Maria Muldaur: July 21, 1974, Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, CA

We
know that the world is generating more data than we can handle, and what we
need are better aggregators and synthesizers. A case in point would be
recollections attached to historical events such as, say, oh, I dunno, rock
concerts. At various message boards, torrent sites, discussion groups, etc. (to
say nothing of Facebook), people are leaving often-valuable little bits and
pieces of memory and other information. Part of the obsessive nature of the
whole thing, then, is trying to be a better aggregator, knowing you’ll never
get there, but having a blast trying.

Enough
of that. As I was poking around for my listening notes of the JGMS “7/21/74”
Keystone Berkeley recording, I was working at dead.net.
It has a list of every GD show (though it’s not intuitive to get to the one you
are looking for), has created space for people to comment, post images, etc.,
and probably has lots of eyeballs opening to lots of brains full of lots of
interesting data poking around everyday (certainly more than the five eyeballs
that hit JGMF). So, anyway, I visit the page for the Grateful Dead show at
Hollywood Bowl on July 21, 1974:http://dead.net/show/july-21-1974.
Commander Cody and Maria Muldaur opened. Maria Muldaur’s backing band included
Garcia sidekick John Kahn. Kahn and Muldaur would at some point be a couple,
though the dates are unclear to me. I have it that things were basically over
by 1979-1980. I have never quite known when they started. So, back to
interesting data floating around in the ether. At dead.net, attendee ‘jacksondownunda’
offers the following recollection:

Maria
[Muldaur] seemed delightfully ripped this day, leaning backwards to plant
kisses on John Kahn (great Walkin’ One And Only and Paul Butterfield dropped by
to blow harp).

Maria Muldaur Band, Hollywood Bowl, July 21, 1974. ultomatt

Why do I quote this?

First,
someone interested in documenting John Kahn’s
career might just like the Butterfield guest shot datum, if he hadn’t
already codified back in July of ’74 itself (or any time since).

Second,
it suggests to me that John and Maria were cooking by July 1974. I have no idea
if that’s right (could have just been the flirtatious stage thing). I also have
no idea if that’s superfluous, since maybe one of you knows when they started
and ended. But it’s certainly something that needs to be considered, because of
the centrality of Kahn to Garcia On The Side (“if John Kahn hadn’t existed,
Jerry Garcia would have had to invent him” a sage has said); because his work
and life with Maria may have shaped the contours of his involvement with
various Garcia Bands, and hence shaped those bands, including their touring
schedules and so forth; and of course because Maria Muldaur has to be treated
on her own terms as a member of the Garcia On The Side Alumni Club, to say
nothing of her place as an American musical performer.

So,
I’ll end with a question … does anyone know when John and Maria started and
ended their relationships, personal and professional?