Tag: Haight Ashbury

Get It While You Can!

Our tenth and FINAL featured musician for our 10 Great Weeks + 10 Great Musicians + Giveaways Galore offer is none other than the “Pearl” of classic rock…Janis Joplin!

Choose any size print (11×14, 16×20, 20×24) of any of Baron’s photographs of Janis or Big Brother & The Holding Company from The Rolling Stone Years book and choose TWO of our five giveaways as a value-added bonus.

The Giveaways:

  • Janis Joplin Waverly Press book, signed and numbered ($45 value)
  • Groupies Waverly Press book, signed and numbered ($40 value)
  • The Rolling Stone Covers book, signed ($30 value)
  • The Rolling Stone Years black t-shirt in your size (S, M, L, XL, XXL) ($25 value)
  • Baron Wolman’s Classic Rock postcard book, signed ($15 value)

Remember, this is the FINAL WEEK of our giveaway offer. You have one week only to purchase a print of Janis Joplin or Big Brother (from the book) AND receive not one, but TWO of the free giveaways!  What’s more, you get FREE SHIPPING to any destination within the continental U.S.

Don’t let this great opportunity pass you by…

“Get it while you can…!”

Janis Joplin 1130 Baron Wolman

“Put Your Money Where Your Love Is!”

Announcing the featured band for Week 3 of our 10 Great Weeks + 10 Great Musicians + Giveaways Galore Offer. Here’s a clue:

“Their music touches on ground that most other groups don’t even know exists.” — Lenny Kaye

You guessed it…Grateful Dead!

Choose any size print (11×14, 16×20, 20×24) of any of Baron’s photographs of Grateful Dead from The Rolling Stone Years book and choose TWO of our five giveaways as a value-added bonus. Click here to view the images from the book.

The Giveaways:

  • Janis Joplin Waverly Press book, signed and numbered ($45 value)
  • Groupies Waverly Press book, signed and numbered ($40 value)
  • The Rolling Stone Covers book, signed ($30 value)
  • The Rolling Stone Years black t-shirt in your size (S, M, L, XL, XXL) ($25 value)
  • Baron Wolman’s Classic Rock postcard book, signed ($15 value)

Remember, you have only 1 week to purchase a print of Grateful Dead (from the book) AND receive not one, but TWO of the free giveaways!  What’s more, you get FREE SHIPPING to any destination within the continental U.S. Click here for more info. about this offer.

This deal won’t be around forever.

“Such a long long time to be gone, and a short time to be there.”
— Grateful Dead, “Box of Rain”

Jerry Garcia Baron Wolman

ABC Takes Baron to the Haight

So if YOU were in San Francisco and Baron Wolman was coming to town promote his book, wouldn’t YOU interview him at the site of Baron’s first-ever assignment for Rolling Stone and where he made his famous photograph of the Grateful Dead, the one he calls “Dead on the Steps?”

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead posting bail, San Francisco, 1967

My first story for Rolling Stone was the Grateful Dead bust. The Dead put on this great press conference held appropriately where they lived and where they had been arrested. The band members sat across a table from the media. Along with the microphones, which were arranged between the band was a great big bowl of whipped cream which is visible in the pictures and which they threatened to throw at the media if any of them asked a stupid question. If you read the first issue of Rolling Stone you understand the band was making the point: “Why are you busting us? If you busted everybody who smokes pot in San Francisco you’re going to have no lawyers, you’re going to have no doctors, and you’re going to have no professionals of any kind because everybody smokes.” The band was quite adamant about it, and they were right of course.

Big Brother And The Holding Company

Big Brother & The Holding Company, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, 1968

Baron photographed Janis Joplin’s band Big Brother And The Holding Company as well as photographing her solo on a number of occasions – you can see why he loved hanging out with them. These group shots were taken at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco in 1968. Janis had just come from the dentist – you can see her holding her face but not quite covering that big smile.

A Baron Wolman Interview

The Grateful Dead at home, 710 Ashbury, San Francisco, 1967

How prescient! Baron’s interview as seen on IMDB before the inception of this book. He talks about Jann Wenner and the very beginnings of Rolling Stone magazine. Baron’s first assignment was to photograph the Grateful Dead...

Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin at home, San Francisco, 1967

This is one of my favourite quotes from the book. I can picture Baron having these conversations:

“People are always coming up to me, “Can I talk to you privately; I bet you have some great stories about what went on in those days?” I say, “Yeah I do,” and they say, “Well, what went on?” and I answer, “What do you think went on?” And they come back, “Yeah, yeah,” and I say, “Yeah!” I mean what do I tell them, that people were smoking pot? Of course they were smoking pot. That they were backstage making out? Of course they were. Did I see anybody destroy hotel rooms? No, and so what if they did, so what if I had seen it, what is there to see that I could tell them that they don’t already know? One question that is continually repeated is, “Hey, can I talk to you privately, tell me – it won’t go any further, just for me – did you sleep with Janis Joplin, just tell me, did you sleep with Janis Joplin?” And I always answer, “Well what do you think?” I either say it like this – “What do you think?” or “What do you think?” And they say, “Oh, man, thank you, thanks, I appreciate that, it means a lot to me.” I let them use their imagination; I never say anything more, never go beyond that response! Never did and never will.”