Classic Posters – The Interviews Book One 1 Classic Posters – The Interviews Book One DEDICATION Table of Contents This book is dedicated to poster 2 Introduction expert extraordinare Eric King who 5 Chet Helms and the Avalon Ballroom patiently (and kindly) answered 35 Eddie Wilson and The Armadillo thousands of my questions over a 48 Emek 70 Alton Kelley period of many years. King also 89 David Singer served as a host and guide for me 108 Ed Walker and S.F. Rock Posters in the Bay Area introducing me to 113 Eric King – Poster Expert Extraordinaire the poster artists and collectors in 133 Frank Kozik 145 Grant Mechinan of S.F. Rock Posters Berkeley, San Francisco and 151 Penelope Fried points north. Eric King is good 170 Phil Cushway and ArtRock company. 183 Greg Davidson – Poster Expert 202 Russ Gibb – The Grande Ballroom Thank you Eric! 217 Randy Tuten 252 Stanley Mouse 264 Victor Moscoso In addition, thanks to Phil Cushway, 284 Dennis King and D. King Gallery Jack Bodnar, Gary Grimshaw, Mark 292 Paul Grushkin and the “Art of Rock” Arminsky, Sam Yeats, Jagmo (Nels Jacobson) and others for being kind enough to share their extensive poster © 2002-2011 Michael Erlewine collections with me for photographing. ISBN 0-925182-74-5 I also want to thank Alton Kelley, All rights reserved. No part of the publication Stanley Mouse, David Singer, Frank may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, Kozik, Grant Mechinan, Penelope Fried, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, Phil Cushway, Greg Davidson, Russ electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, Gibb, Randy Tutan, Victor Moscoso, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Eddie Wilson, Chet Helms, Emek, publisher. Jermaine Rogers, and Dennis King for making time to interview with me. Cover poster art from 1967 by Michael Erlewine An ebook from Heart Center Publications 315 Marion Avenue Big Rapids, Michigan 49307 First published 2011 [email protected] 2 Classic Posters – The Interviews Book One ClassicPosters.com - History Some years later, after I was kind of I have been in love with music concert pushed out of my former company, as posters since 1965 when I ended up in entrepreneurs often are, I decided to charge of advertising for my group the create the All-Poster Guide all by Prime Movers Blues Band. I guess no myself. However that URL on the web one else was interested or could figure (by that time) belonged to someone else out how to advertise but me, so before I so I settled on ClassicPosters.com and knew it I had converted a small attic dug in. room in the Prime Mover House at 114 Some years went by as I assiduously N. Division in Ann Arbor Michigan to a compiled data on rock posters. I also silkscreen shop. began to photograph posters so that years from now scholars could study It was there I spent who-knows-how- many hours cutting Rubylith screens them. In the basement of my and printing band posters. Replicating library/studio I built my own vacuum an image you love for a band you love table and paid $5000 for the latest was a slow but deeply satisfying professional camera in 2001, the Nikon process. The rest of the band (and me) D1x. Today that same camera is worth would then take the freshly printed maybe $300. posters and put them up all over town. With my vacuum table to hold the The posters didn‟t last long either. The posters in place, special lights to next day many of them would be gone illuminate the posters,my Nikon D1x, I and we would have to do it all over began to photograph and measure again. I wonder where those posters are concert posters. Before I was done I had today. photographed over 30,000 posters, This was in the mid-1960s and concert handbills, postcards, and original art. music posters were reaching a new Collectors from all over the country audience and a new era. Of course, the eventually trusted me enough to either main poster scene was in San bring their collections to my studio Francisco. Eventually we heard about themselves or (while holding their the poster artists there and saw their. breath) dare to send this priceless art Wow! We loved it. overnight by FedEx. So it is no wonder that my love for And I made a number of trips to San concert posters remained later when I Francisco and the Bay Area to meet the became an archivist of popular culture artists and collectors of these posters, and started AMG: the All-Music Guide, those that were still with us. the All-Movie Guide, and the All-Game To make a long story short, although I Guide. When I sold AMG in 1998 I had built a wonderful poster site, because I plans for the All-Poster Guide, but the was delayed in my original impulse and company that bought AMG was not idea, by the time my site was interested in my ideas once they operational I had competition in purchased my company. The All-Poster WolfgangsVault.com. They had Guide was canned from day one, but I something I did not have, which was never forgot about it. deep pockets. I had no way to compete 3 Classic Posters – The Interviews Book One with them and they built a wonderful site the most important poster artists and and also bought up almost every major collectors I have been able to meet. poster collection I know of. Some of them are short, but most of It was disappointing but that is the way them are long to very long. If you love life works sometimes. You snooze, you concert posters and their history, at lose. I was a day late and a dollar short, least in the mid-Sixties, then these as they say. Anyway that is all water articles will be a fun read for you. over the dam at this point. I seem to keep getting older and I am told that is a good thing compared to the alternative, so it is time for me to share some of my work with anyone out there interested in concert posters. Now I am careful to say “Concert Poster” because I have no interest in what are called “Promotional Posters,” however beautiful they may be. I only ever cared about actual posters that were made and put up around town for a real live music concert. We won‟t be discussing promotional posters here. This is the first of what I hope will be several volumes of material on concert posters. I apologize in advance for any typos and the less-than-elegant formatting of this book. I don‟t have the time or interest just now to clean it all up, although as you will see it is quite readable. I have too many other things to take care of while I am still on the planet, so please accept what I can offer, warts and all. And ClassicPosters.com is still very much alive although run by someone other than myself. Please visit their wonderful site for images, etc. I have donated all my 30,000+ images, articles, data, database, etc. to them and also the the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, where my work will be available to scholars in the future. What you have here are a group of seventeen interviews I did with some of 4 Classic Posters – The Interviews Book One Interview with Chet Helms you will, of my grandfather. He was a by Michael Erlewine fundamentalist Baptist minister who [Chet Helms not only founded the essentially made his living and way in Family Dog at the Avalon, but more the world by starting little churches all important Helms was an incredible force over Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and in the San Francisco movement and a back there. And he had the Worth Bible kind and generous person to all.] College, and he had a correspondence school. You could take private lessons. Background in Texas You just sent him money and ultimately Michael Erlewine: What was your given got some kind of a little doctorate of name Chet? divinity or something of that order. But basically, many of the same Chet Helms: August 2nd, 1942. fundamentals for creating and producing Chet Helms: Born in Santa Maria, CA. churches apply to creating and producing shows. So, a lot of the skills Chet Helms: Chester Leo Helms, Jr. that I had, that I brought to that, came, Michael Erlewine: You've done so really, pretty directly out of, in a sense, much I can't hope to… everyone says being back stage at a church. You you have a wealth of stories and know. knowledge. Basically, what I'd like to Michael Erlewine: Hmm, what would know is: how did you get to California or some of those skills be? to this area of California? How did you get involved in the scene? How did you Chet Helms: Well, promotional skills, get started in this whole dance-hall for one thing. How to communicate to scene? the world that you‟re doing something at a particular time and place. Part of that Chet Helms: Chester Leo Helms, Jr. came out the fact that my uncles were Michael Erlewine: How did you get to printers. I think my uncles and my California or to this area of California? grandfather got into printing initially, so How did you get involved in the scene? they could publish Bible tracks.