Dont have it to hand but I am pretty sure that Wenners interview with Garcia that came out in book form mentioned a solo album. Also remember about 10 years back, that a release sheet of indie releases that went out to Dutch shops mentioned that it was on the way, I made an advance ordet, but it never turned up....

The Wenner/Reich interview(s) were done in 1971. I don't recall a mention of Pig's purported solo, but I'm over 50, and my memory sucks.

Still, with all the boots and so on, all we have seen is the early demos from various dates--a haphazard collection of material.

I really am surprised that nothing has surfaced after 30 someodd years considering the stuff that's out there--including rehersals from 1971.

I'd really like to see a dedicated effort to assemble that stuff. . . . But I'm a Pigpen fan.

Bill, great summation of his "career."

The man was really something.

Maybe I'll get inspired to do a retrospective set of cds--there are many, many songs over his career--going by time period. There are things like the Feb. 14, 1968 Carousel Ballroom Alligator--Caution that deserve listening (that's the Alligator used as the basis on Anthem of the Sun--but it is uncut.) I guess there would have to be a Europe '72 disc--at least one. Or Pig and Janis on Lovelight (the good version, not the drunk one).

I've never heard the Bring Me My Shotgun Cd in its entirety, but there are a few nuggets there to be sure.

I've never heard it, never came closer than the cover pic!

It's a cool one!

I'd definitely read a biography of Mr. McKernan.

I've heard(have somewhere?) a cd of Pig's demos from 1971(?). IIRC, it's just him on piano or acoustic guitar. Supposedly it was recorded in his apartment. Is this the same thing you're thinking of?

That's Bring Me My Shotgun.


Here's a rundown, though I don't buy the idea that these recordings were more than demos:

"Pigpen recorded several songs for an album which never was released. These include "C.C. Rider" and "Bring Me My Shotgun", recorded in 1970. In February, 1973, he recorded a Lightning Hopkins song, "She's Mine", as well as "I Believe", "Like A Long Time", and "Michael", at his apartment in Corte Madera, CA. ... Another song, intended for the solo album, was the Clancy Carlile song "I'm A Loving Man", which was recorded in 1969 at Pacific High Recording, located on Brady Alley just off Market, in San Francisco. ... The album was to be released, tentatively, on Mercury, or its Smash subsidiary, with Bob Serempa as the A&R person.
Many of these songs have been given different names over the years. The most common tape in circulation has the following songs (with alternative titles in brackets):
I Got Two Women (Two Women)
Michael (Poor Michael Went Down, Queen Of Santa Fe II, Gas Station Rap)
Katie Mae
Baby Please Don't Go (New Orleans)
That Freight Train, Up In The Sky (That Train)
Untitled instrumental
Bring Me My Shotgun
C.C.Rider
Katie Mae (repeat)
Hitch Hiking Woman
I Got Two Women (repeat)
When I Was A Boy (Santa Fe Queen, Queen Of Santa Fe I)
Bring Me My Shotgun (repeat)
I Believe (The Devil In My Bones)
She's Mine
Like A Long Time (Look Over Yonder, No Tomorrow, No Time)
Sweet Georgia Brown (instrumental, with Jorma Kaukonen)
Betty And Dupree (with Jorma Kaukonen)

I'm A Loving Man circulates separately, normally with outtakes from Workingman's Dead/American Beauty

The Deadhead's Taping Compendium Volume 1 lists a tape (dated ??/70) which may be an earlier source for the more widely circulated tape above. It includes some additional tracks:
"The folk motif continues with "Hobo Jungle Rap," a simple one-chord monologue in which Pigpen describes his first encounters with local hobos. After dissolving quickly as a song, the monologue continues as a spoken word narration. In it, Pigpen talks briefly about his first experiences hopping freight trains, adding a sweet lick from his guitar here and there. Much to our dismay, however, the tape breaks off prematurely.

