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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Eleven - 1975 - Page Three
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Poster/ad for the album “Saturday Night Special” by the Lyman Woodard Organization, which had a small mention of having been completed in the March 8, 1975 issue of Billboard magazine. The album cover used a cropped photo by Leni Sinclair of the contents of Woodard's pockets emptied onto a bed following a gig. The complete photo is shown in the comments below.
Lyman Woodard Organization – Saturday Night Special (album) (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wUH8vhRdOQ
The uncropped photo by Leni Sinclair that was used for the album cover of “Saturday Night Special” by the Lyman Woodard Organization.
Poster by Overton Loyd for events scheduled around Detroit, Michigan in celebration of International Women’s Day, March 8-12, 1975.
Poster/flyer for Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes in Quincy, Illinois on March 9, 1975.
An exhibition of the paintings of Bradley Jones at the Willis Gallery in Detroit, Michigan that ran until March 9, 1975. Here is a link to the story of Bradley Jones:
http://corridortribe.com/obits/bradley_jones.htm
The official roll-out of Alice Cooper’s solo career had a three-prong plan, a new album called “Welcome to My Nightmare” was released on March 11, 1975, a world tour kicked off on March 21st, and a TV special was planned for broadcast on April 25th.
Cooper reunited with producer Bob Ezrin to record the album, and Ezrin reformed the band that he had assembled for Lou Reed’s “Rock and Roll Animal” tour, including Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter on guitars, Prakash John on bass, and drummer Pentti “Whitey” Glan. Also contributing to the album were Jozef Chirowski on keyboards, Tony Levin on bass, Johnny "Bee" Badanjek on drums, and actor Vincent Price on spoken vocals, cast as “The Curator”.
The tour band consisted of the Wagner/Hunter/John/Glan nucleus, with keyboardist Chirowski added along with four dancers, one of whom, Sheryl Goddard, would later marry Cooper in March 1976. They remain married to this day, with three adult children.
The first single released off the album was “Department of Youth”, the following video uses an excerpt from The Nightmare TV special.
Alice Cooper – Department of Youth (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DtSfryfeWI
Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare” album, released on March 11, 1975, got the full billboard treatment in Hollywood, California.
The artwork for the cover of the “Welcome to My Nightmare” album, and most of the subsequent tour posters, was created by noted movie poster artist Drew Struzan. Some of his work can be found here:
http://www.originalalbumcoverart.com/index.php
Newspaper ad for the 13th Ann Arbor Film Festival, March 11-16, 1975.
An ad for Stevie Wonder in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on March 12, 1975.
Illustration by Overton Loyd in the March 13, 1975 issue of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, just a few years before Loyd starts working with George Clinton’s Parliament.
Examples of Overton Loyd’s work in the March 6 and March 13, 1975 issues of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit.
One more full-page comic by Overton Loyd, in the March 13, 1975 issues of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit.
The schedule for the Savoy in Detroit, Michigan, starting with Larry Coryell on March 13, 1975.
The complete, nearly two hour concert by Stevie Wonder at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 13, 1975.
Stevie Wonder – Live in Toronto (3/13/75)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLzGt2MgA8Y
Poster for John Lee Hooker in Houston, Texas, March 13-16, 1975.
A pair of ads for the first Michigan appearance by the group Labelle, at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on March 14, 1975.
Cover by Barbara Weinberg for the March 14, 1975 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Most sources have the release of Bob Seger’s “Beautiful Loser” album as being in April 1975, but this ad from the March 14, 1975 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan, shows it was in the stores at least by March 14th.
This was Seger’s eighth album and a return to Capitol Records after a four-year split, during which Seger released three albums on the Pallladium/Reprise label. The Silver Bullet Band was credited on only one song on the album, the cover of Ike & Tina Turner’s “Nutbush City Limits”, which also featured guitarist Paul Kingery, previously of the Assemblage and performing as Stretch Thomas around the time.
Bob Seger – Nutbush City Limits (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPTiBGlz2eU
Poster for the theatrical release on March 14, 1975 of the movie “Yessongs”, composed of live performances by the band Yes during their “Close to the Edge Tour” in December 1972. Want to watch it? Here it is:
Yessongs (movie) (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KozBMiYoIoE
Poster by an unknown artist McDonald for the Earth Center in Hamtramck, Michigan, where Muruga (formerly Steve Booker) performed on the weekends, with the film presentations for March 14-15, 1975.
