Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Rock on: Remembering Bill Graham's Fillmore East



The New-York Historical Society debuted a multimedia exhibit this past Friday on Bill Graham (1931–1991), the influential concert promoter.

"Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution," on display through Aug. 23, features a large section on the Fillmore East, which had a three-year run starting in 1968 at 105 Second Ave. at Sixth Street.

The sibling to Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco brought performers such as the Doors, B.B. King, Roberta Flack, the Byrds, the Grateful Dead, Taj Mahal, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Who to the East Village starting in March 1968.





105 Second Ave. opened in 1926 as a Yiddish theater, soon becoming the Loew’s Commodore movie house, followed by the Village Theater. In the 1980s it was the nightclub The Saint, becoming Emigrant Bank in 1995 and then Apple Bank in 2013...



The Times has a preview of the exhibit at this link. Frank Mastropolo, the author of the forthcoming book "Fillmore East: How One Venue Changed Rock Music Forever," has a preview piece here.

The New-York Historical Society is at 170 Central Park West at 77th Street.

Museum hours:

Tuesday - Thursday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Friday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Sunday: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

at

4 comments:

  1. Brian VanFebruary 19, 2020 at 12:36 PM

    wow that corner building got hit hard in those years

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2020 at 2:33 PM

    What a great period for music. Been there many times. You had the Electric Circus over on St Mark's place. Looking back, the Filmore was everything. 3 bands jamming along along the lightshow. Miss the music artist and my hair


    You

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2020 at 3:49 PM

    The Saint was amazing and legendary

    ReplyDelete
  4. Al CabalFebruary 19, 2020 at 10:16 PM

    We have seen the best of our times.

    ReplyDelete

Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.

However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.

If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.