FD-18 · Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse
San Francisco
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Voice of Music
Two shows across town on the same Thursday, July 28, 1966, and that collision is the whole story here. The hero of the day is the Avalon Ballroom, where the Family Dog opened a three-night run — July 28 through 30, 1966 — with Bo Diddley headlining over Quicksilver Messenger Service. The poster is FD-18, drawn by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley, and it's the one collectors nickname "Voice of Music" because it lifts…
Read the full story →Also on July 28
AOR-2.156 — California Hall
"Bilbo's Birthday Party" at California Hall — a Tolkien-themed dance in the summer of 1966, and a good example of the kind of event the poster series preserves that the histories usually skip. California Hall on Polk Street was a German-American social hall from 1912, and through the middle sixties…
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BG-75 — Fillmore Auditorium
The Doors opened at the Fillmore Auditorium, taking over the second half of BG-75 from the Yardbirds, with the James Cotton Blues Band and Richie Havens staying on beneath them. The timing could hardly be sharper. "Light My Fire" reached number one in the United States during this week. The Doors h…
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FD-73 — Avalon Ballroom
Night two of Blue Cheer, Captain Beefheart and the Youngbloods at the Avalon, on FD-73. Blue Cheer were about to matter more than anyone at the time would have guessed. The San Francisco trio's version of "Summertime Blues," recorded later that year, is routinely cited as one of the first heavy met…
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FD-130 — Avalon Ballroom
Quicksilver Messenger Service headlining the Avalon over Howlin' Wolf and Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, on FD-130. Howlin' Wolf is the name to stop on. Chester Burnett was fifty-eight, six foot three, and had been making records for Chess since 1951 — "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Spoonful," "Little Red …
Read about this poster →Were You There?
Do you have memories of this show, or an original FD-18 poster? On This Day in Art Rock History celebrates the people who lived through the psychedelic era. Your stories and collections matter to this archive.