The
Grateful Dead were the first band to not only allow audience taping,
but the first to openly encourage it. Inadvertent or not, the Dead's
strategy to allow the free circulation of live tapes was essential for
the group to build their loyal audience, who returned to see the band
again and again, indifferent to the band's current record release,
if they even had one. The Dead succeeded financially running directly
against late 20th century music business orthodoxy.
Deadheads
know, of course, that not every Dead show was taped, or preserved on
tape. Many shows in the 60s were missing, and even into the early 70s
there were scattered shows with limited or missing tapes. By the early
70s, however, the Dead were popular enough in an underground way that
even the "untaped" shows had newspaper reviews, eyewitness accounts and
other ephemera, so we had some idea what happened those nights.
There's
an outlier, though. And it's late, much later than anyone realizes. On
February 6, 1979 the Grateful Dead played the Tulsa Pavilion in Tulsa,
OK. No board tape survives in the vault. No one seems to have made an
audience tape, not even of terrible quality. There was no newspaper
review. No one has appeared online as an eyewitness. Maybe it was just a
Tuesday night in Tulsa--maybe they played "Dark Star" for 40 minutes.
We don't know.
How did this happen?
[update 20250129] Incredibly, almost 46 years after the show, a first-generation audience tape has surfaced and begun circulating. Miracles do happen. See the Comment Thread to unravel the whole tale.
If
you go down to the Deep Ellum DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) station,
you probably don't have to keep your money in your shoes.
The Grateful Dead in Texas and The Southwest
The
Grateful Dead first established themselves as a money making act on the
two coasts, followed by the Upper Midwest. If you define a traveling
circus by roadways, the Dead's initial main lines were US101 in the
West, Interstate 95 in the East, and I-80 linking the two across the
country. This is hardly a metaphor, as an analysis of their first
touring schedules will tell you. Throughout the 70s, initially under the
guidance of Sam Cutler, the Dead worked on building audiences in
different places, along different roads. Financial success for the Dead
meant profitable touring, and building audiences in new territory
required returning to a region again and again, maybe not in the same
cities but near enough for a road trip.
The Cutler road map played
huge dividends over time, even if the paydays didn't come until after
Cutler was long gone. Over the decades, the Dead extended their touring schedule to include upstate New York and the "New South" of North Carolina and Virginia.
When the band finally hit it big in 1987, with "Touch Of Grey," the
willing audiences in those places allowed the Dead to tour from city to
city without excessive travel. This favored both the road crew and the
road-tripping Deadheads. Put another way, the band took their three main
highways, and added two more: I-90 (in New York State) and I-85 (in
Virginia and North Carolina).
The
Pavilion in Tulsa, OK, built in 1932 with a capacity of 6,311. Located
on the State Fairgounds at 1701 S. Louisville Avenue, the Grateful Dead
played here on February 6, 1979
February 6, 1979 Tulsa Pavilion, Tulsa, OK
After
December 1978, it's hard not to draw the conclusion that the Grateful
Dead somewhat gave up on Texas and the Southwest. They only played the
region intermittently throughout the 80s. As the 80s rolled on, when the
Dead played their strongholds in Florida and Atlanta, they took the
North/South route through Virginia and North Carolina rather than
East/West through New Orleans and Texas. This was not necessarily a
planned decision, but it was a rational one. As the Dead's ticket sales
became more focused on fans who saw the band over and over again, the
booking policy led to a touring schedule that featured relatively short
drives on a nightly basis. The vast distances of the Southwest were far
less attractive for any fans who were thinking of catching three or four
shows in six nights.
Another factor in the Dead's declining
presence in the Southwest was the absence of any longstanding
relationships with local promoters. Sam Cutler was an old comrade, and
he had run Manor Downs in Austin, but for mysterious reasons he dropped
out of managing the facility in the late 1970s. The Dead would indeed
return to Manor Downs but Cutler's departure meant that the band focused
on established beachheads elsewhere. We will have to wait for Cutler's
new book (hurry up, Sam!) to unravel the details, but it seems that his
departure combined with the vast plains of Texas to keep the Dead
touring in the more humid climes of the Southeast, rather than the
Southwest.
The Grateful Dead's only appearance in Tulsa on
February 6, 1979 indicates how small a part the Southwest played in the
band's plans. Everything about the Tulsa show is an outlier, and indeed
the entire section of the tour is an outlier. The Dead had never played
Tulsa before, which is 107 miles Northeast of Oklahoma City, and the
second largest city in the State (behind OKC). The
Pavilion, at 1701 S. Louisville Avenue, had a capacity of 6,311, and
had opened in 1932. It was originally called The Fairgounds Pavilion.
The Pavilion was only the second-largest venue in Tulsa (the 8,900 seat
Convention Center had opened in 1964), so it wasn't a glamorous booking
even for Tulsa.
It was also a Tuesday night. Even weirder,
it was in between a Sunday night show (Feb 4) in Madison, WI and a
Wednesday show (Feb 7) in Carbondale, IL. Both of those shows were
effectively university gigs.
Any band that would go 750 miles for
a Tuesday night gig in a city they had never played, just to go 500
more miles for a Wednesday night show in another city they had never
played was hurting for money. The Dead had two weekend nights in Kansas
City, KS (Feb 9-10), so they had to fill the week with any paying
booking. If Texas had been a good gig, they might have gone there, but
Tulsa and Carbondale seem to have been better choices. Draw your own
conclusion.
When I mentioned the Tulsa show in an earlier post, commenter Brad K mentioned that someone who put up posters for the show had said that it snowed. I checked this out, and it's correct--temperatures were under thirty and there was snow, albeit not a lot.
Now, sure New England 'Heads will say, "c'mon 25 degrees and snow
flurries, I'd do that!" But the Southwest isn't the Northeast. The roads
and the people aren't equipped for any snow, so anyone making a last
minute decision would have just stayed home. Daunting weather would have
discouraged any non-roadie from driving to Tulsa from any distance.
There's yet another observation derived from Brad's comment. In the late 70s, promoters only hung posters around town if a show was way undersold, and they were desperate to sell tickets. How many Grateful Dead shows were there in the 70s where anxious promoters put up signs around town? Not anywhere I lived. And another thing--not only is there no tape for the Tulsa show, nor a setlist, but there's a missing poster, too. Sure, it's probably a standard "boxing -style" poster that says "Tuesday Night, The Pavilion, from San Francisco: The Grateful Dead." But right now, it's rarer than any Avalon poster.
As
far as I know, the February 6 Tulsa show is the last, latest Grateful
Dead show for which we have no audience tape whatsoever. That tells me
that for whatever little community there may have been of "tourheads,"
none of them were going to Tulsa on a Tuesday night in February. Legend
also has it that when Brent Mydland joined the band, in late March,
Garcia grabbed a few tapes of recent shows off the shelf and handed them
over. While unprovable, it would explain why Tulsa and a few other
shows from that run have no board tapes in the vault. Thus February 6,
1979 in Tulsa, OK, is the latest Dead show for which we have not a
single recorded note from any source, listenable or not.
If you
meet a guy, and he tells you "I saw them do "Dark Star" during a
snowstorm in Tulsa," well, maybe he's deluded. But maybe....
Update: Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, a few distant fragments have been threaded into one place. Thanks to everyone who contributed, but particularly fellow scholar Jesse Jarnow:
Grateful Dead at Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion, February 6, 1979
First of all, not one but two posters exist (it turned out both were on Deadlists). They aren't great, but they exist.
Eyewitness Accounts It turns out there are a number of comments on Dead.net recalling the show. It appears that the show was kind of undersold anyway, and then a snowstorm encouraged people to stay home. And it was several inches of snow, which is a lot for the Southeast. Here's some good samples:
"Tulsa Steve" recalls: That snowy show.....
Yup, I was there too. It was a weather disaster. There was a blizzard raging in the hours prior to the show. The band made it to Tulsa. I'd always heard that the TU Student Association posed as a "real" promtion company and brought the Dead to Tulsa. having been a fan for many years, this was my 3rd show with the Dead and I was happy to attend. I bought our tickets early on and had great seats right in front of the stage. As I recall, the band had played Saturday Night Live about a week before and they were touring hard. Jerry's voice was in lousy shape (you could hear it when he sang I Need A Miracle...lots of crackling in those pipes. I chalked it up to working so hard and being on the road for weeks. The unfortunate thing is that many of the fans couldn't make it in due to the snow - seriously, it was a foot deep. Even people from Oklahoma City backed out and consequently, the Fairgrounds Pavillion was really about 2/3rds empty.
