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The poster history of Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Part Two For Part One, go - HERE
Poster by Dennis Loren with photo by Robert Matheu and art direction by Freddie Brooks for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Patti Smith and the Black Eagles at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 9-10, 1978.
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Dennis Loren poster with the incorrect “1981” for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Patti Smith and the Black Eagles at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 9-10, 1978, obviously produced long after the event. This poster is the source for the erroneous 1981 date on these October 9-10 shows
Handbill/flyer for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Patti Smith and the Black Eagles at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, October 9-10, 1978.
Newspaper ad for the Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan with Sonic’s Rendezvous “and special guest” on October 10, 1978, although it had been reported prior to the shows that Patti Smith would be returning to Ann Arbor, and this was the second of the two-night gig.
Poster/record store display for the release of the “City Slang” single by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band on Orchide Records in Detroit, Michigan. We’ve seen promotions for the record as early as July 1978, but the release date printed on the back of the sleeve is November 1978.
Fred “Sonic” Smith on the front cover of the first issue of SPOOEE! magazine, November 1978. Spooee logo created by Dennis Loren.
A newspaper ad for the Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan with Sonic’s Rendezvous Band appearing on November 13, 1978.
A poster, possibly designed by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’ Rendezvous Band with the Cult Heroes at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 13, 1978. There was also a screening of the film “Blank Generation” filmed and co-produced by Ivan Kral, guitarist with the Patti Smith Group and later with Iggy Pop.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, with photo by Bob Matheu for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt and R.U.R. at the Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 6, 1978.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with R.U.R. at Bookie’s Club 870 in Detroit, Michigan on December 21, 1978.
1979
Poster/flyer by Freddie Brooks with photo by Robert Matheu for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt and Cult Heroes at the Michigan Union Ballroom in Ann Arbor on January 26, 1979.
Show review in the Michigan Daily newspaper for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt and Cult Heroes at the Michigan Union Ballroom in Ann Arbor on January 26, 1979 with photo of Fred “Sonic” Smith by Maureen O’Malley. As described in the review, Patti Smith was becoming a fixture at SRB shows.
Poster/flyer by Freddie Brooks with photo by Sue Rynski for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with R.U.R. at Bookie’s in Detroit, Michigan, February 2-3, 1979.
Six tracks from these shows made it onto the 1999 “City Slang” CD. Here are all six:
Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Earthy (Bookie's, Detroit 2/3/79)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWpxQNvSDpM
Sonic's Rendezvous Band - So Sincerely Yours (Bookie's, Detroit 2/3/79)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7l1IwiRoIA
Sonic's Rendezvous Band – You’re So Great (Bookie's, Detroit 2/3/79)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5BxVzOwkC4
Sonic's Rendezvous Band – Thrill (Bookie's, Detroit 2/2/79)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMzmnaB52v0
Sonic's Rendezvous Band – Detroit Tango (Bookie's, Detroit 2/3/79)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcjUsUUhDic
Sonic's Rendezvous Band – Step By Step (Bookie's, Detroit 2/3/79)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-Gauj-7_o
The calendar of events for February 1979 at Bookie’s Club 870 in Detroit, Michigan, starting with Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and R.U.R., February 2-3, 1979. Also of note is the Romantics 2nd Anniversary since their debut on Valentine’s Day 1978. Wednesday and Thursday night shows were being added to the live music nights.
This is a page from Issue #3 of White Noise magazine, indicating that the magazine was published in January/February 1979.
A collage of Sonic’s Rendezvous Band from photos by Sue Rynski, published in Issue #3 of White Noise magazine, January 1979.
Poster, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and the Reruns at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 12, 1979.
The Ramones returned for their 12th and 13th Michigan shows, first at the Punch and Judy Theatre in Grosse Pointe with the Romantics on February 25, 1979 and the following night at the Second Chance in Ann Arbor with the Romantics and Sonic’s Rendezvous Band on February 26, 1979.
Poster/flyer by Freddie Brooks for the Ramones with the Romantics and Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at the Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 26, 1979.
Poster/handbill, most likely by Freddie Brooks, with photo by Robert Matheu, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 1, 1979.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt at Bookie’s Club 870 in Detroit, Michigan, April 12-14, 1979.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for two shows to benefit the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the first on May 17, 1979 at the University of Michigan Dearborn campus, and the second the following night, on May 18th, at the Punch and Judy Theatre in Grosse Pointe, with a line up of the Patti Smith Group, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, Flirt, Mutants, R.U.R., Algebra Mothers, the Rembrandt String Quartet, Vantage Point “and special guests”.
Newspaper ad for Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan with The Look, June 1-3, 1979, followed by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band on June 4, 1979.
Poster/ad, likely by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the Algebra Mothers at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on June 4, 1979.
A tiling of ads by Freddie Brooks, in homage to the white and black linoleum tiled stage at Bookie’s Club 870 in Detroit, Michigan, for the June 21, 1979 appearance there by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and Flirt.
The Setlist website picks up at show at Huey’s in Chicago, Illinois on June 22, 1979. As unlikely as that sounds, there are recordings and eye witness accounts.
Sonic's Rendezvous Band - Live at Huey's June 1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhonDi7fA_A
https://archive.org/details/sonics-rendezvous-band-hueys-chicago-il-june-1979
An ad with a rare out-of-state performance by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, opening for Patti Smith in Cleveland, Ohio on June 23, 1979.
