I'm working with several other Jerry tape fiends on a project to digitize and master to CDs JGB audience masters. We've done Bob Menke's two dozen masters of Bay Area Legion of Mary shows and his 8 masters of the Hopkins/Garcia Band -- about 60 discs in all. And Chuck & Janet are nearly done transferring to CDs their DAT masters of JGB at the Warfield from Dec. 91 through April 95, nearly every show from that period, a dozen or more a year. These should be in hand by the end of the spring. And I'm just starting to check out John Corley's Bay Area JGB masters, mostly from 83-86, a period which was on the whole a low but which saw many incendiary passages nonetheless. This stuff is mostly from Keystone Palo Alto, Keystone Berkeley, and The Stone -- the small clubs not too unlike his mom's sailors bar where Jerry felt right at home and played magnificent music many nights even during this, in many respects his darkest period.
I'm going on about all this because what we have in mind is planting a Jerry Tree to make this stuff more widely available and I want to consult our group for ideas about how best to do this. Menke's splendid generosity in cutting loose his masters en masse has already inspired a certain amount of similar munificence from some East Coast tapers, and a half dozen AUD masters of East Coast Legion of Mary shows have already started to make their way around, and we're hoping that these acts of emulation will proliferate. We're starting to develop fairly solid coverage for several eras, but there are other periods that are still almost untouched or very spotty as far as this project is concerned -- notably 76-82. We're working on tracking down other collections of AUD masters. At least 80% of JGB shows over the years were in the Bay Area and that's where we're focusing our efforts mostly right now, cuz that's where we are and what we know. If anyone knows where to find Bob McCay these days we'd really like to hear from him. Mike Reilly too. And there must be other master tapers we don't know about we'd like to hear from too. And then there are the JGB's occasional tours out of town. It shouldn't be too hard to assemble optimal AUD masters for their east coast tours of 89 and 91, and we know that the whole Lunt Fontaine got taped. Los Angeles also saw sporadic forays by the JGB, but these masters are harder to locate -- thank 'The Industry' for that attitude -- but maybe with luck & spirit that will work out too. So anyways, you see what's up here. Please feel free to pass this around. And, what's the best way to put this stuff out once it's ready to fly?