For me, not the best show, maybe the worst - but by God I was there and its sorta like fishing - my worst day fishing is better than my best day working....my worst Dead show was DEFINITELY better than most other days in my 55 yrs! Thanks to Patrick Dead Head for confirming my thoughts. I too went on to earn my degree from TU and happy I stuck it out. This made that fateful year even more interesting. By the way, I'd also heard rumors after the show that the Dead would NEVER play Tulsa again and you know what? They never did! I'm going to run some traps cause if the Lafortunes have a tape of that show, it needs to be liberated!!!!!
"Patrick Deadhead" has an illuminating story
Tulsa show At the age of 19 I produced the show on behalf of the Tulsa univ student assn, changed my life . due to the weather we lost $15k, a valuable lesson ( with someone elses money) about business. Experience of a lifetime. They felt sorry for us and invited me on the bus. I stayed and got my degree instead . Asked Dicks Picks about it , tapes were damaged .There was someone with a good rig close to the stage, but i never got the tape. They were a bit shocked at my age when we met at the airport. Jerry was real friendly and we hung out and had a long converstaion at intermission. My girlfriend and I had a steak dinner cooked by the crew backstage second set. The experience was crazy , the Babtists threatened to protest ( Oral Roberts country ) , the stage union tried to shut us down for using student labor , one of the cars with band members wrecked on the slick ice. Mickey threatened to toss the TV out the window when they would not let the band in the hotel bar with jeans on. That experience prepared me for a great job that included working with global promotions , beauty pageants , TV shows and all kinds of good stuff. Thanks Greatful Dead. Learned a lot of lifes lessons that unforgetable night. I still have the coffee cup from the band commisary
An alternate poster for the Grateful Dead at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion on February 6, 1979
There seems to be enough information to construct a setlist, as some Commenters pointed out Set 1: Jack Straw, Loser, Beat It On Down The Line, Peggy-O, It's All Over Now, China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider, From The Heart Of Me, Passenger, Deal Set 2: I Need A Miracle,>Bertha>Good Lovin', Ship Of Fools, Estimated Prophet>Eyes Of The World>Drums>Not Fade Away>Black Peter, Around And Around Encore: Johnny B. Goode
"China Cat Sunflower" had returned a few days earlier, in Indianapolis (Feb 3), so if there were any actual tourheads, it would have been heartening to find out that the return wasn't just a one-off (like in '77).
Scott R handwritten setlist from Tulsa, Feb 6 '79, Set 1
Update 20240501: Thanks to reader Scott R, we have his handwritten setlist from the show itself, so we have no doubts about the list (thanks Scott--is the internet great or what?
Scott R handwritten setlist from Tulsa, Feb 6 '79 set 2
A writeup of the Tulsa Grateful Dead show from the 1979 University of Tulsa yearbook, with pictures of Phil and Bob
Pictures The Tulsa College yearbook has pictures from the show. No review, but pictures.
A photo of Jerry Garcia and The Wolf, onstage at the Fairgounds Pavilion in Tulsa, OK, on February 6, 1979. Photo from the 1979 University of Tulsa yearbook
An interview with Judge (formerly Mayor) William LaFortune in the April 2015 edition of Tulsa Lawyer Magazine (great research from @bourgwick)
Somewhere out there, someone has a box of dusty old cassettes they were given back in the 80s. Maybe Tulsa Feb 6 '79 is there. If you see it, pass it on.
The Oakland Auditorium Arena floor was filled with dancers on the opening night, April 30, 1915
When the Grateful Dead played the last concert at Winterland Arena in San Francisco on December 31, 1978, it seemed like an era was ending. And in fact, an era was ending. Although Winterland was not Bill Graham's primary hall until 1971, the San Francisco bands like the Dead had been playing there since 1966. Winterland, at Post and Steiner, was two blocks from the old Fillmore Auditorium at Geary and Fillmore, so the shows that were too big for the Fillmore had gotten moved to Winterland. This pattern was continued when Graham opened the somewhat larger Fillmore West. It was a mile and a half away from Winterland, but still only half its size, so plenty of big acts had still played Winterland.
I saw my first Grateful Dead show at Winterland on December 12, 1972. At the time, much as I loved the show, I was convinced that everything really great had already happened at the Fillmore West, and I had been late for the train. Fortunately, I was quite wrong. By 1978, I considered a Winterland Grateful Dead show to be the most "authentic" kind of Dead show there was, the kind that all others would be measured against. I appreciated that Winterland was a conduit to the 60s, but it had its own status as rock had became bigger in the 70s. When Graham finally announced that he was closing the old hall, battered and run-down as it was, neither I nor anyone else knew what it would foretell for the Grateful Dead and their performances.
As it happened, although an era of the Grateful Dead was indeed ending in 1978, another one was beginning right under our noses. Like all such things, it was only easier to see in retrospect. Three big changes manifested themselves in 1979:
The Grateful Dead were officially rock elder statesmen, for good or for ill, supplanted by Punk or New Wave or whatever else was new
The performing Grateful Dead anchored their pirate ship and hoisted the Jolly Roger at a venerable but then little-known venue called the Oakland Auditorium Arena.
For the next seven years, both as the Oakland Auditorium and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, the building was the primary host to the Grateful Dead's New Year's celebrations, and other shows besides (save for the years that the building was being remodeled). As the Grateful Dead moved from being Dinosaur-like fossils from a bygone era to heroic survivors of the Classic Rock genre, the shows at Oakland Auditorium were Exhibit A. By the end of 1987, of course, thanks to "Touch Of Grey," the New Year's party had to move to the much larger Oakland Coliseum, 5 miles away, although there were a few more Kaiser shows up until 1989. In that way, the Oakland Aud/Kaiser shows were the touchstone of the Brent Era, from Go To Heaven through In The Dark, and fondly remembered by almost everyone who attended a show there.
None of this seemed at all obvious in early 1979. The Grateful Dead's first two shows at the Oakland Auditorium were on the weekend of August 4-5, 1979. Almost no Deadheads had ever seen a Grateful Dead show there, and for that matter, most of us hadn't seen anything at the Oakland Auditorium, since the building had been largely underused up until 1979. After that weekend, however, it turned out that it appeared that Bill Graham had known he had the building available all along, and by Sunday night it was clear that the Grateful Dead's new home court was at 10 Tenth Street (at Oak Street), right next to Lake Merritt in Downtown Oakland.
The Grateful Dead album Shakedown Street was released by Arista Records in November 1978
The Grateful Dead In The Bay Area, Early 1979
In the ancient days of 1979, all we really knew about the Grateful Dead or any other rock band was what we saw in front of us, or what was occasionally published in magazines or newspapers. The band had released Shakedown Street in November, 1978, but it had stiffed. Rolling Stone had no interest in the Grateful Dead, and BAM (Bay Area Music) had cut down its Grateful Dead coverage as well, which left just the San Francisco Chronicle. Staff rock critic Joel Selvin liked the Dead well enough, and periodically mentioned their doings in his Sunday Lively Arts column, but that meant we got one paragraph of news every few months. Other than that, we gleaned what we could from seeing shows and talking to weird people who claimed to have seen the Dead elsewhere. There weren't even cheap long-distance phone calls to pass on information, much less an internet, just very vague rumors.
January 30, 1979 Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley: Reconstruction
The first public indicator that something was afoot was totally unnoticed by almost everybody, including me. I read all the ads carefully every week, so I recall seeing Jerry Garcia advertised as a "Special Guest" with a band called Reconstruction at the Keystone. I couldn't drink yet, so wouldn't have gone anyway, but it just seemed like another Garcia side gig. Some familiar faces were playing with Jerry, like John Kahn and Merl Saunders, so I just thought it was further extracurricular fun for Garcia, which it was. But had I been writing everything down--I didn't start that for another 18 months--I would have noticed that the Jerry Garcia Band with Keith and Donna had not played since November, and here was Jerry playing the Keystone with different people.
February 17, 1979 Oakland Coliseum Arena, Oakland: Grateful Dead
The first post-Winterland Dead show in the Bay Area was at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, where the Golden State Warriors played (and not very well that year, I should add). The Coliseum was big-ticket, the biggest indoor venue in the Bay Area at the time. And here was the Dead headlining a benefit. Was this the future? No more multi-night runs at Winterland, but instead one big show at the biggest venue in town?
