Mary Ann Pollar
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Mary Ann Pollar | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1927 |
| Died | September 11, 1999 (aged 71–72) |
| Occupation(s) | Concert promoter; Organizer; Administrator |
| Years active | 1950s–1970s; |
| Spouse | Henry Pollar |
| Children | 1 |
Mary Ann Pollar (1927–1999) was a California-based concert promoter and founder of the Rainbow Sign, a prominent African American cultural center in Berkeley that operated from 1971 to 1977.[1] Later she was also a transit administrator.[1]
Pollar "descended from a family of Baptist preachers".[2] She was raised first in Texas, near the Mexican border, and at age twelve, she moved with her family to Chicago, where she later attended Roosevelt College, studying labor education.[2]
Her husband Henry Pollar worked for Bechtel as an engineer.[2]
Concert promotion
Pollar began promoting concerts in the 1950s in the San Francisco Bay Area.[3] Pollar had an enduring friendship with the folk singer Odetta, for whom she named her daughter Odette in 1955.[2] Rolling Stone reported that Pollar was responsible for Bob Dylan's first appearance on the West Coast, in 1964 at the Berkeley Community Theater.[1] Odette Pollar reported that before booking Dylan's first West Coast concert, her mother had "turned him down twice, because she'd never heard of him".[4] As a concert promoter, Pollar booked Odetta, Dylan, and other artists that included Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and many others, many of whom she first introduced to the San Francisco area.[3][2] A project on historical documentation at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote that
Many rock music fans today are familiar with the names Chet Helms and Bill Graham, but with the exception of a couple of tiny mentions in Dylan biographies, Mary Ann Pollar has remained largely unknown. This is remarkable considering the long roster of now-famous performers who were first introduced to the Bay Area by Pollar. To list only a few: Joan Baez, Judy Collins, The Clancy Brothers, Arlo Guthrie, Curtis Mayfield, Pete Seeger, Peter Paul and Mary, Buffy St. Marie, Simon and Garfunkel, Nina Simone, and Frank Zappa.[2]