Can YOU Pass The Acid Test? ID Card 1965-66 Intrepid Trips Inc.

Posted on September 9, 2013 by postercentral

An original, vintage Can You Pass The Acid Test? card which dates to the era of 1965-1966.

It is not known how many copies were printed of this Intrepid Trips wallet card. But since it was so small and easy to stow away for decades, perhaps a good percentage of them are still around. We can only hope.

One thing’s for certain: You can be sure a lot of hip, local scenesters had fun with their Merry Pranksters wallet card around the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco in the mid-’60s, maybe even producing this thing from their wallet (or purse) when they were “carded” by the establishment.

Although it would have looked even cooler if some psychedelic colors were present, this Acid Test wallet card was printed in conventional black & white, on the cheap.

It was then up to the card-carrier to fill in the back of their Intrepid Trips card, and then adorn their signature to make it official.

It’s been shown that a lot of Pranksters and the new hippie crowd would fill out the back of their Acid Test ID card with humor being their first priority. For example, “I was born” could be filled in with “yes” or “naked & screaming,” or they’d enter in “have two eyes”… stilly stuff like that.

And to top it all off, the card holder would hopefully attach a photo of themselves over the square on the back of their Merry Pranksters card. I imagine a common source of such photos in the mid-sixties were those two-bit B&W photo booths, which gave you a small strip of four pictures.

As you can see, this Intrepid Trips ID card depicts none other than Uncle Sam on the front, as a satirical take-off on the U.S. Army’s recruiting campaign that young people were only too aware of.

You can probably tell in my video, but the dimensions of this Merry Pranksters ID card are the same as a standard business card.

One last thought: Wouldn’t it be awesome to locate the original Acid Test membership card from people like head Prankster Ken Kesey, the Dead’s Jerry Garcia, important Prankster Ken Babbs, Wavy Gravy, Allen Ginsberg or any of the other early participants who made a name for themselves?

The complete wording on this Intrepid Trips membership card, exactly as it reads:

(front of card)

Can YOU Pass The Acid Test? (next to rendition of Uncle Sam)

(back of card)

My Name is _______

I live at ______

I was born _______

I am __________ tall,

have ______ eyes,

_____ hair,

and weigh __________

I am a member of INTREPID TRIPS, INC. and am doing nothing.

____________

Signature

(and then, in the box) PASTE PHOTO HERE

This authentic, genuine item of San Francisco psychedelic music-history memorabilia is displayed and lectured upon by collector Peter Howard (805.540-0020, or, pete@postercentral.com). I will pay TOP DOLLAR for one of these original cards, or any items of vintage Acid Test material from 1965-66.

To see more artifacts of San Francisco’s psychedelic era, primarily concert posters, just trip over to this page right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm

Posted in **Psychedelic Posters Only, Fillmore Auditorium | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alan Freed Big Beat Concert Flyer 1950’s Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis

Posted on August 16, 2013 by postercentral

An authentic, vintage Alan Freed Big Beat concert handbill from 1958 at the RPI Field House in the city of Troy, N.Y.

This Alan Freed Big Beat concert slinger is highly collectable due to the fact that it features several members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The overall look of this Alan Freed Big Beat handout is quite popular with music fans and collectors, with its many rows of musicians overwhelming one with the amount of talent on this tour.

Other than the standard black & white colors, this Alan Freed Big Beat concert herald uses just two other colors, yellow and red, to create its strong eye appeal.

Most collectors point out that this Alan Freed Big Beat handbill has just about everything you’d want in a concert advertisement, with the one exception possibly being several musicians down at the bottom who had very short careers.

If a rock ’n’ roll collector is seeking a Buddy Holly handbill, this is one of the few examples they have to seek out; whereas with many more years of performing, it’s much easier to locate old Jerry Lee Lewis or Chuck Berry concert handbills.

One of this item’s strongest designs is that every single musician on this Alan Freed Big Beat concert flier has both a picture and at least one song title listed by their name.  That’s not common with such a busy field of acts on a small item like this, but I’m sure glad they went to that effort.