The Coliseum show sold out relatively quickly. When we got there, there had been rumors floating around. I had heard that the Dead had played "China Cat" out in the Midwest. It was told to me by a bearded guy I met in a Mexican restaurant, however, so it was unverifiable (I will point out, in all fairness, that it turned out that he was correct). My friends had heard that Keith and Donna had left the band. In fact, Donna had skipped two shows in the Midwest, and they would in fact leave the group after the Coliseum show, but there they were on stage when Jane Fonda (yes) introduced the Dead, so that rumor, too was unverifiable.
New world or not, despite the size of the Coliseum, the show was great, and the Dead played all sorts of long-unheard gems, like "Big Railroad Blues," "Don't Ease Me In" and "Greatest Story Ever Told." Some weeks afterwards, Joel Selvin reported that Keith and Donna were leaving the Grateful Dead, but there was nary a peep about any replacements. Someone must have known, but that kind of information didn't circulate.
Spartan Stadium, at San Jose State University.
April 22, 1979 Spartan Stadium; SJSU, San Jose: Grateful Dead/Charlie Daniels Band/Greg Kihn Band
The first post Keith-and-Donna Dead show had a strange, distant air. The Dead were booked for a mid-size college football stadium (capacity 30,000) in San Jose, with two opening acts. San Jose wasn't anti-Dead, really, but it had never really been Dead-friendly territory either. And there would be two opening acts, neither of them ones that particularly excited Deadheads. Spartan Stadium, at San Jose State University, had only been used for rock shows very rarely--the last one I could recall was a Rod Stewart and Faces show in 1975. Why were the Dead debuting their mysterious new keyboard player in such a place, a big venue that was still far from their own zone of control?
Many years later, it would turn out that the Spartan Stadium site was a result of some intra-promoter feud. In general, Bill Graham Presents promoted the Grateful Dead West of the Mississippi River, and John Scher's Monarch Entertainment promoted them in the East, although there were a variety of co-production arrangements with local promoters. For some reason, Monarch was promoting a Dead show in the Bay Area, very much Graham's territory, and had to use a non-BGP controlled venue. It's not clear what really happened--nor can Dead management be blameless in any of this--but somehow BGP ended up promoting the show anyway.
From the outside, however, the Spartan Stadium show had a strange, non-Dead like vibe. Were the days of the ballrooms finally gone? Were the Dead fated to play occasional shows at huge venues, with the usual random touring acts on the bill? No one said a word about Keith's replacement; until Brent walked on stage, no one in the crowd had any idea who it might be. I don't recall the Dead announcing him either, or if they did, it was late in the show. If my friend hadn't said "hey, it's the guy who played with Weir at the Roxy [in LA with the Bob Weir Band in 1978]," I wouldn't have known who it was.
In 1976, when the Dead had returned to performing, they had completely revamped their set list, bringing back old songs, rearranging some of them, dumping some of their most popular songs and generally surprising us with the setlists. It was disconcerting at the time--hey, no "Uncle John's Band" or "Truckin'"?--but all in all it was a good, daring thing to that had added a lot of life to the group. Yet here in 1979, in a bland outdoor stadium in the suburbs, the Dead debuted their new member with a blah show of the same stuff they had been playing. In general, the Dead played pretty poorly in San Jose. It wasn't Brent's fault, by any means, but it was hard to be optimistic.
June 28, 1979 Memorial Auditorium, Sacramento: Grateful Dead
In the Spring of 1979, the Dead had played a pretty good Eastern tour. The setlists were pretty stale, but they played pretty well and apparently went over well with the crowds. We knew none of this, of course. There were no reliable sources of information, and no easy way to even transmit rumors. All we had was the unsatisfying taste of the Spartan Stadium show, where the Dead had used their new keyboard player to tread water.
The Dead played a single show at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on June 28. The venue was a 3000 seat arena that the band had played occasionally. Looking at their schedule in retrospect, we can see that the band was using it for a paid warm-up for two big shows in the Pacific Northwest (on June 30 and July 1). But we didn't know this. A friend with reliable ears did attend, and reported that the Dead had played another bland show, a routine setlist with no interesting jams. It was still hard to be optimistic.
Elvis Presley played two shows at the Oakland Auditorium Arena on Sunday, June 3, 1956. This ad from the June 1 '56 Oakland Tribune can be found at the Oakland Auditorium page about Scotty Moore, Elvis' guitarist. The page has the best historical overview of the Auditorium, with amazing pictures.
The Oakland Auditorium, 10 Tenth Street, Oakland, CA 94607 Bill Graham Presents booked shows all over the Bay Area, but most of them were in or around San Francisco or Oakland. A brief glance at a map tells you why--the largest number of people could come to those areas. San Jose and its suburbs were not nearly as populous and wealthy as they would become, although there were starting to be signs of life. On March 24, 1979, BGP had moved a J. Geils Band show from the Oakland Coliseum Arena to a little-known venue called the Oakland Auditorium. The Geils Band show was surely moved because of weak ticket sales. It must have gone alright, because BGP kept booking shows there.
There were a few more shows at the Oakland Auditorium in the Spring. BGP must have figured out the venue, or maybe they had figured it out all along and knew they had it in their pocket. Starting in the Summer of '79, all sorts of band started playing the Aud: first Alvin Lee, then Patti Smith, and then in August, the Grateful Dead for two nights. We started to wonder: what was this place? I lived in Berkeley at the time, and I had never even known that the Oakland Auditorium even existed.
James Brown played the Oakland Auditorium on February 12, 1968. David Nelson attended the show, and there is a tale that goes with it, but it is too long to tell in a caption.
The Oakland Auditorium had in fact been built in 1915. All sorts of acts had played there: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, in 1915; Elvis Presley in 1956 and '57; James Brown in 1968; and Spade Cooley in '69 (look up Spade Cooley. It's instructive) just to name a few. For many decades, it had been the only major Oakland venue open to mixed race audiences. The Auditorium had a seated capacity of 5400, but it could be configured for sports as well, and the San Francisco Warriors had played a few games there in the early 60s. The ABA's Oakland Oaks--surely you recall Rick Barry and the Oaks--had used the Auditorium as their home arena in from 1967 through '69.
For rock shows, the arena was configured Winterland style, with general admission seats and an open floor. The rock capacity was probably something like 7,000, whereas Winterland was supposedly about 5500. The Auditorium's exterior was a beautiful Art Deco design, far different from the stone and metal blocks that characterized more recent arenas. There was a nice little park outside of it, and it was near downtown, accessible to the freeway and overlooked Lake Merritt.
The Grateful Dead played a sort of benefit for the Black Panther Party at the Oakland Auditorium on March 5, 1971
Almost no rock fans in the late 70s had even realized that the Oakland Auditorium even existed. In fact, we now know the Grateful Dead had already played there twice. On June 28, 1967, they had substituted for the recently-disbanded group The Sparrow at a Bill Quarry (TNT) promotion, headlined by The Young Rascals. Also on the bill were Country Joe And The Fish, the Sons Of Champlin and The Grass Roots. On March 5, 1971, the Grateful Dead were the featured musical attraction at a benefit for Oakland's controversial Black Panther Party. The Dead had met Panther leader Huey Newton on a plane, and Jerry and Huey hit it off, so the band agreed to play the show. However, there was not much crossover between the Dead's audience and the Panthers, so the show was very thinly attended, and apparently a rather strange event.The Auditorium was across the street from Laney Junior College, where some members of the Panthers had attended school. But really, with no Deadbase, we knew none of that at the time. All we knew was that Bill Graham had found some strange old arena, and the Dead were playing two nights. My friends and I were now cautiously optimistic.
Set the wayback machine.
August 4-5, 1979 Oakland Auditorium Arena, Oakland, CA: The Grateful Dead
It turned out that getting to the Oakland Auditorium was easy, and so was parking, which was free and across the street, in the Laney JC lot. This was a telling omen. As soon as my friends and I set foot inside the Oakland Auditorium Arena, we thought "this will work." We were right.
The Auditorium Arena had the Winterland layout, which was familiar, but it was a far more attractive building than the old ice rink. Of course, the Auditorium was kind of rundown, but don't let nostalgia get in your way here: Winterland was an absolute dump. Sure, it had been our dump and we loved it, but it wasn't a place you would take a date. So "beautiful and run-down" was a huge upgrade over "tacky and done for". Anyway, the Grateful Dead themselves, even though none of them were in fact even 40 years old, seemed like an aging institution in their own right, so the faded elegance of the Auditorium was a perfect fit.
