I'm just today learning of Bill Graham. What a wonderful, intelligent, articulate man. The musicians and artists were fortunate to have him as a promoter.
Especially the grateful Dead from what my dad told me I remember seeing them with my Dad 3 nights in a row at shoreline aplitheater in 92 that's when I learned about Bill Graham my dad was in the film business he was trying to do a documentary on dead heads not so much the grateful Dead but the ppl who travel from town to town following the dead I was 21 years old had a blast I stayed 2 weeks with an editor friend of the family in Venice CA literally a block off the boardwalk we then drove from Venice straight to shoreline aplitheater in his convertible GTO had a blast my pops was smoking alot of weed during this time he didn't get enough footage to finish his project I remember telling him how big it would have been after Jerry died that was the only project I'd ever see the old man not complete but we all had a lot of fun
Beautiful! One of the best things I've ever seen on CZcams in fifteen years. For real. I'm a writer, musician, entertainer...I was eleven in 1971. Just missed this era by a couple years!!! I am so pissed by that and have been for decades...I'm just about 60 years old now. I was a teenager from late 70s thru 80's....still great music, radio, movies, cars and youthful existence for sure...but everything we had came from the times he speaks of here....imagine being there from 1965 to 71 as a 18, 19, 20, 21 yr old...or 36, 27, 28, 29 year old....holy cow....what history. Alas, I do still remember concerts for $7 and $8 (Springsteen at Boston Music Hall)....general admission at sports venues for shows (Santana, Springsteen, elton john, eagles...) smoking weed at shows with your neighbors in the row you didn't know but danced with....peace everyone.
I feel the same. #5 of 6, and my eldest brother is your age, but my siblings were consumed with sports, so I wasn't exposed to the arts until later in high school, when I discovered my artistic talent and pursued art training/career. Although I did become involved in music and theater, I didn't continue with it except for dabbling with guitar. Now 55, I am picking up with my music interests, and though it may not lead to anything professionally, I will do it for the love of it. Wishing I had been born 10 yrs earlier than being born in '67 'Summer of Love'.
also whole thing. What can I say about this fabulous elixir!?!? Rest In Power, Bill! I wore my Mime Troupe hat to the BGCA twice this week ... long story but Bill is DEAD ON!
What a wonderful interview of an amazing person. I saw him a tiny bit because I worked at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mt. View for a few years. What a great interview. This was him.
Why is it so universal this anxiety of many journalists that doesnt let the genius finnish their thoughts? At some point he says there are 2 or 3 things that made him successfull and the intereviewer cut him after only telling nr.1.
I love this man's frankness. I've seen him in action up close some & saw him be far more generous than he says here. The one employee I knew said as much, & showed similarly generous spirit in her ways. There was so much finesse in his attention to little details when he put on a show.
I was blessed enough to live in Sacramento and go to many concerts in town and in the Bay area put on by Bill Graham. Lots of good times damn good times. I was 13 when I went to my first concert a Day on the Green featuring Led Zeppelin, July 23rd, 1977, and there were many many more.
Also in Sacramento do you my that time and his name was everywhere! Cal Expo down through the Bat Area. What a great time for this region…truly legendary
If ever there is to be a Pantheon to the Greatest and most revealing interview's of all time; surely this one would find it's rightful place. Thank You Docs...
the "Flower Power" days certainly did not die because of Bill Graham. it was decades before my time but i would guess that too many people flocking to the scene to quickly was probably a factor. excellent interview and love BG and the Good Ol' Grateful Dead!!!
The 1960s went through insane music snd fashion trends from 1964 onwards in the US and Britain . Flower power lasted a fair amount of them The famous 1967 Monterey Pop Concert with The Who , Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix made the hippies look lame .
Rochester ?? i went to high school at Brighton High in the sixties . i remember the first time the stones came to america and rochester . it was a mess . the fire dept . wouldnt let anyone leave their seats , but the crowd freaked out after a couple of songs and rushed the stage . The police came on stage and told everyone to sit down . Some guy from the audience screamed FYou and threw his motorcycle boot at the cop hitting him in the head . All hell broke lose and i grabbed my friends and got out of their . 😂
I totally respect, and am learning from Bill's words, pratices, honor, fairness, and kindness, and even his hard attitudes- this is how you do good honest work.- God bless you Bill Graham. he is and always be a legend, and respected music professonal.
