Two Negative Reviews, One Participant Observation of Deadheaddom, Long Island Style: JGB at Stony Brook, February 24, 1980

So much to say, so little time. Eventually the February 1980 tour will have to be written up. Here are some raw materials. Really nice tape, an excellent version of “When I Paint My Masterpiece” , two negative show reviews and one a participant observation study of Deadheaddom, Long Island style, February 1980.

LN jg1980-02-24.jgb.all.aud-stankiewicz.126077.flac2496

Jerry Garcia Band
Pritchard Gymnasium, State University of New York (SUNY)
1 Center Drive
Stony Brook, NY 11794
February 24, 1980 (Sunday) 9 PM
Richie Stankiewicz MAC flac2496 shnid-126077

–set I (6 tracks, 57:17)–
s1t01. crowd [1:05]
s1t02. Sugaree [15:15] [0:17]
s1t03. Catfish John [9:40] [0:40]
s1t04. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:44] [0:09] %
s1t05. Sitting Here In Limbo [11:54] [0:56]
s1t06. That’s Alright, Mama [8:20] (1) [0:36]

–set II + encore (7 tracks 65:00)–
–set II (6 tracks, 56:40)–
s2t01. crowd [1:47]
s2t02. That’s What Love Will Make You Do [9:14] [0:22]
s2t03. When I Paint My Masterpiece [9:01] [0:18] %
s2t04. Tore Up Over You [9:01] [0:14] % 9:15-
s2t05. I’ll Take A Melody [12:24] [0:38]
s2t06. The Harder They Come [12:13] (2) [0:17] %
–encore (1 track, 8:19)–
s2t07. [0:38] Midnight Moonlight [7:31] (3) [0:10] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g;
! lineup: John Kahn – el-b;
! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers – keyboards;
! lineup: John D’Fonseca – drums.

JGMF:

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

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19800224-03

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/8414 (probable Mark Cohen, shnf);
http://etreedb.org/shn/8913 (unattributed, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/18019
(Mark Cohen, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/35140 (Charlie Connor, shnf);
http://etreedb.org/shn/101725 (Bob Morris, flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/106582
(Bob Morris, 2496); http://etreedb.org/shn/126078 (Richie Stankeiwicz,
flac1644); http://etreedb.org/shn/126077 (Richie Stankiewicz, flac2496, this fileset).

! band: JGB #11a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/VSBMqxPR5QP2

! venue: JGBP supplies the given street address, though I am uncertain about it.

! personnel: “I believe his name is spelled D’Fonseca. According to ancestry.com, he was born July 30, 1958 and died March 28, 1987. His father, also named John D’Fonseca was born December 3, 1934 and died January 16, 1977. It seems like Jerry chose to hire Johnny for that east coast tour, but wasn’t necessarily planning to use him long-term.” (Anonymous, URL http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/johnny-de-foncesca-jr-drums.html?showComment=1368021211671#c7721560489908964906)

! review: Wald, Richard. 1980. Jerry Garcia: Relic of the Past. Statesman (SUNY Stony Brook), Alternatives section, February 27, 1980, p. 3A. Negative review. Wald describes the concert as an ordeal, and Garcia as unbudging and stagnant.  “Total lack of regard for the audience”  show opened an insensitive 45 minutes late, 30 minute Hunter set, then another 45 minutes for Garcia to come on, so ca. 11 pm.  “No apologies or helloes were offered, just an evident feeling that Garcia would rather be doing more drugs backstage” ouch. “No Dylan being played”, so reviewer doesn’t know Masterpiece. Almost another hour between sets, then languid and tedious set, then another half hour wait for the encore! Bemoans Jerry’s appalling lassitude and insensitivity.

! review: Jaffe, Larry. 1980. Jerry Garcia Drifts Along. Unknown publication. Negative review. Here’s the template, as he sees it: “five minutes to tune up, another five to find the right riff; five minutes later, the vocals came, and then jamming with the same guitar leads for five more minutes. It was like the Jerry Garcia Machine: take a classic song, … drop the record into the slot, and [sic] comes out sounding like the Grateful Dead. … incredibly repetitive … great music to fall asleep by.” Didn’t like the hourlong intermission, bemoans idolatry of the fans, in whose eyes Garcia “can do no wrong”. “A mild indulgence of this sort of aimless shuffling is harmless, but addiction to the Grateful Dead, my friends, is a sad sickness.”

