FD-12 Grateful Dead, Quicksilver "The Quick & The Dead" 1966 Avalon Ballroom Concert Handbill. ...

Description

FD-12 Grateful Dead, Quicksilver "The Quick & The Dead" 1966 Avalon Ballroom Concert Handbill. First-printing San Francisco concert handbill for the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and the New Tweedy Brothers playing at the Avalon Ballroom on Friday and Saturday nights, June 10 & 11, 1966. Known as FD-12 in the Family Dog numbered series and designed by Wes Wilson, this popular and charismatic flyer is nicknamed "The Quick & The Dead" - just like it says across the top.

It's a delightful and popular piece that people hardly ever get rid of; remember, it was the first usage of a skull or skeleton in any Grateful Dead concert-poster image, period. Measures 5 3/4" x 8 1/2" and grades to Mint condition. From the Tim Backstrom Grateful Dead Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: This handbill represents a historic first for Grateful Dead fans, and as usual with early Family Dog images, it was a collaboration between FD head Chet Helms and artist Wilson. As the centerpiece for the artwork, Chet found this riveting little cartoon of a skeleton dressed up in fancy clothes and ready to go out on the town. For this, Helms and Wilson should get a lot of credit.

The Family Dog wouldn't pick up that skull/skeleton theme again until FD-26 Skeleton & Roses, and Bill Graham's artists wouldn't touch it for 2 ½ years, until Lee Conklin finally threw a skull onto his BG-152 Grateful Dead poster at the end of 1968. That makes this handbill's art a real groundbreaker of sorts.


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