Jerry Garcia Week 2012 Day 4: Garcia Live Arrives

Well, it looks like after many years offline, the Jerry Garcia Store is back up and running with a pre-order for a new series of live recording releases starting with the Jerry Garcia Band live at the Capital Theatre in Passaic NJ from March 1, 1980. The lineup back then was John Kahn on bass (of course), Ozzie Ahlers on Keys and Johnny de Foncesca on drums. Hopefully, this set will include both the early and late shows from that date (that’s how they rolled back in the day :)

I’ll certainly be confirming my support with a pre-order. Garcia Band shows have been sorely missing from rotation and my collection will be thrilled to see some new blood. And while you’re getting excited about that release, here’s the entire early show shot on B&W video (as the Cap Theater was know to do!)

Enjoy!

JACK STRAW From Boulder. On Your Mark, Get Set…

Don’t you just love those shows where the boys hit it out of the ballpark on the very first song? There’s that anticipation of “What’s the energy gonna be like tonight?” and “I hope Jerry’s ‘on’ tonight,” etc. and then they kick into that opening number and the energy’s through the roof and Jerry’s just jumpin’…

Well that’s what we get here with this terrific audience recording (thanks to Charlie Miller for his work on this one) of JACK STRAW from Folsom Field at the University of Colorado in Boulder on June 7, 1980. Yes, Brent plays on this one, but this was back in those early days when he blended better and the boys were still tight and everyone held their own. And like so many of those super-high-energy shows, it’s a little rough around the edges, but in the good way that makes you wanna dance and encourages that wide grin to spread across your face with sheer delight, that uncontrollable, uncontainable joy that only the Grateful Dead at their best could manifest.

Enjoy. Oh, and did I mention… Play it loud.

To listen to the entire show (and once the above link dies, cause it will…), go HERE.

Long Lost, Alfred Hitchcock Interview Returns

In the fall of 1973, Tom Snyder devoted a full hour of his then brand-spankin’ new THE TOMORRROW SHOW to an interview with legendary director Alfred Hitchcock. The show was then repeated on Memorial Day 1980. Since that time, the footage was thought to be lost or destroyed.

Well, it seems sometime last year, a copy was discovered from the Memorial Day repeat. According to the Youtube poster:

The VHS (SP) tape itself was found to be in excellent condition. While properly stored in a climate controlled environment it apparently had not been played in decades. Great care has been taken to make the digital transfer.

Regardless of the story behind this tape (I have yet to find any information to counter this story, but if I do, I’ll be sure to post it here!), the interview itself is fantastic. A rare and wonderful look into the mind behind decades worth of masterful filmmaking.

The interview is broken up into 6 parts, the first part of which you can watch below. The others I have linked for you.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Jerry Garcia Week: A Simple Twist Of Fate

Jerry Garcia was born on August 1, 1942 and died on August 9, 1995 at the all-too-young age of 53. So that means, once again, this week is officially (at least here at The Hal Blog) Jerry Garcia Week.

Misunderstood by those who thought the Grateful Dead were more about drugs than music, and beloved by those who tapped into the sheer emotion that was voiced through his intimate and vulnerable playing, Jerry Garcia was and will forever be one of America’s greatest contributions to the world of music.

Though best known for his music with the Grateful Dead, Garcia also toured regularly with various incarnations of The Jerry Garcia Band. An opportunity for the musician to play both covers and solo originals, The Jerry Garcia Band was a soulful incarnation that moved effortlessly between the evocative poetries of Bob Dylan, the spiritual ecstasies of gospel, and the deeply heartfelt rhythms of rock and blues. It was a more intimate setting and environment than that of the Dead and it gave Mr. Garcia a chance to settle back and play without the pressures of a world-famous rock and roll band. The jams were long, the pace laid back, and the nights undeniably magical.

I saw The Jerry Garcia Band many times over the years, from the nightclub environs of San Francisco’s The Stone, to UMass’s dirt floor Cage. The experience was always mesmerizing and transcendental. It usually started as a warm feeling deep inside and spread throughout the body like a hot toddy on a cold winter’s night. There were always wide smiles, hairs standing on end, and euphoric, rhythmic dancing.

Here’s a taste of The Jerry Garcia Band doing a cover of Bob Dylan’s SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE from the Capital Theatre in Passaic, NJ on March 1st, 1980. Thanks to Youtube, the song is split into two parts. I’ll take it any way I can get it.

Enjoy and celebrate the music of a man who embraced what he felt inside and translated it into both delicate and soaring sounds that touched the hearts and souls of all who chose to go on this journey with him.

Jerry Garcia is joined here by John Kahn on bass, Ozzie Ahlers on keyboards and Johnny de Foncesca on drums.