Winterland 10/31/67
Catalog No. AOR-2.183
Known as “Trip or Freak”, this collaboration by three of the most talented poster artists of the day - Rick Griffin, Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse - is one of the most enduring images of the psychedelic poster era.
The central image is of Lon Chaney from the Phantom of the Opera (1925) and was Kelley’s contribution. The concert information lettering at the bottom was done by Griffin and the “Trip or Freak” lettering in the form of a topless woman was by Mouse.
The “Trip or Freak Fantasmagoraball” was held on Halloween in 1967 at Winterland, an old ice skating rink. Winterland would later be renovated and used for hundreds of concerts throughout the 70’s, but for this concert it was still a dilapidated, run down place with a definite Halloween-like atmosphere.
The popularity of this poster has helped push the price of a top condition original poster to the $5000 mark.
The original poster was printed on thin white stock and measures approximately 14″ x 26″.
The Type 1 second print poster was intended to be part of a signed and numbered edition of 500. A small number of these are signed by Kelley, who did the numbering and a smaller number are signed by both Mouse and Kelley. Perhaps 25-30 are signed by all three artists as Griffin passed away before signing many. Of these 500 pieces, most were not signed or numbered. These measure approximately 19″ x 35″.
The Type 2 second print poster was intended to be part of a signed and numbered edition of 250. These were to be signed and doodled by all three artists although only one was completed - this was numbered 1/250. Two more were doodled by Mouse and Kelley only and numbered 2/250 and 3/250. The majority of the unsigned copies were purchased by Grateful Dead Merchandising and over-printed with copies of the doodles from poster number 1 - they sold these for around $500. A small number remain that are not signed or numbered. This poster also has the addition of a wide black border, bringing the size to approximately 23″ x 39″
The original handbill is very rare and measures approximately 3″ x 7″.