After the Grateful Dead "retired" from performing in October 1974, Bob Weir started to play some gigs with his friend Matt Kelly and former New Rider Dave Torbert in their band Kingfish. After a few late 1974 gigs, Weir became a member of the band, and the group started to learn new material and gig seriously around the Bay Area. This post covers the period from January to June 1975. The Grateful Dead were working on the album in Weir's home studio that would become Blues For Allah, but save for a few stealth dates they were not a performing entity. Weir and Kingfish performed steadily however, and I suspect the dates listed here are only partially complete.
Kingfish 1974-76
Robbie Hoddinott-lead guitar
Matt Kelly-harmonica, guitar
Bob Weir-rhythm guitar, vocals
Dave Torbert-bass
Chris Herold-drums
This is the second installment on Kingfish's performance history (for the first, see here). The sources from my dates include Deadbase IX (to which I was an initial contributor), the fine Weirworks site, some contemporary newspaper archives and a few other sources. I believe there are still many dates to add to this list. If you know of one from this period, please Comment or contact me.
January 3-4, 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA Kingfish
At the time, Kingfish was playing regular shows at this tiny joint in the Santa Cruz Mountains, between Santa Cruz and San Jose.
January 14,1975 Winterland Kingfish/Valley Boys/Little Roger
Bill Graham had begun presenting local bands at Winterland on Tuesday nights for just $2.00, calling it "Sounds Of the City." This was an attempt to make Winterland into a competitor to local nightclubs, a strategy he had employed with Tuesday nights at The Fillmore West and Fillmore East. Generally there was a fairly popular local club headliner, and some lesser known bands. Kingfish fit nicely, as Weir and Torbert were well known but Kingfish was not.
Buddy Cage of the New Riders of The Purple Sage sat in for most of the show, and he sounded great. Interestingly, Kingfish played two songs with Cage that I am not aware of them playing any other time, both sung by Torbert: Buck Owens "A11" ("Don't play A11 on the jukebox") and Dolly Parton's "My Blue Tears." They also played "Groupie," a Torbert song from the Riders Panama Red album. I suspect that these numbers were leftovers from the pre-Weir incarnation of the band.
Little Roger and The Goosebumps were a local band featuring Roger Clark and Dick Bright. They became infamous with their song "Stairway To Gilligan's Isle" (The Gilligan's Island theme done to the tune of "Stairway To Heaven." I saw them do it once at Winterland, and they brought down the house).
January 15, 1975 Sophie's, Palo Alto, CA Kingfish/Fever
[update] Sophie's was at 260 S. California Avenue, in the older "Mayfield" section of Palo Alto. At the time, Sophie's was run by Ken Rominger, who also managed the Bodega, in Campbell (near San Jose). Two years later, the venue would become the Keystone Palo Alto.
January 16, 1975 The Bodega, Campbell, CA: Kingfish
January 18, 1975 Longbranch, Berkeley Kingfish
The Longbranch, at 2504 San Pablo Avenue, mostly featured local bands on the way up.
January 24-25, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Kingfish/James And The Mercedes
A tape survives of Friday, January 24. Kingfish has begun doing Weir's blues version of "CC Rider," which will ultimately be adopted by the Dead. They have also begun closing shows with "One More Saturday Night, " the one original Weir Grateful Dead song that Kingfish will do, as a concession to Weir's fan base. The second night is known from a newspaper listing.
James And The Mercedes was fronted by James Ackroyd, formerly of James And The Good Brothers. I believe Bob Weir's girlfriend Frankie was a backup singer for James And The Mercedes.
January 26, 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA Kingfish/James And The Mercedes
For a great eyewitness account of this show, complete with pictures, see Cryptdev's great blog post.
The Gold Rush was a club in Walnut Creek, then a sleepy middle class town in Contra Costa. There were still a lot of walnut trees in the city limits at this time.
February 8, 1975 King's Castle, Incline Village, NV; Kingfish (two shows)
February 14-15, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Kingfish/Grayson Street
February 16, 1975 Margarita's, Santa Cruz, CA Kingfish
Margarita's was a new rock club in Santa Cruz, at 1685 Commercial Way. Kingfish opened the club on a Sunday night.
February 19, 1975 The Gold Rush, Sacramento, CA Kingfish
[update] Originally known from Weirworks, where the show was listed as "River City, Fairfax." River City was a tiny watering hole in Marin County, where Phil Lesh was a regular, but a Kingfish gig seemed unlikely. A terrific board tape has surfaced, however, and the show was actually in Sacramento. The "River City" was a 19th century nickname for Sacramento, so the transposition wasn't implausible.
[update 2]: a Commenter suggests that Kingfish played the Gold Rush in Walnut Creek (in Contra Costa County, East of Berkeley). They were booked this night, and some other nights.
February 21-23, 1975 Golden Bear, Huntington Beach, CA Kingfish
A tape survives from February 23, which is how we initially knew the date. The band played the entire weekend.
February 28, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Kingfish
Known from a newspaper listing.
March 2, 1975 Winterland Kingfish/Alice Stuart/West
Kingfish headlined another Tuesday night "Sounds Of The City." At one of the Winterland gigs, New Riders pedal steel player Buddy Cage sat in with Kingfish again. The BGP list has Terry and The Pirates instead of Alice Stuart, but a contemporary newspaper listing has her, and I am inclined to that. West featured guitarist Ron Cornelius.
