Sole Star at Paul’s Mall

For the JGMS gigs November 12-13-14, 1974, Paul’s Mall in Boston, two shows a night booked by one Fred Taylor.

MERL SAUNDERS AND JERRY GARCIA CONTRACT RIDER

3. MERL SAUNDERS & JERRY GARCIA shall receive 100% sole star billing in any and all advertising and publicity, including marquee …

Does this mean that things should be advertised “Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia”? Because earlier I dragged this out:

Not sure what to make of it.

4. The name GRATEFUL DEAD or the association of JERRY GARCIA as a member of the GRATEFUL DEAD shall not be exploited or used in any manner in any and all advertising and publicity, including marquee and radio advertising.

This kind of provision would be standard fare for Garcia contracts for as long as there were such things, as far as I can tell. I wonder if Hal Kant drafted some stuff up that required this, or otherwise if there was any explicit understanding between Jerry and the members of the Dead that demanded this, or if Jerry alone insisted on it? I doubt Merl Saunders would have insisted, and the money was going straight to him (this was before Kahn became the business end of Garcia, Inc.) It does seem pretty clear that Phil Lesh and a few of the others insisted that Garcia shoulder the risk of his own endeavors with Pegleg Ron Rakow – and wisely so, though they ended up collectively losing hundreds of thousands anyway. Eliminating this provision would probably have generated more dollars, all told, so someone is paying the opportunity cost of not being able to say “Grateful Dead”, but there’s a there here that I can’t quite pin down.

I also love the 14th paragraph of the band rider, back when Garcia couldn’t get enough: ” Band Rider, p. 2, para. 14: “Employer agrees that MERL SAUNDERS & JERRY GARCIA will be able to perform up to 120 minutes if they so desire”. You go, guys.

see also: LN jg1974-11-13.jgms.late.aud-seaweed.121034.flac1644