BG-26 · Wes Wilson
San Francisco
PH Factor Jug Band
Andrew Staples
BG-26
On September 3, 1966 — a Saturday, the middle of the Labor Day weekend — the Fillmore Auditorium was running the second night of a three-night stand held together by a single poster: BG-26, Wes Wilson's design, the one built around a nude portrait of his wife Eva (wolfgangs.com BG026; trps.org). It's a poster worth pausing on, because it's the first time Wilson used that image, and because the bill printed on it is…
Read the full story →Also on September 3
FD-24 — Avalon Ballroom
The Avalon's weekend ran Friday through Sunday, and September 3, 1966 was the closing night of the Family Dog's booking on Mouse and Kelley's FD-24 — the "Tree House" sheet, a bird's clawed foot lifting an airborne cabin out of a tangle of root and vine, printed on vellum. The bill was the 13th Flo…
Read about this poster →Matrix
While the ballrooms ran their weekends, the Matrix — Marty Balin's small club on Fillmore Street, a converted pizza parlour with a capacity in the low hundreds — was most of the way through a week-long stand by the Blues Project. The Blues Project were the New York band that mattered most to musici…
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BG-80 — Fillmore Auditorium
Sunday, September 3, 1967 was the closing night of Cream's Fillmore Auditorium engagement — the last of the six dates on Jim Blashfield's BG-80, which had carried the band from August 29 after Bonnie MacLean's BG-79 covered the opening run. The bill closed as it had run: Cream, the Electric Flag, a…
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FD-78 — Avalon Ballroom
The Avalon closed its own weekend the same night, on Mouse and Kelley's FD-78 — the "Angel" sheet, a winged figure inside a spiral ribbon of hand-lettering, printed hot orange on blue. Sunday, September 3, 1967 was the last of three nights for the Miller Blues Band, Mother Earth and Bukka White. Th…
Read about this poster →Straight Theater
Up on Haight Street the Straight Theater had Big Brother & the Holding Company for a third consecutive night, with the Southside Sound System and — swapped in for this date — Phoenix. The Straight was the neighbourhood's own room: a converted cinema at Haight and Cole, run by people who lived in th…
Read about this poster →Matrix
At the Matrix the same Sunday, Quicksilver Messenger Service played with Congress of Wonders, lights by Gum. Quicksilver in September 1967 were the great unrecorded band of the San Francisco scene — John Cipollina, Gary Duncan, David Freiberg and Greg Elmore had been playing since 1965 and would no…
Read about this poster →Matrix
By 1969 the Matrix was booking a different kind of week — local bands on short runs rather than touring names. September 3 had Mendelbaum with Womb. Mendelbaum were a Bay Area group who recorded an album that went unreleased for decades; Womb, on the same bill, also turn up this week two miles away…
Read about this poster →Were You There?
Do you have memories of this show, or an original BG-26 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.