First Time Seeing The Grateful Dead (Band Edition)

Jerry Garcia on stage at Winterland, possibly on December 12, 1972, which was the night I first saw the Grateful Dead (the photo may be from December 10 or 11)

It is a common thread of Grateful Dead fandom and scholarship to formally report the first time you saw the Grateful Dead. The extraordinary detail applied to the history of the band makes that especially easy. Rather than just reflecting on a foggy memory, like "in my college gym in the early 70s," you can say "at SUNY Cortland on April 18, 1971," with certainty that the gig really happened and the date is right. Knowing when and where someone first saw the band gives us insight into their perspective on the group.

Given our level of knowledge about Grateful Dead concerts, this post will note the first time any future member of the Grateful Dead saw the band. Any conclusions you choose to draw from this information are yours to consider.

 

Bob Weir was on the Menlo School football team in the 9th grade, during the 1961-62 school year. By Spring 1965 he was attending the nearby public Menlo-Atherton High School, and played a Spring dance at Menlo School in April 1965. (The photo is from the 1962 Menlo Oak Leaves yearbook [thanks Eric Schwarz {RIP}]. Weir is front row, 5th-L. 8th grader Matthew Kelly is 4th-R, same row)

Modern scholarship has placed the very first performance of the Warlocks at an April, 1965 teenage dance at Menlo School, which had been briefly attended by Bob Weir a few years earlier. At the time, Menlo School was a private boys school, designed as a kind of feeder to nearby Stanford University. The dance would have been a "Menlo Mixer," designed to introduce eligible young Menlo boys to equally eligible young women, from girls' schools such as Castilleja. The dance would not have been open to the general public, nor even likely open to anyone attending a public school. Jerry Garcia, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, Bob Weir and Bill Kreutzmann never saw the Warlocks or the Grateful Dead perform, as they were members of the band from its beginning until they left the band or until July 1995. I am not aware of Pigpen attending a Grateful Dead concert when he was physically unable to perform.

Magoo's Pizza, 639 Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park, September 1968

ROBERT HUNTER
May 1965 Magoo's Pizza, Menlo Park, CA: The Warlocks
The Warlocks first public performances were at Magoo's Pizza, at 639 Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park. Magoo's was in walking distance of Menlo School, and apparently the Wednesday night shows in May were heavily populated by Menlo students. Many Menlo students were boarders, so they would have had little to do in the evening. Menlo School also housed a college, but only for Freshmen and Sophomores (and the school insisted that it was definitely not a junior college, just a Stanford feeder). So any restrictions on the High School boarders’ activities would not have applied to the college students.

The first Magoo's show was May 5, and the Warlocks also played May 12, 19 and 26. Robert Hunter has generally alluded to seeing the Warlocks at Magoo's, but we don't know exactly which show or shows he may have seen. David Nelson and John Dawson also apparently saw the Warlocks at Magoo's. Hunter never performed on stage with the Grateful Dead, of course, but he was a member if anyone was. He did not join formally forces with the band until September, 1967, however.

Magoo's Pizza, circa 1970, 639 Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park (Girl Scout Troop 19 in front)

PHIL LESH
May 26, 1965 Magoo's Pizza, Menlo Park, CA: The Warlocks
Famously, Jerry Garcia invited Phil Lesh to see The Warlocks at Magoo's. Phil drove down from Berkeley, and had a great time. Afterwards, Garcia sat down with Lesh and told him that they would be pushing out bassist Dana Morgan Jr, and invited Phil to join the Warlocks. The fact that Phil had never played electric bass, nor even guitar, was not a consideration. Garcia offered to teach him. Lesh promptly moved to Palo Alto, and Garcia, Nelson and Eric Thompson gave him enough guitar tips to get started. Lesh played at the Warlocks next gig, a one-off at Frenchy's in Hayward on June 18, 1965.

A promotional photo (probably by Paul Ryan) of The Warlocks at The In Room in Belmont, CA, September 1965. The lettering on the bass drum was by Garcia roommate Rick Shubb.

TOM CONSTANTEN
September, 1965 The In Room, Belmont, CA: The Warlocks
Tom Constanten had met Phil Lesh at UC Berkeley in the Fall of 1961. Constanten was a formally trained pianist, and both Constanten and Lesh were interested in composing modern music. As we know from Jesse Jarnow's excellent Deadcast episode on TC, Constanten had regularly driven Phil from Berkeley to Palo Alto to visit Jerry Garcia and others. So TC had been part of the underground crowd in Berkeley and Palo Alto, even though he didn't play folk music. Constanten had been a student of composition at Mills College and in Europe, before joining the Air Force to avoid the draft.

By 1965, Constanten had enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed in Las Vegas. He had LSD connections from the Bay Area--remember, it was still legal--and shared it with some of his more adventurous friends out in the desert. One weekend in September, he visited Phil Lesh in the Bay Area. Constanten saw the Warlocks at the In Room in Belmont. At the time, Constanten had never played rock music, so it is unlikely that he anticipated ever becoming part of his friend's ensemble. 

In Fall, 1967, Constanten would join the Grateful Dead in the studio, creating some piano effects. By this time, he had played a few fill-in gigs with a Las Vegas rock group called The Demons, but only as a bassist. Nonetheless TC was invited to join the Dead as their organ player in late 1968, relegating Pigpen to singing and playing congas. After a few guest appearances, Constanten would join the group permanently on November 23, 1968, in Oxford, OH, a few days after finishing his Air Force commitments.

MICKEY HART
September 30, 1967 Straight Theater, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Sons Of Champlin
Mickey Hart had a chance meeting with Bill Kreutzmann at a Count Basie show at the Fillmore Auditorium, likely on August 20 or 21, 1967. The pair, along with Hart pal and student Mike Hinton, played drums and talked percussion around the city that night, and agreed to meet up (I discussed this sequence of events in detail in another post). Hart was invited to drop in on a Dead rehearsal, but couldn't find the location. There were some more crossed wires, but Hart managed to get to the Straight Theater on Saturday, September 30, 1967.

After watching the first set, Hart was invited to sit in with the band for the second set. Hart did so, and was immediately asked to join the Grateful Dead. Mythology aside, Hart did not actually appear again with the group until November (there is a photograph of the band performing on October 1, and there is only one drum kit). Nonetheless, Hart's journey from seeing the band to appearing on stage with them was the shortest, even though Phil Lesh appeared more quickly as an established member of the band.

