LN jg1979-10-14.jgb.s1s2p.aud-unk-moore-berger.122979.flac1644
Understood second third show for Ozzie Ahlers and John d’Fonseca. Update: I had this as the second show for this outfit, a week after its 10/7/79 debut, but it turns out they also played the Monday night, 10/8, in Berkeley.
Excellent Sugaree and After Midnight, songs which this band made its own right from the get-go. Good show overall.
Understood public JGB debut of Deal.
Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone Palo Alto
260 South California Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94306
October 14, 1979 (Sunday)
99 min (all-2, s1s2p) 2nd gen Moore-Berger cassette flac1644 shnid122979
–Set I (6 tracks, 61:00)–
s1t01. [0:05] Sugaree [12:48] [0:10] %
s1t02. [0:10] They Love Each Other [7:19] [0:17] %
s1t03. Let It Rock [8:56] [0:05] % [0:15]
s1t04. Deal [7:00] [0:08] %
s1t05. After // Midnight [11:#06] [0:07] %
s1t06. I’ll Take A Melody [12:11] (1) [0:23] %
–set II (4 tracks, 37:57, missing last two songs)–
s2t01. Money Honey [7:14] 0:12] % [0:40]
s2t02. Love In The Afternoon [8:33] [0:26]
s2t03. That’s Alright Mama [7:09] [0:23] % [0:03]
s2t04. Russian Lullaby [13:10] [0:07] %
[MISSING: Positively 4th Street]
[MISSING: The Harder They Come]
! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #11a (First show-October 7, 1979 Keystone Berkeley | Last show-March 27, 1980 Keystone Berkeley)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Ozzie Ahlers – keyboards, synthesizers;
! lineup: John d’Fonseca – drums;
! lineup: John Kahn – bass.
JGMF:
! R: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; … = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = 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 [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.
! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19791014-01
! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/122979 (this fileset).
! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/11/keystone-sophies-260-s-california-ave.html
! map: http://goo.gl/maps/Zx14m
! band: JGB #11a (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)
! personnel: understood third public show for Ozzie Ahlers (keyboards) and John d’Fonseca (drums) with the JGB (10/7/79 debut).
! historical: This is the third known performance of the Ozzie Ahlers Era Jerry Garcia Band, the JGB that ran from October 7, 1979 through March 26, 1980 with John d’Fonseca drumming. They did one very lucrative little east coast college and theater tour from February 12, 1980 through March 1, 1980, with a few more hometown gigs after that before Greg Errico comes in for a few lucrative dates out east in July. The birth of the band is rather mysterious. Jerry’s last sustained live gigging fling with Merl was in Reconstruction, starting 1/30/79, last known show of 9/22/79, with an advertised show (not mentioning Garcia) for 9/29/79. Little more than a week after that, Garcia and Kahn have formed a new Jerry Garcia Band, a quartet, and are out playing the same clubs. The band debuted on a Sunday night (10/7/79), which is in keeping with Garcia/Kahn’s pattern of breaking new guys in on off-nights. update: they played again the next night, an unadvertised Monday night show in Berkeley. A second piece of the pattern isn’t in place: they usually kept the new guys away from the Keystone Berkeley (and, later, the Stone) for a few gigs, let ’em loosen up away from the super-knowledgeable regulars. This gig, by contrast, this 10/14/79 gig, a Sunday night in Palo Alto, looks more like a classic JGB warmup show.
! historical: Jerry wisely invested in Betty Cantor Jackson’s services for the last few road shows by this band in late winter 1980, resulting in FM broadcasts of at least two sets. It also means that there are geese laying golden eggs amongst the tour tapes, since they sound so good. There was a 2004 CD release of 2/28/80 (After Midnight: Kean College, 2/28/80, Rhino R2 76536), along with an associated bonus disc (Way After Midnight, JGBWAM-01, 2004) with material from 2/29/80 and 3/1/80. As of 12/24/2012, a release of of the complete 3/1/80 has been pushed back and is said to be forthcoming from 1/1/2013. Update: deaddisc says 2012, but, anyway, the 3/1/80 release happened.
! R: source: master audience cassette (unknown taper/location/gear) > 1st gen cassette > Jerry Moore’s 2nd gen cassette (Maxell MX-110/Dolby B).
! R: transfer: Nakamichi Dragon (Dolby B) > Tascam hd-p2 24/96 > pc > Adobe Audition 2.0 > CD Wave > flac1644, transferred and seeded by Rob Berger Nov. 2012.
! R: I only know of one taper of this show, though that tape does not circulate and I don’t have it. I know of one other person with access to that tape (presently and presumably “back in the day”), and it’s possible that ol’ Jerry Moore got a copy of it from that fellow, or via a separate friend of the taper, but I don’t know. This could be a second master. It’s a good, characteristic Keystone audience tape from late 1979. It’s not like the historically good tapes made by John Angus and Scott Hart during this period (11/18/79, 2/1/80, 2/2/80, 3/7/80, 3/26/80), nor by Eldon Porray, Bob Menke, or others. It’s got some wear and tear, but it’s good.
! R: s1t01 Sugaree badly overloaded at start, comes down around 40 seconds in, still a little hot. What a great tape. Lots of crowd ambience, the room is there, a man (presumably) is standing with mics somewhere up-close. His girlfriend, or his friend’s girlfriend, is talking to him @ 1:40, then his friend is, too. The Keystone freaking Palo Alto on an October night in 1979.
! P: s1t01 Sugaree: It’s amazing how quickly this band’s Sugaree became this band’s Sugaree. Totally distinctive. If you like Sugaree, this version is worth checking out, as are many from the next couple of years. @ 3:00 Ozzie little synth run, but Jerry cuts him off for the next verse, “thought you was the cool fool”, and all that. Ozzie takes anoher little run like late 4-min early 5-min range. They get together for a bit, then @ 5:30 Garcia is soloing. Build up to 6:40 is mighty mighty. Garcia’s soloing in the 9-10 minute range, his fanning at 10:15 and thereabouts, I think really shows that Garcia intended this band to be a showcase for him playing his guitar. 10:46 he’s still just blistering. @11:00 we hear that the October 1979 Garcia’s voice is a little fragile, a little thin, reedier, less in the diaphragm than, say, 18 months earlier. CATS has flopped. The taxes are still due. Get a band together, play and work, but tear it up a little bit.
! song: Deal (s1t05): This is the understood public JGB debut of Deal. The crowd, appropriately, recognizes the occasion by clapping right along. A little vocal flub in the 2nd verse is OK, Jer. We have heard Deal so many times with a female backing vocalist that it’s weird to hear the hole in the song where the harmonies go. Interesting to be attentive to Deal done by a quartet – quite a rarity.
! P: s1t05 AM another one that this particular configuration of Garcia really played hot, and evidently right from the get-go. The crowd is enjoying Jerry’s pyrotechnics in the 3-minute mark. Ozzie’s solo in 4-minute mark is totally fine. People don’t like his sound because of the Fender Rhodes and the synthesizers, but Ozzie can play, IMO. And Jerry is digging in and tearing it up behind him. After Ozzie’s solo, ca. 5:20 ish, Jerry wants to cruise around the melody again.
! R: s1t05 AM splice @ 8:59
! s1t06 (1) JG: “Thank you. We’re gonna take a [inaudible].”
! P: s2t04 Russian Lullaby bass feature over the 8-minute mark.
! P: set II songs are good, but nothing jumps out at me.
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