences on the Dead going forward? And--it goes without saying--all he had to do was act naturally.</div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680311.html"><b>March 11, 1968 Sacramento Civic Auditorium, Sacramento, CA: Cream/Grateful Dead</b></a> (<i>Mon</i>)<br />
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The members of the Grateful Dead, like any other rock fans, were really excited by Cream. The Dead managed to get on the bill with them for a Monday night booking in Sacramento, just after the stand at Winterland that was the basis for the live lp on <i>Wheels Of Fire </i>(and Jerry and Mickey, at least, saw Cream that week). It was a credit to the Dead that they did not shy away from sharing the bill with great bands, even when economic realities required them to open the show. The Dead were willing to share the stage with greatness, and had no qualms about any showbiz maxims about always trying to headline.<br />
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<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/03/march-11-1968-civic-auditorium.html">There are no tapes, but can you imagine? 1968 Dead opening for 1968 Cream? Holy moley.</a><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680315.html">March 15-16, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead</a> </b><i>(Fri-Sat)</i></div>
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<b>March 17, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Blue Cheer</b><br />
The Dead and the <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/07/january-april-1968-jefferson-airplane.html">Airplane</a> returned to The Carousel. Now, the groups were officially the leaseholders (as Headstone Productions). On Sunday night, the Airplane were replaced by Blue Cheer. <a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/Grateful_Dead_Download_6_031768.htm">The Grateful Dead's set on March 17 was released in 2005 as Volume 6 of the <i>Download</i> Series</a>. </div>
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<b>March 18, 1968<i> KMPX strike rally, </i>outside 50 Green Street, San Francisco, CA </b><i>(unclear)</i><br />
The history of the Grateful Dead's possible performance at the KMPX strike is legendary, and so confusing that it is hard to say for certain exactly what transpired. I have written about it at length, based on information I had available at the time, and probably only succeeded in confusing the matter. So if you are interested in the truly fascinating subject of the KMPX strike, you should read the two best books on the subject, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5UofAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>Hip Capitalism </i>by Susan Kreiger (Sage Publications 1979) </a>and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BEFPVT0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">Michael J. Kramer's <i>Republic Of Rock</i> (Oxford 2013</a>). Everyone else will have to settle for my very basic summary.<br />
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KMPX-fm had started in San Francisco in early 1967, and it was the first free-form FM rock radio station, playing hip album cuts instead of Top 40 singles. It was an underground session, and was essential in making San Francisco the capital of the rock universe. By early 1968, however, the staff, led by programmer Tom Donahue, were angry that their rising station was still only paying subsistence wages. The KMPX staff went on strike at 3:00am on Monday, March 18, supported by all the San Francisco rock bands. Creedence Clearwater Revival, then not well-known, kicked off the strike at 3:05 am on the back of a flatbed truck outside the KMPX office at 50 Green Street (Krieger p.80, and also confirmed by John Fogerty). The Grateful Dead, who had appeared on the air a few hours earlier to encourage support for the striking djs, were scheduled to go on after Creedence. The police shut it down, and it has never been clear whether the Dead got in a few numbers before the shutdown. And don't ask eyewitnesses--Owsley was there, so the eyewitnesses have no idea who played or what happened. I tried to explain the sequence of events at one point, based on information I had at the time, but I'm pretty sure I got it wrong.<br />
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<b>March 19, 1968 Lime Kiln, Big Sur, CA: Jim Stern and friends (<i>with Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir</i>) </b><i>(Tues)</i><br />
There was a Vernal Equinox event on March 22, 1968, attended by perhaps 3,000 hippies, which was far too many for Big Sur. The weekend had turned into a sort of wake for Neal Cassidy, who had died the month before. There were, however, low-key events leading up to the Equinox. Producer Jim Stern, then a local drummer, said in a Jake Feinberg interview that his band sort of freaked out and bailed on playing, and said that Garcia and Weir showed up in Big Sur to bail him out. This would have been a sort of jam, presumably with other players, and a sparsely attended thing. The exact date is unclear, but it would have been daytime (March 20 definitely a possibility, and March 21 not out of the question).</div>
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<b>March 20, 1968 Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: <i>KMPX strike benefit</i></b> (<i>Wed</i>)</div>
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(<b>Grateful Dead/Blue Cheer/Kaleidoscope/Jeremy Steig and The Satyrs/Charlie Musselwhite and Southside Sound System/Santana Blues Band/Frumious Bandersnatch/Clover</b>)<br />
Since KMPX was the hippest radio station, bands and fans came out to support it. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/09/march-18-1968-pier-10-san-francisco.html">A benefit concert was rapidly put together at the Avalon Ballroom</a>. Since it was a Wednesday, the Avalon was available. According to Ralph Gleason, $2400 was raised. The concert featured The Grateful Dead along with the various other acts listed above.<br />
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The KMPX Benefit reminds us of how formative the San Francisco scene was for West Coast rock music as a whole. As far as "future rock stars" go, Kaleidoscope had David Lindley, Harvey Mandel fronted Charley Musselwhite's Southside (of Chicago) Sound System, the Santana Blues Band had both Carlos and Gregg Rolie, Frumious Bandersnatch had some guys who ended up in the Steve Miller Band, plus Journey's manager (Herbie "Sy Klopps" Herbert), and even Clover featured John McFee (who played on "Pride Of Cucamonga," Elvis Costello's <i>My Aim Is True</i> and is still a member of the Doobie Brothers). </div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680322.html"><b>March 22, 1968 State Fair Coliseum, Detroit, MI: Eric Burdon And The Animals/Grateful Dead/Eire Apparent/The Apostles/Jagged Edge</b></a> (<i>Fri</i>)<br />
The Grateful Dead promptly flew off to Michigan for a weekend of shows. Russ Gibb was promoting shows at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, having been inspired by a trip to San Francisco a few years earlier. This particular show was billed as "The Grande scene at the State Fair Coliseum." The poster says "Michigan Fairgrounds at Woodward and 8-Mile", for those of you young hipsters who recall the Eminem track.<br />
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Eric Burdon and The Animals were already friends from the previous year, an English band who had relocated to Los Angeles. Eire Apparent was an Irish band (formerly The People) who shared management with Burdon and Jimi Hendrix (they had an obscure-but-not-bad album produced by Hendrix). Apostles and Jagged Edge were Detroit bands who were regular at the Grande Ballroom.<br />
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Russ Gibb expected a huge crowd for The Dead and The Animals at the State Fair Coliseum, but in fact the crowds were disappointing. The second night's show (Saturday Mar 23) was moved back to the much smaller Grande Ballroom. There was also a blizzard coming, and <a href="http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Eric%20Burdon.htm">Animals guitarist Vic Smith recalls that, like sensible Californians, the Dead flew back to San Francisco, leaving the Animals to headline the Grande without them</a>. A Sunday. March 24 show with The Dead was scheduled for the Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids, MI, but of course the Dead were already back in California (the Animals and Eire Apparent, per Briggs, flew on to a Sunday night show at CNE Coliseum in Toronto).<br />
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<b>March 23 or 24, 1968 50 Green Street, San Francisco: Traffic with Jerry Garcia</b><br />
Meanwhile, back in San Francisco, Traffic was headlining two weekends at Fillmore and Winterland. Although Traffic had no hit single, they were played so much on KMPX-fm that they were a big attraction in the city. This was a profound change in the music industry. On the morning of either March 23 (Saturday) or March 24 (Sunday), Traffic played a free outdoor concert outside of the KMPX offices at 50 Green Street. Jerry Garcia showed up to jam. There's no tape, but there's no doubt, as I found some photos taken by an art student at the time.<br />
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<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/02/march-18-1969-green-and-embarcadero.html">I confess right now that I confused the timeline by both finding the photos and then dating them incorrectly to the previous weekend of the strike (March 18)</a>. I believe some of the photos were later used in a Traffic boxed set.<br />
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During this period, Dan Healy, Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh were probably spending a lot of time working on <i>Anthem Of The Sun</i> at Columbus Recorders, but that is outside of the scope of this post.</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680329.html">March 29-30-31, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Chuck Berry/Curley Cooke's Hurdy Gurdy Band</a> </b>(<i>Fri-Sun</i>)</div>
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The Dead headlined over the immortal Chuck Berry (1926-2017) for three nights. Because of rock 'n' roll orthodoxy at the time, headliners would not have backed an opening act, so Berry's backing band was almost certainly Curley Cooke's Hurdy Gurdy Band, mostly Wisconsin expats. Too bad. I mean--I'm sure Cooke's band did a great job, but it would have been more fun if Garcia and Weir had tried to work their way through "School Days" and "My Ding-A-Ling," And Chuck's penchant for not rehearsing, and just calling out the tunes and expecting the band to know them? It would have served Jerry right. </div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680403c.html"><b>April 3, 1968 Winterland, San Francisco, CA Superball KMPX Benefit</b></a> (<i>Wed)</i></div>
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<b>Moby Grape/Electric Flag/Grateful Dead/Youngbloods/Mother Earth/Malachi</b><br />
There was yet another KMPX benefit, this time on a Wednesday night at Winterland. The Dead probably played a relatively brief set, an hour or less. Ralph Gleason mentioned the billing in the Chronicle, but we don't really have details of the show.</div>
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<b>April 12-13-14, 1968 Thee Image, Miami, FL: Grateful Dead/Blues Image</b> (<i>Fri-Sun</i>)</div>
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<b>April 14, 1968 Greynolds Park, Miami, FL: Grateful Dead/Blues Image</b> (<i>Sun afternoon free</i>)</div>
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680419.html">April 19-20-21, 1968 Thee Image, Miami, FL: Grateful Dead/Blues Image</a> </b>(<i>Fri-Sun</i>)</div>
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The Grateful Dead debuted in Florida with two weekends at Miami's Thee Image. They also attempted to remix <i>Anthem Of The Sun</i> at Miami's famed Criteria Studios. It's unclear to me if the Dead played the shows because they working at Criteria, or that the band was working at Criteria because they were booked in Miami. In any case, nothing much seems to have come from working at Criteria.<br />
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The South was slow to grab on to psychedelia, for any number of reasons, but Miami was and is both part of the South and yet somewhat independent of it. <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/thee-image-and-miami-rock-scene-march.html">Thee Image was the first real psychedelic rock venue in the South that featured the same touring bands who played the Fillmores, and I have tried to tell the story elsewhere</a>. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/10/august-28-29-1970-thee-club-los-angeles.html">Proprietor Marshall Brevetz became good friends with the Dead, and they played for him a number of other times, in Florida and later in Los Angeles.</a><br />
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For the very first weekend in Florida, however, the Dead did not apparently draw very well at Thee Image. They had their own solution, however. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/12/greynolds-park-love-in-north-miami.html">On Sunday, April 14, they played for free in Greynolds Park in Miami, an unprecedented event in Florida rock history</a>. The Dead knew a thing or two about free concerts, and not only were the next weekend's Dead shows well attended, but Thee Image took to regularly presenting acts for free in the park.<br />
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<b>April 26-27-28, 1968 Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA: Grateful Dead</b> (<i>Fri-Sun</i>)<br />
