Grateful Dead at Manor Downs 1977

Thanks to some early 70s Grateful Dead shows and the regular appearances of Jerry Garcia at the Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin seemed to be taking the role as the Grateful Dead epicenter in Texas. This became all the more true when the Dead started to play Manor Downs Racetrack, in Manor, TX, just 12 miles from Austin.

Manor Downs had been a quarterhorse racing track in Austin, when it was taken over by Sam Cutler and Frances Carr in about 1975. Cutler, of course, was not only the former road manager of the Rolling Stones for their 1969 US Tour but he had graduated to becoming the Grateful Dead's booking agent and road manager from 1970 through 1973. The money for the Manor Downs venture probably came from Frances Carr. Carr had been Cutler's girlfriend back in Marin, when he was working for the Dead. Carr was, reputedly, part of a loose group of well-to-do party animals who followed the Dead around in 1969-70, known as "The Pleasure Crew."

In any case, the par decided to pair quarterhorse racing and track gambling with occasional rock and roll concerts – by the time of this show Manor Downs was some kind of redneck hippie paradise. It was a chilly evening but 4,000 fans showed up for a vintage Fall 1977 show.

Austin-based artist Micael Priest was known for his iconic laconic style of drawing. Quick witted and with an incredible sense of humor, Micael drew his way through life. “Priest was a walking, talking, real-life cowboy hippie cartoon character artist,” offers Kerry Awn. “Ink ran through his veins. When he came to town he changed everything just by being himself. He never heard a story he couldn’t embellish, an experience he couldn’t top, nor a chance to let you in on a pearl of wisdom spoken in a down-home manner so thick you might have thought it was all an act. It wasn’t. He was an original.”