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When Jerry Garcia walked onto the stage that night in 1977 -- at Theatre 1839 in San Francisco -- the band he would play with was called the Jerry Garcia Band. Two years before that, his band had been called The Legion of Mary.

Garcia did not embrace the Catholic faith throughout his life. But in an interview published by Relix magazine shortly before his death in 1995, he said, "I was raised a Catholic, so it's very hard for me to get out of that way of thinking."

In "Harrington Street," a memoir he wrote about his childhood in San Francisco, Garcia had expressed a preference for traditional church architecture and the Latin Mass.

"When I lived at 87 Harrington Street, the neighborhood church was Corpus Christi (body of Christ) located one block northeast of Harrington Street and occupying about one half block of area," he wrote. "It was, when we first moved there, a typical wooden frame, sort of classic little old church-in-the lane cum here's the church, here's the people, open the doors, etc."

"Anyway, in 1949 they tore the whole complex down and started building an ultramodern, no crosses, no statuary, no steeple, rectangular bauhaus kind of nontraditional church," said Garcia. "This transformation was occurring throughout the diocese, and strange modern churches were springing, like weird mutant mushrooms, up all over the place."

"As I recall it, the parishioners at the time were not very happy with these angular, bizarre, clearly nontraditional, possibly even heretic intruders into the familiar forms and wholesome shapes that represent God's House, Mother Church, supportive, nurturing, gathering the community in," wrote Garcia.

"In those days," he said, "they still had the wonderful Latin Mass with its resonant sonorities and mysterious ritual movements, the incense, the music, choir, organ, bells, candles, the muted light through the stained glass windows."

Not far from where Garcia grew up is Mission Dolores -- founded in 1776 by Saint Junipero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan missionary. The mission's church, completed in 1791, remains the oldest building in San Francisco.

A year before that 1977 concert -- in a year marking the 200th anniversary of the founding of Mission Dolores -- Garcia had released an album called "Reflections." Its most memorable song was "Mission in the Rain" -- co-authored by Garcia himself, who wrote the music, and his songwriting partner Robert Hunter, who wrote the lyrics.

"It's about me in San Francisco," Garcia said of this song in a 1979 radio interview with WMMR in Philadelphia. "It's as close to autobiographical as it's possible for me to get working with another guy. Hunter and I both grew up around the Bay Area, and lived in San Francisco, and Hunter is able sometimes to write what I would say."

"So, when I do the song, for me it's a very personal thing," said Garcia. "I'm talking about myself, my life."

What did Garcia sing in "Mission in the Rain"?

The song ends with these words: "Ten years ago I walked this street, my dreams were riding tall/Tonight I would be thankful, Lord, for any dreams at all/Some folks would be happy just to have one dream come true/But everything you gather is just more that you can lose.

"All the things I planned to do, I only did halfway/Tomorrow will be Sunday, born of rainy Saturday/There's some satisfaction in the San Francisco rain/No matter what comes down, the mission always looks the same."

Not surprisingly, this song resonated with young San Franciscans -- particularly young Catholics.

And young Catholics were definitely a part of the small audience attending that 1977 Garcia gig.

The venue was a beautiful structure that had been built in the early 20th century as the Temple Beth Israel -- and had served as a synagogue for decades until its congregation moved to a new home.

When Garcia played there on July 29, 1977, it was a contentious time in San Francisco. A profound cultural conflict was unfolding in this city founded by Franciscan priests.

Seven weeks before that concert, on June 8, 1977, the San Francisco Examiner carried this headline: "Angry gays march through S.F." The story quoted Harvey Milk, who it described as a "gay political activist" -- and whose name Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth officially removed last week from a U.S. Navy vessel.

"What's happening is an outpouring of love and warmth for all gay people, and bitterness against the churches," Milk said, according to that 1977 article.

Seven weeks after this gay march that Milk said expressed "bitterness against the churches," Garcia, in his July 29, 1977, concert at Theatre 1839, premiered a new song he had written with Hunter. Part of this concert -- and one that Garcia played the next night at the same venue -- was released as an album in 2004. It includes a recording of this then-new song, which is entitled "Gomorrah."

It is a soulful, straight-forward presentation of the Biblical story of what happened to that city.

At that 1977 concert, I stood not far from the stage -- flanked by friends who, like me, had attended a Catholic high school in San Francisco and understood the city's heritage.

"Just a song of Gomorrah, I wonder what they did there. Must have been a bad thing to get shot down for," Garcia sang at the beginning of this then-new song.

"Blew the city off the map. Left nothing there but fire," he sang at the end of it. "The wife of Lot got turned to salt because she looked behind her."

Nine months later, when Garcia started to play this song in Sebastopol, California -- in a concert that has also been released as an album -- Donna Jean Godchaux, who sang harmony in his band, stepped up to the microphone.

"This is a true story," she said.

Then Garcia told that story.

To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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