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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Nine: 1973
The 1973 calendar by an unknown artist for WABX-FM radio in Detroit, Michigan.
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A 1973 calendar by an unknown artist featuring the band Rumor and the Jerry Patlow management agency in Detroit, Michigan.
1973 calendar by Dennis Preston for the Sounds & Diversions store in East Lansing, Michigan.
Advertisement for the 1973 calendar by Dennis Preston for the Sounds & Diversions store in East Lansing, Michigan.
Inside full-page illustration by John Dudek and front cover illustration by Gary Cooley for the January 1973 issue of CREEM magazine. Both designers will later become involved in producing the art for the home video series of Shelley Duvall’s “Faerie Tale Theatre” in 1983, commissioned to the Detroit art studio Skidmore Sahratian.
Inside illustration of Mick Jagger by Stephen Slulter that accompanied the story "The monkey man swings home for a snort of Cognac with his pals, Bianca and Boy. He may top it off with a Cold Italian Pizza. Ook, ook." written by Patti Smith.
The December 1972 issue of CREEM magazine had the magazine’s first full-page, full-color photo, a shot of Rod Stewart by photographer Charles Auringer. The January 1973 issue followed up with two full-pagers of Mick Jagger by Auringer and a load of other color photos by Auringer, Wendi Lombardi, and Bob Gruen.
Coming up on its fourth year of publication and in its 17th month with the Bob Wilson logo and the glossy cover format, the magazine was establishing itself as, first announced on the cover of the August 1972 issue, “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine”.
Newspaper ad with the Bob Seger Group opening for the Raspberries at West Palm Beach Auditorium in West Palm Beach, Florida on January 6, 1973.
Dennis Preston’s ad for the live album from Danny Hernandez & the Ones was the full back page of the January 8, 1973 issue of the Joint Issue newspaper in East Lansing, Michigan.
A stylish tour logo in an ad for Neil Young at the Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan, January 9, 1973. It was a second show, added by popular demand, making it a two night event on the 8th and the 9th. The tour, which had started just five days earlier, in Madison, Wisconsin, lasted through April with 61 shows, half of which had been recorded, from which eight tracks were released as the “Time Fades Away” album in October 1973.
Nice illustration by an unknown artist Ron Cepogna (?) for the Mariah Coffeehouse in the McDonel Kiva at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan with the January 1973 schedule of acts.
Illustrations by Terry O’Connor for The Brewery’s January 1973 schedule of acts in East Lansing, Michigan. “Detroit’s most popular band, with good reason”, The Werks are hard to track down. Kracker was a band from Chicago, by way of Florida, whose first album was produced by Jimmy Miller, the Rolling Stones producer who also produced the Detroit band Sky. Mick Jagger took a liking towards the band, taking them as the opening act on a European tour and releasing their second album as the first outside-act release on the Rolling Stones Records label.
Vince Vance & the Valiants, from New Orleans, Louisiana, were touring as a thirteen-piece “fifties band”, but the group over the years, led by the only constant member Andy Stone, were a true novelty act of all genres including country and pop as well as rock and roll, their most notorious record was 1980’s “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran”.
Local Lansing area bands Stone Bridge, Nebulous Spoon, Universe, and Orange Fred filled out the rest of the month, along with a show by blues guitarist Luther Allison.
The January 12, 1973 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper with cover illustration by Mike Brady. It seems that elections of some sort were always going on in Ann Arbor, as the newly-enfranchised 18 to 20 year-olds were not only voting but also running for, and winning some, positions at the seats of governmental power. It had not been strong enough on the national level to keep Richard Nixon from being re-elected President of the Unites States, but as Tip O’Neill told Frank Zappa, “all politics is local”.
The January 12, 1973 edition of the “Paper Radio” column in the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper announced the release of Rainbow Records’ second single, “Hijackin’ Love” by the recently re-named band Lightnin’. We couldn’t find it on the ‘Tubes, but here’s a live version from when they were stilled called Guardian Angel, recorded at a Sunday free concert on June 11, 1972.
