BG005

This is a cracker of a poster. Wes Wilson was hitting his stride as this very rare poster demonstrates. It has a small tear in the middle that can be repaired completely by a competent framer, otherwise it's perfect. Never displayed, but kept with the collection.

14" X 20" (36cm X 51cm)

Before I joined the Marines, I met a wonderful character at Foothill College in Los Altos (Silicone Valley) named Bob Knickerbocker, who was a total renegade and a great photographer, bringing his unique view of the world into his photos.

Bob met Ken Kesey and hung out with him and the Merry Pranksters in Palo Alto while keeping me sane in the Marines with his insane letters that let me know there really was a crazy, artistic world out there! Bob got hold of some LSD and moved to the Haight-Ashbury about the same time I got out of the Marines. We met up in mid-1965 at his pad on Frederick and Stanyan which used to be the bakery my dad would frequent 38 years earlier on his way to Poly High School, just across the street.

Bob smiled at me curiously and asked, "Have you ever heard of LSD?"

NoI hadn't. What was it, a university back east?

"Paul, come here," and Bob walked to his fridge (the only piece of furniture in the place besides his couch and his mattress), opened it up and pointed to a Mason Jar full of little cream-colored capsules. The only other occupant of the fridge was a mangy-looking carrot.

He opened the jar, reached in for a handful of capsules and plonked them in my hand, looked at me quizzically, smiled, and said, "Here, take one before bedtime."

I wasn't getting it....I had never taken an aspirin....why did I need this?

"Just do it," he said.