Radio Interview - 11/xx/66

By the time the fall of 1966 rolled around, the Dead were a household name in the San Francisco music scene. Although they had not yet seen national exposure, they were continuing to gain a strong following in the Bay Area due in large part to their participation at the Acid Tests. By all accounts they were quickly becoming one of the have-to-see bands toward the end of '66.

Within the first two weeks of November in 1966, Jerry, Pigpen, Bill, and Bobby were invited to the

KRFC studio to give a group interview on the show "Perspective," hosted by Steve O'shea. KRFC was a newly re-formatted Top-40 Rock & Roll radio station. As is clear through this Dead interview, the station was making it a priority to tap into the burgeoning music scene in the San Francisco Bay area. O'Shea mentions during the interview that he had seen the Dead in person at least three times at the Fillmore. Later in June of 1967, the station organized and hosted the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival featuring bands such as the Airplane, the Doors, the Byrds, and Steve Miller. Many credit the Fantasy Fair to be the first music festival in the United States. It was held the week prior to the Monterey Pop Music Festival.

At the time of airing, only a part of the interview survived. Luckily, a re-airing in the spring of 1967 was recorded in full, which circulates today. We know this interview occurred within the first two weeks of November because the band mentions an upcoming show at the Fillmore with the James Cotton Blues Band. Deadbase lists the Jame's Cotton Blues band as on the docket with the Dead at
the Fillmore Auditorium on Saturday and Sunday November 19 and 20 (DB50, 419). One band member (probably Kreutzmann) puts the day of the show as the, "weekend after next," and O'shea adds that it is "the Sunday next," indicating they are about 10 days to two weeks out. That would put the interview somewhere between November 6 and November 10 of 1966.

Garcia wearing the Pigpen t-shirt circa '68

In this recording we can hear the Dead in their relative infancy relating stories of their first year-plus as a band. Their opinions and life as the Grateful Dead is told in its complete innocence. There was no brand to protect or promote, no issues or philosophies to cover and mold, and no giant overhead pressing weight onto the band members. What we hear is a group of friends talking about making music together, enjoying the trip they are just starting out on. This interview provides perhaps the best and most highly unbiased take on the Dead in their beginning. Opinions and stories had not yet been corrupted by time, and are likely the true stories of the first year of the band.

Notes:

• I found it interesting to hear Pigpen talk rather than singing. I am not sure that I've heard him speak before now.
• Steve O'Shea refers to the Pigpen t-shirt that was being produced. The band ends up giving O'Shea a shirt, to which he replies that he has to figure out where he can wear it.
• Pigpen makes reference to the hangers on, which O'Shea calls a fan club. This may or may not include Rock Scully, Danny Rifkin, Rosie McGee, etc

Listen to the entire interview on track two, hosted on archive here: https://archive.org/details/gd1966-11-00.FM.interview.ordon.sorochty.125586.flac16
 
Read the interview transcript at Dead Sources: http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/02/1966-radio-interview.html

Have something to add? Something to correct? Please comment below!

10/2/66 - San Francisco State Acid Test

Handbill from the Whatever It Is Festival, 1966

The next stop on my Grateful Dead audio trip isn't very much of a Grateful Dead show. In fact it isn't a Dead show at all. Its a collection of clips of the Merry Pranksters from the San Francisco State Acid Test, known as the Whatever It Is Festival. Taking place in the SF State gymnasium, the event lasted for parts of three days. The Dead played the last two, though there was a rumor that the bands tried to have a midnight concert on the Friday night kickoff of the event which was shut down by the police.

In The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Tom Wolfe gives an excellent description of this test from the eyes of the Pranksters. Says Wolfe:

"The festival is in the gymnasium - full of scaffolding and people filling the ceilings with movies and light projections - Control Towers - and the Grateful Dead on the bandstand, all careful homage to the original Acid Tests, and then suddenly - Kesey - will be there, broadcasting into the gymnasium from a campus radio station.. ... Except that by the time they get all the wiring hooked up, and start rapping, Cassady with a microphone inside the hall... it is about 4 am. Kesey is hidden in the studio talking over the hugest Prankster hookup of wires... but there were no millions, or even hundreds left in the gymnasium because it was so late it was down to a group of hard-core heads" (313-14).

