GRATEFUL DEAD! 50 YEARS! “What a long, strange trip it’s been!”
50 years ago, Dec 4, 1965: Jerry, Bob, Phil, Bill & Pigpen first played music as the Grateful Dead, the house band for Ken Kesey and the Merry Prankster’s Acid Test in San Jose, California!
“This is a One-of-A-Kind Poster, hand drawn, and not mass distributed for the event. It is likely the only one made, or at least, the only one that survived. At this point in the early acid test days, Posters and handbills were not being used to advertise events. Instead, small Posters were placed up in local coffee shops and hangouts around town, of which there were several up and down the bay, but the most prominent of these was a little place called the Catalyst. At the time, it was a lively coffee shop, but now it has moved up the street and small bands play there, as it has been turned into a club. This particular item was taken down by someone from the Catalyst Coffee Shop at the time. I spoke to Lee Quarnstrom, who worked at the Hip Pocket Bookstore in ’65, and lived at the Spread, and attended the event. Lee stated something extremely revealing to me in a private conversation when I visited with him. Lee stated, “The Hip Pocket Bookstore and the Catalyst were connected together. A person could walk from one to the other without ever going outside or leaving the building.” This statement reveals a lot. What it means is that this Poster could be the main advertising and only advertising for the first Acid Test event, besides the sign Norman Hartweg tacked onto the board that belonged to Babbs. Or maybe this was the sign? Either way, in my opinion, this is the most important piece of Acid Test history to survive. Truly Miraculous!”
From Postertrip.com: The Acid Test Chronicles
(RIGHT CLICK AND “OPEN IN NEW WINDOW” TO VISIT POSTERTRIP.COM)
http://www.postertrip.com/public/5572.cfm
“Never Trust a Prankster!”
The next acid test took place fifty years ago in the wee hours of Dec. 4, 1965 at Big Nig’s house, a rambling old Edwardian near downtown San Jose, after the Rolling Stones had played a show at the San Jose Civic Auditorium, a 3000 seat venue built in 1934, with the Dead and Kesey’s gang in attendance. After the Stones’ concert, the Pranksters passed out Crayon-lettered handbills for a house party. Their cryptic message was a street address and the words: “Can YOU Pass the Acid Test?” About 300 to 400 people showed up and the Grateful Dead played until the police broke up the party.
“NO LEFT TURN UNSTONED!”
- The First Acid Tests in 1965
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- 27 November; Santa Cruz (Ken Babbs’ Chicken Farm in Soquel), California (first performance by the Grateful Dead, still known as the Warlocks)
- 4 December; San Jose (Big Nig’s House near downtown), California
- 11 December; Muir Beach, California
- 18 December, Palo Alto, California
- 24 December; Portland, Oregon
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