tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post4031525489405559688..comments2024-03-26T23:10:34.814-07:00Comments on Grateful Dead Sources: October 4, 1970: Winterland BallroomLight Into Asheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-50024144595565327062018-03-23T17:46:16.815-07:002018-03-23T17:46:16.815-07:00Kathy Orloff had also written an article on the Je...Kathy Orloff had also written an article on the Jefferson Airplane back in August 1969, worth quoting: <br /><br />"Jefferson Airplane has always been one of my special favorites as far as groups go. I have been excited by their successes and managed to forgive them their failures. It has all been worthwhile, and their best is yet to come. <br />The Airplane's newest RCA LP, tentatively titled "Volunteers of America," is down to the final mix and polish at RCA's Los Angeles studios. I happened into a session last week and the cuts that I heard just about knocked me down. It's Jefferson Airplane, all right, but you've never heard them like this. <br />The music is far more melodic, far more meaningful and far richer than any of their previous attempts. I would hate to have to pick out a single from the lot. They're all equally great. The tone of the album tends away from [Baxter's] and toward the more consistent rhythms that got San Francisco off its rear end and dancing. [ . . . ] <br />Even though the Airplane is mixing their album in L.A., it was recorded in San Francisco. The group refuses to believe that L.A. is the musical capital of the country, as many record company executives would like to believe. It may be where the machines are, but it's not "where it's happening." "There's nothing happening in L.A.," says Paul. "Everyone's like a zombie. There's no together." But he doesn't foresee a huge shift in recording from L.A. to the North." <br />She also recommends Ralph Gleason's book "Jefferson Airplane and the San Francisco Sound": "despite some flaws and superficialities...a valuable little documentary... It is perhaps very instructive that the book was written around the Airplane. Their comments and feelings on what has happened and what is going on in San Francisco may do a great deal to explain why the climate cannot be re-created elsewhere." Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-14316433182654508782018-03-23T17:30:28.416-07:002018-03-23T17:30:28.416-07:00Orloff managed to write two articles around these ...Orloff managed to write two articles around these shows, each with a different focus (the ballroom & the SF bands). The second article struck me as a rush job, with so little said about the show and some sentences randomly thrown together in haste without much connection. (A reader would think that the Dead played acoustic stuff at the show, and this article doesn't even indicate that any other bands played.) <br />I took the article from the Honolulu paper because that was the longest copy - the other newspapers that printed the article usually edited out two or three paragraphs.<br /><br />The brief Cash Box piece also calls this "the opening of Winterland," which was misleading since Graham had used the venue much more than "on occasion" (though his rock-show bookings there had been somewhat off & on and irregular). But it shows this wasn't just Orloff's error. My guess is that's how the shows were advertised, with Baratta staking a claim on Winterland as a new rock ballroom. From 1971 onwards, after the Fillmore West closed, Graham would stage rock shows in Winterland much more frequently. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5195590583641426943.post-22747524099447690142018-03-23T16:46:28.867-07:002018-03-23T16:46:28.867-07:00Kathy Orloff wrote a syndicated column called &quo...Kathy Orloff wrote a syndicated column called "The Now Sound" - she was based in Los Angeles, writing profiles of various rock artists from 1969-71, and her articles were widely printed in papers around the country. <br />This is very much an outsider's report on the San Francisco scene - it's funny that, although she primarily wrote about Los Angeles acts, here she presents LA audiences as musically impoverished philistines compared to their northern SF counterparts. <br /><br />She's also mistaken about this being "the opening of a new rock ballroom" - Bill Graham had been presenting shows in Winterland since 1966. He'd stopped putting on rock shows there in April 1970, though, and Paul Baratta took over for several months in late 1970; these were Baratta's first Winterland shows. <br />Billboard ran a report on the San Francisco music scene in its 11/14/70 issue ("San Francisco Revisited," by George Knemeyer) with some more background: <br />"Bill Graham...is battling his former helper, Paul Baratta, now promoting concerts at Winterland... 'I broke with Bill because of a growing disenchantment. We just went our separate ways,' says Baratta. 'Winterland was going to waste, and the owner called me and said they were going to do rock shows and wanted to know if I was interested in helping them...' Baratta doesn't speak bitterly of Graham, although he does think the Fillmore West head was foolish not to have taken Winterland. Graham had a lease on the building for first options on rock shows, but finally let this expire, paving the way for weekly shows at Winterland." <br />John Glatt's book Live at the Fillmore reports: "Paul Baratta staged a coup for Winterland...as Graham had failed to pay his $60,000 guarantee. The owners decided to back Baratta, giving him sole rights to stage all future Winterland concerts. Baratta immediately signed Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead for his first show there... <br />'I think Bill's in for a fight,' Baratta told Rolling Stone, vowing to become the number-one promoter in San Francisco. 'Graham has never had any real competition. I know how to package a show as well as Bill. Winterland is the biggest hall in town and I know the market well enough to put the shows together so the people will come to see them.'"<br />But after some backstage maneuverings, Graham ended up taking back Winterland only a couple months later, as the 1/9/71 Billboard reported: <br />"Bill Graham has taken over Winterland as its concert promoter. Paul Baratta, a former Graham employee, had booked the large facility since Oct. 4. Graham's first bill is New Year's Eve... <br />Graham is still operating the Fillmore here, but has announced plans to close it and get into other areas of show business. <br />Graham's contract for the exclusive use of Winterland covers all rock shows in 1971 with two one-year options. The only exception is when the Ice Follies moves into the building [during the summer months]. <br />Winterland is operated by Medicor, a Minneapolis-based firm. Graham acts as an independent promoter with a straight rental agreement for the building." <br /><br />Anyway, Orloff doesn't say much about the show - in fact, no observations on the sets except for the Dead's, since she only intends a brief overview of the San Francisco Sound. <br />These shows marked a turning point for a couple bands - Quicksilver didn't break up, but John Cipollina left the band; and Papa John Creach played with Jefferson Airplane for the first time, while Marty Balin threatened to quit. Light Into Asheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06943335142002007213noreply@blogger.com