Bob Dylan's connection to promoter Bill Graham

Wolodia Grajonca was born January 8, 1931. As Bill Graham, he was known as a rock concert promoter, and was involved in  everything from The Fillmore Auditoriums to The Last Waltz and Live Aid.

Bob Dylan and Graham worked together various times in the 1970s and 1980s. However, the first documented interaction between the two was at an earlier press conference televised on PBS.

On December 3, 1965, Bob Dylan gave a press conference at WQED studios in San Francisco.  Among those in attendance were critics Ralph Gleason, Phil Elwood, Robert Shelton, and Jonathan Cott; concert producer Mary Ann Pollar; photographer Jim Marshall; poets Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Allen Ginsberg; members of comedy troupe The Committee; and a young promoter named Bill Graham. 

According to his autobiography, Bill Graham Presents, Graham snuck in through a side door, and started placing handbills for a concert on every seat. Danny Weiner, who worked for Dylan, asked what they were up to. Graham stopped while Weiner spoke to Dylan, and, luckily for Bill, Dylan said it was OK. Graham then asked Dylan to hold up a large placard advertising the concert during the press conference.

At the conference, Graham was able to say to Dylan, "Going back to what you said a minute ago, about not really being concerned, not really knowing, why you are in the midst of this popularity. That's in direct opposition to what most people who reach this popularity say, and I . . . "

Dylan interrupted and, unlike some of the other questions, took this one seriously, answering that "A lot of people start out to try to be stars, I would imagine .  ..This had nothing to do with it when I started. . .  "

Graham continued, stating that he agreed with Dylan's right not to care, then said that people might be disappointed if they knew Dylan didn't feel the same way about his fans as they do about him, and that was the reason for Dylan's popularity.

"No," Dylan answered for humorous effect. "I don't want to disappoint anybody  . .. Tell me what I should say !" 

This prompted someone (Gleason?) to direct Dylan's attention to the placard for the concert Graham was promoting. The show took place at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium one week after the press conference, and was to feature the Jefferson Airplane and the Great Society (with Grace Slick), among others, and benefited the S.F. Mime Troupe. After reading the information for the press, Dylan said, "I would like to go if I could, but unfortunately I won't be here, I don't think.". The press conference is available on DVD under the title, Dylan Speaks: The Legendary 1965 Press Conference in San Francisco .

When Dylan went on the road with the Band in 1974, Bill Graham organized the entire 40 date national tour. It was the first  of its kind, where one organization arranged the bookings for an entire tour. Graham would be working for Dylan, so that Dylan would get more money. Graham would also rent the plane and take care of just about everything else.

For the tour, Graham arranged for other people to take care of the day-to-day responsibilities, and to respect Dylan's privacy. This worked just a little too well. Just a few dates into the tour, Dylan knocked on Graham's hotel door at midnight and, according to the promoter's autobiography, Bob asked, "Bill, why isn't anybody talking to me?"

On the final date on the tour, Dylan brought out Graham and said, "We're gonna do one more, but before we do, we need to bring out the man  . . . he brings us to you, Mr. Bill Graham - You know him ! " Graham was brought on stage, then soaked with soda. After the tour, Graham told Rolling Stone, "It'll be hard going out on another tour. I can tell you 9000 stories how great it was."

Graham worked on-and-off with Dylan over the next decade or so, with too many shows to list here. Some examples:

When Graham organized the S.N.A.C.K. benefit in 1975, Dylan was a surprise guest, performing with Neil Young and members of the Stray Gators and the Band.

In 1976, for the Last Waltz, Dylan was being his usual, idiosyncratic self. Warner Brothers was doing the film because Dylan was in it. It's been well documented that, at intermission, Dylan changed his mind and refused to be filmed. It was decided that Graham would speak with Dylan, and, eventually, it was agreed that only Dylan's last two songs could be filmed. 

Graham would later promote Dylan's 1984 European tour. For the Slane Castle concert, Graham spoke to Bono, Van Morrison, and Dylan individually, and said to each performer that the others would like play with Dylan, which lead to a once-in-a-lifetime live collaboration.

The American portion of Live Aid was organized by Graham. Again, according to his autobiography, Graham was asking many acts, to shorten their sets. Dylan, however, refused. Originally, Dylan was to close the show, not Lionel Ritchie, who lead an all-star version of "We Are The World".

"I minded the song," Graham said. "Certain songs are like postage stamps . . . Everybody could have sung ('Blowin' In The Wind'). I felt that using 'We Are the World' was a retread."

Bill Graham died in a helicopter crash on October 25, 1991.

At the memorial concert, Neil Young, backed by The Grateful Dead, played Dylan's "Forever Young."

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