Original Vintage Soul Music Concert Posters Memorabilia Collectibles For Sale
James Brown
Original Vintage 1970 Jumbo Concert Poster (22x28")

Live Perfermance at Virginia State College in Petersburg, VA on Thursday evening, October 15, 1970

OWN a PEICE of MUSIC HISTORY!

Amazing Original Vintage James Brown concert poster for live performance in Petersburg, VA in 1970.  Very Good condition.

* See enlargebale images above and below 
 

James Brown 1970 Petersburg, VA Jumbo Concert Poster. An original cardboard window card advertising the Godfather of Soul, James Brown, appearing at Virginia State College in Petersburg, VA on Thursday evening, October 15, 1970. "Soul on Top," the poster proclaims, with JB at the microphone atop a world globe; that was the name of his new album on King Records. Brown is also seen off to the left looking down on himself, and Earth, in heavenly fashion.

This is a very unusual-looking concert poster for Soul Brother #1, but thanks to our well-placed consignor, we know the reason why.
We're happy to say that the original owner of this poster is one Alan Leeds, a longtime James Brown associate who's had the poster since 1970. Leeds is a well-respected authority in the field of Black music, and in fact was seen as an on-camera historian in this summer's hit movie Summer of Soul.

"I worked for James Brown from 1969 to 1973," Leeds tells us in an email, "and I wish I'd kept more posters! In the Spring of 1970 Brown (who promoted most of his shows in house) was in arrears with Globe Poster. Globe finally cut us off from any new orders, demanding the account be paid up to date. Brown was angry about us being cut off and insisted we find a Cincinnati-based printer to make our posters. He also insisted on a new design....he wanted to have posters that would not resemble the Globe-style designs. The art department at King Records came up with what became the 'blue' posters.

"Until well into 1971 we used the blue design and a second, very different design on a black background with the headline "Living Legend." The bulk of the blue posters were printed in Cincinnati. I can't recall the name of the printing company... they were not ordinarily in the poster business, so we had to front them the money to obtain the blank stock. None of us except, of course, Mr. Brown thought much of these posters. They weren't very effective as concert advertising. By the fall of 1971 we had convinced JB to pay Globe and we resumed using them - with a new design, also a black background, with the headline reading 'Sex Power and Love.'"

Thank you for the great poster story, Mr. Leeds. As for the rest of this 'blue poster,' Bobby Byrd is often credited as the man who discovered James Brown, because he was a member of the Famous Flames when JB was brought into that group in the mid-50's. Bobby gets some double love on this window card, being mentioned in the lower right and then again on a Day-Glo orange sticker plugging his brand new single at the time, "I Need Help (I Can't Do It Alone)." It's a real plus to have that on there, because it was produced by James and was the highest-charting single of Byrd's solo career.

Measures 22" x 28" and grades to Very Good Minus condition. A half-inch by half-inch chunk of board is missing right above "Virginia." In very unusual damage, there was a long sticker placed over "Petersburgs, VA," and then peeled off, which left a lot of black flecks on the two words. We're guessing that was a correction sticker because "Petersburg" is not a plural, and surely the promoter didn't want to look poor by having the city misspelled on his window cards. Then later, we're guessing, someone decided the sticker had to go and they wanted this as it was originally, and mistakenly, printed. The black remnants are three-dimensional to the touch, and might be able to get fully removed if someone wanted to try with the right solvent or tools. On the other hand, the orange Day-Glo sticker in the lower right was not able to be removed, but it shows signs of someone picking away on all four edges.

Otherwise, the board is a bit beat-up with surface scuffing (like on "James" and all down the blue under his chin on the right), surface creasing especially in the upper right-corner area enveloping the "5," surface scratches (from under "Tickets" down into "Soul"), rounded and frayed corners, staple and pin holes throughout, a little punch-through tear in the blue above "On," and so forth. Not a condition play, but a genuine half-a-century-old artifact from a source that was in the employ of the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.

Note: Cvtreasures stamp Not on original