Celebrate Bill Graham's 80th Birthday with Los Lobos and Jackie Greene at the Fillmore this Saturday -- It's For a Good Cause

By Ian S. Port Thu., Jan. 6 2011 at 8:31 AM

Categories: Show To Know

Jan Simmons

Bill Graham driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in 1983

There are a lot of good reasons to go see concerts -- music being generally foremost among them. But there's also the supporting of good causes through benefit shows, something that the legendary Bay Area concert promoter Bill Graham was well known for. Graham left an indelible mark on the Bay Area music scene in the years between the early '60s, when he came to San Francisco, and 1991, when he died in a helicopter accident leaving a Huey Lewis and the News concert at the Concord Pavilion. This Saturday, January, 8, would have been his 80th birthday -- and to celebrate, the Bill Graham Memorial Foundation is throwing quite a party at the Fillmore.

As you might expect, there's more to the night than just music. Graham's foundation focuses making grants in music, the arts, and education. But its mission also extends to environmental causes, social work, and what its website calls "compassionate politics."

This Saturday, you can to toast the man who helped make the Bay Area concert scene what it is while taking in sets from Los Lobos, Jackie Greene, and Poor Man's Whiskey -- all at one of the venues most inexorably linked to Graham and San Francisco music. All for a good cause, or several. Certainly there's a lot of reasons to show up to that one.

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