Rock and Roll Apple Pie

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I headed to the Fillmore for two back-to-back shows in the course of one weekend. On Saturday night, I made some jokes about pitching a tent in the middle of the floor since we knew we would be coming back the next night. Sunday night’s show was a blistering set from Sonic Youth, and Saturday night’s show was Cake performing at a posthumous birthday party for concert promoter Bill Graham.

The Fillmore is a historic music venue that has been a fixture of the San Francisco music scene since the 1960s. It was made famous by Bill Graham, the legendary rock concert promoter who survived the Holocaust and came to America to bring artists like Zeppelin, Hendrix and The Who graced its stages. It was said that at the end of shows at the Fillmore, Bill stood with a bin of fresh apples at the front entrance of the club and handed out apples to patrons. The giant bin full of apples still sits on a table near the entrance of the club.

On both Saturday and Sunday, we each took an apple home and found ourselves at the end of the weekend with four giant apples. They were a little too big to eat, but fresh and bright red, so I sliced and diced them up, rolled out a butter pie-crust, and turned our fruity souvenirs into a giant, gingery apple crumb-top pie.

I shared some slices with friends, and we dubbed it rock and roll apple pie. It was delicious; Bill Graham would have been pleased.