JGB in Chumash Country: Campbell Hall, UCSB, February 5, 1977

In my writeup of the Garcia Band’s 11/20/76 gigs at the Pismo Theatre, I noted that Jerry urged the crowd to come see ol’ Hoyt Axton in a couple of weeks. “He’ll be down here doin’ a
benefit for Redwind, which is just a good scene, about forty miles from
here, a lot of good people workin’ real hard.”

I elaborated:

The RedWind Medicine Camp was a Native American community, chiefed by the last full-blooded
Chumash, Semu Huaute, located in rugged San Luis Obispo County. In
correspondence, Bob Sewana Saenz explains: “Jerry visited me in SLO after
a show at the Pismo Beach Theater in late 1976. I drove him and a few band
members to Semu Huaute’s (Chumash) Red Wind Medicine Camp. I showed him a
school project that we were in need of funds to develop for the many children
there.” I presume they went up on Saturday, and came back down in time for
Jerry to play his shows. He must have been moved, because he speaks. Even more
importantly, he puts his money where his mouth is, headlining a benefit for the
RedWind Foundation at UCSB on February 5, 1977 – but I’ll get to that later.

Later is now. On 1/19/77, the UCSB Leg. Board approved the benefit gig, to be put on by Bob Sewana Saenz’s Band Aid in support of Red Wind. The pre-show publicity doesn’t mention this – nothin’ in re benefit status of this event. But the documents are clear that the Garcia Band not only played the gig, but lent the promoter $1,000 to help put it on, a pretty righteous thing to do and part of a small inflection in benefits Garcia played in ’77 (see also 6/23/77 for the Forest People of Camp Meeker and 8/12/77 for Greenpeace).

The shows don’t move me all that much, though the late show “Don’t Let Go” has some interesting passages. I find the sociometry more interesting, on three fronts.

First, there is a second guitar player present, playing country style backing licks. As noted on the 11/20/76 post, I know who this is but am holding it back for the book (major scoop! – not really). But, this player was present on nearly every known show from the first half of 1977, raising the question of whether this was a distinct band configuration as opposed to just a guest shot. These are academic questions also impossible to answer, but it’s nevertheless interesting that a heretofore unknown aggregation appeared regularly as late as 1977.

Second, Chris Sobik drew my attention to a second female vocalist, and indeed we find Maria Muldaur providing backing vocals for both shows. This is the earliest Maria engagement with the JGB. update: that lasted for almost a day.  I have now heard her on 9/12/76. She had sat in with Jerry and Merl several times in ’74 (and one night, 10/12/74, the Garcia-Saunders-Fierro-Kahn-Humphrey aggregation backed her for a whole set), and at least once with the Legion of Mary in ’75. (This post seems to cover the bases.) But, while Corry has JGB #4, with Maria a full member, emerging on 11/15/77, she had already joined the band onstage at least 9/12/76, this night (February 5th), July 2-3 (without Donna Jean), August 7, August 12 (Greenpeace benefit), and maybe others from this slow period for the JGB.

Oh yeah, one last thing: Deborah Koons made this trip with Jerry. FYI.

Listening notes after the jump.

Jerry Garcia Band
Campbell Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara
574 Mesa Road
Goleta, CA 93106
February 5, 1977 – early (7 PM) and late (10:30 PM) shows
sbd shnid-24757

–early show (8 tracks, 96:23)–
e-t01. Sugaree [10:08] %
e-t02. Catfish John [10:16] [0:04] %
e-t03. Mystery Train [8:51] % [0:03]
e-t04. Simple Twist Of Fate// [9:54] % [0:28] %
e-t05. Stir It Up [12:08] % [0:15]
e-t06. That’s What Love Will Make You Do [9:24] [0:02] % [0:04]
e-t07. Don’t Let Go [25:24] [0:04] %
e-t08. /How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:13] (1) [0:06]

–late show, main set + encore (9 tracks, 90:29)–
–late show main set (8 tracks, 84:51)–
l-t01. I’ll Take A Melody [15:59] [0:01] %
l-t02. They Love Each Other [7:00] % [0:07] %
l-t03. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door [15:23] %
l-t04. The Way You Do The Things You Do [7:30] [0:02] %
l-t05. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [10:02] %
l-t06. Midnight// Moonlight [9:#29]
l-t07. Tore Up Over You [9:19] [0:02] %
l-t08. Tangled Up In Blue [9:56] %
–late show encore (1 track, 5:38)–
l-t09. My Sisters And Brothers … [5:38#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3e
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn – el-b;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux – keyboards, vocals;
! lineup: Ron Tutt – drums;
! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux – vocals;
! guest: Maria Muldaur – vocals;
! guest: XXX – el-g.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; … = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [mm: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 [mm: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/19770205-03 (early); https://jerrybase.com/events/19770205-04 (late)

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/24757 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/16838

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ytpT6VxaMA72

! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/campbell-hall-university-of-california.html.

