a post originally made 9/19/2010, now updated as of 12/28/2014**
listen to an Old And In The Way set from Homer’s Warehouse in Palo Alto from
Tuesday, July 24, 1973 to drop a few crumbs. I have revisited the material (shnid-11861), and will repackage, a
little, add a little, update based on this listen and synchronic read through the
promoter’s account (Bernstein 2013, 149-152).
this show structured?
of the material which Bernstein (2013, 152) lists for the evening, but he shows
a setbreak before Lonesome L.A. Cowboy. I think this must be mistaken, for
several reasons.
putative set divide (t06-t07); Reason 2: The DJ (note 1) says there will be another
go ’round the bases with Asleep At the Wheel and “Jerry Garcia and Old And
In The Way”, and that stuff’s not here; Reason 3: Vintage 1973 Garcia would
never inhabit a set structure that would give him two cracks at 53 minutes – it
would be a decade before he’d inflict that kind of “cabaret
economics” on his own fans.[1]
Reason 4: ear- and eye-witnesses. Corry,
who listened to the show from home, says “I’m certain the broadcast was
early in the evening. … I think part of the reason for the broadcast would have
been to encourage people in the listening area (all near Homer’s Warehouse) to
come on over. I’m sure Asleep At The Wheel and OAITW played another set, as it
was not a midnight broadcast.” cryptdev:
“I listened to and taped this show and Corry is absolutely correct. Two
sets for each band, and KZSC only broadcast the first sets by AATW and OIITW,
respectively”. Attendee Anonymous:
AATW was the 9pmish opener at one show. Then OAITW came on, played ’til the wee
hours (1-2 am) … I know they took two breaks, as we gathered outside for warming
ceremonies”.[2]
been one continuous evening of music, running 1) Asleep At The Wheel, 2) Old
And In The Way, 3) AATW, 4) OAITW, the first two of which were broadcast and
the second of which is represented on shnid-11861. (Who has a copy of the AATW
set, BTW?) What we have on the tape is piece #2 from the evening. Eyewitness Anonymous
says things kicked off around 9 PM and stretched into the wee hours. If we
assume that AATW played an hour, this set is starting at maybe 10:30 and going
until midnight. And then it’d be AATW and OAITW another time ’round the bases.
Nice.
have been very much out of pattern for Homer’s (or the Inn, or the Share) in
this kind of situation. The first thought in the minds of these club proprietors
is always that they can turn the house when Garcia’s billed. Corry suggests
it’s soliciting traffic to the venue itself– a certain number of people within
earshot may well have put on their sneakers and got on down to the club, later
this same night or some other night. (The DJ does not make it sound very
inviting in note 1 – sounds like it’s already packed!) Whatever, it’s a rather
distinctive setup, for sure, with Asleep At The Wheel, Hell’s Angels around, FM
broadcast, and of course the legendary Vassar
Clements, rightfully at the center of much of the interest and energy
around these shows.[3]
The promoter: “we had managed to choreograph a pretty sophisticated little
production, bringing together a diverse group of people who spanned Tennessee [sic: Florida] (Vassar), West Virginia
(Benson), and planets as yet undiscovered (the Dead family)” (Bernstein
2013, 149-150).
Burden of Being Jerry” (Gans and Greenfield 1996)
wanted the band called “Jerry Garcia and Old And In The Way”. The DJs
may not know much about this stuff (one of Corry’s points in comments), but in
any case I find it noteworthy that this is seen and discussed as a Jerry Garcia
thing. Which it is, of course, but sort of shouldn’t be, in a way. If you
follow me. Better it should be a Vassar thing, or a Grisman or a Rowan thing.
Fans and Unamplified Music
asks the crowd to refrain from clapping along, since it made it hard for the
band members to hear themselves (unamplified instruments and all that). This is
consistent with the view that the “Garcia” audience needed to be
educated/acculturated into bluegrass. It probably didn’t make things better
that the clapping seemed to be dreadfully off-time, but in any case this is an
interesting (if tiny) instance of the encounter between hippies and the
bluegrass world, about which I’ll have more to say at some point.
