Rita and Ester moved to the United States and were close to Graham in his later life. Graham was drafted into the United States Army in 1951, and served in the Korean War, where he was awarded both the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Graham got forty-one prominent citizens to write letters to the auditorium's owner, a haberdasher named Harry Shifs, and Shifs gave him a three-year lease at five hundred dollars a month ... [T]he hippie community ... has turned out to be something the man from Montgomery Street can point to with pride, in a left-handed way, and say 'these are our boys'", stated Jerry Garcia.[21]. SFX then sold the company to Clear Channel Entertainment. Bill Graham helicopter crash; Bell 206B Jetranger similar to accident aircraft. [22] Early the next morning, Graham's secretary called the band's manager, Albert Grossman, and obtained exclusive rights to promote them. Shortly thereafter, Chet Helms arrived at Graham's office, asking how Graham could have cut him out of the deal. Adopted by a family in the Bronx, he graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School. He was 60. Graham produced shows attracting elements of America's now legendary 1960s counterculture such as the Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe and the Fish, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the improv group The Committee, The Fugs, Allen Ginsberg, and a particular favorite of Graham's, the Grateful Dead. Live Nation is now the world's largest concert production/promotion company and is no longer legally affiliated with Clear Channel or the names Winterland or Winterland Productions. [15] The best way to set the historic record straight concerning Charles Sullivan and Bill Graham is to review what Graham left in his own words. He was 60. The concert was a success and Graham saw a business opportunity. Bill Graham, who escaped Nazi Germany to become America's leading promoter of rock musicians and who helped develop the mass rock concert format, was killed Friday in a helicopter crash … Upon his return to the States he worked as a waiter/maître d' in Catskill Mountain resorts in upstate New York during their heyday. Concord Pavilion general manager John Toffoli also recommended that Graham take a rental car home to Marin, and noticed a peculiar detail to Graham's attire that night... "One of the ironic things I remember was he was putting on his jacket, and he turned around to say goodbye, and he was wearing a 'Lynyrd Skynyrd' jacket." [31][32] In the mid-1980s, in conjunction with the city of Mountain View, California, and Apple Inc. cofounder Steve Wozniak, he masterminded the creation of the Shoreline Amphitheatre, which became the premier venue for outdoor concerts in Silicon Valley, complementing his booking of the East Bay Concord Pavilion. On July 4, 1939, he was sent from Germany to France to escape the Nazis. At the Fillmore, Bobby Bland and the Temptations...I met Charles Sullivan by appointment the second time I saw the ballroom...We needed a dance permit but I didn't have one. Graham was born in Berlin,[3] the youngest child and only son of lower middle-class parents, Frieda (née Sass) and Jacob "Yankel" Grajonca,[4] who had emigrated from Russia before the rise of Nazism. Graham was among three people killed, Jean Catino, a spokeswoman for Bill Graham Productions, said in San Francisco today. 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; Bill then states "Then on April 21, 1966, a Thursday, the Chronicle ran an editorial, 'The Fillmore Auditorium Case'...[I]t was a big turning point for me. [citation needed], Once in the United States, Graham was placed in a foster home in The Bronx in New York City. She was 13, and she died in Lyons.″. He is also survived by another son, Alex; a stepson, Thomas Sult, and three sisters, Rita Rosen, Esther Chichinsky and Sonia Svobl. Graham as Bill Graham Presents booked the 1982 US Festival, funded by Steve Wozniak as Unuson. Charles Sullivan's last show at the Fillmore Auditorium came a week before his death, it was on July 26, 1966, The Temptations Dance and Show. Graham approached Sullivan to put on the Second Mime Troupe appeals concert at the Fillmore Auditorium on December 10, 1965, using Sullivan's dance hall permit for the show. Workers used a large crane to clear away the wreckage. They jumped him and stabbed him to death. Over 600,000 paying ticket-holders were in attendance. He was 60 years old. [57] The BGP staff did not