Jerry Garcia
- electric guitar
John Chambers
- drums
Harvey Mandel
- guitar
Jack Casady
- electric bass
Mickey Hart
- drums
Stephen Miller
- organ
Elvin Bishop
- guitar
Per Gary Jackson's ledgers, bar take was $86.50, less than half of the night before (not that surprisingly, Baby Jesus and all).
The second track listed here has traveled variously as "Get On Up" and "You Got To Feel It," but the Snake Box release identifies it as Wilson Pickett's "Don't Fight It". Thanks to Lee Cohn for pointing this out. On the theme, the last tune here starts off as Pickett's "Funky Broadway" and then turns into what we list here. But this is not a known or credited song as far as we have been able to find. The "title" phrase appears in "Mojo Hannah" done by Little Esther Phillips, definitely in that same Stax vein as the Pickett tunes. We currently imagine this is just an improvised set of lyrics, but are of course open to being set straight! Elvin Bishop has long been said to appear on guitar, and Jim Powell confirms three guitars at, e.g., ca. 16:40 and elsewhere during the first jam here.
Listing: "Ad Libs," San Francisco Chronicle, December 23, 1968, p. 35: "Jerry Garcia, Jack Casady, open end jam"
Historical
Apollo program: The crewed U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole, as well as having traveled further away from Earth than any people in history. Anders photographs Earthrise. The crew also give a reading from the Book of Genesis.