On February 22-24, 1968, the Grateful Dead played a three-night run at Kings Beach Bowl in North Lake Tahoe, California.
In the 1920s, a guy named Joseph King moved from Texas to Truckee, California, a small town northwest of Lake Tahoe. Following World War II, King won some money in a high-stakes poker game with local real estate mogul Robert Sherman, and used the proceeds to build a shopping center on the north end of the lake near Kings Beach. The shopping center became a furniture store and then a bowling alley in the late-50s, when it was sold to Dave Jay and Alan Goodall. Per a 2017 story, “Rock ‘n’ Rollin’ in Tahoe,” on the Tahoe Quarterly website:
“By the time Jay and Goodall operated the building, its use as a bowling alley had diminished. But Jay’s teenage sons, Warren and Gary, were in a Sacramento-based band called The Creators (and were also friends with Goodall’s son), so the owners converted the building into a dancehall and let the young rock group play concerts on the weekends.
In the summer of 1967, The Creators hired a group of Sacramento State college students to perform a light show set to music at the newly christened Kings Beach Bowl. The students, who had a band they called the Simultaneous Avalanche, joined The Creators as the two mainstays at the Kings Beach Bowl.
Happy to be earning any proceeds at the location, the two owners hired a professional booking agent to fill out the roster of bands, but were careful to lean on the advice of the younger generation, who at the time were plugged into the burgeoning music scene that surrounded the Fillmore West.”
The Dead first visited Lake Tahoe in August 1967. Their mini so-called “Lake Tahoe Tour” started with a night at the South Shore American Legion and ended with two nights at the Kings Beach Bowl. The Creators opened the latter shows.
In 2018 story on the Tahoe Magazine website, Kings Beach resident Rich Schultze, a member of the Simultaneous Avalanche, described the Dead’s arrival in town:
“I just happened to be there and I saw this bus come in and the door popped open and out they came. Whether it was Jerry [Garcia] or the other guys, I’m not sure; it was a whole mess of them at once. It was like something out of a movie.
“The small-town people … man, when they first saw the Grateful Dead, they didn’t know what to think. People were literally freaking out. I wish I had a camera to capture the look on people’s faces. It was a culture shock. There were hippies around and everything, but not to that extent.”
Schultze remembers the soundcheck, as well:
“I remember we were there during the day and changing all of our equipment and stuff. And they were in there rehearsing. And Bob Weir had made a couple mistakes during rehearsal and they were chewing him out — and he was literally crying. They were going ‘Bobby, Bobby, you gotta pay attention.’ And he was going, ‘I’m trying, I’m trying.’ ”
LOL. The Kings Beach Bowl also hosted other Bay-area acts – the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Buffalo Springfield, Credence Clearwater Revival, and Country Joe & The Fish – before closing at the end of 1968 due to high costs of booking bigger names. It is now the North Tahoe Event Center.
Apparently, the Dead dug the venue enough in the Summer of ’67 to return in the Winter of ’68 for a series of three shows dubbed “Trip and Ski.” The shows have become legendary not for the performances, which are average, but for the inclusion of part of 2/24/68’s Feedback on Anthem of the Sun. The Tahoe Magazine piece says that these shows were among the first where Betty Cantor worked on the audio crew. Conditions were sub-par, and sub-freezing. From the magazine:
“Hewitt Jackson, a road manager for the Sacramento-based rock band Sanpaku, said their band’s keyboard player, Bob Powell, remembers the gigs because the icy temperatures nearly rendered one of Pigpen’s instruments useless.
He said the Dead brought their equipment up to play that gig and loaded it in there the night before. And the owners of the venue didn’t heat the place at night, so the organ in the cold got to be non-operable, and they were panicked about getting it warmed up. There’s a story that they took it outside in the sun to warm it up.”
The final two nights were later released as Dick’s Picks #22. That release came with an unusual warning:
“This is not an audiophile recording! Many of you may have read the numerous Dick’s Picks Caveat Emptors over the years and thought ‘Oh yeah… sure… whatever.’ Well, this old analog recording source exhibits many audio flaws including high distortion, low vocals, tape hiss, and missing pieces. No fair calling Customer Support and complaining! However, let it be known that this CD also includes some pretty damn exciting and historical music, and for that reason is brought to you with pride.”
It’s an official release, so there’s a Spotify widget.
According to Dead archivist David Lemieux, DP#22 was culled from six or seven reels of two-track, quarter-inch tape. Disc #1 (Viola Lee Blues through Morning Dew on the Spotify version) was probably recorded on 2/23, and disc #2 (Good Morning Little Schoolgirl through Feedback) was probably recorded on 2/24. These are not complete sets – a few repeats and songs with splices were omitted. Notably, drummer Bill Kreutzmann does not play on the 2/24 Other One > New Potato Caboose segment. DL2 spoke with Billy, who recounted that he was “skiing all day, and he was so tired that he sat out for a couple minutes [or like 15].” On the tape after New Potato Caboose, Phil Lesh says, “If Bill Kreutzmann will just come back up on the stage and play some more music with us, I promise never to say anything nasty about him.”
And back in 2007 as part of the “Taper’s Section” feature on dead.net, DL2 also offered some insight regarding 2/22, the first night of the run:
“One of the most frequent questions we’ve received over the years is what about 2/22/68 Lake Tahoe. As we all know, Dick’s Picks Vol. 22 is from 2/23 & 24/68. Unfortunately, the tapes for the 2/22/68 show were incomplete, and more importantly, they had severe mix problems that rendered the bulk of that show unlistenable. But, because the music at the end of the show is so good, we are going to play it here for you, although please be warned: there are no vocals on the tapes, and there are a few other mix issues. However, as you’ll hear, those issues are rather minor when put up against the high quality of this music. So, for the first time, here is the heart of that show, Dark Star>China Cat Sunflower>The Eleven>Caution from 2/22/68 at Kings Beach Bowl. Don’t say we didn’t warn you, but this music is so good, we thought you’d be able to overlook some sound problems.“
That segment is no longer available to download on the official site. Never fear, LN has you covered. I found it on an old external hard drive. HERE is a download link for the aforementioned segment.
More soon,
JF
Liner Notes 