The following are a few paragraphs from the range of emails I receive with stories or comments about my work. None are posted without permission from the sender.
30 December 2004
Subject: a long-time fan
I first became aware of your work, David (are you still with us, or just your work?) in the ‘60/70s and have carried a montage of your already-montaged images around in my mind ever since, without remembering your name. Today I finally googled Fillmore posters, and voila, there they were. Yum: as extraordinary as I remember. Just wanted to let you know. One of these days I’ll buy a few. (The same thing I used to promise myself when they hung in quality head and art shops in CA at a fraction of what they cost now.)
Anyway, thanks for enriching my life.
—Dick Croy (Account Executive, Building and Forest Products), Cincinnati, Ohio
19 December 2004
hello - nice to see your web-site...please add me to your mailing list. thanks... i have been a fan of your work for 30+ years...i have 25 of your fillmore posters (my very favorites, which i love very much, are the george washington at window viewing war, and the country joe & fish, with his gun held up to the sky...the top of rifle becomes a bird, and lettering is very unique). your posters have been on every apt. wall since i was a young adult, and my son, who grew up looking at them every day, and who will inherit them, loves them, too (he is 23 now). the posters have meant a great deal to me, and anyone who has come into any of my apts., over the years, has been amazed by them, too, as they have always been along the longest wall, tacked w/thumbtacks, sorry to say (most of them). i am glad of the opportunity to tell you these thoughts (i just got a computer last month). my sincere thanks for the enjoyment that your images have given me, and continue to give me. they are very special to me. i wish i could send you a picture of me & jesse (there are many, all through our life) standing against our wall (your posters as the omnipresent background); no scanner, yet, so i can't do that, so will just send the only pic i have in my computer so far. hope that david singer himself will get to see this message. sincerely,
—Sue Cornell, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
8 April 2004
Greetings David,
I just ran across your site after being a fan for many years. Your miles davis/dead poster and tickets have been on my wall since 92. And since then, I have gone totally overboard collecting show posters and art, to being a poster artist myself. And it was your work that started my interest in concert poster art. Thanks so much for the inspiration!!
Peace and blessings,
—Jeff Miller (Cryptical Development Graphic Art & Design Studio), Austin, Texas
www.crypticaldevelopment.com
4 Februay 2004
.… let david know his "america be vigilant" poster is hanging in one of saddam's old palaces as we speak — i sent my copy over to iraq with my son. i'll email a photo soon — certainly a new place for david's work to be seen and appreciated !!! and the joe's love it !
—Jesse Ciazza (Open Road Photography), Torrington, Connecticut
15 November 2003
Hi David — It was good meeting you at the poster show and getting my posters signed. I was looking at the poster I bought from you.....I bought it for the art and didn't pay attention what the poster was for and it turned out to be for the String Cheese Incident.....GREAT!!!.....Love how you framed the picture and did the lettering with one continuous line.....I look forward to seeing you at another show.....keep me posted.
—Robert Calvillo, Citrus Heights, California
22 September 2003
I look at my poster collection not only as a source of daily inspiration and exercise for my mind, but as a chronological sideshow of my life, my times, and a window my grandchildren can look back through. That's what good art, and especially your work means to me. If I'm to look at it every day, I want texture and depth, a third or fourth dimension that invites exploration. Like the music I love, I want nuances and subtleties that come to me anew, perhaps long after I first experience it. I feel blessed that I live in a time where fine art can be shared not just in museums and under the direction of the church, but in the homes of everyone. Yours is amongst the very best examples of contemporary art, and as good music beckons the exploration of it's roots, so does your imagery.… It's a pleasure sharing the world with you!
—Jesse Ciazza, (Open Road Photography), Torrington, Connecticut
20 October 2002
I just got back from vacation in Williamsburg Virginia yesterday. I found one of your posters in a collectables shop in Smithfield. It is a Grateful Dead New Year's Eve 1970. I guess it is #263. It is the first time I've ever purchased anything like this. I did it because, after a long gap, the music of the Grateful Dead came back into my life during a very tough period and helped me get through some tough times. Anyway, in an effort to see if I paid "a fair price", I was googling around the web and found your site. I feel so fortunate to have purchased something both representative of its time as well as something by an artist who still appears to be vital and interesting. I will proudly display this in my home. Thank you. I am signing up for your e-mail announcements. If you or your works ever go on tour and end up nearby (I live in NH and travel regularly to Portland Me. and Boston Ma) I will be sure to visit. I would love for you to sign my poster someday. With respect and gratitude,
—Tom Holmes, New Hampshire
16 June 2001
Dear David — Just this afternoon I grabbed my poster portfolio to slip a recently acquired concert poster into a sleeve. As I quickly flipped open the cover, there in the first sleeve was your beautiful TRPS Art Print. I'm e-mailing you now because I want you to know that the very second my eyes, again gazed upon that image, it literally took my breath away!! Just as it did the first time I saw it. This is a magnificent piece. What a great story it tells. It really humbles me to think that you created this art as a tribute to TRPS. It really is a great honor. As I stood there transfixed on this amazing image, fantasizing on how it needs a special frame and a special spot in my home, I was compelled to again let you know how I felt. You are truly an amazing and gifted artist. Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this very special gift . . . .
