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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Music Posters
Volume Twelve - 1976 - Page Four
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A subscription form in the April 1976, Issue #6, of the Los Angeles, California magazine “Back Door Man”, also offering for sale, for five bucks, copies of the promo single of the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, autographed by Iggy Pop and Ron Asheton. Asheton had donated a box of them to the magazine since BDM was one of the only publications to provide positive coverage of his band New Order.
Poster/flyer and t-shirt ad for the fifth annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 1, 1976.
An ad for Peter Frampton at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan on April 1, 1976.
Released in January 1976, “Frampton Comes Alive!” was his breakthrough album. Debuting at #191, it reached #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the week ending April 10, 1976. With ten non-consecutive weeks in the top spot through October. It was the best-selling album of 1976, selling over 8 million copies in the US and 20 million worldwide. It stayed on the chart for 97 weeks and was still #14 on Billboard's 1977 year-end album chart.
Like Frampton, Bob Seger would soon have his breakthrough in the form of a live album when “Live Bullet” is released on April 12, 1976.
A full-page A&M Records ad in the April 1976 issue of CREEM magazine for "Frampton Comes Alive!"
An ad for B.B. King at King’s Road Showcase in Detroit, Michigan, April 1-6, 1976.
Here’s a fun one. A very excited eagle with the name Bruce on its tail feathers (likely the artist’s name) holding a banner with the names of the acts for a Dance Concert in Pomona, California on April 2, 1976 with a lot of Michigan connections.
Duly noted that the band New Order featured former members of the Amboy Dukes (singer Dave Gilbert) and of Iggy & the Stooges (guitarist Ron Asheton and bassist Jimmy Recca) it misses the opportunity to name-drop the MC5 (drummer Dennis Thompson) and also the Virgin Dawn (guitarist Ray Gunn, who joined up when the band had revisited Michigan in late 1975).
And although The Dogs are billed as “Direct from Hollywood”, we all know it was by way of Lansing, Michigan.
Poster by Gary Kell, Barbara Weinberg and Chris Frayne for Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor for a midnight concert on April 2, 1976. However, the band broke up just two weeks before this show would have happened, so it never did. Great poster though.
A nicely provocative ad for the Sandalwood Lounge in Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 2, 1976.
An ad for The Roadhouse, outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Dallas Hodge appearing April 2-3, 1976, followed by the Mojo Boogie Band on the following weekend.
Paul Stanley began promoting concerts at Michigan State University while he was the student director at the school’s Pop Entertainment organization from 1973 to mid-1975. After leaving the university, he began a professional career in concert promotions, booking shows at the Royal Oak Theatre in Royal Oak, Michigan. The inaugural show was with Maria Muldaur and Martin Mull on April 2, 1976, with George Carlin to follow on April 9th.
Poster/ad by UAC Concert Co-op for Jesse Colin Young and Maria Muldaur at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, April 3, 1976.
A second ad for Jesse Colin Young and Maria Muldaur at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 3, 1976, with a more flattering photo of Ms. Muldaur than the one above.
A full-page Warner Bros. Records ad in the April 3, 1976 issue of Billboard magazine for the first album by the first Parliament Funkadelic spin-off, Bootsy’s Rubber Band. The album, which peaked at #10 on the R&B Albums chart, was recorded around the same time as Parliament's “Mothership Connection” and Funkadelic's” Let's Take It To The Stage” at United Sound Systems in Detroit, Michigan.
Two singles were released from the album, the title track, and this ultimate Bootsy slow jam:
Bootsy’s Rubber Band – I’d Rather Be With You (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nph4Ln9BX2E
An ad for Bruce Springsteen’s third Michigan appearance. Previously he had performed in Ann Arbor and Detroit, this time it was in East Lansing at Michigan State University on April 4, 1976.