After Miami, the Dead went on to debut in Philadelphia. There had been a number of stabs at psychedelic venues in Philadelphia, starting in early 1967, <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2010/06/2201-arch-street-philadelphia-pa.html">but the venue that really took root was The Electric Factory, at 2201 Arch Street</a>. The Electric Factory debuted in February 1968, and the Grateful Dead played just a few months later. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-grateful-dead-electric-factory-and.html">This was the beginning of a long and complex history of Grateful Dead performances for the Electric Factory in and near Philadelphia, which I have described at length</a>.<br />
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<b>April 30, 1968 The Cheetah, Santa Monica, CA: Grateful Dead</b> (<i>Tues-early and late shows</i>)<br />
Amazingly, the Dead seem to have flown back to California. The Cheetah was on the Navy Pier in Santa Monica. and it was modeled on the New York venue of the same name. It was open every night, but they didn't always have live bands. [<b><i>update</i></b>] <i>The Dead played two shows at The Cheetah on Apr 30 '67, with The Yellow Balloon and the New Generation, and I'm wondering if this isn't just a phantom.</i><br />
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<b>May 3, 1968 Low Library Plaza, Columbia University, New York, NY: Grateful Dead</b> (<i>Fri</i>)</div>
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The Grateful Dead played an infamous free concert at Columbia University, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_protests_of_1968">at the height of very high profile campus protests against the Vietnam War and a segregated gymnasium</a>. The story goes that the band was smuggled onto campus in a bread truck. Events like this gave the Dead a strong dose of underground credibility. The band had released one not-very-popular album, but their name was widely known. <a href="http://nodepression.com/video/grateful-dead-low-library-plaza-columbia-university-nyc-may-3-1968">Yet here they were, sneaking into a campus protest to play for the long-haired college students</a>. What other band was doing that?<br />
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While I'm certain that the members of the Dead were opposed to the Vietnam War and in favor of civil rights, <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/06/first-free-grateful-dead-concert-in.html">I actually think the free concerts were mainly an opportunity to make the Dead popular</a>. They had only one paying show in the New York metro area that weekend, at a college in suburban Long Island (the next night at SUNY Stony Brook, below). Unlike every other band, however, the Dead chose to bracket their only paying gig with two high profile free shows. In return, the band got huge press coverage and word-of-mouth that stood them in good stead when they returned later, even though most young Manhattanites had still not heard the Dead. I see Rock Scully's hand here. It's easy to laugh at Rock from a distance, but he had his finger on the pulse of rock fans before his contemporaries had a clue about what was going on.</div>
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<b>May 4, 1968 Pritchard Gym, SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY: Grateful Dead/Incredible String Band</b> (<i>Sat</i>)<br />
The Dead had played a sort of "stealth" show at SUNY Stony Brook, in Long Island, during their New York sojourn the previous year. The band must not have caused too many problems, because they returned for a more official show. The opening act was The Incredible String Band, a Scottish folk-rock ensemble who was also touring around. The ISB's manager, <a href="http://www.joeboyd.co.uk/white-bicycles">the legendary producer Joe Boyd,</a> made sure that they were booked at places where they might be appreciated, rather than just billed with Vanilla Fudge or something out in the hinterlands.</div>
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<b>May 5, 1968 Central Park, New York, NY Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Butterfield Blues Band</b> (<i>Sun</i>)<br />
The Jefferson Airplane had headlined the weekend at Bill Graham's newly opened Fillmore East. Having played the four paying shows (Friday and Saturday early and late shows), the Airplane could play a free concert in Central Park. The Airplane, like the Dead, were savvy about the value of (what would now be called) "free media" in an entertainment capital like New York City. The Dead were in town, so of course they played Central Park as well. Also on the bill was the Butterfield Blues Band, who were booked at Fillmore East with the Airplane.<br />
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These Butterfield Blues Band shows were probably among the last for lead guitarist Elvin Bishop, who would turn up in San Francisco just a few weeks later. <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/07/may-september-1968-jefferson-airplane.html">As another Bay Area footnote, Spencer Dryden was not available to play drums for the Fillmore East shows, having been replaced by Canadian drummer Jeff Cutler (from Toronto's John Lee And The Checkmates)</a>. I presume Cutler sat in for the Central Park shows, but it could have been anybody. Are there pictures of the Airplane in Central Park on this date? [<b><i>update</i></b>: <i>Ruppi43 reports that there is a photo of the Airplane from this date with Dryden on drums</i>].<br />
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<b>May 7-8-9, 1968 Electric Circus, New York, NY: Grateful Dead</b> (<i>Tues-Thur early and late</i>)<br />
Of course, the Airplane booking raises a different question. Since Bill Graham had just opened the Fillmore East, and the Grateful Dead were touring the East Coast, why weren't the Dead booked at Fillmore East as well? Why did the band play The Electric Circus instead? <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/10/may-7-9-1968-electric-circus-23-st.html">The Electric Circus was also in Greenwich Village (at 23 St Marks Place), near the Fillmore East, and the venues were more or less in competition for name acts</a>.<br />
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The answer, of course, was that the Grateful Dead effectively ran the Carousel Ballroom, so they were a competitor of Bill Graham's as well, and it seems that they didn't want to play for Graham in another city. Remember, rock tours had to be booked 60 to 90 days in advance, so back in March the Dead may have felt a need to stand down Graham somehow, although none of it really makes any sense. The Jefferson Airplane were affiliated with the Carousel, and while they didn't play the Fillmore during this period, they had no problem playing the Fillmore East. Yet the Dead played three nights at a strange sort of discoteque for the Bridge-And-Tunnel crowd (<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2013/10/may-7-9-1968-electric-circus-23-st.html">read the whole story here</a>).<br />
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In fact, Graham needed the Dead in New York as much as they needed him. Great bands played the Fillmore East, but there weren't that many of them. The Airplane and Butterfield had played Fillmore East on May 3-4, and for Friday, May 10, Graham had an historic booking of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly And The Family Stone (can you imagine?). <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/10/fillmore-east-may-10-1968-jimi-hendrix.html">Yet on Saturday, May 11, with the Dead down in Virginia Beach, the Fillmore East just had a "free concert" with some unknown bands who had just released albums on RCA Records</a> . Amusingly, one of those groups, Autosalvage, featured guitarist Rick Turner, who would also move to San Francisco, where he would work with Alembic to make Phil Lesh's bass (and, later, David Gans' guitar).<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680511.html">May 12, 1968 The Dome, Virginia Beach, VA: Grateful Dead/The Wild Kingdom</a> </b>(Sun<i>-early and late</i>)<br />
Rather than play Fillmore East, t<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-grateful-dead-in-north-carolina-and.html">he Grateful Dead instead began their assault on the Southeast with a concert at The Dome in Virginia Beach</a>. Virginia Beach, in fact, had a legendary live music scene going back decades. The Virginia Beach area is pretty much the only (ocean) beach for all of the state, so it was a major summer destination for teenagers, young people and servicemen from nearby military bases. The Dome was one of the most established venues. When the British Invasion hit, and then psychedelia, Virginia Beach made the transition pretty easily. The Rolling Stones (1966) and Jimi Hendrix ('68) had also played The Dome.<br />
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<a href="http://www.tidewatervirginiahippies.com/history.html">The opening act, Wild Kingdom, was a popular local act</a> that had evolved from <a href="http://www.garagehangover.com/mustangs-va/">another band called The Mustangs</a>. There was apparently a jam session with Garcia and local musicians, and supposedly Garcia asked one of the local guitarists to leave the stage, as he simply wasn't good enough. While just a passing, and possibly apocryphal, event, I do not think it is an accident that around this time, Garcia goes from casual to organized jam sessions, to insure that the quality of musicians he was playing with was high enough.<br />
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<b>May 17, 1968 Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles, CA: Grateful Dead/Steve Miller Band/Taj Mahal</b> (<i>Fri</i>)<br />
The Shrine Exposition Auditorium was Los Angeles' premier concert venue in 1967 and '68 and worthy of a post of its own. The Dead had played there in 1967, but they had been second on the bill to Buffalo Springfield. This time they were headliners. Keep in mind, the Exposition Hall Auditorium was a big open room, like Winterland, not the more famous theater where the Academy Awards were often held. The Exposition Hall, although part of the same complex that included the Auditorium, actually had an entrance around the block at 700 West 32nd Street (at Figueroa).<br />
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There were concerts most weekends at The Shrine in this era, and while I'm sure the Dead had their fans, to some extent the locals were going just because it was the hip rock show for the weekend. <a href="https://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/08/steve-miller-band-performance-history_2337.html">The Steve Miller Band, with Boz Scaggs on board, had just released their debut album on Capitol, and were a great live band.</a> Taj Mahal was on Columbia, and I think his debut album on Columbia had just been released, and was well known around Southern California in any case. Taj also had a great band, anchored by Jesse Ed Davis on guitar.<br />
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<b>May 18, 1968 Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. San Jose, CA: Grateful Dead/others Northern California Folk-Rock Festival</b> (<i>Sat afternoon</i>)<br />
<b>Jefferson Airplane/Big Brother and The Holding Company/Grateful Dead/Steve Miller Band/Youngbloods/People!/Sons of Champlin/Crome Syrcus/Transatlantic Railroad/Indian Head Band/Mourning Reign</b><br />
In the wake of the hugely successful Monterey Pop Festival, there were similar events all over, particularly on the West Coast. The model seemed to be to take some County Fairgrounds for the weekend, and jam in a couple of dozen acts. Looking at the bills today, they seem really great, and there was probably some really good music played. Still, it turned out that Monterey was a one-time event and the model didn't really work.<br />
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The first problem was that Monterey had a sensational bill because all the acts agreed to work only for travel expenses. Come the next year, all the groups were working bands, and they needed to get paid. The second problem was that just about every act at Monterey had played no longer than 30 minutes. For crowds used to the Fillmore, a longer set was in order. An outdoor festival was a sort of compromise, with the bands playing 30-50 minute sets. If you sat through a whole day, you heard sets that were too long by bands that didn't impress you, and a set that was too short by your favorite band.<br />
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The final problem was that the crowds were simply too big. They had been too big at Monterey, actually, but the weekend had been so magical that it all kind of worked. Although there were no significant problems at the San Jose Fairgrounds, the city was unhappy with the crowd situation and didn't want to allow such an event the next year. <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/09/san-jose-ca-outdoor-rock-festivals-1967.html">The whole story is hugely complicated, and I have attempted to discuss the arc of outdoor concerts in San Jose from 1967 to '69,</a> but it's too hard to even summarize here. Suffice to say, Rock Festivals at Fairgrounds were obsolete as soon as they were invented.<br />
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<b>May 18, 1968 Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles, CA: Grateful Dead/Steve Miller Band/Taj Mahal </b>(<i>Sat</i>)<br />
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Consider the Grateful Dead's weekend. They headlined a show in Los Angeles on Friday night, then flew back up to the Bay Area (probably via San Jose Airport) the next morning, to play a show in San Jose. Then they would have returned to the airport to fly back down to Los Angeles for their Saturday night show. There happened to be a price war between various airlines on the California route at the time, so Pacific Southwest Airlines, Air California and Hughes Air West were constantly undercutting each other. Tickets were never higher than $20 one way, and sometimes as low as $10. That wasn't a lot of money even in the 60s, so bands flew up and down California very casually. They couldn't fly out of state at those prices, because intrastate travel was regulated, and in-state travel wasn't. Note that the Steve Miller Band played the Santa Clara Fairgrounds in between Shrine shows, just like the Dead.<br />