March 7, 1975 Crown College Dining Commons, UCSC, Santa Cruz, CA Kingfish
[update] An intrepid UCSC student managed to hire Kingfish to play at the school. For the complete, unexpurgated story, see cryptdev's blog here.
March 8, 1975 The Gold Rush, Walnut Creek, CA Kingfish
Kingfish was also booked on March 7 at the Gold Rush, but we are certain of the UCSC show (above), so I am assuming they just played on March 8.
March 14, 1975 East Gym, Humboldt State College, Arcata, CA
Known from Weirworks.
March 20-21, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Kingfish/Soundhole
The dates are from a contemporary newspaper listing in the Hayward Daily Review. Soundhole was a popular Marin band who had worked with Van Morrison.
March 22-23, 1975 Pitschell Players Cabaret, Los Angeles Kingfish
This date has circulated for awhile as March 21, based on a tape. However, it conflicts with the Keystone date, which I have seen listed.Thanks to Commenter RD, we know that Kingfish played Pitschell Players Cabaret on both March 22 and 23, with two shows each night.
April 4, 1975 The Gold Rush, Walnut Creek, CA Kingfish
April 5, 1975 Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA Kingfish
[update] Hot Tuna was at their peak as a draw, and at a musical peak as well, with Greg Douglass added on slide guitar.
[update 2] JGMF figured out the details from a Melody Maker column by local correspondent Todd Tolces. Kingfish headlined an afternoon show at the Civic, and Hot Tuna headlined the Civic later that night (I have the Tuna tape, by the way, and it's absolutely killer, with Greg Douglas on slide guitar).
April 7, 1975 Odyssey Room, Sunnyvale Kingfish
The Odyssey Room was a popular beer joint in the South Bay, at 799 E. El Camino Real in Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale was between Palo Alto and San Jose. On weeknights, the club sometimes had "name" Bay Area bands (with records). On weekends, it was just jammed with beer drinking Silicon Valley factory workers.
The Lucky Lion was a big bar across the freeway from the Oakland Coliseum, perched on the San Francisco Bay. The previous year, the Grateful Dead had headlined a Day On The Green at the Coliseum Stadium (June 8, 1974), and now Weir was playing at the bar.
April 18, 1975 Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA: Joe Walsh/Average White Band/Kingfish
The Palomino was a country club in North Hollywood, although by the mid-1970s it was more like a Cowboy bar. This gig has a unique setlist. Dave Torbert and Robbie Hoddinott apparently had some sort of altercation with the law and were not present. Doug Sahm, a Grateful Dead associate of many years, played bass on an emergency basis. A person who attended the show described it as "almost a Weir solo show." The setlist includes a number of songs not associated with Kingfish, like "El Paso," "Big River" and "Me and Bobby McGee." I'm not aware of Weir or Kelly ever speaking about the circumstances.
April 20, 1975 County Bowl, Santa Barbara Joe Walsh/Kingfish
Unlike Jerry Garcia's various aggregations, Kingfish functioned quite well as a normal rock band, and Weir seemed to enjoy playing in regular concert settings. Santa Barbara County Bowl was a small stadium (by football standards), used for medium sized events.
April 25, 1975 Union Ballroom, U. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT Kingfish/Smolder Bros
The Grateful Dead had played this venue in April 1969.
April 27, 1975 Gym, U. Nevada-Reno Kingfish/Sutro Sympathy Orchestra
Reno is only about a five hour drive from the Bay Area. The listing for the show is above, from the Reno Evening Gazette of April 26, 1975. Sutro Sympathy Orchestra was a Reno band.
 |
| Ad in the Stanford Daily, April 29 1975 |
April 30-May 1, 1975 Sophie’s, Palo Alto Kingfish
Sophie's was at 260 South California Avenue in Palo Alto. It was later better known to Deadheads as the Keystone Palo Alto. The listing up top is from the Hayward Daily Review of April 25, 1975.
May 3-4, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Kingfish
Known from a newspaper listing.
May 8, 1975 Inn Of The Beginning, Cotati Kingfish
From a flyer. Discovered thanks to other scholarly work.
May 14, 1975 Lane County Fairgrounds, Eugene, OR Kingfish
Kingfish began a tour of the Pacific Northwest, playing some familiar places (thanks to scholar David for figuring out the OR/WA dates). The tour commenced on a Wednesday
May 15, 1975 [unknown venue], Seattle, WA Kingfish
Possibly Friday, May 16 (which would change the Portland date at Reed, below)
May 16, 1975 [venue], Reed College, Portland, OR Kingfish
May 17, 1975 Quad, U. of Oregon, Eugene, OR Kingfish daytime free concertThe band played a free concert to "make up for the bad sound at the Fairgounds" [on the 14th]. Date confirmed by eyewitness.
May 17, 1975 Gill Coliseum, Oregon State U., Corvallis, OR: Kingfish
Intrepid scholar David found this one. He can't pin down the date precisely, but this one seems the most likely. The remarkable thing was that he found a picture in the OSU Yearbook, which complained about excessive smoking.
May 18, 1975 [venue], Pendleton, OR Kingfish
Kingfish road manager Rex Jackson was from Pendleton. There is a chance that this show was on Tuesday May 13.
