Lion's Share, 60 Red Hill Avenue, San Anselmo, CA

Capacity 200
Before it was Lion's Share,  it was a hardware store. "Highland Hardware". That little district was referred to as Highland from the 1910's thru the 40's.
San Anselmo was home to Marin's premiere rock venue located near United Market after it's move from Sausalito.

Pacific Sun, February 12, 1970

The Lions Share was a tiny club at 60 Red Hill in San Anselmo. It was mainly a musicians hangout.
Lion's Share was on the north side of Redhill Ave. (Miracle Mile), in between what is now Redhill Auto and what was Hatt's Custom Choppers. It's a "modern forties retail" looking, one story. It's got a weather-beaten coat of green paint on it now. Lots of oleander growing in front. Just a block toward San Rafael, from United Market.

It's now some sort of manufacturing facility or a machine shop of some kind. Lots of big, floor-standing tools that I don't recognize.

The atmosphere is dark with beam ceilings, brick walls, tiffany lamps and relaxed. There are some problems with the sound system, but none with the performers. Saturday night, for example, the bill included guitarist Jeffrey Cain, Universal Medicine, and Dan Hicks. All were smooth, accomplished acts that worked well with a surprisingly full house.

Throughout much of 1970, the house band had been called Nu Boogaloo Express, featuring Mike Finnegan or Bill Champlin alternating on keyboards and vocals, and other local players like Danny Nudalman (guitar) Dave Schallock (bass or guitar) and Bill Vitt (drums), but I do not know if they were still featured there. Local residents like Phil Lesh or Van Morrison regularly hung out or played there.

When Janis Joplin died, she left enough money in her will for a funeral party. It was held here at The Lion's Share on October 26, 1970. The Grateful Dead performed.

Michael Considine was the original owner. "In November 1968, the main complaint from the neighbors was noise, but the understood beef was the long haired types who hung out at the Share. Considine and his friends packed the Sausalito Council meeting and convinced the village elders that he was not too noisy. They voted 5-0 to keep him open. Mysteriously, the next night the Lion's Share burned down.
In July1969 Considine reopened the Lion's Share at the 60 Red Hill Avenue address. The atmosphere is dark-with beam ceilings, brick walls, tiffany lamps-and relaxed."[11]
"Nobody minded the bare tables and floors, the wrought iron chairs, a bar that was not fifteen feet from the stage, which the owner refused to stop operating when the bands played, so that the ringing of the cash register became an integral part of the music. The owner at that time was a fleshy older man, not a cigar smoker, but he wore t-shirts that smelled and showed his beer belly. It was a cold room to play in, except that it was one of the few clubs North of San Francisco in Marin County that hired the hip acts and paid them and that had a sound system and piano."[14]
It was mainly a musicians hangout. Mike Hunt and Michael Considine were the owners. Throughout much of 1970, the house band had been called Nu Boogaloo Express, featuring Mike Finnegan or Bill Champlin alternating on keyboards and vocals, and other local players like Danny Nudalman (guitar) Dave Schallock (bass or guitar) and Bill Vitt (drums), but I do not know if they were still featured there. Local residents like Phil Lesh or Van Morrison regularly hung out or played there. His parents owned a music store in Fairfax.
Various groupings of the Sons and their friends played just about every Sunday night under several names, such as the Nubugaloo Express.(2) One night The Sons were smoking up on the hill behind the club and the cops came up to bust 'em. Bill Champlin told the cops that they could arrest him, but that they (the cops) just HAD to smoke that pot---it was too good to waste!
Janis Joplin was a regular on "Tuesday Audition Night" where she would jam with whatever band was playing.
"On one particularly memorable night, Champlin and The Sons (in their ‘Yogi Phlegm’ incarnation) launched into a wild fusion jam that cleared out every patron and employee in the bar, leaving only Phil Lesh to dance by himself at the bar."[7]
It was in business at least until April 25, 1975 when Kathi McDnald and Quantus performed there.
In later years after being Lion's Share, it was a health food market called Campolindo. Then it became some sort of manufacturing facility or a machine shop of some kind. Lots of big, floor-standing tools.
As of May, 2011, the place is now an optical shop.
The marquee is still clearly visible while driving between San Rafael and San Anselmo on the Miracle Mile.

