Early concerts, posters, and nonconformity

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      Next spring marks the 50th anniversary of both the Georgia Straight and the landmark Human Be-In at Stanley Park. Leading up to that, the Straight will be publishing short articles and local concert-poster art to detail the events and spirit of the late 1960s in Vancouver and the flowering of the psychedelic age.

      Both of the following concerts took place 50 years ago this May.

      As you can see, I took a very conservative point of view for this United Empire Loyalists and Bitter Sweets poster (above), as I now realized that what the cops had said about my last poster had amounted to police bullying.

      Because I was still a 17-year-old concert promoter and had nine more days to go before my 18th birthday, I felt it best to do a more traditional poster, one in a style commonly known as block-poster design. This poster was printed in the silk-screen method on card stock. I chose to use a local silk-screen printer where I simply laid out what I wanted the poster to say.

      I did, however, take some liberties by makng the poster's main colour pink and selling advance tickets at the local "Pot Shop" (a store that sold ceramic pots, not cannabis). I now realize how hard it was for me back then to conform to the status quo.

      The poster was conservative even though the event was anything but—the point being the poster’s appearance did not dictate what happened in my Afterthought Dance Hall in the old Pender Auditorium.

      The event went off without incident, just a lot of young people grooving to a new sound not yet understood. The United Empire Loyalists were the Afterthought's house band in those early days; the Bitter Sweets were another local band, courtesy of Vancouver promoter Les Vogt.

      Fifty years have passed and I am now a senior and still enjoying the music of the 1960s and reflecting on how we were told that it would never last. When I was 17, all I wanted to be was older. I had no idea what lay ahead for me, and at the time I believed I could not trust anyone over 30.  Now that I am approaching 68, I wonder where time has gone.

      On May 20, 1966, I became "legal", 18 years old, and I could now attend my own dance hall. The above poster was designed by Doug Cuthbert, who would go on to design many great posters for the local music scene.

      I let Doug be much more creative, with the “optional dress” copy. I am not sure what I meant by saying this, other than making a statement that I was not yet ready to conform.  (It would take many years before I would concede to conformity, though I am still told by many that I am a rebel at heart.)

      Local band the Centaurs were the first I booked on my own. They were soon off on a tour of Europe, where they became somewhat famous at the time. (They have reunited in the past few years and are still in the Vancouver area.)

      Reflecting on this concert date, May 20, I realize that it is a grandson’s birthday: this year, he turns 14.  I am not sure that I want to tell him that when I was his age I believed that I knew everything.

      Some things never change.

       

      Concert promoter and entrepreneur Jerry Kruz is the author of The Afterthought: West Coast Rock Posters and Recollections From the ’60s (Rocky Mountain Books, 2014).

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