Talkin' 'bout my generation.

Just another Psychedelic Saturday.

This past Saturday I went to the Festival of Rock Posters Fair over at Golden Gate Park's Hall of Flowers (you may remember past visits to the ikebana festival and the Anarchist Book Fair). This poster festival features rock poster artists and dealers from around the country, and is the one show not to be missed by poster collectors and all fans of rock art.

I went to see my new boyfriend.

Meet Dennis.

I met Dennis when I started working with Cyril Jordan and Paul Kopf and taking photos for their band, Magic Christian.

Dennis Loren has been creating the amazing posters for the band, and he's known Cyril since his Flamin' Groovies days. He's now working on a tour book for the band, when they're in Europe at the end of the year, and so yours truly is supplying the photos for the book. (Needless to say, I'm super excited about that. My first time in print!) After handing Dennis a disc of images, he gave me a personal tour of the show, and introduced me to all of the artists there.

It didn't take me too long to figure out that not only is Dennis beloved by everyone in the rock poster world, but he's highly respected and his work is sought after by new and old bands alike.

We had fun looking through his past work, Dennis telling me about how he made the poster, how it was printed, etc. (we've been geeking out on print shop talk now for a while). That Jimi Hendrix poster is a reprint, but Ray Manzarek of the Doors is holding out for an original, if it's still available. (Yes, this is a name-dropping sort of place. But the cool thing is that these artists actually know the musicians, who love their work and inspire more.)

Then he took me around the room to meet his friends.

I totally loved this poster. The artist said his daughter won't hang it in the house because of the kids. There's some non G-rated action going on there, apparently.

This guy, Victor Moscoso, is one of the granddaddies of the psychedelic rock poster art and did tons of posters for the Fillmore. He was a character, to say the least.

There's also a new crop of artists who are expanding and carrying on the rock art lifestyle. This guy, Paul Imagine, was hilarious and his work looks like Dr. Seuss's world gone very very awry. But I liked it.

He's showing me his drawing callus.

The other reason I mention this is that there's a super cool documentary about these boys and their world called American Artifact, the Rise of American Rock Poster Art, where you can see clips and interviews and stories with these artists. There's going to be two screenings and Q&As at the Roxie Theatre at the end of the month, so if you find this interesting, you should go.

I'll be there to see Dennis participate in the Q&A. (Gotta support the boyfriend, right?)

Below is a trailer for the film.



***

After the expo, The Boy and I were invited to a pizza party with the artists. I couldn't believe the stories I was hearing, but since they weren't G-rated either, I won't repeat them.

Let's just say now I know how to grow my own pot, and why I should very strongly dislike the manager for Jefferson Airplane.

Yes, the sticker on his head says "I Am a Huge Poster Nerd."

Now I really miss the Sixties.