Bill Graham produced the finest concert in rock history at The Winterland Arena in 1976 ! It became The Last Waltz ,The Band's final concert in which the cream of the rock era performed onstage in thanks , admiration and utter respect for the most esteemed group in musical history ! That was Bill Graham's vision ! You gotta check the movie out if you have not already saw it ...
I recently wrote a book called Manhattan's East Village-Three Decades of Madness. I went into sometime detail about how the Fillmore East evolved. I interviewed a man who had dinner with Bill on his last day on Earth. A helicopter crash did him in after the pilot warned of risky weather. The man's life was epic.
not just in the end ... all thru his producing career I'll second yr recommendation re: reading his autobiography. Not like other autobios where one person tells their story ... his autobiography is told by dozens of folk who experienced the same events up close and personal, often from opposite opposed viewpoints. The decision to do it that way is classic Bill Graham. @Sarah'sSuitcase sounds like someone who prob has a projection prob how does that Allman Bros lyric about "talking 'bout stuff that they don't know" go
13:40 Bill speaks Yiddish showing his Jewish upbringing. He was born in Germany and escaped the Nazis as a young boy. "...If you knew the 'tzuris' (trouble) I had with the cow..."
His background honed character in him you won't see in music industry-types today. Holocaust survivor and Korean War Veteran? Name someone today in his business with life experiences like that!
Bill was crazy but a great promoter.Keith Richard bitterly said his promoted shows had his name as much as the act in every stitch of advertisement.I wish Peter Grant and Bill were still around.Better then American Express and Disney as the promoters like today.
I worked after school at BGP office I was 17 he offered me a job doing this new thing called MTV I said on T V?? He said yes I asked if I get a bodyguard?? Bill then through his arms up in the air and said kid you're killing me here!!Ineedlless to say it didn't go for limelight don't like people bugging me!!I thanked him & next job was reading fan mail which was very interesting!!rip uncle bill love peace 🕊️ Frances🎵🎶🎼🎭☯️💜👣
that was so funny about the steak "and you should've seen the time I had dealing w/ the cow who produced that steak".this guy was one in a million.just his story as a child would make a hell of a movie.I wish he never climbed into that Goddam chopper .but he did.
Wow, spaced out . The self assessment is way over thought . He saw what the people wanted and supplied it . All of the music fans of the sixties myself included wanted to see our favorite bands live . Graham just has the business sense to rent the halls and book the acts . he was in the right place at the right time . nothing mysterious about it. One thing he did do that other promoters didn't was to create an atmosphere of freedom and comfort . The filmore had couches and nice chairs strewn around the room or you could sit on the floor . The Avalon Ballroom main floor was open to sitting and or lying down if you were too stoned to sit .We would go into the men's rest room before the concert to score drugs . there was almost always someone in there selling some acid or whatever . it was a magical time of just being in the moment . I also think that the musicians/ bands enjoyed playing these ventures . they were more intimate and personal . very exciting .
There's a few pictures of a dosed Bill at Fillmore East in '69. Pages 49 and 50 of the book Grateful Dead 365. Google image search for "Bill Graham and Cowbell". Bill got dosed unexpectedly a few times and this was one of those nights.
Whatever about American groups, venues like the Fillmore , Fillmore West, Fillmore East , Day at The Green , Winterland Arena or in Boston for a brief period Boston Tea Party - venues where you’d be expected to do two sets a night and maybe 2-3 nights were extremely important for the visiting European groups trying to break into America. Yes , they might have had to play a few more gigs without the full pay of a headliner , but it gave them exposure that they needed badly while be guaranteed to play in front of more than 2000 people rather than take a chance on headlining 500 person venue and hope that people will come . It’s also meant staying in a city for a night or two rather that god awful package tour crap that went on in the early 1960s Fillmore and the Boston Tea Party was pretty important for groups like the Who
Not really, l grew up in San Francisco during HEYDAY of summer of Love. He was tough an A --hole but you have to be he worked hard. Thanks Bill for the memories and free concert at the park.