A full-page Motown Records ad for the debut album by the Dynamic Superiors, which entered the Billboard magazine New LP Releases in the March 15, 1975 issue. The lead track “Shoe Shoe Shine”, written by Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson, had cracked the singles charts in November 1974, peaking at #68. Their recordings may not have been as influential as their stage presence, their dance moves, and their choreography – check out the “human swing” formation that starts at the 1:53 mark in this video:
The Dynamic Superiors – Shoe Shoe Shine (1974)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAcp0vMFYOo
As the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper noticed, activity at the Red Carpet Lounge in Detroit had become quite interesting. After Deluxe with Dallas Hodge wrapped up their run on March 16, 1975, they were followed by intriguingly named groups, Fantasy Hill, Spunk, Secret Love and Detroit Favorites, and then some familiar faces. Wayne Kramer with Kramer’s Kreamers, Ace High, which was essentially the Rockets (Jim McCarty, Johnny Bee Badanjek) with the addition of singer Rusty Day, Shadowfax with Bill Hodgson, Overdrive featuring John Fraga, Little Jr. Cannaday, and Rob Tyner’s Fireworks.
The schedule for the Savoy in Detroit, Michigan, starting with J.J. Cale on March 18, 1975. This is the final Savoy ad as the Shelby Hotel was abruptly closed. Tim Buckley may, or may not, have gotten in some shows of his scheduled dates. Righteous Bob Rudnick, who had been living at the hotel ever since John Sinclair brought him in to MC the old Rainbow Room, returned to Chicago.
Poster by Jim Franklin for John Lee Hooker at the Soap Creek Saloon in Austin, Texas with Paul Ray & the Cobras, and their newest member, guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, March 18-19, 1975.
The movie “Tommy”, the film adaptation of the album by The Who, directed by Ken Russell, was released in the US on March 19, 1975. The film was a box office hit, by August 1975, it had earned US$27 million (equivalent to $128 million in 2019) in the US alone.
An ad for WABX-FM radio by Kevin Tolman, in the March 20, 1975 issue of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit.
A collection of ads, including one on the night of the show, for the kick-off concert of Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare” tour, in Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 21, 1975.
The cover of the booklet for Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare” tour, which kicked off in Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 21, 1975, with opening act Suzi Quatro. The booklet also included nice biographies of the new band members Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner, Prakash John, Jozef Chirowski, and Whitey Glan.
A page from the tour book listing the cities for Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare” tour, including four Michigan cities, Detroit, Flint, Muskegon, and Kalamazoo, which was the kick-off show on March 21, 1975.
A “tour blank” poster for Alice Cooper’s “Welcome To My Nightmare” tour which kicked off in Kalamazoo, Michigan on March 21, 1975.
Poster by Dennis Loren for B.B. King at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan on March 21, 1975.
Poster/ad for Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes opening for Styx and Thin Lizzy in Evansville, Indiana on March 21, 1975.
A newspaper ad for Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band with Westfall in Elyria, Ohio, March 21-22, 1975. Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes had appeared the week before.
An ad for Bob Seger at the University of Windsor, Canada on March 23, 1975, for a weekend of pick-up gigs in the middle of touring as the openers for Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
The March 23, 1975 edition of the Detroit Free Press newspaper had a short feature story on the two biggest rock show promoters in the city, Steve Glantz (the “young” one)and Bob Bageris (the “mysterious” one). A story the previous November, about how these two men each had their sights on the Ann Arbor market, ran in the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper with an illustration by Gary Kell.
Poster by an unknown artist for Seals & Crofts at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant on March 24, 1975.
The single “Bad Time” was released by Grand Funk on March 24, 1975. It was the group's fourth and final single to reach the Top 10 and their final Top 40 hit in the U.S. It was also their final release as Grand Funk, on all following releases, their name reverted to Grand Funk Railroad.
Shown above are the picture sleeves for the single in various countries.