VINCE WELNICK
March 8, 1970 Star Theater, Phoenix, AZ: Grateful Dead/Roxy
In 1970, Phoenix was not at all the major metropolitan area it has become in this century. The Star Theater, also known as the Travel Lodge Theater in The Round, was a 3000-seat venue with the stage in the center of the hall. The Grateful Dead, in the midst of recording Workingman's Dead, had played Saturday night in Santa Monica and then Sunday night in Phoenix. The opening act in Phoenix was the Elektra Records band Roxy, featuring old pal Bob Segarini from the Family Tree.

At the time, Vince Welnick was in a blues-rock band called The Beans, one of the most popular bands in the Phoenix area. Welnick attended the Star Theater show as a fan. About six months later, The Beans would move to the Bay Area, where they would struggle to get heard in the thriving San Francisco scene. On January 20, 1972, The Beans opened for Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders at the Lion's Share. By March 1972, The Beans would change their name to The Tubes, and go on to great infamy, although they didn't really make any money. Nearly two decades later, after playing with Todd Rundgren and other artists, Welnick was invited to audition with the Grateful Dead, and took over the keyboard chair from the late Brent Mydland. Welnick debuted on September 7, 1990 in Richfield, OH.

KEITH GODCHAUX
August 17, 18 or 19, 1970 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/New Riders of The Purple Sage
In Jesse Jarnow's exceptional Deadcast episode "Enter Keith Godchaux," Donna Godchaux describes seeing the Grateful Dead with Keith at Winterland on October 5, 1970 (see below). At this time, Donna (then Donna Thatcher) and Keith had mutual friends, but had not met. She said that Keith had already seen the Grateful Dead. Keith lived in Berkeley that Summer, and I am assuming that he saw the Dead at one or more of their Fillmore West shows on August 17, 18 or 19, 1970. It's also possible he saw one of the shows at The Euphoria (aka Pepperland) in San Rafael, on July 14 or 16, 1970. Given that Keith grew up in the Bay Area, it's also possible he could have seen the Grateful Dead even earlier.

Although Donna herself does not know for sure, the implication is that Keith had discovered the Grateful Dead relatively recently. Given that he lived in Berkeley, that points towards having seen the band at Fillmore West in August. Thanks to Donna, by September 1971 Keith would be rehearsing with the Grateful Dead for his October 19, 1971 debut with the band in Minneapolis.

DONNA GODCHAUX
October 5, 1970 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/Grateful Dead/Quicksilver Messenger Service/Hot Tuna/New Riders of The Purple Sage
Donna Thatcher and Keith Godchaux attended a Grateful Dead concert on Monday, October 5, 1970. They fell in love, got married and a year later they would join the Grateful Dead. Donna was invited to join the band at the same time as Keith, but chose to hang back and let him establish himself first. She sang on one song on December 31, 1971, participated in the studio sessions for Ace in Winter 1972, and joined the band on stage full time at the Academy Of Music in Manhattan on March 21, 1972. She would remain in the band until Keith and Donna's final appearance on February 17, 1979 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

The October 4 and 5, 1970 Winterland shows were not Bill Graham Presents events. Graham's chief lieutenant, Paul Barratta, had taken over the lease at Winterland, much to Graham's displeasure. He also paid bands more than Graham would pay them at Fillmore West. Although the Dead personally liked Bill, they were perfectly willing to work with his competitors. Barratta was squeezed out of business by early 1971, and Graham took over booking Winterland again. He wasn't happy with any of the bands, but Graham needed the Grateful Dead as much as they needed him, so the whole episode was largely erased from all future recountings of the Dead/Graham saga.

 

Teenage Bruce Hornsby on the Fender Rhodes, playing in Bobby Octane and The Hi-Test Kids somewhere around Earlysville, VA in the Summer of 74 (also Bobby Hornsby (bass) and his future wife Ann (vocals))

BRUCE HORNSBY
March 26, 1973 Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD: Grateful Dead
19-year old Williamsburg HS graduate Bruce Hornsby has often recounted how he saw the Grateful Dead at William & Mary University in Virginia on September 11 & 12, 1973. At the time, Hornsby was studying music at the University of Richmond.  The Grateful Dead played two nights at William & Mary. At the end of the show, the band announced from the stage that they would be playing a second night, and that the chairs would be removed so that everyone could dance. To all of the fans there, including Hornsby, this was a magical benediction--a great concert followed by an entire concert as an encore the next evening. Hornsby has told this story in interviews a number of times.

In Jesse Jarnow's Deadcast on "Stella Blue," however, a detailed Hornsby interview revealed an unknown twist. College student Hornsby indeed saw the Dead both nights at William & Mary, and it made him a Deadhead for life (among other things, at least). Yet it turns out it wasn't the first time that Hornsby saw the Dead. While still in High School, Hornsby had gone with his brother to see the Grateful Dead at Capital Center outside of Washington, DC, on March 26, 1973 [update 20241018: A Commenter pointed out that the Dead didn't play Cap Center on Mar 26 '73, but rather Baltimore Civic Center]. They were good enough that he went back the next semester when they played in Williamsburg, near his hometown, and it was the Williamsburg shows where Hornsby "got on the bus."

The Grateful Dead Summer 1973 newsletter listed two dates for William & Mary, even though only one was advertised. The second (General Admission) show was announced from the state after the first night.

As for the William & Mary show, of course, the second night had been planned in advance, but that was not revealed to the fans. Why it was handled in this way remains a mystery, since both dates were included the Deadheads newsletter. Bands will often book two nights and not sell tickets to the second night until the first night is mostly sold out, but it's very odd to not even announce the show until the day before. My suspicion is that the University was anxious about the General Admission requirement, and the Dead were adamant, and the compromise was that the first night had to go off successfully.

In early 1974, Hornsby would join a band run by his older brother Robert, called Bobby Octane and The Hi-Test Kids. The band played fraternity parties in and around the University of Virginia for the next year or two, mainly covering Grateful Dead songs. Hornsby went on to an extensive and largely successful career in Los Angeles, and later a substantial solo career which is still ongoing. 

Hornsby has described seeing the Grateful Dead at William & Mary, but has never mentioned that two horn players (Martin Fierro and Joe Ellis) joined in for some numbers, an unprecedented and essentially unique feature of the September 1973 tour. It's not clear whether he didn't notice or didn't recall. 

After meeting the band in 1987, Hornsby had jammed with the Dead on stage a few times. In August 1990, at a McDonald's in Walnut Creek (likely on N. California Blvd), prior to a Hornsby concert at Concord Pavilion, Jerry Garcia asked him to join the Grateful Dead to replace Brent Mydland. Hornsby turned down the offer. He did agree to help the Dead in any way he could, however, and thus became an adjunct member for the next 18 months or so.