The first night, Saturday, August 4, was not just an excellent show, it had the feel of a living band on the go. The Dead did two new songs, "Althea" and "Lost Sailor," and while I found both of them trivial, it meant that the band was thinking and playing. There was some great jamming on "Playing In The Band" and "Shakedown Street," and the Auditorium had that relaxed vibe where it seemed like there was a party at the Dead's house and we were all invited. Brent sounded great, and although the setlist was still typical, the arrangements had started to evolve. It was interesting to hear how Brent added organ or electric piano to different songs, and his excellent harmony vocals had a nice edge to them. My friends and I couldn't have been the only Deadheads to leave the Saturday night Oakland show feeling not only happy, but relieved. It looked like the Dead had a home court again. But we needed a good Sunday to be sure.
The Grateful Dead show on Sunday August 5 was not as good as the night before, but it didn't matter. There was one sequence that night that was so exceptional that it guaranteed to anyone present that the Grateful Dead's new home was now the Oakland Auditorium Arena. I am not generally a fan of audiences being encouraged to clap along to a rock band. It usually means that the drummer pounds out a heavy back beat, while the lead singer instructs everyone on how to clap their hands. It's a showbiz thing, and it's never really about music, so my patience for it is pretty limited.
Somehow, however, Mickey and Billy pulled off something remarkable coming out of the drum solo. They had been joined by Hamza Al-Din, whom many of us recognized from his appearance at the "From Egypt With Love" shows at Winterland in October 1978. They got everyone clapping along, not on the traditional 2-and-4 backbeat, but in some complicated 10- or 12-beat rhythm (I'm not a musician, so you'll have to figure it out from the tape). That was interesting enough. But as Hamza sang and played, accompanied by Mickey and Billy, the crowd continued to clap along to the rhythm. This wasn't a few diehards--this was a meaningful portion of the crowd clapping along to a complex rhythm, no longer guided by the drummers onstage.
It was a weird, hypnotic moment. The clapping is audible on the tape, but it isn't as loud on the recordings as it was in the hall. I should add that while I appreciate what Mickey Hart has brought to the Dead over the years, I am not a Rhythm Devils kind of guy, and yet I found the whole thing transfixing. Mickey, Billy and Hamza played along for several minutes, accompanied by hundreds if not thousands of people clapping out a difficult rhythm. Such a unique moment would only happen in the Dead's living room, so there was no longer any doubt: Oakland Auditorium Arena was the Grateful Dead's new home court, and it would remain that way throughout the Brent era of the 80s.
The Oakland Auditorium in 1917. Here's to hoping it looks this good again.
Aftermath
Throughout the balance of 1979, most of the cool Bill Graham shows came through the Oakland Auditorium (you can see a list below). The year ended with an epic run of five Grateful Dead shows, leading up to New Year's Eve. I have written about these shows elsewhere, but suffice to say, not only was the music great, but BGP manager Bob Barsotti let some visiting Deadheads camp out on the lawn outside the Auditorium, and the official birth of the "Shakedown Street" vending scene was inaugurated. Of course, hanging out and selling various products (ahem) around Dead shows had gone on for many years, but Oakland Auditorium initiated what amounted to a formal space for that.
However, after 1979, BGP booked very few rock shows at the Oakland Auditorium. In fact, between 1980 and '82, there were only 25 rock shows at the Auditorium, and 15 of them were Dead shows. So the Oakland Auditorium did in fact sort of become the band's private clubhouse. I don't know why Graham moved most of his shows out of the Auditorium, but a couple of factors stick out:
the rock industry was getting bigger, and the biggest acts could headline the 15,000 seat Oakland Coliseum
People who liked a smaller act were far more likely to pay to see them headline at the 2200 seat Fox-Warfield Theater in San Francisco rather than as an opening act at a bigger show
The rock audience was getting older, and they liked having their own seats
Oakland Auditorium was pretty run down, and only Deadheads thought that added character
At the end of 1982, the city of Oakland closed the Oakland Auditorium, spending $11 million to refurbish it as the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. The Dead temporarily had their New Year's run at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium. However, in February 1985, the Dead returned to the Kaiser (as it was then known), and played there regularly until 1989. Of course, as the Dead got bigger and bigger, they outgrew even the Kaiser. First the New Year's shows moved to the Coliseum in 1987, and after some February 1989 shows the Dead left the Kaiser for good. In the end, the Grateful Dead played the Oakland Auditorium (including as The Kaiser) 58 times. The Jerry Garcia Band still waved that flag, however, playing the Kaiser five times, as well, with the very last one on November 11, 1994.
There had been a fair number of shows in the Kaiser Convention Center after 1985, with a variety of bands, but as rock and the audience aged, the Kaiser became a less popular venue. Eventually, the Kaiser was so unprofitable that it was closed by the City of Oakland. The venue has been unused since 2007, too expensive to fix up, too big to tear down, a microcosm of the history of downtown Oakland.
But the Oakland Auditorium had its days, and better days than most buildings can even dream of: Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Spade Cooley at their very end, Elvis Presley and Rick Barry at the very beginning, James Brown in his prime and then 58 shows with the Grateful Dead. In 2015, the building at 10 Tenth Street will be 100 years old.
The Scotty Moore page had a remarkable photo from 1957 of the Auditorium Theatre, then called the Oakland Opera House. I like the sightline; I wonder why the venue was rarely used for non-symphonic music events?
Appendix 1-The Road Not Taken: April 20, 1979 Oakland Auditorium Theatre, Oakland, CA The Jam/Dwight Twilley
Way back when, with few sources of information, I always tried to glean what I could from ads for concerts and clubs, even if they were events I would never attend. I certainly noticed when BGP started booking shows at the Oakland Auditorium Arena in 1979, soon after Winterland had closed. I had never heard of the venue. On March 24, there had been a J. Geils Band show at the Aud that had been originally set for the larger Coliseum. Certainly, the Geils Band were very much a Winterland band, legendary rockers with a very loyal audience, so it implicitly suggested that the Oakland Auditorium was a potential Winterland replacement.
The second BGP show booked at the Oakland Auditorium was far more intriguing, and it stuck in my mind for the next several years. Even the most hard-core 80s Deadheads seemed to have had little idea that not only were there two entrances to the Oakland Auditorium, but each of them lead to a different room. What most Deadheads think of as "the front" of the Auditorium was the East entrance, which lead into the familiar Arena where we saw the Grateful Dead so many times.
On the opposite side of the Auditorium--the "back" for Grateful Dead fans--was the West entrance, which lead to a small theater. That theater was officially known as the Oakland Auditorium Theatre. In prior decades, it had been known as the Oakland Auditorium Opera House. After the Auditorium was reconditioned, the theater was renamed the Calvin Simmons Theatre, after the late conductor of the Oakland Symphony. The Oakland Symphony's performance home had been in the Oakland Auditorium Theatre, but the young, promising Simmons had died in a boating accident in 1982. The theater was renamed in his memory.
I have never been able to determine the capacity of the Oakland Auditorium Theatre. It was somewhere between 500 and 1500, I guess, but I have been unable to pin it down. In any case, the Theatre took up about a 1/4 of the building, and the Arena took up the other 3/4. The difference between the Theatre and the Arena is why venue trainspotters--like me--always carefully refer to the Oakland Auditorium Arena, rather than just "The Oakland Auditorium," which technically refers to both the theater and the arena.
On April 20, 1979, for the second BGP show booked at Oakland Auditorium, there were actually two shows. At the arena was Roxy Music, touring behind their album Manifesto. It wasn't their best album, but they were still a great band by any accounting, a mid-level band on their way up, exactly the sort of band that used to play Winterland. Once again, the Oakland Auditorium Arena appeared to be a Winterland replacement.
At midnight on the same night, however, there was a show at the Oakland Auditorium Theatre. The Jam, a really good English "New Wave" band, touring behind their best album All Mod Cons, headlined the show. Also on the bill were an almost young band from Tulsa called the Dwight Twilley Band, who were (rightly or wrongly) lumped in with the American "New Wave." The message was clear. Check out Roxy Music, and then after the show, run around the building and relax at the Theatre, checking out the hottest New Wave bands.
Once the Dead played the Oakland Auditorium in August, I assumed it was just a matter of time before shows at Oakland Auditorium Theatre would become part of the equation. After New Year's 1979, it seemed even more logical. There were so many people from out of town, and even camping out in the little park. Why not give them another show? Can you imagine? A great Dead show, a breath of fresh air, chat with your friends, and then walk around the building (smoking optional) to catch Jorma or a Reggae show in a beautiful old little theater? Yeah, baby.
