I love updating all this early stuff! Blair Jackson's ("Garcia, An American Life")
book is a marvelous read, over and over again!
Even though I sent here to the list a updated draft recently for pre-dead, here is
the latest I thought you may be interested in. I'm sorry, but about half of this is
repeated since the last update.
Any comments, changes, corrections & etc. are more then welcomed! Enjoy, Teddy :^)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BAND Phil Lesh
VENUE
CITY El Cerrito
STATE CA
DATE late 1940s
SET1
SET2
SET3
COMMENTS -- (pg. 43*), In third grade Phil Lesh began violin lessons and he stuck
with it long enough to become second chair in a local youth orchestra after a few
years.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND El Cerrito High School marching and concert bands
VENUE El Cerrito High School
CITY El Cerrito
STATE CA
DATE early 1950s
SET1
SET2
SET3
COMMENTS -- (pg. 43*), At fourteen Phil Lesh dropped violin and took up the trumpet,
playing in the El Cerrito High School marching and concert bands.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Phil Lesh
VENUE Berkely High School
CITY Berkely
STATE CA
DATE 1955-1957
SET1
SET2
SET3
COMMENTS -- (pg. 43*), Midway through high school Phil Lesh's parents moved to
neighboring Berkeley so Phil could go to Berkeley High, which had a much more serious
music program.
-- Yearbooks from Phil Lesh's sophomore, junior, and senior year at Berkely High
School. The yearbooks date 1955-57. The sophomore and junior yearbooks are group
photos of the whole class instead of one of each individual. Phil is pictured many
times throughout these yearbooks, I do not have all the pictures for you to look at
but here are a lot of them:
< http://www.goodbear.com/images/lesh/lesh01.jpg >
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RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry & Daniel Garcia
VENUE Jerry Garcia's and Mother Garcia's House on Top of the 400 Club
CITY
STATE CA
DATE 08/01/57
SET1 Do You Wanna Dance
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- Aug. 1957 (pg. 19*), around the time of Jerry's birthday on 8/1/57: On
the top of the bar called "400 Club", (where Jerry lived & his mom owned the bar),
Jerry gets a accordion. Ranting & raving his mom turns it into a pawnshop guitar &
amplifier. Jerry helps his cousin, Daniel, get a guitar too for $25. They both play
together while learning on their own from a few books.
>From Alex Allen's Grateful Dead Song and Lyric Finder -
< http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/DO1YOUWA.HTM >:
Do You Wanna Dance
Lyrics: Bobby Freeman
Music: Bobby Freeman
Only ever played once by the Dead, with the Neville Brothers as guests onstage on 31
Dec 1987. But see below for a possible earlier involvement by Jerry Garcia.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you wanna dance and hold my hand
Tell me I'm your loving man
Oh baby, do you wanna dance
Do you wanna dance and make romance
Squeeze me all through the night
Oh baby, do you wanna dance
Do you wanna dance under the moonlight
Squeeze me all through the night
Oh baby do you wanna dance
Do you wanna dance and hold my hand
Squeeze me and say I'm your man
Oh baby do you wanna dance
Do you wanna dance under the moonlight
Squeeze and kiss me all through the night
Oh baby do you wanna dance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did Jerry Garcia play on the original recording?
According to some accounts, Jerry Garcia played guitar on the original Bobby Freeman
recording of "Do You Wanna Dance?"
The fullest account comes from David Nelson, quoted in Robert Greenfield's "Dark
Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia" (pp63-64):
"We all knew that he'd played electric guitar on Bobby Freeman's 'Do You Wanna
Dance.' Before any of this. Before the folk thing. When he was in high school. In a
real funky studio. If you listen to that recording, there are no drums. There are
cardboard boxes. He was a kid from Balboa High. It was what he used to refer to as
his 'teenage hoodlum period.' When he got that first electric guitar from his mom in
exchange for the accordion. He got that guitar and was really happy with it and he
told me that he just tuned it to one tuning. The solo actually sounds like it could
be in that tuning because he said it wasn't until a couple of months later when he
found out how to really tune it. It's very primitive and it's very much that style of
plunging out and jumping in with both feet first. The solo itself is basically two
licks used very modestly. Very modestly."
