Bidding has begun on a hand-drawn poster advertising Ken Kesey’s first public Acid Test on December 4th, 1965—the same night the Grateful Dead performed under their new name for the first time.
The rare piece of psychedlic history, originally torn out of a notebook, bears a message scribbled in crayon by one of the Merry Pranksters asking, “Can you pass the Acid Test?”, along with an address and no other details about the event. It was preserved by two sisters who were present that night—though they never made it inside.
Kathy and Betsy, then in high school, attended the Acid Test because they heard rumors that the Rolling Stones might show up after their own nearby gig (and allegedly Keith Richards and Brian Jones did swing by). Betsy, as it turns out, had been taking guitar lessons from a local instructor named Bob Weir, then just a teenage musician himself and a member of The Warlocks, who on that night made their debut as the Grateful Dead.
“We went around to this music shop, and found out they were giving guitar lessons,” Betsy recalled in a statement shared with the auction house. “And that was Bob Weir.”
When they pulled up to the venue, they were greeted by a wild scene unlike anything they had experienced. “Just as we were arriving, Ken Kesey’s bus pulled up and a bunch of Merry Pranksters piled out and went inside. We were still in high school, and too nervous to go in.”
They did grab a poster though, which is now an incredibly rare piece of countercultural history from the dawn of the psychedelic movement and the first official Grateful Dead show. The poster is up for auction via Heritage Auctions. Bidding has reached $10,000 at the time of publication and is open until April 17th. A poster from the Rolling Stones show is also up for auction in the same lot.
For more on this extremely unique piece of rock and roll history, check out the video from Heritage Auctions below and click here to bid. Click below to read the full letter of provenance.
We’d gone to the Acid Test to hear the Grateful Dead, a band we’d been following when they were known as the Warlocks.
We’d heard about the event from my sister, Betsy’s, guitar teacher Bob Weir, who was a guitarist in the Dead. He used to teach guitar lessons at Guitars Unlimited in Menlo Park, where she took lessons.
The first Acid Test he’d told her about was in San Jose. A group of us went down there because we thought the Rolling Stones, who were playing at San Jose State, were going to be at the Acid Test. We arrived there and were a little intimidated by all the people. Just as we were arriving, Ken Kesey’s bus pulled up and a bunch Merry Pranksters piled out and went inside. My sister met him in high school and knew and used to go to him. Before heading in, my sister ran across the street and took a hand drawn poster down to bring back with her, including another smaller one laying on the ground.
We did go in to the Big Beat Acid Test the next weekend. I remember arriving and seeing a dayglo painted Lincoln Continental out front and Ken Kesey’s bus by the side of the building. We spent the evening dancing under the strobe lights to the Grateful Dead.
Back in the mid-to-late-60s, my friends and I would go regularly to the Fillmore and then to the Avalon Ballroom, when it opened. We saw many of the great bands of that era long before they were known outside of San Francisco. We used to go to see the Jefferson Airplane before Grace Slick was their lead singer. Big Brother and the Holding Company before Janice Joplin joined the band. In fact, we saw what we believe was her first performance after she joined the band at the Avalon. We often talk about standing there and seeing Janice looking out over us and seeing the shock of it all screaming and yelling for her performance with the band.
Also at these concerts we’d see Owsley, who passed out LSD in various forms to concert-goers. After the concerts, Bill Graham’s or Chet Helms of Family Dog’s people would hand out posters of the evening’s concerts as we were leaving. Amazingly, people would in many cases throw them away the next day. I’ve held on to most of the posters over the past 40-45 years. A few of them I colored in with fluorescent marking pens.
Because of our frequent visits to the Fillmore, Bill Graham signed a cut of a few of the regulars as we were leaving one of the concerts and gave us each a free ticket to his Thanksgiving weekend party at the Fillmore that year. At the dinner, Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Dead played.
Kathy
February 17, 2009
Read More
The Grateful Dead’s FIRST Gig?! Ultra-Rare 1965 Acid Test Poster Uncovered | Heritage Auctions