May 24, 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA: Kingfish
May 25, 1975 T-Car Speedway, Carson City, NV: Kingfish/Cold Blood/Country Joe McDonald/Booker T/Stoneground Memorial Weekend Spring Rock Festival
Carson City is in between Lake Tahoe and Reno. This all-day event began at 10am on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. At this time, Booker T Jones was based in the Bay Area, so this was all San Francisco acts.
May 26, 1975 County Bowl, Santa Barbara Jefferson Starship/Kingfish
Kingfish opened for Jefferson Starship at Santa Barbara County's modest stadium.
May 29-30, June 1, 1975 Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles Kingfish/Beau Brummels
The Roxy was a high profile rock club in Hollywood. It's a bit uncertain if Kingfish played on Saturday, May 31 (Beau Brummels definitely did). There's also a chance there was an afternoon show in Orange County earlier in the week (possibly May 29).
June 6, 1975 Gold Rush, Walnut Creek, CA: Kingfish
June 7, 1975 Margarita's, Santa Cruz, CA Kingfish
June 8, 1975 El Camino Park, Palo Alto Garcia-Saunders/Kingfish/Rowan Brothers
In their first co-billing, Garcia-Saunders and Kingfish play a Sunday afternoon benefit at El Camino Park in Palo Alto. The park, at 100 El Camino Real, was an easy walk from both the site of The Tangent and Kesey's Perry Lane haunts (by then redeveloped). It was also the site of the 1967 Palo Alto Be-In.
June 13, 1975 The Gold Rush, Walnut Creek, CA Kingfish
June 14, 1975 [Sonora County Fairgrounds?], Sonora, CA: Kingfish
This somewhat annual event was an all-day Sunday affair in the Sierras. Note Boz and Jesse Colin Young headlining over Peter Frampton. Frampton, always popular in San Francisco, had already recorded Comes Alive at Winterland, but the album would not be released until the next year. Kingfish was scheduled to open the concert at the un-rock-and-roll hour of 10am.
June 17, 1975 Winterland Jerry Garcia and Friends/Kingfish/Keith and Donna/Mirrors
The Grateful Dead did a benefit for the recently deceased poster artist Bob Fried, the famous "Bob Fried Memorial Boogie." Kingfish played two sets, prior to the Dead's huge set.
June 19, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Kingfish/Heroes
June 20, 1975 Keystone Berkeley Kingfish/Paul Pena
Heroes was a local band connected to the Dead indirectly. Leader Bill Cutler was an engineer and the older brother of future Dead soundman John Cutler. Paul Pena, although a solo performer, wrote the song "Jet Airliner" that was later a huge hit for the Steve Miller Band.
June 29, 1975 Oakland Coliseum Doobie Brothers/Eagles/Commander Cody/Kingfish
Once again, Kingfish was willing to open a major Bay Area rock concert.
This was a huge "Day On The Green" at the Oakland stadium. Elton John joined the Doobie Brothers for a few numbers.
There are no further Kingfish concerts until early August. Given that Jerry Garcia does not perform either during this period, I have to assume that Garcia and Weir were focused on finishing Blues For Allah, which would be released in September of 1975.
update: not quite true. An eyewitness reports on a couple of Kingfish shows in July.
July 4, 1975, Toulomne County Fairgrounds, Sonora, CA: Kingfish/Commander Cody and The Lost Planet Airmen/Stoneground/Keith And Donna
An eyewitness reported seeing this show. Sounded like a good time.
Here's another possible ... can't vouch that it happened!
ReplyDeleteHere's an excerpt, with the Kingfish mention.
The 1975 High Fidelity Music Festival slated for San Francisco will feature a host of performers in concert, with ticket prices the lowest anywhere. The Festival, hosted by the Institute of High Fidelity, runs April 3 through 5 at the Civic Center with its 7,000 - plus capacity auditorium. located at 99 Grove Street. There will be four concerts, one each night and one on Saturday afternoon.
On Thursday, April 3, Taj Mahal, noted Columbia recording artist, will kick off the Festival's entertainment with his self-styled blues music. He will be followed by Dizzy Gillespie, jazzman supreme, who will also receive the Artist of the Year Award that night. Concert begins at 9 p.m.
On Friday, April 4, starting at 9 p.m., The Sensational Alex Harvey Band will bring its own unique brand of rock n' roll to the proceedings, to be followed by Styx, the hot Chicago based soul group with their hit single, "Lady." Aretha Franklin will be honored with the artist of the Year Award on Friday night.
Saturday, afternoon, Kingfish provides the entertainment starting at 2 p.m. Kingfish, a new band, combines the talents of Bob Weir, rhythm, guitarist and vocalist of the Grateful Dead, and Dave Torbert, bass and vocalist of the New Riders, of the Purple Sage, in new directions in progressive rock. Earl Scruggs will be honored as Artist of the Year Saturday afternoon.
Reference:
"High Fidelity Music Festival To Feature Top Performers," San Francisco Sun-Reporter, Vol. XXXII, Iss. 13 (Mar 29, 1975), pg. 39.