And Sara Ruppenthal Garcia backs this up in the same book (p36):
"And in high school, Jerry had played on Bobby Freeman's 'Do You Wanna Dance.' But he
didn't consider that exactly worthy. What he really wanted to do was play with Bill
Monroe."
No mention of this is made in either Blair Jackson's "Garcia" An American Life" or
Dennis McNally's "A Long Strange Trip." Rock Scully, in "Living With The Dead" says
(p70):
"[Tom Donahue] has his own label, Autumn Records ... Garcia has done session work for
Autumn Records (including Bobby Freeman's single "Do You Wanna Dance?") so Tom
already knows him." What is odd about this story is the timing. Jerry Garcia would
have been 15 when "Do You Wanna Dance?" was recorded, and had been playing the guitar
for less than a year. The liner notes from a Bobby Freeman CD give this account of
how the song was recorded:
"Bobby decided to visit the disc jockey on his own, taking with him a drum-playing
friend ... Bobby accompanying himself on piano and his friend beating out the rhythm
on the congas demonstrated his wares on four numbers, which the deejay took away with
him. The vice president of Jubilee Records of New York was honeymooning in San
Francisco and combining business with pleasure called in at the local radio station
to see how his company's products were faring. The deejay instead played him Bobby's
tape, and Mortimer Pailitz liked what he heard and within three weeks, Bobby was
signed to Jubilee. They took the original tapes that Bobby had cut in Frisco,
overdubbed a guitar, bass and drums, and released two of the tracks [including Do You
Wanna Dance] on their Josie subsidiary in March 1958."
David Nelson's comments square with Jerry Garcia having played on the recording with
his newly-acquired guitar, although I'm still not sure I believe that a record
company would use as a session musician a 15 year old school-kid who barely knew how
to play the guitar.
Some have speculated that Jerry Garcia knew Bobby Freeman when they were growing
up -- Freeman was only a couple of years older than Garcia. That's possible, though I
don't know of any evidence to support it.
It seems that Rock Scully is wrong when he says that Garcia's session work for Autumn
Records included "Do You Wanna Dance?" Tom Donahue and Bob Mitchell founded Autumn
Records in 1963, some five years after "Do You Wanna Dance?" was recorded -- though
it is true that some of Bobby Freeman's later recordings were released by Autumn
Records, and the Grateful Dead recorded some demos in their very early days (under
the name "The Emergency Crew"). See Matt Schofield's discography for more information
on Autumn Records. From Matt Schofield's discography - <
http://www.deaddisc.com/GDFD_Autumn.htm > .
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Alex Allan, Robert Greenfield's "Dark Star: An Oral Biography of
Jerry Garcia" (pp36,63-64), Rock Scully, in "Living With The Dead" says (p70), David
A. Finney, Matt Schofield, Jerry & Daniel Garcia, David Nelson, Rock Scully, Sara
Ruppenthal Garcia.
BAND Jerry & Daniel Garcia
VENUE Up on "Austin Creek" in the Vacation home Jerry's mom bought
CITY near Cazadero
STATE CA
DATE Winter 1958
SET1 Chuck Berry songs ; Bill Haley songs
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- Winter 1958 (pg. 23*), Up on "Austin Creek", (about 60 miles north of San
Francisco), near the "Russian River" town of Cazadero; Daniel & Jerry played guitar
for hours in the family room of the vacation home Jerry's mom bought. Daniel says,
"we'd play Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, everything."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Daniel Garcia.
BAND Bobby Freeman w/Jerry Garcia?
VENUE
CITY
STATE CA
DATE 03/??/58
SET1 Do You Wanna Dance
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS See the 08/01/57 entry.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry, Daniel & Tiff Garcia along with the Garcia Brothers
VENUE Near the summer house at a lodge
CITY Lompico
STATE CA
DATE Late 1950s
SET1 Wilbur Harrison tunes
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- Late 1950s (pg. 23*), Near the summer house at a lodge in "Lompico" in
the wooded part of Northern Santa Cruz County; Daniel, Jerry & Tiff (Jerry's brother)
play. They play some Wilbur Harrison tunes up on the lodge dance floor. Jerry &
Daniel on guitar and Tiff thinks he was beating on a cymbal &
a box by ear and copying records. On other occasions it would be the "Garcia
Brothers" with Jerry & Danial on guitar & Tiff on bass sometimes.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Daniel Garcia.
