Original 1st printing 10&7/8 x 14&3/8" concert/event poster for "Tribal Pow-Wow", a "be-in"/happening/concert held on the athletic fields of the University of California in Santa Cruz on 6/4/1967 (2 weeks before Monterey Pop). Art by Bob Chiarito (*read more on Bob below), medium-thick index stock poster is in good (B to B/B-) condition; there is a hard horizontal bend about 2&1/2" up from the bottom edge that traverses the image area (just to the left of "1:00" to just past the right edge of "ETERNITY"), along with a bit of curl to the paper, a couple of pin/tack holes and a thin vertical bend in the top center margin, a series of tiny thin drip stains (candle wax and a few tiny spots of white-out/ink) on the left side of the image area and in the upper right edge, a couple of tiny stray pinholes hiding within the oval, light handling, a very small scuff in the bottom left corner and a few ultra-light surface scratches here and there, otherwise fine. VERY scarce/uncommon item from the first-ever "be-in" gathering held in Santa Cruz. The consignor was kind enough to provide a wealth of background information on this piece; Robert Chiartio, still an active full time artist dividing his time between San Jose CA and Italy. The poster was commissioned by Paul Lee, organizer of the Tribal Pow Wow.
Paul Lee still lives in Santa Cruz and is recognized as a major leader of the cultural movement of UCSC of the 60s and 70s. Lee was responsible for single handedly introducing organic farming as an academic element at the University level, the first of its kind in the World. In this regard he is responsible for bringing the famous English gardener Alan Chadwick to UCSC to open the UCSC Organic Farm, the first of its kind in the Nation. As a result of his work at UCSC Chadwick went on to establish the organic farm at Green Gulch Zen Center at Muir Beach. Green Gulch is recognized as a major spiritual and organic farm landmark.
Robert Chiartio and Paul Lee state that the bands were The Flowers of Evil and Eternity. Both local UCSC bands. The Flowers of Evil were founded by a literature major, Paul Mann, now a professor at UCSC.
The leader of the band Eternity was Charlie Nothing. Charlie was married to the adopted daughter of Nat King Cole. In the mid-1960s in New York City Nothing formed a band known as the The First Uniphrenic Church and Bank Band, a group which played at The Village Gate and is said to have included a young, pre-Blondie Debbie Harry.
Nothing moved to Los Angeles in 1966 where he performed in a show with Frank Zappa and briefly joined the cast of the musical Hair. He then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where he recorded his first album for John Fahey's Takoma Records, The Psychedelic Saxophone of Charlie Nothing.It featured a sequence of saxophone improvisations by Nothing accompanied by gong, conga and a banjo ukulele.
In 1967 Nothing moved to Santa Cruz, California where he joined an organic farming movement and for the next ten years, worked a 21-acre farm entirely by hand. He continued his musical performances until 1984, during which time he also recorded several songs, including "Steal-A-Meal", "Fuck You and Your Stupid Wars", "Eatin' Ain't Cheatin" and "A Pizza and a Piece of Ass". In the mid-1970s he formed The Superfabulous Dingulators.
Paul Lee was at Harvard as a teaching assistant to the great theologian Paul Tillich. In this capacity worked with Tim Leary and Richard Alpert on the theological aspects of LSD. As a professor at UCSC he recruited the father of bio-dynamic organic gardening, Alan Chadwick to start the first academic program for organic gardening in the country. Through introduction by Paul Lee Chadwick founded the organic farm at Green Gulch Zen Center in Muir Beach. This is one of the five the Zen Institutions in the country.
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