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Warren Oates's Collection

Grateful Dead   03/21/1970

Capitol Theater (Early), Port Chester, NY
Source MAC> Soundforge> cd> EAC> SHN >CD
Media cdr   1 disc
Notes Aud recorded by Ken Lee; Sony TC-110 cassette deck with built in mic. early show.
Tech Notes Grateful Dead
Venue Capitol Theater
Location Port Chester, NY
Date 3/21/70a - Saturday

[64:15 +] [0:34 tuning] ; Walking The Dog [8:23] ; [0:58] ; Me And My Uncle [3:07] ; [0:38 "turn up the monitors"] Death Don't Have No Mercy [8:48] ; [2:16] ; Drums [0:10] > Good Lovin' [1:45] > Drums [2:32] > Good Lovin' [4:03] ; [0:58] ; Dire Wolf [3:30] ; [0:18] ; Big Boss Man [4:44] ; [2:29] ; He Was A Friend Of Mine[10:06] > Viola Lee Blues [12:28] > The Seven [2:02 ]> Cumberland Blues [4:26]

Recorded by Ken Lee; Sony TC-110 cassette deck with built in mic.

Port Chester "Resurrection" Project #2

Grateful Dead
Capitol Theater
Port Chester, New York
March 21, 1970

Cassette Master> Soundforge> cd> EAC> SHN

-Recorded by Ken & Judy Lee on a Sony 124 cassette deck with Sony dynamic mics on a Norelco 120 normal bias tape. Microphones were set up in the balcony with a 20 foot spread.
-Original tape was baked in "Susie Q", shell replaced and transferred on a Tascam 122mk3 via a Lucid ADA1000 Analog to Digital Converter directly to disc on a Tascam CDRW700 by John Jay Hance.
-Cleanup performed by Peter G with Soundforge.
-EAC performed with correct offsets. SHN conversion with MKWact & retracking done with CD Wave and EAC by Evan Bellaff (theelevan@yahoo.com).

Early Show

1. Tuning 00:24
2. (1) Walkin' the Dog 09:19
3. Me and My Uncle 03:26
4. Death Don't Have No Mercy 11:25
5. (2) Good Lovin' 09:33
6. Dire Wolf 03:57
7. Big Boss Man 07:14
8. (3,4,5) He Was a Friend of Mine 10:07
9. Viola Lee Blues> 12:36
10. (6) The Seven> 01:54
11. Cumberland Blues 04:48

total time (74:48)

Late Show *

* Stay tuned- The Late show will be available very shortly, which includes an uncirculated electric set containing "Casey Jones," "Dancin' in the Streets," and "Easy wind." This text file will be completed when the late show is ready to go.

(1) First "Walkin' the Dog"

(2) Bobby: Hey, ah, hey... when you're, while you're shouting out requests I want you to bear in mind one fact that, being that, when, when we're, when we made up the songs we made up no names for the songs and we had a friend of ours make up names for the songs and sh,and submit 'em to the president of the record company to put the album... and we never even learned the names to all our songs. So you're shouting a bunch of meaningless words to us, and I swear it's true...

(3) Final "He Was a Friend of Mine"

(4) Bobby: Boy, are you ever going to like this...

(5) Crease on master tape @ 2:37-2:38

(6) Final "The Seven"

Portions of this show were played on "Morning Dew," 99.5FM, New York City on Saturday, 10/18/03 during a fund drive. Special thanks to Ken and Judy for calling the station for a live interview, giving us some great insights into this show and their experiences recording all of these shows!!
"Morning Dew" airs every Saturday night from 9:30pm-12:00am EST, streaming in "Real Audio" at http://www.drnet.net/morningdew.

The Port Chester Resurrection Project story...

Ken and Judy Lee didn't think anyone would be interested in hearing their recordings...

Between the years 1970 and 1971, Ken worked security at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, while his girlfriend Judy ran movie projections between sets. One of a few live music taping enthusiasts of the time, Ken was granted exclusive permission by club promoter Howard Stein to record the shows at the theatre for his own personal use. Judy was on hand to perform the tape flips while Ken was busy doing his job.
In 1968, the couple took Judy's brother Mark, who was nine years old to his first concert at "Cafe Wha?" in New York City. The Monkees were on tour and Jimi Hendrix was along for the ride as their opening act.
Several years later, Mark was introduced to the music of the Grateful Dead at the Nassau Coliseum on March 19th, 1973 in Uniondale, Long Island. This single event marked the beginning of a life long odyssey of musical experiences with the band that affected him most deeply. Along with his good friend, John Jay Hance, who Mark met at a Dead show in 1979, the two traveled around the United States with the band in search of the ultimate musical experience, attending over 350 shows together. The two also shared a common interest in seeing live music of a wide variety of genres, and during the 23 years that they knew each other attended more than 1000 total concerts together, until Mark's untimely death in November of 2002.
Mark knew of brother in-law Ken's recordings from the Capitol Theatre, and had a strong interest in having the shows circulated; however, being true to his word to Howard Stein, Ken kept the recordings under wraps and the tapes never saw the light of the trading domain (One noteworthy bending of this rule occurred when Ken agreed at Mark's request to circulate the late show that the Grateful Dead did on June 24th of 1970. This show is highly regarded as an all-time magical performance by the Dead during their 30 year history as a band)


alos have:
A:C:C:C:CD
2nd generation cassette played back on Nak Dragon> ART DI/O> Egosys Waverterminal 2496> HD. Edited and tracked in Cool Edit 2000. Burned in Feurio. From David Minches.
J-Card Comment by: Noah Weiner