"It was this crowded hot room with kind of a low ceiling. For some reason I was walking down the street about two years ago and I went by there and said, “Hey, this is the Lion’s Share!” I walked in and it (had become) this metal refinishing shop or something. I asked them, ‘Do you have any idea what used to go on in here?’ … I said, ‘Mose Allison was in this room. We had a party for Janis Joplin after she died in this very room and everyone was snorting coke in the bathrooms. It was insane.’[
In later years after being Lion's Share, it was a health food market called Campolindo.
The it became some sort of manufacturing facility or a machine shop of some kind. Lots of big, floor-standing tools.

As of May, 2011, the place is now an optical shop.

Jerry performed here on
8/69 New Riders Of The Purple Sage

7/31/70 New Riders Of The Purple Sage (electric) and Grateful Dead[3](acoustic only)
I: Hello Trouble, Glendale Train, Kaw-Liga, Sailin', Lodi
II: Superman, Down In The Boondocks, Cecilia, The Bottle Let Me Down, I'll Come Runnin' Back To You, Connection, Lady Came From Baltimore, Live And Let Live, Garden Of Eden, The Race Is On, Cathy's Clown, El Paso, Mama Tried, Louisiana Lady, Me And Bobby McGee,Honky Tonk Women
Grateful Dead Acoustic opened for The New Riders.
Bob weir sits in with the New Riders for The Race Is On, Cathy's Clown, El Paso, Mama Tried and Me and Bobby McGee.

8/1/70 New Riders Of The Purple Sage (electric) and Grateful Dead[3](acoustic only)
Grateful Dead Acoustic opened for The New Riders.[6]
Jerry's 28th birthday.
"The acoustic Grateful Dead played a number of shows at the Lion's Share. They played two or three nights in a row, on a weeknight in the middle of the Summer of 1970. She knows--she went. These shows were utterly unpublicized, and only friends of the band were given the heads up."[26]

9/3/70 New Riders Of The Purple Sage
9/4/70 New Riders Of The Purple Sage

10/26/70 Grateful Dead (Janis Joplin's wake)
Janis Joplin left enough money in her will for a funeral party. The invitations read, "The drinks are on Pearl."

1/11/71 New Riders Of The Purple Sage[9]
Nazgul, Chico David Blues Band and Mendlebaum Blues Band opened.[17]
Jerry was recording at Wally Heider's Studio earlier in the day with Planet Earth Rock And Roll Orchestra.

9/24/71 early and late Merl Saunders
(Early) Save Mother Earth, Imagine, One Kind Favor, I Was Made To Love Her, Baby What You Want Me To Do?, Biloxi
(Late) Hi-Heel Sneakers>Man-Child, Summertime>That's The Touch I Like>Annie Had A Baby, WPLJ
Jerry Corbitt, Billy Cox and Charlie Daniels opened.

9/25/71 Merl Saunders
Jerry Corbitt, Billy Cox and Charlie Daniels opened.

1/14/72 Merl Saunders[19]
1/15/72 Merl Saunders[19]
I: How Sweet It Is, Save Mother Earth, One Kind Favor, Expressway, Mystery Train
II: It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, I Was Made To Love Her, That's The Touch I Like, Who's Loving You Tonight, Man-Child, She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye, Hi-Heel Sneakers, Tupelo Honey, That's All Right Mama