There are a number of low quality audience recordings from this show, this is one of the better ones:
Bruce Springsteen – She’s The One (live Lansing, Michigan) (4/4/76)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoJKiOou0_Q
Poster/flyer by an unknown artist, and another ad, for Bruce Springsteen at Michigan State University in East Lansing on April 4, 1976.
One last collection of ads for Bruce Springsteen at Michigan State University in East Lansing on April 4, 1976.
Motown Records poster/ad for a 14-date UK tour by the Miracles that started in Portsmouth, England on April 4, 1976.
The Extra CREEM events calendar with show listings from April 4, 1976 through the end of April, plus a May 8th show at the Pontiac Silverdome with Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and others.
The Miracles on the cover of the April 6, 1976 issue of the British music magazine Blues & Soul.
A poster for the Miracles in London, England on April 6, 1976 as part of the tenth anniversary concert series for the magazine Blues & Soul
An ad for J.C.’s Rock Saloon in Detroit, Michigan with the band Elfstone appearing April 6-10, 1976, followed by Blindmans Bluff and Jett Black. J.C.’s Rock Saloon will later become better known as Traxx.
A story by Jerome McGuire in the April 7, 1976 edition of the State News newspaper in East Lansing, Michigan with the headline “Jail looms over Wayne Kramer” told the current plight of the ex-MC5 guitarist awaiting sentencing for possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
McGuire caught up with Kramer at the Odyssey Lounge in Dearborn Heights performing with a ‘50’s revival band called Rock’s Gang. Calling them similar to Teen Angel, McGuire described the six-piece band as “dressed to the hilt in motorcycle jackets and combed hair (except for) a guitar player who wears jeans and a rust-colored mesh tank shirt. His name is Wayne Kamer.”
Kramer provided an update on his former MC5 bandmates. Fred Smith had his own band called Sonic’s Rendezvous and “recently played with Patti Smith in Detroit”, drummer Dennis Thompson was in Los Angeles, California in “an ultra-heavy, smasho, basho music band”, describing Ron Asheton’s New Order. Singer Rob Tyner “is writing some, but not gigging”, and bassist Michael Davis was serving time in the Lexington federal prison on his own drug charges, but he had told Kramer that he had joined a prison band “the first week he got to Lexington”, which was something Kramer thought he might be able to do while serving his term.
The 1978 song “Jail Guitar Doors” by The Clash has the opening verse:
“Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine
“A little more every day
“Holding for a friend till the band do well
“Then the D.E.A. locked him away”
Jail Guitar Doors is also the name of an initiative set up by British musician Billy Bragg to provide musical equipment for the use of inmates serving time in prisons and funding for recording sessions for prisoners and former inmates in the UK. Kramer later worked with Bragg to set up a US version of the program.
The Clash – Jail Guitar Doors (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNVZKRT2zGk
A DMA flyer/ad for the band Zooster with tour itinerary for April 1, 1976 through May 7th. A recording of the band can be heard below:
Zooster - "Any Way You Choose"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETAg5RFZw18
An ad for Jim Dulzo’s “Night Train” radio program and a concert by Weather Report at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor on April 1, 1976.
A DMA flyer/ad for the band Salem Witchcraft with a concert itinerary from April 3, 1976 through May 9th.
Movie poster for the film “Sparkle”, released on April 7, 1976. Although the plot was inspired by the history of The Supremes, the period film was set in Harlem, New York during the late 1950s and early 1960s. (A 2012 re-make set the story in Detroit, Michigan in 1968 during the Motown era.) Curtis Mayfield wrote the songs for the soundtrack, some of which were sung by Aretha Franklin, Franklin released the official soundtrack as a solo album.
An ad by an unknown artist for Honey Boy at the Red Carpet in Detroit, Michigan, April 7-11, 1976, and again on the following weekend.
A full-page Motown Records ad in the April 8, 1976 issue of Rolling Stone magazine for Smokey Robinson’s fourth solo album “Smokey’s Family Robinson”.