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When the Dead returned to The Shrine, they returned with their friends, the Jefferson Airplane. The Airplane, a much more popular band than the Dead, were "special guests." The Airplane's appearance was probably announced on local radio. While I'm sure both the Dead and the Airplane had fun doing this, the fact that the Airplane were added for the second night was a clear sign that the Dead and Steve Miller didn't draw nearly enough to fill the Shrine for two nights.</div>
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<b>May 21, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: <i>Tuesday Night Jam</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Jerry Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Elvin Bishop, Steve Miller, Mickey Hart, others</i></b><br />
The Grateful Dead had an uncanny knack for being in the center of events, so uncanny that you can hardly call it a "knack." A few years earlier, Garcia had been a regular at late night jam sessions with hippie musicians at places like The Ark in Sausalito. By 1967, however, with all the bands on tour and a lot of wannabes in town, it was harder for a player of Garcia's caliber to find a jam worth playing at. So the Dead instituted some organized high quality jam sessions of their own, at their own house, the Carousel Ballroom.<br />
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By the end of May, the Grateful Dead were pretty much running the Carousel Ballroom, but it wasn't going that well. One idea they had was to have a regular "jam session," for musicians like Jerry Garcia, while providing a sort of hippie hangout. At this time, there weren't really any bars for hippies to hang out in, certainly not ones with music, and the Matrix was closed, so there was nowhere for rock musicians to hang out, either. So why not use The Carousel? Tuesday was generally not a work night for rock musicians, and there wouldn't be much competition. Sure, the Carousel didn't serve drinks, but patrons would find other means to relax. So a Tuesday night was booked, a poster circulated, and fortunately a tape deck was running.<br />
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Rhoney Gissen describes this event in some detail in her book <i>Owsley And Me</i>, as she had a big part in organizing it. $1.00 got you in, and a good time seems to have been had. Lots of musicians showed up, including Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, the newly-arrived Elvin Bishop and most of the Steve Miller Band. It's not clear how many patrons showed up, but it was an intriguing concept that at least got off to a fine musical start.</div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680525.html"><b>May 24-25, 1968 National Guard Armory, St. Louis, MO: Grateful Dead/Public Service</b></a> (<i>Fri-Sat</i>)<br />
You have to wonder about the Dead's booking here. They flew to St. Louis for two shows, and flew home. It was either a really lucrative gig, or ill-advised. It's worth noting that Owsley wasn't yet their soundman at the time, so it was probably easier to fit the band's touring gear on an airplane.</div>
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May 28, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Tuesday Night Jam<br />
There seems to have been another Tuesday Night Jam at the Carousel, but we don't know anything about it.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMwVU7pYIoIMLdl0xM7ReOYqVSsrQrl54LzSWLGXJGO8CKlZpPNg8REt9wBU-KkbM79TPqUyLilQ5jtcDoqhVXlm0TsHYSpa0QLGkc27DPtK-RIj9GJAY6Bv2qHdhPg9q5lsBXDIrzc4/s1600/The+Stanford+Daily+28+May+1968+%25E2%2580%2594+The+Stanford+Daily.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMwVU7pYIoIMLdl0xM7ReOYqVSsrQrl54LzSWLGXJGO8CKlZpPNg8REt9wBU-KkbM79TPqUyLilQ5jtcDoqhVXlm0TsHYSpa0QLGkc27DPtK-RIj9GJAY6Bv2qHdhPg9q5lsBXDIrzc4/s320/The+Stanford+Daily+28+May+1968+%25E2%2580%2594+The+Stanford+Daily.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An ad in the Stanford Daily from May 28, 1968 (h/t <a href="http://gratefulseconds.blogspot.com/">Grateful Seconds</a>) for the weekend's Carousel Ballroom show with the Grateful Dead, Charlie Musselwhite and Petris (nee Petrus)</td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680531.html"><b>May 31, June 1-2, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Charlie Musselwhite/Petrus</b></a> (<i>Fri-Sun</i>)<br />
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<b>Jun 2, 1968 The Panhandle, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Charlie Musselwhite/Petrus</b> (<i>Sun afternoon free</i>)<br />
The Grateful Dead played yet another weekend at the Carousel Ballroom. Besides the familiar sounds of blues harpist Charlie Musselwhite, the intriguing Petrus opened the show. Petrus was based in El Granada, near Half Moon Bay, of all places, on the opposite side of the hill from San Mateo. The lead guitarist was Peter Kaukonen, Jorma's brother. Peter had been Jorma's first choice as electric bassist for the Jefferson Airplane back in October '65, but Peter had had to stay in Stanford to avoid the draft, so the bass chair had gone to Jack Casady instead.<br />
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More intriguingly, the lead singer and principal songwriter of Petrus was Ruthann Friedman. Friedman was an interesting Los Angeles songwriter, best known for writing "Windy," which hit #1 for The Association in July 1967 (when you hear it, you'll realize that everyone knows it's "Windy"). <a href="http://www.howlinwuelf.com/clients/ruthann-friedman/">Friedman had hung out in the Haight Ashbury in Fall '66, so when her own songs became popular in Southern California she needed to form a band.</a> Jorma recommended his brother, and Peter got the gig. This led to the formation of Petrus. If they had recorded, the combination of a famous songwriter and a talented Kaukonen could have been interesting indeed.<br />
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I have only found traces of a few Petrus shows in the Bay Area, and the Carousel one seems to be the most notable. Petrus broke up later in 1968, as did Peter and Ruthann. Friedman went on to release one interesting solo album in 1970, <i>Constant Companion</i>, which included some co-writing credits, guitar parts and cover art from Peter Kaukonen. <a href="http://ruthannfriedman.com/">Friedman only recorded and performed intermittently after that, but she is still around.</a> Peter went on to play with Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship and even the final version of the Jefferson Airplane, <a href="http://peterkaukonen.com/node/16">and has continued to have a long and interesting musical career.</a> If there are any lost Carousel tapes in the Owsley Archives, I hope Petrus is one of them.<br />
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At the end of the run, the Dead tried an old trick, playing for free in the Panhandle to drum up interest. Petrus played, and I think Charlie Musselwhite did as well. I don't think the Carousel shows drew particularly well, but I'm not aware of any eyewitness accounts. ( Incidentally, on the circulating poster, the date is incorrect--it shows May 30 as Friday, when in fact May 31 was Friday). </div>
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<b>June 4,11, 18 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: <i>Tuesday Night Jams</i></b></div>
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It's not even clear how many Tuesday Night Jams there were at the Carousel. There seems to have been more than one, and there couldn't have been more than five, but other than that it's hard to say. Producer Jim Stern, then an engineer and drummer, recalled (in a Jake Feinberg interview) being invited to one of them as the "house drummer" and meeting Dan Healy there. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2015/01/hoffmans-bicyclebycycle-1968-69-secret.html">Healy was in his band Bycyle (aka Hoffman's Bycycle)</a>. It's uncertain which of the Tuesdays it was, but Stern alludes to the idea that it was a regular thing at the time.</div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680608.html"><b>June 7-8-9, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/(Fleetwood Mac)</b></a> (<i>Fri-San</i>)<br />
The Airplane had little or no involvement in the operations of the Carousel, but they were still loyal to the idea that the bands would play there and split the take. The Airplane headlined over the Dead for the weekend, effectively giving up a more certain payday at Fillmore West. The Airplane were quite a bit larger than the Dead at the time, and thus a much bigger draw, but I don't know how well the weekend actually drew. Since the Carousel was only open for 10 more days, it couldn't have done that well.<br />
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The English band Fleetwood Mac was due to make their American concert debut at the Carousel this weekend. However, per Christopher Hjort's excellent chronology <i>Strange Brew</i>, the Mac's American tour was delayed due to visa issues. Fleetwood Mac's actual American debut was three weeks later (June 28) at the Shrine in Los Angeles.<br />
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On Sunday, June 9, the Dead and the Airplane tried to play Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/june-9-1968-speedway-meadows-golden.html">According to the AP Wire story, 3,000 people waited three hours, but the police refused to let the bands play, since they had no permit</a>. The Cub Scouts, who did have a permit, ended up getting to use Speedway Meadows.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680614.html">June 14-15, 1968 Fillmore East, New York, NY: Grateful Dead/Jeff Beck Group/Seventh Sons</a> </b>(<i>Fri-Sat early and late</i>)<br />
Whatever the tensions between Bill Graham and the Grateful Dead over the Carousel, they seem to have been resolved by the time the Dead debuted at Fillmore East on June 14. Of course, just as the May shows at the Electric Circus had probably been negotiated in February or March, when the Carousel was still promising, the June Fillmore East shows had probably been negotiated in April. At that point, we can determine that the Dead must have needed the paying gig at Fillmore East, and Graham must have needed the high profile headliners at his new Eastern rock showcase. The Grateful Dead weren't even that popular in June of '68, but they were legendary already. What kind of promoter would Graham have been if he came from San Francisco and couldn't bring out one of the city's most infamous bands?<br />
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The four shows at Fillmore East are rightly legendary, and <a href="http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2009/12/june-14-15-1968-fillmore-east-grateful.html">I have discussed them at some length elsewhere</a>. The shows were also the American debut of the original Jeff Beck Group, a mighty band indeed, with Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass (and Mickey Waller on drums). The Friday night early show was the high profile show at Fillmore East, with all the music press, and legend has it that the Beck Group blew away the Dead, who had barely gotten warmed up. I believe it, not least because for the late show, the Dead came out firing on all cylinders. Can you imagine a Dead show where Jeff Beck opened, and then the Dead came on about 1:30 am and opened with "The Eleven?" And followed with "St. Stephen>"Alligator">"Lovelight">"Caution?" Don't think Garcia wasn't competitive.<br />
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On the second night, for the only time that I am aware of, the Dead dedicated "Dark Star," and appropriately enough it was to Wes Montgomery, who had just died. Wes Montgomery has no equal, and it's just that no one else ever got a "Dark Star" dedication.<br />
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There was an ad in the <i>Village Voice</i> for a Grateful Dead appearance at some hippie festival in Staten Island, of all places, at somewhere called Daytop Village. There is no chance that Graham was going to allow the Dead to play some festival on his weekend, and in any case since the Dead's appearance was on a Monday, it has the whiff of something where the band (or Rock Scully) had said "we'll think about it and see what we can do" and that was taken as a commitment. In any case, there's no indication the band ever played Staten Island.</div>
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<a href="http://www.deadlists.com/posters/1960s/19680619.html"><b>June 19, 1968 Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Richie Havens</b></a></div>
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<i>Black Man's Free Store Benefit</i> (<i>Wed</i>)</div>
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By mid-June, the Carousel was falling apart financially. Bill Graham had probably already been to Ireland by this time to negotiate a new lease with owner Bill Fuller, so the Dead's time at the helm was counting down anyway, even if the band didn't know it. I have to assume that the original terms with Fuller were so naively ruinous (by the band's subsequent admission) that the lease would be in breach anyway. Graham had surely figured that out, and negotiated a shrewder deal. In any case, rapprochement had already been reached with the Dead, since they had just played the Fillmore East, but the tension would linger for a few more years, and occasionally rear its head.<br />
