We know that Jerry Garcia was playing around outside the GD to a varying, but always non-zero, extent throughout the career of his most famous band. We have a sense that this was happening more, and more loosely, in the early days (at least pre-1976) and less, and in a more routinized/institutionalized way after that. How much this was happening in the “early days” is probably impossible to fathom, because by definition the less institutionalized stuff leaves less of a footprint (tapes, advertisements, etc.) than the more so. Measurement is harder, and the data are biased against the real loose stuff. We are left with some stories, a vague sense, but little else.
I don’t want to go into more detail about all that here, but I want to report on a few tantalizing tidbits I found in the Oakland Tribune in 1974. A first reads as follows (1):
The Merl Saunders Band, which featured Jerry Garcia on guitar and Martin Fierro on sax on alternating weeks at the Sand Dunes in San Francisco, has changed its name to Aunt Monk featuring Saunders and Fierro with equal billing. Mondays at the Sand Dunes.
A second article discussing the Sand Dunes (2) at slightly greater length also notes that “Merl Saunders and Martin Fierro play Monday nights when not with Jerry Garcia, and Garcia has shown up on some Mondays, too.”
Gaaahhh.
It certainly sounds plausible. We know that 1974 was a busy year for Jerry playing around (TJS has 119 entries for the year). We know that Merl had regular non-Jerry gigs as the house performer around this time (as, apparently, at the Generosity in 1975), at which Jerry would sometimes drop in (as, apparently, at the Generosity on Feb. 14, 1975 and May 9, 1975). As the information below will show, Jerry had almost every Monday night in 1974 free as far as is known to me: 27 free and not known to be outside Bay Area, 12 booked and/or out of town. So what’s to stop him?
Regarding the venue, based on another mention from earlier in the year (3), it seems that the Sand Dunes was at 46th and Taraval. Here is a regular Google map of the location:
Here is a street view:
View Larger Map
Hard for me to tell on this basis where the bar might have been. I am intrigued by the idea that it might be 3639 Taraval, apparently a watering hole now called The Riptide (“On the edge of the Western world”). It’s not the corner of 46th and Taraval, but it’s less than a block away and may have been the obviously intended location at the time, who knows.
[update: in comments, Yellow Shark has confirmed the address as 3599 Taraval St, San Francisco, CA 94116]
Anyway, below is a list of the Mondays in 1974 up until the October 6th article. I have provided info where there seems to be a conflict. That leaves lots of open dates, about which we are of course very unlikely ever to know anything. BTW, the dates with (*) probably warrant some explanation (i.e., a further post), and I do think I’ll get to the 7/22 one at some point, but not now.
19740107
19740114
19740121
19740128
19740204
19740211
19740218
19740225
19740304
19740311
19740318
19740325
19740401
19740408
19740415
19740422 – JG probably in LA*
19740429
19740506
19740513 – GD between Reno and Missoula
19740520 – GD between Portland and Seattle
19740527
19740603
19740610
19740617 – GD between Des Moines and Louisville
19740624 – GD between Miami and Providence
19740701 – JGMS in NYC
19740708
19740715
19740722
19740729 – GD in Landover
19740805 – GD in Philly
19740812
19740819
19740826 – Merl Saunders’s Aunt Monk at Macarthur’s in San Anselmo
19740902 – JGMS gig in Marx Meadow, Golden Gate Park
19740909 – GD in London
19740916 – GD still in Europe
19740923
19740930
References:
– (1) “Rap-Up’s Wrap Up,” Oakland Tribune, August 25, 1974, p. 2-RAP.
– (2) Art George, “The State of the Small Club,” Oakland Tribune, October 6, 1974, p. 4-RAP.
– (3) “Rap Up’s Wrap Up,” Oakland Tribune, July 21, 1974, p. 2-RAP.
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