BRENT MYDLAND
December 31, 1978 Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Grateful Dead/Blues Brothers/New Riders of The Purple Sage
Brent Mydland was from Brentwood, CA, near Antioch, although he ended up graduating High School in Concord, having been kicked out of his Brentwood high school (Liberty HS) for having long hair. He played in various local ensembles, before ending up touring with the Batdorf & Rodney duo in 1974 and '75, thanks to his friendship with bassist Rick Carlos. Afterwards, Brent made a forgettable album with the group Silver (which included John Batdorf). In late 1977, Carlos once again invited Brent to audition, this time for the Bob Weir Band, supporting Weir's new album Heaven Help The Fool. Brent toured with Weir in 1978.

The Jerry Garcia Band and The Bob Weir Band made a brief tour of the Pacific Northwest on the last weekend of October 1978. Garcia heard Brent play with Weir, and later said to Bob, "this guy might work." The Dead were unhappy with Keith Godchaux, and Keith and Donna's marriage was struggling, and it was clear, if unspoken, that a replacement would have to be found for both of them. Life would be easier for the Dead if a single performer could cover both the keyboards and the harmony singing. 

Sometime prior to New Year's, Weir had let Brent know that there might be some opportunity for him in the Grateful Dead. Keith and Donna Godchaux were also members of the Jerry Garcia Band, but they had booked no dates after November 3, 1978, clear sign in retrospect that change was afoot. Things were no doubt complicated by the fact that some late November Dead dates were canceled due to Garcia's illness, and had to be made up in January of 1979. Nonetheless, Brent and his girlfriend were invited to see the Grateful Dead at the gigantic party that closed down Winterland for the final time. I was there, too, and in fact the music wasn't that great, and the show wasn't really that well run, but if you were backstage wondering if this was a band you might join, those things probably didn't matter.

We are really in Thoughts On The Dead territory here, and we need Time Sheath technology that is not yet available to us. Yet I cannot help but wonder if some sort of Artificial Intelligence Facial Recognition software cannot be applied to any backstage footage, outtakes and all, to see if we can identify Brent peering into his own future.

 

 

November 29, 1969 Rehearsal Space, Novato, CA: Jerry Garcia and Dave Davies (We Think)

Legendary Kinks guitarist Dave Davies (with drummer Mick Avory) some time in the 1960s

For all the scholarship on Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead, it keeps turning out that there are still undiscovered countries. A fellow scholar pointed out that another icon, Dave Davies, lead guitarist for The Kinks, and a guitar legend if anyone is, casually tweeted  

We played with the Grateful Dead in San Francisco. I thought Jerry Garcia had a huge sense of humor.

— Dave Davies (@davedavieskinks) May 24, 2024

Say what?

You Really Got Me, debut album by The Kinks, released on Reprise (US) in 1964 (it had been released as The Kinks in the UK, on Pye Records). Dave Davies, second from right.

This startling detail is not as unprecedented as it might sound, even though we knew nothing of it until Dave Davies tweeted it out 54 years after the fact. San Francisco was a hip rock music capital in the 1960s, and visiting English bands were often invited to hang out with Jefferson Airplane or the Grateful Dead, if either were in town. The San Francisco bands wanted to see who was hip--often meaning "who dropped acid"--and visiting guitar players wanted to check out other gunslingers. The same dynamic took place when jazz bands came to Manhattan in the 1950s. After hours, they were encouraged to take the A Train up to Harlem and jam it up, if they were really thought they could cut it. San Francisco wasn't too different. 

The Kinks had become famous with their initial August 1964 hit, "You Really Got Me," written and sung by Ray Davies. Brother Dave was the lead guitarist, and he turned a slash in the fabric of his amplifier into the basis for the amazingly dirty riff of the song. "You Really Got Me" is rock and roll at its most basic, instantly identifiable from a few notes. The song reached #1 in the UK, and #7 in the States. The Kinks had numerous hits, great albums and deep cuts over the next 30 years, but even if they hadn't, "You Really Got Me" would have permanently enshrined them as Rock 'N' Roll legends. 

The Kinks touring history is extraordinarily well documented. After a July 4, 1965 concert at the Cow Palace (headlined by The Beach Boys), where The Kinks refused to play, they didn't return to San Francisco until 1969. As a result, we can trace the exact weekend when Dave Davies and Jerry Garcia must have got together. The Kinks were in town from November 26 through November 30, and the New Riders were playing various places around the Bay Area. So that means Dave Davies, Garcia and some other members of the Dead and The Kinks would have gotten together one afternoon in the rehearsal hall. This was the conventional arrangement. I'm marking the date as Saturday, November 29, although it could just as well have been the day before or day after. 

Let's parse what information we have, while we try and imagine Garcia burning up "You Really Got Me." If you have insights, corrections or speculation, please include them in the Comments. Need not be truthful. 

The November 27, 1969 SF Chronicle Datebook lists both The Kinks and the New Riders of The Purple Sage. Thursday, November 27 was Thanksgiving.

What Probably Happened
Our best account of a visiting English band jamming with the Dead comes from the wonderful memoir of Fleetwood Mac soundman Stuart "Dinky" Dawson (Life On The Road with Carter Alan). Fleetwood Mac had become friendly with the Grateful Dead when they first arrived in San Francisco in July 1968, but they had no chance to jam, as the Mac's arrival had been delayed for visa reasons. When they returned to San Francisco in January '69, with Dawson as soundman, they were invited to Marin to jam. I wrote about this encounter in some detail.

On the afternoon of January 13, 1969, when Fleetwood Mac were booked at Fillmore West, guitarist Peter Green, bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood went over to Marin to the Grateful Dead rehearsal hall in Novato. Jerry Garcia and Pigpen joined the trio to lay down some Chicago-style blues. Amazingly, Pigpen played piano. Green would have some famous jams with the Dead in New Orleans (January 31 '70) and Fillmore East (Feb 11 '70), but it began with this visit to Novato.

We have to assume the Garcia/Dave Davies meeting was similar. The Kinks were on their first American tour since 1965. On Wednesday, November 26 they were booked at the Contra Costa County Fairgrounds in Antioch. From Thursday through Sunday, November 27-30, they headlined Fillmore West over Taj Mahal and Sha Na Na. Note that November 27 was Thanksgiving. 