Having been to the Palomino Show, the word was that Torbert and Robbie were caught smoking pot in their dressing room. While the crowd was kept waiting outside, the Palomino management spent the time looking for audience members smoking pot as well. Good show tho with Doug Sahm sitting in for Torbert
ReplyDeleteSome corrections and additions based on my concert scrapbook and hazy memories:
ReplyDeletePitschell Players Cabaret dates were March 22 and 23, 1975, two shows each night;
Kingfish played the Santa Barbara County Bowl on May 26, 1975 opening for Jefferson Starship, and blew them off the stage
The 6-1-75 Roxy show was broadcast on KLOS-FM 95.5
RD--thanks for your great comments. I have updated the posts accordingly.
ReplyDeleteCorry
Oops - a self-correction: it wasn't the 6-1-75 show that was broadcast but rather a 3-11-76 show, also at the Roxy in LA (broadcast on KMET FM).
ReplyDeleteAnd I have a Kingfish poster for 3 shows at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach for February 8, 9, 10. I think it was 1975 - I saw a lot of Kingfish and Legion of Mary around that time, but the kicker is Nicky Hopkins is listed as a band member. I have no recollection of ever seeing him with Kingfish, although that doesn't mean it didn't happen. And these dates seem very close to others (2-23-75 also at Golden Bear, or 1-17-76 at Golden Bear, even 2-7-76 at Winterland - Bob did get around but this is all so confusing!) It'd be nice to get some confirmation on the year and the lineup if anyone has further info...
Superb job.
ReplyDeleteOne note on the late spring 1974 pre-Bobby show at Foothill Gym. Kingfish was opening that night for the Sons of Champlin, who were smokin' hot.
Thanks for the kind words. Its funny, now that you mention that Kingfish opened for The Sons at Foothill, I recall that clearly. Memory is a funny thing.
ReplyDeleteThe Spring 74 Kingfish was a five piece, right, with Nick Ward on piano?
Is this the WFJC benefit for its conversion to stereo? It is mentioned here in a interview with the station manager. Here is the quote. " joined Foothill's campus station in '73 and quickly became addicted to the fun. ...and orchestrated a few really fun and successful fundraisers that got the station to finally go stereo. The first was a concert with the Sons of Champlin--and it was so successful that we exceeded our goal! "
Deletehttps://www.playlistresearch.com/interviews/jonadenzhamilton.htm
#1-I think you are absolutely correct, the 74 show was the same one.
Delete#2--I knew Jona Denz. When I was a high school student volunteering at KFJC-fm (The Fine 89) back in 74-75, she was an important person there. She could not have been nicer to me.
#3 There is another piece to this story, but its like 10000 words.
Here's another Kingfish date: Saturday, January 18, 1975, Longbranch Saloon, Berkeley.
ReplyDeleteThis from the following column:
“Rap-Up’s Wrap-Ups,” Oakland Tribune, January 12, 1975, p. 4-RAP.
I updated the post. The date fits in nicely; Keith and Donna played the Longbranch before they played the Keystone and other more prominent clubs, so it makes sense that Kingfish got their feet wet there as well.
ReplyDeleteAnother Kingfish date: Thurs., May 8, 1975, Inn of the Beginning, Cotati, CA. Tickets 3 bucks, about the most the Inn was charging in those days.
ReplyDeleteAlso: Kingfish at Keystone, with Grayson Street, 2/14-15/75.
ReplyDeletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/07/jgms-february-7-8-1975-canceled.html
Updated, thank you.
DeleteHi folks,Kevin Hamm here.Yes,Kingfish played at least a couple of shows in july of 75.On 4th of july at Sonora fairgrounds I saw Kieth and Donna Band,Stoneground,Kingfish and Commander Cody.A couple of weeks later I saw Kingfish open for Boz Scaggs and his orchestra at Alpine meadows ski resort.Not only did I tape the show on a cheap cassette player,but I caught Bob Weir in the parking lot and he gave me a little interview.I still have the tape!
ReplyDeleteHi folks,Kevin Hamm here.Yes,Kingfish played at least a couple of shows in july of 75.On 4th of july at Sonora fairgrounds I saw Kieth and Donna Band,Stoneground,Kingfish and Commander Cody.A couple of weeks later I saw Kingfish open for Boz Scaggs and his orchestra at Alpine meadows ski resort.Not only did I tape the show on a cheap cassette player,but I caught Bob Weir in the parking lot and he gave me a little interview.I still have the tape!
ReplyDeleteKevin, thanks for these details. It fills in some interesting blanks in the story. It's particularly fascinating to hear about the Alpine Meadows show.
DeleteThere is a lost history of Lake Tahoe rock shows which I have managed to touch on now and again. An Alpine Meadows example from the 60s can be found here: http://rockprosopography101.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-10-11-1969-tnt-alpine-meadows.html
I attended another as yet "untalked about " show, august of '75 Kingfish opened for Eric Clapton at Frost amphitheater. Santana jammed with Clapton ; with his Yvonne Elliman band.
DeleteMight have been september.
The Eric Clapton/Kingfish show was August 9 '75. I saw it too--great show. Covered in the next post in the series:
Deletehttp://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2009/10/bob-weir-and-kingfish-tour-history_07.html
Bob Weir and Kingfish played at Alpine Meadows Ski Area on Sunday August 31, 1975. Tickets were $7.00. Boz Scaggs with His Orchestra closed, according to my ticket stub and photos from that day.
