Online radio for the elder generation

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/

Here's the story who Wolfgang is and where all these fabulous "live bootlegs" from the '60s and '70s come from... :wink:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2271915,00.html

This is a really interesting story. I expect there are peolpe here who can put numbers on it ...

The film collection was bought, relatively cheaply I think, off Billy Graham's estate. Well just few million anyway - I don't remember the name of the guy who bought it - but he had to beat Paul Allen to the deal.

Graham, it seems, had written into his impressario contracts the right to film all the various acts he put on stage - and of course he handled them all in the 60s and 70s. So when he died his estate was sitting on film of everyone who had ever been anyone in rock and beyond. Graham also horded tickets, programmes, t-shirts and just about anything to do with his shows.

They're not really bootlegs - I think the owner needs permission from the bands or their estates to relaease the material. He's got songs by some of major bands that have never been seen or heard before .

Mouthwatering

Wolfgang is Graham.

Having grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 70's, I was very familiar with Bill Graham Productions and the shows he put on.

In the summertime, he did concerts in the outdoor Oakland Coliseum stadium (where the Raiders and A's played) that were called a Day On the Green. They were all day affairs usually on a Saturday starting around 10am and going until 4 or 5pm. Some lineups he had on both Saturday and Sunday (Led Zep, Stones, etc)

The lineup for these shows were incredible. I was 16 or 17 at the time and went to just about every show (and the second show of some). Partial list of bands:

Led Zep (twice)
Rolling Stones (twice)
The Who (twice)
Peter Frampton
Jefferson Starship
Doobie Brothers
Allman Brothers
Robin Trower
J Geils Band
Greatful Dead
Steve Miller
Montrose
Pat Travers
Boz Scaggs
The Cars
Greg Khin
The Tubes
Eddie Money
Bob Seger
AC/DC

and many others that I've left off. Growing up musically speaking, I got to see some of the most influential bands of my generation and now looking back, I realize the role that Bill Graham played in bringing this experience to the public. He was one of the last big show promoters - The Fillmore East and West, The Cow Palace in San Francisco, Oakland Coliseum.

The things he must have left behind are undoubtedly priceless and I hope they make it to our ears or eyes some day.

The "Vault Radio" already plays them, but you need a DSL connection to listen, because they stream at 128 kbps MP3, otherwise you don't hear anything (like me) or only stuttering:

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/Static.aspx?Type=Audio/Radio.htm&CategoryID=RA&LeftNav=Audio/RadioNav.htm&nhbx=1

From there you can also leave and/or read some great feedback of people who have been there:

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/VRFeedback.aspx?LeftNav=Audio/RadioNav.htm

Also in the weblog of the site owner:

http://www1.wolfgangsvault.com/blog/CommentView.aspx?guid=__

The story of Bill Graham and his estate is also published on their site in five parts:

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/About.aspx
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/About.aspx?Type=lastdance.htm
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/About.aspx?Type=BillGraham.htm
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/About.aspx?Type=PosterArt.htm
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/About.aspx?Type=Performer.htm

I also hope that those live recordings from the Fillmore will be available on CD or DVD soon, e.g. Cream, Led Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, B.B. King... Interesting detail is that Jimmy Page is keen to dive into this archive since he compiled the Led Zeppelin history on DVD, and that the estate owner Bill Sagan was in London recently talking to some lawyers already.

Just found a passage on a ZZ Top related site which could be very interesting if Bill Graham has taped that well-known show, too:

http://www.famoustexans.com/zztop.htm

In an event that tried to be a rock-style Willie Nelson Picnic, the group was the featured headliner in the "Rompin' and Stompin' Barndance and Barbecue," held in Austin on Labor Day, September 1, 1974. Appearing with them before a crowd of 80,000 was San Francisco legend Bill Graham, Santana, Joe Cocker and Bad Company making its U.S. debut. This was ZZ Top's first concert in which they were seen as more than just a Texas act. It was the biggest concert in Austin's history, and the last to be held in Memorial Stadium on the University of Texas Campus for another twenty years. The stadium had been trashed by concert-goers, who had suffered from the heat and lack of food, water and toilets.

Click to expand...

I had heard of all the concerts in the Bay area, I was a couple yrs too young and half a country away, but always wanted to go. I just checked out the Wolfgangs radio site, Cool place, Thanks all. later...

10Gear