One of my favorite bands Cream, used Martin Sharps iconic psychedelic neon artwork for their 1967 album Disraeli Gears. I'm lucky enough to own one of his limited edition prints.

Poster title: "Aut Jemimas Magic Show"

Artist: Rick Griffin

Where: Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco CA

When: June 8, 9, & 10th 1967

Bands: Big Brother and the Holding Co. with Janice Joplin and Canned Heat

One of the main reasons I embarked on an art career creating psychedelic fractal art was because I grew up in an era that spawned a counter culture of music, rebellion and of course art.

I don't know if my love for this type of "hippie" art is because it evoked memories of the many psychedelic light shows that most always backed what ever band I was watching that night. Or because of it's "in your face, look at me" bright neon colors that nearly every artist of that time used freely. Or maybe it was because my parents hated it so much that I embraced it because of the 
rebellious nature of my teenage youth.

Whatever it was, it stuck. 

I started collecting posters, handbills and any other paper ephemera from many of the musical acts from that time when all you had to do was show up at one of the various music venues such as The Filmore, Winterland, The Avalon Ballroom or ever high school gyms. Where ever music was played, you were sure to be able to walk away with a bit of this art. At bill Graham's Filmore or later Winterland, if you left before the last band was finished playing, many times Bill Graham himself would hand you a small, post card sized handbill of next weeks venue inviting you to return, but if you were hardy and stayed until the house lights were turned on and the band played their final notes, you got the larger poster of the following weeks gig.

What a great incentive to save up the $3.50 needed to get you into the next concert. 

Scotch tape and thumb tacks were the most common way of affixing these works of art to your bedroom walls. If I would have known that a pristine, unblemished specimen of one of these posters would cost me thousands of 2012 dollars to collect, if in fact some other collector was willing to part with it, I would have been much more careful in handling these pieces of paper. I didn't, almost no one did except of course for the man who was promoting the concerts, Bill Graham himself. He and now the holding company that owns both the originals and the rights to reproduce these works is sitting on a literal warehouse this rare art. A complete collection of BGP (Bill Graham Presents) posters costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and only a few complete sets exist. 

I thought it might be cool to take a peek into my collection. Hopefully more than sporadically, I'll post a picture here on my blog of not only a piece of my youth, but a portion of my kids inheritance.

Look for me in booth #E 37 at next weeks Spokane ArtFest.

The MAC's 27th Annual ArtFest!
June 1-3, 2012

The start of Spokane's summer! Three-day event with over 150 artisan booths, kid's Make-It-Art tent, food, music, fun!

June 1 12PM – 8 PM Music & beer garden until 10

June 2 10 AM – 8 PM Music & beer garden until 10

June 3 10 AM - 5 PM

This is our 27th year and we will again be in beautiful Coeur d'Alene Park in Spokane's Browne's Addition - two blocks from the MAC and approximately 1 mile west of downtown Spokane.

ArtFest is proud to seriously recycle. And, this year, we are asking all food vendors to use compostable serviceware. Doing our part.

I'm having a hard time this morning concentrating on my art business. I leave for a show tomorrow morning and really should be packing my van but for some reason I'd rather just sit in my studio and look out the window.

For my 10th runing, I'll be participating in the U District Street Fair on University Ave in Seattle WA. My booth number is 235 located between 43rd & 44th on the west side of the street. Man I love the weirdness of this fair.

U District Street Fair