The Fillmore East and West - Book Review

Hi,
 
Thanks to JBow for making this visible to me. Excelletn read!
 
Some books are good at history. Some are good about the person, or subject. And others? it really is just like a nice psychedelic acid trip ... it's all over the place, and it is enjoyable as heck, and crazy, and insane and silly, and fun and amazing, all at the same time!
 
The Fillmore East and West, is really the story of Bill Graham and the book starts and pretty much ends with him. However, there really is not much to tell beyond these two incredibly historical venues for music and some of the things that went around it. For all intents and purposes this is the story of the Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Santana and Bill Graham, who pretty much dominate the whole book.
 
There is not a whole lot to discuss here, as the book comes off quite factual, and it should be mentioned that it appears that all the "creativity" was specifically centered around the psychedelic drugs, which eventually were over taken by cocaine, and other of the so-called elite drugs of choice, to an audience that could not only afford it, they could abuse it.
 
It has some hysterical moments (Leonard Cohen and Janis and many others) that we have a tendency to dismiss, but if there is one thing that is nice it is that the book is not afraid to mix and match the other folks in the other arts some, although not enough, and specially when some of the attraction for the "scene" was its VISUALNESS, not necessarily the music at first. It was pretty obvious that it was a nice, hip, fun place to go each evening, and the ambience and the music was excellent, never mind the rest that went with it sometimes.
 
I, personally, do not think it is fair to specify that the drugs, were what made the music and the scene. I was not even doing anything until I was 22 or later in Santa Barbara and that was 1972 and 1973, but I always had a very strong like of respect and care for things like "Ohio", when we were in Madison (not too far), and the school was also invaded by the National Guard and the ROTC, who used its strength and power to intentionally fondle all the girls and folks that were frisked on the way to the campus or the Rathskeller at the time! This was important stuff, and it would have meaning in your soul for the rest of your life ... but the dreams were already on the wane, when in the wake of "Woodstock", all that was left behind, was ... garbage! The film makes it clear, and on top of it, used the irony of Jimi Hendrix adding the National Anthem over it. We didn't give a poop anymore, and we just came here for a good time, and Bapu and Craig, and me and everyone else will continue to make jokes like it never mattered anyway. Not that this is more fun than "reality" that lives ... out there!
 
We get to see how intense Janis Joplin was, and ... above all ... never go to a Grateful Dead party, unless ... you want something else! It will be in the punch or apple juice, or water! And we especially learn about Carlos Santana's growing up, and how his music came around to be so huge.
 
Amidst all this, it was Bill Graham that gave many of these bands a shot ... and some started as 3rd bill, graduated to 2nd and then to headline a show. And by the end of it all, you had some of the biggest names ever in music, and in the West Coast it might be the Grateful Dead and the East Coast it became the Allman Brothers Band ... with Jefferson Airplane in between both.
 
Of all the books, this one is kinda ruthless. All of a sudden, the two or three books on Janis do not seem too far fetched, and the one by her girlfriend, much more so. The orgiastic nature of it all is open in this book, not literal, but you are told of it, where as a couple of the other books are more personal in this area and sometimes not fair ... as if that one moment was a life changer, and in general, it was just another evening, and no big deal, but all of a sudden, one moment becomes bigger than life itself, and I'm not sure that is the right thing to do, or express. But, if anything, it was obvious that some of these people had money by the bushel, and used it on their friends and what not, to have a "good time" ... and in the end, it was the death of Jimi, Janis and Jim that killed the whole "good time" thing, although the book and Bill think that Woodstock was the culprit. From that moment on, all anyone could see, as far as humanity, was dollar signs in each of those heads, picking up an album, or two as a memory, orf a pretty damn good show, that was made better by the film itself with its very innovative shooting style and cutting. There were just as many bands that did not do well, that were not on the album, or on the film!
 
Bill Graham, was a good promoter, and probably more responsible for a large variety of music, but sadly, his legacy will be for the drugs and the two crazy places that he ran and made his fortune on. His words on the whole story are clear, and he blames Woodstock for what became the greed, and the inability of many bands now to connect with their fans, which was happening in the smaller Fillmore places. There, it was communal. In the stadium, or Madison Square Garden, it was impersonal! It became a meat market of marketing just collecting dollars ... and to me this became very clear later in "Behind the Music", when someone told a member of Metallica that they "sold out" ... and the player immediately said ... yeah! Every night! You already know that there is no art here and it is just another show!
 
There are not many books that are soooooo .... emotional about the whole thing, where you feel a part of it -- and I could say that I was, although my not speaking the language was really bad for knowing what was going on early, but by 1968 and 1969 I had a pretty good idea of things, although both teh Fillmore's were beyond me, in Madison, but the music itself was already in my player. This is, a very special book, and in many ways it is ... an overload ... like so many things were in those days, from the music, to the sex to the drugs ... you name it!
 
Sadly, it all died, and was forgotten and no one remembers the arts that it created ... but the music and many of those bands, will likely never be forgotten! At least, not by me! The only thing that died for me was the hypocrisy, and my lack of respect for the many folks that abused the privilege by being fake and taking advantage of it all for their own designs. And I still know many school friends that were taken advantage of and then some!