David777
Well-known Member
- Location
- Silicon Valley
The following documentary came out maybe a decade ago. I just came upon it again and thought it might trigger some memories with others here just looking at young people of that era. And it also provides members something to understand where some of my cultural roots lie.
Below link is a long, low visual quality, 105 minute YouTube film about the last days of Fillmore West on July 2, 1971. Attended 2 or 3 shows each week with 2 or 3 acts each night into the wee hours at $5 to $7 for most of a year before I took a bus south to work in Santa Clara County as a Jr Tech for $2.73/hr. Had left somewhat before, so did not attend this live final set of shows.
Note, there was and still is an earlier "Fillmore" historic ballroom where live late 60s era rock music was first held in San Francisco a few miles away on Geary Boulevard. Bill Graham moved that moniker to the Carousel Ballroom on Market Street and changed it a bit to "Fillmore West". I was never a part of the late 60s SF era because of age then the VN War.
The opening segment shows Graham walking along the line outside waiting to get in. That was how young people in San Francisco during that peak looked and concerts always had such lines to hang out in. Notice male hair length of many of moderate and was not as long as it became by the end of the 1970s after the region was invaded by thousands from elsewhere. Most young people had to support a lifestyle by integrating with society, getting a job.
At 38:20 one gets a look at the inside the Carousel Ballroom during an employee basketball game. The main entrance was unseen off to video camera frame left. Below the upper floor camera position between large support columns were some soft couches. About the upper floor camera position were light effects artists blending colorful concoctions of liquid dyes then shining light through focused above bands. Off to the far right was where most dancers moved about that appeared within San Francisco wfog.
After it closed as the rock era became big business, Graham held most shows at much lower frequencies at Winterland Arena and the Cow Palace in South San Francisco that I often attended. In later decades, his shows were much closer to this person, in Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheater.
From 56:30 shows some actual people dancing first some gals from intense internal psychedelic visceral feelings with at 57:25 a more dynamic freestyle style.
58:10 Graham reflects on those coming to his shows. He came to recognize this stranger on sight, have exchanged smiles and blurted out greetings in passing. At 59:00 he explains why he liked dancers like me. That early utopia drug infused world only survived as echoes within Grateful Dead followers. At 1:00:00 some fun with GD playing with toys and joking about. Several sequences of live music.
At 1:24:00 a very impressive Elvin Bishop guitar virtuoso performance putting his whole body countering into his hand and finger movements, I recall seeing several times. In the end, one can see how the shrewd Graham used the film to deflect years of subtle criticism on his business manners with his strong New York City roots vocal style.
This summer of 2025 is a huge 60th GD 3-day concert series at the Polo Grounds in Golden Gate Park. Tickets at mega $$$ were gone quickly. Instead, I will be attending for free outdoors on August 2, 2025 in McLaren Park's Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, several jam bands that will honor Jerry's Day 2025. So "...we will survive." The amphitheater venue is set within a natural terrain bowl on the side of a hill among a grove of dense oak trees and vegetation.
Below link is a long, low visual quality, 105 minute YouTube film about the last days of Fillmore West on July 2, 1971. Attended 2 or 3 shows each week with 2 or 3 acts each night into the wee hours at $5 to $7 for most of a year before I took a bus south to work in Santa Clara County as a Jr Tech for $2.73/hr. Had left somewhat before, so did not attend this live final set of shows.
Note, there was and still is an earlier "Fillmore" historic ballroom where live late 60s era rock music was first held in San Francisco a few miles away on Geary Boulevard. Bill Graham moved that moniker to the Carousel Ballroom on Market Street and changed it a bit to "Fillmore West". I was never a part of the late 60s SF era because of age then the VN War.
The opening segment shows Graham walking along the line outside waiting to get in. That was how young people in San Francisco during that peak looked and concerts always had such lines to hang out in. Notice male hair length of many of moderate and was not as long as it became by the end of the 1970s after the region was invaded by thousands from elsewhere. Most young people had to support a lifestyle by integrating with society, getting a job.
At 38:20 one gets a look at the inside the Carousel Ballroom during an employee basketball game. The main entrance was unseen off to video camera frame left. Below the upper floor camera position between large support columns were some soft couches. About the upper floor camera position were light effects artists blending colorful concoctions of liquid dyes then shining light through focused above bands. Off to the far right was where most dancers moved about that appeared within San Francisco wfog.
After it closed as the rock era became big business, Graham held most shows at much lower frequencies at Winterland Arena and the Cow Palace in South San Francisco that I often attended. In later decades, his shows were much closer to this person, in Mountain View's Shoreline Amphitheater.
From 56:30 shows some actual people dancing first some gals from intense internal psychedelic visceral feelings with at 57:25 a more dynamic freestyle style.
58:10 Graham reflects on those coming to his shows. He came to recognize this stranger on sight, have exchanged smiles and blurted out greetings in passing. At 59:00 he explains why he liked dancers like me. That early utopia drug infused world only survived as echoes within Grateful Dead followers. At 1:00:00 some fun with GD playing with toys and joking about. Several sequences of live music.
At 1:24:00 a very impressive Elvin Bishop guitar virtuoso performance putting his whole body countering into his hand and finger movements, I recall seeing several times. In the end, one can see how the shrewd Graham used the film to deflect years of subtle criticism on his business manners with his strong New York City roots vocal style.
This summer of 2025 is a huge 60th GD 3-day concert series at the Polo Grounds in Golden Gate Park. Tickets at mega $$$ were gone quickly. Instead, I will be attending for free outdoors on August 2, 2025 in McLaren Park's Jerry Garcia Amphitheater, several jam bands that will honor Jerry's Day 2025. So "...we will survive." The amphitheater venue is set within a natural terrain bowl on the side of a hill among a grove of dense oak trees and vegetation.
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