Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders 1975-06-08 [Sun]

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Benefit for the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence

El Camino Park, Palo Alto, CA

benefit
show in calendar listen
Musicians
Jerry Garcia - electric guitar, vocals
John Kahn - electric bass
Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute
Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals
Guests
Eddie Moore (complete show) - drums

Complete Show:
Harder They Come , I Feel Like Dynamite , Last Train From Poor Valley [1] , Tore Up Over You , Little Sunflower [2] , Mystery Train

[1] First known performance (by JGMS) last known performance on 1975-05-21 by LOM
[2] Merl plays the melody of "She's Not There" before.
Also Appearing
Kingfish and Rowan Brothers
Audio
Images
Notes
  • Identification of the drummer as Eddie Moore followed quite a saga. We know this was not Ronnie Tutt, because he was in the light blue suit, havin' a look around in Jackson, MS with Elvis. This event historically listed Paul Humphrey drumming, and while Michael Parrish confirmed the drummer was Black, he disconfirmed Humphrey (having seen him up close and personal at the Chateau Liberté in the Santa Cruz mountains on 10/11/74). No drummer appears on the contract. Jesse Jarnow finally pointed us to jerrygarcia.com for this date, where commenter Mark Mumper confirms drummer as Saunders cousin Eddie Moore' Institute staff had of course considered this possibility, but for reasons come away doubting it. We now also list him drumming 6/11/75 as well, based on proximity to this gig and independent evidence for that night.
  • Andrew Bernstein, on Facebook, indicates he was the promoter: "This was the last show [Rollie Grogan] and I did together in Palo Alto. Jake did the poster, it was a great day except Bobby's windshield got broken on his new BMW." Band guarantee $3,000 plus 30% on gross over $17,500, with GP of $30,000. Beneficiary was Institute for the Study of Non-Violence.
  • Billed on handbill as "Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia". The contract is one of the artifacts that clearly reveals how carefully the band names were treated during this period when Legion of Mary and JGMS were both in the mix, with "Legion of Mary" whited or crossed out in a few places, and "Merl and Jerry" overwritten.
  • announce: "A Day in the Park," Palo Alto Times, June 4, 1975, p. 13
  • preview: "Rock benefit in Palo Alto park," San Francisco Examiner, June 4, 1975, p. 39
  • listing: Berkeley Barb, June 6-12, 1975, p. 14
  • review: [positive] Roach 1975. "Garcia and Saunders provided the best music of the day." Says it was a six-piece band, which is ... puzzling.
    • Sources
    Weather
    High: 84.8 °F
    Low: 50.1 °F
    Feels Like High: 82.5 °F
    Feels Like Low: 50.1 °F
    Wind Speed: 20.6 mph
    Humidity: 58.2 %
    Moonphase: 0.97
    Clear conditions throughout the day.
    Time
    1:00 PM
    Ticket Price
    $3.00 / $4.00