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This blogger, Richard Gehr, is not an employee of AARP. The opinions expressed in the blog are not necessarily the opinions of AARP and AARP assumes no liability for the content posted by Mr. Gehr or any other participant

Richard Gehr | October 12, 2007

1 Comments

My current Wolfgang's Concert Vault playlist consists of a 1966 Jefferson Airplane jam at San Francisco's Fillmore Ballroom, blues guitarist Rory Gallagher performing "Do You Read Me" at New York's Bottom Line in 1978, the Kinks' celebration of "Alcohol" at Waterbury, Conn.'s Palace Theater in 1972, and the Allman Brothers Band—joined by guests Jerry Garcia and Boz Scaggs—unwinding a long, languid "Mountain Jam" at San Francisco's Cow Palace in 1973. I fashioned the playlist from four concerts added this week to the Vault, a.k.a. the Bill Graham Presents archive, which was purchased by Minnesota businessman William E. Sagan in 2003 for $6 million. Sagan is currently streaming 665 concerts produced by legendary promoter Bill Graham (born Wolfgang Grajonca) between 1965 and 2002 via the Vault, with more being added on a regular basis. Many of these concerts can also be purchased as downloads.

This could all be a temporary arrangement, however. Several of the musicians whose performances and images are on sale at the Vault—including Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, and the Doors—filed a federal lawsuit in December accusing Sagan of copyright infringement and bootlegging, among other charges. As the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir told the San Francisco Chronicle, "We have never given permission for our images and material to be used in this way." Sagan's attorney, however, insists that the rights "were acquired in a series of transactions and can't be challenged." Graham's employees, who purchased his company following Graham's death in a 1991 helicopter accident, sold it to SFX Entertainment in 1998. In 2000, SFX was acquired by Clear Channel Communications. Clear Channel subsequently sold Graham's archive to Sagan with the caveat, according to former Bill Graham Presents president Greg Perloff, that much of the licensing was incomplete. Just how incomplete will eventually be determined in court. Until then...

Comments

Mike Starcke says:

Hello.

I talked to Bill Sagan a few years ago
and they were in the process of restoring
the WHO Tanglewood 1970 concert.Is there
a chance we will see this on DVD oneday?

Cheers,
Mike

11/05/07 07:32 AM

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