BAND Jerry & Daniel Garcia
VENUE Near the summer house at a nearby dam
CITY Lompico
STATE CA
DATE Late 1950s
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- Also in "Lampico" (pg. 24*), Jerry & Daniel would practice their guitars
at a nearby dam.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Daniel Garcia.
BAND Jerry & Daniel Garcia
VENUE Stowe Lake in Golden Gate Park
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE Late 1950s
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 24*), Jerry & Daniel would also practice at "Stowe Lake", in "Golden
Gate Park".
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Daniel Garcia.
BAND Jerry & Daniel Garcia
VENUE Daniel's mom & dad's place
CITY
STATE CA
DATE Late 1950s
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 24*), Jerry & Daniel would also practice at Dan's mom & dad's place.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Daniel Garcia.
BAND Jerry & Daniel Garcia
VENUE Aunt Lena's house
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE Late 1950s
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 24*), Jerry & Daniel would also practice at Aunt Lena's house in San
Francisco during
a family reunion.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Daniel Garcia.
BAND Jerry & Daniel Garcia
VENUE Aunt Lena's house
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE Thanksgiving 1958 or 1959
SET1 Donna ; Fly Trap ; Church Bells May Ring ; Whispering Bells ; Everly Brothers
songs
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- Thanksgiving 1958 or 1959 (pg. 24*), Jerry entertains his relatives. At
the family reunion at Aunt Lena's house, Daniel joins Jerry and they play "Donna" by
Richie Valens. During this period Daniel and Jerry wrote a few simple love songs
together. Daniel still has the lyrics and fingering writings. One song they co-wrote
was, "Fly Trap". Others they played were: "Church Bells May Ring", Whispering Bells,
and Everly Brothers songs.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Daniel Garcia.
BAND San Mateo College Jazz Band (with Phil Lesh)
VENUE San Mateo College
CITY San Mateo
STATE CA
DATE 04/05/59
SET1 I'll Remember April [3:16] ; Wail Frail [3:12] ; Finnegan's Awake [2:57] ;
unknown [3:03] ; unknown [2:38]
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS Hugh Barroll:
I always thought the second piece was entitled Wail Frail (frail being 50's hipster
slang for woman).
Christian Crumlish:
College of San Mateo, where we found yearbooks, course listings, and school
newspapers documenting the Dance Band (and later Jazz Band) from Phil's time there.
Besides finding several photos of Phil in the newspaper and the yearbook, we got the
dates of several specific performances and citations of the debuts of Wail Frail and
Finnegans Awake. We also learned that Phil ran for school Vice President in '59!
RECORDINGS 20 A?. Differences from song-to-song in recording quality and tone
suggests this material spans more than one date.
CONTRIBUTORS Jeff Tiedrich, Thayer Jennings, Teddy GoodBear, Hugh Barroll, Christian
Crumlish.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE Fort Ord
CITY near Monterey
STATE CA
DATE 4/12/60 to late 08/??/60
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 24-26*), Jerry joins the army. He goes to Fort Ord and brings his
2nd electric guitar a Sears Silverstone into the army with him. He learned the
rudiments of acoustic fingerpicking during this time period.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE Fort Winfield Scott
CITY San Francisco's Presidio
STATE CA
DATE late 08/??/60 to 12/14/60
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 24-27*), Jerry gets 1st base "boring" assignment, goes AWOL and
mutually agrees to get out of the military. He officially get's out on 12/14/60.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Jerry Garcia.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE Kepler's Books
CITY Menlo Park
STATE CA
DATE 12/14/60 to ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 31-34*), Jerry hangs out & plays at Kepler's Books on El Camino
Real. Roy Kepler allowed people to sit around all day at coffee tables, play music &
read books.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Jerry Garcia.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE
CITY
STATE
DATE after 02/20/61 for nearly 2 years
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 31-34*), Jerry met Barbara Meier. Barbara gave Jerry money in dribs
for nearly two years, and even bought him two guitars during that time.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Barbara Meier.
BAND Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter
VENUE Comedia Theater
CITY
STATE CA
DATE 03/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 34*), Jerry meets 19 year old Robert Hunter while working an evening
lighting job at the Comedia theater.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Robert Hunter.