Three live tracks from this show made it onto the City Slang EP and City Slang CD, released in 1999. One of those tracks is linked below, along with a 1999 remix of City Slang found on the CD:
Sonic’s Rendezvous Band – Heaven (Cleveland 6/23/79)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG6msx7inbI
Sonic’s Rendezvous Band – City Slang (1999)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkSV_pmsk7U
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at the New Miami in Detroit, Michigan on June 28-29, 1979, with Cult Heroes and the Cubes, and on the following night with Flirt and Bombardier.
Poster/flyer, possibly by Freddie Brooks, for the Patti Smith Group with Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan on June 30, 1979. It was Smith’s 18th Michigan appearance, with thirteen of them in 1978-1979.
Photo by Robert Matheu on this poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the Cubes at the New Miami in Detroit, Michigan, July 20-21, 1979.
Two slightly different poster/flyers by Freddie Brooks, with photo by Robert Matheu for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt and the Cubes at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on July 25, 1979.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and the Cubes at the Ukrainian People’s Hall in Dearborn, Michigan on July 28, 1979.
Flyer, most likely designed by Freddie Brooks, with photos by Sue Rynski, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at the Silver Bird in Detroit, Michigan, August 20-21, 1979 with the Cubes and Flirt.
Poster/flyer, likely by Freddie Brooks, with the Patti Smith script, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and Flirt at the Rainbow Ranch in East Lansing, Michigan for three nights, September 20-22, 1979.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at the Silver Bird in Detroit, Michigan on September 30, 1979.
Poster/flyer, possibly by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the Cubes at Lorial’s in Detroit, Michigan, October 12-13, 1979.
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Poster/flyer, likely by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the Cubes at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 23, 1979.
Poster/flyer with the November 1979 schedule for Lorial’s in Detroit, Michigan, starting off with Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, November 2-3, 1979 and concluding with the Cult Heroes, November 23-24, possibly the final shows at this short-lived club.
Poster/flyer, likely by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at Lorial’s in Detroit, Michigan, November 2-3, 1979.
Poster/flyer, likely by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 12, 1979.
Flyer/handbill, likely by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with Flirt at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 12, 1979, with upcoming shows in Detroit, at the New Miami, the Silverbird, and Motor City Showcase.
Poster/flyer, likely by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at the New Miami in Detroit, Michigan, November 14-15, 1979. This is the show where Iggy Pop joined the band on-stage, captured by photographer Robert Matheu:
Poster/handbill by Gary Grimshaw for the 1st Annual Ann Arbor Rock & Roll Revue at the Ann Arbor Armory in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 17, 1979, featuring Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, At Random, Steve Newhouse & the Nuke-A-Billies, and MC Stanley the Mad Hatter.
Newsprint version of Gary Grimshaw’s poster for the 1st Annual Ann Arbor Rock & Roll Revue at the Ann Arbor Armory in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 17, 1979.
The show schedule poster for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the show at the Silver Bird in Detroit, Michigan on November 19, 1979, and at the Motor City Showcase in Detroit, Michigan November 23-24, 1979.
Poster/flyer for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the Cubes and the Plugs at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 10, 1979.
Poster/flyer, likely by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the Cubes and the Exictables at the Silver Bird in Detroit, Michigan on December 23, 1979.
1980
A poster/flyer for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 18, 1980. A thirteen track recording of this show was released in 2022, titled “Out of Time”.
Poster/flyer with an unusual abstract design for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 21, 1980.
Posters/flyers for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 20, 1980.
Poster/flyer for Patti and Fred Smith’s second benefit show for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, at the Punch & Judy Theatre in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan on June 14, 1980, repeating the loose format of their first benefit show for the DSO in May 1979. It was Patti’s first stage appearance since the end of her European tour, winding up in Italy in September 1979, and would be her final stage appearance for the next decade.
The line-up included long-time Patti Smith cohorts Lenny Kaye and Richard Sohl, along with three-fourths of Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, missing only Scott Morgan. We have an ad for one more SRB show in Ann Arbor after this benefit, but unconfirmed. Otherwise, this would also be the last stage appearance for the next decade for Fred Smith as well (looking rather new-wave in the photo in the comments below).
The cover art for the bootleg recording of this show, also in the comments below, mistakenly has the venue as the Masonic Temple in Detroit. The concert database has the same error.
If it happened, this was the final show by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on June 22, 1980, eight days after Fred and Patti Smith’s benefit show for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. A rather humble ending, if it was, with a predictably small Sunday night crowd and no public notice of a “final appearance”.
If the band had already dispersed following the DSO benefit, at which all members except Scott Morgan had performed, the final show for the band would been May 20 at Second Chance, a Tuesday night.
The band had lasted five and a half years, performing far less than 100 times, almost never out of Michigan. Of course, we’re not including supporting Iggy Pop on his 1978 European tour, which did not include Scott Morgan.
The band’s total official recorded output was one single, with the same song “City Slang” on both sides.
So, how did a band that never left their back yard and recorded one song in five years become legendary? Perhaps the pedigree of the members was enough. We’ll leave that examination to the biographers (of which there are presently zero).
We will, however, have two more posts on Sonic’s Rendezvous Band – a look at the live and demo recordings that have been released post-breakup, and a look at the collection of posters and flyers, of which there is, remarkably, quite an abundance.
