Pete Howard is a serious collector seeking old (pre-1970) concert posters and music memorabilia, and who pays the very best prices. He lives in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Please contact him at pete@postercentral.com or (805) 540-0020.
A wonderfully psychedelic Grateful Dead concert poster from June 1967 – right on the brink of the Summer of Love – from New York City’s Cheetah club.
The exact wording found on this poster: “The Group Image Presents – The Grateful Dead – Presents – The Group Image – Presents – The Cheetah – 53rd & Broadway
“For the Benefit of Their Community – Monday June 12, 8 PM – Lites By 3rd World & Pablo – All Come.”
Today’s video was produced and hosted by music historian Pete Howard from California. That’s me, and if you wish to speak, I can be contacted thru pete@postercentral.com or by calling (805) 540-0020. Please know that I pay the best prices in this hobby, bar none, for cool, vintage and collectible 1960s concert posters (and older ones, too).
To see a few more samples of colorful, psychedelic late-’60s concert advertisements made for posting, just step over one page to this place: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm
A pair of dramatically different Lloyd Price concert posters from the late 1950s, when Price was hitting his commercial peak with hit singles on both the R&B and pop charts.
On first blush, it would appear that one of these is vastly superior to the other. But tastes in concert posters run the gamut, and if you’re deeply familiar with Price’s body of work, you might choose the poster that lists 10 of his fun songs, not just two like the other one does.
The first Lloyd Price concert announcement I show you today hails from Louisville, KY, although you wouldn’t know that from the poster itself; there are almost no clue. But we know because it turned up in a small stash of posters from Louisville and even from the same venue.
This handsome red & black poster is unusual in that it promotes a hit song title over the artist himself: “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” a giant R&B hit from 1952, gets the screaming headline here, whereas Lloyd’s name is relegated to the lower half. Funny!
There’s no printer’s credit given on this Lloyd Price boxer-style concert poster, so where it was printed, nobody knows. Most collectors really appreciate it when they can find out who printed an old, cool poster like this.
It’s interesting how one of the Price photos is a head shot and the other has him in action, playing at the piano. It’s a great one-two visual punch for the New Orleans music star.
The second Lloyd Price pole poster is dramatically less attractive to the eye, but carries a lot more music on it: 10 song titles! That’s huge, among the most I’ve ever seen on a poster before.
Those 10 consist of his four most recent hits, both the A- and B-sides; his 1952 monster, “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”; and an obscure number from his own record label a couple of years prior, “Hello Little Girl.”
The Tilghman Press poster company out of Oakland, CA made up this second concert poster, and interestingly, they used green ink up in the venue area to advertise this show in Seattle, WA.
These two Lloyd Price concert cards were displayed and narrated by long-time collector and music historian Pete Howard, of California’s central coast. If you wish to discuss, you can reach me through (805) 540.0020 (I also text) or by emailing pete@postercentral.com. Most importantly, please know that I pay the BEST PRICES IN THIS HOBBY, PERIOD, for vintage R&B (and other formats) concert-advertising placards such as these two Price’s.
And if you’d like to see a few more dramatically cool, rare, vintage boxing-style R&B concert posters, just step over one page to this set of beauties: http://www.postercentral.com/rhythmnblues.htm
A really fun parade of six different 1963 Ray Charles window cards, from the spring through the end of the year. Four I have in my possession, and two are represented with photographs.
And there are three different designs used for these half-dozen posters, although the predominant one is the orange one you saw in the thumbnail grab of this video.
The first Ray Charles concert advertisement I show you hails from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and has a very busy venue information section up at the top. It describes several different ways you can buy your tickets.
The body of the poster is what I call the “tour blank” portion, meaning it was used almost all year long with nothing changing – the orange area. Everything changed day-to-day up top; nothing changed down below.
So the permanent wording found on this Ray Charles fence poster states that he was “An unforgettable musical experience!” and “The most creative musical giant of this generation!”
Not humble words, but his nickname was “the Genius,” after all, and hyperbole often appears in any marketing materials. But hey – can you name a more “creative musical giant” than Ray at this time, in his prime?