It never happened. I never talked to anyone who went to The Jam show. Did something go wrong? It wouldn't likely have been any issue with The Jam, as I had seen them the year before at Winterland and they were great. There was one more show at the Oakland Auditorium Theatre, in June, but not tied to a corresponding show at the Arena. The bands were Triumph and Missouri, both of whom I sort of remember, and both unimpressive would-be arena-rock bands, the kind that aspired to be REO Speedwagon. I waited eagerly throughout the 80s, but it never happened. Frankly, by the end of the 80s I would have been more likely to see Hot Tuna at midnight after a Dead show than the Dead show itself, but I never even had that choice, as I don't believe there was another rock show at the Oakland Auditorium Theatre. Sic transit gloria psychedelia.
The new era of the Oakland Auditorium began with a J Geils Band concert in support of their 1979 Best Of The J Geils Band album. The Geils Band, like the Dead, were a popular touring band with a loyal fanbase, but they had not yet sold a lot of albums, and they had left Atlantic Records.
Appendix 2: BGP Shows at Oakland Auditorium, Oakland, CA 1979-82
All dates at Oakland Auditorium Arena except as noted
March 24, 1979: J. Geils Band/April Wine
A J.Geils/Southside Johnny show booked for Oakland Coliseum Arena on this night was canceled. Since the show was moved to the Auditorium, it had to be for lack of ticket sales (I assure you it had no connection to excessive ticket demand for the 78/79 Warriors--bonus points if you remember Warriors 1st round draft pick Raymond Townsend). The hard-touring J. Geils Band had reached a plateau as a mid-level band, in a way like the Grateful Dead. Their last studio album had been 1978's Sanctuary, and they were now touring behind their Best Of album on Atlantic. In 1980, the J. Geils Band would move to EMI, and massive success would follow, with hits like "Love Stinks" and "Centerfold." 11 months later (Mar 22 '80), the J. Geils Band would be headlining the Oakland Coliseum.
April 20, 1979: Roxy Music/Readymades
Roxy Music had returned from hiatus to tour behind their album Manifesto. Although it wasn't their best album, Roxy was a terrific live band, albeit in a structured, spooky way that was very different than the Grateful Dead.
This is the Western entrance to the Oakland Auditorium, what Deadheads would consider "the back." This entrance led directly to the Oakland Auditorium Theatre.
April 20, 1979, Oakland Auditorium Theatre: The Jam/Dwight Twilley (midnight show)
The Jam were an English New Wave band, touring behind their best album, All Mod Cons.
June 6, 1979, Oakland Auditorium Theatre: Triumph/Missouri
I am not aware of another rock concert at the Oakland Auditorium Theatre after this show.
June 28, 1979: Alvin Lee and Ten Years Later/Blackfoot/SVT
Ten Years Later was Alvin Lee's second act, five years after Ten Years After had broken up. SVT was a New Wave band that featured Jack Casady on bass.
July 27, 1979: Patti Smith/Flamin' Groovies
Patti was touring behind the Wave album, produced by Todd Rundgren. It wasn't as memorable as its predecessor Easter but still a fine record.
August 4-5, 1979: Grateful Dead
August 12, 1979: Blondie/Nick Lowe
Blondie were still riding high on 1978's epic Parallel Lines album. Eat To The Beat would come out in October of 1980. Nick Lowe and his killer band Rockpile, meanwhile--and trust me, the name was apt, they were a pile of rockin'--were touring behind Nick's classic Labour Of Lust album. Unlike some shows at the Auditorium, this one featured hot bands in their prime.
August 24, 1979: The Tubes/Pearl Harbor And The Explosions
The Tubes live were awesome in their day, withVince Welnick on keyboards. If Jerry had stayed with us, it was inevitable that Quay Lewd would have finally joined the Grateful Dead on stage, and we could all have sung along with "White Punks On Dope."
August 31, 1979: Peter Frampton/Pousette-Dart Band
Peter Frampton had been the biggest touring act in the country in 1976, on the heels of Frampton Comes Alive. By 1979, after all the hype and the dreadful I'm In You album, Frampton played double shows at Oakland Auditorium. The price, as I recall, was nothing. I think you had to request a ticket from a radio station, or something, but it didn't cost money. I may have this memory somewhat wrong, but I don't think so.
September 5, 1979: AC-DC/Prism Back In Black (released July 25 '80) sold over 40 million copies, and it's one of the best selling albums of all time. It's a long way to the top, if you wanna rock and roll.
October 12, 1979: REO Speedwagon/Molly Hatchett/Stoneground
I had no idea that Stoneground was active in 1979. They were still probably the best band that night.
October 27, 1979: Ramones/SVT/Shirts/Members
"Hey Ho Let's Go," The Ramones were already legends, but at this exact juncture they were probably at their high-water mark as a popular attraction. The movie Rock And Roll High School had just been released in August. Wikipedia summarizes the plot:
Set in 1980, Vince Lombardi High School keeps losing principals to nervous breakdowns because of the students' love of rock 'n' roll and their disregard for education
Sing it with me: "Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock, rock/Rock and roll high school."
November 7, 1979: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow/Randy Hansen/John Cougar
The worst performance ever by a band that I saw in person--and this is saying a lot--was by Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow (Aug 3 '76 in San Jose). I wonder how "John Cougar" went over with this crowd?
November 30, 1979: Bob Marley And The Wailers/Betty Wright
What a night this must have been. Marley in his prime, and Betty Wright warning all the girls not to make it easy for the clean-up woman.
December 26-28, 30-31, 1979: Grateful Dead
The 1979 Oakland Auditorium schedule was a nice cross-section of rock acts touring America, particularly the ones who liked a rowdy crowd on their feet, rather than sitting in their seats. The broad spectrum was not repeated, as BGP moved acts to either the larger Oakland Coliseum (about 5 miles to the Southeast) or the smaller but more amenable Fox-Warfield Theater in San Francisco.
August 21, 1980: Charlie Daniels Band/Gus
The Charlie Daniels Band were huge at the time, behind their song "The Devil Went Down To Georgia," which had been part of the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. Man, that seems like a long time ago. A video of the entire concert is accessible on YouTube.
August 22, 1980: Foghat/Blackfoot/Point Blank
Foghat had headlined at the Cow Palace and at the Oakland Stadium, but they were starting the slow ride down.
October 7, 1980: The Kinks/Angel City
The Kinks' previous studio album had been 1979's very popular Low Budget (their 17th studio album), although they had since released One For The Road in March of 1980.
October 31, 1980: The Police/Iggy Pop
This was the 8th show of the North American leg of The Police's Zenyatta Mondatta tour. Iggy Pop was touring behind his Arista album Soldier, but I assure you that it was a side issue: in concert, Iggy is just Iggy, and everyone else is just a pale imitation.
Eyewitnesses report a great costume contest between acts (my eyewitnesses dressed as garbage, for reasons unexplained, and did not stand out in the crowd, which tells you something). A topless girl came on stage during Iggy's set, and he leered at her, and the place lost it. The Police were a surprisingly good live band, and were able to overcome the traditional San Francisco Halloween madness to put on a great show.
December 26-28, 30-31, 1980: Grateful Dead
October 27-28, 1981: Pat Benatar/David Johansen
Note that this weekend had the only BGP shows at Oakland Auditorium all year, save for the Grateful Dead. For whatever reasons, the Auditorium was the venue of last resort. [Insert your own "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" joke here].
December 26-28, 30-31, 1981: Grateful Dead
The New Riders Of The Purple Sage opened for the Dead on December 31.
January 24, 1982: Molly Hatchett/Henry Paul Band/Lamont Cranston
Molly Hatchett was a Southern rock band, and Henry Paul had been in the Outlaws. Of the few acts that played the Oakland Auditorium, it's no surprise to see Southern rock bands, whose fans would have enjoyed the rowdier general admission vibe.
February 20, 1982: The Pretenders/Bow Wow Wow
This was the final run for the original Pretenders. Bassist Pete Farndon was fired in June 1982, and guitarist James Honeymann-Scott overdosed a few days later (Farndon would overdose the next year). Only Chrissie Hynde and drummer Martin Chambers remained for the future lineups.
Bow Wow Wow was Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren's latest project. Teenage singer Annabella Lwin was better than you might expect, but they were a sort of teen pop sensation. Bow Wow Wow's infamous song "I Want Candy" would not come out until later in 1982.
