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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Music Posters
Volume Ten - 1974 - Page Fourteen
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A newspaper ad for Uriah Heep with Suzi Quatro at the Felt Forum in New York City on September 4, 1974, the first show of a planned twelve-date tour.
Ads for Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia with Martha Reeves appearing September 4-7, 1974, followed by Ann Arbor’s Tate Blues Band, September 9-10, also lists Suzi Quatro’s upcoming appearance on September 12th.
A full-page Motown Records ad for the release of the ninth studio album by the Jackson 5, “Dancing Machine”, released on September 5, 1974.
A second full-page Motown Records ad for the release of the ninth studio album by the Jackson 5, “Dancing Machine”, released on September 5, 1974.
A third full-page Motown Records ad for the release of the ninth studio album by the Jackson 5, released on September 5, 1974.
Poster by Brett Perneau for the Bob Seger Show and his Silver Bullet Band in Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 6, 1974, with the special added attraction of Marcella, aka Marcella Levy, aka Marcella Detroit.
Poster/ad for Hawkwind’s second North American tour for the year 1974, kicking off with a sold-out show at the Michigan Palace in Detroit on September 6, 1974. It was the British band’s third Detroit appearance, having played at the Ford Auditorium in November 1973 and at the Michigan Palace in March 1974. Regarding that earlier Michigan Palace show, writer Mick Farren wrote, “a Detroit show packed to its 5,000 capacity, (was) the first time I’ve seen Hawkwind push their hypnotic thing all the way up to raw power”.
Newspaper ad for Hawkwind at the Michigan Palace in Detroit on September 6, 1974. The opening band was Rush, from Canada, in their second Michigan appearance. This show in Detroit was the opening show of Hawkwind’s third headlining US tour.
With this poster/ad by Rainbow Productions it all looked very welcoming, Canada was cool, right? We were not too intimidated at crossing the border, hell, just a couple of months earlier, we had hitch-hiked across (that one’s not so easy, we were very lucky). So, we made it across on September 6, 1974, and we had just one task for over the next three nights, and that was to consume everything we had brought over.
That night we got to see the John Nicholas Blues All Stars with Hubert Sumlin and S.P. Leary, the Persuasions, Sun Ra & his Arkestra, and the James Brown Revue.
A “Hipster’s Guide to Ann Arbor” map by Chris Frayne (Ozone) in the September 6, 1974 supplement to the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
An ad in the September 6, 1974 supplement to the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper for color prints available from photographer Frank Pettis.
A Discount Records ad in the September 6, 1974 edition of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a picture of the Phantom’s “Divine Comedy” album.
The official poster for the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile by Gary Kell of Rainbow Graphics, September 6-8, 1974, with the helpful tip “Watch The Border!!”. We made it over, as mentioned in the previous post, but sometime during the first night, we heard that one carload of friends were not so lucky.
Another person that was denied entry into Canada was John Sinclair, bringing with him Sun Ra and his Arkestra.
“I was trying to shepherd the Arkestra through Canadian customs when I was singled out and deported back to Detroit on the basis of a marijuana conviction ten years previously. I went back to my room in the Shelby Hotel and watched myself talking to a television news reporter covering my deportation proceedings.
“This experience marked a major turning point in my life when I considered that the farthest-out group of characters I had ever seen in America (Sun Ra and the Arkestra) was allowed entry to Canada, while I was turned back as ‘too far out’.
“’You’ve gone too far,’ I said to myself. ‘It’s time to turn back now.’ That fall I retired from political activism and the rock and roll scene…”
An 8.5” x 11” flyer version of Gary Kell’s poster for the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile, September 6-8, 1974.
Program front cover version of Gary Kell’s poster, and back cover for the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile, September 6-8, 1974. On Saturday night, in the perfect frame of mind, Cecil Taylor’s set was the most amazing performance I had ever seen.
Allmusic reviewer Scott Yanow wrote, “To simplify in explaining what he was doing at this point of time, it can be said that Taylor essentially plays the piano like a drum set, creating percussive and thunderous sounds that are otherworldly and full of an impressive amount of energy and atonal ideas. Many listeners will find these performances to be quite difficult but it is worth the struggle to open up one's perceptions as to what music can be"
The album “Silent Tongues” is a recording of his performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 2, 1974 and is probably pretty close to what we heard that night.
