Alton Kelly

While reading some of the obits for the late Alton Kelly, I reflected that his work and the work of his peers in San Francisco made use of the same kind of eclectic adaptation and cross-cultural borrowings as the music of the time. The SF Gate story mentions the use of the public library by Kelly and partner Stanley “Mouse” Miller to find inspiration. While the artists were in the libraries, the bands in San Francisco listened to anything and everything; check out this set from radio station KPMX one night in 1967 when it was guest-hosted by two guys named Phil Lesh and Jerry Garcia.

I found a nice selection of what look like all pre-1970 posters here (note that two of the posters are for concerts by the also recently deceased Bo Diddley).