Big Brother & Holding Co. 1966 Zig-Zag Man Poster – Joplin’s Debut

Posted on April 9, 2011 by postercentral

A summer 1966 San Francisco psychedelic concert poster featuring Janis Joplin’s stage debut as lead singer for Big Brother & The Holding Company. Nicknamed “Zig-Zag Man” for obvious reasons, this classic Family Dog concert poster — designated FD-14 – was designed by the legendary team of Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley, and this specimen was signed by both of them. Also shown are a couple of counterfeit versions that were likewise printed back in 1966. (Error correction: At one point I say, “Bill Graham-printed seconds and thirds,” but Graham was not involved with this concert or poster.) Enthusiastically discussed by collector Pete Howard of PosterCentral.com (phone 805-540-0020, email pete@postercentral.com).

Posted in **All Posters, **Psychedelic Posters Only, *Janis Joplin | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Billie Holiday Concert Flyer – New York’s Carnegie Hall

Posted on April 6, 2011 by postercentral

A stellar jazz handbill advertising a Carnegie Hall benefit concert on Thanksgiving weekend 1957 that featured Lady Day herself, Billie Holiday, plus the star-studded line-up of Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, Zoot Sims, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and “Introducing… the brilliant Sonny Rollins.” Plus “Special Attraction: Ray Charles” to top it all off. Enthusiastically discussed by collector Pete Howard of PosterCentral.com (phone 805-540-0020, email pete@postercentral.com).

Posted in Handbills & Flyers, Jazz & Big Band | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bob Dylan Concert Poster 1965 Cardboard Show Placard

Posted on April 3, 2011 by postercentral

A Bob Dylan concert poster from October 23, 1965 for a show at the University of Vermont’s Patrick Gym in Burlington, VT.

Despite this concert placard depicting Dylan in an acoustic setting, this concert broadside / billboard / placard / display (make your choice!) advertised a folk-rock concert. If you’re a fan, you know that Dylan would play the first half of his show solo acoustic, and then second half with The Hawks as a full-on rock concert.

This Bob Dylan window card from his 1965 tour with The Hawks (later to become The Band) features a big acoustic-guitar photograph of Dylan, snapped by Daniel Kramer.

Credit where it’s due: this Bob Dylan tour-blank concert poster was made by the Murray Poster Printing Company of New York, was manufactured on cardboard, and has dimensions of approximately 14 x 22”. The detailed info found below was printed later in usually black or red ink, making the blue printing here rather atypical.

The exacting wording on this Bob Dylan telephone-pole concert poster, just as it reads from top to bottom: “BOB DYLAN – (then in tiny letters) Photograph: Daniel Kramer

(The blue print now): Patrick Gym – University of Vermont – Burlington.  (Date & time): Saturday October 23 at 8:00 PM.  (Customer info): Tickets: $4,00, 3.50 Reserved – Gen’l Adm $3.00. Mail Orders Box 527, Burlington, Vermont or Bailey’s Music Room.

(And the tiny credit way down at bottom): Murray Poster Printing Co., Inc., 221 W. 64 St., N.Y.C.”

The name given to this Bob Dylan broadside is a “tour blank,” used all along the tour, with each concert’s venue information – date, city, venue name, ticket price and instructions – printed in down below following the main body of the poster (the photograph), which was obviously printed ahead of time.

Therefore, the following posters were probably all made, because these are all confirmed cities & dates on this 1965 tour:

Bob Dylan concert poster Forest Hills Stadium, New York, August 28, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Hollywood Bowl, September 3, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Austin Municipal Auditorium, September 24, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Southern Methodist University Coliseum, Dallas, September 25, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Carnegie Hall, New York, October 1, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Symphony Hall, Newark, New Jersey, October 2, 1965;

Bob Dylan concert poster Atlanta City Auditorium, October 9, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Baltimore Civic Center, October 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster McCarter Theatre, Princeton, New Jersey, October 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Worcester Memorial Auditorium, MA, October 16, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island, October 22, 1965; then the Vermont poster shown here;

