Spirit - Sepia

Here is a rare sepia-toned poster from August 1968 that advertised Spirit, The Sir Douglas Quintet and Notes From The Underground, for three nights of concerts at the Avalon Ballroom. Light show provided by Temporary Optics. This piece, known simply as “Spirit,” was only printed once and this one is signed by Mouse and the Randy California, (deceased) lead guitarist and founder of Spirit.

The woman is actually Anna Pavlova, seen here wearing a long flowing gown. She was a very famous dancer during the early 1900's similar in stature to Isadora Duncan. Her arms are raised straight up over her head appearing to be holding up the name of the top-billed band on the poster. The photograph was taken in 1915 and is the work by an early 20th century photographer named Arnold Genthe. (Mouse accidentally credited him as “Zenthe”)

Spirit founder Randy Wolfe was 15 years old when his mother and new stepfather, Ed Cassidy (later to become a founding member of the band Spirit, with Randy), moved to New York City in the summer of 1966. It was there, at Manny's Music, that Randy met Jimi Hendrix.

He played in Hendrix's band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames that summer. There was another Randy in the band, Randy Palmer, and so to distinguish them, Jimi Hendrix dubbed them “Randy California” and “Randy Texas.”

Spirit was formed in 1967 and was about to break through with their first hit, “I Got a Line on You.”  A Billboard review brief called it "the near definitive rock single" and Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic said it is "Driven by a fabulously funky guitar riff and some very accessible lyrics, the song is a rock classic from beginning to end.”  The classic Spirit album, “Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sadonicus,” would be released in 1970.