Editing Chet Helms (section)

==Style as promoter==
While Graham was an aggressive businessman and professional promoter, Helms presented a philosophical and intellectual business approach. He was the visionary along with Boots Houghston. He related easily to the San Francisco [[hippie]] subculture since, in essence, he was one of them. It was not the money he was after, that was the by-product of artistic talent; it was the creative unity of new emerging music sounds that enriched Helms and the community he was talking to, which spread worldwide. The [[San Francisco Chronicle]] called Helms "a towering figure in the 1960s Bay Area music scene."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Summer of Love, 50 years later |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/summer-of-love/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240116013200/https://www.sfchronicle.com/summer-of-love/ |archive-date=January 16, 2024 |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Vaziri |first=Aidin |date=March 10, 2017 |title=Chet Helms |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/music/article/Chet-Helms-10987597.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404155152/https://www.sfchronicle.com/music/article/Chet-Helms-10987597.php |archive-date=April 4, 2023 |access-date=2024-03-11 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en}}</ref>

Helms embraced music for music's sake and the Beat-hipster-generation-turned-hippie philosophy. While the war raged in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] and the nation coped with racial clashes and assassinations, the anti-war, anti-establishment youth thrived in the throes of a social revolution. Meanwhile, Helms was cranking out bands and musicians espousing the same lifestyle as this new audience, while giving the very distinct impression that he was indifferent to money and commercial success.

His benign image could be deceptive. According to [[Jay Ferguson (American musician)|Jay Ferguson]] of [[Spirit (band)|Spirit]], Graham would negotiate shrewdly and frequently offer a lower fee to a band than Helms, but when the concert was over, he would pay the band in full; Helms did not always do likewise. Some of the more serious bands (those not subsidized by trust funds) came to prefer Graham's hard-nosed, businesslike approach. Graham did covertly help Helms financially at various times during the 1970s, keeping San Francisco in the fore as the West Coast Music mecca.

The core San Francisco rock bands, [[Jefferson Airplane]], [[Grateful Dead]], [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]], Country Joe and the Fish, and [[Quicksilver Messenger Service]] (including pre-[[Dino Valenti]]), would play for both Graham's concerts at [[the Fillmore]] Auditorium, and the Family Dog at Helms' Avalon dances.

Helms' shows were always more relaxed and offered a pleasant alternative to [[Bill Graham (promoter)|Bill Graham Presents]] dances, at a more reasonable admission, and with more room for the stoned, arm-waving type of solo dancing that personified the era.