1/19/72 Merl Saunders
It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry>Expressway, Imagine, That's All Right Mama, Save Mother Earth, I Was Made To Love Her
Tom Fogerty did not perform. Paul Butterfield sat in for Save Mother Earth.
"I was in a quandary. As I listened, the thought occurred to me that this organist was either the best player on earth, or journey that seemingly had no boundaries whatsoever. This was the first time I had ever heard anything like it. One moment Howard would set up a dramatic slow bluesy passage and the Roll would sing something; then he would transition into a frantic tempo, with dynamic flurries of notes almost too fast for the human ear to follow. For certain, he was master of the drawbars. I never hear anyone, even the great Jimmy Smith, pull tones out of the instrument like this fellow did How did not look like your typical musician. He looked more like someone you might see working in a bank, except for his casual attire. In that moment, U felt that I was observing someone who was one of those true "originals" we occasionally run across in our lives, if we are fortunate.
On their break I went over to "the Roll" and through we had never been real close friends, he greeted me like it was "Old Home Week" and invited me into the dressing room to meet Howard and Jerry. I made my way through the thickest layer of cigarette and marijuana smoke I had ever encountered and sat down with the boys. Jelly said he had known Howard from many years earlier, when Howard had played with an infamous lounge band from the Midwest called "Little Roscoe and The Green Men."  They had all dyed their hair green and Howard now blamed that practice for the premature loss of his hair. At the time they met, the Roll was playing with Lonnie, Mack, Jelly and Jerry Love were originally from Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Roll Told me that Howard had just finished an album with Jerry Garcia call "Hooteroll." Howard had brought them out from back east to do another album for Douglas Records, which was being produced by a man named Alan Douglas. Apparently, Alan had a distribution deal with Columbia Records and had worked with such luminaries as John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Jimi Hendrix and John McLaughlin, before he became famous. There was even talk of a tour with Jerry Garcia upon the release of the "Hooteroll" album.
Just about then, I was handed the most gargantuan "joint' I had ever seen, one that would make even a Rastafarian green with envy. The Roll asked if I had brought my guitar along so I could sit in, and as I had my gear, I eagerly accepted. The moment I did so, it dawned on me that I had absolutely no idea how to approach playing with a band that jammed without much in the way of obvious structure. I would have to "wing it." Suddenly, I experienced a mental flashback to my LSD trip with Aorta at the Fillmore, as the hits off of that "joint" made me wonder if someone had slipped me some acid. I couldn't believe how high I was. I had never smoked much pot up until then, and what little i had imbibed in the past hadn't had much affect on me, but his stuff was way into the 'major leagues' in potency, and the fact it was the thickness of a man's thumb qualified this joint as the proverbial 'killer." Already "wasted," I stumbled onto the stage and joined them for their next set.
I don't recall the details of what the four of us played that evening at the Lion Share, but I would equate it with a kind of group therapy or encounter session. The only difference is that we used our instruments to communicate, rather than our voices. All the dynamics one could imagine were present in the sounds coming off that small stage. Of course I was soaring like a condor, so I can only hope the audience perceived these dynamics with the same sense of wonderment as I.
There was no question that Howard led the direction of the music for the most part, with the Roll occasionally asserting himself in order to bring the music down to earth, usually in a blues-like direction. These were the few moments in which the audience seemed to find something they could hang on to before we exploded into yet another far-out cerebral groove, reminiscent of nothing of Earthly origin. I had the musical roller coaster ride of my life that evening, and I knew Howard liked what he heard. He signaled me to take several solos during that set, and I would hear him make guttural, otherworldly sounds of approval through the music. My adrenaline was flowing, and the band overwhelmingly approved of my addition to the music. The Roll asked me for my phone number and as I started my forty0five minute drive home that evening, I felt satisfied and renewed. A sense of change was on the horizon once again.
The very next morning the phone rang, and it was no real surprise to hear Jerry Roll's voice on the other end. He said that Howard wanted me to come over to his house in Lagunitas, out in Western Marin County. Without delay I hopped on my Norton and made the hour-long journey. Upon arriving at the large, rustic house, I found the whole band hanging out with a few friends. After a bit of chatter, Howard called me aside into a little room and we sat eye-to-eye across a small table. He proceeded to roll up a 'fat one' in an almost ritualist manner. Unlike the pot I had seen loosely contained in small bags, this marijuana was on a large pod-like stem, oozing with resin and a beautiful gold color.
After only a few hits, I felt pretty well incapacitated. I could tell that Howard was amused by my susceptibility to his 'killer weed." He questioned me about my opinion of the music of the previous night and was very complimentary about my playing. He relayed in greater details what the Roll had told me regarding the Alan Douglas and Jerry Garcia projects, and he said he felt his time had come to carve out his own niche in the music 'biz." He stated that if I joined up with him there would be plenty of session work and gigs as well. During this informal meeting, we discovered that not only did Howard and I have the same birthday, - February 8, but also that we were born the same year, - 1943, only nine minutes apart, and in the same time zone. This connection blew his cosmic mind and cinched the deal, and I must admit to finding it a curious thing as well. "[13]

1/20/72 Merl Saunders
I: That's The Touch I Like, Man-Child, When I Paint My Masterpiece, Expressway, That's All Right Mama
II: How Sweet It Is, It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry, My Problems Got Problems, Lonely Avenue>Save Mother Earth, Imagine, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

2/3/72 Merl Saunders
2/4/72 Merl Saunders
8/5/72 Merl Saunders[15]
8/6/72 Merl saunders[15]
12/27/72 Merl Saunders
12/28/72 Merl Saunders
I: After Midnight, It's Too Late, Baby Please Don't Go>Expressway>Jam>Space, Georgia On My Mind, That's All Right Mama
II: When I Paint My Masterpiece, Second That Emotion, Jam, Sweet Cocaine, Baby What You Want Me To Do?, Further On Up The Road, The System

1/7/73 Merl Saunders, Tom Fogerty
Broadcast live on KTIM-FM

3/2/73 Old And In The Way
Goin' To The Races, Dark Hollow, Katie Dear, New Camptown Races, Two Little Boys, Home Is Where The Heart Is, Down Where The River Bends, Knockin' On Your Door, Old & In The Way Breakdown
The Rowan Brother opened.
KSAN FM broadcast.
Jerry plays a RB-250 Gibson Mastertone banjo.[12]
"Marin County's newest bluegrass band, Old and In the Way, was playing at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo, California, and smoothly moving into "The Hit Parade of Love" when Jerry Garcia gave it away: It was their first time out. He had gone into his banjo solo before he realized he wasn't plugged into an amplifier. He grinned and quickly took a long step up to the microphone so the folks in the back could hear. The goof was understandable, because Garcia, along with the rest of the Grateful Dead, had only the day before returned from a two-week tour of the Midwest."[4]

Interviewed for Robert Greenfield's Dark Star book, Pete Rowan remembered the same moment at the same show:
"I remember Garcia's first solo at our first gig at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo. I don't know if it was a sight gag or what, but he was looking for knobs to turn on his banjo... He was standing there turning knobs on his banjo that he did not have."

3/3/73 Old And In The Way
The Rowan Brothers opened.
Jerry plays a RB-250 Gibson Mastertone banjo.[12]
“I was the cook at the Lion’s Share around 1972 – Mike (Considine) was the owner and he needed to serve food so minors could be allowed in (mo money) he gave me a little room to the side of the liquor bar with a serve through window, and a cutting board – he explained the minor situation – and didn’t want to be bothered by anything food related after that. The music and the scene was just so very hip. Van Morrison was there at least monthly it seemed – Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee – Herbie Hancock – Sun Ra – Jerry Garcia picking in a bluegrass band called ‘Old and in the Way’ – I cooked and served Jerry a cheeseburger at an afternoon sound-check – a very big moment for me."[25]