Then the second Ray Charles concert card I show you is actually a throwback to his 1961 tour-blank poster, for which I have a second video posted. It’s the lovely red & yellow one with Quincy Jones mentioned.
It’s a little out of chronological order, being from March (’63), but I wanted to start this video off with the orange tour blank since it’s the predominant one throughout my presentation.
That Ray Charles playbill poster is from the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, MO, and since I didn’t have the poster in my possession, I hold up a photograph of it for discussion.
Then I move along to Buffalo, New York in the summertime, where Buffalo Jazz Festival promoter Joe Rico always created his own concert posters, and this show was no exception.
Rico’s Ray Charles street sign is strikingly different from the others in this video, although it’s still 14×22 inches in size and made of cardboard (like all the others).
It not only uses two photographs – both Ray himself and the Raelets as a foursome – but has lots of local information spread throughout, including “The Crowning of Miss WUFO of 1963.”
The next Ray Charles ticket poster is from Sacramento, CA at the famed Memorial Auditorium. (I’ve video-blogged several other cool concert posters from this hallowed venue.)
I forgot to mention that it says along the bottom of each of these orange posters, “His Orchestra and the Raelets” and “Entire Production under the supervision of Jeff D. Brown.”
The next Ray Charles boxing-style concert poster is from a college in Montclair, New Jersey. It was just Montclair State College at the time, but has since become a University.
This has the craziest ticket-buying information of them all… since it was held on a college campus, students could only buy tickets at oddball times on varying days, and never on the weekend. It’s all spelled out right there on the poster.
And the last Ray Charles concert sign of this video is represented by a photograph… it’s the last weekend of the year, Saturday night Dec. 28, and the venue was the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA.
The Shrine is another one of those hallowed institutions that held a tremendous number, and variety, of live concert events over the years, but they didn’t use posters very much for advertising.
These six Ray Charles show placards were shown to you today with great enthusiasm by Pete Howard of San Luis Obispo, CA. That would be me, yes, and I can be contacted two different ways: pete@postercentral.com or (805) 540-0020. Please always keep in mind that I pay the very best prices realized in this hobby for vintage R&B show cards like these six, from any good musician.
A great piece of early Bob Dylan concert memorabilia in the form of a 1963 Newport Folk Festival concert poster, the weekend that many say made Bob Dylan a star.
This 9 x 24-inch advertising piece was printed in green and purple ink on white paper, a perfect size for putting on poles and squeezing into narrow spaces on cluttered bulletin boards.
Noted folk musician and graphic artist Eric Von Schmidt designed this Bob Dylan Newport Folk Festival placard, and his artist’s signature appears at the top alongside the purple hat.
It’s a fun, irreverent drawing, with a happy person up top spreading his arms as if to welcome all attendees to the weekend’s events.
But the musicians are the thing on this Newport Folk Festival broadside; 40 of them are listed, and another 30 played but weren’t included on the poster.
Their names are divided up evenly amongst four colorful ovals; three evening shows and the Sunday daytime matinee, which appears as the last oval, out of chronological sequence.
And then there’s a light purple stripe down the left side of this Bob Dylan Newport Folk Festival window poster, which proclaims, “plus 20 Morning-Afternoon Panels and Workshops,” at least one of which Dylan attended.
The motion picture “Festival!,” available on DVD, documents this weekend well, and shows Dylan playing both on stage and in workshop situations.
The big-artist highlights of this Newport Folk Festival concert placard would be, oval-by-oval: Dylan, Peter Paul & Mary, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys and Doc Watson in the top green oval;
Judy Collins, John Lee Hooker, and Doc Watson again, in the second (purple) oval;
then the third (green) oval of this Bob Dylan Newport Folk Festival appearance poster lists the Queen of Folk Music at the time, Joan Baez, plus Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Pete Seeger;
and the final, purple oval – for the daytime show – includes Dave Van Ronk, John Hammond Jr. and Ian & Sylvia.
