​Gigs Don’t Start Early

​by Jimmy Jacobs

​Jerry didn’t want another guitar player in his band. He already had that with The Dead. He thought he would try the “two-keyboard thing.” I think he loved the idea that Melvin Seals was from the church, so it could get a little gospely with organ.

​We showed up at Club Front, and John Kahn had lead sheets that he passed out to everyone. We ran through this song and that song. After a couple of hours, Jerry said, “Can everybody be here tomorrow at 4 pm?” I realized I passed the audition. I don’t know if he and John had already decided on what they were doing. I said, “Yea, I’ll come back,” because I had fun.

​Jerry liked to play the song, play the melody, then we’d “go for it.” I wasn’t really a Deadhead and didn’t know much about their organization. But eventually they said, “We’re going to start playing some gigs around.”

​The first gig was Keystone Berkeley in January 1981, and they just told me which night. I went over there and showed up at 9:00 or 9:30. Nobody was there. Steve Parish wasn’t there. I went up to the club and I said, “I’m supposed to play with Garcia tonight.” The guy at the front was like, “Yea, right.” I paid to get in, and the rest of the guys showed up about an hour and a half later. Once they told Parish, he gave the front man a really hard time. I learned my lesson. Garcia’s gigs don’t start early. Rock Scully was the road manager, but if you ask me it was Parish who kept it all together.