MAG Events Calendar
Psychedelic Concert: Big Brother & The Holding Company
Memorial Art Gallery M&T Bank Ballroom
Sunday, October 17, 2010
8:00 PM
Big Brother & The Holding Company are: Peter Albin, Sam Andrew, and Dave Getz as well as Mary Bridget Davies and Ben Neives of "Love Janis."
Evolving out of the San Francisco rock scene of the 1960s, Big
Brother was in the forefront of the psychedelic music movement. The band
was formed by Albin, Andrew, James Gurley and Chuck Jones in San
Francisco, in a Victorian mansion/boarding house owned by Peter's uncle
at 1090 Page Street in the Haight-Ashbury. That house became the site
of Wednesday night jam sessions which were organized by Chet Helms who
was the real "Big Brother," naming the band, bringing James Gurley into
the fold and later seeing that his old friend Janis Joplin came to sing
with them.
The first official Big Brother gig was at the Open Theater in Berkeley, January 1966. Within a short time they became the house band for Chet at the Avalon Ballroom and began to develop a loyal following, largely due to the charismatic, pioneering guitarwork of James Gurley. The band had what Sam Andrew called a "progressive-regressive hurricane blues style," playing such tunes as "Hall of the Mountain King," "Coo Coo," "That's How Strong My Love Is" and "Down On Me."
Tickets are $30 in advance, available at MAG and at
The Bop Shop (Village Gate); $40 at the door. Ticket price includes admission to the Gallery (open from 6–7:30 pm); complimentary vodka tasting from ZYR Vodka. Max at the Gallery will offer a cash bar and be open for dinner.