ReplyDeleteAddition: Sophie's, 1/15/75.
ReplyDeleteAdded it, thanks.
DeleteAnother: 2/1/75 at Gold Rush, Walnut Creek.
ReplyDeleteCaught Kingfish in Asbury Park NJ in 1974, I believe. It was summer and at the Casino. Helped them load in with a buddy. Great show, top of their game. I moved from Jersey in spring 1975, so it had to be 74. Any info on this gig?
ReplyDelete4/18/75 at the Swing Aud in San Berdoo, Average White Band / Kingfish
ReplyDeleteKingfish 8.31.1975 Alpine Meadows -
ReplyDeletehttps://goo.gl/photos/JbuqXm8BQVGNiQhf6
Here are some more 1975 dates, that also may shed some light on the 2/19/75 date:
ReplyDeleteRiver City in Fairfax, CA 10/21/75
The Gold Rush in Walnut Creek, CA 3/7 & 3/8/75, 4/4/75, 6/13/75
Thanks so much..I had no idea there was a rock club in Walnut Creek in '75, but there was. I'm still trying to figure out the address. The post was updated.
Delete1251 Arroyo Ave Walnut Creek. I think The Gold Rush is the same people who booked the Cypress Gardens Restaurant. “Gold Rush Productions” had been promoting shows at the restaurant. They also booked the Jerry/Merl show at the Rheem 2/9/74.
DeleteIn Todd Tolces's Wednesday 4/2/75 column in the Berkeley Daily Gazette, he references the 1975 High Fidelity Music Festival at the SF Civic. He says "this Thursday" is Dizzy Gillespie - I don't know if he means 4/3 or 4/10 - I would guess the former. Styx headlining Friday, Saturday afternoon would be Kingfish, then Hot Tuna Saturday night. Hopefully this gives you enough to go on to triangulate whether this KF gig would have been Sat. 4/5 or 4/12.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. It resolves a couple of issues. I knew that Hot Tuna played the Civic on Apr 5 '75--cause I have the tape--and I had thought Kingfish had opened. But they didn't, they played their own event in the afternoon.
DeleteIf you've never heard the live tapes of Greg Douglass with Hot Tuna, you should. As good as it gets in the Tunaverse.
Not Melody Maker, BTW. Tolces had a column for a little while in a Berkeley paper, the Daily Gazette.
DeleteFound a date by way of the Boz Scaggs fansite
ReplyDeleteJune 15, 1975 Calaveras County Fairgrounds, Angels Camp, CA (Mountain Aire 1975, with Jesse Colin Young, Peter Frampton & Kingfish)
A link to the poster.
Deletehttps://concerts.fandom.com/wiki/Mountain_Aire_1975
Wow. I found some really high quality pictures from the festival including this good one of Bobby. https://algolub.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/1975-Mountain-Aire/G0000QvtGtdC6OLQ/I0000tSJv5k07jew/C00009yM_5Z6aOt0
DeleteFound a bootleg for "5-5-1975 Los Angeles Aud"
ReplyDeletePromised Land
Race Is On
I feel so bad
Just a girl I use to know
El Paso
Swinging doors
All over now
Young Blood
Me and Bobby McGee
CC Rider
Battle New Orleans
Around and Around
Never mind. I bet it’s just the 4-19 set misdated.
DeleteGot this date from the Eagles fansite
ReplyDeleteJune 29 1975 Oakland Coliseum CA Doobie Brothers/Commander Cody/Kingfish
I think the date was in May
DeleteThe Day on the Green show was on June 29. Elton John was a surprise guest for the Doobies set so it is well documented
DeletePoint taken. I fixed the post. Thanks as always for all the careful research
DeleteMinor change
ReplyDeleteApril 20, 1975 County Bowl, Santa Barbara Joe Walsh/Kingfish
https://sbbowl.com/concerts/pastdetail/1975_04_20_joe_walsh
The back side of this Doobie Brothers poster I found on eBay. Has the poster for the 4/20 Joe walsh/kingfish show and the May 11 Jackson Browne show.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Doobie-Brothers-and-Joe-Walsh-Flyer-from-Pacific-Presentations-As-Seen-/133378295308?nma=true&si=HT%252BPWV4W%252FaBwu8an2UAsDOisvUY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
GDsets has February 8 1975 Kings Castle Incline Village Nevada https://gdsets.com/73posters/1975_02_08.jpg
ReplyDelete"July ?, 1975 Alpine Meadows Ski Area, Lake Tahoe, CA: Boz Scaggs & Orchestra/Kingfish"
ReplyDeleteAm I right to assume that they didn't book the same bill twice in a summer. And that this is
August 31, 1975 Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe, CA: Boz Scaggs/Kingfish
And the source miss remembered the month?
Correct--fixed it.
DeleteFrom a eBay listing
ReplyDeleteApril 18th 1975 Swing Auditorium San Bernardino, Ca
Joe Walsh/Average White Band/Kingfish
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265009198626
Another great find. Updated thee post
DeleteOk I hit a wall.
ReplyDeleteI know they played. Left another student event board in hot water with the school administration. But the exact May date is hard to pin down.
This Saturday is my best guess.