Other musicians appearing on this 1963 Newport Folk Festival telephone-pole poster include Helene Baillargeon, Jean Carignan, The Freedom Singers, Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry, Raun MacKinnon, Jean Redpath, Clarence Ashley, Theodore Bikel, Jim & Jesse, Bessie Jones & The Sea Island Singers, Kiva American Indian Group, Jean Ritchie, The Tarriers,
Sam Hinton, Mississippi John Hurt, Tex Logan, the New Lost City Ramblers, Frank Proffitt, the Rooftop Singers, Maybelle Carter, Mac Wiseman, Paul Clayton, The Dillards, Bernice Johnson, Mike Settle, Jackie Washington and Ed McCurdy. Whew!
For collectors, there are other items of Bob Dylan Newport Folk Festival concert memorabilia that you can collect, including mailers, handbills and ticket stubs. They’re around; you just have to look hard.
But for me, nothing beats this advertising poster. It just captures the spirit of the weekend and the naivete of the times before big business took over. Would you believe that each performer was paid only fifty dollars? (Plus they were given food, lodging and expenses.)
I think Von Schmidt’s Newport Folk Festival show card far outstrips the ones designed for the following two years, which Dylan also appeared at… 1964 and ’65.
Those two, which I’ve also video-blogged on my site, were plain and simple by comparison. They’re monochromatic in appearance, are the standard 14×22-inch cardboard, and have extremely limited artwork.
So this is the Bob Dylan Newport Folk Festival concert announcement to have, IMHO. You also have the strong factor of innocence… he went into this weekend little more than a cult figure, but emerged as a star, especially with Peter Paul & Mary having his “Blowin’ in the Wind” in the national Top 10 right now.
Just two years later, Dylan would plug in his electric guitar at Newport and blow everyone’s minds, single-handedly creating the folk-rock movement that dominated the mid-’60s pop music scene.
When you see a Newport Folk Festival pole poster as attractive as this, it’s easy to forget that it was created to live for just a few weeks. It was probably printed in June, and most were thrown away in August. Isn’t that amazing?
Now, over half-a-century later, music collectors such as myself covet such items, as they’re so effective at invoking the feelings of nostalgia surrounding our favorite music from the distant past.
Maybe Von Schmidt had this in mind as he designed his Bob Dylan Newport Folk Festival street sign. He must have figured that some people, perhaps the 40 musicians themselves, would’ve kept one for posterity.
Maybe the estates of all the deceased musicians still have one. Hopefully they’ll realize the collector’s cache attached to such items, and either keep them or move them along to someone who cares – like us!
This Newport Folk Festival window card is enthusiastically shown to you today by Peter J. Howard, a leading Dylan authority who’s been quoted in books, DVDs and other media re Dylan’s history and impact. That’s me, and I can be contacted using pete@postercentral.com or by calling up (805) 540-0020.
As a serious Dylan collector since the early 1970s, please be aware that I pay the highest prices in the hobby, period, for vintage Bob Dylan concert memorabilia and advertising materials.
To see a few more compelling Bob Dylan vintage advertising posters, just visit this Dylan-only page on my extensive hobby web site: http://www.postercentral.com/bobdylan.htm
Three marvelously early and historic Roy Orbison & the Teen Kings window cards from 1956, when he was just starting out and recorded for Sun Records.
In fact, these were entirely Sun Records shows, as he shared the bill with star Carl Perkins and up-and-comer Warren Smith, both of whom also recorded for Sun.
All three of these cardboard Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings poster boards were printed by Hatch Show Print of Nashville, TN. And the ones I’m showing you actually came directly from Hatch’s file cabinets many moons ago.
This explains why all three were once quarter-folded, with the primitive creases still remaining to some degree; and all have the year written in ink pen on the back for easy reference.
The first Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings placard I show today is from, quaintly, a High School Gym in Ripley, MS. And in fact, it also states “The Senior Class Presents” – how fun & cool is that?
The date was Thurs. Nov. 8, with no year needing to be on there. This thing was probably printed in October and most of them thrown away right after the show, so who needed to be reminded that it was 1956?