The Grateful Dead were not performing this week. The New Riders Of The Purple Sage, however, had gigs at The Poppycock in Palo Alto on Wednesday November 26, the Family Dog On The Great Highway on Thanksgiving, and the Inn Of The Beginning in Cotati on Friday (28) and Saturday (29). Logic suggests that Dave Davies visited the Novato rehearsal hall to jam with Garcia. It's highly unlikely that Ray came along--he's not a jammer--but it's a good bet that drummer Mick Avory was there, and maybe bassist John Dalton. Since we know that Thursday (27) was Thanksgiving, and that on Friday afternoon (28) the Kinks signed autographs for 200 fans in the San Francisco Tower Records parking lot, Saturday afternoon (November 29) seems the most likely date for an afternoon jam.

It's mostly forgotten that early Kinks albums had a swinging R&B feel. The first album had a Bo Diddley song, a couple of Chuck Berrys and three more R&B covers amidst Ray Davies's future classics. So I think Garcia and Dave Davies played some R&B. Hey, maybe Pigpen sat in and played a little piano, just like with Fleetwood Mac. On the second Kinks album (Kinda Kinks), they covered "Dancing In The Street," so it wasn't like they didn't know some songs to play together. 

No one in the Grateful Dead scene has ever mentioned this, but Dave Davies is a legend himself, and his memory of Garcia's sense of humor conforms with everyone else's. Why would the Dead forget this meeting? Hmm--could it be that the Rolling Stones were coming to town and planning a gigantic rock festival? Stones road manager Sam Cutler would have arrived in San Francisco the next week (the Stones had played a rock festival in Florida on November 30), and in the madness leading up to Altamont, nobody would likely have recalled a fun blues jam with some of The Kinks.

Doug Hinman's indispensable 2004 chronology of The Kinks is a must for every rock fan

Kink Khronikles
If you're a Kinks fan, there's one absolutely go-to source: Doug Hinman's monumental The Kinks: All Day And All Of The Night:  Day by Day Concerts, Recordings and Broadcasts 1961-1996, published by Backbeat Books in 2004. The 372 pages are packed with astonishing detail, pretty much integrating everything ever written about The Kinks, from major London dailies to obscure college papers. There's no mention of any Grateful Dead jam with Dave Davies, but we still have awfully precise day-by-day information.

Ray Davies's unique and fascinating book X-Ray, a kind of autobiography but with an unreliable narrator (Penguin 1994). This book was the basis for Ray's excellent stage show in the 90s.

Another unique feature of Kinks history is that both Ray and Dave Davies wrote autobiographies covering the same period of time. Ray Davies 1994 memoir X-Ray has the odd feature of employing an unreliable narrator, so his detailed description of The Kinks' history is always clouded by literary artifice. This is a calculated intention of Ray's, making a point of how perspectives cloud memory. The "memoir" stops in 1973. 

Dave Davies autobiography Kink was released in 1997

The counterpart to X-Ray is Dave's 1997 autobiography Kink. Dave's more conventional autobiography covers much of the same era as Ray's book. While the brothers do not disagree on any major questions of fact, each describes events differently. Generally speaking, each brother criticizes the other--Ray complains that Dave behaves like an infant, while Dave explains that Ray is always promising co-writing credit and then withholding it. Among other things, the Davies brothers were notorious for having gotten into fistfights on stage, while at the same time it should be noted that when the Kinks were on the money, their fans got live rock and roll at its best.

So we don't lack for information about the Kinks. We get concert and recording history from Hinman, and the two brothers' conflicting explanations of the contradictory inner workings of bandmates across the decades. To understand the peculiar universe of the Kinks US Tour in Fall 1969, we have to begin by looking at their previous American tour, which took place over four years earlier. After the 1965 tour, the US musicians union (the American Federation of Musicians, or AFM) apparently banned The Kinks from touring the States, thus undermining the band's chance to cash in on the early Fillmore boom that was so critical for The Kinks' peers. Contemporaries like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page (Yardbirds), Van Morrison (Them), The Who and Eric Burdon (Animals) were able to play the Fillmore circuit very early. The Kinks could not take the same advantage.

The Sacramento Bee (June 20, 1965) notes that The Kinks will headline a show at Sacramento Civic, over Sonny & Cher and others. Apparently, The Kinks were angry at the promoter over payment, and just played "You Really Got Me" for 45 minutes (per Doug Hinman). The promoter helped ban them from touring the States until 1969.

1965 Kinks US Tour
In 1965, numerous English groups had followed the Beatles and Stones across the pond to tour the United States. They were usually playing as part of package tours, often playing just a few songs amidst numerous acts. Live concerts in 1965 were seen as "personal appearances," not really musical performances, and poor sound was inconsequential. In any case, girls were encouraged to scream, so it often didn't matter, since the fans couldn't hear anyway. Hinman's book documents The Kinks' Summer '65 US Tour in detail (and every other tour, I might add)

The Kinks toured the United States from June 18, 1965 (Academy Of Music, with Dave Clark Five headlining) through July 10 (Seattle Center Coliseum, headlined by The Righteous Brothers). They played 14 dates plus a number of TV appearances. In many cities, The Kinks were supporting bigger headliners, and there were numerous American and local acts on the bill as well. The Kinks had already scored big US hits with "You Really Got Me," "All Day And All Of The Night" and "Tired Of Waiting For You." Their current hit in Summer 65 was "Set Me Free," which would reach #23. 

In the Western states, The Kinks mostly played for a promoter named Betty Kaye. Kaye produced shows in Reno (June 25), Sacramento (June 26), Stockton (June 27-canceled), San Jose (July 2-canceled), the Hollywood Bowl (July 3) and the Cow Palace (July 4). In between, the Kinks went to Los Angeles and recorded lip-synchs for several TV shows (Hinman has all the details). 

At this time, both the United States and English musicians unions were not comfortable with rock bands touring the opposite country. The system was set up for stars to tour with local musicians. This was why, for example, blues artists like Sonny Boy Williamson initially toured England with the likes of the Yardbirds or the Animals. In order to tour the States, The Kinks had to sign contracts joining the musicians union (the AFM) in the US. As late as 1968, the AFM limited the number of British rock groups that were allowed to tour in America. 

On Friday, July 2, The Kinks were at a club called The Cinnamon Cinder (at 111345 Ventura Blvd in Studio City) to lip-synch an appearance on ABC-tv's popular show Where The Action Is, hosted by Dick Clark. An official of the Association of Film and TV Radio Actors (AFTRA) insisted that The Kinks had to join AFTRA in order to appear on TV. Ray Davies refused, on behalf of The Kinks. It's important to remember that the union would have then been in a position to take some money out of The Kinks' fees for appearing on TV. The official darkly threatened that if Ray wouldn't consent, he would ban the band from being able to tour America again. 