Guardian Angel – Hijackin’ Love (live) (6/11/72)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FR1BuIugik
Gary Grimshaw ad for the Tribal Council’s weekly radio program on WNRZ Radio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from the January 12, 1973 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
John Sinclair had a Sunday night program called “Toke Time”, and on New Year’s Eve he broadcast a special “SUPER TOKES” program. Righteous Bob Rudnick had managed to get an advance test pressing of a new Dr. John single and the good citizens of Ann Arbor celebrated the new year in the right place, but needing a little “brain salad surgery”.
Dr. John – Right Place Wrong Time (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5zPqgQ67yo
Gary Grimshaw artwork for the Tribal Council in the January 12, 1973 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
Ad for John Sinclair’s “Guitar Army” book in the January 12, 1973 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper, and ads from Ned's Bookstore in Ypsilanti.
Promo flyer for John Sinclair’s “Guitar Army” book, circa January 1973.
A full-page Motown Records ad in the January 13, 1973 issue of Billboard magazine for the single “Good Morning Heartache” from the soundtrack album “Lady Sings The Blues”.
Newspaper ad for Rare Earth in Oklahoma City, Oaklahoma, January 17, 1973.
An ad for New Heavenly Blue at Mackinac Jack’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 18-21, 1973.
The third broadcast of ABC-TV In Concert program, broadcast on January 19, 1973, featured Grand Funk Railroad, and here’s the show:
Grand Funk Railroad (live ABC TV In Concert) (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idNkhtP3ypQ
A congratulatory ad taken out by West Lab Amps for Grand Funk Railroad’s ABC television special that aired on January 19, 1973. We don’t know if there was ever a closer relationship that a band had with an equipment manufacturer than GFR (and also Dick Wagner of the Bossmen and Frost) had with West Amps of Flint, Michigan (later moved to Lansing). GFR guitarist Mark Farner even worked in the shop for a period of time.
Founder Dave West has a wonderful telling of the first chapter of the West Lab story here (click the history link):
https://web.archive.org/web/20130317012742/http://www.westlabs.com/Frames.HTML
Sadly, we don’t believe the subsequent chapters were ever finished.
Gary Grimshaw’s first poster of the year, for Jr. Walker & the Allstars, Bobby Blue Bland, Luther Allison, and the Mojo Boogie Band at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 20, 1973, with newsprint version.
We only know about Bette Midler’s first Michigan appearance at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, January 20, 1973, from the post-show review in The Fifth Estate newspaper a few weeks after the fact, not even any notification of the coming show in their events calendar before the date. Nevertheless, the review was glowing, calling the show “insane” and “one of the best concerts to hit Detroit”. The reviewer also noted that “a well-known Ann Arbor rock promoter” was so impressed that he planned to bring Midler to Ann Arbor to co-star in a show with David Bowie, but as far as we know, Bowie never performed in Ann Arbor, and the database is strangely missing Bette Midler entirely.
If there was a poster, perhaps in the lobby of the Masonic Temple, it would likely have been Richard Amsel’s iconic “Divine Miss M” illustration. Amsel was at the beginning of his illustrious career in New York City, and one of his fans was Barry Manilow who was producing Midler’s first album. Manilow had Amsel create the album cover art, as well as the classic poster.
A few weeks later, The Fifth Estate was lamenting the Bette Midler tunes that had taken over the AM radio stations, comparing her songs to “drinking an entire bottle of pancake syrup”.
An ad with Rare Earth in Atlanta, Georgia on January 20, 1973.
Nice poster by an unknown artist for Manchild (formerly Ormandy) at the Louis Armstrong Theatre at Grand Valley State University near Grand Rapids, Michigan, January 21, 1973.
