In May of 1967, The Dead, largely holidaying and rehearsing at the Russian River, had a regular Monday night gig at The Rendezvous Inn. The Rendezvous was a gay bar on Sutter Street, just above Powell, near Union Square. I don't know for certain the exact days, but McNally says they began "a brief series of Monday nights" (p.193) and the dates listed here are the first four Mondays in May. The band had a gig on May 29 in Napa, so I have assumed they played the first four Mondays in May.
There had been gay bars in San Francisco since at least the 1950s, though they kept a much lower profile than they did subsequently. The Wildflower, an Oakland group, played at least some of the gigs, and their manager was Bill Belmont (McNally, p. 288). Belmont worked for the Dead in late 1969.
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ReplyDeleteIn the new interview book Jerry on Jerry, Garcia remembers the Rendezvous gig - the thing is, he remembers it as being just one show, so I suppose McNally found elsewhere that it was a series of shows.
ReplyDelete"One of the weirdest gigs we ever played was one we played back when we were at 710 Ashbury early on. These guys came over and they were from this place that was a gay bar... We got hired for this gig and we were game. Sure, hey, yeah, twentieth anniversary of a gay bar... We went there and played, and the audience was all men, and this was in the days before guys were out in drag, so nobody was in drag, not a soul, and there were all these handsome young men. It was so strange... A wonderful audience. Just great. They were just as nice as can be, and they all politely kept their hands off Weir as we walked through the crowd... They were so well behaved. It was such a nice trip, but the unusual thing, there were no chicks, not a single chick there." (p.176-77)
Worked at Club...it was a one off afternoon show..the Dead hadn't become big yet..picture A gay crowd doing poppers and pot to the Dead...what Fun!!
DeleteThanks for this, a great find. One of the weird things about the Rendezvous gig(s) was that unlike every other 60s show, the attendees aren't anxious to admit they were there or describe their experiences.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if the Dead were booked for one show with an option (of sorts) for others, but actually played just one or two shows.
With Thomas Connolly's memory chiming with Jerry's, now I wonder if there was more than one show here.
DeleteEven Jerry Pritikin (below) recalls the Dead alternating with another band for a month, which might mean only a couple shows. It makes me wonder what McNally's source for "a series of Monday nights" was.
One bargoer, Jerry Pritikin, has left his memories on several websites - a couple examples:
ReplyDelete"Back in 1965, I used to go to a downtown upstairs gay bar called the Rendezvous at 567 Sutter St. in San Francisco. The manager of the bar was looking for ways to attract a younger crowd from Berkeley and Stanford on Sundays and wanted to change the [bar's] Sunday Sing-a-long. So he hired a couple of local bands to alternate for a month. One of the bands was the “Neighborhood Children” and the other was “The Grateful Dead”. There was no cover charge and beer in a bottle cost 25 cents. Hank Wilson, the manager, was content when about 40+ showed up."
http://gratefuldean.com/the-book-im-writing/ (5/17/15 comment)
"The Bar was there in the early 60s... It attracted young gays from both East Bay and down the peninsula. It had a sing-a-long piano bar on Sunday that attracted older gays. It had a large dance floor. The manager was Hank Wilson. In 1965, he thought he would try to attract students... He hired 2 bands to alternate during the summer, both local, one was called the Neighborhood Children that played other bands' music, and the Grateful Dead."
http://www.discomusic.com/clubs-more/15270_0_6_0_C/
There are some discrepancies in his memory - he places it in 1965, which is way too early; and he remembers it being in the summer (close enough).
He also says the shows were on Sundays (McNally said Mondays) - replacing a Sunday afternoon singalong the bar had (another patron also remembers those).
He also recalls the Dead alternating weeks with another band, which is possible.
A couple other people have also vaguely mentioned seeing the Dead there, but without much detail. Other things were on their minds! One example:
"Chris and I were classmates...he was very lonely at Berkeley and I was his first close friend there. I took him to the Rendezvous on the bar’s anniversary ostensibly to hear the Grateful Dead. I wanted him to know I was gay and find out if he was. He recognized immediately that it was a gay bar..."
http://vm136.lib.berkeley.edu/BANC/collections/gaybears/berlandt/
This account confirms Garcia's memory that the Dead played there on the bar's anniversary.
In any case, rock music continued to be a fixture at the Rendezvous, and it became quite a popular establishment.
I went to the Rendezvous in 1965. I remember the year because I parked across the street next to a parking garage and I was driving a 1965 Bonneville Convertible. I didn't stay long because the place was filled with very young boys (jailbait). Because the police still raided such places, I left in a hurry.
DeleteI forgot to put my name to this post. Also would mention that my favorite bars at that time were "The 524, The Alley Cat, Gold Street with Charles Pierce and Rio Dante, and The Ramrod."
Deletelovesandrespectsxoxo' hyshka'
ReplyDelete1968 At a place called The Rendevous In Palo Alto Jerry Garcia played with the guys starting the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Acoustic guitar guy named John.
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ReplyDeleteI was there for both "the Dead" and "the Neighborhood Children", plus most bands in Golden Gate Part. It was during the transition in style from that '50's style to Warhol, Haight Ashbury to a new style. A bar opened in North Beach, the Capri, which got the younger, long haired , hippie kind of crowd. San Francisco was changing, it was a pretty cool, no, beyond, to excellent. Huge acid parties at "the Long Shoremen's Hall", midnite shows at the Palace Theatre in north Beach, the gay scene shifted from the underground to staging some pretty cool events, pretty mixed, there were no "homo" ID checks at the door and the after midnight events were pretty cool. -Sheldon
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