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.