Fillmore East Moments by Robert N Frissora - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

If you're a fan of rock promoter, Bill Graham, the songs of Crosby Stills Nash & Young or the lore of the Fillmore East, it's an honor to share some of my Dad's art from his more famous creative days.Show more

It was June 5th, 1970 and the hottest rock n roll theater show was about to begin! Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young would step onto the stage and make history at "The Church of Rock and Roll," Bill Graham's Fillmore East. And Bill Graham's art director, Robert N. Frissora, was in the theater taking pictures for their next event promotion.

Bob and Bill developed a great friendship as his team helped drive audiences to the Fillmore East for many years, creating stylish ad spots, posters and many of the printed materials used to promote the venue. Many of which are collectors items today.

It was a big job. With two, triple-bill shows every night of the week, Bob and his friend and partner, Don Wilson, spent a lot of time at the artboard making comps for the hundreds of spreads, billboards, slicks and inserts to rush to press.

A new dad, commuting from the Bronx each day to the Wilson-Frissora design agency on Madison Avenue, Bob also provided the creative direction and advertising strategy that played a key role in the Fillmore East's success and the warped, free-form typography poster style that became an inextricable part of the cultural imagery of the late '60s.

Robert Frissora became Bill's right-hand adman to develop the hip and effective vehicles to reach out to the young, rock n roll, anti-war, love and peace movement. Without the internet, records of songs were the breath of that age. The Fillmore East turned into their megaphone. And the exhalations of dozens of now iconic groups and performers careers' echoed from that stage.

Along with CSNY there was Chicago, Hendrix, Zappa, Lennon, Janis, the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Zeppelin and the 'house' band, the Allman Brothers. All highlighted with the psychedelic art lighting of Josh White of the Joshua Light Show.

This brief montage includes some of Bob's outtakes and others pics that made it to print and is overlayed with audio segments from a live event recording at the Fillmore East that night.

"To know is human, but to grok is divine"

- SCF