Fate Music

Category: 1984

  • Garcia and Kahn Sell Out: Orpheum Theatre, Boston, November 17, 1984

    LN jg1984-11-17.jgjk.all.aud-drew-seaweed.110537.flac1644 Regular readers will know I have been exploring Garcia’s putative Rock Bottom period by listenings to tapes and more or less noting what I hear. Tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it. I harbor considerable ex ante animus toward this tour – I have heard some first hand reports of its deep, dark,…

  • Great ‘Don’t Let Go’ on the Second Starry Night – Portland, OR, December 7, 1984

    LN jg1984-12-07.jgb.all.aud-young.127069.flac2496 Nice tape, and a good night if you can filter out Garcia’s singing. Jerry’s peppy and there’s lots of good playing here. I have argued that this period (August-December 1984) is rock bottom, but if it is, I gotta give the guy credit for slogging through it pretty respectably. Two arguments for rock…

  • Grungy: JGB at the Starry Night in Portland, December 6, 1984

    LN jg1984-12-06.jgb.s1s2p.aud-Rice.124941.flac1644 The second half of 1984 is Garcia’s Rock Bottom period. But it’s not all terrible, and some of it is rather amazing. Ain’t that always the way. My reaction to 12/6/84, a Thursday at the Starry Night in downtown Portland, is similar to my reaction to 8/24/84. The vocals are unprofessional, embarrassingly bad.…

  • There is World-Class Guitar Playing Here (JGB at the Arlington in Santa Barbara, May 19, 1984)

    LN jg1984-05-19.jgb.all.aud-rossi-ford.124791.flac1644 Really great tape. And, while things are a little bit uneven, there’s a lot to like in this performance. The arrangements are generally tight and the guitar playing can be outstanding. This band is together. Melvin plays colorfully, drums strong and bass nice and thompin’. Garcia does a lot of very sophisticated layering…

  • It’s not that bad, given how much Persian he was doing

    LN jg1984-08-24.jgb.s1.aud-GEMS.124940.flac1644 There are lots of ways to interpret this performance. One reasonable way would be to say that this is just about the nadir of Garcia’s performing career (perhaps 8/26/84), a professional embarrassment shocking only because playing at least competently for a paying audience formed perhaps the only real commitment in his life, a…

  • Nice Blazer, Kid

    JGJK: Eisenhower Auditorium, Penn State University, November 16, 1984 Archives of the Penn State Daily Collegian are available online at http://digitalnewspapers.libraries.psu.edu/, which might prove useful for others (I have found lots of Jerry-related stuff). Just for giggles, I thought I’d post this little snippet from the police blotter over the weekend of the Jerry Garcia/John…