FRED MANTEGHIAN BLOG

Wolfang's Vault is a pretty slick web site where you can continue the journey of rediscovering your musical youth. The fellow that owns the site bought out nearly all of Bill Graham's stuff just before he croaked. This is Bill Graham, owner of the Fillmores, East and West, and other venues, concert promoter extraordinaire, not Billy Graham the evangelist, although, in the end, they're both dead.

All those great performances, which Bill Graham recorded with the dedication of a Rosemary Woods, Nixon's secretary, minus the 18 minute gap. Bill Graham wouldn't have left a gap. He recorded everything it seems. Even, yes, bass solos.

Go to the website and click on the "concert vault" tab at the far right to start. You can listen to some very clean concert recordings from bands like Derek and the Dominos, the Allman Brothers, The Who, Led Zeppelin, the Band, Hendrix – okay, I'll stop. Basically it's everybody whose music you've ever loved, just sitting there waiting for you to drop in and listen. And you even get to hear the artists banter between songs, something you won't find on contemporaneous live releases. Exactly how stoned was David Crosby in the seventies? How stoned is there!

And the gems – whoa, are you as big a fan of "It's A Beautiful Day?" as I am? Look no further. They were always on the psychedelic posters of the era, but their live recordings have been hard to find. The best part about Wolfgang's Vault is the price - $0.00, including tax. Listen all you want. The site supports itself by selling posters, t-shirts and anything else Bill Graham had lying around. In fact they have one of the cleverest marketing schemes around. Click on a song in the radio stream, for instance, and the main pages refreshes to show you every piece of paraphernalia they have on the artist. You know, like, here's Tracy Chapman's comb. $20. Want to buy it? Bill Graham was a professional pack rat.

But while you can stream the audio, you can't download it. That means you're tied to your computer, not free to Pod around. Too bad there, but hey, I'll take it anyway I can get it.

I've only recently discovered the site, so I'm sure I've barely even scratched the surface. I'd love to hear from others who hooked up with Wolfgang months ago. And if you've never heard of site, well, don't forget to give me a big hug at the New York show.

Oh, and hurry. Nothing this good can stay un-sued forever.