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The very last show at the old Carousel was a Wednesday benefit for the Black Man's Free Store, and it was a total debacle. Fleetwood Mac appears on some posters, but they were not yet in the States due to visa issues. There are descriptions of this show, and it seem to have been totally out of control (some versions of the story say that the marquee said "Free Beer." Could that have been a factor?). The venue was a mess, the Dead had no money, and the Carousel was done. Bill Graham took over the lease, and re-opened the old ballroom as the Fillmore West on July 5, 1968, with the Butterfield Blues Band and Ten Years After.<br />
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<a href="http://deadessays.blogspot.com/2011/01/mystery-of-61968.html">A tape circulates with the date of June 19, 1968, but an esteemed Grateful Dead scholar has made a definitive case that the correct date for the tape should be February 19, 1969</a> . What really transpired remains somewhat of a grim mystery, but the last night of the Carousel was a messy end to a noble experiment.<br />
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On Friday, June 21, 1968, the Grateful Dead were booked to play the San Jose Civic Auditorium with the Mothers Of Invention. What a show that would have been, but it was not to be. Apparently, the show was on track right up to the last minute, but as people walked up to the box office a sign was put up indicating the show was canceled. <a href="http://members.shaw.ca/fz-pomd/giglist/1968.html">The leading scholar of Frank Zappa concerts, Chuck Ulrich, has confirmed this, so there's not any doubt about it</a>. The promoter was James C. Pagni, whose main base was San Diego, and who would book the Dead many times in the future, but for this night the Mothers and Dead worlds did not collide.<br />
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<b>June 22, 1968 Travelodge Theater, Phoenix, AZ: Grateful Dead/Ten Years After/Thackeray Rocke </b>(<i>Sat</i>)</div>
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The first half of the Grateful Dead 1968 concert year ended with the band's first trip to Arizona. On Saturday, June 22, the Grateful Dead headlined at the Travelodge Theater in Phoenix. This, too, was another James Pagni promotion. <a href="http://archive.azcentral.com/thingstodo/music/articles/20140104turning-celebrity-theatre-has-gone-rounds-still-takes-center-stage-valley.html">The Travelodge Theater (also known at the time as The Star Theater) had been built in 1964.</a> It was a Theater-In-The-Round, with the stage slowly rotating, a very strange and alienating approach to a venue. The Travelodge Theater was at 440 N. 32nd Street (near Fillmore), and it is still there (<a href="https://celebritytheatre.ticketforce.com/">now known as The Celebrity Theater</a>).</div>
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Second on the bill were Ten Years After, on their very first American tour. TYA was a great live band, and they would go on to ride a great performance at Woodstock on to no less than 28 US tours, but back in '68, they were barely known. The Phoenix show isn't even included in the <a href="http://alvinlee.com/gigography/gigs68.htm">excellent Alvin Lee Gigography, but it fits perfectly into their tour schedule</a>. The band's US tour had commenced with a June 14-16 booking at The Cheetah on Venice Beach, and the Phoenix show may have been just Ten Years After second or third booking in the States. <a href="http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2017/03/june-22-1968-travelodge-theater-phoenix.html">An article in the Phoenix Republic (captured by LIA in Deadsources) tells us that the opening act were local heroes Thackeray Rocke</a>, so all in all it must have been a pretty amazing evening out in the desert.<br />
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<i><b>Reset</b></i><br />
The Grateful Dead had been working on their new album throughout the first half of 1968, and <i>Anthem Of The Sun</i> was released in mid-July 1968. Paradoxically, the hard-touring Grateful Dead addressed the release of their new album by hardly playing at all. The band only played one weekend in July, and some California shows in August. Much was afoot in the Grateful Dead world, including the return of an old and notorious friend to the traveling ensemble, but all that will have to wait for the next installment.</div>
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<br />Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-30598340907373642202017-09-08T06:00:00.000-07:002017-09-10T10:17:09.567-07:00Jerry Garcia and The Banjo 1969-72 (Counterpoint)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBkBNHd_SJCp0Gap0Vjne4pbjPU5ft-WVZE73MRr4rF07cKXavuCtNEidhy6YpindPX4U8v5wrvkU-H6H1gmbVzOxIes2sXOd3ZxSn2MH7l9vWN6zgnAk4i6pJceeEtRxZmNp7scsgylQ/s1600/Gibson+RB+250+banjo+1971.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="201" data-original-width="97" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBkBNHd_SJCp0Gap0Vjne4pbjPU5ft-WVZE73MRr4rF07cKXavuCtNEidhy6YpindPX4U8v5wrvkU-H6H1gmbVzOxIes2sXOd3ZxSn2MH7l9vWN6zgnAk4i6pJceeEtRxZmNp7scsgylQ/s1600/Gibson+RB+250+banjo+1971.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 1971 Gibson Mastertone RB 250 banjo, possibly similar to the banjo that Jerry Garcia played in Old And In The Way</td></tr>
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It is a convention that the banjo was the first instrument Jerry Garcia focused on, because he wanted to play bluegrass in the style of Earl Scruggs and Bill Keith. The narrative says that he put it aside in 1965 when he began to play electric guitar with the Warlocks. The conventional version goes on to say that the banjo only reappeared in Garcia's musical career in 1973, when he started playing bluegrass again with Old And In The Way. Yet a closer look tells us that is not quite a true story. Definitely, Garcia dropped the banjo in 1965, and took up the electric guitar. In 1969, however, the banjo started to make an appearance in Garcia's musical career. It wasn't constant, but it showed up too many times to say that it was a casual coincidence. So it seems that when Garcia began to play with Old And In The Way, he was reinvigorating his love of the banjo, but it wasn't a cold start. The banjo arose when Garcia took up the pedal steel guitar, and when the banjo started to play a meaningful part in Garcia's musical life, the pedal steel disappeared. This post will look at Garcia's known banjo performances between 1965 and 1973, and try to see how they illuminate Garcia's musical career.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTszY_X-lWOqGa7LaARJepj2sRfrBzPTmb0q9oLi9oKjepERyz0tUB7AUsLDON6QcQ3AVYIpi7LnLA7qn3Lh1Fb9g-kD7slGr85hRG-bQsZic1afPwXbl8D_BjSm-FqcdeK4mwmQglzvk/s1600/1967-Guild-Starfire-VI-Vintage-Semi-Hollowbody-Electric-Guitar-Cherry-Red-wOHSC-262406792846-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="1018" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTszY_X-lWOqGa7LaARJepj2sRfrBzPTmb0q9oLi9oKjepERyz0tUB7AUsLDON6QcQ3AVYIpi7LnLA7qn3Lh1Fb9g-kD7slGr85hRG-bQsZic1afPwXbl8D_BjSm-FqcdeK4mwmQglzvk/s320/1967-Guild-Starfire-VI-Vintage-Semi-Hollowbody-Electric-Guitar-Cherry-Red-wOHSC-262406792846-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Once the Warlocks formed, Garcia switched from banjo and acoustic guitar to electric guitar, like this 1967 Guild</td></tr>
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<b>1965: <i>Banjo Withdrawal</i></b><br />
By Garcia's own admission, the five-string banjo was the first instrument that really consumed him, around 1962, when he practiced for hours every day. Now, even during the height of his banjo period, we know that Garcia practiced his acoustic guitar constantly as well, and even fooled around with mandolin, fiddle and possibly other instruments. Yet playing bluegrass banjo in the style of Earl Scruggs and Bill Keith was what drove Garcia. Garcia attempted to be a professional bluegrass banjo player in the Palo Alto and Berkeley areas in 1963 and '64, even though he played guitar when opportunities came his way. The musical world was very different in 1964, but not for banjo players: it has always been pretty much impossible to make a living as a bluegrass banjo player in the Bay Area.<br />
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By 1965, Jerry Garcia and his friends had formed a jug band, because there were so few paying gigs for any bluegrass bands. In the jug band, Garcia sang and played guitar, but he didn't play banjo (per Dave Parker [<i>h/t Brian</i>], Tom Stone covered the banjo parts). When the jug band ground to a halt, the best musicians in it formed an electric blues band, and The Warlocks seemed a lot more professionally viable option, so Garcia focused on the electric guitar. He mostly kept that focus until 1995.<br />
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<b>1966-68: <i>The Haight Ashbury Period</i></b><br />
In the early days of the Grateful Dead, in late 1965, Garcia lived in a Waverley Street house with <a href="http://www.shubb.com/cafe/index.html">fellow banjo player Rick Shubb</a>. According to Shubb, they did play banjo together once in a while, so we know Garcia kept one around, but other than that the instrument seems to have disappeared in Garcia's musical life. When the Grateful Dead lived at 710 Ashbury, a lot of informal picking took place, and Garcia must have played banjo when the mood struck to play a different instrument. We do know that Garcia had a Fender pedal steel guitar in 1966-67, and there are even pictures (though no tapes) of him playing it. The <i>Long Strange Trip</i> movie has an intriguing video sequence (without sound) of Garcia playing dobro with Weir and others in some kind of acoustic jam at 710. So while the banjo must have been broken out occasionally, there's no actual evidence of it.<br />
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The only really confirmed sighting of Garcia on banjo from 1966 to 1968 was on a studio recording, from RCA Studios in Hollywood in November 1967. Hilariously, the banjo appears in the least likely place--"Dark Star." The original single (45 rpm) studio recording of "Dark Star" (released in April 1968, and <a href="http://www.dead.net/store/new/7-singles-collection-vol-3-darkstar-born-cross-eyed?intcmp=home/carousel1">recently re-issued</a>) includes a brief snippet of Garcia's banjo, providing background for the voice of Robert Hunter, who made his only appearance on a Grateful Dead recording. Still, this is just a typical 60s gimmick. During the <i>Anthem Of The Sun </i>session, for example, Phil Lesh played some trumpet, which he hadn't played since junior college. There was no sign that Garcia's banjo playing on the record was any more than a novelty.<br />
<b><i>update</i></b>: <i><a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2017/09/jerry-garcia-and-banjo-1969-72.html?showComment=1504935195041#c851652832058341352">a Comment by fellow scholar LIA</a> reveals that Garcia's banjo part on "Dark Star" was from an old tape, ca. 1964, so it wasn't even a current performance</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0wepFmK_ILH_48Ee6mrGk98fUwoy_M8NivCrCETCVLPrrVFJQujhul3MGv5I1cI9URSkIHm3kGbD4wG5llC2Q7ER0AgM6MnOwy4fvHsH50x9sSSuJyFQlQDZMw4oSmRWpxY2fi9EJCI/s1600/High+Country+lp+1971+%2528Raccoon%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0wepFmK_ILH_48Ee6mrGk98fUwoy_M8NivCrCETCVLPrrVFJQujhul3MGv5I1cI9URSkIHm3kGbD4wG5llC2Q7ER0AgM6MnOwy4fvHsH50x9sSSuJyFQlQDZMw4oSmRWpxY2fi9EJCI/s320/High+Country+lp+1971+%2528Raccoon%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Butch Waller and High Country released an album on The Youngbloods' Raccoon label in 1971. Waller had been playing bluegrass in the Bay Area since 1962, with friends like Herb Pedersen, David Nelson, Richard Greene and Jerry Garcia</td></tr>
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<b>February 19, 1969 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: High Country</b><br />
Given that Garcia had dropped the banjo, his unexpected appearance with High Country at The Matrix on February 19, 1969 was a meaningful shift. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/11/matrix-san-francisco-february-19-1969.html">I have written at length about some of the ambiguity of the dating of this show</a>, so for the moment I just want to focus on the surprise of Garcia playing banjo at all. High Country was a bluegrass band led by singer and mandolinist Butch Waller, an old pal from the Palo Alto bluegrass days. Also onboard with High Country at that time was David Nelson, as Nelson had been in the Pine Valley Boys with Waller in 1964. During this period, High Country alternated the banjo chair between Rick Shubb and Pete Grant, who had been the top South Bay banjo pickers back in the early 60s. Apparently, for the Matrix gig, neither were available, so another South Bay banjo picker was engaged.<br />
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It's one thing to pluck a few runs for a psychedelic space-out collage, but its another to actually play bluegrass banjo with real players. Now, sure, Garcia hadn't "forgotten" how to play banjo. But he has commented that if you stop playing the banjo, you lose your timing. Bluegrass banjo, as I understand it (I am not a musician), depends on a steady rhythmic touch for the perpetual three-finger runs that never stop, and it is the timing and feel that are the hallmark of a top bluegrass banjo player, rather than just blinding speed. Certainly, it's true that his fellow bandmates were old friends who were surely happy to play with a guy who knew all the old bluegrass standards and wasn't going to panic on stage, and they weren't going to criticize his staleness on the instrument. But Garcia was Garcia--he wasn't going to agree to a banjo gig without being ready to bring it. He must have practiced for days before the show.<br />
