What You Didn't Know About Bluesman Albert King at Fillmore East

‘Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music’ Book Excerpt

Albert King at Fillmore EastPhoto byGrant Gouldon

Guitarist Larry Packer first performed at Fillmore East as a member of Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys. As a member of Sha Na Na, Packer performed a wild guitar solo on “Welcome to Fillmore East,” an all-star show recorded by PBS on Sept. 23, 1970. Other performers included the Byrds, the Allman Brothers, Van Morrison, and blues legend Albert King.

Larry Packer: I remember being backstage and seeing Bill Graham, and you know what his physicality was compared to Albert King’s physicality. Albert King is a big guy and Bill Graham definitely a tough little guy. I always had a feeling, and I was new to show business, but I learned from watching Bill Graham what it meant to give everybody what they needed to do their best performance and then it was on you. If you needed something for a valid reason, you needed it for a show, you had it.

Bill Graham is standing behind Albert King. King is not wearing a sports jacket, it’s like a vest, it doesn’t have sleeves. I watched Bill Graham help him put that on backstage and what I remember is Bill Graham is holding that garment with his arms outstretched, holding it wide enough to put over Albert King’s arms, which are extended out to go through the sleeve holes. And the thing that I noticed is there’s a handgun about fourteen inches long in a holster between the suspenders on Albert King.

You’ve got Bill Graham with that handgun right in front of his face, a couple of inches from his face. And he’s absolutely acting like he hasn’t seen anything. Not a raised eyebrow, a smile, a grimace, anything at all, he’s just helping a guy on with his vest.

"Welcome to Fillmore East." Albert King's performance begins at 27:38

I remember talking to Albert King’s one-armed trumpet player, Wilbur Thompson. Because they had TV lights on, all those guys are bathed in perspiration. You look at Albert King and he’s as black as coal and he’s shiny and there’s beads of perspiration in sheets coming down him, right from the very first note that he plays.

And then you look at the band and the one-armed trumpet player. The sweat is dripping off his nose, almost like there’s a faucet, and because he plays the trumpet with one hand, he’s brushing the sweat off his nose with the bell of the trumpet.

Frank Mastropolo is the author of Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever and 200 Greatest 60s Rock Songs.