Janis Joplin / Big Brother 1968 San Antonio, TX Vulcan Gas Co. Concert Poster....

Description

ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR TEXAS CONCERT POSTERS EVER

Janis Joplin / Big Brother 1968 San Antonio, TX Vulcan Gas Co. Concert Poster. An original first-printing large, horizontal concert poster for Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company performing two evening shows at the Hemisfair Theatre of the Performing Arts in San Antonio, Texas on Thursday evening, November 21, 1968. Shiva's Headband and Winter were the supporting acts, and the gigs were presented by the Vulcan Gas Co. out of Austin.

Talk about a glorious Janis Joplin concert poster which highlighted her presence and starring role in the band... is this the most obvious example ever? Her smiling face and hair take up more than half the poster! And the coloring of pink, blue and lime green is practically unique, making it a real standout. Praise goes out to famous local poster artist Jim Franklin (who's credited on the poster as JFKLN).

This poster hardly ever comes up for auction, and this is certainly the very first time Heritage has been able to offer one. We did have the handbill for auction, once before, eight years ago... but never this beautifully oversized poster.

We love all the ticket-buying locations given along the poster's bottom... the San Antonio Music Co., downtown; Joint Effort, with address given; Platter Palace in Wonderland, which is a family-fun theme park in San Antonio that's still open to this day; and then in Austin, Oat Willie's and Phil's Records.

Commercially, this was a wickedly cool time to see Janis and BBHC, too... their landmark LP Cheap Thrills was #2 in the U.S. in Billboard this week, and would rise to the #1 spot the very next week. "Piece of My Heart" had already gone up & down the charts a few weeks earlier. This evening's shows ended up getting canceled, by the way, leaving behind one of the most sublime Janis Joplin concert posters of her career, by many accounts. (This poster isn't pictured in The Art of Rock - what a big loss for them - but is pictured in the Eric King guide, where it's referred to as VG-681121.) On December 1, in San Francisco, Joplin and BBHC would do their final show together.

This first-ever Heritage offering measures 28 1/8" x 22 1/8" and grades to Near Mint Minus condition. COA from Heritage Auctions.

Literature: King, Eric, The Collector's Guide to Psychedelic Rock Concert Posters, Postcards and Handbills 1965-1973, Vol. 12, Berkeley, CA, 2022, p.872 (illus.).

More Information: Chameleon Restoration addressed a few edge and corner issues, touching up any printing or color where necessary, mending pinholes, eradicating surface blemishes and greatly reducing any creasing it might have had. All of that was pretty much limited to just the corners in this instance. The result is a terrifically satisfying piece with little or no evidence of past damage.


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