The thin-skinned Graham had a long running feud with Rolling Stone magazine’s Jann Wenner, once holding the publisher hostage in his South of Market warehouse office for nearly seven hours while he went line by agonizing line over an article he found objectionable. Throughout the siege, magazine staffers would periodically hear explosions of Graham fury reverberating through Wenner’s brick walls.
Chronicle rock critic Joel Selvin, who also found himself on the receiving end of Graham’s tantrums, discovered a way to plug the volcano one day: “I looked at him, and I said, ‘Oh, Bill, don’t be disingenuous.’ He suddenly stopped ranting. There were these moments in dealing with Bill when I suddenly remembered, ‘Oh yeah, English is this guy’s second or third language.’ And he’s looking at me, trying to figure out, ‘Hey, was I just insulted or not?’”
Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love
David Talbot