Daily Flash; Quicksilver Messenger Service; Country Joe & the Fish; Kelley, Alton; Mouse, Stanley; Hillyard, Roger; van Meter, Ben

Original Concert Poster: Daily Flash, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe & the Fish ("Balloon," November 18-19, 1966)

San Francisco, CA: Family Dog Productions, 1966. First Edition, Third Printing. Single Sheet. A poster (appx. 13&7/8" x 19&7/8") announcing a concert with performances headlined by the Daily Flash, along with Quicksilver Messenger Service & Country Joe & the Fish, during November 18-19, 1966 at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. The acclaimed American artist Stanley Mouse (b. Stanley George Miller, 1940) created the artwork & graphics reproduced here, in collaboration with the noted American poster & album cover artist Alton Kelley (1940-2008, known as "Kelley"), & "(logo) Mouse! Studios- (c) 1966 Family Dog" is found just under black border of image near lower right curved-corner (see image). Also credited on the poster are "LIGHTS BY BENROGERMETERVANHILLYARD." This scrambled, compressed reference is to Roger Hillyard & Ben van Meter. Hillyard (b. 1942) was highly involved with the exemplary psychedelic light shows of this era, later became the proprietor of a popular coffee shop & most lately the practicing resident of a Zen Buddhist center- all in San Francisco. Van Meter (b. 1941) was also a major light show producer & noted experimental filmmaker at this time, & still engages in cutting-edge creativity as of this writing. According to the Talmudic scholarship we have consulted regarding this poster (which is similar in its depth to that of our underground comix from this period), this copy is a third printing, with "No. 35-3" & "(c) Family Dog Productions, 1725 Washington Street, San Francisco" (the latter replacing deleted reference to printer) fine-printed at otherwise blank blue lower margin. King, FD-35-RP-3, pg. 89. King notes that there were two concurrent variant first printings (or that in any case there is no way to determine which followed which), so that this copy can perhaps be considered a second printing. King writes: "The central image is an old engraving of a man hanging by his waist from an old hot air balloon. A globe with stars on it and several American flags also (are) hanging from the balloon. Both the red and the blue varied from lighter to darker throughout the press run." (pg. 89) We would judge the blues & reds in this copy to be of medium-bold colors. Another iconic (& in its way red-white-&-blue patriotic) relic of the early psychedelic era that would come to full flower-power the following year during the "Summer of Love," in its (between second- &) third-rarest contemporary (or very near-contemporary) form. From the collection of Dion Wright (b. 1937), a most respected artiste & sculptor who was at the center of the scene that produced this & the many other collectible posters that symbolize a legendary time & place (see Wright's memoir, Tempus Fugitive, item No. 5008). In our sharp & seasoned estimation, this poster is in relatively fine-verging-on-very-fine condition with only touches of rubbing (most of which we believe are residuals of the printing process) to surface esp. at blue backgrounds; a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners; one very short, mostly closed vertical tear at upper edge near right corner with miniscule loss of paper. This item is too delicate to be rolled & must be shipped flat to assure no damage, therefore extra shipping costs will be required. Fine- Very Fine. [Item #5367]

Price: $100.00