tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post7249866435561142816..comments2024-03-16T07:13:50.487-07:00Comments on Lost Live Dead: February 1, 1966 Fillmore Auditorium Grateful Dead/Great Society/Loading Zone (audition-revised: was Jan 4)Corry342http://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-66758535937518626452016-04-04T09:08:16.735-07:002016-04-04T09:08:16.735-07:00Aren't there Bill Graham Archives that might h...Aren't there Bill Graham Archives that might have this information? Where to find them?Jerry's Brokendown Palaceshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06451361448230329754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-27947415578697449712013-06-20T19:57:05.891-07:002013-06-20T19:57:05.891-07:00By the way... Looking at your post again, I find m...By the way... Looking at your post again, I find myself really skeptical about David Nelson's account. <br />As of February 1966, was Bill Graham already holding "Tuesday night auditions" and putting out the barrels of apples? I thought those regular audition nights didn't start for some time. I'm uncertain if he even knew enough about the local rock scene to have auditions yet, let alone in his very first week; seems to me he would've drawn on local favorites who came to him, or bands recommended to him by the Family Dog. His first few Fillmore efforts all mostly featured the same bands (Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Mystery Trend). <br />And since Great Society had already played two Mime Troupe benefits, an audition on their part would be bizarre.<br /><br />The timeframe is also odd for a Dead audition, since they were about to leave San Francisco for an extended stay in Los Angeles. (Phil Lesh remembered that the day the Dead left SF, the Fillmore marquee announced the Jefferson Airplane shows & the "Sights & Sounds of the Trips Festival" [Feb 4-6]; and there was an Acid Test down there on Feb 6.)<br /><br />Sad to say, Nelson's story seems to defy any timeline. I wonder if it's a distorted memory of the 1/14/66 show, their first appearance as the Grateful Dead where Graham listed them as "formerly the Warlocks." Possibly Nelson arrived at a preshow soundcheck or something similar. Great Society was there; and it would've been easy for him to misremember the Loading Zone there, 30 years later.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-41620775062995336632013-06-20T19:14:10.122-07:002013-06-20T19:14:10.122-07:00LIA, this is a great find. I have some listings fr...LIA, this is a great find. I have some listings from the SF Chronicle from early 1967, and they specifically say [Headliner]/plus jam, as in "Charles Lloyd plus jam session", so the story fits.<br /><br />Also, sometimes the headliner for a Fillmore weekend did not play the Sunday afternoon shows, for either financial or travel reasons, so I think there was room on the bills.Corry342https://www.blogger.com/profile/08049035074121231425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-50588749348674148682013-06-20T19:07:48.104-07:002013-06-20T19:07:48.104-07:00You've written about the Tuesday night auditio...You've written about the Tuesday night auditions at the Fillmore West before...I'm not sure there's much of any info about earlier auditions at the Fillmore. <br />I have a 1967 entry in this category, which I'm not sure where else to post, and perhaps it's already been discussed somewhere on this web of blogs, but I'll put it here. <br /><br />From the book Bill Graham Presents - <br />Jim Haynie: "It was my job to set up all the local bands who wanted to audition and get them to come in on Sunday and play for nothing. The most memorable one was the Carlos Santana Blues Band... Sunday afternoon was a dollar to get in, and Bill Graham liked that. He liked mothers bringing their kids. We would fill the floor with balloons, and a lot of times we would have popcorn for them. The kids would just run around, and the moms would dance like crazy, and these tryout bands would be up there trying out." <br /><br />Carlos Santana: "Bill was having these matinee things on Sundays, and Paul Butterfield & Charles Lloyd were on the bill. [So it was either Jan 22 or Jan 29, 1967.] My recollection is that Paul Butterfield probably took some LSD because he showed up late [and very high]. So they had a jam session. Jerry Garcia and people from the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane. Michael Bloomfield was playing keyboards." <br />One of Santana's friends asked Graham & Bloomfield if Santana could play guitar with them, and so he was introduced to the Fillmore stage. "About a month or two later, we auditioned for Bill. Whenever somebody wouldn't show up, Bill would say, 'Okay, come on in and play.'"<br /><br />Here we have Jerry Garcia in a jam session, Sunday afternoon at the Fillmore in late January 1967, with "people from" the Dead & Airplane, and Mike Bloomfield on keyboards. <br />Maybe Santana has a more specific account elsewhere; here he doesn't make it clear whether the Airplane/Dead guys just showed up to jam on a Sunday afternoon, or they were attending the show? I'll assume it took place during the regular Sunday-matinee-audition slot, before the Butterfield/Lloyd show. <br /><br />This event is also mentioned on the Mike Bloomfield website, but I didn't find any mention of it here; thought it was worth posting.Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-86633392979607838422009-11-02T02:56:50.057-08:002009-11-02T02:56:50.057-08:00A counter proposal… (Part 2 of 2 - after hitting a...A counter proposal… (Part 2 of 2 - after hitting a 4096 character limit)<br /><br />The counter proposal is for Tuesday February 1, 1966 and my rationale is: (a) Graham takes over the lease of the Fillmore Auditorium on this day; (b) a workaholic, he has already lined up bands to audition, or possibly check out the sound; (c) the Grateful Dead were still in San Francisco; (d) the trademark apples – would they have been there on a Tuesday in January when he only appears to have access on January 14 (and perhaps a day or two either side)? <br /><br />An interesting complexity is a quote from Garcia “Greenfield’s “Bill Graham Presents” book (pp140)) that he first met with Bill Graham at one of the Longshoreman’s acid tests, but his guitar got broken somehow and the band did not play. Interestingly, the timing has to be wrong unless Graham was never introduced to the bands at either appeal – but probably slashes a dead show off the list.The Yellow Sharkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17001772238662274893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-4466862380611298172009-11-02T02:55:13.874-08:002009-11-02T02:55:13.874-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.The Yellow Sharkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17001772238662274893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5493557313410969282.post-65049576322725456142009-11-02T02:51:30.467-08:002009-11-02T02:51:30.467-08:00A counter proposal ….. (Part 1 of 2)
A great thou...A counter proposal ….. (Part 1 of 2)<br /><br />A great thought provoking article. Auditions for the Mime Troupe Benefit make a lot of sense, but I am not so sure that Bill Graham would have access to the Fillmore on the date proposed.<br /><br />To aid the research, I can confirm:<br /><br />August 7, 1965: The Mime Troupe perform "Candelario" in Lafayette Park and are busted for performing without a permit.<br /><br />November 1, 1965: RG Davis found guilty of performing in the park without a permit.<br /><br />November 6, 1965: Appeal I (at the Howard Street Studio). Contributing their services were Sandy Bull, The Committee, Allen Ginsberg, Jefferson Airplane, John Handy Quintet (with Ferlinghetti reading in front of them), The Fugs, Peter Orlovsky. Note that the loft held 600-700 but estimates have it as 1,500 being there at one time. The program listed “The Family Dog” as performers – Graham had thought they were some sort of a dog act. <br /><br />December 10, 1965: Appeal II (Fillmore Auditorium). Performers were Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Warlocks/Grateful Dead, Mystery Trend, Gentlemen’s Band, Jeanne Brechan, Vipers (often misquoted as The VIPs – including on the poster and handbill). Also scheduled to play were the John Handy Quintet - but a dispute with Bill Graham that led to them not performing. The Committee and Frank Zappa made unscheduled appearances. Bill Krautzmann, who was effectively managing the Grateful Dead at this time, had called Graham to get them on the schedule. <br /><br />December 17, 1965: RG Davis sentenced to 30 days suspended and one year’s probation. More seriously, this led to the withdrawal of a $1,000 grant provided by City’s Hotel Tax Allocations for the Arts.<br /><br />January 14, 1966: Appeal III (Fillmore Auditorium). The Grateful Dead, Mystery Trend, Great Society and the Gentlemen’s Band provided the entertainment. <br /><br />In an interview with Leonard Feather (LA Times) in March 1968, Bill Graham talks about how he ended up at the Fillmore:<br /><br />“Soon after, they decided to hold a bigger benefit, and found an old, run-down skating rink that was being leased out for shows just occasionally. This was the Fillmore Auditorium.<br /><br />We put on two benefits there in December and January. They charged us $60 a night for the hall, for two Saturday nights. Both events were tremendously successful; then I heard the lease was due to expire in February. Because the success of the benefits had put the place on the map, everyone was vying for it. Well, after producing 41 affidavits and recommendations and letters of approval from people I worked for, I got the lease. Our first show went on the weekend of February 4-6, 1966 with the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and the Mystery Trend.<br /><br />Within a month or two we were running shows every weekend, and by the summertime we had to open six nights a week to handle the influx.”<br /><br />All of this leads me to speculate that it seems unlikely that Graham had access on a Tuesday 10 days before a $60 venue rental – particularly access allowing him to run auditions.<br /><br />The other thing arising from the quote is the involvement of the Grateful Dead on February 4-6. My understanding is that the Grateful Dead did not play but QMS and others did. The Dead would have made it down to Los Angeles by the 6th for a show – maybe a lost Dead show from the Fillmore!The Yellow Sharkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17001772238662274893noreply@blogger.com