Ralph Gleason
Image No. 68-5A-12 Bill Graham and Ralph J. Gleason Winterland arena, San Francisco, December 31, 1967 Bill Graham had reason to be grateful to the San Francisco Chronicle's respected critic Ralph J. Gleason. Gleason was that rarity among critics, a music lover who dared to applaud new music that he deemed worthy, even if the newcomers were displacing the favored music of his own generation. Gleason was a jazz fan, but he was among the first music writers to recognize and champion the counterculture's music in the Sixties, first folk, and later the unique sound of the San Francisco rock bands.
Image No. 68-5A-2: Ralph J. Gleason Winterland arena, San Francisco, December 31, 1967 Ralph Gleason was a between-the-wars character, trench-coated and armed with a sardonic manner. He looked with amusement on the excesses of the young, but he always seemed to enjoy living in the present moment.