A poster for Freddie Hubbard at the Stables in East Lansing, Michigan, January 21-26, 1973.
Illustration by Greg Sobran for the twenty-eight hour marathon, January 22-24, 1973, by WNRZ radio in Ann Arbor, Michigan to raise fund for rebuilding the People’s Ballroom, which has we recounted earlier was consumed by fire during the December 15th show, just after the band Merlin, whom fire seemed to follow everywhere, had finished their set.
The fire had started in the basement and had accelerated due to the silkscreen solvents used for printing posters (!) that were stored down there. There were rumors of a mysterious arsonist, and some reports that the Ann Arbor Fire Department had just stood by and let it burn.
There were also live benefit shows around town, some broadcast by WNRZ, to also assist in the fund-raising efforts to rebuild the ballroom.
The live shows that were part of the WNRZ Marathon to raise funds for the rebuilding of the People’s Ballroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 22-23, 1973. Participating bands were Lightnin’, Radio King & his Court of Rhythm, Mojo Boogie Band, Diesel Smoke & Dangerous Curves, Iron Horse Exchange, and Loco Mobile (the Ypsilanti band formerly known as Bad Luck & Trouble).
Someone had painted the logo for Radio King & his Court of Rhythm on the wall of the Village Corner part store, photo published in the January 23, 1973 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Businesses and community groups that advertised in the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper got the benefit from the talents of the Rainbow Graphics team with logos, lettering, layouts and illustrations by Gary Grimshaw, Mike Brady, and Greg Sobran, we see something from each of them in this collection from January 1973 issues.
Back page of the January 23, 1973 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper, illustrated by Mike Brady, with a pitch to call Hiawatha Bailey to get in on selling the paper. It will turn out later that newspapers were not the only thing Hiawatha was dealing.
A poster by Rainbow Graphics for Mighty Joe Young at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 23-25, 1973.
Three ads for David Bromberg at the Power Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 24, 1973. It was Bromberg’s eleventh Michigan appearance. The night before, he also performed at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
Intrigued by the band Grand Dude Express who appeared at the Odyssey bar in Ann Arbor, Michigan, January 24, 1973. Also unknown to us is Long John Silver on the 25th. The Garwood Mansion band Stonefront, with their last known shows, and the Mojo Boogie Band filled out the next few weeks of the schedule.
The second Michigan appearance by Seals & Crofts, at the Finch Fieldhouse in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, January 25, 1973.
A poster for Rare Earth in Portland, Oregon on January 25, 1973.
Real nice poster by Zeke Mallory, soon to form Crow Quill if not already, for the schedule of acts at Mr. Flood’s Party in Ann Arbor, Michigan, starting with the Brooklyn Blues Busters, January 25-27, 1973. Coming up are Diesel Smoke & Dangerous Curves, Garfield Blues Band, and Cadillac Cowboys. Of note are the Erlewine Brothers, the former nucleus of the defunct Prime Movers, appearing every Tuesday.
Ad by for Martin Mull with openers Brussel Sprout at the Mariah Coffee House in East Lansing, Michigan, January 25-27, 1973.
Martin Mull & his Fabulous Furniture – In Your Living Room (album) (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo98eFNJ3Yw&list=OLAK5uy_k3lilBnPOOzE-5mgZOLpeMmlFwCO-NYe0
The last known appearance by Plain Brown Wrapper, on January 26, 1973 at the Club Roma in Haslett, Michigan, where they appear to have resided since November 1972. The band released three singles, and another three before that as The Plagues, all of which are included in our soundtrack, except for the final single “Stretch Out Your Hand”. The only place we can find that one is on this video that compiles a number of Michigan records, but it’s not such a bad deal to hear all of these:
Julia – You Want Me to Leave You (1971)
Julia – You For Me (1971)
Julia – M’lady (1971)
Julia – Honky Tonk Woman (1971)
Bill Mueller – Who’ll Miss the Bus (1979)
Bill Mueller – Best Friend (1979)
Plain Brown Wrapper – Stretch Out Your Hand (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUiTChuZijk
Two posters by Hugh Surratt for Miles Davis at the MSU Auditorium in East Lansing, Michigan, January 26, 1973.
