Jerry Garcia & John Kahn - Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon - May 5, 1982

It's hard to find a place to start with Jerry Garcia's music. You could spend a lifetime listening to Dead shows, analyzing jams and recordings and still not tap the surface. Personally, I find that Jerry seems to shine the most in his solo shows. He began playing with John Kahn in May of 1970 with the Jerry Garcia & Howard Wales project. After that, John Kahn was in every side project Jerry did without the Dead (Jerry Garcia Band, Legion of Mary, Old and In The Way, etc.) These collaborations eventually led to Jerry and John Kahn playing as an acoustic duet in the early 80's. This show at the Oregon State Penitentiary is without question one of my favorite of Jerry's side project shows. It is by far the best recording I've heard of a Jerry Garcia & John Kahn show and Ken Kesey was supposedly in attendance. They play a few Dead songs (Friend of the Devil, Ripple, Dire Wolf), songs the Dead played all the time (Deep Elem Blues, Jack A Roe) and a few of Jerry's own songs and favorites (Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie, Bob Dylan's It Takes A Lot to Laugh, Run For The Roses, Rubin and Cherise). I get the chills everytime I listen to this version of Run For The Roses and I find myself coming back to this show again and again. Supposedly, the Dead crew disliked John Kahn for his encouragement of Jerry's drug habit, especially in the 90's. John Kahn would die of heart failure (May, 1996) a little over a year after Jerry died of a heart attack (August 1995), both deaths most likely due to drugs. I couldn't find a picture from the show so I posted the best one I could find of the two together. Enjoy the show!

Here's a note from a guy who was there: "One thing I remember was a deranged guy hopped onstage during the Reverend Chumliegh's (sp?) act and kind of made for a slightly tense atmosphere. And I think Jerry was without John Kahn for the first two songs and pretty nervous. Kesey had us all hyperventilating, bless him."- Paul

Jerry Garcia & John Kahn - Oregon State Penitentiary, Salem, Oregon - May 5, 1982