January 22, 1971: Lane Community College, Eugene

GRATEFUL DEAD SLATE BENEFIT AT LANE

The Grateful Dead, one of the early San Francisco bands, is scheduled to appear in LCC's main gym Friday, Jan. 22. The dance-concert will start around 8:00 p.m. and end when the Dead (and the people attending) get tired.
The Grateful Dead was one of the first bands to "make it" when the rush for the "San Francisco Sound" began back in 1966-67. Along with the Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, the Sons of Champlain [sic], and a lot of others, they were "discovered," signed by recording companies, and labeled by some as America's answer to the British invasion.
Of the dozens of bands from this area, the Dead is one of the few to survive all the hype putdown by the record companies and music commentators.
The Dead's music has consistently been in the forefront of all the trends of the public. They were psychedelic when no one knew what the word meant, and two albums ago they made a switch to a folk-flavored country-rock sound.
The albums WORKINGMANS DEAD and AMERICAN BEAUTY, on Warners Reprise, best show where the Dead are at right now.
Michael Lydon, in ROLLING STONE, talks of one of the albums: "WORKINGMANS DEAD is just about as good as a record can be. Easy on the ears from the first listening, it gets mellower as it grows on you; a lot of different rhythms but one sure pulse."
Appearing with the Grateful Dead at Lane will be Notary Sojac, a group from Portland.
Approximately 20% of the profits (after expenses) from this dance-concert will go to LCC's student financial aids program, while a larger percentage will go to the Eugene White Bird Clinic.
The Dead's concert at Lane will probably consist of three sets. One of the sets will be acoustic, and will hopefully be, as ROLLING STONE put it for a recent appearance at the Fillmore West, "music soothing to weary hearts and hard-driven minds because it understands that state of mind only too well."
A second set will be more country and western. This set features songs like "Six Days on the Road," and will be performed by the New Riders of the Purple Sage. This group is comprised of members of the Grateful Dead and some friends.
The third set will be the old, semi-psychedelic Dead.
Along with the Dead's three sets and Notary Sojac, there will be a multiple-image slide presentation on Woodstock. It is not known at this time whether this will be shown in conjunction with the Dead's show or in a different room on campus, but it WILL be there.
Tickets for the Dead's concert are $3 - cheap for two good bands and a slide presentation. They will be available at the door and at the Information Desk in the Administration Building at LCC.

(by John Tennis, from the LCC Torch, January 19, 1971)

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DEAD SET FRIDAY DATE

The Grateful Dead - formerly an electric San Francisco legend, lately one of the most laid back bands around - will play in concert at the Lane Community College gymnasium Friday, January 22, at 8:00 p.m. 

Second on the bill will be Portland's Notary Sojac, as well as a series of image films taken at Woodstock. The show is being sponsored by the Bullfrog Information Service (having nothing to do with the Bullfrog rock festival fiascos in Portland a couple of summers ago) with the majority of the profits going to aid White Bird Clinic. 

With the release of their last two albums, "Workingman's Dead" and "American Beauty," the Dead have received increased notoriety across the country. The reason - simply, they seem to have mellowed out quite a bit. 

The Grateful Dead have always been a band for the people, but with the reception of their last two records, they are being accepted more for their music, and less for their reputation. 

The Bullfrog Information Service, rather than being an organization, is a Eugene-based publication with its first issue set to go to press this April. The magazine will be a general format monthly aimed at and about the northwest alternative community. [The magazine is now accepting articles. . . . ] 

"The Grateful Dead," according to publisher Rick Hillman, "is an important part of Eugene history that we feel many people around here are trying to identify with. Kesey is here, the Pranksters are here; The Grateful Dead was just a natural choice."

Benefiting from the profits of the concert will be the White Bird Clinic, an organization set up to cope with the myriad problems people have because of alienation. A spokesman for White Bird points out that the clinic feels an attitude of "coming on" positive is the best way to help alienated people. 

The types of problems White Bird handles range from people bothered by illegally using marijuana to those hung up by society in one way or another. Drug rehabilitation is one aspect of their service, but it is only one problem the clinic deals with. 

Except for a skeleton crew of paid employees, most of the time and work comes from volunteers, and the 30 doctors who offer their time and services do so voluntarily. 