It’s interesting to note how this Alan Freed Big Beat show bill depicts Buddy Holly & The Crickets as two different acts, with a pair of song titles apiece and even separate photographs – with Buddy not part of the Crickets picture! That’s partly due to the way Coral Records released their 45s in the 1950s. (“That’ll Be the Day,” for example, was credited on the label simply to “The Crickets.”)

Although the bigger Alan Freed Big Beat concert poster was manufactured on rigid cardboard, this flyer was just printed on paper.

With such a strong, compelling appearance, it’s too bad that the designer for this Alan Freed Big Beat concert handout is not known. He or she has never been identified publicly, as best as I know.

This Alan Freed Big Beat leaflet looks very small compared to its big sister, the cardboard poster, with dimensions of just 6 by 9 inches.

Although no printer’s credit is given anywhere, it’s a pretty safe bet that this handbill was printed by the Murray Poster Printing Company in New York, because that’s the company which printed the Alan Freed Big Beat window card for the same tour.

If you were curious about the number of musicians taking part in this show, this Alan Freed Big Beat appearance sheet does the counting for you. That’s because it states, “17 Top Attractions, 4 Great Bands, Cast of 60,” and then on the opposite side, “60 Stars.” All of that entertainment for just $1.50, if you bought the cheapest tickets… wow!

Speaking of ticket prices, did you see the range at the top of this Alan Freed Big Beat showbill? They were priced from $1.50 to $3.00. At the least expensive ticket price, with “60 stars” in the show, it came to just 2.5 cents for each musical star! (Of course, many of those “musical stars” were just sidemen & band members.)

This Alan Freed Big Beat flyer is often referred to as a “tour blank”… the primary, colored part of it was used for the whole tour. The white strip up on the top with the concert date, venue and city is what would change from city to city on this handout advertisement. Everything from Alan Freed Presents the Big Beat All In Person Show on down was the permanent part that never changed.

The larger, matching Alan Freed Big Beat placard was also utilized as a tour blank… town-to-town information was printed into the blank area at the top.

As a dedicated collector of old rock ’n’ roll memorabilia, I was very fortunate to find this Alan Freed Big Beat concert leaflet in mint condition. Usually a poster or handbill this old has a lot of little damage.

As a music historian, I can say with confidence that there were six primary “founding fathers” of rock & roll in the ’50s… and it’s wonderful that this Alan Freed Big Beat slinger features three of them: Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly & the Crickets and “the Killer,” Jerry Lee Lewis. (The other three being Fats Domino, Elvis Presley of course, and Little Richard.)

While this handbill of mine comes from the tour stop in Troy, New York on May 6, 1958, I have yet to see an Alan Freed Big Beat concert placard – the bigger, cardboard version of this – from Troy. I’ve seen a few other cities on the tour in poster form, but not this date.

I just love the way this Alan Freed Big Beat herald says at the bottom, “Direct from Record Smashing N.Y. Paramount Engagement.” What marketing!

Alan Freed’s term “Big Beat” was used in England by the early ’60s rock groups over there… in fact, there’s even a well-known series of Beatles Big Beat concert posters from 1961-62 that used that very term in big letters on each poster. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a Beatles Operation Big Beat concert poster on your wall right alongside an Alan Freed American Big Beat one?!

This Alan Freed Big Beat handbill is shown off, discussed and appraised by collector Pete Howard (805-540-0020 cell phone or pete@postercentral.com by E). As a big collector of vintage rock ’n’ roll, I pay absolute TOP DOLLAR for 1950s concert memorabilia like this.