3/14/73 Old And In The Way
4/19/73 Old And In The Way
4/20/73 Old And In The Way
I: Land Of The Navajo, Where You Are Tonight, Instrumental, Down Where The River Bends, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Instrumental, Instrumental
II: Home Is Where The Heart Is, Love Please Come Home, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Lost, Instrumental
The George Edwards Duo opened.[21]
Jerry plays a RB-250 Gibson Mastertone banjo.[12]

4/21/73 Old And In The Way
(Early) Goin' To The Races, The Willow Garden, Katie Hill, 'Til the End of the World Rolls Around, Panama Red, Hard Hearted, Soldier's Joy, Wild Horses, Lost, Knockin' On Your Door, Lonesome L.A. Cowboy, Fanny Hill, White Dove, Land Of The Navajo, Blue Mule
The George Edwards Duo opened.[21]
Jerry plays a RB-250 Gibson Mastertone banjo.[12]
Jerry also performed at the Record Plant and was broadcast on KSAN. (See Record Plant, Sausalito, CA)

7/5/73 Merl Saunders
I: After Midnight, Someday Baby>She's Got Charisma, That's All Right Mama, The System, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
II: Second That Emotion, My Funny Valentine, Finders Keepers, Money Honey, Like A Road>Merl's Tune, Jam, How Sweet It Is
"I think it's Luis Gasca on trumpet. He was signed to Fantasy Records at  the time (same label Fire Up and Heavy Turbulence were released on) & in one tune on this set he quotes John Coltrane's A Love Supreme which was the first track on his 1974 Fantasy album Born To Love You."[22]

7/21/73 Old And In The Way
Rehearsal
Jerry plays a RB-250 Gibson Mastertone banjo.[12]
Jerry also performed at Keystone Berkeley later this night.

1/4/74 Merl Saunders
1/5/74 Merl Saunders
6/4/74 Merl Saunders
I: Ptah The El Daoud, Expressway, Second That Emotion, Wondering Why, Soul Roach
II: All Blues, New York City*, The Harder They Come, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Alice Stuart sits in on New York City.

6/5/74 Merl Saunders
I: That's What Love Will Make You Do>Instrumental>Space, Second That Emotion
II: La-La, Finders Keepers, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Kansas City Blues, The Harder They Come, That's All Right, Mama
Tony Saunders replaces John Kahn on bass.
Alice Stuart sits in on The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Kansas City Blues, The Harder They Come, That's All Right, Mama.
"No real stage in the place- or if there was, it was a riser about a foot high. I was dancing about ten feet from the band. "[23]

6/12/74 Great American String Band
I: Colored Aristocracy, Cedar Hill, I'll Be A Gambler If You Deal The Cards, My Plastic Banana Is Not Stupid, Moonlight Waltz, Swing '42, Methodist Preacher, Limehouse Blues
II: Bud's Bounce, Dawg's Bull, Russian Lullaby, Virgin's Lament, Sheik of Araby, Billy In The Low Ground, Dawg's Rag, Sweet Georgia Brown, Swing '42
Good Ol Boys opened.
"On Moonlight Waltz, Garcia plays Spanish guitar beautifully. Garcia, of course, is splendid. He takes a muzzle and visual back seat in this band, soloing on banjo and guitar plenty, singing a bit, but never thrusting his way into prominence. His banjo, interesting enough, is more jazz oriented than bluegrass style."[16]
Jerry was also scheduled to play Keystone Berkeley on this date.[20]

"This Lion's Share gig (their closing week) was the first week of July, 1975. The Garcia-Saunders Band played two nights; the last night featured Elvin Bishop and John Lee Hooker. Along with Hooker doing his patented take-no-prisoners thing, Bishop and a couple other guitar players pulled of a sublime version of "East-West" in the closing set."
I'm still trying to find the exact closing date for the Lion's Share, it was some time in 1975. I saw/heard Garcia & Saunders play on two consecutive nights there, during closing week. There were not very many people there, that's the funny part. And I can't find any reference to them doing those gigs anywhere. But it did really happen!"[23]

The Garcia/Saunders Band performed at the Great American Music Hall on July 4, 5, 6.

