In the early 1970s, The Grateful Dead loaned two

Marin poster artists $500.00 to start a t-shirt

company in the Canal area of San Rafael.

It was called The Monster Corporation of

America and,  as any true Rock aficionado will

attest, artists Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley,

quickly repaid that loan.  The Monster Corp. was

an immediate and monster success, releasing

the very first 4-color processed t-shirts ever.

At the time, Mouse & Kelley were already known

as two of the biggest influences on The Sixties’

psychedelic ‘look'.  Working from their studio

on 3rd & B Street (which they called The

Concrete Foundation of Fine Arts), they

rented studios to various well-known artists

like Victor Moscoso, Pat Ryan, and David

Sheridan.

Recently Mouse completed a show of his

work called “Full Circle” at The Marin

Museum of Contemporary Art (http://

www.marinmoca.org) and will be participating

in their “Art By The Inch” program on

Saturday,  November 14, 2009.   Visit their

website to find out how you can meet Mouse

in person.

I interviewed Mouse about his memories of

Marin during the early Seventies.  He says

that when he first moved to Marin "it felt like

it was The Future.”

LEWIS:

How so?

MOUSE:

I just felt like I could see myself in

Marin…

LEWIS:

So Marin felt like your future, not

the future of the country…

MOUSE:

(Marin) was the future of a lot of

things.  A lot of stuff started there.  At the

time it was so vital.  It was so beautiful and

pristine that it attracted a lot of far out people.

It was an amazing time actually, a beautiful

time.  Like the most beautiful ten years of my

life, I think.  My son was born there and he’s

grown up there...

LEWIS:  Tell me about some of the album

covers you worked on in San Rafael.

MOUSE:

Kelley and I got this studio on B

Street and we were working on a design for a

t-shirt of a Pegasus design, a flying horse.

We really put a lot of time into it and it was

beautiful.   Steve Miller walked in one day

while we weren’t there. He said he needed a

design for a record cover and somebody was

there and said, “Well, what about this

(showing him the Pegasus)."  And he said

“It’s perfect.”  And so he used it on his Book

of Dreams cover, which won a Grammy

award.  We went on to do a lot of other album

covers there.  Extremely detailed and lavish

airbrush work.

LEWIS: Were you ever treated like a rock

star for doing the artwork for some of rock's

most famous album covers?

MOUSE: Once at a Love Ride Motorcycle

Music event, Steve Miller was the main act.

I was talking backstage to one of the band

members and he said "You did the 'Book of

Dreams' art?"  I said "Yes."   He said,

"...AND Steve Miller's Greatest Hits cover

art?"  I said "Yes."   He said "You are part of

the band!"

LEWIS:

Did the musicians themselves

actually come to your studios on B Street?

MOUSE:

Yeah musicians always came

there. Van Morrison was over there.

Chaka Khan came to the studio one time.

Bonnie Raitt came to one of our parties there.

LEWIS:

You had a lot of parties?

MOUSE:

Well, we formed an art club called

The Artistas.  And we actually made jackets

with a logo that was a dragon coming out of a

tube of paint

LEWIS:

And so you’d throw the party and

the musicians would just show up or…

MOUSE:

Well musicians showed up when

they wanted work done.  And if they wanted

something they would come and talk to us

about it.  And we had parties and there were

always some celebrities at our parties.

LEWIS:

What’s the Van Morrison story?

MOUSE:

Van Morrison was walking past my

studio one day and I saw him and said, “Hey

Van, come on in the studio” and he looked at

me with a scowl ‘cause that probably

happens to him all the time… I said, come on

in – I got a lot of artwork in there and he’s still

scowling at me.  And I said, “Kelley’s in

there.”  And his eyes lit up and he went,

“Kelley?” and he came in.

LEWIS:

Was he nicer once he came in?

MOUSE:

Oh yeah.  Once he knew that he

had a countryman (Irish) in there he loosened

up.

LEWIS:

When you were working in your studio on B Street, were there

certain hangouts you liked?

MOUSE:

One of the jokes was – there was a Country Club Bowling Alley in

the canal near our t-shirt company and when people came to the t-shirt

company, we’d say “Let’s go to the Country Club.”  And people would get all

jazzed about going to the country club and they’d end up at a bowling alley.

We’d all laugh.

LEWIS:

If someone was browsing through your album covers in a record

store today, what would they be surprised to learn that went on behind the

scenes?

MOUSE:

Well the Grateful Dead at that time was in Marin too.  So we

worked really closely with them.  We did all the illustrations from the Grateful

Dead Songbook there.  And we did Mars Hotel.  Kelley did American Beauty

in Marin.  We did a couple of other Dead things…

LEWIS:

How hands-on were the Dead?   Would you have actually the band

members looking over your shoulder (at your work)?

MOUSE:

Well at first we had a lot of freedom, and that’s why the early

posters  we did were really great. We had total freedom.  But as the band got

bigger, then there were more ‘art directors’ in the band… It became like

everybody in the band and all the roadies and the wives, and all the lawyers

were all Art Directors all of a sudden.  And it became harder and harder to do

what we wanted to do.

LEWIS:

Was any of your art ever rejected by a band and you thought it

would have been fantastic for a particular album?

MOUSE:

Yeah, lots of times, lots of times.  I did one for Boston that I

thought was really great and they said “Is this a joke?”

LEWIS:

Did you ever leave any visual hints within your album covers that

they were created in San Rafael or in Marin County?

MOUSE:

Yeah, Mars Hotel.  Just kidding.  No, just the beauty of Marin

probably added to the beauty of the artwork.  Marin back then was so pristine

and beautiful.

Visit Mouse's website by clicking HERE.

And if you have memories of Mouse's album art or poster work, please

write about it in the FORUM.

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All of the material

on this website is

copyrighted by

Jason Lewis

unless otherwise

stated.  Those

images not owned

by Jason Lewis

are copyrighted

by their

respective

owners.  If you

are interested in

using material

from these pages,

please contact

Jason Lewis at

jason@marinnost

algia.org prior to

doing so.