Live at the Fillmore East and West

Getting Backstage and Personal with Rock's Greatest Legends

By: John Glatt

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

In 1968, rock promoter Bill Graham launched the Fillmore East in New York City and the Fillmore West in San Francisco, changing music forever. For three years, every major rock band played the Fillmores, performing legendary shows: Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Cream, the Allman Brothers, and many more. John Glatt tells the story of the Fillmores through the lives of Bill Graham, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Carlos Santana, and an all-star supporting cast. Chronicling the East and West Coast cultures of the late 1960s and early 1970s - New York City with its speed, heroin, and the Velvet Underground versus San Francisco with the LSD-drenched Summer of Love - Glatt reveals how Graham made it all possible. But why did Graham shutter both Fillmores within weeks of each other in 1971, during the height of their popularity? Live at the Fillmore East and West reveals how Graham's claim that "the flowers wilted and the scene changed" was not quite the whole story.

©2014 John Glatt (P)2014 Tantor

Good

Too many names mispronounced. Palo Alto is NOT in Marin. Dumb errors. Winter land was not a ballroom

Pretty Good Book

You have to keep in mind, this is in 60's & 70's. Boring then good. All you hear about is freaking, Jefferson Airplane... ugghh. I don't care for their music... but they were hugely successful then. You hear very little about Hendrix. But the stuff about, Bill Graham was good. Shows how money, can change you...for the worse. The narrator was okay. Sometimes it could get nerve racking. But then again, this was a different time. Too bad both venues are gone now. A lot musical history there.

An amazing era in music

When I think of the Fillmore East I think about that great Allman Brothers album recorded there. On some Facebook groups I see often see photos of the place with so many great names on the Marquee. I knew it was small compared to places I saw big rock bands in the 70s. I always wondered why we don’t see great bands at smaller venues. This book answered that question. It was an era before Rock got so big. After Woodstock bands saw how big their potential audience could be. They made more from one show than a weekend of four shows at Fillmore. Who can blame them. The Fillmore E and W are such an important part of rock music history and sadly this era is gone forever as is rock and roll I’m sad to say. I loved this book and recommend it to any fan of the music.

Interesting stories about Rock and Roll

Loved the details and depth about Graham, Grace Slick, Janis Joplin and Santana. The narrator's voice does not suit the material, my only complaint.

Great inside look at the beginning and the end of an era

Great look at 60's Rock which was started with the flower power philosophy and fueled by passion and drugs, then ultimately poisoned by fame and more drugs. Fascinating and informative. A great look a Rock history and an era that can never be duplicated.