If you’d like to see the larger version of this, an Alan Freed Big Beat poster instead of the flyer, plus a few other 1950s multi-act tour posters, just bop onto this page of my internet Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/multi-act_1950s.htm

Posted in 1950s Rock ’N' Roll, Handbills & Flyers | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert Window Card 1966 Fillmore Auditorium

Posted on August 9, 2013 by postercentral

An authentic, genuine January 1966 San Francisco Mime Troupe Dance-Concert poster, held at the Fillmore Auditorium in S.F. Although it doesn’t say it anywhere, this item is oftentimes referred to as the S.F. Mime Troupe’s Appeals III poster.

Famous San Francisco rock promoter Bill Graham presented the show marketed on this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert window card, and his name is printed in the upper left – the first time Graham’s name ever appeared on a Fillmore concert poster, so that’s historic in itself.

Perhaps the most unusual aspect of this S.F. Mime Troupe concert poster is the fact that there’s no picture of The Grateful Dead, unlike the other musicians. Since they had just recently changed their name, Graham felt compelled to remind people that they had previously been known as The Warlocks.

Without the Dead pictured, that leaves Grace Slick as the brightest star shown on this S.F. Mime Troupe show poster… she’s in the Great Society’s photograph, of course, rocking back on her boot heels.

When you compare this collectible to the Mime Troupe Appeals Party I or II handbills, it’s fascinating how this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert announcement doesn’t use the words “benefit,” “appeal” or any such verbiage. A good guess is that Bill Graham realized by now that the music was drawing the crowds, not the fact that it benefited some small, local group of radical actors.

This S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert broadside is thought to probably be the only concert advertisement to mention both the Warlocks and the Grateful Dead in the same breath… because it was right after (by about one month) the band’s name change.

Only one catchy color – besides the usual black and white – was used by the printer on this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert placard. The designer chose pink, and used it generously… only about seven words were printed in black.

Down in the lower-left corner, the price for admission was given as $2.00, labeled a “donation” on this S.F. Mime Troupe event poster.  The price had been just $1.00 for the first Mime Troupe benefit and $1.50 for the subsequent one, but this time Bill Graham decided to pay his performers a modest fee – scale – and thus he charged a bit more for people to attend.

Jefferson Airplane collectors would be somewhat interested in obtaining this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert window display for their collections because the Great Society’s lead singer, the previously mentioned Grace Slick, would go on to join the Airplane about nine months later.

Anyone who follows the history of San Francisco rock should appreciate the fact that The Mystery Trend are shown on this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert show placard. They were a seminal Bay-Area rock band that played at the very first informal S.F. rock dance anyone can recall, back in May 1965 when they were called The Terrazzo Brothers. Unfortunately, there is no known Terrazzo Brothers concert poster or handbill from the Primalon, where that dance took place.

As usual, the year is not given on this 1966 S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert telephone-pole poster, because the lifespan of old concert posters like this was only a few weeks, not a matter of years.

The measurements for this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert ticket poster are 14 x 22”, and it was printed on cardboard, not paper.

However, nobody knows which printing company made this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert sign, but it was probably done by someone in the Bay Area, not out of town.

The entire wording found this vintage, collectable Bill Graham Presents concert poster, as it reads from top to bottom:

Bill Graham Presents (then switch to black print) S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert (back to pink print) with The Great Society, Sam Thomas & The Gentleman’s Band, The Mystery Trend, The Grateful Dead (formerly The Warlocks) and many other friends.

Friday, January 14, 9 pm til ? – Fillmore Auditorium (in black print), Fillmore and Geary Streets  donations: $2.00  information CA1-1984

In the upper left-hand corner, “Bill Graham Presents” appears in three pink words on this S.F. Mime Troupe Dance-Concert billboard. At last, Graham had worked his name onto the third and final of his three Mime Troupe benefits. Graham’s name had not appeared on the marketing materials for the first two events, not even the fliers.

It’s worth remembering that by the time this S.F. Mime Troupe concert placard was printed, however, Bill had separated himself from the radical organization and was keen on starting up his own series of concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium. The rest is history!

