Musicians Gail Muldrow - vocals Larry Vann - drums Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals Tom Johnston - electric guitar Tony Saunders - electric bass Guests Jerry Garcia - electric guitar

Complete Show: Another Star , Do I Move You , Come Together , Walkin' Down The Road , So What? , World Is A Ghetto , Expressway (To Your Heart)

 "Jerry sitting in with Merl’s band, their first onstage reunion since breaking up Legion of Mary. It’s like an alternate reality version of Reconstruction, slimmed down and much more jammed out. Merl’s band has another guitarist, but Jer is all over this, even the stuff that must have been pretty new to him. Another Star and Do I Move You became Reconstruction tunes, but most of this stuff is pretty unique: disco versions of Come Together and The World is a Ghetto (lifted from George Benson’s version), a mystery hippie-rock tune Walkin’ Down the Road (reminds me of those Sarah Fulcher originals from 73, actually), a random but very cool So What (a month before the one surprise JGB version on 11/3/78!), and then a really fast but really hot Expressway to Your Heart which is just bananas." 

 October 2-3, 1978: The Shady Grove, San Francisco, CA: Merl Saunders and Friends Given Jerry Garcia's long friendship with Merl Saunders, the fact that he sat in with Merl for two nights at a tiny club on Haight Street seems perfectly plausible. The tiny Shady Grove was a club that featured bands playing original music, and when it got in financial trouble, not only did Merl play a benefit, he got Jerry to come out too, and it must have packed out the house both nights. However, a closer look makes Garcia's presence rather more curious.

Let me be clear and say that Garcia loved to play, and I don't doubt that on both nights at the Shady Grove, Jerry loved funking out with Merl, just like he had done a few years earlier. Nonetheless, why the Shady Grove, and why October 1978? Garcia had unceremoniously dumped Saunders in 1975, leaving Kahn the unpleasant task of telling his friend that he was no longer working with Garcia. The financial ramifications for Saunders would have been significant, too. 

credit:lostLive