The Velvet Underground Postcard
Bill Graham's early concerts were "events" and BG008 is an excellent example of the unusual fare. Top billing was Andy Warhol and his Plastic Inevitable, with the Velvet Underground and Nico "Pop Girl of '66". The show was an amazing, kinetic rock event with vocals, keyboard, and dance projected on the wall in strobe light fractured frames. The Mothers rounded out the evening.
The postcard was first printed in 1967 with the 2nd printing of the poster (see BG008). It measures 5" x 8".
The subsequent 3rd printing was printed in 1993 and has "Andy Warhol and His Plastic Inevitable" printed in hot pink rather than white. "(c) 1966 Wes Wilson BG-8-3/PS 33" was added below "Fillmore" in the lower left corner of the postcard. It measures 5" x 7".
When the Avalon Ballroom and Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium began to hold weekly dance concerts, Wilson was called upon to design the posters. He created psychedelic posters from February 1966 to May 1967, when disputes over money severed his connection with Graham. Wilson pioneered the psychedelic rock poster. Intended for a particular audience, "one that was tuned in to the psychedelic experience," his art, and especially the exaggerated freehand lettering, emerged from Wilson's own involvement with that experience and the psychedelic art of light shows.