embrace the Clear Channel name, and several members of the Graham staff eventually left the company. Bill Graham (born Wulf Wolodia Grajonca; January 8, 1931 – October 25, 1991) was a German-American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death in 1991 in a helicopter crash. Get premium, high resolution news photos at … In 1977, the band 'Lynyrd Skynyrd' endured a plane crash that killed several of its members and staff. Bill was to be buried in Colma, the same small town south of San Francisco filled with graveyards where so many years before Bill himself had gone to the funeral of Charles Sullivan, the black man who stood up for him when the Fillmore Auditorium was on the line. Graham was among three people killed, Jean Catino, a spokeswoman for Bill Graham Productions, said in San Francisco today. [8], Mime Troupe leader Ronnie Davis states that "Graham... gets very excited about the success of the Fillmore Auditorium Show. Its only opposition came from a few bands, notably Pearl Jam, which protested that the company's high ticketing fees were unfair to music fans. [12] After Mime Troupe leader Ronnie Davis was arrested on obscenity charges during an outdoor performance, Graham organized a benefit concert to cover the troupe's legal fees. Some of those who signed with Graham included Rod Stewart, Elvin Bishop, and Cold Blood,[23] although of these it seems only Bishop actually issued albums on the Fillmore label. The weather was rainy and cold, with low clouds. The movie Fillmore and the album Fillmore: The Last Days document the closing of the Fillmore West. After finishing high school, Graham joined the Army during the Korean War, where he had a mixed record - he was court-martialed twice for minor violations but went on to receive both the Bronze Star and Purple heart in combat. The other two victims were the pilot, Steve Kahn, and Mr. Graham's companion, Malissa Gold. Later that year, he opened the Fillmore East on New York’s Lower East Side. Bill Graham was the famous music promoter, who owned San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium. Bill Graham was inducted into the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" in 1992 in the "Non-Performer" category. Once backstage, he went to work. Santa Cruz giving merit to the shows Graham managed to obtain a second permit hearing, but was again denied. But Graham was stopped by the bass player from the News, Mario Cippolina, who, in a moment of foresight, noted the poor weather, and suggested that Graham to take his limousine. Since the pilot was familiar with the geographic area, he flew the helicopter using a technique known as "pilotage" - flying from one fixed point to another. By the following year, the crowds for Graham’s shows were becoming so large that he began holding the shows in a San Francisco skating rink known as Winterland. Graham must have gotten his permit in mid July 1966 confirming his possession of the Fillmore brand. Nevertheless, Graham's helicopter left the Concord Pavilion at around 9:45 PM, bound for his home in Corte Madera. "There was a lot of fog and apparently the pilot was looking for an opening in the fog... dipping up and down in hopes of finding an opening," he said. The copter remained suspended in power lines today, and the cause of the crash was under investigation. Graham graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School and subsequently from City College with a business degree. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Buried Here – Ritchie Valens, Singer & Songwriter Of “La Bamba”, Where Jerry Garcia Of The Grateful Dead Died, Where June Pointer Of The Pointer Sisters Died, Oceanview Motel – Where Bradley Nowell Of Sublime Died, Monterey Regional Airport, Near Where John Denver Was Killed, Metalworks – Greater Toronto Area Recording Studio, Burrito Manor Where The Flying Burrito Brothers Began, Hollywood Walk Of Fame - List of Rock 'N Roll Stars, Laurel Canyon - Frank Zappa, The Byrds, Jim Morrison, Joni Mitchell, John and Tom Fogerty’s Childhood Home In El Cerrito. ″Bill was the most influential non-musician in the rock ‘n’ roll world,″ his son David told a radio station in Los Angeles today. "Following his death, his company, Bill Graham Presents (BGP), was taken over by a group of employees. After Graham's death on October 25, 1991 the description of his funeral procession states: Escorted by motorcycle police, more long black limousines than had ever before been seen at a private