This S.F. Mime Troupe boxing-style concert poster is displayed and discussed with great enthusiasm by known collector Pete Howard (805-540-0020 or pete@postercentral.com thru email). I, Pete, will pay the very best top dollar for this poster or any similar to it from S.F. rock’s earliest days.

To view some other rare and collectable concert placards from the golden psychedelic era, just click over to this page located within these pages right here on my Web site: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm

Posted in **All Posters, **Psychedelic Posters Only, *Grateful Dead, Boxing-Style Concert Posters, Fillmore Auditorium | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sam Cooke, Drifters Concert Poster 1950s In-Person Window Sign

Posted on August 2, 2013 by postercentral

An original, authentic 1958 Sam Cooke window card with a total of six hit-making acts on the bill.

You have to admire the way the blues, reds and yellows accentuate the message on this Sam Cooke show poster, making it quite eye-catching from a distance.

Unfortunately, this particular Sam Cooke broadside was trimmed down from its original 22 x 28” dimensions; it originally had a white border all the way around.

When whoever it was (not me!) did the trimming of this Sam Cooke sign a long time ago, they cut a somewhat jagged edge all the way around. One would have to even out those edges if they wanted to frame it.

The upper portion of this Sam Cooke concert placard was originally about six inches of blank white area, which would have then been used to print the concert’s date and ticket information.

What’s left of this Sam Cooke telephone-pole poster is roughly 21 by 22 inches.  Still, I’d rather have this than nothing!

I really get a kick out of the way all six musicians on this Sam Cooke announcement have a song title credited to them, with Cooke the only one to get two. It’s a shame they didn’t use a hit for The Drifters like the #1 “Money Honey,” instead of that song title nobody knows!

This Sam Cooke placard was manufactured on cardboard material, not paper, the standard practice of the day.

Although I don’t have a concert date to go by because the top was trimmed off, it’s easy to deduce that this Sam Cooke poster dates to the Spring of 1958. One of our biggest clues is that the latest-charting song shown on the poster, “Get a Job” by the Silhouettes, first entered Billboard’s charts in January 1958.

If you’re a regular visitor to this Web site, you’ll know that I’ve already blogged a Sam Cooke in-person poster a couple of times before. This 1958 specimen, however, is the earliest one chronologically.

It can be tough to find an original Sam Cooke boxing style concert poster because unfortunately, Mr. Cooke was tragically killed under mysterious circumstances in December 1964.

So that leaves collectors only seven calendar years in which to find an authentic Sam Cooke event poster… from 1958-1964 inclusive.

Every one of the six acts on this Sam Cooke billboard had at least one Top 40 national hit record. The Dubs barely qualify for that, but the other five had some very recognizable hits.

Most fans are aware that the legendary soul singer was a member of The Soul Stirrers gospel group before he embarked on a solo career. But the designers of this Sam Cooke window display decided not to mention that on this poster; what’s the point? It’s a totally different audience.

In fact, the very designer and the printer of this Sam Cooke show placard is unknown, because the printer’s credit was obliterated when the border was shaved off all around.  Globe Posters of Maryland is a very good guess, however.

I brought up the colors before… I really dig the way the only blue color used on this Sam Cooke ticket poster is to provide a backdrop for three of the opening acts near the bottom: Thurston Harris, the Drifters and the Dubs.

You rarely find old ticket placards like this in mint condition, and sure enough, there is a big tear in this Sam Cooke tour poster… it’s in the bottom middle portion. The rip goes up through “Raunchy” and the Drifters’ picture, stopping just before “Silhouettes.” This imperfection would mostly disappear once the poster is framed, leading collectors to sometimes say, “That damage would ‘frame out’ nicely.”

This Sam Cooke tour placard is happily explained and shown by collector Pete Howard (at 805-540-0020 or pete@postercentral.com). As a side note, I pay the very best prices, anywhere, for old, original R&B concert advertisements such as this.

