On This Day in Art Rock History

A DAILY CHRONICLE

SAN FRANCISCO · THE PSYCHEDELIC ERA · 1960s

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Quicksilver Messenger Service (BG-133, QMS leg night 2)

BG-133 · August 24, 1968
BG-133

BG-133 · Alton Kelley, Rick Griffin

Catalog Number
BG-133
Series
Bill Graham
Venue
Fillmore West
San Francisco
Date
August 24, 1968
Poster Artists
Nickname
Quicksilver Messenger Service (BG-133, QMS leg night 2)
Performers
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Spooky Tooth
Cold Blood

Saturday, August 24, 1968 continued the Quicksilver leg of BG-133 at the Fillmore West — Quicksilver Messenger Service with Spooky Tooth and Cold Blood.

BG-133 is the most physically unusual sheet in this chronicle and its pages have not said so. It is a Rick Griffin design, with Alton Kelley, and it was **the first in a series of double-sized posters** Graham used to advertise longer runs: roughly 22 by 28 inches on uncoated index stock, against the 14 by 21 of essentially everything else in the series. Its own catalogue title gives the span as "Fillmore West 8/13-18/68 & 8/20-25/68" — one poster covering two separate weeks and four headline legs: the Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Grateful Dead, and Quicksilver.

That is why BG-133 reaches across eleven days of this chronicle, and why it once ended up heroing five of seven days in a single published window before that was caught and fixed. The sheet was designed to cover more ground than any poster before it.

Spooky Tooth, second on this night, were a British band with Gary Wright and Mike Harrison — two singers, two keyboard players — on their first American tour. Cold Blood, third, were an Oakland soul band fronted by Lydia Pense, and among the East Bay groups Graham used steadily.

Verification Notes

Antagonist (2026-08-17 headless run): corroborated via check-claims on vetted tiers + adversarial live reads (wolfgangs/gdao/dead.net/setlist.fm/billgrahamfoundation/COAU-latest + Corry Arnold blogs). QMS leg night 2, same BG-133 poster. Griffin & Kelley. DEEPENED 2026-09-03 (pass 2). Bill per COAU Fillmore West listings (Hannan/Arnold), 24 August 1968: 'Quicksilver, Spooky Tooth, Cold Blood Lights: Holy See'. BG-133 as the FIRST double-sized poster in the series, 22x28 uncoated index, Rick Griffin with Alton Kelley, spanning two separate weeks (8/13-18 and 8/20-25) — all from classicposters.com product page (browser session 2026-09-03), and not previously stated on any of this chronicle's eleven BG-133 pages. DEEPENED 2026-09-03 (pass 2). Bill per COAU Fillmore West listings (Hannan/Arnold), 24 August 1968: 'Quicksilver, Spooky Tooth, Cold Blood Lights: Holy See'. BG-133 as the FIRST double-sized poster in the series, 22x28 uncoated index, Rick Griffin with Alton Kelley, spanning two separate weeks (8/13-18 and 8/20-25) — all from classicposters.com product page (browser session 2026-09-03), and not previously stated on any of this chronicle's eleven BG-133 pages.

Were You There?

Do you have memories of this show, or an original BG-133 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.

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