! band: JGB #3e (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html). * Note that Corry shows Maria coming in with JGB #4 on 11/15/77. We now have her showing up on 2/5/77 (this show), 7/2/77 and 7/3/77 (the latter without DJG, IIRC). update: I now also show her joining in on a number of 1976 shows. Thanks to Chris Sobik for drawing my attention to Maria’s presence here. This band also features second guitarist XXX, who was also around on 1/29-30, 2/6, and 4/9-10, at least. This might even be considered a separate band, since that’s most of the shows from the first part of ’77.

! ref: URL http://grandfathersemu.org/bio/biopage.htm;

! exante: Mayem 1977;

! preview: Kamhi 1977;

! preview: “Garcia,” Daily Nexus (U.C. Santa Barbara), February 3, 1977, p. 10;

! ad: Daily Nexus, February 4, 1977, p. 6. “Featuring Keith & Donna Gautachau [sic]”. Does not mention benefit aspect.

! caption: “Garcia to Perform,” Santa Barbara News-Press, February 5, 1977, p. C15. This identifies “Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead” – I had seen this on an earlier SB show and thought it odd, and I still think it odd here – generally, JG publicity was not supposed to reference the GD.

! review: [mixed, early show] Pullen 1977. Show started an hour late.

! historical: Benefit: Proceeds to go to Red Wind Foundation (see also 11/20/76, Pismo). Contract signed by “Bob Saenz/Band Aid”. More on Red Wind: Grandfather Semu Huate was founder of beneficiary, still directing at this time: “Red Wind Foundation and inter-tribal and inter-racial community on 160 acres near San Luis Obispo California, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the cultural and religious heritage of the Chumash and other American Indians.” The ad makes no mention of a benefit, it’s your standard campus event ad. The show was approved by the Leg. Council on 1/19/77, and the notification (Mayem 1977) does mention the Bandaid / Red Wind connection.

! historical: the main travel group was three couples: Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux, John Kahn and Maria Muldaur, and Jerry Garcia and Deborah Koons (!), with S. Gottlieb. Tutt and XXX flew up from LA. Kidd, Parrish, Harry Popick and Betty drove separately.

! R: Source: MSR > ? > Cx > CDR > DAE (EAC), editing (see below), sector boundaries confirmed, and encoded to SHN by C.Ladner. “Another installment of the misSHN in the rain Garcia archival project, 6/04.”

! R: seeder comments: This is a pretty decent upgrade over the previously circulating SHN set of this performance. This source features a slightly different setlist than the previous source and is congruent with thejerrysite.com listing the early show being closed by “How Sweet It Is”. If you are expecting pristine quality you will be disappointed. The recording is blemished by age, but as is always the case, Jerry fans (Pure or otherwise) smile through the warble.

! R: seeder comments: The majority of the source is from CDRs provided by Jim Powell and Steve Fukawa. The last three tracks from the late show are from the previously circulating SHN source (http://db.etree.org/shninfo_detail.php?shnid=16838) which in retrospect has some frequency augmentation (bass increased/distorted), NR applied, and is 0.6 semitones flat/slow.

! R: seeder comments: All editing was done using Soundforge 6. I was able to “tune” the recording thanks to a couple of tuning breaks. The primary source was minimally flat ~0.10 semitones (corresponding to a pitch transposition of 1.0057 – small but definitely noticeable). Cut in Don’t Let Go at 23:10 required application of a splice source from S. Fukawa for the remainder of DLG which was flat by 0.6 semitones. Also there was some variability in the recording level at various points in times with the original sources levels which I attempted to smooth out by applying small increases in recording levels using vocal levels as a reference. The final 3 songs were flat by 0.6 semitones as well and corrected.

! R: seeder comments: Some dude is yelling throughout the first set during the quiet parts (especially during Simple Twist of Fate) he comes across the stage microphones. You can hear other audience members distantly cajoling him to “SHUTUP!”. Likewise some future soccer grandma loses her psychic cookies periodically with some screaming, also to the chorus of “SHUTUP!”.

! personnel: I thought I heard an extra instrument in e-t03 MT. Definitely a tasty steel-sounding guitar 0:41 into STOF. Keith is playing an organ / electric piano.

! song: Simple Twist Of Fate (e-t04): third version (12/22/76, 1/29/77), with all three featuring a second guitarist (two separate fellows, AFAIK). 2nd guitarist audible against 8:35 ff TWLWMYD.

! P: e-t04 STOF female vocalist providing ethereal backing 8:12, etc. Pretty. Sounds like Maria to me. Definitely her on Stir It Up afterward.

! P: e-t07 DLG JK bass feature 13:10ff. Very interesting drumming 16:20ff.

! R: e-t07 DLG tape warble or discontinuity 18:49

! e-t08 (1) JG: “Thanks a lot. We’ll see y’all later on. Thank you for helpin’ us out here.”

! personnel: l-t01 ITAM 2nd guitarist audible from the start. Maria comes in audibly 3:54.

! P: l-t03 KOHD So sloowwwww

! personnel: l-t04 MM very audible TWYDTTYD

! R: l-t06 Mid Moon splice @ 6:57

! R: not sure what happens to the bass at the end, but it’s pretty brutal.

! R: l-t09 MSAB fades out