Mouse In The House - R Rated

Poster by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly for Janis Joplin and Big Brother

“The ‘60s were a portal to an inner-dimensional multi univserse, and possibly a door to parallel worlds. We were explorers of inner space.” --Stanley Mouse 

“Without art, we would be lost. Expressing and sharing the internal workings of our Self is and always has been a cathartic experience both for the creator and the viewer. Through creativity we connect with humanity. In this edition, it is our heartfelt intention and our absolute privilege to share with you a taste of the brilliance pouring forth from these creative gypsies, these passionate explorers, these soul-seeking pirates. We let the artists shine, telling their own stories, sharing their own visions. We at HSV are eternally grateful and honored to have these spectacular souls in these few if not joyfully packed pages.” Linda, Haight Street Voice 

“Everything you can imagine is real.” --Pablo Picasso

Take it away, Stanley ... 

“Being a psychedelic ranger, the big lesson from the Summer of Love was to not live by the dictates of a confused society, but to live by what spontaneously springs from your own spiritual nature. We rejected the robot way of life dealt to us in the ‘50s and behaved like the noble beings that we really were. No longer marching to the beat of an authoritarian state but dancing to the rocking beat coming out of our inner original being. In that free state, we were not afraid of anything or anyone. We had found our primal origins. Anything could be achieved. We changed the face of advertising. We returned to organic food. We found Love, the basis of all religion, and showed the world how to party doing good rather than war and destruction. I could tell you stories on how fun the Summer of Love was. Doing psychedelics and watching the molecules move in a rock, or how you could talk to animals or trees and transfer thoughts from mind to mind. Or I could tell you negative stories about bad drugs or being pushed out of my studio by the Diggers or how Bill Graham commercialized the scene or how we got dubbed ‘hippies’. 

“Instead, I will tell you about the more important result of the Summer of Love. How it changed the society and is still changing it today worldwide. How the commercial art world was never the same after the posters of the ‘60s. The psychedelic experience was a short cut to God. Exploring other dimensions, multi dimensions. Inner space. The door to the sub-conscience. Things got sorted out. You could get higher by meditating than on drugs. We thought about organic gardening. Foods without pesticides that caused sickness. Sharing with your brothers and sisters. Taking care of them. Celebrating life instead of making war. Money wasn’t that important. We danced a whole lot to some of the best bands in the history of music. Yes, there were bad scenes and bad trips -- but overall a Renaissance. A second coming that no one noticed. 

Poster by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly for Janis Joplin and Big Brother. Signed 

Summer Of Love Haight Ashbury At Its Highest

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Everybody asks, “Were you on acid when you did these posters and album covers?” It goes much deeper than that. It was a whole movement based on higher consciousness, oU alteUed consciousness. 7he aUt UeÀected that movement. If I was on psychedelics when I was drawing or inking posters, the pencil would probably melt into the paper. Actually, Victor Moscoso said that! You need a clear mind to do poster or album cover art. It’s a complex medium. A great deal of planning and measurement goes into it. Working with Alton Kelley was one of my life’s greatest experiences. He was a lefty and I was right-handed, so we could sit at the drawing board and work on the same piece like a four-handed monster. Together we produced some of the most cosmic and funny art known to mankind. Haha!” 

From Haight Street Voice Zine - haightstreetvoice.com

The following is from Stanley Mouse website:

“Often with his partner Alton Kelley, sometimes on his own, starting in June 1966, Mouse created twenty-six of the next thirty-six posters for weekly dances thrown by Chet Helms’ Family Dog at the Avalon Ballroom. Along with the other pioneering psychedelic poster artists of San Francisco that year – Wes Wilson, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin – these artists brought back their images from the realms of LSD. They made posters that looked like the music sounded.

Dressed in vintage military uniforms covered with braid and medals, long-haired, bearded Mouse stomped his way through the tribal dance/concerts, dancing, carrying on, in the front of the hall or backstage.

With new groups like Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company or Quicksilver Messenger Service springing up and weekly dances at the Avalon, the Fillmore Auditorium or other clubs and halls around town, the scene was on fire. This was before underground newspapers or free-form rock radio, so the only way to announce and advertise these events was through posters that would be displayed in shop windows and café bulletin boards."

From mousestudios.com 

Haight Ashbury Fest Online Editor's Note: In Janis Joplin’s history there are a few lessons for women about self-preservation. 

Poster by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelly for the Greatful Dead, signed. According to an interview with Stanley Mouse, the poster that Stanley and Alton were most famous for. The skeleton was lifted directly from the book the Rubaiyat of Omar Kiam. And that wasn't the only art they lift from other artists. GigsList weird art historian.

Rubaiyat of Omar Kiam 1859 Editor's Note: Was one of my father's favorite books.

Summer Of Love Haight Ashbury At Its Highest

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