Fillmore East

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Major rock 'n' roll venue from 1968 to1972

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A 1920s silent movie theater; later a Yiddish theater. From 1968-1972 promoter Bill Graham ran Filmore East, one of the premier rock venues of that time, featuring Janis Joplin, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, The Who, and John Lennon.

The Filmore East stands out in sharp relief. I saw Janis Joplin with her Southern Comfort, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors. Loren Hollander introduced electric concert piano with Nina Simone sitting behind me. At Filmore East you knew you were seeing people who were inventive. It had been an old playhouse for Yiddish theater (my roommate's mother had gone there). In the 1960s, Second Avenue was the border of the Village and the ghetto, Alphabet City. Astor Place was where the illegal artists lived. Filmore East was on the fringe!