I do like the headline wording on this Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings in-person poster… “Rock & Roll Revue – Starring Carl Perkins” and then giving his classic song title from earlier in the year, “Blue Suede Shoes.”
Sun recording artist and rockabilly pioneer Warren Smith then gets the second spot on the bill, along with a plug for his seminal and influential “Ubangi Stomp.”
In fact, this Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings billboard consists entirely of Sun Records artists… that fact alone ramps up its coolness factor considerably.
Then you have Orby himself listed at the bottom, almost looking lonely down there, although it does add “Sensational” to the billing, which is a nice little feather in their cap.
In showing you the second Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings window display in this video, I have to move forward only one night… that’s right, Friday, Nov. 9 (1956).
The state was Kentucky this time, the city was Paducah and the venue was the “Electrician’s Hall.” Showtime was 8:00 PM, as it is on all three posters.
However, this particular Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings event poster is the only one of the three to give ticket prices, which are always great to see. “Admission: Advance $1.50, At Door $2.00” it states.
I have no idea why the other two posters leave off the ticket prices; I can only guess it was the choice of each local promoter.
Instead of the previous “Rock & Roll Revue,” this Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings show placard from Kentucky says “Rock & Roll Dance Party.”
And then you’ve got the headliner, once again… Carl Perkins, rightfully described as “Mr. Blue Suede Shoes.”
And the look! Guess where the subject of this Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings concert sign is billed now… second! Orby moved up above Warren Smith this time… but lost the “Sensational.”
And interestingly, Smith got a new song title attached to his name… “Rock ’N Roll Ruby,” his follow-up Sun single to “Ubangi Stomp.” But neither one ever charted on Billboard magazine’s singles charts – pop or country.
And then the third & final Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings boxing-style concert poster loses Smith altogether, and moves Orby up with big, tall letters so that he’s practically co-billed with Perkins.
And a song title! Hurray! There it is, “Ooby Dooby” right there on the poster, under their name. Not a smash hit by any means, but the beginning of Roy’s long and storied career.
And then it says “3 Hour Show and Dance” at the bottom of this third Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings ticket poster. It’s the only one of the three to give any indication of how long the show was.
Odd note about this third one: Someone, probably at Hatch, took an ink pen and scratched out “Show &” and wrote in “Party” by hand, and same with “In Person” being crossed off and “Starring” written in. I presume this was for future shows (and posters) on the tour.
So which Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings street sign would you choose for your collection, if you had to choose just one? Would you go for the last one, since it has the biggest lettering and the song “Ooby Dooby”?
Or would you go for the second one, where Roy is middle-billed and you have the fun ticket prices on there?
Or, like me, would you pick the first one, because I love the “before-he-was-famous” aspect of having him bottom-billed, the word “Sensational” in there, and the fact they’re playing at a high school gym and presented by the Senior Class?
Tough choice, isn’t it? I mean, any Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings fence poster would be awesome to have, but when I stumbled across all three of these for my blog, I was totally thrilled.
In a later blog, I’m going to show you two from 1960, the year he broke through with “Only the Lonely,” and one from 1964, the year of “Oh, Pretty Woman.”
These three Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings concert advertisements measure the standard 14 by 22” in size, and were printed with red & yellow ink onto white cardboard.
If these things had been made of paper, many of them would not have withstood the weather elements, especially in the fall, when they were posted outside on telephone poles and fences.
These Roy Orbison & The Teen Kings street signs are proudly & happily shown to you today by rock ’n’ roll historian and lifelong collector Peter J. Howard. I started my music career at Wallich’s Music City on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood in 1972, and have stayed in the music business ever since!
Please be aware that I pay the very HIGHEST prices in this hobby for cool, rare, collectible music and rock & roll stuff like this. You can reach me either by using pete@postercentral.com or by calling (805) 540-0020.
And to see more great ’50s rock ‘n roll ticket posters, including a terrific one of Jerry Lee Lewis when he was also on Sun Records, just move over a notch to this page:
PosterCentral.com 