May 16th 1975 Oregon State University Gill Coliseum Kingfish
Here is the yearbook with great pictures of the show.
Pages 36 and 37.
https://oregondigital.org/sets/osu-yearbooks/oregondigital:5712m676q#page/41/mode/1up
Amazing work. Over on the Oregon thread, another Commenter mentions some gigs, but only recalled Reed (in Portland). So I'm assuming Fri May 16 for Corvallis, and Sat May 17th for Reed.
DeleteIt’s either the Saturday or maybe Friday. Looking at the yearbooks one year before and one after. I see mostly Saturday dates for student board concerts except for one Friday date.
DeleteWas at OSU Saturday May 17 & Sunday May 18 at UO! Just typed-in long story about what happened at Gill Coliseum in the Facebook group 'Eugene Grateful Dead Dances.' today. My email is morgansteve241@yahoo.com. Can add more details to story. Oh, May 18, 1975 was the University of Oregon Folk Festival on a lawn somewhere on campus.
DeletePlayed one night at Gill Coliseum. May 17. OSU upset with us moving the chairs off the floor and stacking them in the racks so we could stand. Band was loud (and good). Thought I blew an eardrum but it was just a speaker. Jerry so toasted he fell off his stool-kept playing from the floor. My rental tiny house was due East of Gill one block on the SE corner. I was carrying in the second keg, turned around and Jerry handed me a joint. Most memorable moment of my year at OSU. pete lundberg silkpaintingbypete@gmail.com
DeleteI found this Billboard March 26, 1975 scan.
ReplyDeleteFour things I found interesting.
Page 16 A Stanford U - ASSU Special events ad with Kingfish mention
Page 26 Lots of kingfish in the Radio play charts
Page 40 A really good article with the owner of the River City Fairfax club
Page 44 A Review of the Roxy Kingfish show. "Competent" ouch
Page 40
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1976/Billboard%201976-03-27.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1rT71zJznXgy9JpuQ4N-Pmv9mI9Ii1mcjI4RhjoXcadhSbySo9Tp882ic
DeleteCorrection March 26 1976 not 75
DeleteFascinating interview with the River City guy. This is actually '76, and Stanford had already presented Kingfish (with Eric Clapton Aug 9 75)
DeleteThe last two dates that GDsets have listed. I haven't found where they got these images from but for completeness they should be added.
ReplyDeleteApril 14 1975 Lucky Lion Edgewater Oakland Ca
https://gdsets.com/73posters/1975_04_14.jpg
May 25 1975 T-Car Speedway Carson City NV Kingfish/Cold Blood/Country Joe/Booker T/Stoneground
https://gdsets.com/73posters/1975_05_25.jpg
Thanks! I didn't notice these. Completeness R Us. They have been added (plus I pinged the proprietor of GDSets, so he will be updating the Weir list with all your finds).
DeleteKingfish at the Lucky Lion Edgewater. Holy cow.
Outside of the realm of Kingfish but I had to give a shout out to this website I found. 100's of vintage magazine scans. Billboard, cash box etc. Radio journals, hit sheets just tons of music biz info. Both US and Uk. Just a overwhelming amount cool research links.
ReplyDeletehttps://worldradiohistory.com/index.htm
Yeah, that one is great
ReplyDeleteAny idea who the “& friends” would be for a 1975 Paul Pena listing? I do love that 1973 album with Jerry and Merl on it...
ReplyDeleteActually I see a 1974 listing too.
DeleteNovember 9th Paul Pena & Friends Sleeping Lady Cafe Fairfax Ca
That is interesting. I didn't know he ever played anything but solo gigs. Of course, it could have been him playing solo, friends doing their things separately.
DeleteAlso it occurs to me that
DeleteFebruary 1 1975 The Gold Rush, Walnut Creek, CA Kingfish
Should be added as it is mentioned in the Frankie incident report from the 2nd.
good research. Added
DeleteMissed these three additions from the GDsets list. Finally just downloaded it and stoped going back and forth comparing pages. That should have been my first move. Lesson learned.
ReplyDeleteYour speculation was correct. GDsets found the ad. Two more nights
February 21-23, 1975 Golden Bear, Huntington Beach, CA Kingfish
Added a forth night to the start
February 18-21, 1976 Electric Ballroom, Atlanta, GA: Kingfish early and late shows all nights [Wed-Saturday]
https://gdsets.com/76posters/1976_02_18.jpg
The golden Bear ad.
Deletehttps://gdsets.com/73posters/1975_02_21.jpg
This my current speculation/educated guess for the May NW Oregon / Washington State Kingfish shows.
ReplyDeleteWednesday May 14? 1975 Lane County Fairgrounds Eugene OR - Kingfish
From a social media post. Might be the 15th instead.
Thursday May 15? 1975 Seatle - Kingfish
Same social media report also could be the 16th
Friday May 16 1975 Reed College Portland - Kingfish
My guess. I have seen a photo from the Reed college show. But the photographer can't remember the date
Saturday May 17 1975 Daytime University of Oregon Quad - Kingfish
Free unannounced show on the Quad at a student fair "to make up for the bad sound at the Fairgrounds"
Eyewitness confirms date
Saturday May 16, 1975 Nighttime Gill Coliseum, Oregon State U., Corvallis, OR: Kingfish
Where in Seattle would be the hip place to play in 1975? I will keep hunting
I meant may 17 on the last OSU show.
