About Ed Perlstein

Ed Perlstein began his photography career in the mid-1970's, working closely with the Grateful Dead and other San Franciso bands. His work has appeared in many of the Grateful Dead CDs, DVDs, books, calendars and promotional materials. The Dead recommended Ed's images to BAM (Bay Area Music) Magazine, where he worked for several years. Assignments included The Band's Last Waltz, the Berkeley Jazz Festival and the Tribal Stomp reunion, featuring many of the Sixties psychedelic bands.

Ed also worked closely with promoter Bill Graham, photographing many of rocks most celebrated musicians. Bill hired Ed to photograph the final night at Winterland, San Francisco's premier rock venue in the 1970's. Those photographs were recently featured in the Grateful Dead's "Closing of Winterland" DVD, for which Ed received a platinum award.

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area presented Ed with many unique photographic opportunities: The Who sharing the stage with the Grateful Dead; Bo Diddley opening for The Clash; Clapton, Dylan and Young bidding The Band farewell.

With the punk movement reaching its pinnacle in the late seventies, Ed was also able to capture many punk artists. These included live shots of the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop and Devo, as well as posed photos of the Ramones and the Nuns, featuring current Texas singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo.

After eight years of photographing rock, blues, punk, folk and jazz musicians, Ed stopped to pursue other interests, including raising a family. Over the past 30 years, his photographs have appeared on CD's, TV documentaries and in various books, music- related magazines, posters and calendars.