He could be very tough, he would not cotton to spaced out people who wanted to free load or just get in the way. I worked for him briefly and he was a very generous thoughtful man, I miss him in the industry.
This is full of obvious baloney. "If you have a show at 8pm, you have to be there".. "I didn't teach Yusuf Lateef how to play" -- Yeah, no shit, dude. In the 70s, this guy represented the word "sell-out" more than anyone. But I think that Maximum Rock n Roll running a cover celebrating his death was a bit much.
BILL GRAHAM WAS & IS GREAT! INSPIRATIONAL MAN!
I'm just today learning of Bill Graham.
What a wonderful, intelligent, articulate man. The musicians and artists were fortunate to have him as a promoter.
Especially the grateful Dead from what my dad told me I remember seeing them with my Dad 3 nights in a row at shoreline aplitheater in 92 that's when I learned about Bill Graham my dad was in the film business he was trying to do a documentary on dead heads not so much the grateful Dead but the ppl who travel from town to town following the dead I was 21 years old had a blast I stayed 2 weeks with an editor friend of the family in Venice CA literally a block off the boardwalk we then drove from Venice straight to shoreline aplitheater in his convertible GTO had a blast my pops was smoking alot of weed during this time he didn't get enough footage to finish his project I remember telling him how big it would have been after Jerry died that was the only project I'd ever see the old man not complete but we all had a lot of fun
Peter Grant (manager of Led Zeppelin) had his number.
An amazing man, who lived a fascinating life. Very intelligent, articulate, and influential.
Was a regular at the Fillmore East. Great, great memories.
I would have loved to see the Allman Brother's there...
Beautiful! One of the best things I've ever seen on CZcams in fifteen years. For real. I'm a writer, musician, entertainer...I was eleven in 1971. Just missed this era by a couple years!!! I am so pissed by that and have been for decades...I'm just about 60 years old now. I was a teenager from late 70s thru 80's....still great music, radio, movies, cars and youthful existence for sure...but everything we had came from the times he speaks of here....imagine being there from 1965 to 71 as a 18, 19, 20, 21 yr old...or 36, 27, 28, 29 year old....holy cow....what history. Alas, I do still remember concerts for $7 and $8 (Springsteen at Boston Music Hall)....general admission at sports venues for shows (Santana, Springsteen, elton john, eagles...) smoking weed at shows with your neighbors in the row you didn't know but danced with....peace everyone.
I agree. He started it all.
I feel the same. #5 of 6, and my eldest brother is your age, but my siblings were consumed with sports, so I wasn't exposed to the arts until later in high school, when I discovered my artistic talent and pursued art training/career.
Although I did become involved in music and theater, I didn't continue with it except for dabbling with guitar. Now 55, I am picking up with my music interests, and though it may not lead to anything professionally, I will do it for the love of it. Wishing I had been born 10 yrs earlier than being born in '67 'Summer of Love'.
@@SDsailor7 No, the musicians started it all. The rest just made money off them.
Thanks Bill! Man that last minute was super deep. Mad respect. 🙏🏽💚
also whole thing. What can I say about this fabulous elixir!?!? Rest In Power, Bill! I wore my Mime Troupe hat to the BGCA twice this week ... long story but Bill is DEAD ON!
Saw many shows at winterland
Bill was in the atrium
Always shook my hand
Bill Graham was great in business and mostly great to the artist .
What a wonderful interview of an amazing person. I saw him a tiny bit because I worked at Shoreline Amphitheater in Mt. View for a few years. What a great interview. This was him.
What makes you think he was a rapist?
The great Bill Graham! Thank you !!🙏🙏
Went to many concerts put on by Bill Graham. Leagues ahead of anyone else's shows. Fact.
Why is it so universal this anxiety of many journalists that doesnt let the genius finnish their thoughts? At some point he says there are 2 or 3 things that made him successfull and the intereviewer cut him after only telling nr.1.
genius? LOL
I love this man's frankness.
I've seen him in action up close some & saw him be far more generous than he says here.
The one employee I knew said as much, & showed similarly generous spirit in her ways.
There was so much finesse in his attention to little details when he put on a show.
He stole it
Put them together!!! Cheers from Central America. Guatemala city.
