50 years ago today, #JerryGarcia & #MerlSaunders make their east coast debut in #nyc (with #BillKreutzmann on drums), playing a hells angels’ party on the s.s. bay belle, on a bill with bo diddley & elephant’s memory. some footage included in the “hells angels forever” documentary, all other audio claiming to be this show is misdated. the 1st sighting (but possibly not the debut) of garcia’s new wolf guitar by doug irwin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdPlApXtcNI #garciafreaksunite #jg090573

7/24/73 homer’s warehouse: the DJs don’t quite have their remote broadcast chops just yet. hot mix with lots of audible crowd chatter. only circulating version of cy cobin’s A GOOD WOMAN’S LOVE, sung by rowan, a C&W weeper. earliest circulating take of bill harrell & hope harlow’s EATING OUT OF YOUR HAND, sung by grisman. rowdy crowd & grisman asks clappers to wait ’til end of the songs. (garcia, off-mic: “you tell ‘em, dave.”) #garciafreaksunite #jg072473 [2/2]

7/21/73b keystone berkeley: opens with only known version of bill monroe’s instrumental CHEYENNE, great platform for clements’ lonesome fiddle. 1st circulating versions of WICKED PATH OF SIN (also by monroe, sung by garcia with the black mountain boys a decade earlier), carter stanley’s FIELDS HAVE TURNED BROWN (sung by rowan), & mcdill & reynolds’ 1972 song CATFISH JOHN (sung by garcia, tonight & through ’85 with the garcia band, perfect lazy vibe for him). #garciafreaksunite #jg072173b [3/3]

7/19/73 great american music hall: a pretty low-key tape fragment, nothing too spectacular but all pretty chill. martin fierro plays sax on all 3 songs, his 1st time on tape with garcia since ’71, sometimes off-mic & only audible on headphones, I SECOND THAT EMOTION, SOMEDAY BABY, & THE HARDER THEY COME. the last is the tape highlight for me, still fresh to the repertoire, & love the B3 bounce. gets an audible cheer too. (review via @FateMusic) #garciafreaksunite #jg071973 [2/2]

album versions of SOMEDAY BABY (nice kahn bounce), IT’S NO USE (misattributed on the LP to r. mcguinn & g. clark, but actually by g. “u.s.” bonds & sw. dogg!), & POSITIVELY 4TH STREET (still new to the band). both will receive minor overdubs in the studio, saunders (presumably) adding piano to IT’S NO USE & david grisman adding mandolin to 4TH STREET. MERL’S TUNE digs in pretty hard, kahn’s bass even getting a little feisty & upper register. #garciafreaksunite #jg071073 [3/3]

7/8/73 record plant: band in rare “concise” mode, nothing over 12 minutes, perhaps thinking about album takes. almost plays like an alternate version of the album, including 1st circulating version of dylan’s POSITIVELY 4TH STREET (laconic biting garcia is a new mode, in/out of rotation through ’95), plus tight MY FUNNY VALENTINE (still getting the hang of it) & my forever fave GEORGIA ON MY MIND. indeed, a few songs later used on various comps. #garciafreaksunite #jg070873 [2/2]

michael (no known last name) joins on trumpet for whole 2nd set. little shaky in places, but vaguely electric miles-ish when band is vibed enough. 26-minute MERL’S TUNE wanders down to nothingness & (as trumpet noodles) clicks back to somethingness, band kicking into groove. tape runs out as band still seems to be jamming, so it might actually be a proper segue into the night-closing HOW SWEET IT IS. #garciafreaksunite #jg070573 [3/3]

on the deadcast, peter rowan told us about how it felt like a breakthrough festival in the newgrass revolution, with a jam featuring him, david grisman, john hartford, sam bush, & more in their undershirts, though no garcia. tapes are out there, but can’t find a streaming version. https://www.dead.net/deadcast/here-comes-sunshine-rfk-stadium-673
some beautiful photos that capture the vibe: https://frobbi.org/slides/culpeper1973/index.html #garciafreaksunite #jg060873 [3/3]

gospel segment of the show expands with 1st circulating versions of traditional WORKING ON A BUILDING (all rowan falsetto) & SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT, followed by the sinning portion of the evening featuring WILD HORSES & rowan’s coke-snortin’ dope-smokin’ LONESOME LA COWBOY (missing from tape). #garciafreaksunite #jg060673 [3/3]

answer vocals already gone from PANAMA RED. just realized that LAND OF THE NAVAJO is probably a genetic relation to WABASH CANNONBALL. last known versions of HOW MOUNTAIN GIRLS CAN LOVE & TRAGIC ROMANCE. semi-tragically, the only circulating old & in the way version of rowan’s wonderful MISSISSIPPI MOON, from seatrain’s 1971 george martin-produced LP & in garcia’s solo repertoire from ’75-’95. lotta yodeling. #garciafreaksunite #jg060573 [4/4]