Details on what happened next are obscure. Ray alludes to the event in X-Ray, but doesn't precisely describe it. Nonetheless, it appears that the union official got in a fistfight with Ray. While Ray was a relatively small, skinny Englishman with "girlish" long hair, he was not only an excellent athlete, but a successful amateur boxer. I think Ray gave the union man a solid thumping, and embarrassed him in front of others on set. 

On July 3 and 4, The Kinks were part of a huge package of acts playing both the Hollywood Bowl and the Cow Palace. Headliners were the Beach Boys and Sonny & Cher, plus The Byrds in Hollywood. Both shows were promoted by Betty Kaye. By this time in the tour, two of the shows promoted by Betty Kaye had already been canceled, and The Kinks were not impressed with her. Also, while the Kinks road managers had hitherto been on tour with them, they had left by this weekend. Ray was effectively the road manager of The Kinks.

Hollywood Bowl had been a sellout, but the Cow Palace was a debacle. Apparently only about 3,500 tickets were sold, well short of the 15,000-plus capacity of the arena. Ray Davies felt that they had been taken advantage of by promoters the whole tour, specifically Betty Kaye, and refused to appear on stage at the Cow Palace until they received their payment in cash. Some details are vague, but there's no question that The Kinks did not perform, although they may have waved at the crowd. 

Betty Kaye made an official complaint to the American Federation of Musicians, while The Kinks in turn engaged in various lawsuits. After the 1965 tour, there was an informal but very real blacklisting by the AFM against The Kinks. When Bill Graham started booking groups like the Yardbirds, The Who, Eric Burdon & The Animals and Cream, the Kinks couldn't be included. When Fillmore East opened in March 1968, huge waves of English groups got known touring the States. The Kinks weren't part of that either.

The Kinks released the tremendous album Arthur in October 1969, on Reprise Records

The Kinks 1969 American Tour
The Kinks problems with the AFM were finally resolved by mid-1969. Details of the resolution are unknown, but The Kinks began their second American tour on October 17, 1969 at the Fillmore East, opening for Spirit. The Kinks had just released a fantastic new album, Arthur, rightly heralded as a Kinks classic (or Klassic, to a Kinks fan). The Kinks had released some terrific albums in between 1965 and '69, and had even scored a 1966 US hit with "Sunny Afternoon" (reaching #14), but their UK hit "Waterloo Sunset" hadn't even charted in the States. The Kinks had fallen far behind their peers. In Chicago, The Kinks had opened for The Who on October 31. At the time, The Who were riding high on Tommy. Pete Townshend respectfully noted from the stage that The Who had been inspired by The Kinks, and yet here they were five years later with The Who on top. 

The Kinks had a ragged trip across America, mostly second on the bill. Ray Davies handled the interviews and the like, while Dave, John Dalton and Mick Avory mostly enjoyed themselves.  Dave Davies had tried angel dust in New York, and later cut his hand in Chicago in a drunken rage, forcing the Kinks to cancel two dates. The Kinks were much more popular in the West, no doubt because they had good airplay on FM radio. The Kinks arrived in Los Angeles on Monday, November 17, and they spent three days doing record company business, including a big party at a club called The Factory. The Kinks did not perform as scheduled at the Factory, possibly because of Dave's injured hand, or possibly because Dave had tried LSD the night before and it didn't go well. 

The legendary Whisky A-Go-Go, in West Hollywood, at 8901 Sunset Blvd

November 20-23, 1969 Whisky A-Go-Go, West Hollywood, CA: The Kinks (Thursday-Sunday)
Still, The Kinks had played the weekend of November 20-23 at The Whisky, and it had been triumphant. The Whisky A-Go-Go, on the Sunset Strip (at 8901 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood), only held about 250, and bands only got paid union scale, but in the 60s it was one of the most prestigious gigs in the record industry. Everybody who was anyone in the record business knew who was playing the Whisky, and if the buzz was good, it meant a lot. Mick Jagger, also on tour with the Rolling Stones, showed up the first night, and that told Hollywood what it needed to know. The Kinks were happening. They honored the moment by absolutely killing it on stage.

November 26, 1969 Main Exhibition Building, Contra Costa Fairgrounds, Antioch, CA: It's A Beautiful Day/The Kinks/Cold Blood/Dry Creek Road (Wednesday) Presented by Piering-Hedgecock
After a Monday show (November 24) in the UC Irvine gym, The Kinks were second on the bill to red-hot It's A Beautiful Day at the Contra Costa Fairgrounds. Most people don't realize that the same county that contains suburban Walnut Creek and Concord extends all the way to the San Joaquin River. The show was presented by San Diego promoters. Promoter Roger Hedgecock, in fact, would later become Mayor of San Diego. Antioch was probably just outside of the "exclusionary" clause of The Kinks Fillmore West contract with Bill Graham.

November 27-30, 1969 Fillmore West, San Francisco, CA: The Kinks/Taj Mahal/Sha Na Na (Thursday-Sunday)
The Kinks headlined four days at Fillmore West. This was probably an indication that they were getting good airplay on KSAN. In the 1960s, it was still pretty common to have rock shows on Thanksgiving Thursday. Taj Mahal was a mostly blues singer on Columbia, who had released his third album on Columbia (Giant Steps/De Ole Folks At Home). Taj's Columbia albums are terrific, and he was widely regarded by critics and other musicians, but they weren't particularly big sellers. Sha Na Na had been a sort of 50s revival group founded at Columbia University, and had caused a sensation at Woodstock. They were snapped up by Kama Sutra, and began a successful career presenting a pastiche of late 50s/early 60s music. At this time, Sha Na Na would have been more like an underground rumor. Their debut album would have just been released. 

According to Hinman, the homesick Kinks spent a fair amount of time hanging out at a San Francisco bar called the Edinburgh Castle, at 950 Geary Street, a sort of faux-English pub, or faux-Scottish anyway (still apparently open). The Kinks also had a big autograph signing session at Tower Records on Friday afternoon, another sign of popularity on KSAN. So Saturday (November 29) seems the most likely day for Dave Davies and any other Kinks to have gone and jammed with Jerry Garcia, no doubt facilitated by Bill Graham. Ray Davies probably went to City Lights Books.

The Kinks moved on to a Monday night show (December 1) at the Reed College gym in Portland, and then UC Davis (December 2). Sam Cutler would have led the Stones' advance team into San Francisco early the next week. In the madness that ensued, no one would have recalled that rock and roll legend Dave Davies had dropped by for a jam with Jerry Garcia, and that they both apparently had a laugh. Maybe Jerry sang "Milk Cow Blues"--hell, maybe Pigpen did. 

Does anyone other than Dave remember? Probably not. 