July 10, 1982: .38 Special/Prism/Frankie Miller
.38 Special featured lead singer Donnie Van Zandt, the younger brother of Ronnie Van Zandt, the late singer and leader of Lynyrd Skynyrd. I don't know Prism. Frankie Miller, an English singer, was really good, but I don't think he would have gone over well with the liquored-up Southern rock crowd.
November 15, 1982: April Wine/Uriah Heep
Remember the scene in This Is Spinal Tap where the band plays an Air Force officers' dance, and Fred Willard is the Air Force captain? That was about the Uriah Heep 1984 tour, when they were very much on their way down. They hadn't yet fallen that far, but they were no longer headliners in a big metro area.
December 26-28, 30-31, 1982: Grateful Dead/The Dinosaurs (NYE only)
After these shows, the Oakland Auditorium was closed for an $11 million renovation. It would reopen a few years later as the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. The Grateful Dead returned to the Auditorium Arena on February 18, 1985. However, the first show at HJK was actually Wham! (with George Michael) on February 5, 1985.
Reconstruction, with 'Special Guest' Jerry Garcia, playing at The Old Waldorf in San Francisco on April 23, 1979
Some research into other areas led me to focus on the genesis of the
band Reconstruction, a Bay Area jazz-funk ensemble formed by John Kahn
that featured Jerry Garcia on lead guitar and vocals. The group only
existed in 1979, performing 57 shows with Garcia and a handful without
him. As a result, the group is known as an iteration of the Jerry Garcia
Band, rather than as a stand-alone ensemble.
In retrospect, this is not
entirely unfair, given Garcia's prominence, but a closer look reveals
that the group was conceived in a very different manner, where Garcia
would have only been an ongoing, if important, guest star for a permanent
band. Reconstruction was a fascinating, underrated band, whose music has
held up very well to repeated listening over the decades. Nonetheless,
for all the extant Garcia scholarship, the roots of the Reconstruction
band have hardly been discussed. This post will look at what appears to
have been the circumstances surrounding the formation of Reconstruction,
with an emphasis on what it was planned to be, rather than what exactly turned out to happen
The Jerry Garcia Band album Cats Under The Stars, released on Arista in April 1978
Parallel
to the Garcia Band album's dismal sales, the onstage contribution of pianist
Keith Godchaux had significantly declined. Since Keith and Donna
Godchaux were members of both the Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia
Band, this had multiple ramifications for Garcia and Kahn. I think that
Keith's weaknesses affected the Garcia Band less than the Dead, and in
any case I think Garcia's principal musical interest in Keith and Donna
was, in fact, Donna Godchaux's vocals. Nonetheless, a change was gonna
come, even if it took a while. I have made the argument elsewhere that
Garcia had quietly spent 1978 thinking about replacing Keith and Donna
in the Dead and the Garcia Band. From observing his opening acts, Garcia seems to have identified Brent Mydland, Ozzie Ahlers and Melvin Seals as future collaborators, and indeed they all played with the Dead and the Garcia Band over the next dozen years.
Meanwhile,
what of John Kahn? Kahn had let his record industry career slip away in
order to throw in his lot with Garcia. Kahn, like Garcia, had surely
hoped that Cats Under The Stars would be like Fly Like An Eagle or Red Octopus,
a radio friendly hit album by a band of Fillmore-era veterans, but the
reality was quite different. Although in the relatively few interviews
that Kahn did over the years he had a wry sense of humor about the
dismal sales of Cats, it can't have been casual for him. Garcia
had the Grateful Dead as a full-time activity--what did Kahn have, given
that he had pushed aside his Hollywood career? According to Kahn, he
organized Reconstruction, and it makes perfect sense not only because of
the timeline, but because Kahn would have been returning to jazz, the music that made him become a professional bassist in the first place.
October 2-3, 1978: The Shady Grove, San Francisco, CA: Merl Saunders and Friends
Given
Jerry Garcia's long friendship with Merl Saunders, the fact that he sat
in with Merl for two nights at a tiny club on Haight Street seems
perfectly plausible. The tiny Shady Grove was a club that featured bands
playing original music, and when it got in financial trouble, not only
did Merl play a benefit, he got Jerry to come out too, and it must have
packed out the house both nights. However, a closer look makes Garcia's
presence rather more curious.
Let me be clear and say
that Garcia loved to play, and I don't doubt that on both nights at the
Shady Grove, Jerry loved funking out with Merl, just like he had done a
few years earlier. Nonetheless, why the Shady Grove, and why October
1978? Garcia had unceremoniously dumped Saunders in 1975, leaving Kahn
the unpleasant task of telling his friend that he was no longer working
with Garcia. The financial ramifications for Saunders would have been
significant, too.
In October 1978, Garcia and Kahn would have
known that Keith and Donna Godchaux were leaving both the Dead and the
Garcia Band one way or the other. I don't know how explicitly they
talked about it, but Garcia and Kahn had to be thinking about their next
move. What few remarks Kahn has made about Reconstruction suggest that
he wanted to form a jazz group. I think Kahn wanted to form a group with
Merl Saunders, and he and Garcia needed some confirmation that Saunders
was still a willing and functional partner.
To this
day, I do not know who called Garcia about dropping in at the Shady
Grove--did Merl regularly invite him to gigs? Did Kahn or someone else
act as a middleman? I don't even know who was in Saunders band in
October 1978 when Garcia dropped by. Was Kahn with him those nights? In any case,
since Garcia showed up for two shows, it wasn't any kind of accident.
By 1978, Garcia's musical life was structured enough that there were no
free nights by chance. By the time Garcia showed up at the Shady Grove
on October 2 and 3, 1978, it was a plan and Garcia was sticking to it.
Without
impugning any other motives--Garcia liked to play, Robert Hunter liked
the Shady Grove and may have nudged him, and so on--I think Garcia's
guest appearance with Saunders was a sort of reverse audition. Merl's
musical sympathy with Jerry wasn't in question, but there may have been
some unspoken issues about Garcia dismissing him from his circle. It
does seem, however, that those unspoken issues remained unspoken, and
Garcia implicitly or explicitly must have given Kahn the go-ahead to
think about a jazz band.
What Was The Plan?
Here is what I think the key issues were for Kahn and Garcia
Cats Under The Stars' failure meant that the JGB would become primarily a performing ensemble, not a recording one
Kahn needed something musically meaningful to do when Garcia was engaged with the Dead
Although Keith and Donna Godchaux were short-timers in the Grateful
Dead, the exact timing and nature of their departure was unknown, since
no one in the Grateful Dead had even talked about it
Given the ambiguity of Keith and Donna's status with the Grateful
Dead, the least confrontational way to address the Jerry Garcia Band was
to shut it down for a while, thus avoiding explaining to Keith or Donna
that they were being 'fired' from the JGB and the Dead, since the band
itself would be on hiatus
Kahn would form a jazz band, and Garcia would play some gigs,
bringing attention to the group while ducking any responsibility for
explaining anything to Keith and Donna.
Meanwhile, Garcia and Kahn would form a new Jerry Garcia Band, working in parallel with the jazz band
The Jerry Garcia Band would focus on songs, and the jazz band would
leave Garcia free to play some wild music in a more low-key context,
similar to what he had done with Merl Saunders in 1975 in some
under-the-radar shows
Blair Jackson quotes John Kahn on the formation of Reconstruction (p.306), dating it to December 1978,and Kahn more or less confirms my outline:
"Reconstruction was going to be a band that would do more jazz, explore that avenue on a deeper level than the old Merl and Jerry thing," Kahn recalled. "It was supposed to be a thing where if Jerry was going to play in the band, which he ended up doing, we could still work when he was out of town with the Grateful Dead, which seemed to be more and more of the time. That was the point. In which case we'd have another guitar player. I actually did it a few times--I did some gigs with Jerry Miller of Moby Grape. He was a really good guy and a great player. I wasn't really planning on Jerry [Garcia] being in the band originally, and then when he was in the band it sort of changed everything from what the plan was."
What Was The Proposed Timeline?
Garcia sat
in with Merl Saunders for two nights on October 2 and 3, 1978,
effectively confirming that they could work together, even if that was
hardly stated out loud, even by Garcia and Kahn. I think Kahn's timeline
would have looked like this, even if it wasn't precisely written out
The Jerry Garcia Band with Keith and Donna was booked through November 4, 1978
The Grateful Dead's Eastern Tour began November 11, 1978 on NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live, anticipating the release of their new album Shakedown Street on November 15, 1978
The Dead's Eastern tour continued throughout November and into early December.
