Grateful Dead—Family Dog on the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA, August 2-3, 1969
w/Ballet Afro-Haiti and Albert Collins
The Dead make their debut at the Family Dog. The run was scheduled to begin on 8/1 on Jerry’s birthday, but a lighting artists’ guild strike delayed the festivities by a day. We still get two great nights of music recorded by the Bear. The opening act was Texas guitarist Albert Collins who had been recording since the 1950s. His band for this weekend consisted of Big Brother & The Holding Company’s Peter Albin on guitar and Dave Getz on Drums, New Riders’ guitarist David Nelson, and New Delhi River Band bassist Dave Torbert. The Ballet Afro-Haiti is completely unknown to me, although it should be mentioned that the Family Dog regularly featured dance troupes of different types to have a broader artistic representation beyond the music.
The first night’s tape opens with a solid Casey Jones filled with forceful miniature jams, followed by a slightly messy, but thoroughly enjoyable Hard to Handle. A tuning break ensues. An unknown audience member yells out a belated Happy Birthday to Garcia. Jerry, in a somewhat festive mood, makes a brief announcement: “Say tonight it’s Chester Helms’ birthday…that’s right.” Pigpen: “Say what?!!” Jerry: “So everybody has to think Happy Birthday thoughts—or else…and there’s going to be a party, so they say, and it might even be right here, they also say, be that as it may.” And with that, Mama Tried seems like a suitable number to roll out next. It’s played like a rock tune with guest guitarist David Nelson leaning into every lead with his distinctive B-Bender action. After a sweet take on the newish High Time, the band pivots and transitions to C&W with Garcia on pedal steel for the Dead’s debut of George Jones’ Seasons of My Heart, followed by one of only eight played versions of Ole Slew-Foot, with Jerome getting a sweet fuzz tone on the second half of his solo.
The big jam portion of the set is next with 52 minutes of Cryptical Envelopment > Drums > The Other One > Cryptical Envelopment> Turn On Your Love Light. The Other One suite is the longest of 1969. It’s an intense and wandering version and is not to be missed. The show-ending Lovelight is all Pig, doing what the Pigger does—strutting his mojo. Lots of blues riffs and fun ensemble jamming also make the scene. That said, perhaps the most psychedelic part of the recording occurs when tape heads go amiss near the peak of the final jam, leading to some far-out modulation and image distortion—another Bear tape blithely displaying a wart or two.
The Sunday night show includes two mystery guests—an electric violinist and a tenor saxophone player. For years it was speculated that the reeds we hear on this recording were played by Charles Lloyd and the violin was either David LaFlamme or Michael White. Both of these theories have since been debunked by a host of Grateful Dead scholars. David LaFlamme sat in with Garcia and the New Riders a few times on stage, so he would seem like a likely choice. But it wasn’t him, per LaFlamme himself. White played with John Handy in the mid-60s and by 1969 he was in a great fusion group called The Fourth Way, who gigged regularly around the Bay Area. The Fourth Way had a show in Berkeley on the night of August 3rd, so no dice there. As for the saxophone presence, Charles Lloyd was friendly with the band and sat in with them a few times in 1967. On numerous other occasions, it wasn’t his sax in the mix. Yet early tape collectors, having little information, simply assumed it was Lloyd, and wrote it on their tape boxes. Lloyd was originally booked on the bill for this evening with the Dead, however, several days before he was replaced by blues guitarist, Albert Collins. Guest credentials aside, we do have a tenor sax and a violin on this night and they sound pretty damn good.
The tape opens with some on-stage banter and tuning. Garcia: “Hey the Bear’s got a banjo.” “Get away with that thing!” someone adds. Owsley returns to the board and the band kicks the night off with Hard To Handle. Big chaos ensues, especially with the next one—Beat it on Down the Line—and the 28-beat intro. The violinist is present right from the start and adds some cool licks to the two beginning numbers. Next up, the sax player joins the action for the first taped version of High-Heeled Sneakers since ‘66, with Garcia and Mckernan singing alternate verses. David Nelson returns to the stage for another solid Mama Tried with a fuzzed B-Bender solo to round off the intro portion of the performance.
The show’s big highlight is the ranging, raging Dark Star > Alligator > The Other One > Caution > And We Bid You Goodnight medley. The guest musicians are very active here, adding new textures and peaks. The Dark Star is atmospheric with a full Sputnik meltdown and active themes around every corner. The Other One continues the epic free jazz melt. The saxophone is present and gets a bit honky—but equally weird—as the jam deconstructs, moving into a firey musical space as Caution erupts. In time, Garcia brings everyone back to Americana Earth and they close out the evening with a sweet And We Bid You Goodnight.
These two nights at Chet Helms’ short-lived rock dance club are performances I return to now and again. They are a fun listen, Bear was on the recorder knobs for both, and they’re historically significant in that they represent the Grateful Dead’s first full debut at the Family Dog. I highly suggest you to take one or both out for a spin. You won’t rue the decision for a second.
By the way, Owsley did own a banjo. His copy of Pete Seeger’s “How to play the 5-string banjo”—with his name inscribed—is now in Ned Lagin’s collection.
nice and a fun recording. That Dark Star is far out man! I met David LaFlamme in college and we talked about the Dead. He was a favorite of my sister Rachel; White Bird & Hot Summer Day