The Grateful Dead, Warner Bros-Seven Arts artists, bowed out of a late July stint at the HIC. An early 1969 date now looms.
None of this turned out to be so, and the Grateful Dead did not play Hawaii until January 23-24, 1970. I do not know if Honolulu International Center (HIC) was the same as Honolulu Civic Auditorium, but I suspect it is so.
This at least partially explains the absence of late July 1968 dates, after Kings Beach Bowl on July 13 (the next gig is August 2 in San Diego at The Hippodrome).
The Honolulu International Center and The Honolulu Civic Auditorium were two different venues. The Civic Auditorium was eventually torn down and the HIC eventually was renamed the Neil Blaisdale Center.
ReplyDeleteGot to see many great rock-n-roll bands at the HIC. The Civic Auditorium used to do the wrestling and boxing matches.
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ReplyDeleteWas checking this to confirm, and found it in the Honolulu listings, 8/10/68 Billboard. Curious that the Dead canceled bookings at the HIC in both July '68 and July '69!
DeleteWhile trawling thru' a Rick Griffin facebook page in search of something else I came across mentions of the Hawaiian surfing Aoxomoxoa/It's A Beautiful Day design being from July 1968 not 1969. Rick's design only gives the dates as July 25-26-27 with no days of the week or year mentioned. Those dates fell on Friday to Sunday in 1969 and Thursday to Saturday in 1968 so without further evidence 1969 would look the more likely. However, there is further evidence, a photo of Griffin at work by Elaine Mayes which she dates to 1968. Clearly displayed on the wall is a framed Hawaiian Aoxomoxoa poster. The work in progress on his desk is said to be the bottom of the Avalon 24-25-26 January 1969 Aoxomoxoa and propped up against the wall between him and Hawaii is another unfinished design for a Sound Proof Avalon show, Van Morrison Jan 31 to Feb 2 1969. The resolution of the on-line photo is not high enough to be sure but they look to be plausibly identified meaning that Griffin has finished and framed Hawaii before he is working on January 1969 commisions supporting Mayes' date of 1968. So unless there is any other evidence for a cancelled July 1969 Hawaii run I think it can be written off as a misdating of the Griffin design by "The Art Of Rock" and "DeadBase" which properly is for the cancelled 1968 shows mentioned in the press.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/OfficialRickGriffin/photos/a.402104329319/10155949207504320/?type=3&theater&ifg=1
Elsewhere that facebook page reports that Rick's iconic "Grateful Dead" Aoxomoxoa lettering was used in a New York paper advert for the December 1968 Miami Pop Festival. It looks like January 1969 Avalon was not the prototype for Aoxomoxoa after all but the latest refinement of an ongoing idea.
Yeah, Deadbase had the Honolulu cancellations as July '69 which threw me off. The July '68 cancellation is amply documented:
Deletehttp://jgmf.blogspot.com/p/canceled-grateful-dead-and-jerry-garcia.html - 3/16/18 comment
I'd assumed that the Deadbase report of cancelled July '69 shows was accurate, but I don't think I've seen any contemporary evidence of this. So I think you're right, the presumed July '69 cancellation is just a misdate of the '68 event, and should be stricken from the record.
This is fantastic scholarship all around
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