Featured | News

Bill’s 89th Birthday Bash with Los Lobos

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Tickets on sale Friday, October 25, 2019 at 10am

The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation Presents
Bill’s 89th Birthday Bash

LOS LOBOS
with DJ Harry Duncan

Silent Auction, birthday cake, and good company

Events | Featured

Find Yourself in Find Yourself in the Group Photo 2026 Bill’s Bash
ByBGMF January 22, 2026January 22, 2026

Click to open a page with three large group photos; you can zoom in to find yourself.

Read More Find Yourself in Find Yourself in the Group Photo 2026 Bill’s Bash
Featured | News

The Closing of Winterland
ByBGMF November 4, 2024November 4, 2024

The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation is happy to have partnered with Live Nation and the Four Star Theatre in San Francisco for their film series connected to “Fall At the Fillmore”. BGMF is the charity recipient of the proceeds and the last film in the series, “The Closing of Winterland” will show on Monday November…

Read More The Closing of Winterland
Featured | News

Rita Gentry’s “Before I Forget” released
ByBGMF November 28, 2022November 28, 2022

We are delighted to share the news that Rita Gentry’s long-awaited book, Before I Forget, is here at last!
Rita will reportedly be in attendance with books to sign at the upcoming BFMF reunion.

Read More Rita Gentry’s “Before I Forget” released
News

Rock & roll at Holocaust Museum? Life of legendary concert promoter Bill Graham makes it happen
ByBGMF August 1, 2018September 4, 2018

From The Jewish Press of Pinellas County The Florida Holocaust Museum’s upcoming exhibit will intersect the Holocaust with the rock & roll explosion that ignited in the 1960s. Opening in St. Petersburg in August, “Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution” is the first exhibition to explore the extraordinary life of renowned concert impresario Bill…

Read More Rock & roll at Holocaust Museum? Life of legendary concert promoter Bill Graham makes it happen
Featured | News | Press

NYHS Bill Graham Exhibit: Reviews are in!
ByBGMF February 19, 2020February 24, 2020

The BGMF contingent at the corner in NYC where the Fillmore was – the street has been renamed “Bill Graham Way” – in town for the opening of Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution.

From left to right: Cynthia Parsons, Danny Scher, Rita Gentry, Susy Barsotti, Arlene Owseichik, Bonnie Simmons, Bob Barsotti, James Olness, Jerry Pompili

Photo taken by a nice passerby on Jerry’s iPhone

Read More NYHS Bill Graham Exhibit: Reviews are in!
News

“Grammy Salute to Music Legends” Special includes tribute to Bill Graham
ByBGMF July 9, 2018August 1, 2018

RECORDING ACADEMY™ TO HONOR 2018 SPECIAL MERIT AWARDS RECIPIENTS WITH “GRAMMY SALUTE TO MUSIC LEGENDS®” TELEVISION SPECIAL AS PART OF “GREAT PERFORMANCES” SERIES ON PBS NEIL DIAMOND, EMMYLOU HARRIS, QUEEN, TINA TURNER, AND OTHERS TO BE HONORED AT THIRD ANNUAL AWARDS AND TRIBUTE CONCERT SANTA MONICA, CALIF. (June 12, 2018) — The Recording Academy™ will…

Read More “Grammy Salute to Music Legends” Special includes tribute to Bill Graham

Nelson Mandela for a Free South Africa 1990

After his release from prison in February of 1990, Nelson Mandela traveled extensively, making several trips to the United States. He came to the Bay Area in June 1990, where he was honored at a sold-out concert at the Oakland Coliseum.

For Bill Graham, it was important that the show reflected the supporters of Mandela and the makeup of the greater Bay Area. During a press conference Bill said that he felt strongly about what the Bay Area stands for having been the home of the free speech movement and so supportive of the labor movement, and that recognition should be given to those factors. In addition to that “the music at the event must be roots music that emanated from Africa extending into gospel and jazz and blues and r&b.”

Ticket prices were kept to $5.00 to make the event available to as many as possible and performers included Zulu Spear, John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt, the Oakland-based Vukani Mawethu Choir, Baba Olatunji and Mickey Hart, Tramaine Hawkins, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia, Gospel Hummingbirds, John Lee Hooker, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, John Santos, Kotoja, as well as Bay Area drum and dance troupes.

At the event, acknowledging the Bay Area’s role as a U.S. center of activism against apartheid, Mandela told the crowd: “You must remember that you are our blood brothers and sisters. You are our comrades in the struggle. Remember that we respect you, we admire you and, above all, we love you. ‘We are at a crucial historical juncture,” he told a cheering crowd of 58,000 people, ”We shall not turn back. Despite my 71 years, at the end of this visit I feel like a young man of 35. I feel like an old battery that has been recharged. And if I feel so young, it is the people of the United States of America that are responsible for this.”

Line up for the Nelson Mandela 1990 concert

OUR BOYS STEEL ORCHESTRA
OPENING INVOCATION AND MASSED DRUM PROCESSION FEATURING: BABA OLATUNJI / MICKEY HART / LADZEKPO BROTHERS / MANDELEO INSTITUTE / JONI HAASTRUP / JOSE LORENZO WITH BATUCAJE I MICHAEL PLUZNICK / MOTHERSTONE / HINTIL KUU KA POMO CHILDREN DANCERS / PLUS BAY AREA DRUM AND DANCE TROUPES / WITH SPECIAL GUESTS JERRY GARCIA AND BOB WEIR
TRAMAINE HAWKINS
THE CAST OF SARAFINA
GOSPEL HUMMINGBIRDS
JOHN LEE HOOKER WITH BONNIE RAITT
BAY AREA JAZZ ALL-STARS WITH: FAVE CAROL / JOHN HANDY / BOBBY HUTCHERSON / ED KELLY/ TROY LAMPKIN / PHAROAH SANDERS / E.W. WAINWRIGHT
OAKLAND INTERFAITH GOSPEL CHOIR
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
MACHETE ENSEMBLE FEATURING: DAVID BELOVE / JOHN CALLOWAY / BILL ORTIZ / JOHN SANTOS / WAYNE WALLACE
BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS
ZULU SPEAR
KOTOJA
VUKANI MAWETHU
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MASS CHOIR

Audio: Bill Graham at the Press conference for the Nelson Mandela event

Bill’s 89th Birthday Bash with Los Lobos

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Tickets on sale Friday, October 25, 2019 at 10am

Find Yourself in Find Yourself in the Group Photo 2026 Bill’s Bash

The Closing of Winterland

Rita Gentry’s “Before I Forget” released

Rock & roll at Holocaust Museum? Life of legendary concert promoter Bill Graham makes it happen

NYHS Bill Graham Exhibit: Reviews are in!

“Grammy Salute to Music Legends” Special includes tribute to Bill Graham

Info for Grant Seekers

Events & News

Photo Credits

Line up for the Nelson Mandela 1990 concert

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Tickets on sale Friday, October 25, 2019 at 10am

Similar Posts

Info for Grant Seekers

Events & News

Photo Credits

Amnesty International Human Rights Now! 1988

In Concert Against AIDS 1989

Earthquake Relief Benefit 1989

Nelson Mandela for a Free South Africa 1990

Line up for the Nelson Mandela 1990 concert