funeral in the city of San Francisco formed a phalanx for the procession to the cemetery. He was a promoter for Bob Dylan and a manager for Jefferson Airplane and Santana. When Graham learned that Reagan intended to lay a wreath at Bitburg's World War II cemetery where SS soldiers were also buried, he organized protests against the act. Many of the bands Graham had been instrumental in supporting played the venue, Santana, a reunited Journey, Los Lobos, a reunited CSNY, the Dead (with guests John Fogerty, John Popper and Neil Young), Robin Williams, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Bobby McFerrin, Jackson Browne, Joe Satriani with Randy Jackson, Tracy Chapman, Aaron Neville with Evylyn Cisneros of the SF Ballet, and Joan Baez.Some Bay Area residents still refer to the crash as "the Night the Music Died. He delved into numerous sidelines, from mechandizing T-shirts and souvenirs to commissioning concert posters that have now become collectors' items and works of art in their own right. He was it. By schmoozing with merchants and having criminologists and sociologists from U.C. [8] Due to the increasing peril to Jews in Germany, Graham's mother placed her son and her youngest daughter, Tanya "Tolla", in a Berlin orphanage, which sent them to France in a pre-Holocaust exchange of Jewish children for Christian orphans. [41] He enjoyed putting together groups onstage from different ethnic backgrounds, many of whom were ignored by other promoters. Awarded for Service. Graham purchased comedy club The Punch Line and The Old Waldorf on Battery Street in San Francisco from local promoter Jeffrey Pollack, with whom he remained close friends for the rest of his life,[33][34][35] then Wolfgang's on Columbus Ave in San Francisco. Penguin Press: New York (2004) contains an article, "The San Francisco Sound, New music, new subculture", at the end of which it is stated, "-Unpublished file for Newsweek, October 28, 1966". Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley, Ltd. "Bill Graham Drives His Chevy to the Levee", "Legacy of Legendary Music Promoter Bill Graham Showcased in New Illinois Holocaust Museum Exhibition", "Bill Graham, Rock Impresario, Dies at 60 in Crash", "Flawed look at career of blacklisted director", "Chronology of San Francisco Rock 1965-1969", "The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Concert", "The Colombo Files: Bill Graham's 1975 concert for the kids", "A Look Back At ...SNACK SUNDAY - Bill Graham Foundation", "SNACK Benefit Vintage Concert Poster from Kezar Stadium, Mar 23, 1975 at Wolfgang's", "The Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA, USA Concert Setlists - setlist.fm", "Old Waldorf - Former Venue On Battery Street In San Francisco, CA", "Punch Line Comedy Club, San Francisco, CA, USA Concert Setlists - setlist.fm", "Wolfgang's - Former Venue On Columbus Ave In San Francisco, CA", "Wolfgang's, San Francisco, CA, USA Concert Setlists - setlist.fm", "Buy a Domain Name - World's Best Domains For Sale", "Dividing a Lifetime's Bounty / Long, painful negotiations over fate of promoter's estate", "BILL GRAHAM'S TANGLED LEGACY / Battle Over Rock Impressario's [sic] Riches", "Fallout From Estate Finally Settles / After disputes, heirs resigned, company strong", "N.Y. Firm Pays $65 Million For Bill Graham's Company", "Clear Channel Music Group Splits Bill Graham Presents Into Two Entities", "Bay Area Plays Tribute to Graham : Memorial: About 300,000 gather for free concert at Golden Gate Park honoring the rock promoter who died 10 days ago in a helicopter crash", Bill Graham interview with Robert Greenfield, Kenny Wardell of 106 KMEL Interviews Bill Graham, A Video of 106 KMEL Broadcasting Live from Bill Graham's House, National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival, Northern California Folk-Rock Festival II, Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Graham_(promoter)&oldid=987957983, American army personnel of the Korean War, Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area, Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States, Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1991, Victims of helicopter accidents or incidents in the United States, Wikipedia introduction cleanup from November 2019, Articles covered by WikiProject Wikify from November 2019, All articles covered by WikiProject Wikify, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2009, Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 10 November 2020, at 06:50.