More ads for Miles Davis at the MSU Auditorium in East Lansing, Michigan, January 26, 1973, and for his current album "On the Corner".
Fantastic poster by Mike Brady and Gary Grimshaw for a production of the rock opera Tommy at Pease Auditorium at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan, January 27, 1973. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled when it was determined that the production company had not properly secured the rights to perform the material.
This show at The Gallery, a coffeehouse at the Assumption High School in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on January 27, 1973 appears to be the final public appearance by SRC. At a private party the next night at Bimbo’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the band announced to the assembled crew and friends that the band was finished.
On a side note, with regards to the above poster, we also see the band Rock & the Sharks, still not yet re-named to Moose & the Sharks.
No longer will our posters have the familiar letters, SRC, as so many of them have in the last four years, since 1968, and prior to that, the names Scot Richard Case, or The Fugitives, or even The Tremolos, which go as far back as 1962. Ten years of Michigan rock and roll history, that intersect with Dave Leone’s and Punch Andrew’s Hideout clubs and Hideout Records label, Mike Hank’s D-Town label, Jeep Holland’s A-Square label, and Motown’s Rare Earth label. One of the last of the Grande Ballroom era bands.
One of the best places to see the SRC story, beginning to end, is on Bruno Ceriotti’s reverent history page here:
http://brunoceriotti.weebly.com/the-fugitives-src.html
SRC did leave a fine recorded legacy with three albums to their name on Capitol Records, a handful of singles, a single as Blue Scepter and early recordings as The Fugitives. Here, for their swan song, is their final SRC single, recorded at their own Morgan Sound studio in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
SRC – Born to Love (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzUhUiyH1TQ
SRC – The Badaz Shuffle (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFtzUVLu0xk
Gary Grimshaw poster for Radio King & his Court of Rhythm at St. Francis de Sales High School, which is either in Toledo or Chicago, on January 27, 1973.
A Globe Poster with that hot pink that you just can’t miss on the streets, for the Soulful Soulmates and Band at the Ann Arbor Armory in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 27, 1973.
Poster for Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes in Warner Robins, Georgia on January 27, 1973.
A full-page Warner Bros. Records ad in the January 27, 1973 issue of Billboard magazine for the single “Hello Hurray” by Alice Cooper.
A full-page ad for Stevie Wonder’s album “Talking Book” in the January 27, 1973 issue of the British music newspaper NME.
In the first month of 1973, Bob Seger released his sixth album with the totally accurate, maybe somewhat tongue-in-cheek, title, “Back in ‘72”. We’ve described the recording sessions in previous posts, partly recorded with the famous Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and mostly recorded at Leon Russell’s Oklahoma studio with contributions from Marcy Levy, Bill Mueller, and the saxophone player whom we’ve known as Tom Cartmell in the Lansing-area band Ormandy, who will become better known as Alto Reed.
A Palladium Records poster/ad, and the album covers for the US and for the Yugoslavian releases.
Perhaps best known today for containing the original studio recording of his later-career hit “Turn the Page”, we tend to prefer the title track.
Bob Seger – Back in ’72 (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvJjbMi-SPU
Another track on Bob Seger’s “Back in ‘72” album was “Rosalie”, a tribute to CKLW’s music director Rosalie Trombley, “the girl with the golden ear”. Trombley did have a knack for picking hit records, Alice Cooper credits her, nearly solely, for the break-out success of their song “Eighteen”, and in addition to launching dozens of other records to become big hits, she is also credited for personally convincing Elton John to release “Bennie and the Jets” as a single.
