An early, psychedelic concert handbill for A Tribute to Ming the Merciless, a November 1965 dance-concert in San Francisco, CA.

The event took place at Longshoremen’s Hall in the Fisherman’s Wharf area of San Francisco.

There was also a Tribute to Ming the Merciless window card made of a larger size, but this item is the typical flier size of 8.5 by 11 inches.

It was only run on white paper, by the way; not yellow or blue paper, like some other early Family Dog handbills were.

If you’re a collector seeking out the Tribute to Ming the Merciless window poster, you may have a lot of trouble locating one, because they were handmade, not machine printed like this flyer.

In fact, notice the printer’s union bug down in the lower left-hand corner of the Tribute to Ming the Merciless appearance sheet in my video. The poster doesn’t have that; it was handcrafted by Amy Magill, whose name I was careful to give credit to. But she never signed her posters.

Alton Kelley had designed his Tribute to Dr. Strange handbills with Amy Magill’s help; it was a co-production. Then Kelley alone did the Tribute to Sparkle Plenty artwork for the handbill.

But it was Magill alone who designed this Tribute to Ming the Merciless show bill. I hope it was with tongue in cheek that Ms. Magill misspelled “Berkeley” and “tickets may be gotten at” in the lower left-hand area!

Then again, those misspellings may have simply been an anti-establishment stance she was taking. If you know of Amy Magill’s whereabouts, please put her in touch with me!

Keep in mind that this Tribute to Ming the Merciless flier was one of the very first pieces of psychedelic advertising ever to appear in the bay area, or for that matter, the world.

The regular series of Family Dog and Bill Graham posters would not start appearing until the following year… early 1966.

This early piece of Family Dog dance memorabilia is shown to you by me, Pete Howard, of San Luis Obispo, CA. I’ve been a big music fan all my life, and collector since the late 1960s. You can reach me either by using pete@postercentral.com, or 805-540-0020. Please know that I pay the very best prices in the hobby, period, for any 1965 or very early 1966 Family Dog concert pieces like this.

If you’d like to see my video blogs on the other two “Family Puppy” items, as I call them, just find these right here on my Web site: https://blog.postercentral.com/2015/03/10/family-dog-dr-strange-1965-window-card-walton-kelley-unique-hand-coloring/ for A Tribute to Dr. Strange, and https://blog.postercentral.com/2013/07/18/a-tribute-to-sparkle-plenty-family-dog-concert-flyer-1965/ for A Tribute to Sparkle Plenty.