"Following the tape flip, the subsequent two tracks are disturbingly haunting. All the preceding selections are based around traditional blues and folk approaches, but these songs are derived from a deeper spiritual influence, remotely similar to that of Charlie Patton or Son House. Vocally, these are emotionally harrowin, and the musical approach is dark, almost occultish. "Passing Through," while admittedly not a very dynamic selection and further hampered by feedback blasts, is a chilling tale of weary travel, with loneliness and despondency prevailing. "Easy Rider," which at the outset sounds distinctly similar to the Rolling Stones' "Sister Morphine," is only slightly less morbid lyrically but far eerier in execution. Unlike "Passing Through," which is delivered from an emotional and perhaps autobiographical approach, this tune is presented in the form of a narrative, focussed intently on setting as well as character.

Following a brief rap, the tape concludes with a fragmentary and comic attempt at the fifties sock hop classic, "In The Still Of The Night," complete with teen idol falsetto, before the finale of "Big Boy Pete," which is playful and immature.
"

Somehow I doubt that these were intended for release. If they were, the Dead had their own labels, GD Records and Round Records, the latter being for solo projects. Jerry, Hunter, Lesh, Keith and Donna all released recordings on Round. Seems as if Pig would have gone the same route, professional recording and all. As is, the cd in question is really an interesting document of various things Pig did that someone gathered together for a bootleg.

Im guessing that it is this boot , Bring me my shotgun, which was offered in the Netherlands years ago, and which failed to arrive.

Fascinating!

Well, maybe we can convince the Dead to do these tapes justice as a "Digital Download Series" entry. Yeah right.

Do you think there's a lack of interest from "da boys" towards Pigpen material?

PS: Shouldn't there have been another Digital Download Series entry by now?

Oh. . and pardon my blushing ignorance. . . Lovelight with Janis? Twice?

Twice. One is good, the other is pitiful and ugly. Janis is beyond shitfaced and raps about Pig's sexual perversions. One to skip.

The better one is 6-7-69 Fillmore West; the xxx rated one is 7-16-70 Euphoria Ballroom.

Both can be streamed on archive.

The digital downloads must be on hold until Rhino takes over.

Cool. I can't even figure out how to stream on archive. Good to know. . . maybe they'll make these available one day. Thanks!

Look on the upper left. If it doesn't stream, downlad realplayer for mac and that should do it.

Stream (help)
VBR M3U (Hi-Fi) (flash)

Okay that explains it.

When I first got this iBook realplayer really f'd up the works. I purged and holywatered it, thoroughly.

Don't want to invite disaster by inviting it back. I'll wait until I return to work (might be soon, for a spell).

Thanks as usual Doc.

Started reading Carol Brightman's "Sweet Chaos: Grateful Dead's American Adventure." 'Sgood so far.

Whadya know, a new Pure Jerry. Click the link for all the talk, I'll just provide the facts.

Pure Jerry link

Tracklist for Coliseum, Hampton, Virginia, November 9, 1991

Disc One
1. How Sweet It Is
2. He Ain't Give You None
3. You Never Can Tell (C'est la Vie)
4. Run for the Roses
5. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
6. I Second That Emotion
7. My Sisters and My Brothers
8. Ain't No Bread in the Breadbox

Disc Two
1. Bright Side of the Road
2. Shining Star
3. Waiting For A Miracle
4. Think
5. I Shall Be Released
6. Don't Let Go
7. Midnight Moonlight
8. What A Wonderful World (Encore)

JERRY GARCIA BAND:
Jerry Garcia: guitar, vocals
Gloria Jones: vocals
John Kahn: bass
David Kemper: drums
Jaclyn LaBranch: vocals
Melvin Seals: organ

Bruce Hornsby: electric piano

Heard on the radio this morning....

"Eight players are tied for the lead at the British Open including ........., Garcia, and Weir."

Who won?

Got the Vol. 7 of Pure Jerry last night. Pretty good show. Also comes witha "JGB" pick!

Now that I'm home for almost a week and with another week to go, I've access to the studio albums. . . been listening to the expanded versions of the first three for the first time in a long time.

Hey. . . that's a pretty good band!

