The Wailers (60's) Postcard
The careers of The Wailers and Quicksilver Messenger Service overlapped, but had little in common. The Wailers started out in 1958 as an early American garage band. Their name was also their sound, but the band held onto their sax and organ sound too long and disbanded by 1969. Quicksilver, formed in 1965, rode the rock band wave until 1973, but made a few marketing decisions that eventually cut them out of recording contracts and the public eye.
A small number of postcards, 2nd Printing A, were printed after the concert on thin coated stock with pale orange and blue colors. These have a blank reverse and measure 5 1/16" x 7 11/16".
The most common postcard, 2nd Printing B, was printed after the concert on uncoated index, identified by darker colors and coarser texture. The postcard imprint is located on the reverse, and it measures 5 1/8" x 7 3/4".
When the Avalon Ballroom and Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium began to hold weekly dance concerts, Wilson was called upon to design the posters. He created psychedelic posters from February 1966 to May 1967, when disputes over money severed his connection with Graham. Wilson pioneered the psychedelic rock poster. Intended for a particular audience, "one that was tuned in to the psychedelic experience," his art, and especially the exaggerated freehand lettering, emerged from Wilson's own involvement with that experience and the psychedelic art of light shows.