Derived from a pair of concerts at the Berkeley (California) Community Theater on May 30, 1970, the film Jimi Plays Berkeley has always been a curious chapter in the history of Jimi Hendrix. Shot more as a test than a true documentary, it was hurriedly whipped together as an official film shortly after Hendrix’s unfortunate death, and actually was put on a European tour with acts managed by the artist’s former manager. The final product has protest footage interspersed among the great performances, and at the time when everyone was so hungry for anything Jimi, it became one of the most popular music films of its era.
The film features excerpts of performances by Jimi, bassist Billy Cox, and drummer Mitch Mitchell from the two concerts. They perform hot versions of such Hendrix favorites as “Purple Haze,” a remarkable lengthy tour de force takes on “Machine Gun” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” and the artist’s inimitable take on Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”
Feast of Friends was a 1969 documentary film about the Doors. It was directed by Paul Ferrara, Babe Hill and The Doors. Ferrara followed the Doors between April and September 1968, filming excerpts of concert performances, conversations between the band and the band relaxing backstage. There isn’t much of a story narrative but the live footage is excellent. In fact, the documentary was never officially completed, having been cancelled after Morrison’s Miami arrest in March 1969, although it was shown at film festivals - and indeed, it was advertised here.
The poster is by German poster design legend Gunther Kieser. Kieser was one of the top designers of rock concert posters in the 1960s. Kieser also designed memorable posters for the Grateful Dead, The Doors, Miles Davis, Traffic, Fleetwood Mac, The Doors, Santana, and The Who. He also did several album covers for the BlueNote jazz record label.
As the poster is quite large and thin, to protect it we had it professionally linen-backed. This "base" acts as a support for framing the poster and also preserves it against potential tearing and folding while the PH friendly glues act to neutralize the yellowing effects of oxidation on paper.