03-21-70 Capitol Theatre - Port Chester, NY


To look at this show on paper, you can't help but raise an eyebrow. No Other One? No Dark Star? Death Don't as the third song out of the gate? He Was A Friend>Viola Lee>The Seven>Cumberland? Midnight Hour>Lovelight? This is just odd. Couple all this together with the fact that the AUD recording is certainly above average for 1970 (in fact one could say it's downright terrific for 1970), and you have yourself an intriguing bit of music history. The show(s) sparkle with energy all over the place. While there are some tape age problems and gremlins that harass the Early Show more than the Late, clearly this taper got it right (or just got lucky).


Early Show:


The Walking The Dog opener (as far as we know, its debut) has a great bounce to it. For as little as they played this tune, it really captures the Grateful Dead feeling of the era nicely. It's got a good, confidant strut to it. Me and My Uncle follows and afterwards it is clear that the crowd is extremely energized to the point that they just won't shut up. You've got the obligatory calls for "St. Stephen!" along with a cacophony of shouts, cheers and claps. It's been this way from the start of the show. Because of this perhaps, the next tune picked is Death Don't Have No Mercy. Before it starts, Jerry says "Calm down, you unruly freaks," and it won't be the last time he says so.


Death Don't serves to completely quiet the crowd. Somber and haunting, the band forces the attention on the music. The version is very nice. Jerry's voice is filled with emotion. It lofts into falsetto at the end of lines, and brings the listener in. His solos are strong, almost angry. After applauding the song, the crowd is completely silent except for a slight murmur. It sounds like respect. But it only lasts about thirty seconds. Someone shouts, then someone (on stage?) breaks the ice by asking for an "E-flat" to help tune up. Laughs follow, then more song requests. Bobby fuels the fire (thanks, Bobby) by remarking that they don't know the names of their own songs so everything the crowd is shouting is meaningless to the band. Ha ha ha. Now the crowd is all clapping in time and the band busts out Good Lovin'. It's a solid version, though it doesn't take any chances. The Dire Wolf that follows is very peppy. And Big Boss Man allows Pigpen to stretch his legs some.


Next comes the true treat of the Early Show: He Was A Friend Of Mine>Viola Lee Blues>The Seven>Cumberland Blues. He Was A Friend Of Mine is so lovely. The main lead break has Jerry creating a feeling completely unique to the time period. I was listening, thinking, "What does this sound like?" It's not like Dark Star. It's not really Morning Dew-like. Then it hit me, it's really more of an intense 1970 Dancin' groove slowed down to a ballad's pace. So emotional, it turns and soars ever so gracefully, like a flower opening in the morning sun. It makes you sad to think of where this song could have gone if the kept it around like, say, Morning Dew. But this was the last one ever. And they give it a fitting farewell.


The tune comes to it's natural end, and is immediately followed by the explosive intro of Viola Lee. This rendition takes a bit of time to get flying. But soon enough they are in high gear. What I find great about this version is that while the jam is intensifying, they actually mellow a bit. You'd think they might be angling toward a Dark Star or some such. The drumming quiets slightly, and things get a bit ethereal. This adds a nice twist to the song, adding some curious anticipation to what is normally a non-stop uphill climb in energy.


Soon enough they are building again. They get to that searing, scorching place that only Viola Lee could go. This is pure electric meltdown. I always look forward to the Viola Lee meltdown's end, because of the way it stops on a dime, and gets back to the basic song so fast. I love to pay close attention to Jerry's first notes after the meltdown, usually a blend of blues and outer space. He always amazes me in these passages. This one goes even a step further. Starting with some guttural, bluesy moans, he then goes into fluttering triplet pull-offs for a while, and the band is swirling, not headed toward the last verse at all. A very nice non-directional passage.


Then they hit the all too few times played Seven. Man! This sounds like a riff out of a song by Cream sort of, only Jerry gives it his own spin such that if Eric Clapton were in the audience would be melted into the floor. Phil is rolling. Jerry is flying. The only trouble is it's so darn short. But the slide into Cumberland is a priceless piece of 1970 segue jamming. Just as you are completely at the mercy of The Seven jam, thinking about Eric Clapton in a technicolor puddle on the floor, they bring you into their psychedelic bluegrass Cumberland. This version is good, just for the energy it lends to the end of the jam. But it's nothing to write home about. It's too short, and ends before the band can really get at it like they were known to do. I've always heard a lot of Viola Lee in Cumberland Blues. I guess, since they were still playing Viola Lee at this time, Cumberland hadn't yet become that vehicle. It would have been great to see it reach meltdown again and head into the last verse of Viola Lee Blues to close it off. But they did have a late show to save up for, I suppose.
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Owned by Warren Oates · Last Updated May 23, 2023