7/25/75 Merl Saunders
It’s unclear if Jerry performed.



Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA
1.)^Yellow Shark, Berkeley In The Sixties blog, http://berkeleyfolk.blogspot.com/2010/06/lions-share-san-anselmo.html
2.)^Kelly, Charlie, Yogi Phlegm: A New Era, http://sonic.net/~ckelly/Seekay/yogi_phlegm.htm
3.)^Calendar, Berkeley Tribe, vol. 3, no. 4, (no 56), 1970-07-31-8-7, back page.
4.)^Grissim, John, Garcia Returns To Banjo, 1973-04-26, Rolling Stone, http://deadsources.blogspot.com/2012/09/march-2-1973-old-and-in-way.html
5.)^“Datebook/Opening Today,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1970, p. 41;
“’Purple Sage’ At Lion’s Share,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 30, 1970, p. 41., http://jgmf.blogspot.com/search/label/1970
6.)^New Riders of the Purple Sage and Acoustic Grateful Dead: Lion’s Share, San Anselmo, July 30-August 1, 1970, 2012-02-21, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-riders-of-purple-sage-and-acoustic.html
7.)^North Of San Francisco, 2009-12-07, http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com/SF%20North%20Art.htm
8.)^Michelle Mc, comments, GD/NRPS19700731-19700801: Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA, 2011-04-20, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/04/gdnrps19700731-19700801-lions-share-san.html
9.)^Wasserman, John L. 1971. John Lennon's Windy Candor. San Francisco Chronicle, January 11, 1971, p. 38, New to The List, 2013-05-12, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2013/05/new-to-list.html
10.)^Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia Tour Itinerary July-August 1969, 2010-01-30, http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/01/grateful-deadjerry-garcia-tour.html
11.)^Curtis, Dale, Lion's Share, 1969-10-03-09, Berkeley Tribe, Vol. 13, No. 13, pg. 16.
12.)^Schoepf, Frank, 2014-04-16, email to author.
13.)^Vincent, James and Robert J. Macoy,  Space Traveler: A Musician's Odyssey, pg.59-61, Joseph Jupille Archives.
14.)^Sward, Diane, Fillmore Management Clips Off My Career as an Artist Manager, 2013-06-26, https://homesweetjeromedrapaport.wordpress.com/2013/07/
15.)^Who's Playing Where, 1972-08-04, San Francisco Chronicle, pg. 52, JGMS August 5-6, 1972 Lion's Share - new to The List, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/
16.)^Elwood, Philip, From Country To Jazz-a snap, 1974-06-14, San Francisco Examiner, pg. 27, Joseph Jupille Archives.
17.)^Wasserman, John L., San Francisco Chronicle, 1971-01-11, pg. 38, Joseph Jupille Archives.
18.)^The Night Times, 1971-09-01, pg. 7, Joseph Jupille Archives.
19.)^Night Times, 1972-01-12-25, pg. 6, Joseph Jupille Archives.
20.)^Rock and Jazz, San Francisco Chronicle, 1974-06-12, pg. 62, Joseph Jupille Archives.
21.)^Scenedrome, Berkeley Barb, 1973-04-20-26, pg. 18, Joseph Jupille Archives.
22.)^vibemeister, comments, 2014-05, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrSClc5_D8Q
23.)^cabdriver, Jerry folder, deadnetcentral.com
24.)^Andrew, Sam, comments, http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/lions-share/
25.)^Wells, Tom, Memories from the Chef, http://www.marinnostalgia.org/portfolio/lions-share/
26.)^Michelle Mc, comments, GD/NRPS19700731-19700801: Lion's Share, San Anselmo, CA, 2011-04-20, http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2011/04/gdnrps19700731-19700801-lions-share-san.html