Fate Music

Category: CA

  • Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (Castelli MAC)

    Having just posted on the sbd recording from this show, I’ll post my notes from the newly circulating audience recording by Robert Castelli (1644-shnid 110663, 2496-shnid 110798). I’ll start with a few analytical points, then produce my listening notes based on the 24/96 version. Not a ton to say about this, except that this is…

  • Listening Notes: GASB, Thursday, June 13, 1974, Keystone, Berkeley (sbd)

    Low-gen soundboard tape of Thursday, 6/13/74, Keystone, Berkeley (shnid-13768). Note the listing as Great American String Band, though the naming issue is one I am avoiding for now. I’ll just go with GASB for this post. A few analytical points: The setlist issues have been clarified by the Castelli tape, notes on which I’ll post…

  • Humphrey’s Last Hometown Warmup: JGMS at Keystone, November 2, 1974

    LN jg1974-11-02.jgms.148mins.aud-castelli-motb-0158.111191.flac2496 Update 12/27/2012: This is, indeed, Paul Humphrey drumming. The Mouth of the Beast crowd, led by the inimitable Bob Menke, recently dropped Robert Castelli’s master audience cassette recording of November 2, 1974 on an unsuspecting world. I foreshadowed this a little bit in a previous post. I have a few observations, and then reproduce…

  • Listening Notes: Great American String Band (GASB), Lion’s Share,San Anselmo, June 12, 1974

    **update 20140823 – Elwood 1974 is clear that GASB played the Lion’s Share on Wednesday, June 12, 1974. Thanks to Blair Jackson!** Here are some thoughts based on my notations from this recording (shnid-7331). I’ll start with a few analytical points, then reproduce the raw notations below. It sounds like a single two-set show to…

  • Great American String Band: June 12-14, 1974 (update)

    **update 20140823 – definitely Lion’s Share 6/12/74 and Keystone 6/13-14/74, per Elwood 1974. Thanks to Blair for providing the raw materials!** So, awhile back I posted on the mid-June 1974 recordings of the Great American Music Band / Great American String Band. I have to leave the name issue alone for now, but for the…

  • Swain’s Music Store, Palo Alto, CA

    I don’t do much pre-GD, but Andy Childs’s lengthy history of the GD in ZigZag in October 1973 mentions a Palo Alto music store, called Swain’s, which I don’t remember hearing about before. I need to read the whole piece more closely, and wonder how well it has stood up as a work of history.…

  • The Birth of the Great American Music Band

    Editor’s Note: I should point out that the timing of this post was inspired by Corry, who has recently posted on the misty origins of OAITW and who earlier had posted on what might have been the “public debut of a very important band,” the GAMB. While I think this post casts a different light…

  • March 1974

    update: this post mostly doesn’t serve any purpose anymore, but here it is I am working around an important (to me!) post about the birth of the Great American Music/String Band, and want to lay some foundation. So let me start by mapping the known-to-me Jerry Garcia engagements from March, 1974, and just making a…

  • Great American Music Band: Wednesday, April 24, 1974, Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA

    Clearly identified as the Great American Music Band by the emcee at the end, this is the quartet of Grisman (mandolin), Greene (fiddle), Nichtern (ac-guitar, vocals) and Taj Mahal (ac-bass). The performance doesn’t light me up the way some of them do. The tape, via ‘fstop’,  is quite nice, though I’d guess that the Will…

  • GSCBF11: John Hartford (& Friends): Sunday, April 28, 1974, ca. 20:15

    Part of a series of back-of-the-napkin thoughts about the Golden State Country Bluegrass Festival (GSCBF), held in San Rafael, CA from Friday, April 26th through Sunday, April 28, 1974. Previous installments: GSCBF1: just a mention GSCBF2: a plea for a release of the film and tapes! GSCBF3: Sunday 4/28/74 afternoon schedule GSCBF4: Greenbriar Boys (a.k.a.…