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Yosemite under Orion's gaze
Friday, August 7, 2020
Sarah Fulcher
I was listening to the Grateful Dead radio station on Sirius yesterday, specifically a show that Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia performed at the Boarding House on January 23, 1973. I was enchanted with the female singer, who the heck was it? Muldaur? She dated John Kahn for a while and I saw her perform with the Dead the following year at Santa Barbara. Couldn't have been Donna, this one sang in key and in a higher register. I did some research, it was Sarah Fulcher, a woman I have never heard of before. Unfortunately the parts of that performance I wanted to share, the excellent cuts called System and Honey Child, are not available at this moment on YouTube. The whole performance is evidently on the Garcia Live Series ,Vol 12. Here is a good biography on the singer. Probably the best girl singer to ever play with Jerry Band. John Kahn on bass, Bill Vitt on drums.
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I was excited to hear that Garcia Live cd when it arrived in the mail. Especially "Honey Child" which caught my attention on the setlist immediately. Sadly, I was disappointed. She seemed to bogart every song (which is always annoying with any guest of the Grateful Dead), and her voice reminded me of how a honky-tonk singer would sound in a 1970's action film like "White Line Fever" or some other film of that genre. Very amateur to my ears. I will give it another try, but I'm not anxious for a second spin. On the other hand, maybe I'm just getting intolerant. Every time I skip over Donna's shrill scream in Playing In The Band, my wife thanks me. The Yoko Ono inoculation that we received "way back when" clearly didn't stick.
Maybe my taste will change as it did with blue cheese and anchovies. You never know.
You know and I know, but few others know, but there was an extended period in the 1970's where a girl named Allison would come to Bay Area shows and whinny like a horse all night while they were singing. Mrs. Ed was a total buzzkill, glad she was finally put out to pasture. Once she was found doing something pretty unspeakable in the mezzanine of the Oakland Auditorium but I will not divulge, this is a family rated blog and I can assure you, no farm animals were harmed in its construction. Try the chipotle ranch next time.
Ah yes, Allison...
She lived in a tree house in Carmel Valley, CA in the 1970's. Convinced her dad, a successful lawyer to buy her a trip to Egypt to see the Grateful Dead in 1978. Often topless at shows for years, a whinnie that also made her body go into an orgasmic tremble. Ruined many audience tapes, especially JGB shows which picked up the room ambiance, including the clanking of beer glasses at the bar and such. Always a stable of lesbian nymphs in tow. Quite exotic, and dare I say "erotic". But if you had the misfortune of getting too close, she could whip you with her long hair like a horsetail. Not fun. Protective goggles weren't really an option in those days.
There were some humorous times I will never forget, but the memory that will stick forever was in after a show at Donner's Summit in 1985. My wife and I were having dinner at a lodge in Truckee, when Allison and her girlfriends du jour came strolling through the dining room, hand in hand, wearing see-though white gauze dresses, and giddy in the afterglow of an LSD infused afternoon. We proceeded to enjoy our meal. No biggie right? But the old gentleman across from our table and his wife were very shocked, to the point where as the husband couldn't stop staring, his wife gave him a firm kick under the table. Hilarious!
Those were the days....
I saw Allison at lots of bay area Garcia shows in the early 80's. And yes, always with a bevy of slinky, coked out lesbian nymphs. Her entire crew would get absurdly high and groove out on Garcia guitar jams while orgasming and hair whipping and whinnying away right on the dance floor. Entirely distracting. I always went to the opposite side of where ever they posted up as I too was high and I preferred to keep my focus upon the music.
bv
Gawd Brian, so one dimensional...
The best female singer to ever sing with JGB? I think not. A patently ridiculous statement
You are entitled to your opinion, I am entitled to mine, EJG. I saw Jerry play with Etta James and she was amazing but a one off.
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