! review: Corley, Eric. 1980. Being a Deadhead: Unity and Insanity. Stony Brook Press 1, 8 (February 28, 1980), p. 6. Substantially about “the scene”, how odd Deadheads are with their long hair, Volkswagens, their tendency to travel en masse, their rapturous worshipful engagement with Garcia. He thinks he has it figured out: “The reason for the loyalty, devotion and insanity of this particular sampling of mankind lies not so much in the music as in the crowd itself. Thousands of people who get together to smoke pot, scream, and sway with the music provide each other with a much-needed sense of unity.”  He finds this endearing. 

! tags: JGB, 1980, Pritchard Gymnasium, SUNY, college gigs, tapers, Richie Stankiewicz, John D’Fonseca, listening notes, east coast, tapers, songs-W

! historical: This show resonates as a very “east coast” show. I write about this as a west coaster, which is fraught, so I don’t want to go much into it. But Garcia said repeatedly that there was a New York vibe that he, not only a west coaster but a native San Franciscan, recognized and loved. The energy. Can anyone disagree? It’s more interpersonally intense, for sure. New York has it all, and it’s right out there for you to plug in to. This is example number 9,477 of an ambient recording supplying more information than a line tape. New York, Long Island, no less, in February, two days after the Miracle on Ice? You know what comes next — fuhgedaboudit. Related, note that no fewer than five audience tapers made it out this night – East Coast tapers, representing.

! R: field recordist: Richie Stankiewicz

! R: field recording equipment: 2x AKG D222E > Nakamichi 550

! R: field recording location: FOB “in the sweet spot”

! R: Transfer: MAC > Nakamichi 1000-II > Sound Devices USB Pre-2 > WAV 2496, by Richie Stankiewicz.

! R: Edits: WAV 2496 > Wavelab > CD-Wave (24bit output) > TLH > FLAC 2496 tagged, by Andrew F. 11/2013.

! R: s2t04 Patch from ID-106582, Tore Up Over You 0:00 > 0:18.

! R: s1t02 a little overloaded on the guitar in Sugaree.

! P: s1t02 tempos are a little uneven, starts too slow but Jerry is trying to pick it up in the 4-5 minute range, to my ears. Crazy fanning in the late 9 minute mark. Yeah, Jer!

! R: s1t03 levels come up around 1:50

! R: s1t05 SHIL more hiss after tape flip

! P: s1t05 SHIL Jerry’s voice sounds a little scratchy. Damn coke.

! s1t06 (1) JG “We’re gonna take a short break, and we’ll be back in a few minutes.”

! P: s2t01 JK quotes a famous jazz line, maybe Monk, maybe Epistrophy or something like that?

! P: s2t03 WIPMM Jerry’s tone is raunchy as he walks around some very interesting open-sounding guitar work, soloing ca. 1:30-2:30. Now I hear the genius of the tape. Ozzie solos 2:45ff. “Like a rhapsody-y” @ 4:45. Great sustain on his notes this night. He’s totally locked in. Jesus he is 100% spot on with his vocals. Extra articulation, big fat bendy notes complementing. Some time in the 7-minute mark a crowd guy gives him a good “Yeah, Jerry!”

! P: s2t04 TUOY now voice sounds a little worn, but hubba hubba the guitar work is top-shelf. Listen to the tone in the 2-minute mark, the sustain. Amazing tone 6:20-6:30 ish, bends a note too far and finds himself off-key (a rare misstep), gets aggressive late 6 over 7-minute mark, some of the most inventive guitar playing that you’ll hear. Wow, he is disquisiting now, dissertating, phrases to sentences to paragraphs to pages of flowing creation. Nice. This is a @@ top-shelf version of “When I Paint My Masterpiece”.

! P: s2t05 ITAM into some very interesting guitar work 8 minute mark, mid-9 doing some chunka chunka rhythm over the melody. Ozzie is soloing, but he’s not very high in the mix, Jerry kind of dominating things.

! P: s2t06 HTC is lightning fast. 7:45 great dissonant tone, raunchy and watery and jangly. 8:15 Johnny D catches Jerry just before he falls, Garcia toes the foothold and launches into another opportunity to chase after shiny sonic objects.

! s2t06 (2) JG: “See ya later.”

! s2t07 (3) JG: “Thank you, thank you.”