Quicksilver Messenger Service; Country Joe & the Fish; Griffin, Rick; Hillyard, Roger; van Meter, Ben

Original Concert Poster: Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe & the Fish ("Sutters Mill," May 19-21, 1967)

San Francisco, CA: Family Dog Productions, 1967. First Edition. Single Sheet. An oblong poster (appx. 20" x 14") announcing a concert entitled "Sutters Mill" with performances headlined by Quicksilver Messenger Service, along with Country Joe & the Fish, during May 19-21, 1967 at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. The legendary American psychedelic artist Rick Griffin (B. Richard Alden Griffin, 1944-1991) created the artwork & graphics reproduced here, & "-Rick Griffin-" in facsimile hand-lettering bordered by dashes is found at lower right outer margin just below outermost black line border of image near right corner (see image). Credited for "Lights" is "The North American Ibis Alchemical Co.," a memorably named incarnation of Roger HIllyard, Ben van Meter & their associates. 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 recently the practicing resident of a Zen Buddhist center- all in San Francisco. Van Meter (b. 1941) was also a major light show producer & 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, this copy is one of two apparently indistinguishable, concurrent variations of the first printing, both of which have a tiny blue dot at middle-right white margin parallel with the "Y" in the right medallion Family Dog logo (again see image, enlarged); & in which the fanning-row decorative pattern at upper corners of image are printed at recto rather than verso. Both of these points are present on this copy. King, FD-62-OP-1, pg. 127. King writes: "The central image is a drawing of an old gold miner on his knees. At first glance he appears to be panning for gold. On closer examination he is not kneeling on a stream bank but on a street corner curb labeled "Van Ness Ave Sutter St,," the location of the Avalon Ballroom, and the stream is water running in the street. His "pan" actually is a screen through which he is passing marijuana to remove the seeds. Along with his canteen and bed roll he has a large sack of carefully wrapped bricks of marijuana similar to the kilogram parcels in which marijuana used to be distributed on the wholesale level. Below the drawing are the words "The Discovery of Gold at Sutters Mill." The double pun is based on the street name "Sutter" which was named after (John) Sutter who owned the mill where gold originally was discovered in California (1848) and "Acapulco Gold" which was a strain of marijuana popular in the '60s which was regularly discovered at the Avalon Ballroom on Sutter Street." (pg. 127) An iconic Griffin image from only weeks before the "Summer of Love," in its rarest concurrent-contemporary form. From the collection of Dion Wright (b. 1937), a most well-regarded artiste & sculptor who was at the center of the scene that produced this & the many other astonishing posters that symbolize a fabled time & place (see Wright's memoir, Tempus Fugitive, item No. 5008). In our alert & experienced estimation, this poster is in relatively very fine condition with only mild rubbing, browning, short creasing & occasional spotting/spot-staining at blank white outer margins; very light wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners (entire image appears bright & substantially mint). This item is too delicate to be rolled & must be shipped flat to assure no damage, therefore extra shipping costs will be required. Very Fine. [Item #5727]

Price: $300.00