No matter. Turn on your favorite Dave Davies guitar track, whether it's "You Really Got Me," "I'm Not Like Everybody Else,"  or 1977's "Jukebox Music" (my choice). Turn it up, and have a laugh with Dave and Jerry, when the world was young and everything seemed possible. 

Kinda Kinks, the band's second album, was released on Reprise in 1965. It included Dancing In The Street. Dave Davies (2-L) was famous for having really long hair as early as 1964.

Appendix 1: Kinks Covers (1964-68)
Dave Davies became a rock and roll guitar legend when "You Really Got Me" was released. Nevertheless, Dave Davies played lead guitar for The Kinks for over 30 years, and they released numerous great tracks across dozens of albums. So many of those great tracks depend on Dave's guitar licks. Whether it's the surging power of "All Day And All Of The Night" (1964) or the exuberant picking of "Victoria," Dave Davies was one of rock's greatest hookmakers.

One striking characteristic of Dave Davies brilliance as a guitarist, however, was how easy he made it all sound. Compared to the likes of Clapton, Hendrix or Jeff Beck, Dave's guitar parts seem simple. The best guitar player in your high school could probably play Dave Davies' licks. The difference was this: Dave Davies could think them up. A few perfectly chosen power chords and a bent note, and somehow Dave Davies had a great rock riff. You knew someone who could play it, but they couldn't dream it up, much less do it over 26 studio albums (and decades of tours, singles, out-takes and so on). Guitar players with more licks than Dave Davies were always wishing they had his fundamental grasp of how rock music really worked. 

Deadheads, myself included, are always talking about how Garcia was influenced by Coltrane, and how Bob Weir was like McCoy Tyner, and how they could jam in 11/8, and it's all true. But we forget how fundamental rock and roll was to the Grateful Dead enterprise, and how songs like "Casey Jones" or "Playing In The Band" had a fundamental riff that could lift up a whole auditorium. Dave Davies pretty much wrote one of the first riff textbooks, and Garcia surely knew it. At the beginning of their career, The Kinks drew music from the same pool of blues and R&B song that the Grateful Dead did. Here are the R&B tracks that made it to Kinks records.

"Beautiful Delilah"-Chuck Berry (Chuck Berry) from The Kinks [1964]
"Long Tall Shorty"-Tommy Tucker (Covay-Abrahamson) from The Kinks [1964]
"I'm A Lover Not A Fighter"-Lazy Lester (Jay D Miller) from The Kinks [1964]
"Cadillac"-Bo Diddley (McDaniel) from The Kinks [1964]
"Too Much Monkey Business"-Chuck Berry (Chuck Berry) from The Kinks [1964]
"Got Love If You Want It"-Slim Harpo (James Moore) from The Kinks [1964]
"Louie, Louie"-The Kingsmen (Richard Berry) from Kink-Size Session EP, 1964
"Nagging Woman"-Lazy Lester (Anderson-West) from Kinda Kinks [1965]
"Dancing In The Street"-Martha And The Vandellas (Stevenson-Gaye) from Kinda Kinks [1965]
"Milk Cow Blues"-Sleepy John Estes (Estes) from Kink Kontroversy [1966]

Hinman reports that The Kinks debuted in February 1964. In their earliest days, the quartet played many R&B covers, including "Who Do You Love," "Hey Bo Diddley," "Smokestack Lightning," "Talkin' Bout You," and "I'm A Hog For You Baby," all of which turned  up in the Dead or Garcia repertoires in the 60s. and 70s. Regardless of what tunes were called, there would have been plenty of numbers familiar to both The Kinks and Garcia, and no doubt any other Dead members playing.  

(For those who are curious about the live sound of the '69 Kinks, here are some links to live shows from November 27 (setlist) and November 29 (setlist) at Fillmore West). 

Raise your hand if you recall a warm San Franciscan night (includes Indians)

Appendix 2: Visiting English Bands
In the 60s, San Francisco was a rock capital, but not many people had really heard the music. Bands like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane put out a few albums, but everyone read that to get the full effect, you had to see and hear the bands in person. For UK bands, this was particularly true. San Francisco was a mythical destination, where music was played for free, it was always warm and the hippie girls danced in the park. When the Fillmore opened up the touring circuit, coming to San Francisco was like a pilgrimage. In that respect, the story of Dave Davies and The Kinks was just part of a long line.

Eric Burdon
Eric Burdon and The Animals had a grueling touring schedule. In August, 1966, Burdon had a few days off and came to San Francisco. He experienced that rarest of events, a "warm San Franciscan night." Burdon and the Animals drummer (John Steel) hung out in San Francisco from August 9-12, 1966. They saw the Dead and Quicksilver, and then shared the bill with Jefferson Airplane in Sacramento (August 13). Burdon was fully sold, and went home and completely reconfigured the Animals into a psychedelic blues outfit.

When Eric Burdon & The Animals returned in the Winter of '67, their tour began February 10 in New York, and finally hit California in March. They had a debacle of a show headlining the new Oakland Coliseum Arena on March 25. The next night (Sunday March 26) their road manager brought their guitars with them to the Avalon, and the Grateful Dead stepped aside and let the Animals take over the stage for a few numbers. At this time, the Dead had just released their first album, and the Animals were huge, established stars. Eric Burdon & The Animals would re-locate to California in the Fall of '67.

Paul McCartney playing with Jorma Kaukonen and Paul Kantner on April 7, 1967. They are either upstairs at Geary Temple or at Jack and Marty's apartment. Photo credit unknown.

April 4, 1967 Geary Temple, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane rehearsal (Tuesday)
No one was more important in rock music than The Beatles. On April 4, 1967, Paul McCartney came to San Francisco. He attended a Jefferson Airplane rehearsal, at the "Geary Temple" at 1859 Geary, a few doors down from the Fillmore. The Geary Temple was a former Masonic Temple, kind of a smaller version of the Fillmore, but just a few doors away. Bill Graham owned the Geary Temple, mainly to prevent any competitors from using it, and often let bands use it to rehearse. 

Paul also went to Jack Casady's apartment, where he played the Airplane a tape of their forthcoming Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band album. There's a famous photo of Paul playing bass while Jorma Kaukonen and Paul Kantner play guitars. I'm not sure whether it's on the second floor of Geary Temple, or at Jack's apartment. No matter. Paul made a trip to San Francisco and stopped in to play with Jefferson Airplane.

[George Harrison and his wife (Pattie Boyd, or as we all know her, "Layla") also dropped by the Haight-Ashbury on August 7, 1967. George borrowed a guitar from a hippie in the park, and strummed a little, but he didn't meet any bands.]. 

June 16-18, 1967 Showgrounds Arena, Monterey County Fairgrounds, Monterey, CA: Monterey Pop Festival (Friday-Sunday)
One thread of the Monterey Pop Festival was that it was a summit meeting between the London, Los Angeles and San Francisco rock scenes. The Who, Eric Burdon & The Animals and the Jimi Hendrix Experience were there from England, along with Brian Jones (who didn't perform). The Who played that weekend at the Fillmore (June 16&17), and Jimi Hendrix played the week after (June 20-25). In fact, few of the English and San Francisco band members really met or played together, beyond shaking hands, but it was symbolically important.  

August 22-27, August 29-September 3, 1967 Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA: Cream/Butterfield Blues Band (22-27)/Electric Flag (29-3)/others (Tuesday-Sunday)
Cream, far more popular in San Francisco than most places thanks to KMPX-fm, the first "free-form" rock station, played twelve legendary nights at the Fillmore. Cream were used to playing 30-minute sets. When Bill Graham informed them that headliners played two hour-long sets, they had no choice but to extend their songs with uninhibited jamming. The great sound system (and possibly a certain Mr. Owsley) surely helped. Rock music was never the same.

Jerry Garcia and other members of the Dead saw Cream more than once during these weeks. There is a picture of Garcia and Eric Clapton in Sausalito, but that was apparently from 1968 (see below).

February 1-4, 1968 Fillmore Auditorium/Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Jimi Hendrix Experience/John Mayall's Bluesbreakers/Albert King (Thursday & Sunday-Fillmore, Friday & Saturday-Winterland).
In early February, the Jimi Hendrix Experience returned, supported by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Mayall's band featured Mick Taylor, who had just replaced Peter Green (who in turn had replaced Clapton). According to Chris Hjort's exceptional Strange Brew book (2007 Jawbone Press), which is a complete chronology of Clapton, Green and Taylor in the late 1960s, there was a big jam at least one afternoon. I'm pretty sure the site was once again the nearby Geary Temple. Hjort quotes Mick Taylor, who recounted:

"After our show at Winterland, we went and played somewhere, until about five in the morning [with Jimi]. It was kind of like The Grateful Dead meets the blues. Jack Casady from Jefferson Airplane was there. I don't think we played songs, just riffs, notes, anything."

Intriguing as it sounds to have members of the Dead jamming with Taylor and Hendrix, the Dead were in Portland during that weekend. Still, Jack Casady will become a regular jamming partner for Hendrix. Hendrix reputedly invited Jack to join the Experience the next year.

March 11, 1968 Sacramento Civic Auditorium, Sacramento, CA: Cream/Grateful Dead (Monday)
Cream returned to San Francisco in March, packing Winterland. Owsley had dinner with Jack Bruce. Garcia and Clapton met, apparently at Eric's hotel room in Sausalito (there's a photo). The Grateful Dead opened for Cream in Sacramento on a Monday night (March 11 '68). On the ride back to San Francisco, organist Tom Constanten recalled a summit meeting of sorts (from Jesse Jarnow's Deadcast)

"On the way back to San Francisco, we all stopped at… I think it was the Nut Tree [restaurant, in Vacaville] between Sacramento and San Francisco and we had waffles ice cream. Phil, Jerry and Owsley were at the same table with Eric Clapton."

March 14-16 & 21-23, 1968 Fillmore Auditorium/Winterland, San Francisco, CA: Traffic/H.P. Lovecraft/Blue Cheer (14-16)/Moby Grape/Lemon Pipers/Spirit (21-23) (Thursday-Fillmore, Friday & Saturday-Winterland)
Traffic had released their debut album Mr Fantasy in December 1967. It was an immediate underground favorite, but there were few radio outlets for such music. A big exception was San Francisco, with the first "free-form" FM station, KMPX-fm (106.9), which had started broadcasting album tracks full-time in April 1967. The Traffic debut got so much airplay in San Francisco that not only was Traffic the Fillmore headliner for two consecutive weekends, the Friday and Saturday shows were moved to Winterland. Since Dave Mason had just left the band, Traffic were only a trio (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi & Chris Wood).

Jim Capaldi said later that Traffic was met at the airport by the Grateful Dead (who I take to mean Grateful Dead family) and taken off  for a party. Traffic, or at least Capaldi, liked LSD, and there must have been some jamming. Steve Winwood was friendly with the Grateful Dead from then on, showing up on occasion when their schedules met. Supposedly, in 1970, when they were in search of a new keyboard player the Dead even considered asking Winwood to join.

March 24, 1968 Outdoors, 50 Green Street, San Francisco, CA: Traffic plus Jerry Garcia/Sons Of Champlin (Sunday)
The Grateful Dead had flown home early from some canceled and snowed-out gigs in Detroit. Traffic played a free concert Sunday morning in front of the KMPX studios in support of the striking KMPX staff. CCSF art student Andrew Wong took numerous photos, and there was a college paper review, too. Jerry Garcia showed up, with his guitar, and plugged into Winwood's amp. Winwood moved over to the organ and the ensemble ripped through "Dear Mr Fantasy," with Bill Champlin and others adding backing vocals.

Fleetwood Mac in 1969, on what looks like a pretty cold day

January 13, 1969, rehearsal hall, Novato, CA: Jam with Peter Green, Jerry Garcia, Pigpen, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood (private event)
As noted above, Fleetwood Mac had met members of the Grateful Dead when they first toured the States in June of 1968. Initially they had booked with the Dead at the Carousel on June 19, but the Mac's arrival in the States had been delayed due to visa issues. Fleetwood Mac's US debut was a few weeks later at the Shrine in LA. Still, they became friendly with the Dead. The relationship was cemented in January of 1969 when Green, Fleetwood and McVie showed up to play with Garcia and Pigpen.

The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation (so named as John Mayall had fired Aynsley) was touring behind their debut album in early '69, released on the US on Blue Thumb (their follow-up had already been released in the UK). They played Fillmore West on the weekend of April 10-13 1969.

April 13, 1969 The Matrix, San Francisco, CA: Jefferson Airplane/"Hot Tuna" (Sunday)
The Jeff Beck Group had been booked to play the weekend with Country Joe & The Fish at Fillmore West, but they had canceled. Their place on the bill was taken by another English blues band, the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. The Retaliation were a fine, interesting band who never made it in the States. While Dunbar was not a big name at the time, musicians know who is who, and Dunbar had been with both John Mayall and Beck. Jefferson Airplane was playing the Matrix, and there was a set by Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady and drummer Joey Covington. This trio had been playing around the Bay Area, but was not yet known as Hot Tuna.