Cecil Taylor – Silent Tongues (album) (1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VglEXrmLoC0
The back cover was a full-page ad Impulse Records ad for their Sun Ra catalog to tie in with his performance at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile.
The Sun Ra discography is one of the largest discographies in music history, comprising well over 1,000 songs. Most of his recordings were issued as albums on his own El Saturn Records label, in editions of less than a hundred, sold primarily at his live shows. In the mid-1970’s, the jazz label Impulse! Records re-issued a handful of them, soon to be destined for the cut-out bins. “The Nubians of Plutonia” was always one of our favorites.
Sun Ra and his Myth Science Arkestra – The Nubians of Plutonia (album) (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLMV7BHrogw&list=PLGX_iebp2Prk18FG7qp_rw2gTBmNWAKSB
A photo of Luther Allison in the September 6, 1974 festival program for 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival with lettering/logo by Gary Grimshaw. Notice the human figure flying out of the blue swoop.
One more version (bringing the total to four) of Gary Kell’s poster for the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile, September 6-8, 1974. This one was the back cover of the August 9, 1974 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
Logo for the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile, September 6-8, 1974.
A full-page ad for James Brown’s latest album “Hell” in a supplement issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper to tie in with his performance at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile on September 6, 1974.
A week after this performance, Brown performed the title track on the “Soul Train” TV show, accompanied by his five year-old daughter Deanna.
James Brown – Hell (live on Soul Train TV show) (9/14/1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHLdv5AVDsE
An ad for The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan with their concurrent schedule during the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile happening in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, September 6-8, 1974, featuring festival performers Robert Jr. Lockwood, Boogie Woogie Red and John Nicholas.
A selected Discography for the artists appearing at the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile, September 6-8, 1974, published in the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper, and re-cycling Gary Grimshaw’s 1971 illustration that was originally the logo for Rainbow Productions, “The Native Creative Agency”, and was also later used on ads for WRIF radio.
There was a fair representation of Detroit and Michigan-related artists at the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival In Exile. Here, we have assembled, on Gary Kell’s poster, the artistically designed names, logos by Gary Grimshaw, Chris Frayne, and John Benson in the festival program, for the local acts.
The artists include the Lyman Woodard Organization, John Lee Hooker, Shattering Effect, Jr Walker & the All Stars, Mixed Bag, Eddie Nuccilli Big Band, Kenn Cox & the Guerilla Jam Band, John Nicholas Blues All Stars, Boogie Woogie Red, Johnnie May Mathews, One String Sam, and Little Junior Cannady.
Newspaper ad for the homecoming return of Marvin Gaye, with Hamilton Bohannon, at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan on September 7, 1974. Gaye had taken a five-year break from regular live performances, during which time he released his two landmark albums, “What’s Going On” and “Let’s Get It On”, and mourned for duet partner Tammi Terrell who had collapsed into his arms on stage in October 1967 and eventually passed away in March 1970.
The second show of the comeback tour, in Oakland, California on January 4, 1974, was recorded and released as the live album “Marvin Gaye Live!” in June 1974. The overwhelming success of the live album and the comeback tour shows boosted Gaye’s confidence and reputation as a live performer, for a time he was earning $100,000 per night, equal to more than a half-million dollars in today’s dollars.
The last time that Gaye had performed live in Detroit, before this show, was on October 6, 1968, singing the national anthem before the 4th Game of the World Series between the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals.
A full-page Sire Records ad for the German prog-rock band Nektar, with tour dates including their first Michigan appearance, in Detroit on September 7, 1974 (second on the list). The ad calls the album “Remember the Future” their first album, it may have been their first on Sire Records, but it was actually their fourth album, the band having formed in 1969.
The “newcomer picks” section from the September 7, 1974 issue of Cash Box magazine with a picture and description of “Phantom’s Divine Comedy Part 1” by the Phantom.