Grand Funk – Bad Time (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwEUXNS-k2s
A full-page Capitol Records ad for single “Bad Time” by Grand Funk, released on March 24, 1975.
We haven’t seen much of Dennis Preston lately which is why we were so happy to find this poster for Dick Deal & U.S. Male at the Chalet Lounge in Haslett, Michigan on March 26, 1975.
A pair of illustrations by Overton Loyd in the March 27, 1975 edition of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit.
A comic strip by Overton Loyd in the March 27, 1975 edition of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit, Michigan. The Street Worm character, who’s “got no ass to freeze” in the cold Detroit winter, maybe the prototype to Mr. Wiggles.
Could it have happened twice? In a story about the Alice Cooper concert in Flint, Michigan on March 28, 1975, Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees partied with Cooper before the show and came onstage to attempt to sing a drunken rendition of “Hey Hey We’re the Monkees!” at the end of the show.
As long-time readers might recall, Mickey Dolenz appeared for an on-stage performance with Alice Cooper, also in Flint, on June 20, 1972. That was the same show that Alice tried the failed stunt of being shot out of a cannon.
In describing the 1972 event, promotor DJ Peter Cavanaugh said that Dolenz was in Flint “in conjunction with a major client campaign”. In his account, Dolenz was not drunk on-stage and that the rendition of 'Hey Hey! We're the Monkees!' lasted over ten minutes with the audience joining in.
What gives the 1975 story credence is that Dolenz was reportedly in Flint to promote the movie “Linda Lovelace For President”, which was a March 1975 release and co-starred Dolenz. But it was quite a different ending, instead of a triumphant crowd-rousing performance, “…Alice literally had to pick Micky up and carry him off stage. He was that plowed.”
So, giving both accounts the benefit of the doubt, and ignoring inconsistencies which seem to conflate the two, we will assume it happened twice, in Flint.
Show ad and record store sale tie-in for the second Michigan appearance, but first as a headliner, by the Average White Band at Ford Auditorium in Detroit on March 28, 1975. Just a month earlier, the band had both the #1 album and the #1 single in the US.
An ad for Alice Cooper at the Erie County Fieldhouse in Erie, Pennsylvania on March 29, 1975, the sixth show of the “Welcome to My Nightmare” tour. Although the Heavy Metal Kids are listed as the openers, this appears to be the first show that Suzi Quatro joined the tour.
A full-page RCA Records ad for the second live album by Lou Reed, simply titled “Lou Reed Live”, released in March 1975. It used tracks from the December 21, 1973 show at Howard Stein's Academy of Music in New York, the same show that provided the tracks for the 1974 “Rock 'n' Roll Animal” album, featuring Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on guitars, Prakash John on bass, and Pentti (Whitey) Glan on drums. Here are two of the new tracks:
Lou Reed – Vicious (live 12/21/73) (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv4kXvlhTio
Lou Reed - Satellite Of Love (live 12/21/73) (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtOiUqBBH2g
The Lansing Star newspaper replaced the long-running Joint Issue newspaper in East Lansing, Michigan in June 1974. After merely six issues, the Lansing Star briefly ended in October 1974, to be reborn, with a full-color cover by artist Moustache David on this April 1975 issue.
The month of April 1975 from Stanley Mouse’s “Monster” calendar.
The April 1975 issue of CREEM magazine carried the results of the annual readers’ poll for the best of 1974. The top three albums were “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” by the Rolling Stones, “Diamond Dogs” by David Bowie, and the self-titled debut album by Bad Company. The same three groups had the top three singles. Stevie Wonder topped the R&B albums and Herbie Hancock had best Jazz album. The top three album covers were “Diamond Dogs”, “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll”, and “Dragonfly” by Jefferson Starship.
A half-page Jerry Patlow & Associates’ ad in the April 1975 issue of CREEM magazine for the band Moose & Da Sharks, with Brylcreem tube by Dennis Preston. Incidentally, the British brand of hair styling products for men, created in 1928, used the same “double-e” spelling as the rock magazine.
https://www.brylcreemusa.com/
Volume Eleven - 1975 - continues - HERE
An ad with the Amboy Dukes opening for WAR in Hampton, Virginia on March 29, 1975.
