Bill Graham Presents: My Life Inside Rock And Out

It's always a good sign when you read something that is so compelling that you not only have a hard time putting it aside, but also you feel somewhat sad when you reach the its conclusion. Such is the case with BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS: MY LIFE INSIDE ROCK AND OUT...an excellent semi-autobiographical take on the life of legendary rock and roll concert promoter Bill Graham...written by Bill Graham and Robert Greenfield. I've had an interest in Bill Graham for a long time...having first heard about him in a book about Led Zeppelin that I read when I was a teenager. The Zeppelin book portrayed Graham as a villain, in relation to an unfortunate violent incident in 1977 that happened between Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant, drummer John Bonham and Bill Grant and his staff. Charges were filed, arrests were made, and Graham vowed never to book Led Zeppelin again. At the time, I thus did not have much love for Bill Graham...that is until I learned a little more about him...and slowly discovered that Bill Graham was the greatest concert promoter in the world. As a teenager in New York, I was fortunate enough to attend a few of his concerts...The A.R.M.S. 1983 concert at Madison Square Garden with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page...LIVE AID in Philadelphia in 1985, the CRACK DOWN concert at Madison Square Garden in 1986 with the Allman Brothers, Crosby Stills & Nash and Run DMC, the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert in 1986 in New Jersey with The Police, U2, Peter Gabriel, Miles Davis and Bryan Adams as well as the 1988 Amnesty International concert in Philadelphia with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Sting, Peter Gabriel & Tracy Chapman. On May 14, 1988 I attended an amazing Bill Graham concert at Madison Square Garden for Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary. The show featured a large amount of acts including Yes, Genesis, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Foreigner, and ironically enough...an exciting set from the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. It was at this concert where I actually saw Bill Graham near my seats...walking down the aisle, checking out the scene. I should have said hello when I had the chance. In terms of the book, at first glance I was disappointed in the way the book was structured...As opposed to telling Bill Graham's story in a typical way...with occasional quotes mixed in with an author's prose...BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS: MY LIFE INSIDE ROCK AND OUT is nothing BUT quotes...telling Graham's tale through a series of interviews with the people who were in and out of Graham's life...as well as with Graham himself. Yet it didn't take me too long to became truly enthralled with the story. Born in 1931 in Nazi Germany to Russian Jews, Graham was smuggled out of the country as a child in order to save his life. He spent the majority of his youth without a real family...being sent to various orphanages throughout Europe for two years, then sent to the United States when he was 10 years old. Graham's father died in a factory only days after his birth, and his mother was gassed on the way to Auschwitz...his sisters either went into hiding, or died in concentration camp. In the U.S., Graham was raised by a foster family in the Bronx, NY, learned English fast, dropped his German accent, and grew up to become a very independent, hard working young man with an excellent sense of business. He was drafted during the Korean War, yet still managed to start an underground business in the Navy. He worked for years in the great Catskills resorts (i.e. Grossingers, the Concord, etc...) as a waiter...where he saw great acts perform, and really learned how to hustle...and of course had a side business on his own selling food at crap games...He tried being an actor in New York, and loved movies and the theater. After re-connecting with some of his sisters...Graham eventually made his way to San Francisco...worked a variety of jobs...and ended up working for a Mime troupe on the business end. After deliberately getting themselves arrested as a publicity stunt, Bill Graham and the Mime troup organized a benefit to raise funds for their legal defense. The venue for the benefit was the Fillmore Auditorium...and the night of the benefit changed Bill Graham's life forever. That night he saw the power of the live event..."living theater" as I believed he called it...bringing together large groups of people to experience something special...a one of a kind event. Graham found his calling...and soon would take over the Fillmore, and later other venues like the Winterland Arena, the Fillmore West, and the Fillmore East in New York and present historic concerts by such acts as the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Band, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Doors, The Allman Brothers, and The Grateful Dead plus many many more...Northern California became Bill Graham country...and no band would dare play there without going through Bill Graham at least at some point. The book gives excellent detail in the way Graham stood up to talent managers who tried to strong arm him in one or another...Bill clashed with The Rolling Stones in 1969 when they were notoriously late for their concerts in the Bay area...yet soon developed a strong relationship with the band...and would book their shows throughout 1972, 1975, and 1978...and was given the job of tour manager for their massive 1981/1982 world tour. Graham grew and expanded his enterprise further and further...yet deplored the emerging greed in the music industry...and the expansion of concerts into larger and larger venues. He fought with people constantly, and was disgusted at how other people mishandled and abused events such as Woodstock and the infamous Altamont concert in 1969 where a young man was murdered by Hells Angels. In candid interviews with all of the players involved...BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS: MY LIFE INSIDE ROCK AND OUT truly gives you a sense of Bill Graham, the businessman, yet also the idealist...who truly fought hard so that both the band AND the crowd of any given concert came out ahead. He would often do anything....ANYTHING...to get a band to perform encores if the crowd wanted more...In the 1970's, Graham produced huge concert tours for Bob Dylan & The Band, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and George Harrison. He produced the legendary LAST WALTZ concert for the Band in 1976...fighting with everyone along the way (and was appalled by Martin Scorsese's now classic 1978 film THE LAST WALTZ). The infamous Led Zeppelin incident in 1977 is gone over in detail...and the story is at once brutal, and heartbreaking. Bill Graham's life was his work...and would too often sacrifice his personal life in favor of business...Relationships were many, and he bore two sons...yet few lasted more than a few years. He publicly vilified Ronald Reagan in the 80's for visiting graves of Nazi soldiers in Germany...a move which would cost him dearly. He fought hard with managers on the Amnesty International tours to keep the shows focused on spreading the message at hand...and not cater to a performer's (or manager's) ego, or career. Bill was tough as nails, and pissed off artists and mangers alike. He could be a bully, yet he was passionate about putting on the best show possible. In 1989, Graham was absolutely crushed when he was passed over for the job of handling the Rolling Stones huge Steel Wheels world tour...It took him a long time to regain his confidence...yet he did. By 1991, Graham was 60 years old and full of life...yet unfortunately in October of that year, he and his girlfriend (as well his longtime pilot) were killed in an horrific helicopter crash in Northern California...ended an incredible life and career...bringing all walks of life together, to make history. Bill Graham was/is history...and thank goodness we have BILL GRAHAM PRESENTS: MY LIFE INSIDE ROCK AND OUT to tell his story

