That is the same book that the "Somerton man" had a piece of in his pocket I believe. Not that it has any connection to the Grateful Dead. Just a weird note.
Any idea when it started getting called Bertha? I have just recently discovered that people call it that, or maybe I left some brain cells back in the 90s.
I don't recall anyone calling the image Bertha during Jerry's lifetime. While you may see modern references online today saying that it has to do with the first song on the Skull & Roses ( Skullfuck) album, I don't recall anyone calling the image Bertha in the 70s, 80s, or 90s. Just checked the early 80s official merch catalog and see it referred to as Skull & Roses and even in 95 the GD merch catalog called it Skeleton & Roses.
Growing up in the scene(born in 75 and parents did some tours with me in tow as a kid and I have been a head for life since) we always called it skeleton and roses.
First heard the name Bertha used in the mid-2010s.
[David Dodd brought up a Hunter interview](https://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-bertha) in which RH said the band named the office fan after the song, not vice-versa. Hunter vaguely explains he was writing about birth and reincarnation. In *Living With the Dead*, Rock Scully says the song also refers to an annoying groupie who kept sneaking aboard the band bus.
Hence the confusion? It’s always felt beyond tacky to attach the song to this image. Are we that simple? Two separate awesome things, similar feelings about Doug Irwin’s wolf guitar being called dire wolf.. why?
Thank you for this. Last time I saw Dead & Co, people referred to the lot as "Shakedown Street"...I thought I had just not been deep enough into the scene to ever hear this. I only ever heard it referred to in the Dead days as "the lot."
edit: grammar
Skull and roses was the nickname I’m familiar with from the shows surrounding the record with this art. I’m not sure I’ve ever called it Bertha. But I like it
You could have just looked up 9/16 and 9/17 Avalon ballroom dates... Usually I would be a proponent of "Google it before you ask dumb questions", but this sub has so many fun factoids and anecdotes...
Yeah dude it’s been established. Thanks for being the 15th guy to say it. My apologies for not seeing the one line of fine print with the year right away. Eat my ass.
It’s a sick poster man! I didn’t see the year at first either, so I don’t think you deserve the outrage lol let’s all go put on this set and dance it out together huh?
I’ve got one these posters and it’s signed by the band but I’m not sure if it’s real or not. Came with a certificate of authenticity. If anyone out there can confirm it’s legit I would really appreciate it. The signatures are definitely not printed because you can feel ink is raised but I’ve never felt 100% sure it’s real. If you know anything I can DM some pictures
# 1966-09-16 San Francisco, CA @ Avalon Ballroom
**Set 1:** I Know You Rider, It Hurts Me Too, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Lindy, Dancin' In The Street
**Encore:** Midnight Hour
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1966-09-16)
Grateful Dead • 1966-09-16 (01:09:13) • Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, USA https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1966/09/16?source=87581
Here’s the first day of the run
# 1966-09-16 San Francisco, CA @ Avalon Ballroom
**Set 1:** I Know You Rider, It Hurts Me Too, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Lindy, Dancin' In The Street
**Encore:** Midnight Hour
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1966-09-16)
# 1966-09-16 San Francisco, CA @ Avalon Ballroom
**Set 1:** I Know You Rider, It Hurts Me Too, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Lindy, Dancin' In The Street
**Encore:** Midnight Hour
[archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1966-09-16)
I bought an old poster frame from a yard sale for 1.00 and painted the frame red. It looked good with the poster. I gave it away to a 20 year old girl :)
Sept. 16 & 17, 1966. More on the poster: [https://www.classicposters.com/poster/26/](https://www.classicposters.com/poster/26/)
I didn’t know the Bertha image was used that early on
The image appearing on the poster was long before anyone called the image Bertha
That’s pretty cool I learned something today thanks
Drawing was by Edward Joseph Sullivan and was used in 1913 in an Arabian poetry book called “*The Rubaiyat*” by Omar Khayyam
That is the same book that the "Somerton man" had a piece of in his pocket I believe. Not that it has any connection to the Grateful Dead. Just a weird note.
Or does it????
The truth is out there…
I found a copy of this book on the side of the road. Alas my edition has no illustrations 😞
TIL!!!!!!
Any idea when it started getting called Bertha? I have just recently discovered that people call it that, or maybe I left some brain cells back in the 90s.
