Offered is an incredible relic direct from Bob Dylan's 1976 "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour bus--a tour concert poster signed by Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn, T-Bone Burnett, Bob Neuwirth, Mick Ronson, Scarlet Rivera, Howie Wyeth, Steven Soles, Kinky Friedman and Steve “Doc” Lichtenberg. This last gentleman does not appear in any records, be they concurrent or historical, of "The Rolling Thunder Revue". He may have had certain duties that remained unrecorded for posterity. Each band member added a thoughtful inscription, in an almost high school yearbook way.
The "Rolling Thunder" tour took place in two parts, first in the fall of 1975 and then in the spring of 1976. The tour was conceived by Dylan on the heels of completing his 1975 masterpiece Desire. The idea behind the tour, Dylan said, was to "play for the people," the people who never get good seats at his larger concerts due to higher ticket cost and inconvenient locations. Dylan chose to play in smaller auditoriums because, he said, "the atmosphere in small halls is more conducive to what we do." This spring tour promoted on the offered poster included 22 shows from April 18 through May 25, 1976.
The offered poster comes from the "Smooth Ride Rock & Roll Tour Bus Collection" which is being offered in this auction. The poster was on the wall of Bob's tour bus, and it can be clearly seen in an accompanying photograph of the bus interior taken during the tour. All the signatures were acquired by the tour bus owners as the tour was finishing up near the end of May 1976. It's an amazing survivor from one of the most enigmatic and legendary rock and roll concert tours in history. Also accompanying is an original tour document--a three page list of "Rolling Thunder Personnel" including the mid-1970's address and phone information for such luminaries as Joan Baez, T. Bone Burnett, Bob himself, poet Allen Ginsberg, Jacques Levy (Bob's song cowriter on Desire) and Roger McGuinn fo the Byrds. Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Beckett Authentic. The poster measures 14 x 21 7/8 inches and presents with the original pin holes in the upper corners, carious stains and some small tears and edge wear. Very Good to Excellent condition, technically, but the signatures remain quite bold in dark black ink.
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Smooth Ride Rock & Roll Tour Bus Collection
Each item in the collection is accompanied by a signed letter of authenticity from owner Sandra Placco. Her letters read in part:
Smooth Ride Custom Coach Leasing operated for over 40 years providing tour bus services to rock & roll bands. We began building coaches in our driveway in Red Hook, New York back in 1974. The first tour was with a band called Orleans (their big hit was “Still the One”), and we operated until 2014. We went on to provide tour bus services to dozens and dozens of different acts, including Prince, KISS, Phish, Trey Anastasio, Bob Dylan's “Rolling Thunder Revue”, Janet Jackson, Alice Cooper, TOTO, Bruce Hornsby, Don Henley, Steve Miller, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Neil Young, Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Arcade Fire, to name just a few!
The business originally started as “Land Yacht” and gained the trusted name of “Smooth Ride” in the early 80s. Our reputation grew, and tours just came in as entertainers found that we provided a better way to get from point A to point B. I personally handled the tour booking, tour contracts with the bands and management companies and our company financials. Around 1984, we started working with Florida Coach, who built custom coaches for us, and later we worked with Night Train Coach of Nashville, Tennessee, as well as many other custom coach companies, over the years. We stopped operating in 2014, as I was preparing for retirement.
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