Money for support of the clinic comes in part from federal, state and city grants, but the bulk of money comes from the community, which, as White Bird says, "is where we're at. We hope to reach people on a person-to-person basis, rather than a professional level." 

For an evening of mellowed-out music that will help out some people into really fine things, get your $3.00 tickets and make it out to Lane this Friday. As Jerry Garcia says, "God Damn! I declare - Have you seen the light?" 

(by Steven Smith, from the Oregon Daily Emerald, 22 January 1971)

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WEEKEND PREVIEW (excerpt from the 1/22/71 Daily Emerald) 

 

"Little need be said respecting the Grateful Dead concert so much publicized of late. There's a fairly detailed news writeup on the Dead gig elsewhere in this section, and we need only append one note to that story, viz. the affair is virtually sold out, and if there are any late-comers who wish to get in at this juncture, they'd be well-advised to get to the dance early. A limited number of tickets are available at the door, but they'll be doled out on a first-come, first-serve basis. Very democratic, really."

*

(from the 1/25/71 Daily Emerald) 

"At Lane Community College Friday night, an oversold, crowded, stuffy, standing-room only (6000-plus people) performance of the Grateful Dead lasted for more than five hours in the packed LCC gym. Jerry Garcia's Dead played country rock until nearly 2 am and was sponsored by White Bird Clinic."

*

CRASHERS MAR DEAD CONCERT

Friday night's Grateful Dead concert packed Lane Community College's gym, but it wasn't oversold, University student Carl Pennington says. 

Pennington, who booked the concert for the fund-raising concert for White Bird Clinic, told the Emerald that of the more than 7000 people attending, approximately 4700 to 4800 paid for the three-dollar tickets. 

More than 200 fake tickets were printed up before the concert and inadvertently accepted at the door, Pennington said. 

LCC's gym doors were crashed soon after the concert began, Pennington added, letting in more than 2300 people for free. 

Jerry Garcia's Dead played for more than five hours until nearly 2 a.m. at the crowded, standing-room only performance.

(from the Oregon Daily Emerald, 26 January 1971)

* * *   

CONCERT "FANTASTIC" - BUT CROWDED
OVER 7,000 ATTEND

I had heard that there would be a lot of people at the Grateful Dead concert Friday night, and that there were only a small number of tickets available, so I got there early to buy one at the door.
Sure enough, there were a lot of people there, and a lot of them were waiting to buy tickets at the door.
Fortunately, though, I was one of the thousands who got in, and I took a seat in the bleachers because I saw that the floor was getting pretty crowded.
After waiting outside for an hour, I wasn't relishing the idea of sitting for another hour.
After amusing myself watching the activities of the crowd for awhile, the concert started with Notary Sojac, who played for about 40 minutes.
They played some nice stuff, which was all their own material. It's rather complex though, and therefore hard to get into. One of the reasons for that might have been their lack of equipment, which made it hard to hear the instruments.
When Sojac's set was over, the lights came on and we got to see each other.
Reports have it that there were over 7,000 people there, and that over a thousand of those crashed their way in, which brings me to my main complaint about the concert. There were just too many people there. I suppose the blame goes to the crashers. A thousand less bodies sure would have been nice.
The New Riders of the Purple Sage were next, and they were great. I didn't have too much time to worry about all the people during this set because the music was so good.
Their set lasted about 40 or 50 minutes, and then we saw the slides and films on Woodstock. They were interesting for awhile, but it became a drag when they were shown over and over.
Another thing that was a drag was the non-stop talking by the crowd. It wasn't cheering anyone on; it was just talking.
Next came the Grateful Dead, and from about 11:30 till 2:00 a.m. the Dead demonstrated why everyone was there.
Their first number was "Casey Jones" and it set the speed for the rest of the night. By the end of that number, everyone was screaming and cheering them on.
It was a fantastic concert, in spite of the things I mentioned above, and should help White Bird Clinic and LCC's financial aids program, which share in the profits.

(by John Tennis, from the LCC Torch, January 26, 1971)

https://web.archive.org/web/20110610214901/http://www.lanecc.edu/archives/GratefulDead.htm 

See also this account of the show, from Notary Sojac's perspective: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150915201421/http://frankgutchjr.hubpages.com/hub/Notary-Sojac-Dead 

http://archive.org/details/gd71-01-22.sbd.cotsman.12592.sbeok.shnf (partial SBD tape)