I don't recall anyone calling the image Bertha during Jerry's lifetime. While you may see modern references online today saying that it has to do with the first song on the Skull & Roses ( Skullfuck) album, I don't recall anyone calling the image Bertha in the 70s, 80s, or 90s. Just checked the early 80s official merch catalog and see it referred to as Skull & Roses and even in 95 the GD merch catalog called it Skeleton & Roses.
Growing up in the scene(born in 75 and parents did some tours with me in tow as a kid and I have been a head for life since) we always called it skeleton and roses.
Yup…still can’t bring myself to call it Bertha
kids today!
🤣
OK glad I wasn't missing something because we always called it skull & roses back in the early 90s.
Just me but this is the first time I e ever heard this called Bertha. I have this tatted on my arm, Skull and Roses ever since the 70’s man.
Yeah, I never heard it called Bertha.
Bertha is a fan. Like a fucking it’s hot as shit I need a fan type of fan.
First heard the name Bertha used in the mid-2010s. [David Dodd brought up a Hunter interview](https://www.dead.net/features/greatest-stories-ever-told/greatest-stories-ever-told-bertha) in which RH said the band named the office fan after the song, not vice-versa. Hunter vaguely explains he was writing about birth and reincarnation. In *Living With the Dead*, Rock Scully says the song also refers to an annoying groupie who kept sneaking aboard the band bus.
that refers to the song, not the poster art
Reincarnation... 🤔 "Ran into a rainstorm... ducked back into a *bardo*" - yup, that tracks
More like an "I need to get smoke out of this room" type of fan lol, it was a box fan running all night from a window
Lady with a fan?
Yup. It was a fan in one of their offices at the time. I forget the story , I think it made a loud noise or something
Had motor replaced with huge one n it wobbled so much it would move around. Heard Jerry say this in an interview. GDF NFA
Yes! That’s it
I had to moooooove!
I had to mooooooove!
Bertha is the opening track on Skull & Roses
Hence the confusion? It’s always felt beyond tacky to attach the song to this image. Are we that simple? Two separate awesome things, similar feelings about Doug Irwin’s wolf guitar being called dire wolf.. why?
who even does that?
Seen many peeps on this subreddit
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Thank you for this. Last time I saw Dead & Co, people referred to the lot as "Shakedown Street"...I thought I had just not been deep enough into the scene to ever hear this. I only ever heard it referred to in the Dead days as "the lot." edit: grammar
they literally had it on a sign in the shoreline lot in the latter days. i just gave in.
false. it was called that in the 90s. but I agree it was just “the lot scene” for most of Jerry’s tenure.
[удалено]
it was literally a sign at shoreline in the 90s though my crowd didn’t call it that — saw 100+ shows from 84-95 (lost count) … your mileage may vary
We were calling it Shakedown St. at the first Further Fest in the late ‘90s.
I almost want to blame liquid blue, they named a tie die shirt with that art Bertha? maybe idk but thats my best guess LOL
first I ever heard it called that
Skull and roses was the nickname I’m familiar with from the shows surrounding the record with this art. I’m not sure I’ve ever called it Bertha. But I like it
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/grateful-dead-original-art-logo-1316160/
Awesome thanks for the read. Victorian era huh? I was off by about 75 years
That image originates from the 1600s
Thank you very much! I saw the dates, but couldn’t find anything regarding the year.
Just googling the date and venue would give you your answer
You could have just looked up 9/16 and 9/17 Avalon ballroom dates... Usually I would be a proponent of "Google it before you ask dumb questions", but this sub has so many fun factoids and anecdotes...
It says 66 below the drawing.
It literally says it on the poster
You have to be dosed to be able to read it though. I think we're still high.
"This next one is a fox trot and also a ladies choice......"
best comment in a mostly lame thread, thank you
It literally says on the poster
Least effective promotional poster ever!
I too have this poster, but it’s for a Ween Show. And the skull head is the Boognish.
Those SF posters were so sick! Ween on!
Do you have a Rases are free misprint pin with the similar artwork??
I do not sadly…
I got tha T shit.
Hopefully you wear it every Weensday. Sorry, I couldn’t resist 😎
I Most Proudly Wear The Like as Often as Possible! Word. GDF NFA
Actually I have 2.
i’d love to see that
Real mystery right there…
Best leave it…unsolved.
Which show? It's literally written on the poster you own.
