Photo Credit: Baron Wolman

Editors' Notes

Jim Morrison performing in 1967 at Winterland in San Francisco.

Photo Credit: Marcia Sult Godinez

Editors' Notes

Bill Graham at home with son Alex.

Photo Credit: Ken Friedman

Editors' Notes

Prince and the Revolution perform at the Cow Palace in 1985.

Photo Credit: Baron Wolman

Editors' Notes

Jimi Hendrix performs at the Fillmore Auditorium in 1968.

Photo Credit: Ken Friedman

Editors' Notes

Bill Graham between takes during the filming of A '60s Reunion with Bill Graham: A Night at the Fillmore.

Photo Credit: Ken Friedman

Editors' Notes

Nelson Mandela at a 1990 International Tribute for a Free South Africa.

Photo Credit: Ken Friedman

Editors' Notes

Eric Clapton performs at Shoreline Amphitheater.

Photo Credit: Lynn Goldsmith

Editors' Notes

Bill Graham motions from backstage as Tina Turner and Mick Jagger perform at Live Aid.

Photo Credit: John Olson

Editors' Notes

Rock promoter Bill Graham onstage before the final concert at the Fillmore East.

Photo CreditL Robert Altman

Editors' Notes

Bo Diddley at the Fillmore Auditorium in 1970.

Photo Credit: Ken Friedman

Editors' Notes

Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders performs at Live Aid.

Photo Credit: Ken Friedman

Editors' Notes

U2 performs a free concert at the Justin Herman Plaza in 1987.

Photo Credit: Robert Wedemeyer

Editors' Notes

A Fender Stratocaster fragment smashed by Jimi Hendrix at his Royal Albert Hall performance.

Photo Credit: Robert Wedemeyer

Editors' Notes

Boots worn by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones during the 1981 Tattoo You tour.

© 2015 Skirball Cultural Center

Editors' Notes

A exhibition poster by Bonnie MacLean for the new show.

The Apple watch may be the latest gadget to adorn wrists, but at the height of the counterculture, concert promoter Bill Graham had a timepiece with two faces created so that he always knew the time on both coasts. This artifact and countless others including Keith Richards’ boots and Jerry Garcia’s Wolf guitar are on display in Los Angeles at the Skirball Cultural Center‘s new Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution exhibition, that opens on Thursday, May 7. Graham needed the watch because he split each week between the Fillmore in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York, where he pioneered a new type of concert in the 1960s characterized by psychedelic light shows and artist-designed concert posters for such acts as the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Santana, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, and the Rolling Stones. Both clubs were wildly successful and eventually closed because Bill was exhausted and wanted to develop Winterland, a bigger venue in San Francisco, and to organize world concert tours for the Stones (among other acts). Work by poster artists Bonnie MacLean, Wes Wilson, David Singer, Greg Irons, and David Byrd as well as photography by Jim Marshall and the marketing genius of Graham are on display at the Skirball through October 11. And no show about Graham would be complete without a light show. So the question is: Are you experienced?

By Elizabeth Varnell

Pictured: Jim Morrison performing in 1967 at Winterland in San Francisco.
Photo By: Baron Wolman