Poster by an Jeff Yerkey for Sonny Rollins at Michigan State University in East Lansing, April 8-10, 1976.
Newspaper ad for Sonny Rollins at Michigan State University in East Lansing, April 8-10, 1976.
A two-page spread in Billboard magazine for the Brecker Brothers, with tour dates including three Michigan shows, beginning with Saginaw on April 9, 1976, followed by Grand Rapids on the 10th and Detroit on the 11th.
Poster by an unknown artist for a benefit party for the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit, Michigan with Bobo Jenkins and free beer at Formerly Alvin’s Deli on April 10, 1976.
An ad for Maruga Booker, Darius Brubeck and Perry Robinson in Dearborn, Michigan on April 10, 1976.
Poster/flyer for Ron Asheton’s New Order, with Prime Evil, in Long Beach, California on April 10, 1976.
Sonic’s Rendezvous Band performed at The Huron Inn in Ypsilanti, Michigan on April 10, 1976. All three sets from that night were recorded and released as part of the 2-CD “Space Age Blues”, released on the UK label Easy Action in 2016. The second set of the night, alone, was also released as “No Sleep Till Ypsilanti” on the Bang! Records label in Spain in 2020.
Band members were Fred Smith, Scott Morgan, Scott Asheton, and Ron Cooke. Here is the entire Space Age Blues album with (18) tracks recorded live at the Huron Inn, plus (4) tracks recorded at “Chances Are, Ann Arbor, MI (Date unknown, late '75-ish)”
Sonic’s Rendezvous Band - Space Age Blues (album)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jsEsI5XLZc&list=OLAK5uy_lzLbRAJVjG4Fx_fxedPfMjUm4Mel4QKTI
A review of “Space Age Blues” can be found here:
https://www.i94bar.com/albums/space-age-blues-sonics-rendezvous-band-easy-action
On Palm Sunday, April 11, 1976, there were no less than five concerts in Detroit, Michigan, with Sonny Rollins at the Showcase, Grover Washington Jr. and the Brecker Brothers at Masonic, Joe Cocker at Cobo, Odetta at the Music Hall and Donald Byrd at the University of Detroit.
A record store ad for the first two albums by the Brecker Brothers to tie in with their show, opening for Grover Washington Jr,. at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on April 11, 1976.
The brothers (older brother Randy, a trumpeter and younger brother Michael, a saxophonist) were in high demand, both together and individually. Randy was a member of the original Blood, Sweat & Tears and may have still been in the band when BS&T played at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in early March 1968, if his departure following Al Kooper’s departure in April 1968 is accurate.
By 1976, Randy had appeared on albums by the McCoys, James Taylor, Todd Rundgren, Lou Reed, the Eleventh House, Johnny Winter, Average White Band, Aerosmith, Black Heat, Judy Collins, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen and dozens of others on well over 100 albums.
Michael had also appeared on some of the above albums, plus albums by Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Carly Simon, Felix Cavaliere, National Lampoon and Paul Simon, among many others.
Most recently the two brothers together had just landed on George’s Clinton mothership on Parliament’s “Mothership Connection”, and at the end of the year they would both be with Frank Zappa in his fabled New York City band of December 1976.
Newspaper ad with Brownsville Station opening for Joe Cocker at Cobo Arena on April 11, 1976.
Newspaper ad with Odetta! at the Music Hall Center in Detroit, Michigan on April 11, 1976.
An interesting find, a large 22” x 28” poster by artist S. Noxon for the “Live Bullet” album by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band. There may have been some information on the lower left corner, which is missing, as to whether it was a promo or licensed poster, or it may have been cheap “fan art”, but it definitely has the feel and style contemporaneous with the time of the original release of the album on April 12, 1976, and it’s very cool, which means it isn’t cheap anymore!
The poster is also seen in the background of one of the best-known photos of Lester Bangs, by Charles Auringer at the office of CREEM magazine.
A Capitol Records ad the “Live Bullet” album by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, released on April 12, 1976.