The Grateful Dead some December dates in Florida, and then a few
late December dates in California, leading up to New Year's Eve at
Winterland
If it was implicitly assumed that Keith and Donna would be out of
both bands after New Year's, then Kahn could get his jazz band together
during the Dead's Eastern tour in November and December.
If the stars aligned correctly, Garcia and the jazz band might slip in a few shows in December of 1978
As the jazz band played around, Garcia and Kahn could get the new Garcia Band together, too
What Really Happened?
Events did not go as planned. They rarely do.
Shakedown Street was released, and the Dead went on tour
The Grateful Dead performed at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ on
November 24, 1978, and the show was broadcast live on a network of FM
radio stations
After the Passaic show, Garcia's poor health got the better of him and he was checked into a hospital
The Grateful Dead were set up at the Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in
New Haven, CT on November 25, but Bob Weir and Mickey Hart had to come
onstage and announce that Garcia was sick, and that the show would be
rescheduled
Garcia, amazingly, managed to recover in time for a Florida date on
December 12, 1978 (at the Jai Alai Fronton in Miami), and played out the
remaining booked Dead dates on the schedule.
Sometime before the end of 1978--possibly January 1979--Brent
Mydland got a call from Bob Weir, who told him there was a chance he
could end up in the Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead ended up playing numerous East Coast dates in
January of 1979 to make up the canceled shows. Whether every one of the
shows in January and February of 1979 were cancellation makeups isn't
clear to me, but in any case the Keith and Donna era lasted a few months
longer than the Grateful Dead perhaps intended it to.
The final show with Keith and Donna Godchuax was a wonderful show at
the Oakland Coliseum Arena on February 17, 1979. At a band meeting in February, Keith and Donna quit the Grateful Dead. While they probably saw the writing on the wall, in any case they couldn't take anymore, saving
Jerry or anyone else the stress of saying "it's been a good 7
years--you're fired."
Reconstruction, booked at the Rio Theater in Rodeo for March 11, 1979 (from the SF Chronicle Pink Section). The Goodman Brothers, from Northeast Pennsylvania, opening for Mickey Thomas on March 17, featured Steve Kimock on lead guitar.
Reconstruction Construction
Based on my presumed timeline, and Kahn's comments, when the Jerry Garcia Band stopped playing in November 1978, Kahn must have started talking to Merl about putting a band together. With Garcia's usual desire to avoid conflict while still getting his way, since Kahn was forming a new group, Keith and Donna Godchaux weren't 'fired' from the Jerry Garcia Band. No unpleasant meetings or phone calls were required. Based on Kahn's comments, it seems that Garcia may have been more enthusiastically involved from the very beginning that Kahn or Saunders had expected. This would have been a two-edged sword: on one hand, it would make Reconstruction well known immediately, but on the other hand it would lead fans to expect to see Garcia as a member of the band.
Nonetheless,
Reconstruction debuted at the Keystone Berkeley on January 30 and 31,
1979 a Tuesday and a Wednesday night, in between legs of the Grateful
Dead tour. These shows were followed some weeks later by Tuesday night
shows on February 20 and 27. Reconstruction played a string of shows in
the next few weeks, but they avoided playing weekend nights at Keystone
Berkeley or other large clubs. The members of Reconstruction were:
Merl Saunders-organ, keyboards, vocals 'Reverend' Ron Stallings-tenor sax, vocals Ed Neumeister-trombone John Kahn-electric bass Gaylord Birch-drums special guest-Jerry Garcia-guitar, vocals
Ron
Stallings had played with Kahn back in his first rock group, The Tits And Ass Rhythm and Blues Band, and he had been in the group Southern Comfort, for whom Kahn co-produced an album. Gaylord Birch, a fine
drummer from Oakland who had played with The
Pointer Sisters, Santana and many others, was probably brought in by
Merl Saunders. According to an interesting interview by Hank Sforzini, Ron Stallings called Ed Neumeister. Apparently, there had been some rehearsals, but another horn player was deemed desirable. Neumeister was an
exceptional player. Beside playing in local jazz combos, he was in the
house band with the Circle Star Theater as well as the Sacramento
Symphony.
Given Garcia's revised schedule, as a result
of the canceled shows, I suspect that Reconstruction was supposed to be put together
without Garcia, but he made a few more rehearsals than was initially expected. Nonetheless, Neumeister refers to meeting Garcia in rehearsal before the first show, so there definitely were some rehearsals with Garcia. On the first night, January 30, 1979 at Keystone Palo Alto, the only song that Garcia sang with
the band was the blues "It's No Use," which would have required little
rehearsal, since Kahn and Saunders already knew it well.
Listening to
the February 27 tape, the next one we have, seems to suggest that there hadn't been much if any rehearsal with Garcia between January and February. Garcia's playing is very
muted for the first verse and chorus of almost every song, but
subsequently Garcia steps up and plays with great confidence for the
balance of each number. This sounds very much like an experienced player
listening to the band's arrangement and then stepping up, a clear hint
to me that while he may have jammed some with the band, Garcia hadn't formally rehearsed that much with respect to specific arrangements.
Neumeister recalls how he became part of the band, “I think they
rehearsed once or twice and they decided they would get another horn
player, so Stallings recommended me, and actually Ron called me. He
said, ‘Yeah, we’ve got a gig on Saturday and we’re rehearsing Thursday.
It’s just a door gig.’” Neumeister knew who Garcia was but did not
follow the Grateful Dead, “I had no idea to be honest the following that
Jerry had. I showed up for that first gig and there were wall-to-wall
people. It was at Keystone Berkley.”
Although the show was actually on a Tuesday, Neumeister's description suggests about a week of rehearsal, where he came through midway, and that fits Garcia's touring schedule. The previous Dead gig had been January 21, 1979, and the first Reconstruction show was January 30.
Early Reconstruction
After several weekday shows from January through March, the very first weekend show of Reconstruction was Friday, March 9 at the tiny Cabaret Cotati. The
first true weekend booking for Reconstruction was not until March 30
and 31 at the Catalyst, the 16th and 17th shows for the group.
Clearly the band was intentionally keeping a very low profile. By 1979,
the Jerry Garcia Band and its predecessors had been headlining weekend
shows at the various Keystones for eight years. The decision to stick to
weekday shows was probably predicated on a number of factors
The other members of Reconstruction, particularly Ed Neumeister, may
have had a variety of conflicts with previously booked weekend shows
Since Reconstruction had no intention of doing a "full Garcia Band,"
they may have wanted to tamp down expectations by staying away from the
typical JGB weekend gig
Given the complexity of Garcia's schedule, and the fact that
Keystone dates were probably booked 30 to 60 days in advance, there may
have been a residual concern that Garcia might not make every booked
show, so Reconstruction didn't want to commit to a weekend, since they
couldn't guarantee the Keystone a profit
Whatever the circumstances surrounding the establishment of
Reconstruction, Garcia seems to have made every gig. Other than a tape
from the debut on Tuesday, January 30, but we have only occasional
setlists. On February 27, Jerry sang "It's No Use" and "The Harder They
Come," another song that would have needed little rehearsal. The next list
is March 7 (a Wednesday at tiny Rancho Nicasio), and it features
"Struggling Man," the first known appearance of a Garcia song that would
have actually required at least a run-through. The rarity of different
Garcia songs suggests that rehearsals that included Garcia were pretty
rare.
Reconstruction was initially intended as a sort of funky jazz project for Kahn and his
friends, who of course included Jerry. However, the music was so good
that the band started to take itself seriously. Once the band played
some weekend shows at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz (March 30-31), they
started to play more high profile events, including the group's occasional
road trips (to Colorado, for whatever reasons). My own taste may
be coloring my opinion here, but I find Reconstruction tapes to be
extremely compelling 30+ years later, not true of every Garcia
enterprise.
Ironically enough, I think the very power
of Reconstruction's music blocked them from much success. Many Deadheads
liked jazz, certainly including me, but most us were hardly any kind of
experts. By 1979, I had just figured out how to make sense of Miles Davis's
mid-60s music (like Miles Smiles) and his fusion efforts (like In A
Silent Way), but I hadn't caught up to contemporary jazz itself. Knowing
what I know now, a lot of late 70s jazz was following up on the Oakland
funk of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, playing very sophisticated music
over a funky but ever-changing beat. At the same time, Reconstruction still had a
smattering of vocal numbers, shared between Merl Saunders, Ron Stallings
and Garcia (with occasional backups from Gaylord Birch).