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I'm not aware of any other Garcia banjo gigs in February 1969 (if you know of any, please Comment!). The resonance of the Matrix bluegrass show seems to have betrayed a certain musical restlessness in Garcia. He had been playing electric guitar essentially nonstop from Spring '65 until Winter '69, and he may have wanted to add a side order to his entree. That would come soon enough.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDF2bh73Sb2awgPJEAO4o6AVIcHMddF319yxQFJ3n5nNkx2hVLq0j96Nais6jTOetK_QJ2nmGZnu9c3f0HIUvtfbX2daWlryl_LzP2KXAhHJwSph6_ywDfYguicjCDO592UpfjAMa6IQ/s1600/Flying+Burritos+Gilded+Palace+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDF2bh73Sb2awgPJEAO4o6AVIcHMddF319yxQFJ3n5nNkx2hVLq0j96Nais6jTOetK_QJ2nmGZnu9c3f0HIUvtfbX2daWlryl_LzP2KXAhHJwSph6_ywDfYguicjCDO592UpfjAMa6IQ/s1600/Flying+Burritos+Gilded+Palace+cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The debut album of the Flying Burrito Brothers, <i>The Gilded Palace Of Sin</i>, was released on A&M Records in February 1969. In April, the Burritos opened for the Dead at the Avalon, and having heard pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete Kleinow with the band, Jerry Garcia was apparently inspired to buy a pedal steel guitar the next weekend.</td></tr>
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<b>April 14, 1969: <i>unknown Colorado music store</i></b><br />
On April 14, 1969--or possibly the day before--Jerry Garcia purchased a pedal steel guitar, from a music store in either Boulder or Denver. Garcia had owned a Fender pedal steel guitar in 1966-67, but it had been difficult to keep in tune. He had traded it to the Youngbloods (another story), but Garcia definitely had pedal steel on his mind. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2017/06/jerry-garcia-sneaky-pete-kleinow-and.html">As I have detailed at great length, on a three-night stand the weekend before (April 4-6), at the Avalon Ballroom with The Flying Burrito Brothers, Garcia heard Sneaky Pete Kleinow on an Owsley sound system</a>. According to a reliable eyewitness (Burritos road manager Jimmi Seiter), Garcia was so impressed he played a (presumably rented) pedal steel guitar behind the stage as the Burritos performed. It seems no surprise, then, that Garcia purchased a pedal steel at the next available opportunity. Apparently, he requested that the ZB Custom D10 be sent to San Francisco already tuned.<br />
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My hypothesis is that Garcia's willingness to practice banjo to play well enough for a bluegrass gig was a precursor to his willingness to really learn the pedal steel guitar. I do not know which begat the other. Certainly, Garcia had always wanted to play pedal steel guitar since hearing Tom Brumley's solo on Buck Owens' "Together Again" (apparently played on a ZB, probably not a coincidence). Did picking on the banjo make Garcia want the steel, or was the picking an attempt to scratch an already-existing itch?<br />
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I am not a musician, but I do know that the three-finger banjo roll invented by Earl Scruggs and refined by Bill Keith has some crossover to modern pedal steel guitar. There is a reason that many banjo players, like Bill Keith himself, shifted to the pedal steel guitar, and while many well-known steel players, like Al Perkins, regularly play banjo when the set requires it. So I think Garcia's constant practice on the pedal steel from 1969-71, remarked on by many observers, made him more comfortable picking up the banjo for occasional sessions (any musicians with helpful insights please weigh in on the Comments).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7D-CUY6ELrubNyMhsRCrqscLP5QNZuOVyJFA29tDd5iL1_gk7rbIXH0O8AUy8rvIhJlz6tsEYYqmvJjZK6hKex0qiXILY1rC5rSnMYGTtHKGTxZ7_jsjx245t_b3ZxY8EUw9_tihTWY4/s1600/WORKINGMANS_Cover_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="800" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7D-CUY6ELrubNyMhsRCrqscLP5QNZuOVyJFA29tDd5iL1_gk7rbIXH0O8AUy8rvIhJlz6tsEYYqmvJjZK6hKex0qiXILY1rC5rSnMYGTtHKGTxZ7_jsjx245t_b3ZxY8EUw9_tihTWY4/s320/WORKINGMANS_Cover_.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jerry Garcia's banjo playing on "Cumberland Blues" was mixed out of the initial release of <i>Workingman's Dead.</i></td></tr>
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<b>"Cumberland Blues" from <i>The Workingman's Dead</i>, Grateful Dead (<i>Warner Brothers Records released June 1970, recorded March 1970)</i></b><br />
In June 1970, the Grateful Dead shocked the rock universe by switching from psychedelic grooving to country music. Today, we can notice the continuity, but that was invisible in 1970 save for a few old Palo Alto and Berkeley folkies. If Garcia had played banjo on <i>Workingman's Dead</i>. the continuum from bluegrass to Buck Owens-style country rock would have been far clearer. In fact, Garcia <u><i>did</i></u> play banjo on the album, but it was mixed out. [<b><i>update</i></b>: <i>informed correspondents tell me that the banjo was audible on the original release. Probably my high-school stereo was too crappy, or I was too naive to realize that it was a banjo rather than a twangy guitar</i>] Modern-day releases of <i>Workingman's Dead</i> include the full tracking of "Cumberland Blues," where Garcia's banjo intertwines with David Nelson's flatpicked acoustic guitar, drawing a straight line from bluegrass to honky-tonk Bakersfield country. Since only Nelson's guitar made the original mix, Garcia's banjo remained muted for decades.<br />
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<b>"Hoedown" from <i>Marrying Maiden,</i> It's A Beautiful Day (<i>Columbia Records released June 1970</i>)</b><br />
One of the few pictures from 1967 where Garcia is picking his pedal steel shows David LaFlamme playing the fiddle. LaFlamme, another Haight Ashbury resident, has reported that he regularly dropped by 710 Ashbury to play and hang out. By 1970, LaFlamme's group had released a hugely successful debut album (everybody recalls "White Bird"), so Columbia would have been hot for their second album. Amidst the Dead's intense touring schedule in early 1970, Garcia somehow found time to play on album sessions at Pacific High Recorders for <a href="https://www.blogger.com/(http://deaddisc.com/ot/Marrying_Maiden.htm)">It's A Beautiful Day's second album, <i>Marrying Maiden</i></a>. The album was released on Columbia in June 1970, and probably sessions were completed a few months earlier. Garcia played banjo on the song "Hoedown" (and pedal steel guitar on "It Comes Right Down To You").<br />
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<b>"Glendale Train" and "Turkey In The Straw" July 7, 1970 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: New Riders Of The Purple Sage</b><br />
<a href="http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/04/nrps-matrix-1970-03-of-7-ln19700707.html">JGMF unearthed a unique New Riders show from the Matrix, on July 7. 1970</a>. For some reason, Jerry Garcia did not play pedal steel guitar with the Riders that night. The Grateful Dead had just finished the 'Festival Express" tour (last date July 3), and had following dates in Illinois (July 8) and Fillmore East (July 9-12). I have to assume the band's equipment went East, while the actual band members flew home. It is a remarkable testament that Garcia played a gig with the New Riders at the Matrix the night before an Eastern tour.<br />
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Besides the fascination of hearing Garcia play New Riders songs on the six-string, a remarkable footnote comes when Garcia plays banjo for two numbers. One of those songs was "Glendale Train," on which he would play banjo on the record ( about which more below), but Garcia also played banjo on a sort of bluegrass instrumental with David Nelson on acoustic guitar. Although this was a casual performance for--at most--150 people, I don't think Garcia would have played a bluegrass tune with Nelson unless he had some confidence in his playing at the time. The other takeaway was that Garcia made the decision to bring a banjo to the show, because it had to be a conscious choice. Did Garcia play banjo at other New Riders Matrix shows? We don't really know.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zG9WUd8IJXwXZv5Mi3qRHb6fyI0ZGyjqnktYmzZc1y2ZzX8pMsRV3wHPPNUh1oTv1v_UadL2vN1qp55eCU2nvtCB-NN7KP-NjN3kIRDK6BceCpMwedRr11u-TFDRjIrvMaWDWY82UcY/s1600/Blows+Against+The+Empire+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8zG9WUd8IJXwXZv5Mi3qRHb6fyI0ZGyjqnktYmzZc1y2ZzX8pMsRV3wHPPNUh1oTv1v_UadL2vN1qp55eCU2nvtCB-NN7KP-NjN3kIRDK6BceCpMwedRr11u-TFDRjIrvMaWDWY82UcY/s320/Blows+Against+The+Empire+cover.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first inkling of Jefferson Starship was on the <i>Blows Against The Empire</i> album on RCA/Grunt, credited to Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship. The album was recorded in the Summer of 1970 and released in November.</td></tr>
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<b> "Let's Go Together"from <i>Blows Against The Empire</i>-Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship (<i>RCA/Grunt released November 1970, recorded Wally Heider Studios July 22, 1970</i>) </b><br />
Throughout the 1969-72 period, as a result of the Jefferson Airplane's contract with RCA, the Airplane members had an unlimited recording budget at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco. These are now known colloquially as the "PERRO" (Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra") Sessions, and formed the core of many well-known albums coming out of San Francisco in the early 70s. Jerry Garcia was a regular participant in the PERRO sessions.<br />
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7TAYus5LRzuemxsSGpBMEZubFE/view">On July 22, 1970</a>, Garcia played banjo on a song called "Let's Go Together," which later appeared on <a href="http://deaddisc.com/ot/Blows_Against_The_Empire.htm">a December, 1970 release called <i>Blows Against The Empire</i>, credited to Paul Kantner and "Jefferson Starship."</a> For this track, Garcia was using the banjo as a sort of rhythm instrument for a rock track. Garcia's versatility was used to good effect, because while his banjo part was basic, Garcia took advantage of his experience in providing a foundation for rock tracks, even on a different instrument than his usual electric guitar.<br />
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<b>"Flying" from <i>Cross Between</i>, Lamb (<i>Warner Brothers released 1971, recorded Wally Heider Studios October 5, 1970</i>)</b><br />
Lamb, originally a songwriting duo of Barbara Mauritz (piano) and Bob Swanson (guitar) were signed to Bill Graham's Fillmore Records and subsequently turned into a real rock group. <a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/Cross_Between.htm">Their second album, <i>Cross Between</i>, was released on Warner Brothers in mid-7</a>1. Thanks to <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7TAYus5LRzuemxsSGpBMEZubFE/view">JGMF, we know that Garcia's contribution was recorded at Wally Heider Studios on October 5, 1970</a>. Garcia played banjo on "Flying," and pedal steel on two other songs. This seemed to fit a pattern, where Garcia would contribute both pedal steel guitar and banjo to an album. In the then-tiny universe of San Francisco recording studios, this set Garcia apart. Hiring Garcia for a session meant that you had hired a triple threat on multiple instruments.<br />
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On a side note, its remarkable to consider that Jerry Garcia played Grateful Dead shows at Winterland on October 4 and 5, 1970, and found out that Janis Joplin died on the night of the 4th, and yet played a session at Wally Heider's in between. He played sessions the next day, too (Oct 6, for a Papa John Creach album). Whatever your interpretation of Garcia's personal motivations, he was all music, all the time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The debut album of The New Riders Of The Purple Sage had been a project for almost a year when it was finally released in September 1971. Garcia played banjo on "Glendale Train," along with the pedal steel parts.</td></tr>
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<b>"Glendale Train" from New Riders Of The Purple Sage (</b><i><b>Columbia released September 1971, recorded Winter 71, Wally Heider Studios</b></i><b>)</b><br />
The New Riders of The Purple Sage were formed in the Summer of 1969, and signed to Columbia Records sometime in the middle of 1970. Recording began at Wally Heider's soon after, with Steve Barncard on the board and Phil Lesh helping to arrange the songs. Initially, Lesh was supposed to be the producer, but ultimately Barncard took over (Lesh is credited as "executive producer" on the album). There were numerous sessions in 1970, but according to Barncard, they were all erased. At that time, Micky Hart was the band's drummer. By the time the debut album actually got recorded, the New Riders had introduced Spencer Dryden as the drummer.<br />
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<a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/New_Riders_Of_The_Purple_Sage.htm">The NRPS debut album released on Columbia in August, 1971 included a prominent Garcia banjo part on "Glendale Train."</a> It's also possible a few banjo licks snuck into the album on other tracks. Garcia's driving banjo part on the song has contributed to making "Glendale Train" a sort of bluegrass standard, even though it was initially recorded as a rock song. When you're in a pizza joint with craft beers, and the trio in the corner is playing "Panama Red" and "Friend Of The Devil," you know that "Glendale Train" isn't far behind. Garcia was an old bluegrasser, so to the extent he was aware of it, it had to please Garcia that his banjo part had converted a rock song to a bluegrass staple.<br />
