FD-20 Bo Diddley, Little Walter 1966 S.F. Concert Poster Signed by Mouse & Kelley 50 Years Ago. ...

Description

FD-20 Bo Diddley, Little Walter 1966 S.F. Concert Poster Signed by Mouse & Kelley 50 Years Ago. First-and-only-printing San Francisco concert poster for Bo Diddley, Little Walter and the Sons of Adam playing at Longshoreman's Hall in San Francisco on Friday and Sunday nights, August 5 & 7, 1966. Known as FD-20 in the Family Dog numbered series, this poster was designed by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley and is nicknamed "Five Men in a Boat." And it was signed by the two in very small, quaint fashion down in the lower right, little works of art in their own right. Both were done in bold black. Kelly's was done with a very fine-tipped pen and adds the year "72." And Mouse's includes an amazingly early version of his trademark little mouse. Poster measures 14 1/4" x 20" and grades to Very Good condition. From the David Swartz Concert Poster Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: The poster's two primary images are that of a Ying-Yang symbol giving the concert information, and five older men disproportionally crammed into a tiny boat that never would have floated with that load. And wait - isn't that a sixth little man with his nose on the back edge of the boat? It sure is.

This poster was printed using the split-fountain technique, which was usually reserved for boxing-style posters of the day. As such, the colors morph from the top down from green to blue to red to orange. (When the blue and red mix, some people see rust.)

Diddley & company moved over to the Avalon Ballroom to play this show on the Saturday night, in between the two Longshoreman's dates. That's odd enough, but somehow the poster omitted that important fact. So the FD-20 handbill was redesigned to add the "Aug. 6 Avalon" information to the left of the boat. But appearance-wise, the monochromatic handbill doesn't hold a candle to this split-fountain poster.

Bo Diddley is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Blues Hall of Fame and R&B Hall of Fame member, of course, who originated the famous "Bo Diddley beat" which drove the Rolling Stones nuts as teenagers. Harmonica player, Chess Records labelmate and fellow Rock Hall and Blues Hall member Little Walter appeared with Bo on Sunday night only, a pretty heavy R&B night well-placed in the gritty Longshoreman's Hall instead of the psychedelic Avalon. On both nights, the Sunset Strip/L.A. garage band Sons of Adam opened up.

Interestingly, this poster was never reprinted by the Family Dog, so anybody who wants a vintage print of it has to pay the first-printing price. And only 1,000 were printed, so there's barely enough to go around. Add in the 50-year-old signatures, and you've got a poster that'll float anyone's boat.

Condition details: Poster is toned to a shade of light brown all the way through. In the center of the top margin there's a thumbtack hole and attendant white halo. There are also two staple holes in the margin in the upper left and upper right. The bottom center has a single pinhole in the margin. Just a tiny amount of very light handling creases in a couple of spots, not even worth mentioning.


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