Category: 1988

  • ’88 Bridge Benefit is Good

    A lot of good material at the Bridge Benefit, 12/4/88 in the Oakland Coliseum Arena. It’s not like 15-20 minutes was very demanding, but Garcia sounds much more enthusiastic belting out the backing vocals here on “Wang Dang Doodle”, and giving “Friend Of The Devil” a sprightly run-through, than he did on either of the…

  • 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…

  • Weakest Show of ’88? JGB, December 3, 1988, Orpheum SF

    I absolutely love 1988 JGB. There’s not much of it, but it’s mostly all light and bouncy and healthy sounding and interactive and good. He does speak from stage here, as he did on 7/10/88. That’s kind of noteworthy, I guess. That said, just spun 12/3/88 and it left me whelmed. Bill Reutelhuber made a…

  • Unscary Jerry: Halloween ’88

    Just another good, clean ’88 Garcia Band show. By my count, the “Band Electric” only played 16 gigs the whole of the year, which is a shame, because Garcia’s clean, relaxed vibe suits it perfectly. “Werewolves” is fun, as always, Cats is fine, Forever Young and Stop That Train are both way above average, Think…

  • ‘We’re Havin’ Fun” – Healthy, Happy Jerry at the Greek, July 10, 1988

    LN jg1988-07-10.jgb.all.aud-reutelhuber.25416.shn2flac God, this is such a fantastic fileset. First, the legendary Bill Reutelhuber pulled a tape that just grabs you by the collar and forces you to listen. It is right in your face, in the best possible way. Second –and I hope this isn’t just a tape artifact!– the show, too, brings tremendous…

  • Garcia’s Penultimate Sonoma County Gig, and a Great ‘Don’t Let Go’

    LN jg1988-02-05.jgb.all.aud-CC.121594.flac2448 My favorite year of the canonical Jerry Garcia Band, i.e., what I mean when I say The Jerry Garcia Band, i.e., Garcia-Kahn-Seals-Kemper-Jones-LaBranch. Jerry’s penultimate show in Sonoma County. Top-three version of “Don’t Let Go“, along with the next night (2/6/88) and 5/19/89 in Irvine. some of my favorite Garcia music of all time.…

  • How JGAB Ended

    Can’t believe I have never posted about the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band (JGAB), a.k.a. the “Black Mountain Boys” (1987 model), a.k.a., in a weird little Bill Graham marketing campaign, “Jerry Garcia: The Band Acoustic”. This is the wonderful band consisting of Jerry (ac-g, vocals), John Kahn (ac-bass), David Nelson (ac-g, vocals), Sandy Rothman (dobro, mandolin,…