The Doors 1968 Santa Rosa Fairgrounds Colorful Concert Poster. ...

Description

The Doors 1968 Santa Rosa Fairgrounds Colorful Concert Poster. An original multicolored concert poster for The Doors playing at the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds (aka the Sonoma County Fairgrounds) in northern California on Saturday night, April 13, 1968. This concert's biggest claim to fame: The first on-location footage for the Doors documentary Feast of Friends was shot on this night. Filming would continue for months going forward; the doc eventually made it to DVD. Local newspaper coverage reported that 4,400 people attended, and that 95% of them were teenagers. Measures 11 ¼" x 17 1/2" and grades to Near Mint condition. From the David Swartz Concert Poster Collection. COA from Heritage Auctions.

More Information: The Doors' first two albums were still in the Top 100 of Billboard's Top LP's chart. The band's newest single, "The Unknown Soldier," is plugged in the upper left.

A fun, unusual poster in which graphic artist Jeff Bower eschewed the normal Doors logo and created his own elongated lettering in the upper right. The second-biggest box on the poster is filled with half of a hirsute man wearing a hard hat or army helmet, photographed by Bill Bishop.

The opening bands were Freedom Highway and Bronze Hog, but for some reason neither are mentioned on the poster. The show was promoted by Leonard "Lenny" Jay, and took place in the Grace Pavilion on the fairgrounds.

Big month for the Doors, April 1968: They bought out their manager's contract, hired 19-year-old Bill Siddons as their manager, and opened their own office in West Hollywood, where Jim Morrison often crashed for the night. In moving into the new office they enlisted the services of 13-year-old Danny Sugerman, who talked himself into a ‘gofer' job and forever remained part of the band's legacy.

Condition details: You can tell this was an amateur poster production, as witnessed by its thin paper, color bleed in the top two corners and the streaking of blue ink from the printing process throughout. None of that is to be mistaken for damage. If we had to find something, the lower left corner does have a ½" horizontal line crease right up off the edge; and who knows, that could be a printer's flaw as well.


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