A poster with the Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley album cover artwork for three shows by the Grateful Dead in London, England, September 9-11, 1974.
The schedule for the Rainbow Room in the Shelby Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, with James Cotton, September 11-12, 1974, followed by Lightnin’, September 3-14, John Lee Hooker, September 18-19, and the Rockets, September 20-21, with Eddie Nuccilli Plural Circle every Sunday, the Friends Road Show every Tuesday, and as always, hosted by Righteous Bob Rudnick with The Records.
A pretty cool ad for the kick-off show of Stevie Wonder’s 1974 Fall Tour, at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on September 13, 1974, a thirty-city tour that will bring him to Detroit on September 27th.
The front cover and an inside page of the program book for Stevie Wonder’s Fall Festival Tour which encompassed 25 shows from September 13, 1974 through December 6th.
Poster/flyer by Gary Grimshaw for the Beale Street Originals at the Hotel Pontchartrain in Detroit on September 14, 1974.
Originally planned for Labor Day, but rained out and rescheduled to September 14, 1974, the very ambitious “1st Annual Strawberry Soda Pop Super Duper Rock Prayer Meeting!” in Anderson, Indiana promised four Michigan acts - Ted Nugent & the Ambow (sic) Dukes, Bob Seger Silver Built (sic), Frigid (sic) Pink, and Catfish Hodge
Sly Stone and Dr. John were never going to appear, even for the originally scheduled date, and in fact, the show organizer did not realize that he had no contracts with any of the bands up until two days before the show. He made a quick trip to Detroit to make the last-minute negotiations with Dave Leone.
The show organizer should have probably paid more attention to the detail of actually signing the acts, than he had to the detail that he took to describe the bathroom situation:
“…out of this world facilities, for your visiting pleasure, such as the ladies’ dept. with carpet on the floor that gives you the feeling you’re sinking to your knees. Full length mirrors – A Lady in Gold Cage Lamp – 26 New Modern stools in psychedelic surroundings. Men’s dept. that cares for 150 or more men at one time – Home Made Lightning and Thunder Between each Performance…”
The concert attempted to start on Labor Day but was rained out after one local band’s set. When it reconvened on the 14th, the groups that made the trip back were Cactus, New Image, Catfish Hodge, Mike Quatro’s Jam Band and Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes.
The organizer planned on selling 20,000 tickets, noting that he could actually accommodate over twice that number, but the final attendance number was around 250 people.
An ad and a flyer for a Rock-N-Roll Holiday party at Portage Trail Park near Fremont, Ohio on September 14, 1974, featuring Ann Arbor bands Mojo Boogie Band and Whiz Kids, “also Rush”, most likely not the Canadian band.
If we were to type out the name of Richard Pryor’s concert, which was also the name of his 1974 album, we would probably get kicked off this social media platform. In fact, it is unlikely that it would be printed, undiluted, in today’s press, but that was obviously not the case when the Michigan Daily newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan printed ads for Pryor’s show at Hill Auditorium on September 14, 1974, and in a follow-on show review which revealed that Pryor even used the term to describe white newspaper heiress Patty Hearst, of all people.
Pryor’s first Michigan appearance was as the MC for a Jazz Revue show at Cobo Hall in Detroit in February 1968, not making a return until June 1974, for a four night stand at the Fisher Theatre. He also followed up this Ann Arbor show eleven days later, with a five night return to the Fisher Theatre, giving him a total of at least ten Michigan appearances in 1974.
This also seems to be the first Michigan appearance for his opening band Labelle (referred to as “Labella” in the Michigan Daily show review), although Patti LaBelle had performed in Detroit in 1964 as part of the James Brown Show.
A full-page record company ad for the second album by Mahogany Rush, which was in the issue of CREEM magazine that was on the stands when the band performed at the Michigan Palace in Detroit on September 14, 1974. It also featured a quote from CREEM magazine writer John Morthland.
Newspaper ad for Mahogany Rush at the Michigan Palace in Detroit on September 14, 1974. An extravagant ad for the Palace in that it included a band photo.
When we last saw Suzi Quatro, at the end of April, she was ending her first US tour, cancelling her final of three appearances at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, California due to a sore throat and to get an early jump on embarking upon her first tour of Australia.