Man the guy put the last waltz on the line with clapton dylan van morrison and co .. and of course the band !!! what a guy! thanks for the eternity
I was blessed enough to live in Sacramento and go to many concerts in town and in the Bay area put on by Bill Graham. Lots of good times damn good times. I was 13 when I went to my first concert a Day on the Green featuring Led Zeppelin, July 23rd, 1977, and there were many many more.
Also in Sacramento do you my that time and his name was everywhere! Cal Expo down through the Bat Area. What a great time for this region…truly legendary
If ever there is to be a Pantheon to the Greatest and most revealing interview's of all time; surely this one would find it's rightful place. Thank You Docs...
the "Flower Power" days certainly did not die because of Bill Graham. it was decades before my time but i would guess that too many people flocking to the scene to quickly was probably a factor. excellent interview and love BG and the Good Ol' Grateful Dead!!!
The 1960s went through insane music snd fashion trends from 1964 onwards in the US and Britain . Flower power lasted a fair amount of them
The famous 1967 Monterey Pop Concert with The Who , Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix made the hippies look lame .
Fascinating discussion
I was seeing the Dead in Rochester NY on this day! Thanks for everything Bill.
Rochester ?? i went to high school at Brighton High in the sixties . i remember the first time the stones came to america and rochester . it was a mess . the fire dept . wouldnt let anyone leave their seats , but the crowd freaked out after a couple of songs and rushed the stage . The police came on stage and told everyone to sit down . Some guy from the audience screamed FYou and threw his motorcycle boot at the cop hitting him in the head . All hell broke lose and i grabbed my friends and got out of their . 😂
I totally respect, and am learning from Bill's words, pratices, honor, fairness, and kindness, and even his hard attitudes- this is how you do good honest work.- God bless you Bill Graham. he is and always be a legend, and respected music professonal.
Bill Graham produced the finest concert in rock history at The Winterland Arena in 1976 ! It became The Last Waltz ,The Band's final concert in which the cream of the rock era performed onstage in thanks , admiration and utter respect for the most esteemed group in musical history ! That was Bill Graham's vision ! You gotta check the movie out if you have not already saw it ...
The most important person in the pantheon of rock who was not a performer.
I recently wrote a book called Manhattan's East Village-Three Decades of Madness. I went into sometime detail about how the Fillmore East evolved. I interviewed a man who had dinner with Bill on his last day on Earth. A helicopter crash did him in after the pilot warned of risky weather. The man's life was epic.
A friend of the Grateful Dead is a friend of mine. Thanks Bill
Because he worked 24/7...and did everything himself
When he talked of his MOTHER & SISTER OLDER......they....went to the CAMPS ......the camps. Couldn't imagine !!!!!
Bill was alway so very nice to me. Never really knew why, but he had eyes everywhere, and left no good deed unrecognized. He was murder on slackers.
A very complex character. Read his autobiography.. But in the end, he made a lot of people happy.
What makes you think he was a rapist?
not just in the end ... all thru his producing career
I'll second yr recommendation re: reading his autobiography.
Not like other autobios where one person tells their story ... his autobiography is told by dozens of folk who experienced the same events up close and personal, often from opposite opposed viewpoints. The decision to do it that way is classic Bill Graham.
@Sarah'sSuitcase sounds like someone who prob has a projection prob
how does that Allman Bros lyric about "talking 'bout stuff that they don't know" go
13:40 Bill speaks Yiddish showing his Jewish upbringing. He was born in Germany and escaped the Nazis as a young boy. "...If you knew the 'tzuris' (trouble) I had with the cow..."
His background honed character in him you won't see in music industry-types today. Holocaust survivor and Korean War Veteran? Name someone today in his business with life experiences like that!
Ok Boomer!
@@haileyshannon7548 You got nothing.
I think I watch this video at least once every few months.
Hey me, fancy seein you here again.
Bill was crazy but a great promoter.Keith Richard bitterly said his promoted shows had his name as much as the act in every stitch of advertisement.I wish Peter Grant and Bill were still around.Better then American Express and Disney as the promoters like today.
I worked after school at BGP office I was 17 he offered me a job doing this new thing called MTV I said on T V?? He said yes I asked if I get a bodyguard?? Bill then through his arms up in the air and said kid you're killing me here!!Ineedlless to say it didn't go for limelight don't like people bugging me!!I thanked him & next job was reading fan mail which was very interesting!!rip uncle bill love peace 🕊️ Frances🎵🎶🎼🎭☯️💜👣
I really truly think this guy is one of the great men of the 20th century. What he did for rock n’ roll….
I went to his shows!! I was 13 in 1977, Winterland, Bachman Turner Overdrive....
that was so funny about the steak "and you should've seen the time I had dealing w/ the cow who produced that steak".this guy was one in a million.just his story as a child would make a hell of a movie.I wish he never climbed into that Goddam chopper .but he did.
An American classic.
That office just reeks of 1977.
You do realize QAnon is a hoax?
@Sarah’s Suitcase 😈 How so?
Yeah, we get that with the 8 track turntable.
You can just smell the ashtrays through cyberspace! 😂 1977 was a magic time, especially in California
The world is ready... Finally, it's a movement, global community and launching into ...
Wow, spaced out .
The self assessment is way over thought .
He saw what the people wanted and supplied it . All of the music fans of the sixties myself included wanted to see our favorite bands live .
Graham just has the business sense to rent the halls and book the acts . he was in the right place at the right time . nothing mysterious about it. One thing he did do that other promoters didn't was to create an atmosphere of freedom and comfort . The filmore had couches and nice chairs strewn around the room or you could sit on the floor .
The Avalon Ballroom main floor was open to sitting and or lying down if you were too stoned to sit .We would go into the men's rest room before the concert to score drugs . there was almost always someone in there selling some acid or whatever . it was a magical time of just being in the moment . I also think that the musicians/ bands enjoyed playing these ventures . they were more intimate and personal . very exciting .
RIP UNCLE BOBO
Seeing this back to back with a Jerry Garcia interview makes me wonder if maybe these two might've dropped acid together.
There's a few pictures of a dosed Bill at Fillmore East in '69. Pages 49 and 50 of the book Grateful Dead 365. Google image search for "Bill Graham and Cowbell". Bill got dosed unexpectedly a few times and this was one of those nights.
~RIP Uncle Bo Bo~
Whatever about American groups, venues like the Fillmore , Fillmore West, Fillmore East , Day at The Green , Winterland Arena or in Boston for a brief period Boston Tea Party - venues where you’d be expected to do two sets a night and maybe 2-3 nights were extremely important for the visiting European groups trying to break into America.
Yes , they might have had to play a few more gigs without the full pay of a headliner , but it gave them exposure that they needed badly while be guaranteed to play in front of more than 2000 people rather than take a chance on headlining 500 person venue and hope that people will come .
It’s also meant staying in a city for a night or two rather that god awful package tour crap that went on in the early 1960s
Fillmore and the Boston Tea Party was pretty important for groups like the Who
About humor he tells check peter frampton live oakland 1977 when he said somethin to him backstage
SOULJAH.
Read “Bill Graham Presents”, you will love it
Robin Herbert 1934-2024 "On time is late. Five minutes early is on time."
What about his contacts like does he know my family
i want to know why he didn't made movie of the concert he made ?
There is the full length movie of him closing the Filmore on CZcams
See “Fillmore: The Last Days”, also read his memoir “Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock and Out”.
Not really, l grew up in San Francisco during HEYDAY of summer of Love. He was tough an A --hole but you have to be he worked hard.
Thanks Bill for the memories and free concert at the park.
He could be very tough, he would not cotton to spaced out people who wanted to free load or just get in the way. I worked for him briefly and he was a very generous thoughtful man, I miss him in the industry.
Did Graham personally do drugs ? What was his opinion on drug use ?
Lot of 70 year old commenters here
This is full of obvious baloney. "If you have a show at 8pm, you have to be there".. "I didn't teach Yusuf Lateef how to play" -- Yeah, no shit, dude. In the 70s, this guy represented the word "sell-out" more than anyone. But I think that Maximum Rock n Roll running a cover celebrating his death was a bit much.
verry richman ...what i mean....typonographic eror lucking words
What makes him successful?
who nose?
A million dollars helps.