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Poster News
Updated on 1/13/2000

New BGP Posters

In the last six months, Bill Graham Presents has produced four numbered posters in the ongoing BGP series:

BGP # 215 The Rolling Stones. Art by Rex Ray (poster covers 5 show dates at several venues)
BGP # 216 REM. Art by Rex Ray (Shoreline Ampitheater)
BGP # 217 Retirement poster for Steve Welkom (longtime BGP employee). Photo by Ken Friedman/Design by Lisa Eng
BGP # 218 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Art by Randel Chavez (poster covers seven dates at several venues)
BGP # 219 Elvis Costello - Art by Hugh DíAndrade
BGP # 220 The Chemical Brothers - Art by Chris Shaw
BGP # 221 Widespread Panic -Art by Dave Huckins
BGP # 222 Brian Wilson - Art by Chris Peterson

BGP posters have always been tough to come by. BGP # 217 is another example of the developing trend in the BGP and Fillmore series to issue numbered posters commemorating the retirement of longtime BGP employees. These retirement posters are likely to become some of the most difficult posters to add to a BGP or Fillmore poster collection.

New Fillmore Posters

BGP continues to regularly issue numbered posters in the ongoing Fillmore series. The most recently released Fillmore posters from the end of July to the beginning of November are:

F # 395 Junior Brown - Art by J. Shea
F # 394 Moe - Art by Steven Cerio
F # 393 Retirement Poster for Dave Repp (formerly the manager of the
Fillmore) - Art by Frank Weideman
F # 392 Stereolab - Art by Michael Laurence
F # 391 John Prine - Art by Michael Wertz
F #390 The Cramps - Art by Hugh DíAndrade
F # 389 Live - Art by Lisa Eng (This poster also covers a 10/13 show at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver and is the first poster in the Fillmore series to cover a show at that venue.)
F # 388 Natalie Merchant - Art by Jeff Petersen
F # 387 Maceo Parker - Art by Robin Waldman and Michael Laurence
F # 386 No Doubt - Art by Jim Winters
F # 385 Gomez - Art by Rex Ray (Misnumbered on the poster as #358)
F # 384 Jaguares - Art by Scott Idleman and Blink.
F # 383 Chris Cornell and Band - Art by Craig Howell
F # 382 Richard Thompson - Art by Frank Wiedemann
F # 381 Violent Femmes - Art by Ginger Snap
F # 380 KVHW - Art by Harry Rossit. (That's Harry in the last seat of the roller coaster but where is the "smiley face" he always draws into his posters?)

In addition, artists Ron Donovan and Chuck Sperry created an unnumbered oversize silk screen poster for the Incredibly Strange Wrestling show at the Fillmore on August 20.


New Bill Graham Presents Poster Series for the Denver Fillmore

BGP reopened the Mamoth Auditorium in Denver as the "Fillmore Auditorium - Denver" in May of this year. BGP has established a new BGP numbered poster series to commemorate shows at the Fillmore Auditorium - Denver. Posters in this series are can be identified by the desingation "FDN" followed by the number assigned to the Poster. Poster issued in this series are:

FDN # 1 Opening Month (covers four shows-Trey Anastasio, Blondie, Chris Isaak + Vince Gill) - Art by Rex Ray

FDN # 2 Bob Dylan - Art by Jonathan Hess


New Electric Factory Posters

The recently issued numbered posters in the Electric Factory numbered series are:

EF # 20 Godsmack - poster is not signed or numbered and does not include an
artist credit
EF # 19 Filter - signed and numbered edition of 500 - art by Frank Kozik
EF # 18 Lucinda Williams - signed and numbered edition of 200 -art by
printmafia (note: there was also a handill produced with the poster image)
EF # 17 Primus - signed and numbered edition of 500 - art by Marco Almera
EF # 16 Danzig (info to follow)
No # Government Mule - Art by Print Mafia (not numbered issued in a signed and numbered edition of 30)
EF # 11 Coal Chamber - Art by Alan Forbes (issued in a signed and numbered edition of 350)
EF # 10 Cheap Trick - Art by Print Mafia (issued in a signed and numbered edition of 75)
EF # 9 Ween - Art by Alan Forbes
EF #10 Cheap Trick - Art by the Print Mafia
EF # 9 Ween - Art by Alan Forbes
EF # 8 Roger Waters - Art by David Dean
EF # 7 Limp Bizkit - Art by David Dean

Beginning with Electric Factory # 9, the posters have been produced as limited edition signed and numbered silk screen posters (no handbills using the poster images were produced). EF # 1 through EF # 8 were all issued both in poster and handbill forms.


Key Reference Books Re-released

The Art of the Fillmore by Gail Lempke and Jacaber Kastor has just been reissued in a softbound form. This is a key reference work for those interested in the seminal 60's posters, postcards and handbills issued as part of the Bill Graham numbered series. Copies are now on the shelves in major bookstores at $29.95. This book saw two hard cover printings in a short period of time. Both are now out of print. Look for the first printings to increase in value.

After being out of print for a number of years, Abbeyville Press has announced that a new printing of The Art of Rock by Paul Gruskin will be released on October 8, 1999 (expected retail price around $90 - ouch). (Thanks to Grant McKinnon for this info). Abbeyville Press has previously set and then missed prior release dates...so stay tuned. As many of you know, The Art of Rock is a key resource for poster collectors documenting a wide array of rock posters (primarily U.S. posters) from the 1950's to the 1980's.

Art of Rock update: Books have finally hit the shelves and are available through major bookstores and online retailers.


Those new to poster collecting would do well to grab both books.


Upcoming events:


Far Out: Bay Area Design, 1967 - 73
November 12, 1999 - February 20, 2000
at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

This exhibition will explore the way Bay Area designers tuned in, dropped out and made posters, clothes, objects and structures that merged with technology, nature, craft and commerce. The designers, artists and theoreticians of this movement sought to replace dominant culture with revolutionary street culture and re-create an emphasis on craft. The exhibition will be centered around SFMOMA's collection of the "Numbered Series" of Rock and Roll posters and will be complemented by a simultaneous exhibition of a private collection of Japanese transistor radios of the early 1960s.

© 1999 RockPosterCollector.com ©