This all seemed so exciting within the Prankster world because it marked Kesey's return from his fugitive stay in Mexico, after being busted for marijuana use earlier in '66. He had planned this Test to be his coming out party to mark that he had returned to the San Francisco scene. Too bad the Pranksters were the Pranksters, missing their mark by several hours.

Now, one may wonder why I've included this audio as a mention when listening to the Grateful Dead. It only tangentially involves the Dead. We know they were there that night, but know little about their set. We do know from McNally that during the two nights that the Dead performed, they were forced to play one without their showman, Pigpen, who was inadvertently (or not) dosed. He was forced to go home as he was unable to perform.

Blair Jackson adds in Garcia, that, "The Dead dutifully supplied some of the music portion of the evening, and a few members of the group hung around to hear Kesey's ramblings in the wee hours of the morning" (113). The fact that the band was in the house during these recordings, part of the party, and were experiencing the Prankster weirdness in real time, probably high, is of significance to me. In moving linearly through the Dead's recording history, those events and music that influenced them along the way is of interest. For myself and my interests, that was enough.

If you are interested in seeing what the festival was like, a news report was was given on the Friday night of the event by station KRON Channel 4. You can view that archived report here: https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/209388

As is true with much of the Dead from 1966 and 1967, that was not the end of the story. If you take a look at the notes of the file on archive, it includes an interesting name as the organ player: Jerry Garcia. Hmmm. My first thought was, "cool." At the same time I thought it hard to believe that Jerry was playing organ during these ramblings, not to mention that there was absolutely no way to verify this fact. Well, just in case it is Jerry playing the organ, this recording instantly becomes more significant to me. But again, there's no way to verify it. That is, until you find this event in Long Strange Trip. At the end of a nicely detailed paragraph, McNally drops, "the show finally began around midnight, and given Pig's absence, the music lacked energy and focus, although the audience was treated to Garcia playing organ behind Kesey" (McNally 166).

I'll let that sit for a second

"... Although the audience was treated to Garcia playing organ behind Kesey."

There's the verification that a random liner note lacks. McNally confirms that the random organ player behind Kesey is in fact Jerry Garcia. That tidbit is significant if only for the fact that we get the opportunity to hear him perform something on a night where all Grateful Dead material is lost to the ages. In fact the speaker mentions Jerry on Track 4 at 6:12: "I've even got Jerry Garcia coming that way, he'll try to (distorted)." There is a good jumble of music after this is mentioned, some of which must be coming at Jerry's hands.

If you are a true completist, this is one you might consider listening to. If you're only in this trip for the music, move on past.

https://archive.org/details/gd1966-10-02.sbd.bershaw.5413.shnf

The audio presented here is very odd. I mean, VERY odd. You have to be dedicated and supremely interested in the times to take this on. Although Jerry is mentioned twice, I found it difficult to discern his organ playing throughout the entire "show." Whatever the choice, here is the tracklist:

The Head Has Become Fat Rap
A Mexican Story: 25 Bennies
A Tarnished Galahad
Get It Off The Ground Rap >
It's Good To Be God Rap >
Nirvana Army Rap >
The Butcher Is Back
Acid Test Graduation Announcement
Send Me To The Moon >Closing Rap
Ken Kesey's dialogue (isolated remix)
Prankster Music/Sound Collage #1(sequence 1)
Kesey Rap > Prankster Music/Sound Collage #2 (sequence 2)
Sound Collage #3 > Prankster Raga(sequence 3)
Closing Jam
Prankster Electronics

Notes:

• Jerry mentioned @ 6:12 on Track 4 "Get it Off the Ground Rap"
• Jerry mentioned @10:38 on Track 10. Either, "It sounds like Jerry Garcia's made it," or "It's not like Jerry Garcia's made it."