DeleteWith nothing to really base it on.
DeleteSunday May 18?? 1975 Pendleton OR - Kingfish
Fantastic as always. Road manager Rex Jackson booking the band in his hometown. I updated the post with all the dates (and the Oregon post too)
Delete"GD The Illustrated Trip" reproduces the Dead's office calendar for late May 1975 on page 180. It includes
DeleteMonday 12 GD Session
Tuesday 13 Weir Oregon
Wednesday 14 Weir Oregon
Thursday 15 Weir Oregon
Friday 16 Weir Oregon
Saturday 17 Weir Oregon
Sunday 18 GD off
Monday 19 GD Session 3pm [later ruled through 'OUT']
Tuesday 20 GD Session 1pm
Where did they start on Tuesday the 13th? That date is unaccounted for assuming that the tour went according to plan.
Great research. Per DKS above, the Pendleton date was a guess--maybe Pendleton on Tuesday May 13?
DeleteA Pendleton show would surely be a massive party that would take a while for everyone to recover from. It would make more sense to have it as the end of the tour than the start. But maybe that is crediting them with more good sense than they had.
DeleteYes the Pendleton date could easily be Tuesday instead. I have three separate people talk about a Pendleton date. And Sunday seemed the best guess but I didn't have the office calendar to refer to. The vague memories from people who went suggest a very short late afternoon/sunset show.
DeleteOK. Finally found a newspaper listing for the Gil Coliseum show. The show is FRIDAY not saturday.
DeleteFrom the Albany Democrat-Herald (13 May 1975)
May 16 1975 Gill Coliseum, Oregon State U., Corvallis, OR: Kingfish [Friday]
I should learn that nothing is ever easy with this stuff. To add to the confusion. This listing makes the date the 17th like I guessed.
DeleteFrom the Covallis Gazette-Times (17 May 1975)
May 17, 1975 Nighttime Gill Coliseum, Oregon State U., Corvallis, OR: Kingfish
i was given the job of joint roller for the band and crew, must have rolled at least 20,if not more fattys before the show, lots of seeds back then which is probably the reason i couldn't remember what date or which show but i do remember the lane county fairgrounds show and you tickled my memory about the u of o free show.lots of oregon dead friends
DeleteAs far as Kingfish road managers go Richard Hundgen seemed to be the man for the East coast shows. Rex for the west. Also Billboard has Tim Hovey as personal manager in 1975 and Rock Scully in 1976. If anyone cares.
ReplyDeleteWell, I care. Tim Hovey was a childhood friend of Matthew Kelly's. I also think he was a child actor in Hollywood. Plus he was the soundman.
DeleteI knew Rock Scully had some involvement. He tried to get Mickey Hart into Kingfish at some point, and Kelly (and presumably Torbert) said no.
i don't know who Richard Hundgen is (or was). I know Rex wanted to be GD road manager, and was for the 76 tour. So he learned the game somewhat with Kingfish. Do you have any other information on Hundgen?
Hundgen was road manager for the Dead at some point. Good friend of Janis. There use to be a great interview on youtube with him but it seems to be gone now.
DeleteThank you for posting this about Richard Hundgen. He passed on 4/12/2021 in San Francisco the city he loved. I wish I had more information about that time in his life. It meant so much to him. I am one of his nephews and unfortunately I was too young and on the opposite coast and regret not finding out more! RIP Uncle Richard
DeleteThanks to the clue about the Deads calendar being in the Illustrated Trip. I found three more possible dates. I will have to cross check with newspapers.
ReplyDeleteMay 24, 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA Kingfish
June 6, 1975 The Gold Rush, Sacramento, CA Kingfish
June 14, 1975 Sonora, CA Kingfish
Sonora is in the same general part of CA as Angels Camp, so June 14 is a very plausible date.
DeleteAre you able to determine it there was a "Gold Rush" in both Walnut Creek and Sacramento, or have I just been crossing them up?
I thought we put these Trip dates in years ago. Anyway, are the Roxy late May dates firm? Were they really Thu 29, Fri 30 and Sun 1 June or actually Fri 30, Sat 31 and Sun 1 with a 4-6pm show somewhere in Orange on Thu 29 as on the calendar?
ReplyDeleteMay 31 1975 at the Roxy is a known Beau Brummels date. With a live bootleg. For whatever that is worth. They could still have been a opener.
DeleteThe calendar for the 29 has three different handwritings.
DeleteOff (across the date)
P.P.M. Mix
orange
Weir 4-6
The "LA Free Press" p 26 for 1975-05-23 lists Kingfish, Beau Brummels at the Roxy from 1975-05-30 to 6-01 then the 1975-05-30 edition p 30 lists Kingfish, Beau Brummels from 1975-05-27 to 1975-06-01. So it looks like Kingfish and Beau Brummels was a double bill ending on the Sunday and probably starting on the Friday 30 (as per GD calendar) but maybe had earlier days added.
DeleteThat 29th entry on the calendar could be 1.P.M MIX or 7.P.M MIX. The crossing thru on the 30th looks like Orange could have been there originally but was moved back a day to "Weir 4-6 PM" on the 29th with Orange added in different ink later.