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One curiosity to consider is the thoroughly lost New Riders studio tracks from late 1970. Did Garcia try out any additional banjo parts on some Riders's songs? We will probably never know, but it's interesting to contemplate.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A "KG" review of Garcia's appearance on banjo with James And The Good Brothers at Fillmore West on February 25-28, 1971 (from the Hayward <i>Daily Review</i> of March 4, 1971)</td></tr>
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<b>February 25-28, 1971 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: New Riders Of The Purple Sage/Boz Scaggs/James and The Good Brothers</b><br />
The New Riders played a four-night stand at Fillmore West along with Boz Scaggs in February, 1971. The opening act was James And The Good Brothers. Canadians Bruce and Brian Good, and their partner James Ackroyd, had played on the infamous "Festival Express" Canadian tour, and had been invited to San Francisco. The trio recorded at Alembic, with Betty Cantor behind the desk. Various San Francisco luminaries, including Jack Casady and Bill Kreutzmann, played on the album. Jerry Garcia is thanked on the record, but doesn't appear to have played on the released tracks.<br />
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<a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/James_And_The_Good_Brothers.htm">The album was finished in Toronto, where a third Good brother, Larry Good, played banjo</a>. The album was a sort of folk-rock, acoustic album, rather than a bluegrass-type album of "hot pickin'." My theory is that Garcia played banjo on some tracks during the San Francisco sessions, but the tracks were re-recorded in Toronto, with Larry Good playing the banjo parts.<br />
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T<a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/07/february-27-1971-fillmore-west-james.html">he critics for for the Hayward <i>Daily Review</i>, Kathi Staska and George Mangrum, reported that for the James And The Good Brothers set at Fillmore West in February 1971, Jerry Garcia played banjo and Jack Casady played acoustic "Balalaika" bass</a>. While the two of them only reviewed a single show, I assume the pair played each show. This review is why I think Garcia played on early versions of the album tracks, although I can't confirm that one way or the other.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Powerglide</i>, the second Columbia album by the New Riders, was released in April 1972. Garcia played on three tracks.</td></tr>
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<b>"Sweet Lovin' One" and "Lochinvar", from <i>Powerglide</i>-New Riders Of The Purple Sage (<i>Columbia released April '72, recorded Jan 17 '72 at Wally Heider Studios</i>) </b><br />
During the Summer 1970 tour in Canada, Garcia and the Riders had discovered Buddy Cage playing pedal steel guitar with Ian And Sylvia, and Garcia had even jammed with him (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR-gcf89_Yo">as you can see on film</a>). Their meeting led to an invitation for Cage to come to San Francisco to replace Garcia in the New Riders. Cage appeared in San Francisco around September 1971, and began rehearsing. Garcia loyally kept the chair for the initial legs of the New Riders tour in October, 1971, for the attendant publicity. However, Garcia's last show with the New Riders was October 31, 1971, as Cage took over the steel at the next show (Atlanta Nov 11 '71). With no need to keep up his chops, Garcia's session dates with pedal steel guitar dropped dramatically.<br />
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Nonetheless, the Dead and the Riders still had ties. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7TAYus5LRzuemxsSGpBMEZubFE/view">Garcia spent a day at Wally Heider's with Steve Barncard on the desk, helping out on the New Riders second album. On January 17, 1972</a>, Garcia played banjo on two songs, "Sweet Lovin' One" and "Duncan And Brady." Once again, these banjo parts weren't difficult, but they provided a good rhythmic drive to the tunes and gave them a countrified feel (Garcia also played piano on "Lochinvar" at this session, and all were released on <i><a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/Powerglide.htm">Powerglide</a></i>). With three tracks on the same day, I have to think that Garcia was not so much part of the arrangements, <a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/Powerglide.htm">but rather had heard the work tapes and thought he had something to add</a>.<br />
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<b>"Walkin'" from Baron Von Tollbooth vs The Chrome Nun-Paul Kantner, Grace Slick and David Freiberg (<i>RCA/Grunt released May '73, recorded Nov or Dec '72, Wally Heider Studios</i>)</b><br />
The Airplane crew were still recording regularly at Wally Heider's, even though it was financially ill-advised. One of the final products of the PERRO sessions was <a href="http://deaddisc.com/ot/Baron_Von_Tollbooth.htm">the <i>Baron Von Tollbooth vs The Chrome Num</i> album (released May '73), credited to the trio of Paul Kantner, Grace Slick and David Freiberg</a>. Garcia played a substantial part, and sometime in November or December of 1972, with Betty at the controls, Garcia played a rhythmic banjo part on the song "Walkin'."<br />
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Garcia had played pedal steel guitar once or twice on the Europe '72 tour, and he picked some steel at a casual Thanksgiving party in Austin, TX, with Doug Sahm and Leon Russell. However, after that show (November 23, 1972), Garcia gave up the pedal steel, save for a few notes on <i>Wake Of The Flood</i>, and a brief encore for the 1987 Bob Dylan tour. <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/11/1972-73-muleskinnerold-and-in-way.html">I have looked into the timeline of Old And In The Way in some detail, and it appears that Garcia started casually picking banjo with David Grisman and Peter Rowan in December 1972</a>. I don't think Garcia had a plan, but it doesn't seem entirely like a coincidence that Garcia permanently dropped the pedal steel and took up the banjo more seriously in the very same month.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgwAXY-QaEbEQdguRGmIxt2OLoullmV9Om38dwV7a0eZLCwQ2GWF6HA2CuM8dpbyHNI1G8IHQSemLHJozeTtctYePqgpKZNaV6tzLxtw5z2q9UitDEg9gF01fmf4eOd6a-Ms-UdDAqsoI/s1600/Old+And+In+The+Way+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgwAXY-QaEbEQdguRGmIxt2OLoullmV9Om38dwV7a0eZLCwQ2GWF6HA2CuM8dpbyHNI1G8IHQSemLHJozeTtctYePqgpKZNaV6tzLxtw5z2q9UitDEg9gF01fmf4eOd6a-Ms-UdDAqsoI/s1600/Old+And+In+The+Way+cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Garcia's definitive banjo statement was the Old And In The Way album, recorded in October 1973, but not released on Round Records until 17 months later. For many years, the record was reputedly the best selling bluegrass album of all time (no doubt long since eclipsed by the likes of Alison Krauss). </td></tr>
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<b>1973-75: <i>The Jerry Garcia Banjo Renaissance</i></b><br />
Around December 1972, Garcia discovered that some neighbors just down the hill from him in Stinson Beach were bluegrass musicians. Garcia got his banjo out, and when the opportunity arose, Garcia, Peter Rowan and David Grisman played bluegrass together. With the addition of regular bassman John Kahn, it wasn't long before they had a band. Garcia must have practiced pretty hard, because by March 2, 1973, he was not only ready to go out into the world as a bluegrass banjo player, <a href="http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/04/old-and-in-way-fm-broadcasts-1973-fm-vi.html">but even onto the radio</a>. Pedal steel guitar was off the table, and the banjo was back.<br />
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The story of Garcia and Old And In The Way is well-known, so it won't be retold here. Old And In The Way played until November 4, 1973 (delayed from an earlier rainout).<a href="http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2010/11/birth-of-great-american-music-band.html"> In the spring of 1974, Garcia started playing with a Grisman aggregation called The Great American Sting Band</a>. Garcia was not a permanent member of the band, but he did play with them regularly from March 10, 1974 through June 13, 1974, including a one-time reunion of Old And In The Way in Marin (on April 28).<br />
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During the 1973-74 period, there were only two studio banjo sessions for Garcia that I'm aware of. Part of this had to do with the decline of recording activity in San Francisco after 1972, but in any case, Garcia was not playing guitar sessions either. Garcia did play on the Art Garfunkel album <i>Angel Clare</i>, of all things. The story goes that Garfunkel wanted someone who could play traditional old-time banjo, a style called "frailing," to record the song "Down In The Willow Garden." Garfunkel's New York producer and LA session dudes did not know any local banjo players, but the engineer ventured that he knew a guitar player who played banjo. Supposedly, the engineer said "I know a guitar player..." and called Garcia at home, who assured him he was a great frailer.I don't know the exact date of the <i>Angel Clare</i> sessions, but it was probably early 1973, as the album was released in September 1973.<br />
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I also know of one final banjo session by Garcia, at Mickey Hart's studio, for some ACT background music, probably recorded around 1974, that was more a courtesy than anything else. Garcia no longer played banjo on rock records after he had started Old And In The Way.<br />
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The circle was finally closed by The Good Old Boys. As I have discussed at length, David Nelson had a part-time bluegrass band with the great mandolinist Frank Wakefield. Ultimately it was decided that they would release an album on Round Records, produced by Garcia. <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-good-old-boys-jerry-garcia-producer.html">Supposedly, Garcia also played a few gigs with Nelson and Wakefield in 1974, as well. A few Good Old Boys shows were booked in February 1975, but it appears that only one was played.</a> But it did happen and we have an eyewitness. Jerry Garcia's bluegrass banjo career ended on February 21, 1975, at a tiny joint in Santa Cruz, CA, called Margarita's. It is fitting that Garcia played with Nelson (along with Wakefield and bassist Pat Campbell), so that he exited bluegrass just as he entered it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBS0pa8GmshgDRz2B9lBStDD847-nuz0yEec4jmTtuJJGi7C6vpDBpOutWpamS5yBch4dxbN5Zy0e3159_FEsgw7nwrsNKCvxN7A4x5ahcRifyyAmHNKWNx92atSQB5kN5UIPtPXqrSwA/s1600/Garcia+and+Grisman+Shady+Grove.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="466" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBS0pa8GmshgDRz2B9lBStDD847-nuz0yEec4jmTtuJJGi7C6vpDBpOutWpamS5yBch4dxbN5Zy0e3159_FEsgw7nwrsNKCvxN7A4x5ahcRifyyAmHNKWNx92atSQB5kN5UIPtPXqrSwA/s320/Garcia+and+Grisman+Shady+Grove.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When Jerry Garcia renewed his collaborations with David Grisman, he would occasionally play some old-time banjo, such as on "The Sweet Sunny South" on <i>Shady Grove</i> but he was no longer a bluegrass gunslinger.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>1990s: <i>Clawhammer Redux</i></b><br />
Garcia did play banjo again in the 1990s, with David Grisman. However, he only played old-time "clawhammer" style, on songs like "Sweet Sunny South." He did perform the song on tape and in person, but they were set pieces, not representing any kind of commitment to the banjo. In 1993 or so, Garcia visited Ireland, and apparently one night at a pub he was coaxed into playing a few songs on the banjo. Enjoyable as that must have been, that wasn't the former South Bay banjo gunslinger taking on all comers, just a middle-aged guy in a bar plunking out a few tunes to amuse his fellow patrons. The banjo had been an essential instrument in Garcia's musical arc, it resurfaced, had a renaissance, and then it had gone.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5268955857828486331.post-28623629878951210632017-07-23T21:09:00.000-07:002017-08-01T16:32:32.089-07:00"Me And My Uncle" 1966-95 (Folk Tradition)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKi880f-fct0cR6oqaAFg1l4Rb9eUukMPAJ3wMprv8TbAVPlDr9VY5gosn127Ae_BVKjx28uvEfnigh02FnU4zjG49ui8feT2GPUc3cpTXhCXumbsJr3XC1lRYTD-xyXkAHFIX_RsAnY/s1600/The_Judy_Collins_Concert_%2528Judy_Collins_album_-_cover_art%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="221" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGKi880f-fct0cR6oqaAFg1l4Rb9eUukMPAJ3wMprv8TbAVPlDr9VY5gosn127Ae_BVKjx28uvEfnigh02FnU4zjG49ui8feT2GPUc3cpTXhCXumbsJr3XC1lRYTD-xyXkAHFIX_RsAnY/s1600/The_Judy_Collins_Concert_%2528Judy_Collins_album_-_cover_art%2529.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Judy Collins Concert album, released on Elektra Records in early 1964, included <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WZzgsNiNSU&feature=player_embedded">the first recorded version of "Me And My Uncle</a>"</td></tr>
