The Jimmy Warren Interview
Episode description
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.