Keystone Palo Alto on a Monday night, as Garcia is trying to kick his junk habit.
The show is mostly notable because Garcia plays a Modulus guitar. Playing anything other than the Irwin “Tiger” at this time was an exceptionally rare event. Blair Jackson’s amazing Golden Road (no. 7, Summer 1985, p. 9) mentions that the alternative guitar appeared at a pair of early June Garcia Band shows. Since Garcia canceled a scheduled June 2 show to attend Wagner’s Ring with Phil, the pair can only be 6/1 and 6/3. I confess that I hear nothing different.
I don’t intend to wallow around Rock Bottom any longer than necessary, but it has to be done. Tonight’s episode features a roughly 35 minute second set. Tapers and tapersfriends are so damn cool, because, just like 3/2 (“Jerry’s gotta clean up his act, man”), they themselves provide insight and color beyond pulling tape of Jerry. As Jerry gallops into “Midnight Moonlight” 30 minutes into the second set, regulars know what that means: Jerry’s done. It’s gonna be a gill-coked MM and a race backstage to comfort. This probably after a very long setbreak, so up late taboot.
Groaning with disappointment at the first notes of Midnight Moonlight … “awww, no, last song?!?” You are right to pose the question, Herr Kanzlerfreund: what the fuck? Not even one side of tape? Fuck you, Garcia. That would piss me off. The “kids they dance, they shake their bones” (Barlow-Weir), but the grownups know they’re getting ripped off. If I had been seeing Garcia Band shows at this time (I was just a bit young), I might not have continued to do so after what JGB delivered to the home crowd in the first half of ’85.
Musically, I noted some OK moments in Deal, else not much to say.
Again, I don’t intend to wallow down around here more than necessary. Things will get really ugly with late August 1984, the November ’84 Garcia-Kahn tour, and a few other turds. For my purposes, it’s worth getting this stuff down, and documenting it. At some point, I’ll probably sum up the set times from this period. There are lots in the sub-40 minute range. That’ll be one reasonably good indicator, I think, of Jerry’s health during this period and more generally.
Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 South California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
June 3, 1985 (Monday)
Cansler flac1644 shnid-92786
–set I (5 tracks, 49:19)–
s1t01. [0:35] How Sweet It Is :36-9:13 [0:32] % [0:07]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [8:08] [0:12] % [0:09]
s1t03. When I Paint My Masterpiece [11:15] [0:08] % [0:02]
s1t04. [0:11] Mississippi Moon :12-9:53 [0:18] %
s1t05. /Deal [#9:14] (1) [0:06]
–set II (3 tracks, 35:03)–
s2t01. [0:49] I’ll Take a Melody [13:48] [0:04] % [0:12]
s2t02. Simple Twist of Fate [12:2] [0:08]
s2t03. Midnight Moonlight [7:15] (2, 3) [0:16]
! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn – el-bass;
! lineup: Gloria Jones – vocals;
! lineup: David Kemper – drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch – vocals;
! lineup: Melvin Seals – keyboards.
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.
! TJS:
! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1985-06-03-keystone-palo-alto-palo-alto-ca/
! db: http://db.etree.org/shn/20920 (Corley shnf); http://db.etree.org/shn/95560 (Taz Yamaguchi flac1644); http://db.etree.org/shn/92786 (this fileset).
! map: https://goo.gl/maps/7AzlG
! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/keystone-sophies-260-s-california-ave.html
! band: JGB #21b, THE Jerry Garcia Band (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html).
! historical: Garcia plays a Modulus guitar at this show – I list Ron Price as opening, no idea who that is. A Monday night at the KPA feels out of pattern, not there are sufficient degrees of freedom to detect patterns in JGB billings first half of 1985.
! R: field recordist: Russ Cansler;
! R: field recording location: 10 feet away, left of center 5 feet;
! R: field recording gear: 2x Hat-Mounted realistic PZMs > Sony WMD6C;
! R: field recording media: 1x Maxell UDS-II 90 No nr;
! R: transfer: HD > Audacity > CDWave > TLH.
! R: seeder notes: “Not much presence on vocals; slight mic handling noise; light tics on tape — age artifact?”
! R: mix and sound real funky to start, very fluttery. Vocals very far back. Numerous skips.
! P: s1t05 Deal JG can’t even sing to start. Later, sounds much spacier and more GD ish than usual. There’s almost a little Close Encounters wah feel ca. 7. Pretty good Deal.
! s1t05 (1) JG: “We’re gonna take a break for a little while.”
! historical: (2) s2t03 @ 0:09 Taper or guy near taper groans with disappointment at Midnight Moonlight … “awww, no, last song?”. You are right to pose the question, Herr Kanzlerfreund: what the fuck? Not even one side of tape? Fuck you, Garcia. That would piss me off. The “kids they dance, they shake their bones” (Barlow-Weir), but the grownups know they’re getting ripped off. If I had been seeing Garcia Band shows at this time (I was just a bit young), I might not have continued to do so after what JGB delivered at The Stone in the first half of ’85. At end (3) JG says something I can’t hear. Also of note: *very* exceptionally, Garcia is not playing his Doug Irwin guitar (which one? I had written Rosebud, but maybe Tiger? I don’t know the guitars) he’s playing one made by Modulus Graphite (see Golden Road, Summer 1985, p. 9).
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