The San Francisco Scene, in a Museum

Photo by Ben Fong-Torres

At the opening of the exhibit, “Somethin’s Happening Here,” celebrating the San Francisco Bay Area’s music scene from 1963 to 1973 at the Museum of Performance & Design, one of the musicians of that era turned to me and said, “Did you think we’d ever live to see our stuff in a museum?”

Sure, why not? After all, the Rock and Roll Museum in Cleveland’s been exhibiting artifacts from that era since it opened, back in 1995. I think of the concert posters, the light shows, the album covers, the clothing, the connections to social and political changes, and …oh, yes, the music. It’s no surprise at all that there are now two full-time rock museums (the other one, of course, is the Experience Music Project in Seattle), plus one devoted to Woodstock (the Bethel Center for the Arts).

The exhibit I just saw is only up through next August, but the way Alec Palao and Melissa Leventon put it together, it deserves a permanent home some day, some place. (Of course, nothing is permanent; most of the items are on loan, and the MPD will be rotating different items in sometime early next year.)

Whatever. I suggest you go see it first chance you get. Even for a guy like me, who was involved in the scene, reporting it for Rolling Stone, there’s a lot to check out, beginning with the large, 3-D artwork in the lobby (you need special glasses to get the full effect). It’s the cover of the Grateful Dead’s second album, Anthem of the Sun. In the exhibit room, you’re greeted by the western outfit Mike Wilhelm wore as a member of the Charlatans, and stage outfits that belonged to Janis Joplin and Sly Stone. There’s the red white & blue top hat worn by Jerry Garcia for a photo session. There are documents of the way Chet Helms, the concert promoter at the Family Dog, did business, with his bookkeeping notes on the back of a poster. Not far away, there’s a letter by Bill Graham to the Beatles in 1968, offering to present them in the U.S., “one time or more, their choice, any location…”

 In one corner, light show artist Bill Ham’s tools and paraphernalia are on display—glass plates and simple dyes and food coloring purchased from grocery stores—along with a film loop of his and other artists’ work. A video offers a show-and-tell about the scene, and five listening stations carry different music and info programs produced by Palao. There are photos, posters, flyers, album covers and instruments (John Cipollina’s guitar; Greg Errico’s snare drums) representing artists from all parts of the greater Bay Area.

As cohesive as it seemed to be, the San Francisco scene was really was all over the map. Ironically, the museum chose, as the exhibit’s title, a phrase from a song by an L.A. band.

But something really did happen here, and you can check out a good part of it Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 5.

The MPD is at 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco.