Jerry Garcia’s Name-Claiming Journey Beyond the Grateful Dead

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  • Firing On All Cylinders: JGB at the SF Civic, December 22, 1990

    LN jg1990-12-22.jgb.all.aud-stucco-gems.149794.flac1648 When you say something sucked, or point to some darkness, you are scandal-mongering. When you rave, your are homer-fanboying. In all cases it’s subjective. But, fuck it – it’s my blog, and these are my impressions, and if you want to compare notes put ’em in comments or somewhere’s else I can find ’em!…

  • Positively Killer: JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, December 21, 1979

    I was recently surprised when I listened to JGB 12/17/79 and found the show totally lackluster. Jerry sounds listless, indifferent, tired, and he and Johnny D, the 21 year old Marin kid drumming live with Jerry for only the seventh time, seemed badly out of sync. So, I listened to the next show, 12/20, and…

  • Checking Myself: JGB at Keystone Palo Alto, December 20, 1979

    I just listened to JGB 12/17/79 and found it to be … off. Out of sync. Low energy. Since I don’t trust how my own frame of mind can color my listening experience, I decided to turn directly to a contemporary show, in this case 12/20/79. The big degree to which these are apples and…

  • Sunday, Monday, What’s the Difference? JGB #11a at Keystone, December 17, 1979 (Monday)

    LN jg1979-12-17.jgb.s1s2p.aud-walscoller.106057.flac1644 I wanted to spin some JGB #11a (Ozzie-Johnny D quartet) from late in 1979, a little window I have neglected in favor of their first few gigs on the one hand (10/7, 10/14), and the Winter 1980 tour (overall economics, 2/16, 2/20, 2/24) on the other hand. (update: see also 12/20/79) Joanie Walker, Paul Scotton and…

  • Saxophone Somewhere Far Off Played: JGB at the Warfield, December 2, 1989

    If you are following along, you might notice that I listened to a bunch of early December shows from various years, but am late in posting them. It’s rare for me to get enough contiguous time to listen and note and post these days. My notes on this show, from a soundboard tape (shnid-117562) and…

  • Segueing Out of Stony Brook: JGB in Pritchard Gym, SUNY Stony Brook, December 4, 1983

    Lawn Guy Land, and especially SUNY Stony Brook, stands in the pantheon as one of the ground zero sites of the birth and development of the East Coast Deadhead and, by derivation, of the East Coast Garcia Freak. The Dead played Pritchard Gym on campus very early on, and, as so often happened, the Garcia…

  • These Listening Notes May Be A Touch Unreliable: JGB at Orpheum, December 2, 1988

    LN jg1988-12-02.jgb.all.aud-webber-small.xxxxxx.flac1644 In my neck of the scientific woods, reliability refers to the reproducibility of empirical measurement. My  measurement is reliable to the extent that another scholar can follow my procedure (which must be made transparent, of course) and arrive at the same value. For measurement that involves subjective judgment (how prevalent is corruption in country…

  • Blissfully Clarenceless on Market Street: JGB at the Warfield, December 1, 1989

    LN jg1989-12-01.jgb.all.aud-bk4011.141459.flac1648 God, ’89 was such a great year for the Jerry Band. I really need to find some more of the out-of-town shows to spin, though everytime I do I tend not to note much, because it’s all just really consistently good. This show, 12/1/89, is absolutely outstanding. I am glad that, contrary to what…

  • Warmup for Four: JGB at the Stone, July 19, 1980

    LN jg1980-07-19.jgb.all.aud-moore-berger.122980.flac1644 These notes were orphaned – I listened to this sometime back, never posted them. Last of three warmups for the short-lived JGB #11b quartet. We used to think that this band happened because the 11a drummer, John d’Fonseca, died in Spring 1980. But we now know that’s not true, so it’s not clear why…

  • Gettin’ Churchy: JGB at the Stone, Sunday, November 30, 1986

    LN jg1986-11-30.jgb.all.aud-corley.21301.shn2flac Spun on its 34th anniversary yesterday, this show supplied me with a delightful hour and a half of easy-feeling post-coma Jerry Band. “Stop That Train” opens the show for the second and final time ever (also 1/29/77), and returns to the lineup after nine years away (11/26/77a). “My Sisters And Brothers” also returns after…