Bill Graham Presents Black Metal

Back in The Day, Umlaut's old friend Toni Isabella worked for the legendary Bay Area promoter Bill Graham as the Booking Assistant for venues he operated. One of these venues was the Kabuki Theatre in San Francisco, which hosted many of the early and legendary Bay Area Metal shows including Metallica on the Ride The Lightning Tour, Mercyful Fate, the album release show for Exodus and their debut album Bonded By Blood, and many others. Another show Toni worked on was the April 12, 1985 show featuring Venom, Slayer, and Possessed:

Here in the 21st Century, Venom's logo seems tame compared to the more elaborate and unreadable logos created by today's Death Metal bands. However, back in those ancient times, a logo like Venom's was a very foreign thing... especially to a big time, legendary Rock & Roll promoter like Bill Graham.

When Graham saw the ad, he left Toni a post-it note that said:

"See me re: Venom".

When Toni went to see her boss he demanded that she explain (1) how anyone would know what band was playing because their logo was unreadable and (2) how did she expect them to sell any tickets to see this band called Venom if no one knew they were playing from the ad. After listening to her boss Toni replied with:

"The show is already sold out."

Upon hearing that her boss Bill Graham didn't have a problem with the ad.  Of course, the irony is that the band names on most of Bill Graham's old psychedelic Fillmore posters from the 60's are unreadable..

The End.

"Lay down your soul to The Gods' Rock & Roll... Black Metal.."

Bill Graham Presents

The somber sequel to Greensleeves.

In the course of typing the Greensleeves post, Umlaut found out that Bill Graham is buried literally 5 minutes from Casa de Umlaut; I basically drive past him every time I go to Target! For some reason, I thought Graham had been cremated and his ashes spread somewhere like Marin County or Hawaii... or maybe smoked out of a hookah by old Santana roadies.

Anyway, the Music Legend's final resting place was pretty easy to find at the Eternal Home Cemetery in Colma. Although I almost walked into his headstone because I didn't expect it to be right in front of me so quickly after exiting the Prius..





I was surprised that there was nothing music related carved into the headstone; no Steal Your Face... no song lyrics... nothing to commemorate what he did on Earth in the name of music. It also tripped me out that the Music Legend's grave is within yards of busy El Camino Real and just down the street from Target and Best Buy... with the constant sound of traffic acting as the soundtrack to his eternal slumber... although I suppose the traffic could also sound like the roar of a concert crowd if you close your eyes.. or are stoned enough.. I suppose.

Bill Graham with The Who - Oakland Stadium 1976

Bill Graham with Ronnie Van Zant - Oakland Stadium 1977

Bill Graham with Metallica - Oakland Stadium 1991

Yes, Umlaut likes cemeteries. Click HERE for some of his other visits with souls from the past..