The first lp is awfully underrated, even by garcia and the band. Sure, a few songs are rushed, but it's worth it just for Cold Rain and Snow and that awesome Viola Lee Blues. Trippy, hippie, dippy, but you can hear Garcia getting his chops down. Anthem? Whooie. All those splices. The Alligator is primarily from 2-14-98, and the cuation is from 11-11-67 (or 11-10?), so the main segments are live. The Alligator is truncated. Jerry's a capella solo after drums is much longer as is the post "ALLIGATOR!!!) jam. (I'll send you a copy of both). Isn't part of cuation also on the dicks picks from the dream bowl?

Aoxomoxoa. Best l.p. cover ever. Love the St. Stephen--Phil chasing Jerry! There's a set of outtakes available with St. S--William Tell--11 in the studio with Hunter on bagpipes. Chuckle. Rosemary--what a lovely, forlorn piece, and doin that rag. Get the original mix for that one, with the subtle extra layers. China Cat Sunflower! But, uggh, What's Become of the Baby? I don't care (btw, Owsley played a tape of it during the feedback that ocurred in the Viola Lee Blues that's on The Phil Zone. Oh the worthless trivia).

What can one say about Workingman's Dead and American Beauty? Certainly the latter is one of the best lps of the 70s--if not of all time. Frind of the Devil? Box of Rain? Ripple? There was a special on VH1 during which Steven Barncard during which he went to the master tape and isolated Jerry's vocals. Those who say Jerry couldn't sing---HA!

Skullfuck--well, the Fillmore East Box os much superior. Never could understand why there wasn't more Pig on that one--especially Hard to Handle.

I recently got handed a DVD about the making of this album and American Beauty; I think it was part of a series on classic albums that aired here a few years back.

Anyway, I was surprised that it was SO absolutlely faskinating, especially as it's about albums with which I have only the most superficial acquaintance.

Great interviews; spotty sounding footage (including quite a lot from the GD Movie).

Best of all: Setting the scene of mid-'60s SF, a shot in the vicinity of Haight St has a bunch of dudes dressed in turn of the century garb ambling downhill. I'd be suprised if it WASN'T Mike Wilhelm and those Charlatans.

That was aired in part on VH1--I forget the series. Doesn't Steven Barncard put the master reel on and turn off everythng but Jerry's vocal? So sweet. Those were the years that he spent as much time honing his voice as he did his fingers. As to American Beauty, Mickey Hart remixed it for 4.1 sound a few years ago. I lack the technology, but can imagine that all those mandolins and guitars and layered voices really shine.

Happy Birthday Jerry !!!

I'm reading the Blair Jackson biography today. An impressive book! Happy happy Jerome!

Listening to this Jerry birthday show from 1973....

http://www.archive.org/details/gd73-08-01....2222.sbeok.shnf

Killer Dark Star-> El Paso-> Eyes Of The World-> Morning Dew

(Okay, that El Paso is a bit of a buzzkill but the rest is freakin' incredible!!)

According to inside sources, not many were printed, fewer were distributed, few were sold, and it is speculated that only 20 or so survive today.

I found one in 1969 in a Greenwich Village hole in the wall record store on Bleeker Street. I kept it in pristine condition and sold it in the late 70's for two thousand dollars to a crazed tape head in Brooklyn whose name I cannot divulge--mostly because I cannot remember it. I always thought that the recording sounded ridiculous in its immature performance. Could that really be the dead???? Yikes!

According to Blair Jackson's bio of Jerry (which is pretty cool) there were only 150 copies of that single printed!

Wow. Rare.

I'm listening to the Dead at the Ivar Theater in February 1966, man Pigpen was on that night. The "King Bee/Caution" pair is about as good as it gets. I really like hearing Jerry on that big Guild doing those Chicago licks (in his own special way).

Just for the record (no pun intended), the two songs were nothing special, and they can be found on all sorts of boots. I think that one boot has a half dozen takes including instrumental tracks of each song.
One of the "Unsurpassed" series.

Yawn.

That Kingbee--caution pair is hot, primal dead. It has been sugggested that it was done in the studio.
Sweet sound.

Yes, might have been studio. . .b u t it does have that early Bear stereo sound. . . .! Great stuff.

I think both the sides of the single are on "Birth of the Dead," no?

Yes, I think the singles are there.

Now, as I pm'd to Lon, I found a goodie. I don't know the story, just the ending. The new Windows Media player (free download) offers all the usual music for burning or ipoding. Go there. Go to URGE. Go to "Artist." scroll down a small bit. Se it: Grateful Dead, Avalon Ballroom 1-24, 25, 26 1969. Better quality than Archive. This is where the eleven--lovelight on Live Dead comes from. It's like a companion to the Fillmore Box Set. Is this provided by Rhino or the Dead? It's right between all the "hit" cds, so it must be legit.

Okay, don't want to pay to play? Get the 15 day free trial like I did and burn the muthah. The last "Clementine"--well, it's just top quality 1969 dead.

Is more to come?

Ok- I HAVE to ask:

Would anyone be interested in burning a few downlaods? I live in the sticks and have dialup and it's SLOW......perhaps the Avalon Ballroom the Dr. ordered........ or a few Download series- I'd pay some cash to defray your purchase costs.....(hmmm- is this legal??).

No harm asking!!

BTW- DP36 is awesome- I just listened to it beginning to end last week.....

no cash needed if you want some 77, 78 or 79.
I have some on the hd.
Just send an address.

Going back to an earlier debate, an interesting article:

http://www.jambands.com/Columns/Zzyzx/cont..._12_12.00.phtml

I guess I agree with the writer re: the downloads. They would be good for recruting new collectors.

Funny that he mentions that most would buy concerts that they attended themselves. I'm personally far more interested in concerts by the Dead (and many other artists) earlier than I saw them.

I'd love to see the Dead reissue lots of material live from the first three or four years!

What's interesting to me is that both of these songs were Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions staples, rearranged for the new band.

I have to hear that McCree's stuff one of these days. . . I'm looking for a cd copy, thought I'd mention that (I have a post to that effect in the "Offering and Looking for" forum.

http://www.marinij.com/marin/ci_4136208

THE MUSICAL legacy of the Grateful Dead - some 13,000 live audio and video recordings spanning the band's 30-year concert career - left Marin County in a temperature-controlled truck and is now being stored in a huge Warner Brothers Music vault in Southern California.

The transfer of the priceless "vault" recordings - from a Novato warehouse to a Fort Knox-like facility in Burbank - is a physical manifestation of a milestone deal that effectively dissolves Marin-based Grateful Dead Productions and turns over the Hall of Fame band's business operations to Rhino Entertainment, a subsidiary of giant Warner Music Group.

"It's sad to see it go," Grateful Dead tape archivist David Lemieux said of the vault collection. "But it couldn't be in better hands."



The group is managed by former Grateful Dead Productions President Cameron Sears, who has also been retained by the Dead as an independent contractor, as has longtime CFO Nancy Mallonee and tape archivist Lemieux.



Question. Why did they retain a tape archivist when they have no tapes????

Question. Why did they retain a tape archivist when they have no tapes????


Perhaps because of his expertise, he is a liason????

I went back on the Windows Media player to burn the last Avalon concert and they didn't show up as they did before under artist. I found them again by typing in grateful dead 1 24 1969 then 1 25 1969 and 1 26 1969.

Are there more?

there have been almost all of the fabled May 77 soundboards (all good SQ and some absolutely pristine) for down load on dime and zomb torrent sites-also other sites as well. I just got a nice copy of the great 5-9-77 show with one of my all time favorite 1st sets. Out there for free! For now

I know only about dimeadozen.org (home to a lot of Jazz such as Trane, the AEC, etc.), but not "zomb." Perhaps those in the know might list a few download sites. These sites tend to host only "legal" downloads, so there is no "moral" hangover involved.

After reading the article about Rhino taking over the entire contents of the Vault I think the days of 'legal' downloading for free are numbered. Grab it now while you can.

Agreed:
First, the excuse re: archive was that they were taking contributions. So does dime and the others.

Second: Unlike Dead.net, Rhino is a real business, and they have signed a deal. Now the Dead aren't the "bad guys." Rhino will do everything in its power to protect its investment.

BTW, Chalupa--you the guy who has uploaded on archive? If so, hat's off to you.