BAND Jerry Garcia & Robert Hunter
VENUE vacant lot
CITY East Palo Alto
STATE CA
DATE 04/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 35-36*), Within a month of meeting, Garcia and Hunter were living
side by side in their cars in a vacant lot in East Palo Alto -- Jerry in an old
Cadillac (with the words 'Call Pam' written in the dirt on the back window and Bob in
a 1940 Chrysler straight-eight he'd picked up for fifty bucks a day or two after he'd
arrived in town.
They ate crushed pineapple (Hunter got from when he was in the military) from big
tins day after day using Garcia's plastic spoons he had in his glovebox of his car.
They started singin' and playin' together just for something to do.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter.
BAND Bob and Jerry
VENUE Arroyo Lounge
CITY
STATE CA
DATE 05/05/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 36*), Jerry says, "We got our first professional gig. We got five
bucks apiece." Their innocuous little folk act was billed as Bob and Jerry, but they
performed only two real gigs -- one at Arroyo Lounge. Bob says about the five dollar
payday, "we decided to frame as the first musical earnings for either of us, but
spent it on cigarettes instead."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter.
BAND Bob and Jerry
VENUE Peninsula School
CITY
STATE CA
DATE 06/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 36*), Their second gig was at Peninsula School's eighth grade
graduation ceremony in early June. That gig had been arranged by Danya Veltfort,
whose younger sister was matriculating. Danya says, "Bob and Jerry took home fifty
dollars for their troubles, good money for those days (and that crowd)."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Danya Veltfort.
BAND Bob and Jerry
VENUE Barbara Meier's father's house living room
CITY
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 36*), The only known tape of Bob and Jerry was recorded by Barbara
Meier's father in the living room of her house at her sixteenth birthday party. As
Danya says, "It was a big deal to be able to make a tape in those days; not like
today where everyone has recorders."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Danya Veltfort.
BAND Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia and Alan Trist
VENUE
CITY
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 36*), Alan Trist about his new friend Robert Hunter, "Like me he
really was into reading; we'd spend hours having literate discussions, picking books
off the shelves and getting into them. Jerry was carrying his guitar around and
Hunter and I had our notebooks and we'd go places and Jerry would play and Hunter and
I would write. Or we'd got to a cafe somewhere and we'd write and sometimes Jerry
would sit there and draw.
Hunter tells me now that Jerry and I were the ones who were raving around at the
time, full of theatricality and spouting lines of poetry and being totally wild, and
he was more circumspect. I think his recollection is probably correct, but what's
interesting to me is that's not the person I later became."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Alan Trist.
BAND Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia and Alan Trist
VENUE City Lights Books
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 36*), When they had a working car, they often would go up to San
Francisco to wander around North Beach and soak up what was left of the Beat scenes
at places like City Lights Books and the Coffee Gallery.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Robert Hunter, Jerry Garcia and Alan Trist
VENUE Coffee Gallery
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 36*), When they had a working car, they often would go up to San
Francisco to wander around North Beach and soak up what was left of the Beat scenes
at places like City Lights Books and the Coffee Gallery.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE Kepler's Books backroom
CITY Menlo Park
STATE CA
DATE late spring 1961
SET1 popular tunes by the Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, The Wevers, Pete Seeger and
others
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 37*), Garcia had traded in his Sears electric guitar for an acoustic
model shortly after arriving in Palo Alto, and late that spring Barbara bought him a
better guitar, and shortly after that, a lovely sounding Stella twelve-string. Jerry
spent hours in the back room at Kepler's practicing and playing the limited folk
repertoire he had mastered, which consisted mainly of straight-ahead popular tunes by
the Kingston Trio, Joan Baez, The Wevers, Pete Seeger and other leading lights of the
burgeoning folk revival movement.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia and Marshall Leicester
VENUE Kepler's Books
CITY Menlo Park
STATE CA
DATE late spring 1961
SET1 Everybody Loves Saturday Night ; [Elizabeth Cotten's] 'Freight Train'
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 38-39*), In late spring of 1961, Marshall Leicester, who'd had a
passing friendship with Garcia back at Menlo Oaks Middle School, returned to the
Peninsula from a year at Yale. One day, "I walked into Kepler's and Jerry was sitting
there playing a twelve-string guitar and singing tunes like 'Everybody Loves Saturday
Night' which was one of those kind of Pete Seeger 'love-your-worldwide-neighbors'
songs in which the verses are the words 'everybody loves Saturday night' in about
fifteen languages -- sort of the last gasp of the politically oriented folk music of
the '30s and '40s. I think I asked to borrow his guitar and play some of my kind of
music on it, and I think we were mutually impressed with each other. We remembered
having met before and we hit it off."
