Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock And Out - Softcover

Graham, Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306813491 ISBN 13: 9780306813498

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2004

Synopsis

Gritty, moving, funny, and always fascinating, Bill Graham Presents is the inside story of the explosive and unforgettable man who created the business of rock.

As a child, Bill Graham fled Europe to escape Hitler's armies. He grew up on the streets of New York and in the dining rooms of the hotels in the Catskills. After failing as an actor, he headed for San Francisco right before the Summer of Love where he founded the Fillmore and launched the rock icons of a generation--Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, the Grateful Dead, and more. He was a complex, caring, compassionate whirlwind of energy who rock stars either loved or hated.

In his own voice and those of the people who knew him--Jerry Garcia, Keith Richards, Grace Slick, Ken Kesey, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Carlos Santana--we hear Bill's story as well as the scoop on the major events in rock for more than three decades, ending with his tragic death in a 1991 helicopter crash.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Greenfield is the author of S.T.P.: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones and Dark Star: An Oral History of Jerry Garcia.

From Publishers Weekly:

Rock music promoter Graham and Greenfield ( STP: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones ) were collaborating on this unfailingly entertaining portrait when Graham died in a helicopter crash in 1991. The book's chronological but unusual format--it consists almost entirely of freestanding quotes, without transitional narration--works well. Sources include Graham's family, members of the Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend and actor Peter Coyote; Graham, shrewd and outspoken, tells anecdotes of his own and never misses a chance to rebut his illustrious colleagues who reminisce here. His tale is the stuff of legends: a Jew born in Germany in 1931 and orphaned soon after, he was evacuated to France in 1939 and sent to the U.S. in 1941. He lived with a foster family in the Bronx, working as a waiter and cabbie until he found his calling as a rock impresario in 1960s San Francisco. Notoriety and controversy followed--for the next quarter century, he had a hand in everything from the Trips Festival to the Fillmore West to Woodstock to Live Aid to Amnesty International's Conspiracy of Hope tour. This look at a businessman unencumbered by timidity is recommended reading as an often hilarious overview of rock 'n' roll. Photos not seen by PW. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0306813491
• ISBN 13: 9780306813498
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 609