Wednesday, June 23, 2010

1969 Ads: Fillmore East

Since near-complete Fillmore East show lists have already been compiled, I didn't bother saving the regular weekly Fillmore ads--but I did save most of the single-band ads that I saw, which were usually sponsored by the affiliated record companies. I also found a couple of "message" ads surrounded by the familiar Fillmore logo.




4/3/69 issue: Ten Years After, April 9 & 10.



4/10/69 issue: The Incredible String Band, April 27 & May 11.




5/1/69 issue: Jeff Beck.





5/1/69 issue: Country Joe McDonald, the Hello People, May 8.





5/29/69 issue: The Who, Chuck Berry, Albert King, June 5 & 6.





7/3/69 issue: Iron Butterfly & Blues Image, July 4 & 5.



7/24/69 issue: I'm not sure what the purpose of this one was. At first I thought it might be Woodstock-related, but there's no explicit reference to the fest.




8/21/69 issue: Globe-trotting fest-goers could buy tickets for Isle of Wight at the Fillmore.





9/18/69 issue: CSNY, Sept. 19 & 20.





9/18 & 9/25 issues: Voter Registration Benefit, October 1.





9/28/69 issue: "Horror Rock" fest with Elephant's Memory, Prodigal Son, Brother Theodore, and a screening of Frankenstein, all MC'd by Zacherle.





10/9/69 issue: Vanilla Fudge, October 10 & 11.





10/16/69 issue: Moratorium message.






10/16/69 issue: Full page ad for the Kinks' first U.S. tour after the Musician's Union ban was lifted. I kan't resist throwing in the ads for Arthur that I saw in later issues as well--Reprise/Warner spared no expense on the Kinky Komeback!









10/16/69 issue: The Who, October 20-25.






Two Mountain ads from the 10/23/69 issue--printed quite close together I might add!




10/31/69 issue, still moving Mountain.




11/20/69 issue: King Crimson, November 21 & 22.




12/6/69: Fat Mattress, December 5 and 6.



And here are some links/references to Fillmore concert reviews and other news:


The MC5 (1/2/69 issue).
Johnny Winter (1/16/69 issue).
Janis Joplin (2/20/69 issue, in both the "Scenes" and "Riffs" columns).
The Band (5/15/69 issue, can't link to the article).
The Who (5/22/69 issue--the legendary "fire next door" show).
Led Zeppelin (6/5/69 issue)
Jethro Tull, Jeff Beck, and Soft White Underbelly (7/10/69 issue).
News item on a new Tuesday night showcase for regular bands (7/31/69 issue).
Jefferson Airplane (at both the Fillmore and the Sheep Meadow--8/14/69 issue. The link is to the nearest article I could get to, just scroll backwards a bit.)
More on the new bands showcase.
Blues festival and Ravi Shankar (9/11/69 issue--nearest link is actually to a Korvettes ad).
The Flock (9/18/69 issue).
CSNY (9/25/69 issue).
The Who (10/30/69 issue).
Santana and Paul Butterfield (11/13/69 issue).
Fat Mattress and Grank Funk Railroad (12/11/69--link is to the nearest article, so scroll back a little).


UPDATE 3/16/20120:  Please see the revised and improved post on '69 Fillmore East ads here.

3 comments:

Corry342 said...

These are very interesting, because they show what a crucial industry showcase the Fillmore East was. The Kinks weren't even headlining (they were below Spirit), but Warners was going all out.

The Fillmore East was mostly closed in July and August 1969 (I think there was one show, Joe Cocker/Airplane August 8-9). The Fillmore East staff was at Woodstock and then Tanglewood, and I guess Bill Graham figured that his audience was all elsewhere (the shore or upstate) anyway. That's why the Summer ads aren't for any specific FE shows (eg Peace On Earth, or Isle of Wight).

Corry342 said...

Another fascinating insight is the links to Kip Cohen's comments about the difficulty starting the Tuesday night "audition" shows. The performers Tuesday shows remain largely a mystery, so no Fillmore East or West list can truly claim to be complete, or anywhere close to it, until those are nailed down.

I am working on the Fillmore West Tuesday night shows (on my blog), and I have about 40% of them, but I have never found any hints as to who played Fillmore East. Its interesting to see (in the second Billboard link) the assertion that bands will be paid, because I think they may not have always been paid at Fillmore West, a very telling East vs West scenario.

Signed D.C. said...

O.K. Mr. Modesty, I'll change the wording to "near-complete show lists" if you insist!

The poster for the Kinks tour was appropriately printed in red, white & blue...but I doubt the newspaper version was so colorful.