My Very Best to You Always.
—Gregg Montgomery (Board of Directors, TRPS), Sonoma, California
12 April 2001
Please add me to your email list! Thanks for all your art — it's gotten me through many tough times.
—MLM, Portland, Oregon
9 April 2001
Hi David — Not long ago a friend of mine asked me why I liked your Fillmore poster work so much. My initial response was that there was something "cool" about the lettering. Upon further reflection, I realized that your lettering style was only part of what attracted me to much of your earlier work. The wild, uninhibited collage imagery juxtaposed with the precise accuracy of your lettering results in a kind of "harmonious balance" effect. Kind of a "yin-yang" occurrence. I shared my thoughts with my wife and her response to me was to lay off the "Feng-Shui" books.
—Robert Proudfoot, Oak Park, Michigan
28 March 2001
Hello — I did a report on Fillmore art, with an emphasis on Singer designs, and actually had the professor pull me aside, and other than telling me I got an A, also said he was a huge fan of your work. So I want to thank you for the insight you have provided me; it got me an A, when I was definitely in need of one in that class!
—Mat Bartkowiak, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay
8 December 2000
David — I personally think you deserve a special place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! Your contribution to the art world ranks with Lautrec and Warhol, only with the latter, you shouldn't get 15 minutes of fame — your recognition should be for a lifetime! If you aren't shown in the Smithsonian or Museum of Modern Art, something is wrong with this picture! God, I love your work!!!
—Marc Gerig, Oak Harbor, Washington
15 September 2000
Hi — My mother was a big fan of your posters in the early 70s. Last night I was looking through old slides and saw BGP 287 hanging on the wall in my room from when I was about 4 years old (now 32). I had a flashback of such intensity that I HAD to find another copy so that I could see it more clearly. I ran out and bought Grushkin's the Art of Rock this morning and realized that staring at the cat in the poster is probably one of my earliest memories. I remember it like it was yesterday — imagining what the cat was thinking about, what the dog was thinking about. I now have a 5 month old daughter and would love to decorate her room with the same poster, but I don't know where to begin looking. If you have any leads on such a treasure,even if it is slightly damaged, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks very much.
—RG, Andover, Massachusetts
31 October 1999
Dear Mr. Singer — I used to live in San Francisco between 1977 to 1989. As I recall, one afternoon in the fall of 1977 or 1978 while walking on Grant St. in North Beach, I came across the Poster Mat run by a man named Ben Friedman. That afternoon I purchased 56 or so of your Fillmore West Posters. I also purchased 6 of a larger size.…You probably don't recall this but Ben advised me that "one poster was missing" from this "set" or collection. He told me you had a few extra ones and that I may trade you one for the one that I was missing. On this advice I purchased 2 of the Two Lips/Tulips posters. So one day I called you, this was probably in 1977-78, I told you the story of how I wanted to trade one for one. You said OK. I then went over to Potero Hill and knocked on your door and we "made the exchange." Anyway, I have kept the posters in safe storage for all of these years. But just recently they have come to my attention because of a few San Franciscans who are now living near me here in southern Thailand. We got talking about music the Haight etc. and I mentioned I have these posters. The next thing I know is that I located your website. Enough said.
—William Bridi, Hotel Manager, Rayavadee Resort, Krabi, Thailand
PS: The Hard Rock Cafe in Bangkok has three or four of your posters displayed.
15 July 1999
As a teenager I attended many shows @ the Fillmore East. As a middle age baby boomer, I now collect the art of the Fillmore (West mostly, obviously). This is strictly a hobby and not a business. As a guitar player I also collect vintage guitars as a hobby. As I have now somewhat familiarized myself, through various publications (Art of the Fillmore, Art of Rock), I have come to appreciate your work as my favorite of the genre. I like to refer to you as the Salvador Dali or Maxfield Parrish (I hope that is not offensive as I love Dali + Parrish) of the Fillmore collection artists.…thanks for the great work from some great years.
—Mitch Geller, New York, New York
PS: One of the great things about your style is that my girlfriend will let me hang your art in the living room.
12 August 1998
Dear Mr. Singer — Is it REALLY you? Wow! I'd like to grab the opportunity and tell you how much I appreciate your work and I almost feel honoured to get a chance to get the goodies from the Master himself. I collect for my own amusement and display the posters around the house. I'd like to order some posters right away, BUT: Is it possible to buy them with dedications? I'd love to give my kids one each and perhaps some for myself.......Best wishes.
——Stian Brekke from sunny Norway