Another Capitol Records ad for the “Live Bullet” album by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, released on April 12, 1976.
The first Michigan appearance by the band Heart, at the Ford Auditorium in Detroit, opening for Status Quo on April 13, 1976. The band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where two brothers, Michael and Roger Fisher, and their girlfriend sisters, Ann and Nancy Wilson, all from Seattle, Washington, were living in order for Michael to avoid the draft. The two brothers had worked together in bands since 1967, with Roger on guitar and Michael in a managerial role. Ann Wilson had joined the band as the lead vocalist while still in Seattle, and after the move to Vancouver, brought Nancy into the group.
The band wanted to move into more original material and the Wilson sisters turned out to be quite the song-writing team, writing most of the material for their first album “Dreamboat Annie”, including its three hit singles. Their third single “Crazy On You” was the first one released in the US, in March 1976
Heart – Crazy On You (1975)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZuW6BH_Vak
An ad for The Roadhouse, outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, with an excellent line-up, starting with Carolyn Crawford on April 14, 1976, followed by Rusty Day & the High Rollers, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band on April 16-17, 1976, and Honeyboy.
The SRB line-up was Scott Morgan, Fred Smith, Ron Cooke, and Scott Asheton.
The Roadhouse, about ten minutes north of downtown Ann Arbor, was opened by promoter Peter Andrews in March 1976. Honeyboy had performed at the Grand Opening. The band, with guitarist Jim McCarty, drummer Johnny Bee, bassist John Fraga, and guitarist Dennis Robbins, was an early incarnation of the Rockets. Singer Dave Gilbert first met the band at the Roadhouse during one of his visits back to Michigan from LA.
A full-page ad/poster at the end of Diana Ross’ successful European tour that squeezes in an extra show, in Bournemouth, England on April 14, 1976, and adds three shows in London, April 18-20.
A full-page MCA Records ad for Lynyrd Skynyrd touring in support of their fourth studio album “Gimme Back My Bullets” with a show in Detroit, Michigan on April 14, 1976. This was the band’s sixth Michigan appearance and the first of five Michigan shows in 1976.
This show, at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, was about one month before guitarist Steve Gaines, formerly with the band Detroit with Rusty Day, would join Lynyrd Skynyrd. Gaines would be with the band the next time, and the next five times, that Lynyrd Skynyrd would perform in Michigan. He would have also been with the band when they recorded their live album “One More From the Road”, which was recorded over three nights in Atlanta, Georgia in July 1976, and on this epic fourteen-minute version of the classic “Free Bird”.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (Live At Fox Theatre, Atlanta) (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kphg_kWMwE
Newspaper ad and (incorrect) cover of a bootleg recording of Cecil Taylor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on April 15, 1976.
Cecil Taylor – Petals (live in Ann Arbor, Michigan) (4/15/76)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuFl2jRVJWU
A weekend in Cleveland, Ohio for the Michigan band Salem Witchcraft with a show at the Agora Ballroom on April 15, 1976 and two nights at Studio B on the 16th and 17th.
Poster for Smokey Robinson in Seattle, Washington on April 16, 1976.
Dance performances often had some of the most intriguing show posters, such as this one by an unknown artist for “Ann Arbor Three Way” in Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 16-17, 1976.
Poster for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band at The Roadhouse outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 16-17, 1976. Photo is by Marty Agosta and SRB logo by John Benson.
A nice ad for Little Milton at Ethel’s Lounge in Detroit, Michigan, April 16-18, 1976.
An Atlantic Records ad for Jean-Luc Ponty’s album “Aurora” with tie-in to his show at the Showcase Theater in Detroit, Michigan on April 17, 1976. Mickey's Pulsating Unit opened the show.
Volume Twelve - 1976 - continues - HERE
The April 1976 schedule of events at Mr. Flood’s Party in Ann Arbor, Michigan by artist Crow Quill.