If vintage rhythm & blues concert posters like this “send you,” then head on over to this page right here on my hobby Web site for more eye candy: http://www.postercentral.com/rhythmnblues.htm

Posted in **All Posters, 1950s Rock ’N' Roll, Boxing-Style Concert Posters, Soul and R&B | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grateful Dead Jefferson Airplane Toronto Handbill 1960’s O’Keefe Centre

Posted on July 29, 2013 by postercentral

An original, vintage 1960s concert card for the Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead appearing at the O’Keefe Centre in Toronto, Canada for a week in the summer of 1967.

James Gardener is the graphic artist who created the attractive autumn-colored artwork for this psychedelic BG-74 handout.

Noted photographer Herb Greene took both pictures which appear on this Jefferson Airplane Grateful Dead Toronto leaflet. He gets a name-check credit near the bottom, in orange ink, no less.

I personally love the way this BG74 handbill has an “autumn” feel to it, with its gentle green background and orange leaves scattered about, even though the fall season was still a couple of months away.

You sure see a lot of faces on this Jefferson Airplane Grateful Dead Toronto flyer… the JA had 6 members and the GD had 5 at this moment in time. Within just a couple of months, the Grateful Dead would add a sixth member with the addition of 2nd drummer Mickey Hart.

This BG-74 concert flyer is known by that designation in collector’s circles, because it was the seventy-fourth concert (or set of concerts) in Bill Graham’s numbered series that commenced in 1966.

One thing not mentioned on this Jefferson Airplane Grateful Dead Toronto concert herald, for good reason, is that both bands also played a free concert or two in Toronto sometime during this week.

One thing a bit unusual about this BG-74 concert handout is that it’s an exact representation of the larger BG-74 concert poster… there is virtually no difference in the two, other than size.  That’s unusual because usually there is at least some little difference between fliers and the larger posters, other than size.

This is all true for the front surface, anyway… the back side of this Jefferson Airplane Grateful Dead Toronto flier displays a Time magazine article written on the Summer of Love in San Francisco, whereas obviously the poster is blank on the back.

Here is the exact wording on this Jefferson Airplane Grateful Dead Toronto herald, exactly as it reads from top to bottom, including all the credits at the bottom:

(In the top white margin): Bill Graham Presents The San Francisco Scene – (and now the colorful artwork by Gardener) In Toronto – Jefferson Airplane – Grateful Dead (next to their corresponding photos)

From 31 July to 5th Aug. – Light Show by Headlights – O’Keefe Centre – (the print starts getting real small here) Evenings at 8:30 – Mats. on Weds & Sat – Box Office Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

(Now all the margin credits): Photos by Herb Greene – Printed by Tea Lautrec Posters, San Francisco – (lower right in orange) James M. Gardener ’67 – Copyright 1967 Bill Graham #74 – (and in black print at very bottom) Printed in U.S.A.

Even though the shows were in Canada, this BG-74 concert leaflet was printed in the U.S., which reportedly caused some problems with customs agents at the border… did all of them make it through?

And let’s not forget that in this video, I also show you the original Jefferson Airplane Grateful Dead Toronto bumper sticker, printed on bright Day-Glo orange paper. This BG-74 bumper sticker was never applied to anything, so the protective peel-off wax paper is still present.

A lot of collectors like the fact that this BG 74 concert flier represents more than just a series of gigs… it represents the whole “San Francisco scene” and ethos being exported from S.F. all the way up to another big city, thousands of miles away.  One can be sure it drew lots of fans from the New England states, especially New York.

This Jefferson Airplane Grateful Dead Toronto handbill is discussed with great enthusiasm by collector Peter J. Howard (805-540-0020 or pete@postercentral.com). That’s me, and I will pay the very best prices that you’ll find, anywhere, for the poster, handbill or bumper sticker for this week in Canada.

My Web site doesn’t have a page for psychedelic handbills specifically, but to see a few nice psychedelic sixties concert posters, just trip over to this page located right here on my site: http://www.postercentral.com/psychedelic.htm

Posted in **Psychedelic Posters Only, *Grateful Dead, Handbills & Flyers | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment