Watched the Biography on rock impresario Bill Graham the other night.
I had alway had the impression this was a real upstanding, nice, down-to-earth guy. I came away thinking what an asshole is really was! Piss in my Cheerios!
Being a west-coast guy, I have been to may BGP shows and seen him announce an act or two even. Everything I have seen about him before on the tube had been positive, and the sound-bites alway made him look good. The biography made him out to be an overbearing, egotistacal, backstabbing dickweed. While I admit his early life was tough, and I respect his toughness to get where he did, the rest of the details really tarnished his image for me. :frown:
Screwed over everyone that trusted him apparantly. All the sound-bites (when shown in context) reinforced what self-centered tool he really was. Almost wished I didn’t watch the show, now.
Anybody else watch? What did you think?
Please remove shoes before entering the Black Lodge.
Yeah, I agree. He really did come across as a none-to-pleasant guy to deal with. Its a shame to discover that about someone who made such a positive contribution to our music culture. Two sides to every coin, I guess.
I watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
They presented him warts and all (but not necessarily all the warts.)
Bill’s reputation in the industry is pretty much as shown. I’m sure the buzz throughout the concert industry after the showing is “Why didn’t they interview me?”
Everyone in the biz has a Bill Graham story.
He was beloved and despised by concert goers and bands in the bay area. Often at the same time.
He had a heart of steel and a heart of gold.
My very first encounter with him gave me a pretty good indication of what to expect.
It was at the Northern California Folk Rock Festival in San Jose in May of '69.
This was the weekend when the People’s Park riots were taking place in Berkeley. Hundreds of kids were busted and jailed.
Meanwhile, back in San Jose, a Bill Graham managed band was setting up on stage. They had not yet released an album, but they were going to record this concert with the intention of releasing it as a live album.
While they were setting up, Bill took the stage and made an impassioned speech about the plight of all of our brothers and sisters in Berkeley who were busted for trying to keep this park in Berkeley from being developed into a parking lot or something. He went on for a while really working up the crowd and when the band was ready to start, he was winding it up.
“Now on the count of three, I want you all to cheer real loud so our brothers & sister in jail up in Berkeley can hear it!
Ready?
One…
Two…
Santana!..”
A huge cheer goes up and gets recorded as Santana is introduced.
If that wasn’t enough to sweeten the crowd noise, some fireworks were shot off behind the stage to elicit some oohs and aahs.
We were had, but in spite of that, it was a damn fine concert.
Poco, Blues Magoos, Pulse, Spirit, Santana, Chuck Berry, Jefferson Airplane and probably a couple more I can’t bring to mind right now.
Thanks, Bill.
Cheers!
I have a fairly large collection of Grateful Dead concert recordings, some of which feature Bill Graham introducing the group.
My favorite is “The oldest juveniles in the state of California…the Grateful Dead!!!”
I went to a number of Dead shows and met Bill on a two of three occasions. Each time he was acting like a complete and total prick. He was verbally abusive and would literally push people out of his way rather than take the few extra microseconds to walk around them. On the other hand he ran a tight ship and put together some fine shows.
Haj