When Bill Graham Told Moby Grape ‘All You Guys Need Is Coffins’ at Fillmore East

Celebrating New York’s ‘Church of Rock and Roll’ on the Anniversary of Its Closing

Fillmore East, 1971. © Jeff Rothstein

New York’s Fillmore East, called “The Church of Rock and Roll,” ended its run of presenting rock royalty in the East Village on June 27, 1971. Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, The Who, B.B. King, Elton John and Tina Turner were some of the stars who appeared. Impresario Bill Graham opened Fillmore East on March 8, 1968 with Janis Joplin fronting Big Brother & the Holding Company, bluesman Albert King, and folk singer Tim Buckley.

Janis Jopin at Fillmore East, March 8, 1968. © Frank Mastropolo

Graham staged three nights of shows beginning June 25 with King and two of his favorite bands: the Allman Brothers Band and the J. Geils Band. Country Joe McDonald, Edgar Winter’s White Trash, Mountain and the Beach Boys joined on the final night.

Moby Grape regularly appeared at Fillmore East and was one of the great underrated San Francisco bands of the 1960s. The Grape appeared on June 18–19, 1971, days before Fillmore East closed its doors for good. Here guitarist Jerry Miller talks about the band’s “worst night.”

Jerry Miller: Bill Graham was the bottom line, the man. He just knew how to put things together, he was there at the right time, and he ran the show. He made sure everything happened on time. Bill ran a tight ship, man, and he got everything right.

Bill was fair. He had a kind of personality, you didn’t want to mess up with him. Because he would snap at you. He would have made a good foreman or something. You’d have got the job done.

Bill Graham outside Fillmore East. Dr. Arlene Q. Allen

One of the main things I remember was Bill out in front of the Fillmore and it was a night you had the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Moby Grape playing two sets each and this guy’s out in front bitching and moaning that three dollars is too much. And Bill is saying, “That’s a fair price!” They’re out there ready to roll out the knuckle drill. And they’re arguing back and forth and I’m laughing.

One night we played, we went out there, it was the last time we played there, of course, because we had this idea we were going to go out and sit down and play. And Bill Graham said, “All right, all you guys need is coffins.” I said, “Oh, man.”

We always had these goofy ideas. But I didn’t think it was such a great idea. We were doing new stuff, kind of alternative stuff, trying something, and it was deader than McKinley’s prick, let me say that. But it was just different. The alternative guys, the ones that were just comin’ in, they were playing anti-music. They thought we were the heroes of all time. Because we were half in tune. It wasn’t our best night, I’ll admit that.

That night was something else. I had friends out there and they were laughin’. We finally got up and kicked some ass. But we started off sitting down.

That night too, the Grape were late comin’ in from Boston. I was there on time, way on time, like I always was. They came in a little bit late. Bill Graham was not pleased about that. He didn’t like that at all.

We finally got out there on time but on time isn’t good enough. Bill wanted you there early. They came in right at the last minute and you can’t blame them too much because they drove through a snowstorm. We were comin’ down from Augusta, Maine and then it was a blizzard when we got to Boston.

Skip Spence at Fillmore East. © Frank Mastropolo

Skippy [Skip Spence] and the boys were in a different car and Skippy came flyin’ by us at about eighty in the ice and snow. He was drivin’. I was glad I wasn’t in that car. But somehow, they probably stopped for dinner or something. I was sittin’ there and Bill was saying, “Where are they?” He says, “I’m gonna sue you sons of bitches.” “OK,” I said, “but Bill, goldang it, I’m here.” He says, “Yeah, Jerry, I know it’s not your goddamn fault.” I say, “Yeah, it’s my fault for sometimes puttin’ up with this monkey business.”

Peter Lewis and Bob Mosley at Fillmore East. © Frank Mastropolo

And then, when we went on stage and sat down, he ‘bout had a shit fit. [Bob] Mosley was havin’ an attitude. Mosley, sometimes he’d get an attitude. And he’d start playin’ in a different key than we were. And you know, this sounds a little bit sour. He had a pretty good set of ears on him. I said, “What the hell is that?”

Bill liked me but he hated the Grape. He thought that was the biggest batch of adult delinquents he had ever seen. It was just not our best night. Matter of fact, it was probably our worst night.

Frank Mastropolo is the author of Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever.

[embed]