Lower the flags, crank the amplifiers.

[gridlore]

Chet Helms -- celebrated S.F. rock music producer

Chet Helms, a towering figure in the 1960s Bay Area music scene who brought Janis Joplin to San Francisco and ran the Avalon Ballroom during the Summer of Love, died early Saturday after suffering a stroke last week. He was 62.

"Chet Helms was like one of the founding fathers of the music scene here, " said Mickey Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead and many other bands. "He was really the heart and soul of the music scene here in San Francisco. He was more than just a promoter. The Avalon really captured the spirit and the vibe of the era."

Mr. Helms, who stayed true to his hippie ideals through four decades, died at 12:25 a.m. at San Francisco's California Pacific Medical Center surrounded by a dozen of his closest friends and relatives, said his wife, Judy Davis.

"It was a beautiful death," Davis said. "It was a goodbye party. We all sang to him and told stories. We had a chance to really show our love and say goodbye. He died as he lived -- surrounded by love."

Chester Leo Helms was born Aug. 2, 1942, in Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), the oldest of three sons of Chester and Novella Helms. When Mr. Helms was 9, his father, who worked in a sugar beet mill, died. His mother took the boys to Texas, where they were raised by a fundamentalist preacher grandfather.

He migrated to San Francisco after dropping out of the University of Texas in 1961 and soon found his way to a boardinghouse at 1090 Page St. Falling in love with rock music after attending a Rolling Stones concert at Civic Auditorium, he began hosting jam sessions in the rosewood-paneled basement ballroom of the Haight-Ashbury house. Big Brother and the Holding Company emerged from those parties, and Mr. Helms, the band's manager, brought old college friend Joplin up from Texas to be their singer.

"Without Chet, there would be no Grateful Dead; no Big Brother and the Holding Company; no Jefferson Airplane, no Country Joe & the Fish; no Quicksilver Messenger Service, and the list goes on," said Barry Melton, the lead guitarist for Country Joe & the Fish.

"He wasn't just a promoter; he was a supporter of music and art. He supported people emotionally, psychologically and psychically. He really made the scene what it was."