Fantastic information. I think I can be a lot of help here. The overwhelmingly most likely candidate for the mysterious "Vic" is former Eric Burdon and The Animals guitarist Vic Briggs. Among many other things, he took the great electric sitar solo on Eric Burdon's "Monterey." Vic first met the Grateful Dead on March 26, 1967, when the Animals showed up at the Avalon when the Dead were playing ( http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/10/march-26-1967-avalon-ballroom-san.html). It's well established that Jerry Garcia was a big fan of Vic Briggs's guitar playing.
If you're interested in the entire history of the second, psychedelic Eric Burdon and The Animals, Ross's and my opus is here ( http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Eric%20Burdon.htm). The essence of it is that by September 1968 Briggs had left the Animals to become a staff producer at Capitol. He would have been free to come up to SF and jam with the Dead, and he definitely had the chops. Briggs would have been a very good candidate for Weir's slot. Ironically, since he was tired of the road from the Animals, and had a staff gig in LA, he may have found the idea of touring with a financially insecure bunch of loons a bit of old hat, having already been there/done that by September '68. Whoops. I have a new, time-consuming job--which is a very good thing, you should be happy for me--but it has dramatically cut down on my blogging. Thus I am not really in a position to find the time to take care of business. Would any (or all) of you like to email Vic Briggs and ask him? Some details: - Vic now goes by the name Antion Meredith - He lives in New Zealand (email: [email protected]) - Based on my numerous emails with him, he seems to be the nicest guy imaginable - He has an incredibly good memory, and he's working on his memoirs, so he's very locked in on past events - His stories are amazing and hilarious - His memory trigger is days of the week--make sure to mention to him that Sep 21 '68 is a Saturday Good luck with this. Let me know how it goes Corry Arnold Edison, NJ (as a footnote, I have a backup choice too, Berkeley guitarist Vic Smith, but he seems much less likely. Still, since Ross and I are nothing if not thorough, here is the relevant Family Tree: http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/Sky%20Blue.htm) On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 6:22 PM, Caleb Kennedy <[email protected]>wrote: > Some info from David Lemieux: > > "That November 68 tape is not in the vault as far as I know, and I went > through everything from Fall of 1968 a few years ago. I know the > session, though, and am quite certain it's TC learning the material." > > I'll add that a date of November (or earlier) wouldn't rule out TC - > he could have visited the Dead in the studio while on leave, as he did > when they were recording Anthem. Considering his work on that album, > it makes sense he'd be first choice to work on the Aoxomoxoa material > as well. It would also partly explain why he sounds so cautious & > unfamiliar with the material, as he might not have played any of it > before that day. So that's something else to consider. > > As a sidenote, there's an interesting development in the 9/21/68 > studio jam I mentioned. Lemieux mentions that there were two other > guitar players (on one track of the recording), listed only as "David > and Vic." > > Gans suggests that one of the players is David Nelson, but I don't > know who Vic is. (The brief jam included on the Taper's Section seems > to be just an excerpt from the start of the session.) > > >