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No fan of the music of the 1960s can lose sight of the fact that we are at the 50th anniversary of everything: the formation of the Grateful Dead (1965), Bob Dylan's <i>Blonde On Blonde</i> (1966), the Summer Of Love (1967) and numerous other cultural milestones. Yet one milestone has gone unremarked, which is surprising amongst the trainspotting Deadhead culture. Come the end of 2016, why did we not see endless homages to the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead's first known performance of John Phillips' song "Me And My Uncle?" Since no one else has seen fit to do it, it is left to me, even if we are now approaching the 52nd year.<br />
<br />
Before there was an electric Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir played folk music. In principle, folk music consisted of songs that were passed on in an oral tradition, usually in cultures where there were few, if any, other ways to transmit songs. In fact, many songs we now consider "folk songs" often had a specific composer, but even then the origins of the songs were murky. Sometimes singers wrote down known songs in order to capture the publishing rights. In other cases, the original songs got transfigured by the folk tradition, so that while the root of the songs could be traced, the original version differed significantly from the more well-known version sung by "folks." In any case, the tradition tends towards folk songs that either have no author or an attribution to a long-ago person for whom we often have little more than a faded sepia photograph. Peggy-O, she was pretty, and blonde, supposedly a maid of Fife-i-o, so pretty that a Captain fell in love with her. But who was she, really? The song does not say.<br />
<br />
The Grateful Dead, although an electric rock band modeled on the Rolling Stones, was nonetheless profoundly embedded in the folk tradition. "Me And My Uncle" is very much part of a folk tradition, in a very traditional way, with a confusing origin story that borders on a fable, and a seemingly serendipitous transmission. Yet for all of that it is part in a folk tradition, the song defies the folk convention, since its author was famous and successful, the song only circulated because of the conscious intervention of another famous singer, and there was a tape recorder involved. For all that, the reality of the origins of "Me And My Uncle" remain just beyond our grasp.<br />
<br />
<b><i>How Many Is 616?</i></b><br />
The old <i>Deadbase</i> calculated that the Grateful Dead performed "Me And My Uncle" 616 times. I have no reason to doubt this number, but it's important to remember that it's a minimum. Although the band probably didn't perform "Me And My Uncle" often in 1966, we have very few tapes from 1966. Our first recorded evidence of the song is from the Matrix on November 29, 1966, so there are very likely a few other performances of the song from that era. Furthermore, while you can define "performances" any way you like, remember that the New Riders Of The Purple Sage performed "Me And My Uncle" regularly in 1969 and '70, with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar, and on at least some occasions with Bob Weir guesting on lead vocals (May 1 and May 2, 1970, just to cite some specific examples). So 616 performances of the song by the Grateful Dead is a baseline, not a total.<br />
<br />
Individual solo artists with long careers may perform for decades, but it's a lot rarer for groups. It's even rarer for groups that have some kind of quorum of "original" members. Willie Nelson, a solo performer, has no doubt performed "Night Life" and "Whisky River" uncountable times, but he is only beholden to himself. A band has to keep its members together and stay out on the road for decades at a time, a project that is actually harder when the band is famous.<br />
<br />
Think about the Rolling Stones, one of the very few groups that were contemporary to the Grateful Dead and yet remained touring with a quorum of original members for three decades. I looked into it, and while my statistics are hardly perfect, between the 1960s and August 9, 1995, the song that the Rolling Stones played the most was "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Since the song's live debut on December 11, 1968, the Rolling Stones have performed "Jumpin' Jack Flash" at every concert since then, as far as I can tell. I counted, however , and as best I can calculate, between 1968 and August 8, 1995, the Rolling Stones played "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in concert 615 times. Now, I may be off by a few (see below for a glimpse of my methodology), but that doesn't affect the big picture. Over three decades, the Rolling Stones played their best known song as many times as the Grateful Dead played an obscure cowboy song that Bob Weir learned from a fellow hippie. In the Big Picture, this is strange, and strange in a way that intertwines with the uniquely 60s saga of the Grateful Dead.<br />
<br />
<b>update</b>: <i><a href="https://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2017/07/me-and-my-uncle-1966-95-folk-tradition.html?showComment=1501613664066#c3578837053797232531">Commenter Ben reports that the Rolling Stones debuted "Jumping Jack Flash" on the NME Pollwinners TV show on May 12, 1968</a>. This means that the Stones played the song at least 616 known times, the exact number of known performances of "Me And My Uncle."</i><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGrluDLz0EKMuuyVJVdn6q5j57KUwfeZoRRgLgxzqKOAzcXjCh1VVpubG7LAI_G9NHi_LAeeeALnaK8TjDNYDSJIBusO5peV9u41G-jiNWnE_1FEq4tRh8HwwXqkOTYOxYp8bjDrhinGU/s1600/Journeymen+New+Directions+In+Folk+1963.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="197" data-original-width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGrluDLz0EKMuuyVJVdn6q5j57KUwfeZoRRgLgxzqKOAzcXjCh1VVpubG7LAI_G9NHi_LAeeeALnaK8TjDNYDSJIBusO5peV9u41G-jiNWnE_1FEq4tRh8HwwXqkOTYOxYp8bjDrhinGU/s1600/Journeymen+New+Directions+In+Folk+1963.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>New Directions In Folk Music,</i> by The Journeymen (John Phillips, Scott McKenzie and Dick Weismann), the third album by the group, released on Capitol Records in 1963</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><i>John Phillips and "Me And My Uncle"</i></b><br />
Like many Deadheads, I discovered "Me And My Uncle" from the <i>Grateful Dead</i> ("<i>Skull & Roses</i>") double live album. I saw the songwriting credit, but my teenage self thought it unlikely that the "John Phillips" was the man who had written and arranged classic pop hits for The Mamas And The Papas like "Monday, Monday" and "California Dreaming." "John Phillips" seemed like a common name, and I figured it was just some old Cowboy dude. Why would the Grateful Dead play a song by the leader of a Southern California pop band, and one they had made fun of in the past for writing the embarrassing "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)"? But it was him, and the story was very strange indeed.<br />
<br />
Sometime in late 1963, there was a folk concert in New Mexico. Apparently, after the show, some of the performers got together and, in the practice of the time, passed a guitar around in a circle, and each person would play a song. Bye the bye, at this party, apparently, a lot of tequila was consumed. Presumably, among the performers at the concert had been The Journeymen, featuring John Phillips, who had three albums on Capitol Records, and Judy Collins, then a rising young folk singer with three successful albums on Elektra. One little-recalled problem about folk music in the early 60s was that there were a limited number of actual folk songs, and folk artists were always on the lookout for something new to play.<br />
<br />
In early 1964, Judy Collins released her fourth album on Elektra, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Judy_Collins_Concert"><i>The Judy Collins Concert</i></a>. One of the songs was "Me And My Uncle," credited to John Phillips. Phillips called Collins, and told her "I never wrote such a song," or words to that effect. Collins replied that he had indeed done so, and she had a tape. Collins had taped the "tequila session" after the New Mexico show, and Phillips had apparently made up "Me And My Uncle" on the spot. Phillips himself was blind drunk and had no memory of it. Collins, an astonishingly ethical performer, had sent a copy of the song to Phillips' publishing company so that the song would be published in his name, and then recorded it.<br />
<br />
Now, Judy Collins is a wonderful singer with an engaging voice, and I understand that singers engage a persona when they sing, and that Johnny Cash did not, in fact, shoot a man in Reno. Nonetheless, I <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WZzgsNiNSU">don't find it thoroughly convincing when she sings "I slapped him in the jaw"</a> (much less "it being summer, I took off my shirt"), but, hey, props for Judy for rescuing the song from obscurity, and being honorable about the publishing. Collins was a very popular folk singer, and so the song got around, the way folk songs did back in the day. This is how someone like Garcia knew "Morning Dew" or "Alberta." Whether or not he had heard a record, someone would have played him a song and he would remember it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirYhd20WNpRdMGMw6g5VKf5gd9SBqNoxsZIzaoK9iPLDXvD9sHF1IFlz56wRcZ2HjS1FQupFXCH23_ZkUDHvQIVMyCGgPEBgEE4BZK8-8E3agI0al5iZiZK8NqK0FWfhYU0Eznle77gtE/s1600/Joni+Mitchell+CBC+1965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirYhd20WNpRdMGMw6g5VKf5gd9SBqNoxsZIzaoK9iPLDXvD9sHF1IFlz56wRcZ2HjS1FQupFXCH23_ZkUDHvQIVMyCGgPEBgEE4BZK8-8E3agI0al5iZiZK8NqK0FWfhYU0Eznle77gtE/s320/Joni+Mitchell+CBC+1965.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joni Mitchell performing "Me And My Uncle" on the Canadian (CBC) TV show Let's Sing Out in Fall 1965 (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp3lJg07u4w">for the YouTube link, see here</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The strangest version of "Me And My Uncle" is from a Canadian (CBC) show called <i>Let's Sing Out </i>in Fall 1965, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp3lJg07u4w">featuring Canadian folk singer Joni Mitchell</a>. Yes, the very same. The guitar playing is great, and Joni owns the camera, but let's just say it's a long way to the Big Yellow Taxi, much less a Hissing Of Summer Lawns. The one thing we can take from this peculiar performance is that the song was "around" because it had been on a Judy Collins album, even if the composer himself did not recall it. In the 1960s and 70s, various singers recorded "Me And My Uncle," including Dino Valente and John Denver, among many others.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyh2vLfC4BHTqFOUGwvcpFSnDh3ZQN8BBNdw2ZrOrdCSal6N-m06pj0N69rUcAZY8qaVc7DX4j1xmOnW6TivZYV1hPETAgZ35fRdYT0rUOnUQVc7W1MXEwRGUOFZW6IDOsPY25dsyfFw4/s1600/Curley_Jim2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="190" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyh2vLfC4BHTqFOUGwvcpFSnDh3ZQN8BBNdw2ZrOrdCSal6N-m06pj0N69rUcAZY8qaVc7DX4j1xmOnW6TivZYV1hPETAgZ35fRdYT0rUOnUQVc7W1MXEwRGUOFZW6IDOsPY25dsyfFw4/s320/Curley_Jim2.jpg" width="109" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Curly Jim" Stalarow, ca. 1967, on the steps of 710 Ashbury, probably stripped from a Gene Anthony photo (h/t <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Hippie-Commune-Holly-Harman/dp/0977655113/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498452564&sr=1-1&keywords=holly+harman">Holly</a> for identifying him)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><i>Who Was Curly Jim?</i></b><br />
As far as I know, Blair Jackson was the first to try and find out where Bob Weir had heard "Me And My Uncle." In some mid-80s edition of <i>Golden Road</i>, Weir said that he had learned the song "from a hippie named Curly Jim." Blair, along with me and everyone else, assumed that was <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/james-curley-cooke-blues-master-with-the-soul-of-a-teacher/">guitarist James "Curley" Cooke (1945-2011), a member of the Steve Miller Band back in 1966</a>. It made perfect sense, and that sufficed for a few decades. Several years ago, however, researching another matter, I was in touch with someone who knew Curley Cooke from way back when, and I mentioned that Cooke must have been the "Curly Jim" who taught Weir "Me And My Uncle." She replied, much to my surprise, that Curly Jim was a different person entirely than Curley Cooke. As if that wasn't enough, she confirmed with Cooke that he hadn't taught Weir the song, and even sent me a picture of the actual Curly Jim on the steps of 710 Ashbury. Taking advantage of the miracle of the Internet, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-was-curly-jim-me-and-my-uncle.html">I wrote a blog post called "Who Was Curly Jim?"</a> I repeated much of the information included above. It wasn't long before the Internet directed me to the answer.<br />
<br />
"Curly Jim" was one James Stalarow, one of those 60s characters who keeps turning up in interesting places. In 1965 Texas, he was the first manager of the legendary 13th Floor Elevators. The story of the Elevators is too hard a tangent to go into, but suffice to say, being a long-haired freak in 1965 Texas was a very different proposition than in mellow San Francisco. Stalarow apparently had a little money, somehow, not much, <a href="http://www.bay-area-bands.com/bab00032.htm">but enough to buy groceries when his fellow freaks were starving</a>, so he seems to have helped arrange gigs for the band. The 13th Floor Elevators had moved to San Francisco in the Fall of 1966, as Texas had gotten too hot even for them, and Stalarow went too. It's not at all clear to me whether Stalarow went out to San Francisco first and invited the Elevators, or if he went out along with them. In any case, he ended up in the Haight Ashbury, although I think his connection to the Elevators was more informal by that time.<br />
<br />