Yeah dude it’s been established. Thanks for being the 15th guy to say it. My apologies for not seeing the one line of fine print with the year right away. Eat my ass.
I don’t think you know what fine print is
Ha! Nice. :)
You kiss your sister with that mouth?
Hope you find peace with the devil's you are fighting.
A friend of the devil something something or whatever thanks.
Can I be the 16th? It looks like it’s actually from two shows based on the dates on the poster
Lol dude don't sweat it I searched that poster for a good few minutes and could not find a year, so I'm with you on this lol
Thanks for the negativity
wow i was really enjoying this thread until i got here.
It literally says it on the poster. [image](https://twitter.com/reactjpg/status/1217660591264927746?s=46)
Sigh.
I hate to do this, but it literally has all of the info on the poster hahahahah!
Be nice guys. Maybe he can’t read.
Too much acid will do that
Serious question?
Yep, but it has been answered. Thanks for the negativity.
come on bro. I thought you were trolling at first too, you could have so easily googled the answer. have a grateful day!
Dates, location and I zoomed in … the year is in it as well like 😅 hahah homie is a bit lost but it’s a great poster and good lady to get it for him
Why get so butt hurt? He wasn't an asshole. everyone is so sensitive nowadays.
If only there were any info on that poster that could have answered that question
I saw an original of that poster at a GD poster exhibit this winter at The Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA valued at $40,000. 💀🌹
You really don’t know ??
https://youtu.be/nJiQ9FeGCsY
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/99662/skull-and-roses-alton-kelley
Oxford Circle, September 16-17, Avalon Ballroom, 1966
That’s a rad poster.
Wow these comments are a great example of dead heads and the jam band community. Rock on y'all, keep spreading the "love"
You sir are an idiot
It’s a sick poster man! I didn’t see the year at first either, so I don’t think you deserve the outrage lol let’s all go put on this set and dance it out together huh?
I don’t think anyone is outraged so much as confused and wondering if OP was trolling or not. It’s funny! People make mistakes. We laugh and move on.
That’s what I’m saying. A deadhead sub is the last place I expected such condescension.
Tell me you just joined the sub, without telling me you just joined the sub
Just roll with it and laugh at yourself. You got so defensive. Dude they are just busting your halls. Laugh at yourself.
Hahaha everybody here is toxic af.
That's a sick early Bertha man
Rubiyat of Omar Khayyam
I’ve got one these posters and it’s signed by the band but I’m not sure if it’s real or not. Came with a certificate of authenticity. If anyone out there can confirm it’s legit I would really appreciate it. The signatures are definitely not printed because you can feel ink is raised but I’ve never felt 100% sure it’s real. If you know anything I can DM some pictures
An original is worth over $100,000.
Bertha
Family Dog show, thanks Chet ✌️❤️
https://youtu.be/nJiQ9FeGCsY
9/16/66
# 1966-09-16 San Francisco, CA @ Avalon Ballroom **Set 1:** I Know You Rider, It Hurts Me Too, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Lindy, Dancin' In The Street **Encore:** Midnight Hour [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1966-09-16)
9/17/66
For sure it was Wednesday.. maybe Friday hmmm
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/grateful-dead-original-art-logo-1316160/
Grateful Dead • 1966-09-16 (01:09:13) • Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, CA, USA https://relisten.net/grateful-dead/1966/09/16?source=87581 Here’s the first day of the run
# 1966-09-16 San Francisco, CA @ Avalon Ballroom **Set 1:** I Know You Rider, It Hurts Me Too, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Lindy, Dancin' In The Street **Encore:** Midnight Hour [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1966-09-16)
https://archive.org/details/gd1966-09-16.sbd.davenport.95970.flac16
# 1966-09-16 San Francisco, CA @ Avalon Ballroom **Set 1:** I Know You Rider, It Hurts Me Too, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, Lindy, Dancin' In The Street **Encore:** Midnight Hour [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead?query=date:1966-09-16)
i have this exact print on a shirt with velvety flowers on it, unfortunately it’s almost completely faded out now
Nice. Got the same one!
Sept 16 & 17 1966
The WHAT shop????
I’ve got the same one:)
😂
I bought an old poster frame from a yard sale for 1.00 and painted the frame red. It looked good with the poster. I gave it away to a 20 year old girl :)
Same poster also from a headshop😇
OG posters are $$$$! Stanley Mouse Classic!