Rock & roll can never die.

PositionEntertainment - "Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution" exhibition

"Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution" presents the first comprehensive retrospective about the life and career of the legendary rock impresario. Recognized as one of the most influential concert promoters in history, Graham (1931-91) played a pivotal role in the careers of many iconic artists, including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Fleetwood Mac, the Who, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones. He conceived of rock and roll as a powerful force for supporting humanitarian causes and was instrumental in the production of milestone benefit concerts such as Live Aid (1985) and Human Rights Now! (1988).

The exhibition illuminates how his childhood experiences as a Jewish emigrant from Nazi Germany fueled his drive and ingenuity as a cultural innovator and advocate for social justice. Born in Berlin, Graham immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 10 as part of a Red Cross effort to help Jewish children fleeing the Nazis. He went to live with a foster family in the Bronx and spent his teenage years in New York City before being drafted to fight in the Korean War.

In the early 1960s, he relocated to California just as the counterculture was gathering steam, and became the business manager for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, a radical theater company that performed for free in parks.

Graham mounted his first concert, a benefit to support the legal defense of one of the Mime Troupe's actors, featuring an eclectic mix of performers, including the Fugs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Jefferson Airplane. It was a transformative moment: Graham had discovered his calling. He soon took over the lease on San Francisco's famed Fillmore Auditorium, where he produced groundbreaking shows throughout the 1960s--including sold-out concerts by the Grateful Dead, Cream, Big Brother & the Holding Company, and the Doors before going on to present pivotal shows by Jimi Hendrix; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Bob Dylan; and The Band at his venues in San Francisco and New York. Graham's mastery at promoting, marketing, and managing artists propelled him to become one of rock and roll's most influential figures.

"Graham entered the music scene at a pivotal moment and harnessed the spirit of the 1960s, marked by the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement," says Josh Perelman...

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