Along with many of my friends in the arts world, I’m still working on coming to terms with the current state of things. As the COVID-19 invasion has us all on lock down and using social distancing to help kick this thing back into the dark hole from which it crawled, I’m feeling a bit lost. As most of you who read my postings know, I kinda thrive on the communal sharing of live music and theatre. Until life returns to some semblance of normality, I’ll be seeking (and sharing) alternate experiences. And if all the recent cancellations have taught us one thing, I hope that it’s this (something I have been trying to live for most of my adult life): DO EVERYTHING AS IF IT MIGHT BE THE LAST TIME YOU DO IT! Be present! Embrace the JOY of being able to do the thing you love with the people you love! Give every moment your very best effort! None of this is consistently easy to accomplish, but it’s definitely worth remembering and the application doesn’t have to hard.All of the above is a great way to introduce you to the book I just finished reading. Bill Graham did all of this! His life wasn’t always easy, but he never gave it less than his best. This can (and did) drive a lot of people crazy, but it also helped make a lot of people incredibly happy (the fans) and incredibly famous (the musicians). If you don’t know who Bill Graham was, he invented the concert-going experience that most of us take for granted today. He started Fillmore East, Fillmore West and Winterland. He organized the American side of Live Aid, he ran two of the Rolling Stones biggest tours, he planned and presented The Band’s Last Waltz, and so much more. Thanks, Bill!This book is a pretty amazing and unique biography. Its 545 pages are all oral histories/interviews from Bill and the people he worked with, telling the story of his life and career in their own words. It’s meticulously compiled to give us insider looks at all that went into producing these major music events. So it seems like a fitting way to start my self-quarantine…by finishing a book about a guy who helped us get the most out of the live concert experience. Ironically, too, it just makes me yearn even more for the day when I can return to the joy those concerts bring.

My husband absolutely loves this book so much great information. Bill Graham was a Force of Nature did lots of jobs finally found his place and was an amazing promoter of music. Never let anyone get away with not paying the musicians. Great read!!!

Enormous (545pp) and definitive - if a little biased now and again! - memoir of Graham's life and times, based entirely on interviews.With this type of book, the co-author who actually writes the text doesn't so much creatively write as edit, craft and weave his spoken-word material into a narrative. This format can be a little wearing at times for the reader, but in this case it is probably the only way to deal with the subject.Graham's reminiscences are detailed and where there are any omissions or inaccuracies in his own narrative, Greenfield usually quotes someone else's account to correct him. It has been updated since his death; and there is a full and proper index, always the sign of a good book!It is chock-full of good stories of course, and any would-be rock historian needs a copy of it on their shelves. The chapter on Led Zeppelin deals with the infamous 1977 Oakland Coliseum attack on one of Graham's staff and Graham tells it like it was. There is plenty on The Band, the Stones, Doors, Cream, the Dead, the Airplane, Hendrix and many more. His encounter with Suzi Quatro's brother is hilarious! But there is also much on Graham's personal life and business methods and dealings. Tellingly, he seems to have commanded great loyalty from his employees despite his legendary outbursts of rage and ill-temper.So this is a good long read and a fine and important addition to anyone's rock library; a true account of one of the 20th century's more extraordinary lives, which you will refer to again and again.

I thought this was such an interesting insight into the rock world of the 70s. It also provided evidence of something that I had suspected for a long time, namely the truly dreadful and horrific behavior of the management style of Led Zepplin and their manager Peter Grant whilst playing in San Francisco.This is a most fascinating read and I strongly recommend it.

Tiny unreadable font. Interviews rather than narrative break up any sort of flow to the book. The roles of people being interviewed are not explained up-front; they are only covered in the index which has an even smaller font. One struggles to understand what the co-writer did apart from turn on his tape recorder. Very disappointing. I returned it.

Book arrived a little earlier than expected, well packaged, and in very good condition. I've only just started reading it, but it is very readable, interesting, and full of great rock and roll tales (most of which, I guess, are quite probably true!). I would recommend it.

A wonderful piece of work by an incredible individual and maker of the great age of rock'n'roll, who, unfortunately, died too young. The chapters on Led Zeppelin, and his time working as a waiter and fixer in the milieu of the great holiday hotels of the Catskills in the 1950s (where he obviously sharpened his wits for the Fillmore adventure to come), are compelling. A must read for those interested in the music of the 60s and 70s.