LIA draws our attention to Garcia’s own discussion of the issue, in 1976: “We
ran into a really weird problem in terms of dynamics which was that bluegrass
music is like chamber music: it’s very quiet. And if the audience got at all
enthusiastic during the tune and started clapping or something, it would drown
out the band and we couldn’t hear each other” (Relix).
instance of the phenomenon.
Asleep At the Wheel
Ray Benson had great respect for Jerry Garcia and wanted to
play on a show with him before The Wheel left the Bay Area for good. Jerry’s
blue grass fans and the Wheel fans would love that, so we dropped the idea on
Sam Cutler, who said he would get back to us. Sam also told us there would be a
new musician with Old and in the Way. Vassar Clements, the most respected blue
grass fiddler alive, had joined the band. In a few weeks, he would be making
sawdust on our stage. The next morning, we got a call back from Sam that Jerry
was okay with The Wheel opening the show. “Jerry’s only request of
them,” he said, “is please don’t blow the audience into center field
with volume.” When I called Benson to tell him the deal was on, he flipped. (Bernstein 2013, 149).
Performance
possible things are running slow, and/or that we’re not picking up some of the
instrumentation because of the technical challenges posed by sound
(re-)production, which can be considerable. I had high hopes early on when
Jerry takes a nice turn, but he doesn’t knock me out this night overall, and
rather the contrary. Things sound a little disjointed, almost fall apart a few
times. This band needs more gigs! (I seem noncommittal about overall
performance quality in my analysis
of the 7/21/73 gig in Berkeley.)
[2:13] [0:10]
[0:14]
[0:06]
cut song; … = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = 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
[x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song
really was, as represented on this recording.
(this post).
consulted 12/28/2014.
— this gives roughly the coordinates for where Homer’s Warehouse was located, 37°26’26.1″N
122°09’38.7″W (37.440569, -122.160751). Thanks to Corry for spatial help.
shn2flac jgmf 9/9/2010.
right – it’s a complete OAITW set, in an evening structured 1) Asleep At The
Wheel, 2) Old And In The Way, 3) AATW, 4) OAITW.[4]
This is part #2 in the sequence, the first OAITW set. Eyewitness says things
kicked off around 9 PM and stretched into the wee hours. If we assume that AATW
played an hour, this set is starting at maybe 10:30 and going until midnight.
And then it’d be AATW and OAITW another time ’round the bases. Nice.
have been very much out of pattern for Homer’s (or the Inn, or the Share) in
this kind of situation. The first thought in the minds of these club proprietors
is always that they can turn the house when Garcia’s billed. Corry suggests
it’s soliciting traffic to the venue itself– a certain number of people within
earshot may well have put on their sneakers and got on down to the club, later
this same night or some other night. Whatever, it’s a rather distinctive setup,
for sure, with Asleep At The Wheel, Hell’s Angels around, FM broadcast, and of
course the legendary Vassar Clements,
rightfully at the center of much of the interest and energy around these shows.[5]
ticket, four pretty tight sets. I wonder how much they charged? And, nice show:
Bernstein: “we had managed to choreograph a pretty sophisticated little
production, bringing together a diverse group of people who spanned Tennessee [sic: Florida] (Vassar), West Virginia
(Benson), and planets as yet undiscovered (the Dead family). Lobster, Mike
Lopez, and his guys needed a few days to once again turn the Purple Room into a
broadcasting and recording studio. By Friday afternoon, the dressing room was
toast, with cables once again running in and out of the warehouse walls”
(Bernstein 2013, 149-150).
I think the original is probably what I’d rather refer to as an MFR, a reel
recording of the over-air KZSU broadcast. Bernstein narrates a little the whole
broadcast setup. There is some audience micing going on, clearly audible
between songs and as the songs end, less so during the songs themselves. There
is lots of audience/DJ chatter. There are a few drops and snits but I didn’t
note the track times. The original shns (snid-11861) are non-seekable.
the stage up, Cory?” Someone says “This is it. This is Old And In The
Way.” First guy: “Yeah, Old And In The Way – Jerry Garcia”. A
bit later, around 1:11: “I tell you what – pieces – we’ve got Jerry Garcia
is playing banjo, as far as I can see from here, which is *way back* – what?
