On This Day in Art Rock History

A DAILY CHRONICLE

SAN FRANCISCO · THE PSYCHEDELIC ERA · 1960s

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Frankenstein — Grateful Dead / Sopwith Camel (FD-22)

FD-22 · August 19, 1966
FD-22

FD-22 · Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse

Catalog Number
FD-22
Series
Family Dog
Venue
Avalon Ballroom
San Francisco
Date
August 19, 1966
Poster Artists
Nickname
Frankenstein — Grateful Dead / Sopwith Camel (FD-22)
Performers
Sopwith Camel
Grateful Dead

A mile from the Fillmore on Friday, August 19, 1966, Chet Helms's Family Dog hung what would become one of the most beloved posters in the entire canon: FD-22, the "Frankenstein" poster, Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley's monster looming over a bill of the Grateful Dead and the Sopwith Camel, with Bill Ham's liquid lights (per wolfgangs). Its fame rests partly on a mistake: the poster misspells the headliner "Greatful Dead" — a limited-run error, uncorrected because the artists had not yet fixed the spelling in their own minds, that turned, as Wolfgang's puts it, "into gold for collectors." On the same August Friday, then, the two rooms produced a piece of pure imported pop craft (the Young Rascals at the Fillmore, BG-24) and a piece of accidental folk-art immortality — the Fillmore and the Avalon, rivals and twins, each doing exactly what it did best.

Verification Notes

Antagonist (2026-08-10 headless run): corroboration via check-claims on vetted sources. FD-22 'Frankenstein' Avalon Aug 19-20 1966 = Grateful Dead('Greatful' misspelled)/Sopwith Camel, Mouse & Kelley, Bill Ham lights. VERIFIED wolfgangs+classicposters. (Deduped from 2 seed rows.)

Were You There?

Do you have memories of this show, or an original FD-22 poster? On This Day in Art Rock History celebrates the people who lived through the psychedelic era. Your stories and collections matter to this archive.

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