Bob Dylan concert poster Cobo Hall, Detroit, October 24, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Back Bay Theater, Boston. October 29, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Bushnell Memorial Auditorium, Hartford, CT, October 30, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Back Bay Theater, Boston, October 31, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Minneapolis Auditorium, November 5, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, NY, November 6, 1965;

Bob Dylan concert poster Cleveland Music Hall, November 12, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Massey Hall, Toronto, Canada, November 14-15, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Cincinnati Music Hall, November 18, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Columbus, Ohio, November 19, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster, Rochester, NY, November 20, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster War Memorial Auditorium, Syracuse, NY, November 21, 1965;

Bob Dylan concert poster University of Washington, Seattle, December 1, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Berkeley Community Theater, CA, Dec. 3 and 4, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Long Beach Civic Auditorium, December 7, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Community Concourse Theatre, San Diego, CA, December 10, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Masonic Auditorium, S.F., CA, December 11, 1965;

Bob Dylan concert poster San Jose Civic Auditorium, CA, December 12, 1965; Bob Dylan concert poster Pasadena Civic Auditorium, CA, December 18, 1965; and Bob Dylan concert poster Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, CA, December 19, 1965.

This 1960s Bob Dylan window placard is a strong example of a boxing-style concert poster from early in Dylan’s career. The poster, however, lends itself easily to damage because of the large amount of black in the photograph, which can show bends & tears, thumbtack holes, fingerprints, etc. very easily.

I’m Pete Howard, I’ve been a serious Bob Dylan collector since 1972, and I can be reached at pete@postercentral.com or (805) 540.0020. As such, I will pay TOP DOLLAR for any Bob Dylan vintage 1960s concert poster such as this one.

Please take a minute to see my impressive little gallery of other Bob Dylan Sixties window cards right here on on this page of my poster-collecting web site: http://www.postercentral.com/bobdylan.htm

Posted in **All Posters, *Bob Dylan, Boxing-Style Concert Posters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Doors Concert Poster 1967 Psychedelic Design

Posted on March 31, 2011 by postercentral

An original concert poster for The Doors at the Berkeley Community Theater in Berkeley, California on October 15, 1967.

An attractive psychedelic Doors window card that also has, in addition to its psychedelic styling, photographs of the four band members – Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore. (Most psych concert posters of this era did not include pictures.)

This Doors concert poster sold tickets to a show in the Fall of 1967, just about one week before the band’s second LP, Strange Days, was issued.

Unusually, the group played a Sunday afternoon matinee show at 3 PM on this date, in addition to the evening show.

This Berkeley Community Theatre Doors poster was designed by an artist credited only as “Solinsky.”

Here’s what this poster states, word-for-word: (in blue lettering) The Doors In Concert – 2 Shows – (all the rest is in black lettering) Del-Bar Productions –  Tickets $2.25 : 3.50 – Featuring KMCK’s Tom Donahue – Notes from the Underground

Sun Oct 15, Mat 3 PM, Eve 7:30 PM – Berkeley Community Theater – (in the white margin) Solinsky

(And in the white space down below) TICKETS – Sherman-Clay: 2135 Broadway, Oakland 444-8440; ASUC Box Office: Student Union, University of Calif., Ext. 3125; Discount Records: 2309 Telegraph, Berkeley 849-3332; San Francisco State Box Office; Music Town: Broadway Shopping Center, Walnut Creek 934-5280

(And the very last line, in bigger print) Sunday, October 15 • Two Shows • 3 PM-7:30 PM

This poster enthusiastically displayed and discussed by collector Pete Howard (805-540-0020, or email me at pete@postercentral.com). I’m a huge fan and collector and I saw Hendrix in concert but darn it, never the Doors! I will pay TOP DOLLAR for this or any other vintage Doors concert posters from when Jim Morrison was still alive.

And to see more rare and collectible ’60s psychedelic concert posters like this that are equally as compelling, see this page right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm

Posted in **All Posters, **Psychedelic Posters Only, *The Doors | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Can You Pass The Acid Test? Poster 1965 Grateful Dead Memorabilia

Posted on March 28, 2011 by postercentral

A real, genuine Can You Pass the Acid Test? poster used in late 1965-early 1966 in the S.F Bay Area, with entertainment supplied by the Grateful Dead, Allen Ginsberg, the Fugs, the Merry Pranksters, Neal Cassady and more.