5/30/73 ash grove: without fulcher or tickner (or fogerty), band’s sound is slightly more monochromatic. 1st taped version of saunders’ LITTLE BIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS in 2 years, disappearing again ’til ’74, the regular reminder of how much of this band’s musical life is MIA. 1st circulating version of penn/oldham’s LIKE A ROAD sung by garcia, introduced to the band by fulcher earlier in the year, a new staple. #garciafreaksunite #jg053073 [2/2]

5/5/73 homer’s warehouse: 33-minute HERE THERE & EVERYWHERE > ARE YOU LONELY FOR ME BABY > AFTER MIDNIGHT. only known HERE THERE, instrumental & tickner-led, galloping into bright jam that seems headed for AFTER MIDNIGHT before guitarists space out & all follow. final recorded versions of 2 fulcher tunes, the vandellas’ HONEY CHILE & her own lovely GO CLIMB A MOUNTAIN, with big dynamics & soaring tickner solo. 24-minute SHE’S GOT CHARISMA, extra-allmansy again. #garciafreaksunite #jg050573 [2/2]

50 years ago tonight, #JerryGarcia & #MerlSaunders in palo alto, with the full expanded quintet feat. sarah fulcher & george tickner.
soundboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4tC2X2aMI
@FateMusic gets into it: http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/04/ln-jg1973-05-04jgmsallsbd.html #garciafreaksunite #050473 [1/2]

4/21/73 record plant: a few relative rarities. final version of traditional fiddle tune KATY HILL, 1st circulating version of #DavidGrisman’s shred fest FANNY HILL, only circulating SOLDIER’S JOY, played as a duo by #JerryGarcia & #RichardGreene as #PeterRowan changes string. big highlights are rowan’s new originals LONESOME LA COWBOY & PANAMA RED, his WILD HORSES, garcia’s WHITE DOVE, & instrumental fireworks on closing BLUE MULE. #garciafreaksunite #jg042173 [2/2]

4/16/73 boarding house: PANAMA RED has new answer vocals, gone by time of live album. richard greene’s #fiddle turns band 3-dimensional, leads KATY HILL. to go with all the songs by the monroe bros., stanley bros., etc., a tune by the glimmer twins, the 1st circulating WILD HORSES. an inspired choice, sung smashingly by #PeterRowan, as is 1st version of buzz busby & cindy davis’s LOST. #garciafreaksunite #jg041673 [2/2]

really, earliest circulating versions for almost everything: traditional WILLOW GARDEN & leon jackson’s LOVE PLEASE COME HOME (learned in the car, sez grisman), johnny bond’s I WONDER WHERE SHE IS TONIGHT, webster bros.’ TIL THE END OF THE WORLD ROLLS AROUND (sung by grisman), stanley bros.’ HOW MOUNTAIN GIRLS CAN LOVE (funnier, given JG’s spouse), mcreynolds bros.’ HARD HEARTED. #garciafreaksunite #jg041273 [4/5]

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ramblin’ jack elliot (then touring with NRPS) joins for a stones tune in each set. marmaduke sez they learned CONNECTION from him (he covered it in ’68). more guests throughout, with donna & weir popping back out a few times, garcia adding 6-string to GLENDALE TRAIN & rave-up WILLIE & THE HAND JIVE finale, on which achieve garcia & cage achieve a pretty buoyant weave. weir sings RACE IS ON for 1st time since 5/70, back in dead’s repertoire tomorrow. #garciafreaksunite #jg031873 [5/5]

1st taped MERL’S TUNE, probably john white’s HELP US OUT from 1971, on which merl played & later claimed a co-authorship & title on his own 1991 live album. flowing into wild & mostly coherent free-edging conversation. “well the light is on as you all know, so we have to call a close to the evening’s festivities,” says garcia, genuinely bummed to have to stop playing with his side gig at whatever wee hour it is. seems like they might keep playing anyway? #garciafreaksunite #jg030773 [3/3]

none of the other old & in the way performances from march '73 circulate, including the evening’s show in san anselmo, but the setlists do, featuring another dozen-plus songs that have never turned up on any other tape of the band. if you’re bluegrasshead, there’s a lot to lose yourself in over at at @InstituteJerry: https://jerrybase.com/runs/126.
@Corry342 digs into the old & in the way broadcasts: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/04/old-and-in-way-fm-broadcasts-1973-fm-vi.html #garciafreaksunite #jg030273 [4/4]