Bob Seger – Rosalie (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsrWwYKxwyE
Dennis Garascia, signing his work as Isadore Open, was also the keyboard player with the Knock Down Party Band, and also made the posters we’ve seen so far for the Knock Down Party Band, at the Vanity Ballroom and at the Rock and Roll Farm. Garascia may also be familiar for ads for the Plum Pit in the Fifth Estate newspaper in the late 1960's.
This one is for the United Dairy Workers Hall in Detroit on January 31, 1973. Mitch Ryder is billed as part of the band, which had been the case for a few months, and ex-MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer may have also been in the band for this show, The Fifth Estate newspaper confirmed his joining the band in the following week’s paper.
An ad for the first Michigan appearance by the group America, at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on January 31, 1973. America would perform around 50 Michigan shows during the course of their long career.
Terry O’Connor poster for Kenny Rankin at The Stables in East Lansing, Michigan, January 30, 1973 through February 1st.
Poster/flyer for the Flying Machine, a nightclub in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida that had an old sea plane as the entrance, with a listing for Ursa Major, with Dick Wagner and Greg Arama, on an indeterminable date in late January 1973, probably one of the band’s last shows.
Ads by Dennis Preston for Rebirth Waterbeds, Sounds & Diversions and the Simple Pleasures stores in Lansing, from January 1973.
A trio of ads by Dennis Preston for the Guitar Shoppe in the Marshall’s Music store in East Lansing from January 1973.
A trio of ads by Dennis Preston for the Sounds & Diversions store and the Simple Pleasures store in East Lansing, from February 1973.
Volume Nine: 1973 - Page Two is - HERE
Artist Terry O’Connor making the most of the narrow “book spine” format, with this ad for Dangerous Curves & Diesel Smoke at the Stables in East Lansing, Michigan, January 22, 1973. O’Connor had created the Drunken Bird mascot for The Brewery, and here’s a Cowboy-Cow mascot for The Stables.
An ad for Gladys Knight & the Pips at the Michigan Palace, January 4-10, 1973. These are some of their last shows as “Motown Recording Stars”, as the group signed on to Buddah Records in February 1973.
Gary Grimshaw poster/flyer for the People’s Recycling Committee in Ann Arbor, the formation of which was announced in the January 23, 1973 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
Having posted the last known show by Stonefront, this could be the place to return to their the home, the Garwood Mansion, the house had been shut down following a police raid that netted 25 kilos of weed. A one-time filmmaker, George Barry, used the deserted mansion as the set for his movie “Death Bed – The Bed That Eats”.
It took Barry four years to assemble the film, by the time it was finished in 1977, home video was on the rise, and not finding any interested distributors, he decided to have it made straight to video. None of the production houses that he sent a print ever responded, but one of them released it on video in the UK without informing him.
Over in the UK, it became a cult classic, a version dubbed in Spanish was so laughably bad that it became the “Rocky Horror of Spain”, with midnight-viewing audiences dressing in costume and interacting with the film’s dialogue. All of this remained unknown to Barry until one night in 2001, while trolling the internet, he came across a thread about the film.
With the original print still in his attic, Barry finally got an official video release in 2004. The comedian Patton Oswald incorporated a Death Bed bit in his routine, giving it even more exposure, and in 2014 a stage adaptation was performed in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Poster/flyer by Gary Grimshaw for John Sinclair’s radio special on John Coltrane on WNRZ radio in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 14, 1973.
Poster by Gary Grimshaw, and newspaper ad, for the Future World’s Lecture Series in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a weekly series that began on January 23, 1973 and lasted through April 10th, followed by a Future World’s Conference Festival, April 13-15 (with another Grimshaw poster for that event).
Ads for Mitch Ryder at Coral Gables in East Lansing, Michigan on January 7, 1973 and his return a week later, on January 14th.
A full-page ad for the second album by the band America in the January 1973 issue of CREEM magazine, coinciding with their show at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on January 31, 1973.
More Gary Grimshaw art in the pages of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