She returned for her second US tour in September as an opening act for Uriah Heep. This tour was also cut short, due to a completely different reason this time, as during a show in Dallas, Texas on September 15, 1974, the bass player for Uriah Heep was accidently electrocuted mid-set and the rest of the tour was cancelled for his recuperation.
So, the poster shown above was for a show that never happened., but we came across something interesting in researching these dates.
There is an often-repeated story that while on a tour stop in Memphis, Tennessee, Suzi Quatro got a phone call from Elvis Presley, who was impressed by her cover of “All Shook Up”, and he invited her to come to Graceland for a visit. She declined the invitation, much to her later regret.
However, in an interview in the Los Angeles Free Press in May 1974, she told the writer, “…Rodney, what’s his name, Bingenheimer (owner of the English Disco in LA where Iggy Pop performed his “Murder of A Virgin”) told me that Elvis heard my version of “All Shook Up” and said it was the best version he’d heard. Now that was really an upper. I laid back and thought about that one for a bit.”
Now, you would think that a phone call directly from the King himself would top that story. The phone call must have happened later than commonly thought, upcoming, when she was touring with Alice Cooper, and there is a show in Memphis on May 23, 1975.
Suzi Quatro – All Shook Up (1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1YSleZA0yw
An ad by an unknown artist for Tiny Tim at the London Bridge in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, September 15-16, 1974. Contrary to the ad’s claim of “the first time in Detroit”, we have seen Tiny Tim previously, at the Edgewater Amusement Park in June 1968. This is, however, the last time that we will see the London Bridge.
An ad for Funkadelic Parliament at the Sugar Shack in Boston, Massachusetts, September 16-22, 1974.
An ad for two parties to benefit the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper, with the first one at the Blind Pig on September 19, 1974 and the second at Mr. Flood’s Party on October 21st.
Suzi Quatro on the cover of the Northeastern Ohio Scene magazine twice within the space of four months. The first, on the May 2, 1974 issue, was an interview during Quatro’s first US tour, the second, on the September 19, 1974 issue, was for a record review of her second album.
The review singled out the ballad “Cat Size” as the album’s best track. The video linked below features clips from Quatro’s portrayal of the character Leather Tuscadaro on the “Happy Days” TV show, which is still a few years into the future, but it beats staring at the album cover for four and a half minutes.
Suzi Quatro – Cat Size (1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucJA0o4syTo
A full-page Columbia Records ad in the September 1974 issue of CREEM magazine coinciding with Mountain’s show at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on September 18, 1974.
The various logos of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, published in the September 19, 1974 issue.
Volume Ten - 1974 - continues - HERE
An ad for the opening of Ann Arbor, Michigan’s newest night spot, Chances Are, with Truc, September 19-21, 1974, followed by Heavin and Chopper. Chances Are, and its later incarnation, Second Chance, will be the premier venue for live music in Ann Arbor for the next ten years.
An ad for Alex Cooley’s Electric Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia with Suzi Quatro appearing on September 12, 1974.
A Discount Records ad by Jive Comix, aka Ted Echterling, in the September 1, 1974 edition of the State News in East Lansing, Michigan.
An ad with Rare Earth headlining a “Sounds ‘74” concert in Munson Township, Ohio on September 2, 1974.
The front and back covers of the September 4, 1974 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper with the annual “Back to School” section for students at the University of Michigan coupled with the Blues & Jazz Festival to kick off the semester.
An ad for the Rainbow Room in the Shelby Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, with the scheduled acts from September 4, 1974 through the first three weeks of September, including Sun Ra, Albert Collins, James Cotton Blues Band, John Lee Hooker and the Rockets, with regular weekly appearances by the Eddie Nuccilli Big Band and the Lyman Woodard Organization, all hosted by Righteous Rudnick with The Records.
Sun Ra, Albert Collins, James Cotton and John Lee Hooker were also working around the dates that they would perform at the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival across the river in Windsor, Ontario Canada, September 6th through 8th.
An ad for the Mouse House in the September 4, 1974 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
