A very early and really fun – if granted, simple – cardboard James Brown poster board from Seattle, WA in the spring of 1961.

Elsewhere in this video blog I show you a large, colorful and splashy James poster from Seattle from later in this year, the end of 1961. That would signal the beginning of at least a decade of using loud, colorful posters for him.

So this particular Seattle James Brown window card marked the end of an era, harkening back to his posters of the 1950s where were always smaller and simpler like this.

The Tilghman company out of Oakland, CA designed and made this poster, as they did some of the aforementioned JB posters of the late 1950s.  They had a style and design that is very easy for us collectors to spot.

This Seattle James Brown broadside advertised his show on Saturday, April 15, 1961 at the famous Evergreen Ballroom up there.

Of course, it didn’t need to say “1961” on it… the poster was probably printed in March and intended to be thrown away right after the show. Who needed to be told the year?

One of the little things I love about this Seattle James Brown show poster is the musical staff, notes and treble clef found right in the middle, under his first name.

It’s little graphic-design touches like this that give an old poster much of its flavor, and each poster-printing company had their own little touches like this that nobody else used.

Interesting how the Famous Flames are referred to as just “The Flames” on this Seattle James Brown window poster. They started out as just The Flames in the mid-’50s, but soon gained the “Famous” moniker.

So I don’t know why Tilghman held back and used their outdated, shorter name, unless it was to conserve space and/or use bigger letters on the one-word version.

Condition-wise, this Seattle James Brown concert placard has normal wear & tear.  It has the usual thumbtack holes in each corner, probably the most common “defect” found on any of these old posters.

This one also has a bit of ‘toning,’ which is a poster’s version of ‘suntanning’… sustained by prolonged exposure to either direct sunlight or florescent lights.

There are also a couple of surface stains on this Seattle James Brown tour poster… under the “S” in “Sat.” and between the “R” and “O” in “BROWN.”  The upper right-hand corner also got dented a bit.

But you know what? My attitude is, “who cares?”  I wouldn’t want this thing in shiny, new, mint condition, unless it had an incredible story like coming straight from the promoter.  I love an old poster with that “used” look and feel to it.

This James Brown telephone-pole poster is happily shown to you today by longtime music historian and memorabilia collector Peter Howard. If you care to reach me, use pete@postercentral.com or call (805) 540-0020. And please be aware that I pay the very HIGHEST PRICES IN THE HOBBY, bar none, for vintage R&B concert memorabilia such as this JB poster.

And speaking of which, to see a few more dazzling examples of old soul-music cardboard window cards, including a beautiful James Brown one, just move over one page here on my Web site, to: http://www.postercentral.com/rhythmnblues.htm