In
many respects, Reconstruction was very contemporary, but it didn't have
an easy slot for the record or concert industry to package it.
Reconstruction was too loose and and had too much improvisation to call
itself a rock or funk band, but since it didn't sound like early 70s
"Fusion Music" (like Return To Forever) it didn't have a commercial slot
in jazz either. Jazz always takes a few years to sink into listeners'
consciousness, and by the time I grasped how deep Reconstruction was,
the band was ten years gone.
Merl Saunders 1979 album Do I Move You, featuring Edd Neumeister on trombone
Reconstructing Studio Traces
Reconstruction never made a studio album. Yet a few traces remain. One curious legacy was the obscure Merl Saunders album Do I Move You.
Released in 1979 on Crystal Clear Records, it was a "Direct To Disc"
one take recording, cut straight into the vinyl, an audiophile treat at
the time. Five of the six songs were regular parts of Reconstruction
sets ("Tellin' My Friends," "Shining Star," "Long Train Running,"
"Another Star" and "Do I Move You"). Merl's backing groupon the album consisted of players with whom he regularly played, including his son Tony on bass, Larry Vann on drums and Martin Fierro on sax. Carl Lockett played guitar. The only member of Reconstruction on the album was Ed Neumeister, who joined the horn section on trombone. Given that the album was cut on February 3, 1979, Neumeister would have just met Saunders. The material on Do I Move You, all sung by Merl, suggests that it was a typical set of the Merl Saunders Band circa 1978, and thus that Reconstruction's material was initially grounded in Merl's arrangements of his working repertoire.
Another curious tidbit were some demos recorded in Spring 1979 by Jerry Garcia, and released as bonus tracks on the All Good Things boxed set (on the Run For The Roses disc). There are three tracks recorded with John Kahn on bass and Johnny D'Foncesca on drums. One of them, "Alabama Getaway," which includes Dan Healy on guitar, was probably just a demo to get the song on tape. Yet why record "Fennario" and "Simple Twist Of Fate?"
The most significant recording on the boxed set, however, was a version of "Dear Prudence," also recorded in Spring 1979. "Dear Prudence" first turned up in Reconstruction sets around April, 1979, so I assume the recording was from around then. Unlike many other songs, Garcia had never played the song live, so there would have had to have been some discussion and rehearsal to get the parts right. Yet the recording was not just a quick demo of a song. Not only was most of Reconstruction on the recording, with only Gaylord Birch absent (replaced by Johnny D--Birch probably had a session), but Marin veteran Mark Isham was on the recording as well.
Neumeister recalls one specific instance of Garcia’s devotion to his craft during a recording session. Neumeister, who had written the horn arrangements for the session, was discussing the arrangements with Garcia, “He decided for the recording we would extend the horn section—trumpet, some trombones—and we actually double tracked some of it so it was six horns. Jerry sat in the recording studio and not in the booth, so he could hear the track being mixed with the horns. He sat in with the horns, and he was very, very focused and concentrated and extremely detail-oriented. You wouldn’t think this about Jerry sometimes, but he was looking for perfection. We were there until we got it absolutely perfect. He was really into it being really, really clean and tight. Of course that’s what you want but on the other hand you think of Jerry as being this loose improviser.”
I assume that the recording session was at Club Front, but what was Garcia up to? Why bring in an extra horn player, have a pro--Neumeister--write out charts, and then double track the horns, and do multiple takes? This wasn't a casual demo, whatever it was. Something else must have been afoot. An album demo, perhaps? In any case, no one ever asked Garcia or Kahn and they never brought it up.
The End Of Reconstruction
Reconstruction
played throughout most of 1979. The final show by the band was
September 22, 1979, at the Keystone Berkeley, where they had begun
almost nine months before. Just two weeks later, on Sunday, October 7,
1979, the new-model Jerry Garcia Band debuted at Keystone Palo Alto,
with Ozzie Ahlers on keyboards and Johnny D'Foncesca on drums. In fact,
however, Reconstruction had played a few shows in August and September
without Garcia.
Inexplicably, the first known booking without Garcia was at the
Keystone Palo Alto on August 4-5. It was inexplicable due to the fact
that the Grateful Dead were playing the Oakland Auditorium the same
nights, so the potential audience for Reconstruction, even without
Jerry, was otherwise engaged. The advertised guitarist was Carl Lockett,
a local player who had played on Merl's Do I Move You album (I think Lockett played the August 3 booking at Keystone
Berkeley too, but perhaps Jerry played or was supposed to play). JGMF managed to dig up some obscure Reconstruction bookings, although its not certain if the events ever occurred, or how they went down.
Reconstruction: August-September 1979 August 3, 1979: Keystone Berkeley
Garcia could have played this show, but I think Carl Lockett was advertised.On the other hand, maybe this was the show where Merl thought Jerry was booked, but someone unnamed didn't tell him about it (see below).
August 4-5, 1979: Keystone Palo Alto
The Grateful Dead were playing Oakland Auditorium. Carl Lockett was advertised as Reconstruction's guitarist.
August 10, 1979: Temple Beautiful, San Francisco
Garcia played this date, at the former Synagogue which had previously
been known as Theater 1839 (where the JGB had played on July 29-30, 1977)
September 4, 1979: Sleeping Lady Cafe, Fairfax
The Dead were in Madison Square Garden. Whoever played guitar the night
before most likely played guitar this night. According to Kahn, the
shows with Jerry Miller were quite good, if it was indeed him.
September 15, 1979: Keystone Palo Alto, Palo Alto
Garcia played this show.
September 22, 1979: Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley
Garcia played this show as well, and I think this was the last performance of Reconstruction, with or without Jerry.
A listing from BAM Magazine, September 1, 1979, showing a Keystone Palo Alto date for September 29, 1979, found by JGMF. The ad would have had to have been sent to press before September 1.
September 29, 1979: Keystone Palo Alto, Palo Alto JGMF found an ad for this show, but its not clear what happened.
I don't think Reconstruction would have been booked for a Friday night
without Garcia. On the other hand, the Dead were not playing, and Garcia
could have played this show. At this point, we have to file this show
as likely with Garcia if it happened, but 'unproven.'
However, Jackson quoted a bitter Merl Saunders on the demise of Reconstruction (p.307), when Garcia seemingly abandoned the band:
"..there was a night when he didn't show up for a gig., which was done purposely, I think. It was sabotaged [Saunders won't say by whom]. They didn't tell him there was a gig to get to. And shortly after that he and John started a different group and I sort of lost touch with him."
The September 29 Palo Alto show might fit the timeline for this, but the August 3 Keystone Berkeley show would fit even better. Of course, what does "shortly after" mean? A week, a month? The implication is that the rest of Reconstruction was there, and Garcia was not, so that would exempt Kahn from any subterfuge--but it remains mysterious who Saunders felt was threatened by Garcia's participation in Reconstruction.
October 7, 1979: Keystone Berkeley, Berkeley: Jerry Garcia Band
The Ozzie Ahlers version of the JGB debuted this night, and there isn't any doubt about it.
According to Kahn, on at least one occasion, the guest
guitarist was Jerry Miller, a fantastic player who was the once and
future lead guitarist for Moby Grape. It was an intriguing idea,
really--a far-out jazz funk band with a series of guest guitarists, who
sometimes might be Jerry Garcia. Yet for whatever reason, Reconstruction
sputtered to a halt without Garcia. I think the music was just too
advanced to draw an audience without the natural pull of Garcia, and
Reconstruction simply disappeared without a trace. I think there were
three shows at the Keystone with Carl Lockett (August 3-5). and two more
in September (3-4), possibly with Jerry Miller, and maybe another
obscure show or two, but they didn't gain any traction. Garcia and Kahn
would have been planning the next iteration of the Jerry Garcia Band,
and it looks like Reconstruction just didn't take without Garcia.
Reconstruction was an inspired idea, a plan for a working
jazz band with Garcia as a regular but not permanent guest, and a
chance for Garcia to get some serious playing done. Garcia had sort of
managed to pull that off with Merl Saunders in late '74/early '75, and
this seemed like another chance. The music lived up to its name, the
players were great and the inspiration was there, yet it never went any
further. No one asked Garcia or Kahn about it, or Merl Saunders for that
matter, so we'll never know exactly what was planned and whether the
group's arc was satisfactory or not. We are left only with some fine
tapes, a single studio track and a whiff of what might have been.
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