For the Inmate Welfare Fund #1 Hongisto Benefit Jail House Rock: Crosby & Nash

Stu Blackman, layout. San Francisco: Inmate Welfare Fund, 1972. 8 ½ 11 in. Printed on recto only.

The rare flyer for this early 1970s benefit show played by David Crosby and Graham Nash, Elvin Bishop, Stoneground, and Earthrise, sponsored by rock promoter Bill Graham, and initiated by the controversial San Francisco sheriff, Richard Hongisto.

Hongisto, elected in 1971, entered politics with a mandate for change, backed by youth, queer and Latinx groups around the city, was a complex figure who undoubtedly enjoyed making news. A lover of controversy and confrontation, Hongisto once told the mayor to kiss his ass on television, called himself “a liberal, maybe even a radical,” and had his sheriff’s badge custom produced with the peace sign instead of the seal of San Francisco. When folks in the decrepit San Bruno jail protested conditions by lighting their mattresses on fire, he refused to call it a riot and instead described it as “a peaceful fire demonstration.” He is noted as the first sheriff to hire gay and lesbian deputies, for his early support of Harvey Milk for Board of Supervisors, and for his intial refusal to evict the largely Asian American population of the low income SRO International Hotel, for which he spent five days in jail for contempt of court. In a moment perhaps telling of his complexities and his enthusiasm for media, Hongisto did finally move ahead with the “urban renewal” displacement project a few months later, and posed for photographs with sledgehammer in hand while carrying out the eviction.

A scarce artifact from a notable jail benefit event, played by folk rock superstars Crosby and Nash and initiated, extraordinarily, by the armed wing of state responsible for putting folks in those jails.

Light rippling at bottom left corner and two small spots of discoloration. Very good.