I was born and raised in San Francisco, and Winterland was a rite of passage. It was where the family would see the Ice Capades, and my dad and uncles would love to see boxing.
I was a stage manager working at KQED TV in San Francisco when I was assigned to the live broadcast of the closing of Winterland on Dec. 31, 1978. My main job was to work with the KSAN DJ’s who were anchoring the show live on KQED, and in stereo on KSAN. Television was not broadcasting stereo yet, so KQED and KSAN were broadcasting a simulcast from 8 p.m. until closing.
I arrived at Winterland at 8 p.m. and found hundreds of people sitting on the floor watching Animal House, projected on a wrinkled canvas. The film ended around 9 p.m., the canvas sheet was pulled and with horns blaring, the Blues Brothers Band started rocking their anthem, Can’t Turn Me Loose and everyone was dancing! It was the first time the Blues Brothers played on the West Coast and it was headed by Paul Shaffer of Saturday Night. Also in the band was super sidemen Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn and Steve Cropper. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd shimmied out. The crowd was on their feet! I was backstage with the KSAN DJs and then went to the side of the stage just in time for the last song. As Dan and John passed me, I told John it was a great set. He said “thanks man” and gave me a button with a drawing of the Blues Brothers.
That certainly was a highlight, but there were so many more that evening. In separate sets, the Karamazov Brothers and Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters invaded the stage, causing chaos for the stage crew and camera director. I remember the Pranksters had a cannon and actually shot it off.
I was invited into the television truck and got to sit down in the director’s chair and direct the cameras for Johnny B. Goode.
The New Riders of the Purple Sage didn’t want their segment broadcast, so TV and radio interviews were conducted back stage during their set. One of the interviews backstage was Al Franken, a cast member of Saturday Night who teamed up with Tom Davis. Al was doing a bit by himself and the director asked me to give Al a wrap up. I gave him the wrap up sign, but he wouldn’t stop. Forty-five seconds later, the director asked me to give Al the cut sign. When Al saw that, he gave me the dirtiest look in show biz.
I remember seeing Bill Walton rocking behind the Dead in the rear balcony above the band. Everyone was grooving. Near the end of the last set, I was invited into the television truck and got to sit down in the director’s chair and direct the cameras for Johnny B. Goode. It was a song I knew growing up, having performed it in every band that I played in. I had a great time. I kept part of that song on my director’s reel for quite a while. After the Dead’s last song, which was acapella, 5,000 fans and crew went to breakfast served up by Bill Graham and his crew.
At 7 a.m. on Jan. 1, my girlfriend, Bridget, with our 6-month old daughter, picked me up in our Volkswagen van and I couldn’t stop talking about this experience. They had gone to a friend’s New Year’s Eve party and watched the whole thing. I always dreamed about producing this show for PBS and 25 years later, I produced the Closing of Winterland show for PBS and additional stories for the DVD. It was a great party and a great ending!
~ Frank Zamacona