Dunbar apparently came over between Fillmore sets and sat in with Kaukonen and Casady. Presumably he took over Covington's drum kit. A minor jam, perhaps, except when you realize that Dunbar moved to the Bay Area and joined Journey in 1974 and later Jefferson Starship in '78, so these sorts of sit-ins could have ramifications.

November 29, 1969 rehearsal hall, Novato, CA: Jam with Dave Davies, Jerry Garcia and unknown others (private event)
Thus the jam between Dave Davies and Jerry Garcia, while newly-discovered, fits in well with the history of English bands on tour dropping in to jam with the Dead or the Airplane. The next two times that the Kinks came to San Francisco, the Grateful Dead were out of town (The Kinks played June 30-July 2 '70 at Family Dog, and November 12-14 '70 at Fillmore West), so the jam could only have been the weekend before Altamont. 

Chesley Millikin (1934-2001)

 

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.

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. 

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. 

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:

• 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
• 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. 
• 1971: Millikin had done some promotion work for the Grateful Dead after American Beauty. The Dead needed a laywer, and Millikin recommended his friend Hal Kant. Kant would remain the Dead's lawyer until the very end. 
• 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.  
• 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. 
  
• 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. 
• 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. 

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.

Chesley Millikin co-managed the group Kaleidoscope. Their Epic Records debut in 1967, Side Trips, helped invent "World Music." David Lindley (RIP) upper left.

Back Story: How Did I Get Here?
The only substantial interview with Chesley Millikin that I am aware of was by no less than Dennis McNally, for his epic What A Long Strange Trip history. 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.

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. 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. 

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.

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. 

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.

Berkeley '66
Our first firm sight of Chesley Millikin comes in 1966 Berkeley. McNally summarizes the first leg of Millikin's musical career:

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).

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."

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.

Kaleidoscope's second album on Epic Records, A Beacon From Mars, was released in 1968

Los Angeles 1967-68
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.

Frazier Mohawk (l), born Barry Friedman, was Buffalo Springfield's first manager

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 (she would turn up in the Jerry Garcia Band a dozen years later).

By the end of the decade, Mohawk had produced The Moray Eels Eat The Holy Modal Rounders and Nico's Marble Index, 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 (read Bob Segarini's summary for a taste), but the idea was that it was a remote communal studio to record Jackson Browne songs 24/7. Demos survived, but no album came of it. It was the 60s. 

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

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. Shanahan has described some of the adventures of The Poor with Millikin in an interview.

LA Free Press ad for The Magic Mushroom (111345 Ventura Boulevard), advertising Kaleidoscope performing on the weekend of January 18-21, 1968

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 Times 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.

As the Los Angeles Free Press 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."

Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid was Reid's 68 debut on Epic Records

1968-Epic Records London
By the end of 1968, Millikin and Frazier Mohawk were no longer managing Kaleidoscope, although the band soldiered on with an even better album (Incredible! Kaleidoscope) 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.

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. 

[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.]

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.

Ralph Gleason's column in the SF Chronicle August 27, 1969

June 1969: Rock Scully Visits England
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. Cutler said (as recalled by Rock, though not by anyone else):

"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).

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." Cutler, in his book, tells the story slightly differently:

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...

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]

Dennis McNally tells the story, too (p339), 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.

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.

On August 27, Ralph Gleason's column in the San Francisco Chronicle 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. 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.

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. 

In his excellent book (You Can't Always Get What You Want [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. 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.

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

Terry Reid
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. Cutler:

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]  

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. 

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.

A Baltimore Sun ad for The Rolling Stones, BB King and Terry Reid at the Baltimore Civic Center, November 26, 1969

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. 

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. 

Meanwhile, in March, 1970, David Lindley had left Kaleidoscope, who promptly disintegrated anyway. 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. Reid, Lindley, Lee Miles and various drummers (Bruce Rowland, Tim Davis and Alan White) toured the US and UK in 1970 and '71. 

Millikin had also facilitated the connection between Lindley and his former couch-surfer Jackson Browne. 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. 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. 

1971: Return To The States
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 Workingman's Dead in June and American Beauty in November. "Truckin'" even has some hope as an AM hit single, and Rock Scully described the band's next step:

"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).

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. 

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:

[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)

Europe '72
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. As Jesse Jarnow's Deadcast 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 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).

1973: Out of Town Tours
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. 

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 Adventures of Panama Red album, released in October 1973. Millikin's presence allowed the New Riders to get the attention they deserved (I have discussed the New Riders 1972 and '73 touring schedule in great detail elsewhere). 

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," apparently came from a family made wealthy by oil, 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.

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):

Press Release February 1973
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.

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 Terry Reid, who warbled way back in '69 on The Rolling Stones American tour.

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.

A call to either myself or Chesley Millikin for the New Riders of The Purple Sage, Terry Reid & Jack Elliott will produce amazing results, and at the same time please rap to me regarding the Dead and the Sons Of Champion.

We keep our office open from 10 in the morning until 6 at night for five days a week. On the weekends we play!

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 River 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. 

October 1973: The Chieftains
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 (Chieftains 4), 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.

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. 

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. In 2022, the Owsley Stanley Foundation released a cd set of The Chieftains's Boarding House show. 

1974-76: Grateful Dead Records
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. Decades later, with all surviving parties reminiscing on The Deadcast, 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.

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.

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.

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. McNally describes the scene, based on Millikin's recollection:

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.

The next morning Chesley met Hal Kant in the hotel lobby and asked him "What are you looking so forlorn for?"
"Don't you known, didn't you hear?""No, what?" said Chesley.
"The band fired their management last night."
"No kidding. Who's management now?" Asked Chesley.
"You are," said Hal. [p476]

Chesley and Hal Kant shepherded the Dead through the three remaining European shows, and the "Last Five Nights" at Winterland.  

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.

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

We get another sighting of Chesley Millikin in an unexpected place. A lengthy post by singer James Paxton, of the Paxton Brothers, fondly recalls Chesley and his career. The Paxton Brothers were a sort of country-rock duo, and they released a self-titled 1975 album on Anchor Records. Chesley Millikin gets a credit on the back of the album, as "Coordinator" (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. 

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. 

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.

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)

Meanwhile, Back In Texas
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.

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. 

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.
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.” ...

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 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.

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. 

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

1980-93: Chesley Millikin in Austin
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.

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. 

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. 

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.

All The Rage, Ian McLagan's tale of Small Faces, Faces and all his friends. A must read.

1990 Coda: Ian McLagan
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.

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. In his must-read autobiography All The Rage (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. Despite Millinkin's promise of a minimum o f$250K a year, McLagan turned it down (I wrote about the auditions elsewhere), 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.

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.