The Grateful Dead, or at least Garcia, were clearly aware of the 13th Floor Elevators, but they never played on the same bill, more's the pity. There were still so few long-hairs in San Francisco at the time that it's no surprise Stalarow fell in with the 710 crowd, whether or not he had known anyone in their circle beforehand (<a href="http://www.bay-area-bands.com/bab00032.htm">probably the connection was through a band called The Outfit, who had rehearsed at the Straight Theater</a>). Like many hippies, he played a little guitar and wrote some songs, so teaching Weir "Me And My Uncle" was the kind of thing that musicians used to do in the days before cassettes--it you knew a song, you taught it to your friend, because it wasn't cheap to swap a tape.<br />
<br />
Folk music is at its heart a tradition, and songs are a way of passing tales from one to another. Of course, folk music isn't as good at passing tales as the Internet. So when I wondered on my blog about the identity of "Curly Jim," I got some great comments. I found them very convincing, but you have to decide for yourself how "true" they were--kinda like a folk song.<br />
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-was-curly-jim-me-and-my-uncle.html?showComment=1432915049122#c5214766481845750202">An anonymous commenter wrote</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I met Jim Stalarow (aka Curly Jim) in the mid 70's. We played music in Houston and wrote a few songs together. He had just gotten out of prison in Mexico from a drug bust. He told me he was at the party where "Me and My Uncle" was written and had provided some of the lyrics himself. He said Philips never credited him for his part but he didn't really mind. And yes he was an early Elevators manager and brought Roky around for a living room jam session once. He was definitely a character and a lot thinner than what you see in that picture, at least he was in the 70's.</blockquote>
When I queried about Roky jamming, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-was-curly-jim-me-and-my-uncle.html?showComment=1432969303133#c6798071578112303274">the same commenter went on to add</a><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Sorry, I wasn't clear about Roky. Jim brought him in the mid 70's to jam with us in Houston, not the Dead. It was soon after Roky had written "Two Headed Dog". Years ago I found several online mentions of Jim in relation to The Great Society and Quicksilver. You might still be able to find them. While Jim was in prison, Joe Smith from Warner Brothers sent him a (fairly new at the time) cassette recorder so he could write music. I still have the original lyric sheets in a closet somewhere.</blockquote>
It is entirely plausible that Stalarow was at the infamous "Tequila Party." Only Judy Collins seems to have been (at least somewhat) sober, and she would not likely have known the identity of every other person there, in any case. It certainly makes poetic sense if an eyewitness and participant to the creation of the song passed it on to the singer who made the song well known. Of course, the only other information we have about the party comes from John Phillips himself, who says that Stephen Stills and Neil Young were there, too. This cannot be true. Neither of them had met the other, as Stills was in school in Florida and Young in Canada, so the whole idea is a fiction. Certainly Phillips knew them both later, in Los Angeles, but he is imposing a memory on the party that simply wasn't fact.<br />
<br />
What became of the tape? In order to publish the song, Collins would have had to have had the song transcribed and sent to Phillips' publishers. This would have been unorthodox, but since she was a hit artist, a few phone calls would have cleared that up, and in any case, Phillips' company would have wanted to facilitate the recording. The tape itself would be pretty fascinating, just to hear what such a party sounded like in Fall 1963, but Collins has never suggested she still had the tape or knew what happened to it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkCOn_KvpeidsLRmDRADf04UIRu4VzS0aMP-EpLvyyLKrnQVDvJXKw7YmQYYA4xlk1R8YmY6PiSoSfw177NSF9FP5ifoPE096jSSIRqoJQ37wmRM9TxGGWZ5YAQmtUu3Zrdobd5FlHkQ/s1600/Jefferon+Airplane+Last+Flight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkCOn_KvpeidsLRmDRADf04UIRu4VzS0aMP-EpLvyyLKrnQVDvJXKw7YmQYYA4xlk1R8YmY6PiSoSfw177NSF9FP5ifoPE096jSSIRqoJQ37wmRM9TxGGWZ5YAQmtUu3Zrdobd5FlHkQ/s320/Jefferon+Airplane+Last+Flight.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Jefferson Airplane performed Jim Stalarow's "Blind John" on their final tour. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoFm-RIbmis">The last Airplane show, September 22, 1972 at Winterland, was released on cd and included the son</a>g. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>The Story Continues: "CJ Stetson"</b><br />
<a href="http://deaddisc.com/disc/Rolling_Thunder.htm">Mickey Hart's 1972 <i>Rolling Thunder</i> album had credits for just about everyone in the PERRO/Marin/post-Fillmore West crowd</a>. Two songs, "Blind John" and "Hangin' On," had songwriting credits of music by CJ Stetson and words by Peter Monk. "Blind John" was sung by Paul Kantner, David Freiberg and Grace Slick, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFQ9DsgvSMo">"Hangin' On" by Freiberg</a>.<br />
<br />
<div>
<b>"<i>Blind John</i>" (words: Peter Monk/music: CJ Stetson)</b></div>
<ul>
<li><b>Steven Schuster</b> - flute</li>
<li><b>Grace Slick</b> - piano, vocals</li>
<li><b>Mickey Hart</b> - field drums, tympani</li>
<li><b>Greg Errico</b> - drums</li>
<li><b>Tower of Power Horns</b></li>
<li><b>Barry Melton</b> - guitar, vocals</li>
<li><b>David Freiberg</b> - guitar, vocals</li>
<li><b>Paul Kantner</b> - vocals</li>
</ul>
<b>"Hangin' On"</b> <b>(words: Peter Monk/music: CJ Stetson)</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>John Cipollina</b> - guitar</li>
<li><b>Barry Melton </b>- guitar</li>
<li><b>Robbie Stokes</b> - guitar</li>
<li><b>David Freiberg</b> - bass, piano, viola, vocals</li>
<li><b>Mickey Hart</b> - drums</li>
<li><b>Tower of Power Horns</b></li>
</ul>
<br />
While Peter Monk turned out to be Buddhist monk Peter Zimels, who co-wrote "Passenger" with Phil Lesh, I always assumed that "CJ Stetson" was a psuedonym for the Jefferson Airplane crew. I thought this because not only were Slick, Kantner and Freiberg on the record, but the Airplane had even performed the song live (it was on the semi-official 2007 UK cd release <i>Last Flight</i>, recorded September 22, 1972 at the final Jefferson Airplane concert at Winterland). I wasn't the only person who thought CJ Stetson was a pseudonym, Well, I was wrong.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-was-curly-jim-me-and-my-uncle.html?showComment=1403844401442#c3465183329837075210">Fellow scholar LightIntoAshes weighed in with a remarkable find</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Robert Hunter actually mentioned this guy in his April 1980 interview with the UK magazine <i>Dark Star</i> - they ask him, "Who is C.J. Stetson?"<br />
RH: "Ah, Curly Jim - he's a guitar player and singer."<br />
DS: "Oh, he is a real person - people have often wondered if it was a pseudonym for Barry Melton..."<br />
RH: "Where did this come from?"<br />
DS: "He's on <i>Rolling Thunder</i>. He's credited with Peter Monk."<br />
RH: "That'll be Curly Jim then."</blockquote>
So Curly Jim was still part of the extended Grateful Dead scene in the early 1970s, enough so that his song became part of the latterday Jefferson Airplane repertoire.<br />
<br />
Alex Allan, the proprietor of <a href="https://www.whitegum.com/intro.htm">Grateful Dead Lyrics and Song Finder</a>, whose intelligence is always top-shelf, <a href="http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/06/who-was-curly-jim-me-and-my-uncle.html?showComment=1421944021673#c2428853337611574783">passed on an email</a>, summarizing the story<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"C.J. Stetson is not a pseudonym that the performers used, but is a real person. His real name is "Texas" Jim Stalarow. He was a regular in the San Francisco music scene in the late 60s/early 70s, and prior to that briefly managed The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. I know this because his sister was, until quite recently, my landlady. One day we got to talking about Roky Erikson and The Thirteenth Floor Elevators when she brought up her brother Jim and asked if I had ever heard the Mickey Hart album "Rolling Thunder". She let me borrow an old dog-eared copy she had on vinyl, saying that "he was going by the name C.J. Stetson at the time". Then she showed me the photo montage on the album cover and pointed him out, and I knew she wasn't lying. They look very much alike. His headshot is in the lower right hand corner of the montage--- the person with the fu-manchu beard to the immediate right of the guy in the striped shirt. She said he had passed away, but she didn't tell me when."</blockquote>
<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Me And My Uncle</i></b><br />
Folk music is a way of telling tales, often about tellers of tales. A captain fell in love, with a lady like a dove. Somebody had a girlfriend, "and she meant the world to me," but she went down to the Deep Elem district in Dallas, and she ain't what she used to be. Tom Dooley loved Laura Foster, yet Tom Dooley killed her, and now he's bound to die. They all make for good song material.<br />
<br />
But there really was a Tom Dula, and Laura Foster really was found dead. Yet Tom's role in her death remains controversial. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Dula">The actual story seems even more complex, and we will likely never know the real answer</a>. The other songs beg for answers, too; why did the singer's girlfriend even go down to Deep Elem in the first place? And Pretty Peggy-O--what was her view of events? She said her mama would be angry-o, sure, but how did she feel herself? Folk songs ask the questions, but they don't answer them. That's why they are folk songs, rather than folk tales, because we have to supply the conclusions ourselves.<br />
<br />
Some folksingers had a party in New Mexico in 1963, and sang some songs. A songwriter wrote a song, apparently on the spot. Remarkably, the song was preserved and thus passed on, in the folk tradition. James Stalarow knew the song, and passed it on to his friend Bob Weir. Weir's band turned out to never break up. Not only did his band perform that song more than any other, the successor is still playing the song this Summer, 51 years after Weir learned it. Yet we can't find out the history of the song, even though the people involved are famous and lived in the media age of the 20th century. In this case, the folk tradition is in the transmission of the song itself, rather than the song, but the appeal of the song lies in its mystery, not its facts, just like "Pretty Peggy-O."<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAwlNe4PQljZs_0g40ziMNm8co-H8V7Ppe-tQZBAo1fZ2HE4nR62SmqPkgpSfGt7U989A5zo1Uf1nNdsk4-acViIlX2zm49yXR2tH6Yb9mY5XKXuakfe8HBBaOb5BH7-knBktZLopN80/s1600/Jumpin+Jack+Flash+single+cover+1968.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGAwlNe4PQljZs_0g40ziMNm8co-H8V7Ppe-tQZBAo1fZ2HE4nR62SmqPkgpSfGt7U989A5zo1Uf1nNdsk4-acViIlX2zm49yXR2tH6Yb9mY5XKXuakfe8HBBaOb5BH7-knBktZLopN80/s1600/Jumpin+Jack+Flash+single+cover+1968.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The picture sleeve to The Rolling Stones "Jumpin' Jack Flash" single, released in May 1968</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><i>Appendix</i>: The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash"</b><br />
<i>(Some notes on my conclusion that the Rolling Stones performed "Jumping Jack Flash" 615 times)</i><br />
Firstly, I want to say in advance that while I was careful, I did not check my work, and I could be off by a few performances. It appears that after it was recorded, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was performed at every single Stones concert thereafter. So I counted the total number of concerts, but I did not actually check every setlist. If anyone has a source that counts the number of Rolling Stones performances of individual songs, please pass along the link.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpin%27_Jack_Flash">"Jumpin' Jack Flash" was recorded in London in April 1968, and released in May 1968</a>. However, the Rolling Stones were not touring or performing during 1968. Thus the live debut of the song was at session for the TV special "The Rolling Stones' Rock And Roll Circus" on December 11, 1968. For an ending point, I looked at the last Rolling Stones concert before Jerry Garcia's death, which happened to be August 8, 1995 in Budapest, Hungary (their next show was August 12, in Germany). From <i>Rock And Roll Circus</i> to Budapest, I counted 615 Rolling Stones concerts (I counted double shows on the same night as two shows). Since "Jumpin' Jack Flash" was part of every tour, I have assumed 615 performances of the song. They could have left it off a few shows, or performed it a few times on television shows, which weren't part of the concert database, so 615 is an approximation, but an accurate one. The important point is that the Grateful Dead played "Me And My Uncle" as many times as the Rolling Stones played "Jumpin' Jack Flash," even if the exact number of either isn't precise.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, although "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" was released in 1965, and performed regularly on 1965 and '66 Stones tours, it was not performed nearly as often as "Jumpin' Jack Flash," In general terms, the Stones did not perform "Satisfaction" regularly throughout all of their 70s tours, It came back into their set in the 1980s, but by my count "Satisfaction" was performed only about 430 times between September 3, 1965 (the live debut in Dublin, IRL) and August 8, 1995.Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.com16