Category: OR
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On Accuracy
The recent June 5th brought out more than a tiny number of people to recognize the Oregon State Penintiery show on the anniversary of its performance — June 5, 1982 — rather than on the date given by the old bootleg tape. Because the bootleg was one of the mostly widely held Garcia recordings in…
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Late ’78 Kahn (JGB at Paramount Theatre, Portland, OR, October 26, 1978)
LN jg1978-10-26.jgb.all.aud-severson.148655.flac2496 Not a ton to report. Kahn sounded absolutely amazing on this tour. Really, all through 1978. I don’t know if he changed something, if the sound people just dialed him in especially well, or something else, but the bass was big and fat. Great recording by Mark Severson, full of ambience. Garcia strong. Apparently…
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Reuben’s Electric Return: JGB at Portland Civic Auditorium, January 14, 1984
LN jg1984-01-14.jgb.all.aud-faintych.32333.flac1644 “Reuben And Cherise” (s2t06): first electric performance since 1978! Jerry had brought a bunch of the Cats stuff back in ’83. This was the last to re-appear. (Gomorrah: 5/21/83 [electric]; Rhapsody In Red: 5/26/83; Cats: 6/3/83). Jerry sounds good throughout, as, especially, does Kemper. These pre-coma 80s JGB Knockin’s are so sweet and lilting. Rhapsody…
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I actually had to FF: JGB at Portland Meadows, 8/8/93
LN jg1993-08-08.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.145607.flac1644 Nick thought the titular show was OK, but the vocals were so catastrophically bad that I actually couldn’t really listen to this. The only other show that has revulsed me in the same way was 11/23/72, and that was as much about the recording (overloaded, especially on the vocals) as it was about the…
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GD Portland 7/25/72
Man, that interlude in The Other One on 7/25/72 is the bee’s knees. Jim Powell’s analysis (at Deadlists) just refers to it as “mystery theme”. LIA: “the Allmans-like Jam in the Other One of 7/25/72 … sounds so composed it’s hard to believe they only did it once.” It sounded a little Jeffersonian, a little…
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Green Green Grass Of Home
This show (GD 5/31/69) is a maxed-out masterpiece. Mamma mia. Play it loud! Random tape archaeology: this is shnid-76, very early in the shn game. https://goo.gl/maps/T4udv2YuEAR2 44.0417292,-123.0763108 ! Corry: “when the Dead headlined McArthur Court on May 31, 1969, it was one of the biggest rooms that they had headlined up until that time. The…
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Fluent Guitar and Dissonant Vocals: JGB at Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Eugene, OR – December 5, 1984
Drummer David Kemper’s laminate from the “1984 Winter Northwest Tour” of the JGB, December 5-8, 1984. LN jg1984-12-05.jgb.s2.aud.79642.flac1644 I have been engaging this little mini-tour undertaken by the JGB in early December 1984 as a way to reflect on Garcia’s Rock Bottom. I come away consistently impressed with his guitar playing and mortified by his…
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May 5, 1982 should be June 5, 1982
Perhaps the most bootlegged Garcia-on-the-side gig is acoustic Garcia and Kahn, attributed as the Oregon State Penitentiary, 2575 Center St. NE, Salem, OR 97301, May 5, 1982 [JGC | JGBP | map | etree showid-48429] Lots of these have been liberated into freely-circulating lossless formats (shnid-4423, shnid-11463, shnid-17900), which are all pretty much the same…
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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…
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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.…