Leicester taught Garcia the rudiments of the fingerpicking guitar style and also
introduced Garcia to the main traditional white folksong forms of the south --
old-time string band music and bluegrass. "He was playing more strum stuff, Kingston
Trio oriented songs," he notes. "He wasn't playing melodically oriented guitar at
all. I think he'd gotten away from rock 'n' roll too, so he wasn't using a flat pick
either. So I taught him how to play stuff like [Elizabeth Cotten's] 'Freight Train',
and he just took it and ran with it on his own -- I never saw anybody learn how to do
something as quickly as he picked up on that. So from there he went and made himself
into someone with a sense of style.
In those days we all wanted to be Mike Seeger, so we were all trying to learn to play
five or six instruments. I played guitar, banjo, autoharp and a little mouth harp. I
didn't become a fiddler, which is mostly what I am these days, until a couple of
years later. Jerry was just playing the guitar at first, but then of course he took
up the banjo and got really good at that, too."
By 1963 Jerry was trying his hand at mandolin, dobro, fiddle and autoharp as well.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Marshall Leicester.
BAND Jerry Garcia, David Nelson and various music players
VENUE The Chateau
CITY Menlo Park
STATE CA
DATE Summer 1961
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 31*), 'The Chateau was mainly the various people from the Kepler's
crowd', adds David Nelson, who met Garcia in the summer of 1961. People would play
music endlessly.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), David Nelson.
BAND Jerry Garcia, David Nelson and various music players
VENUE St. Michael's Alley
CITY Palo Alto
STATE CA
DATE Summer 1961
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 31*), Yet another meeting place was one of the local folk music
spots, St. Michael's Alley on University Avenue in Palo Alto. It's there that the
area's most celebrated singer and activist, Joan Baez, got her start while she was
still a student at Palo Alto High School. As Alan Trist puts it, 'Kepler's was the
main spot in the daytime and at night everyone would go over to St. Michael's Alley.'
Garcia and Phil Lesh met at St. Michael's Alley that year.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Alan Trist.
BAND Jerry Garcia and David Nelson
VENUE Kepler's Books
CITY Menlo Park
STATE CA
DATE Summer 1961
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 39-40*), It was through the Albin brothers that Nelson met Garcia:
"I still remember that moment at Kepler's when Pete and I were peeking through some
books, and we saw this hairy, swarthy guy with an open Levi's shirt and a real
brooding look and an olive wreath in his hair, playing a Stella twelve-string.
We talked to him and Rodney put a banjo in my hand and I thought, 'Oh no!' I had
learned a little bit of banjo from a Pete Seeger book Rodney had given me, but here I
was playing with Garcia the first minute I met him!"
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), David Nelson.
BAND Garcia, Leicester, Hunter
VENUE Carlos Bookstall's loft called 'Boar's Head'
CITY San Carlos
STATE CA
DATE 07/??/61
SET1 Banjo Instrumental [1:16] ; Poor Ellen Smith [3:12] ; Wildwood Flower [2:38] ;
Brown's Ferry Blues [2:08] ; Jesse James [3:40]; No One To Stand By Me [2:36] ; All
The Good Times Are Past And Gone [2:19] ; Darling Corey [2:13] ; Bolshevik In Hell
(1) [#0:38]
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS Jerry Garcia, acoustic guitar; Marshall Leicester, banjo; Robert Hunter,
bass? This performance took place at the Boar's Head Coffeehouse; located in the
upstairs loft of the Carlos Bookstall. (1) Robert Hunter, acapella. This set and the
01/??/62 Burlingame set also circulate together as "Garcia, Hunter and Albin '62." It
can be argued that the 'room ambience' and recording quality of both tapes are
identical; they -sound- like they were recorded at the same time.
Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An American Life" -- pg. 39-40*), Early in the summer of 1961
a pair of folk music enthusiasts, Rodney Albin and George Howell, launched a small
coffeehouse called the Boar's Head in a loft above a bookstore called the Carlos
Bookstall in San Carlos (north of Menlo Park). Peter Albin, Rodney's younger brother,
later became a founding member of Big Brother and the Holding Company.
As Dave Nelson says alongside Rodney Albin in Blair Jackson's ("Garcia, An American
Life" -- pg. 40*) book, referring to his 1st meeting with Garcia, "So we asked him to
come play at the Boar's Head. That night at the Boar's Head it was Garcia, who played
some songs on guitar, and then Bob Hunter came on wearing his army boots, as he
always did in those days, and he sang a couple of songs. And there was also David X
(David McQueen, a black man in his forties who was part of the Chateau scene) and
Sherry Huddleston, who's the one who gave Pigpen his name (the next year). It was
very low-key. The Boar's Head always seemed more like a party than a real gig."
RECORDINGS 25 A?. Audience recording, made on reel-to-reel by Rodney Albin, possibly
from mics placed on stage. Bolshevik In Hell may not be from the same date.
CONTRIBUTORS Jeff Tiedrich, Thayer Jennings, Sandy Troy ("Captain Trips," p. 31,
256), Matt Schofield, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An American Life"), Teddy GoodBear,
David Nelson.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE Suzy Wood's parents lot behind the main house on Debbie Lane
CITY Belmont
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 40*).
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia and Bob Hunter
VENUE Peace Center
CITY
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 40*), They lived with Willy Legate for a time, after Hunter returned
in July 1961 from the National Guard training camp, at the Peace Center.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE hotel on O'Farrell Street
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 41*).
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Barbara Meier.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE KPFA
CITY Berkeley
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 41*).
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Barbara Meier.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE nice attic apartment on Noriega Street
CITY San Francisco's Sunset district
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 41*), Phoebe says Jerry spent nearly all his time on Noriega Street
playing guitar, trying to master old-timey fingerpicking styles...
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Phoebe Graubard.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE North Beach dives
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 41*), Phoebe says, "Jerry was playing in dives in North Beach..."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Phoebe Graubard.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE Aquatic Park
CITY San Francisco
STATE CA
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 41*), Phoebe says, "Jerry used to take his guitar with him wherever
he went, and one time we went down to Aquatic Park on the bus. We were sitting on the
grass and he was playing the guitar and this old Basque man, who worked in a
restaurant or something, had a pot full of food that he was going to feed to the
birds, but he said he liked Jerry's guitar playing so he gave us the big pot of food
instead..."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), Phoebe Graubard.
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE the strrets and Pogo's (Norm Fontaine's house)
CITY Palo Alto
STATE CA
DATE summer 1961
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 42*), ...little black kids would dance and follow David McQueen and
Jerry as Jerry played and they would sing as they walked after doing yard work for
extra money.
David McQueen, "He was listening to a lot of Reverend Gary Davis at the time. But
blues, gospel, jazz -- he'd play it all. He used to jam with the drummers who came to
play at Pogo's (Norm Fontaine's house)..."
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life"), David McQueen.
BAND Jerry Garcia and Eric Thompson
VENUE
CITY
STATE
DATE ??/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 38*), Eric Thompson became one of Jerry's musical partners later
that year.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh
VENUE St. Michael's Alley
CITY Palo Alto
STATE CA
DATE Autumn 1961
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 31,43*), Garcia and Phil Lesh met at St. Michael's Alley that year.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE The Chateau
CITY Menlo Park
STATE CA
DATE Fall 1961 to 11/??/61
SET1
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS -- (pg. 42-43*).
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Teddy GoodBear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, *Blair Jackson ("Garcia, An
American Life").
BAND Jerry Garcia
VENUE The Chateau
CITY Menlo Park
STATE CA
DATE 11/18/61
SET1 Matty Groves ; Long Black Veil ; Greenback Dollar
SET2
SET3
ENCORE
COMMENTS Garcia on acoustic guitar. The "Groovy Conclave" was a 'not-to-be forgotten
event', lasting several days, put on by the residents of the Chateau. Exact date and
order of songs unknown.
RECORDINGS
CONTRIBUTORS Sandy Troy ("Captain Trips," p. 35-6).
