December 31, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Jerry Garcia Band

The Jerry Garcia Band played Keystone Berkeley on New Year's Eve 1975. It was Nicky Hopkins last performance with the Garcia Band, and Gregg Errico sat in for Ron Tutt, as Tutt had a conflict with his other employer, Elvis Presley (the Jerry Garcia of the 1950s), playing a gig at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. We can be certain the Garcia Band played New Year's Eve, because the extant tape includes Hopkins leading a New Year's Countdown.

However, it is interesting to see that the show appears not to have been advertised. Above is the weekly listings from the December 26, 1975 edition of the Hayward Daily Review. For the Keystone Berkeley, it lists

• Friday, December 26 Cold Blood, Ruby with Tom Fogerty
• Sunday, December 28 Kathi McDonald
• Monday and Tuesday, December 29 and 30 The Bold Truth
• Wednesday, December 31 Grayson St., Lucky Strike
• Thursday and Friday, January 1 and 2 Stoneground with Kathi McDonald
• Saturday, January 3 Eddie Money

Most of these bands were established East Bay club bands. Only Bold Truth and Lucky Strike are unknown to me. For the record, I assume Cold Blood and Ruby also played Saturday the 27th. At this time, Eddie Money was simply a local East Bay singer, some years from stardom.

Grayson Street, booked for New Year's Eve, were a popular East Bay band. I believe they played a sort of funky rock music, typical of groups like Stoneground or The Loading Zone. Note, however, that there is no sign of the Jerry Garcia Band, not even a hint like "Special Guest." Given that this list was published on December 26, and based on a weekly calendar probably mailed the week before, this means the Jerry Garcia Band show was not being publicized as of two weeks before.

I think the reason for the surreptitious gig is quite simple. The Jerry Garcia Band was headlining two shows at Winterland on December 19 and 20, and Bill Graham probably insisted that Garcia not advertise gigs in the area before his shows were past history. Obviously, Bill knew he couldn't stop Jerry from actually playing, but it was a common request to insist contractually that bands booked at a major show refrain from advertised show within a certain distance and certain time of the event. Also, while JGB played some shows in San Diego (Dec 27-28) between Winterland and New Year's, there may have been some uncertainty about the group's plans.

I assume there was a secondary reason, which was that while Garcia Band shows at the Keystone Berkeley were a routine occurrence, a well publicized New Year's show could start the inevitable rumor that the Grateful Dead were appearing, causing no end of trouble on the intersection of Shattuck and University. In any case, Garcia Band shows at the Keystone Berkeley never sold advance tickets. All Garcia Band shows only sold day-of-show tickets, so the need for advance publicity was small.

I have to assume that Grayson Street played anyway, as it would be unconscionable for a club to cancel a lucrative gig for them without warning. Anyway, since Deadheads would have been lined up all day and come in as soon as the doors opened at 7:00, they would have been happy to hear music before Jerry finally came on stage some hours later, probably about 10:00 or 10:30.