In the fall of 1974, John Lennon and Jerry Garcia were in similar situations. Both of them were enjoying newfound artistic freedom after breaking from the bands that brought them to fame—albeit The Beatles‘ 1970 breakup was far more permanent than the Grateful Dead‘s October 1974–June 1976 touring hiatus. The other thing Lennon and Garcia had in common was that they were both at The Bottom Line in New York City on November 5th, 1974, where the two music legends were first introduced. In a recent video on his YouTube channel, former Jerry Garcia Band manager and legendary Grateful Dead crew member Steve Parish recollected on the historic meeting.
As Parish recalled, “Chauffeur to the Stars” Ronny Sunshine showed up to The Bottom Line before the club opened with none other than John Lennon. Apparently, Sunshine had somewhere more important to be than carting around one of the Fab Four, so he left Lennon in the care of Jerry and Big Steve. Some pot got passed around and the conversation went on for hours.
“My God, Jerry and John loved each other,” Parish fondly recalled 50 years later. “They had just met, right then and there. And there I was sitting there with them, and I was in heaven. ‘Cause I loved The Beatles, and Jerry did, and John represented so much of our culture and life to us, and it was so great to see them get off on each other and talk about all this cool stuff. John talked about his life, Jerry talked about his. It went on for a couple hours. It was the most amazing thing I could witness.”
According to Parish, John turned down Jerry’s invitation to sit in that night, citing the couple glasses of wine he had drank and fearing he wasn’t at his best. Everybody was getting along just fine until Vincent “Big Vinny” Girolamo and the New York Hells Angels chapter came roaring in. About ten Angels entered the club and “joshed around” with Garcia and Lennon, after which Big Vinny asked Parish for some “electric”—how they referred to acid—and took down an entire bottle of liquid LSD. John Lennon, Jerry Garcia, Hells Angels, and liquid LSD: quite the pre-party.
Although Lennon didn’t sit in at the show, JGB welcomed another special guest that night when drumming legend Bernard Purdie joined for a couple songs. According to Parish, Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann—who was playing with Jerry Band at the time—wasn’t too thrilled about letting Purdie sub in for him, but ultimately relented and handed him the sticks.
Meanwhile, John Lennon was out in the audience taking in the show and evidently doing sideline commentary—as can be heard on an audience recording taped from near his table. Unaware that he was being caught on tape, the witty Beatle invoked legendary sportscaster Howard Cosell as he feigned calls like “Ten down and three to go!” At the end of the show, Lennon can be heard “I think they feel like they earned a break,” and “the end part was the best of this one.”
That night would prove to be the only time Garcia and Lennon hung out before John was murdered on December 8th, 1980 outside of his New York City apartment. As for the night of November 5th, 1974, after Jerry and the band went back to the hotel, Big Steve and Bill “Kidd” Candelario had a close call with the NYPD that almost landed them in prison for life. Check out the full story from Big Steve below, along with an audience recording from the show with Lennon’s commentary.
Jerry Garcia Meets John Lennon, A Day In The Life.
[Video: Big Steve’s Backstage Pass]
Jerry Garcia Band — The Bottom Line — New York, NY — 11/5/74 — Audio