Bill Graham Goes To The Museum

Graham was more than a ticket hawker, of course. He was a committed supporter of social justice causes and a Holocaust survivor. His Bill Graham Presents offices in San Francisco were firebombed in 1985 by suspected neo-Nazis after he dared criticize Ronald Reagan for visiting the cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, where members of Hitler’s SS were believed to be buried. The exhibit will cover that part of his life, too, as well as the childhood and journey of Wolfgang Grajonca from Berlin to New York City to escape Nazism.

But what a collection, including many artifacts that will be seen by the public for the first time.

First-time museum displays include Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf” guitar, played by the Grateful Dead frontman from 1973-93; Janis Joplin’s tambourine and microphone from a Fillmore East show; a handwritten thank-you note from Donovan; a silver megaphone from The Rolling Stones’ 1981 tour; and Keith Richards’ leather boots from the same tour, repaired by Graham with duct tape.

The Skirball run will also mark the first museum exhibition of original artwork and preparatory drawings for legendary Fillmore posters, including work by artists Bonnie MacLean, Wes Wilson, David Singer, Greg Irons and David Byrd. Among the 80 posters on display will be three newly commissioned works.

Then there’s the memorabilia supplied by musicians. In the flying instruments department, there’s a shard of a Fender Stratocaster demolished by Jimi Hendrix during a performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1969, and a Pete Townshend 1968 Gibson SG Special used during a performance of “Tommy” and thrown into the Metropolitan Opera House audience in 1970.

Other instruments on display include a 1970s-era Carlos Santana guitar, on loan from the guitar god himself, a 1958 Fender Stratocaster played by Robbie Robertson during “The Last Waltz,” and a 1959 Gibson Les Paul played by Duane Allman on the album At Fillmore East.

But for those who remember Graham as a larger-than-life star by himself, there’s plenty of personal effects and historical memories on display, too, much curated by Graham’s son, David. One such item sure to jog memories of concerts decades past is the original apple barrel that greeted fans at the doorway of The Fillmore, accompanied by the sign “Take One or Two.”

On display for the first time will be some of the spectacular “Father Time” costumes donned by Graham during the Grateful Dead’s Bay Area-traditional New Year’s Eve shows, as well as several of the large-format scrapbooks Graham painstaking kept over the years.

And of course there will be audio components with a guide including interviews with Graham, and stunning concert photography by legends like Jim Marshall. The collection features live and backstage images from The Fillmore, Winterland, Day on the Green, Live Aid and other BGP shows over the years of artists such as Aerosmith, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, The Clash, Bo Diddley, Parry Farrell, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Frampton, Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, KISS, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Stevie Nicks, Tina Turner, The Sex Pistols, Sting, and Stevie Wonder.

But the exhibition is also about Graham’s life beyond the stage and production office. There will be charred relics from the firebombed BGP offices, photographs and other artifacts from Grahams’ childhood as a Jewish refugee crossing the Atlantic in 1941 to his life as a NYC street urchin and his service as a Korean War soldier.

Throw in archival concert video footage and interviews including Carlos Santana, Jack Casady and Wavy Gravy, and that’s a pretty full day of museum-going to brag about to your less-cultured friends.

“Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution” will hit the road after closing up at the Skirball Cultural Center, traveling to San Francisco’s Jewish Contemporary Museum March 10-June 12, 2016. The exhibit will spend parts of 2017 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Chicago.

For more information visit SkirBall.org.