Bill Graham’s Revolution

A pre-opening press tour of the exhibit produced rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Times. Kirschner presided over Graham’s memorial after he died.

“He was also a visionary. He basically invented the whole idea of ‘rock theater,’ where you went to a concert for an immersion experience.” The exhibition reflects that “immersion experience” as well. Without fixating on the classic rock era that Graham presided over, it includes music, video, classic psychedelic posters and the famed “Joshua Light Show” that enveloped artists at many a Bill Graham Presents show of the 1960s and early ’70s.

The exhibit also includes artifacts from the firebombing of the BGP offices in San Francisco after Graham protested Ronald Reagan’s visit to Germany’s notorious Bitburg cemetary. A melted telephone, eyeglasses and a burned menorah are on display.

“Through the mist of sentiment, he emerges as determined to fulfill a unique vision,” writes the WSJ in a lengthy review. “As the exhibition reveals, Graham’s early years are a touching, terrifying overture to a remarkable story.” Part of that story includes the origins of the famed apple barrel that greeted guests at San Francisco’s Fillmore with a sign that said “Take One or Two.”

In researching the exhibit, Skirball staff learned that, during Graham’s time in a French orphanage, he and another child would steal apples from a nearby orchard to feed their friends, according to the Times.

The barrel greets museumgoers at the Skirball during the exhibition.

“You learn how deep a person’s roots go and how powerful memory can be,” Kirschner told the paper. “Bill Graham & The Rock And Roll Revolution” runs at the Skirball Cultural Center through Oct. 11 before heading to San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum in March, followed by the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame And Museum in Cleveland.