Firehouse Kustom Rockart Co./Rockin’ The Mint

Last Thursday night The P and I attended a pair of events in San Francisco that were themed around rock poster art. The first event was held at the advertising agency OgilvyWest and featured the modern poster art of the Firehouse Kustom Rockart Co., which is located right here in Oakland, CA. Many thanks to Fred over at Unnecessary Umlaut for swinging us an invite to this very exclusive event…

Firehouse Kustom Rockart Co.’s posters jump off the page and have a very distinct look, in part because they use multiple layers of metallic paint. Here are some examples of what they were showing off at OgilvyWest…

[Eric Clapton]

[New York Dolls]

[Les Claypool]

[Greil Marcus]

[John Prine]

[Lee 'Scratch' Perry detail from the collage in the lobby of OgilvyWest...]

*****

Our second event of evening was a benefit/award show at the Old Mint in downtown SF. This historic building had fallen into disrepair and reportedly become home to thousands of rats, but it’s being renovated for use as a museum of the city of San Francisco. Thursday night’s event was a sneak preview of the space and served as the introduction of seven Bay Area musical acts into the museum (for the record: Boz Scaggs, Booker T, Huey Lewis & The News, Grateful Dead, Tower Of Power, Carlos Santana, and Jefferson Starship). This formal event was sponsored by Wolfgang’s Vault, so we knew we were in for some psychedelic eye candy. I was hooked by the invite alone:

Here’s what the program looked like:

The walls of the Mint were covered in oversized reprints of vintage Fillmore and Family Dog posters, as well as pictures of movers and shakers from the SF music scene like Chet Helms, Bill Graham, and John Cipollina. There were also some rock artifacts on display, like a swinging door from Winterland. Cool stuff…

[Much to look at...]

[Pretty crowded though...]

[Door from Winterland...]

[Detail...]

[Bill Graham]

[Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?]

[The vaults downstairs were dedicated to the poster art and sounds of the musicians being honored. The vaults also featured the grapey product of different Bay Area wineries. P was pleased...]

[Some of the vaults were dark and winding. A bit spooky...]

[John Cippolina]

[Jerry Garcia keeps watch over a bartender...]

[A reproduction of a vintage Fillmore ticket served as our ticket into the award show/concert, which was being held across the alley in The Mezzanine...]

[We stayed and listened to Ben Fong-Torres give the keynote on the SF Music Scene of the 60's, but when the evening started dragging into a bogus award show ceremony with speeches, we hit the exit. All in all, a great evening full of colorful sights and sounds...]

Tags: Ben Fong-Torres, Bill Graham, Booker T., Boz Scaggs, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Firehouse Kustom Rockart Co., Grateful Dead, Greil Marcus, Huey Lewis & The News, Jefferson Starship, Jerry Garcia, John Cipollina, John Prine, Johnny Rotten, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Les Claypool, New York Dolls, Rockin' The Mint, San Francisco CA, Santana, The Fillmore, The Old Mint, Tower Of Power, Winterland