Re: Setlist 1/7/06

An excellent show - I hope there were tapers or that an official SBD will
be available.

There was a nice poster featuring a full length color photo of Bill
Graham, at a festival - in shorts, with a smile on his face. A
psychedelicized (mandelbrot, not gell?) design is in the background behind
Bill, and also superimposed onto an electric guitar on the left. A small
image of the GG Bridge is also in the background. The headliners,
including Bob Weir, are listed on the poster, but not RatDog, Bonnie
Raitt, Carlos Santana, Fred Martin & The Levite Camp, Sikiru or Kitaro.
They must have been the "special guests."

There was a great festive feeling at the Fillmore Saturday night - it
really was a "celebration" of Bill's life. When we first arrived, they
were showing the films of past New Year's Eves and the various roles that
Bill played in costume through the years. And then there were additional
still photos and film coverage from someone's collection of Grahamabilia.
Great stuff, and many semi-tearful memories.

They had a retractable screen set up behind the bands that was remote
control operated, so sometimes there was screen, but much of the time
there was no screen, just the curtains that hang behind the stage.

At times when the screen was down, there was a gell light show, and other
times there was the archival film. At the end of the show there was a
great shot of Bill Graham, relaxed, arms resting on a deck rail, staring
directly at the camera. I'm not sure where it was taken, but there seemed
to be rows of seats behind him.

After the first two sets, I went up to the balcony. There was a silent
auction in the poster room. All proceeds from ticket sales and the silent
auctions were going to youth projects in San Francisco, via the Bill
Graham Foundation. One of the show announcers near the begiining said that
there was a $4,000 maximum donation per youth group. (my guess would be he
said that so we'd know the foundation was trying to help as many kids as
possible rather than favor just one or two groups of kids.)

I found some friends of mine in the "public" area that overlooks the
stage. I had a seat, but we were back against the wall so we couldn't see
the stage. Instead we had excellent sound, and I was able to sit back and
"people watch."

Jackson Browne was hanging out right in front of me for the longest time,
chatting with people and letting them take pictures with him. Carlos
Santana came out, too - but he hung out near the door. And other
performers, too, were wandering back and forth from the "guests of the
band" area. It was just a very relaxed, very "good vibe" kind of night.

In fact, I think Jackson and Carlos each came out to visit with people
they knew, and no one really approached them for an autograph or anything.
I think the photo-taking and autograph-signing I saw were the result of
Jackson Browne specifically coming out to see some old friends who'd
travelled a great distance for the show, and they introduced him to some
friends of theirs. Then photos were taken, and something (a CD cover?) was
autographed. Everyone involved was all smiles, including Jackson. Carlos
just chatted with people - either old friends, or he made them feel like
they were old friends.

The dominant conversation of the night was "memories of Bill Graham" in
all its varied forms. May he always be remembered.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Redemption
    ... himself, noticed a rift between his two friends, why did he exacerbate ... What I see is that Bill brought two of his friends ... So let me get this straight - are you saying that if Bill ... One is a self-serving fake apology and one is ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: Redemption
    ... himself, noticed a rift between his two friends, why did he exacerbate ... adam since it was soley his deal with the land lady that was not ... What I see is that Bill brought two of his friends ... One is a self-serving fake apology and one is ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: The real Woodstock (for what its worth)
    ... Tha Preacha Bill wrote: ... He wanted me to betray one of my oldest and best friends and was ... I told him I do not play friends like that. ... Ya can't becuz you got it perfectly clear.... ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • Re: woodstock is a con artist
    ... Tha Preacha Bill wrote: ... Woodstock is going off of unfounded rumors against Rabbit.... ... disaster of having accepted rent money from whiterabbit. ... over 80% of his friends here.... ...
    (alt.gathering.rainbow)
  • OT: Lieberman & Graham threaten shut down congress
    ... "Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham ... "We're not going to do any more business in the Senate," Graham said, ... The duo's bill, which would allow the Pentagon to exempt Bush-era ... photos that they said would serve as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida ...
    (rec.boats)
Loading