Merl Saunders & Friends
The Kennel Club
San Francisco, CA
1988-03-20

Source:  S:C(x) via Carolyn Welch
Transfer: MC (XL-II90) > Nak Dragon > Tascam DA-3000 (DSF 1-bit/5.6 MHz) > Tascam HRE > PCM @ 2496
Master:   Wavelab 10 (tracking, levels, DDI Codec - Dolby B) > FLAC 2496

01. Wavy Gravy anti-cookie musings
02. Merl banter
03. Built for Comfort
04. Not Fade Away
05. Level With Me
06. Do I Move You?
07. Women Smarter
08. Boogie On Reggae Woman

This tape came from Caroline Welch (a/k/a Carlisle) who passed away in July 2008 and is still missed.  This is part of a benefit concert, the "First Annual Haight Ashbury Model Be In by the United States Cafe Shady Grove Haight Ashbury Street Fair," says Wavy Gravy.  The event is explained in the Relix article below.

The tape ends with "Hey folks, we'll be back in about 20 minutes" but evidently they didn't come back.  Or, those words may actually have come at the end of Comfort's set.  There's no way to tell, based on how the cassette was dubbed.

The recording has a number of level and dropout problems in the first 10 minutes.  It ranges from overloaded to nearly no signal in one channel or the other, and then it switches back and forth.  It was actually quite a mess.  All of this has been smoothed over, but there are noticeable changes to the audio during Built for Comfort and several minutes are mono.  It settles in after that.

Merl Saunders - keys, vocals
Paul Davis - guitar
Barry "The Fish" Melton - guitar
Armando Peraza - conga
Brent Mydland - keys
Kevin Hayes - drums
John Kahn - bass

Here is a description of the performance, from Relix Vol. 15 No. 3 (May/June 1988):

https://web.archive.org/web/20010210043357/http://www.relix.com/magazine/15-3-ItsAlive.html

ROBERT HUNTER AND COMFORT MERL SAUNDERS AND FRIENDS THE KENNEL CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO by Jimbo Juanis

A benefit was recently held at The Kennel Club in San Francisco for two long defunct Haight Street coffee houses, The Shady Grove and The United States Cafe. These two clubs featured the sounds of many of the Bay Area's greatest groups in the early 70's. Groups like Moby Grape, The Saunders/Garcia Band and Comfort performed regularly at The Shady Grove. So it was fitting that a couple of the old bands get together for this special occasion.

An all day party was held featuring slide shows and films that brought back old memories for the invited throng. Folks like Will Dodger, Curtis and Flash held court and reminisced with old friends and others who were obviously too young to have experienced the flourishing Haight Ashbury scene in the late sixties and early seventies.

By the time Comfort hit the stage ... [rest of the paragraph omitted].  The historic collaboration was followed by Merl Saunders and an all star band made up of Brent Mydland on organ, John Kahn on bass, Barry "The Fish" Melton on guitar, Armando Peraza on congas and Kevin Hayes on drums. Before Merl's performance, he was given an award by Wavy Gravy for his work in the Haight Ashbury community.  Wavy also reminisced that his idea for "Nobody For President" came to him as he sipped coffee at The United States Cafe in 1972. -Merl and "Friends" performed a powerful set that included "Built For Comfort," a bluesy "Not Fade Away" sung passionately by Brent, "Level With Me," "That Pleases Me," "Women Are Smarter" and "Boogie On Reggae Woman."

These veterans of the San Francisco music scene know how to rock as anyone who was at this show can surely attest.

Enjoy!

--mhg :: 2021-11-28

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