To add more confusion the only “KLOS 951/2 in coordination with Pacific productions” ad we have says May-30 June 1 with no mention of Beau.
DeleteYou are right. My mistake. The calendar says "Sacra." I forgot that the Gold Rush is in Walnut Creek. The calendar lists those dates as "Walnut".
ReplyDeleteJune 6, 1975 [Venue?] Sacramento, CA Kingfish
Found the rest of the April mini weekend tour of Utah Idaho & Nevada from newspaper articles
ReplyDeleteApril 24, 1975 Nelson Field House Utah State Univ. Logan Utah Kingfish {Thursday}
April 26, 1975 Idaho State Univ. Pocatello Idaho Kingfish {Saturday}
Here is the poster for the Logan show.
Deletehttps://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/orig-1975-bob-weir-kingfish-poster-80488158
And a minor addition of the full name of the opener.
April 24, 1975 Nelson Field House Utah State Univ. Logan Utah Kingfish/Smolder Brothers Twolve {Thursday}
Found in the Santa Cruz Sentinel 28 Feb 1975
ReplyDeleteMarch 1 and 2, 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA Kingfish
The March 2nd conflicts with a Winterland date so I assume it was cancelled. But who knows about the March 1st date.
Found in the Santa Cruz Sentinel 11 April 1975
ReplyDeleteApril 11 & 12 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA Kingfish
Found in the Santa Cruz Sentinel from 18 July 1975
ReplyDeleteJuly 18 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA Kingfish
Found in the Santa Cruz Sentinel from 23 May 1975
ReplyDeleteMay 24 1975 Chateau Liberte, Los Gatos, CA Kingfish
From the San Fran Examiner (23 March 1975)
ReplyDeleteA ad for the Final Show of Winter concert season
I think the resort was bought by Hyatt around this time.
March 28-29, 1975 King's Castle, Incline Village, NV; Kingfish (two shows)
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75257336/kings-castle-kingfish-concerts-1975-mar/
DeleteThe ad from the San Fran Examiner (23 March 1975)
From the LA Times ad (29 June 1975)
ReplyDeleteJuly 10-12, 1975 Golden Bear, Huntington Beach, CA Kingfish
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75288902/july-10-12-1975-kingfish/
April 2 discussion of April 5 Kingfish headlining afternoon show https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/52328#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=7&r=0&xywh=283%2C1349%2C2006%2C1219
ReplyDeleteadd new date
ReplyDeleteJanuary 16 1975 The Bodega Campbell CA Kingfish
And add opener to
January 15 1975 Sophie's Kingfish / Fever
Link to article and review of Sophie's concert
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109735066/kingfish-at-shophies/
Thanks--updated
DeleteWe saw Kingfish play in an old theater in Orange Ca,must've been 1975....My recollection is that they were supposed to play at the Golden Bear but for some reason the show got moved....Have never found any setlist,recording or any evidence at all of this show ever happened....Definitely did though.....We were there.....
ReplyDeleteI've got some great photos of the '75 Orange Theater show- 2nd row, center, someplace in storage. Great show in an awesome venue, right off the circle near Chapman University. It's a church now I think. I've never found a tape, set list or mention of the show anywhere but here.
DeleteI was visiting SF in March of 1975. I was at the Winterland show. Terry and The Pirates opened. I recall John Cippolina and Les Dudek playing. Don't recall Buddy Cage being there. I also caught the SNACK concert before flying back to NY. Great times! Winterland was a fun place with the blacklights and glowing smiles!
ReplyDeleteCorey342 The Odyssey Room was not a beer joint ! Full alcoholic beverages open from 10 AM till 2 AM every night seven days and nights a week for a little over 20 years. We had a live dance bands over 18 years in a row seven nights a week never missed a night that’s over 7000 nights in a row a world record I’m sure. We never missed an evening with a live dance band for that 7000 nights in a row through bomb scares power outages and the like . I remember one Monday night which was our concert night with national acts the power went out at 6 PM and didn't come back on till after midnight in the region. We had country Joe McDonald booked and we had a house piano. So he put his man on keyboards Joe was on acoustic and a drumer of course lotta hand percussions some harmonies loaded the house with candles those little globe red and orange candles that were so common in nightclubs at that time we took a dozen cases out of our store room loaded up the walkways and the bathrooms and the entrance The bartenders worked out of the registers because we had mechanical handles for them the older NCR 1900s known as the tombstone registers it was a great show quite an event and our record was not broken that was at about year 12 then we went on with another eight years until we finally closed in December 1989 with five dance bands every night for over 18 years The first couple of years of our twenty we were open 5 nights but did not have a band on Sunday or Monday For the last four or five years we had two or three acts on Friday nights because we did get the Silicon Valley crowd after work and on into the evening as you stated for several years we had James Lee Reeves play from 5 to 7 with an act on at 7:15 with a quick change that played at 10:30 but another band on at 1015 that played to 1:45 The bands were only working about three hours instead of the normal four so they only took a couple 10 minute breaks That was a full evening of music I am at nobullschmidt@hotmail.com let’s talk
ReplyDeleteSaw Kingfish at Campbell Hall
ReplyDeleteUCSB
Not sure if the year
Kingfish (and Weir) played Campbell Hall on May 22 '76, early and late shows.
Delete