[stage announcement happening] And there’s a fiddle, and a guitar, and there’s
a bass … I can’t really see from here. This place is so crowded that, uh, if
you wanted to sit down you’d be in big trouble. Looks like they’re just about
ready to go. I might also tell you that after this set there’s gonna be a whole
‘nother set with Asleep At The Wheel and Jerry Garcia and Old And In The Way.
So … Homer’s Warehouse’ll still be cooking after we go off, after this
set.”
Grisman sounds good, band is getting warmed up.
Check speed of recording. Garcia’s run 3:59ish is not very impressive.
some rhythm. Not together. Now some PA problems.
since it makes it hard for them to hear with their non-amplified instruments.
This is consistent with the view that the “Garcia” audience needed to
be educated/acculturated into bluegrass. It probably didn’t make things better
that the clapping seemed to be dreadfully off-time. At some point JG: “You tell ’em, Dave.”
Garcia’s late 2 solo not good.
before LLAC, but I am not so sure. The talk starting t07 feels pretty continuous
between the two songs.
to Jerry Garcia and Old And In The Way live //se on KZSU, Stanford.”
there?” @ 0:26, same guy: “Cory, this is Carl.” Reply: “Yeah,
Carl, this is Lobster. What’s up, Carl?” 0:32 “I was just listening
to you, it sounds real fun” // band starts in on “Panama Red”.
I’m back .. we switched the tapes and got the tapes rolling by the way. “Tons
of fun.”
And In The Way”.
underwhelmed. It’s possible things are running slow, and/or that we’re not
picking up some of the instrumentation because of the technical challenges
posed by sound (re-)production, which can be considerable. I had high hopes
early on when Jerry takes a nice turn, but he doesn’t knock me out this night overall,
and rather the contrary. Things sound a little disjointed, almost fall apart a
few times. This band needs more gigs! (I seem noncommittal about overall
performance quality in my analysis
of the 7/21/73 gig in Berkeley.)
LLC.
of Being Jerry. San Francisco Focus
(November), no further publication details. Republished online at URL http://www.levity.com/gans/SFFocus.html,
accessed 4/22/2012.
jg1973-07-21.oaitw.b-live-all.sbd-PNW.113845.flac1644,” URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/06/ln-jg1973-07-21oaitwb-live-allsbd.html.
See my “Cabaret Economics”, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/05/cabaret-economics.html.
The Garcia show which most nearly falls foul of the Liza Minelli (45 minute)
line is 5/31/85. See my “Bullshit! Bullshit! Reprise”, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/04/bullshit-bullshit-reprise-ln-jg1985-05.html.
Note this last piece could be construed as contra my proposal, which implies at
least three breaks. There is enough ambiguity in these terms that I am not too
worried about this actually reflecting something different from what the other
eyewitnesses propose.
See my discussion of Vassar’s Bay Area arrival at http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/06/ln-jg1973-07-21oaitwb-live-allsbd.html.
Corry:
” I’m pretty sure I actually heard it broadcast on the radio. I was 15 at
the time. KZSU-fm was the Stanford radio station, 10 whole watts, not even
audible in all parts of Palo Alto. But it was audible at my house, so I used to
listen to it when I wasn’t listening to KSAN. I’m not sure how I knew about
this broadcast, but I listened to KZSU all the time, so I must have heard about
it in advance”; cryptdev:
“I listened to and taped this show and Corry is absolutely correct. Two
sets for each band, and KZSC only broadcast the first sets by AATW and OIITW,
respectively”.
See my discussion of Vassar’s Bay Area arrival at http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/06/ln-jg1973-07-21oaitwb-live-allsbd.html.
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