Grateful Dead Satanic Santa 1966

by happycat! >^.^<m~ | Dec 18, 2010 | Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead Handbill from Avalon Ballroom on 23 Dec 66: 8 1/2″ x 11″

“This was the only poster that I did for the Grateful Dead. It was kind of the luck of the draw as to who got which poster. And I did a lot of posters for the Doors; I did a lot of posters for the Brother and Quicksilver; but this is the only poster I did for the Grateful Dead, and it’s titled “Satanic Santa.” Chet Helms said that he wanted me to do a Satanic Santa, so I came up with this.” -Victor Moscoso

“The Jolly Old Man himself (or so it seems) is the central image here on our “Poster From The Past” for today’ A psychedelic circle filled with small triangles in front of which is a Santa Claus with small horns. It is noteworthy that the artist that created this poster, refers to it as the “Satanic Santa”. European Christmas tradition includes an evil character that brings bad things to bad children, and the drawing on this poster bears considerable resemblance to that character. The Family Dog did have radio ads for this concert at the time promising a Hippie Santa Claus who said, “Ho Ho Ho” in a very hip voice but this poster came from a very different place. This is Family Dog’s poster number #40 in their series and was created by the Master of psychedelic posters and comix…Victor Moscoso. He later said, “It was kind of the luck of the draw as to who got which poster for any given week. Chet Helms said that he wanted me to do a Satanic Santa, so I came up with this. I did a lot of posters for the Doors, Big Brother and Quicksilver as well, but this is the only poster I ever did for the Grateful Dead”. This poster was printed only one time.

Grateful Dead Poster from Avalon Ballroom on 23 Dec 66: 14 1/4″ x 19 15/16″