06.27.06
“Will the circle be unbroken? By and by Lord, by and by, There’s a better home a-waiting, in the sky, Lord, in the sky…” Words: Ada R. Habershon, Music: Charles H. Gabriel
One of my favorite shows I saw while in the Bay area was a Bill Graham fund raiser for San Francisco schools. It was called SNACK Sunday (Students Need Activities Care and Kicks). The proceeds were meant to go toward a shortfall in San Francisco’s education budget for music, art, and sports, but the school board announced a day before the concert that it had “found” the necessary $2 million. It was an unbelievable and very bizarre line-up and went on all day long, from morning until night. Graham Central Station opened. “You know how hard it is to be funky at 10:30 Sunday mornin’?” Sly and the Family Stone, Neil Young then Dylan with (most of) The Band, Santana, Tower of Power, Starship, Earth, Wind and Fire, Tower of Power, Doobie Brothers, Santana, Joan Baez and more; billed as Jerry Garcia and friends, the Dead indeed showed up with Merle, Ned and Keith on keys. There was lots of mingling and jamming onstage and the show went on and on. What an amazing day! Some of the special guests between bands were Marlon Brando and Willie Mays. Willie Mays came out and said, “I’m Willie Mays and I think what you people are doin’ is great!” Bob Dylan closed the show with Neil Young, Rick Danko, Levon Helm and others. They did “Knockin’ on Heavens Door”, then got everyone who was left there on stage and tried to do “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” though no one could remember the words. After the first opening chorus, they all looked at each other to sing a verse, realized that it wasn’t happening, so they just did the chorus over and over again with great harmonies and instrumental leads in between. Tickets were $5.50 At the end of the show, we all just took over the streets around Golden Gate Park.