9/16/66 - Grateful Dead Live at the Avalon Ballroom

09/16/66
Avalon Ballroom - San Francisco, CA
Set 1:
I Know You Rider
It Hurts Me Too
It's All Over Now Baby Blue
Dancin' In The Streets
Midnight Hour
Good Morning Little School Girl
Lindy
Stealin'*
The Same Thing*

 *date from a show other than the previous songs

The Grateful Dead show at the Avalon Ballroom played on September 16, 1966 is one of the most important 1966 shows in terms of its historical implications. The set-list and available audio, however, is not as clear cut as the importance of the date itself. The audio provided for this post is still in debate as to when it truly dates. Some contend that based on Jerry's playing and overall tightness of the band, it more aptly belongs to the late December Avalon shows of 12/23 and 12/24. Deadbase 50 notes that although the actual set-list and date is open to question, the Avalon as a venue is correct. For the sake of my audio history, however, I have chosen to leave the available recording as 9/16/66 simply because this date is where the audio has been placed for nearly 50 years. I'm not one enough in the know to change it. Until definitive evidence is uncovered that can accurately pinpoint when this was played, it'll stay at 9/16/66.  Regardless, the music posted for this date is a must-listen for all Deadheads.

Historically, the show slated for the Avalon Ballroom on September 16 was the first show for which the Skull & Roses artwork was used in conjunction with the Grateful Dead. Artists Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly based their poster creation on Edmund Joseph Sullivan's illustration for "The Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam" (1859). The show poster (pictured above) is certainly a work of art in itself. It seems fitting to be able to put some music to the actual show that coincides with the Skull & Roses initiation into the Dead's circle.

The songs attributed to 9/16/66 have long been in circulation, and have even been publish. They circulate primarily because they were released as two bootleg albums by Sunflower Records, and MGM subsidiary. Those records, Vintage Dead and Historic Dead have long been favorites in the Dead community. Vintage Dead was released by MGM in October of 1970, followed by Historic Dead in June of 1971. They provide excellent and clear copies of the Dead at their '66 best. I feel as though we are lucky to have had these bootlegs made, helping preserve a unique time in the Dead's history where there is a dearth of available recordings.


One listen to this show, and the terms "Vintage Dead," and "Historic Dead" seem very apt! This truly is 1966 at its best. Having taken a long break from 1966 material, my first impression on this show was how youthful the Dead sound, particularly Garcia. Pigpen, who is clearly the leader of the band at this point, comes through strong on this recording as well.

There were several points in the recording that stand out to me. In the first tune, "I Know You Rider," Jerry is simply flying. His playing is crisp and super-quick. One can literally feel the exuberance and energy flowing through his left hand as he rips his solo to shreds. It's also interesting to note that the "headlight" verse is sung in this song, as opposed to earlier 66 versions, but is also sung by the entire band rather than Jerry only."Baby Blue" is another excellent tune here. I was again caught by the pristine recording, which captures the texture of Jerry's youthful voice.

It should be noted that the Midnight Hour here clocked in at a little over 18:30. Pigpen sounds great. This tune demonstrates the fact that Pigpen was in fact the showstopper and band leader in 1966. Although it's easy to hear the budding star in Garcia, the Pigpen recordings on this tape take the blue ribbon.

"Stealin'" and "The Same Thing" are almost certainly from a date other than the other songs presented in this recording. The audio input is clearly different starting with "Stealin'." The Matrix show of 11/29 has been mentioned as a possible placement for these tunes. Regardless, they were clearly used as filler for Historic Dead.

If you want to hear crisp audio from 1966, please give this a whirl!
https://archive.org/details/gd1966-09-16.sbd.davenport.95970.flac16



I should also note that I am hoping to get this blog back and running regularly. I am doing my best to reorganize the notations I've made in the literature that allows me to scaffold the meaning and events behind each show I encounter. I feel I provide value in doing so. It takes time, however. I am also working at organizing and cataloging all of my Garcia material as well as early band interviews. Please have patience as I try and resurrect my lost blog from the ashes.

I would also love more people to leave comments to keep me going and provide more insight into the shows I review. Please comment and leave your own reviews. Correct my reports and critique my writing.