This psychedelic event poster was used as a “tour blank,” in that it has an empty box down at the bottom where details could be supplied for any specific happening.

Collectors tend to view this item as an early Grateful Dead concert poster, but Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia once said that his band were just a sideshow of these Acid Test gatherings, that the psychedelic scene was really the draw here, music being just a small part of it. So this is more an LSD poster than a concert one!

This poster is an important early landmark, in that it would soon lead to expanded Acid Test gatherings up and down America’s West Coast, to the Trips Festival series of psychedelic concert events, and then to the Bill Graham and Family Dog series of hundreds of concerts for many years to come.

Notice the dotted line down the middle of this Acid Test window card… it was designed to be cut in half, with the left side then getting stacked on top of the right side to make for a tall, thin Acid Test psychedelic event broadside! In fact, instructions for doing just that are given on the poster.

This poster has huge number of words on it, but I’ve gone to the trouble of spelling them all out for you below.

And please be awarethat since this wasn’t my poster in the video, I will pay top dollar!! for an original version of this poster, with or without venue information written down in the lower corner. Same with all early Acid Test and psych-related concert memorabilia. I’m Pete Howard and I can be called at (805) 540-0020 or emailed at pete@postercentral.com. Thanks!

So here we go: From top to bottom and left to right, this poster reads:

Read Every Word of This. (Very upper left-hand corner.) alphabet abbot dappled a pulley quaff bell pull pap appall aquarelle parallel Can you pass the ACID TEST?

(Small newspaper clipping): William Burroughs becomes / control, however much it’s / you mean by a sense of /  clusion. It’s one conclusion in their lives, in all senses

(Naked sculpture talking): Only one way out! I’ll take the course myself!

(Sideways above crazy vehicle): Intrepid Trips inc. Perseverance Furthers Production

(Inside the flag at bottom): This grand thing can be made very long & thin by cutting up the middle & pasting line a, below, to line b, above. Or it can be left as it is.*  Contest Ends October 19, 1897.

The Happeners are likely to include: (starting now at top of second column): Allen Ginsberg, The Fugs, The Merry Pranksters, Neal Cassady, The Grateful Dead, Roy’s Audioptics, movies

(Probably the most bizarre element of the poster): Be sure to remember these eight vital areas during the test: 1. Das “Halbton-System,” die Noten-Beispiele in verschiedenen Lagen zu spielen. 2. Eine Uebung nach dem Studium jeder einzelnen Tomart (see Fig. 3). 3. Arpeggien in jeder Tonart. 4. Zwei Etuden, welche den praktischen Gebrauch der 2. u.  Large zeigen. 5. Fingerubungen in verschiedenen Lagen. 6. Vibrato. 7. Uebungen. 8. Klangfarben.

(PosterCentral.com had a German friend translate the above paragraph, and here’s what he came up with):

“It appears to be a historical eight-step tutorial for learning a musical, probably stringed, instrument (violin?). Translation is: 1. The “half-tone” system, for playing the sheet music examples in different positions (like on a fretboard?)  2. An exercise after having studied every single key  3. Arpeggios in every key  4. Two etudes (exercises) that illustrate the practical use of the 2 (lower?) positions  5. Finger exercises in different positions  6. Vibrato  7. Exercises  8. Tone colours”

(Back to the poster’s exact text now):

Now you can tell which one is us. (By the large fingerprint.)

Fig. 73- cup.  echo cerise peace cease lace

(The closing information starts): This Saturday Night. Bring your own comfort. here’s Where it’s at: (right above the blank box to fill in date & venue)

(tiniest words at very bottom): Gzz! You worm! *i.e. schizoid

Hello, it’s Pete Howard again.  Did you manage to take all that in?  LOL

And finally, if you’re fascinated with original sixties psychedelic rock concert posters, be sure to see some outstanding ones on this page of my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm

Posted in **All Posters, **Psychedelic Posters Only, *Grateful Dead | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment