‘I’m an Expert on Applause’: Backstage Battles at Fillmore East
Country Joe McDonald Remembers Impresario Bill Graham: Fillmore East Book Excerpt
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Bill Graham was born on January 8, 1931. The producer left an indelible mark on the rock music industry with his Fillmore East and West concert halls, eclectic show lineups, and mega-sized concerts he staged until his death in 1991 in a helicopter crash.
Country Joe McDonald was a mainstay of Graham’s San Francisco and New York City venues as the leader of Country Joe & the Fish and as a solo performer. McDonald was one of the musicians chosen by Graham for the star-studded closing of Fillmore East on June 27, 1971.
In this excerpt from Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever, McDonald recalls that Graham was famous for his mercurial temper.
Here McDonald describes what happened at Fillmore East after a September 1968 concert.
Country Joe McDonald: Bill never exploded with me because I called him on it when he would go into that act. He was an actor, he loved to be dramatic.
We were playing with Procol Harum and we were the headliner. I think Procol Harum went so fuckin’ long that we finally went on at, I don’t know, one in the morning or something. We didn’t finish ‘till like three in the morning. And needless to say, everybody was pretty exhausted.
We played our set and there was applause, then I walked off to the side of the stage. Our manager Ed Denson was there with Bill. And Bill had told them to turn on the lights to get the audience out.
Ed said, “Wait a minute, why don’t we get an encore?” And Bill said, “Because that wasn’t encore applause.” And Ed said, “Yes, it was encore applause.”
And they started having an argument about it and then Bill said, “I’m an expert on applause.” And I said, “Both of you guys are experts on bullshit.”
Frank Mastropolo is the author of Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever and 200 Greatest 60s Rock Songs.
