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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Thirteen - 1977 - Page Nine
This is one of three different posters/flyers for this monster show at the Kramer Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on August 10, 1977 with Rob Tyner’s MC5, Destroy All Monsters, Bittersweet Alley and the earliest known show for the Sillies. Poster by Dave Lombardi. Since this is the first known poster for the Sillies, we refer to Rob St. Mary’s “Detroit Punk Archive” website for the band introduction:
http://detroitpunkarchive.com/bands/the-sillies/
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The second of three different posters/flyers for Rob Tyner’s MC5, Destroy All Monsters, Bittersweet Alley and the Sillies at the Kramer Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on August 10, 1977. By an unknown artist, this one is nice because it lists the members of Rob Tyner’s MC5.
The third of three different posters/flyers for Rob Tyner’s MC5, Destroy All Monsters, Bittersweet Alley and the Sillies at the Kramer Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on August 10, 1977. By an unknown artist, this might be our favorite of the three.
Tyner’s set was recorded and released many, many years later as “Rock and Roll People” by the Rob Tyner Band. Here are a couple of tracks:
The Rob Tyner Band - Out of My Hands (live 8/10/77)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNINCq1KzH8
The Rob Tyner Band – Taboo (live 8/10/77)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMwHKAfpwJs
Here is the 1999 release of the recording of the Rob Tyner Band at the Kramer Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on August 10, 1977. It has the more complete set list and artwork by Mark Arminski.
A show review by Sue Rynski for the August 10, 1977 show at the Kramer Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, with Rob Tyner’s MC5, Destroy All Monsters, Bittersweet Alley and the Sillies.
A Sentury Printing poster for Marvin Gaye in San Bernardino, California on August 11, 1977.
Diana Ross appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine for her second time, with the August 11, 1977 issue, the 15th time that a Michigan person was on the cover, and joining Alice Cooper, Marvin Gaye and Lily Tomlin as those who had appeared twice.
Newspaper ad with the band Bliss, winners of the Pine Knob Talent Contest, appearing at the Spaghetti Bender in Ypsilanti, Michigan, August 12-14, 1977.
A very nice poster with Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band opening for Peter Frampton, along with Derringer, for the “Super Bowl of Rock Game 4” at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois on August 13, 1977.
A full-page Whitfield Records ad in the August 13, 1977 issue of Billboard magazine for the third single from the seventh album by the Undisputed Truth.
A really nice poster, “designed and printed by serigraphics”, for Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band in Evansville, Indiana on August 14, 1977.
A schedule of events at the Whisky in in Hollywood, California, with the Dogs on stage, August 15-16, 1977, preceded by Widowmaker, Screamers, Zeros, Ramones and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977. Two new Michigan bands sprang up, the Reruns from Hamtramck, who started as a cover band backing up an Elvis impersonator, claim their first gig as a band was on the night Elvis died, August 16th, 1977, and the Ramrods from Detroit mark their first gig as the day after Elvis died, August 17th, 1977, inside the basement of an apartment building on East Grand Boulevard near Jefferson dubbed the “Concord Castle” (from the Detroit Punk Archive).
Newspaper ad for Ted Nugent at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England, August 16-17, 1977.
Poster/flyer with Destroy All Monsters opening for the Cleveland, Ohio band Pere Ubu, in Euclid, Ohio on August 17, 1977 and in Cleveland the following night, August 18th. Pere Ubu’s debut album would be released in January 1978, but the band had already released four singles on their own Hearthan/Hearpen label, “30 Seconds Over Tokyo”, “Final Solution”, “Street Waves”, and this one, “The Modern Dance”:
Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance (1977)
https://www.facebook.com/decadeclub77/videos/314029996634349
An ad for Destroy All Monsters with Pere Ubu at Pirate’s Cove in Cleveland, Ohio on August 18, 1977.
The British band Yes brought along their fellow countryman Donovan for a show in Kalamazoo, Michigan on August 18, 1977, they then shot over to Orchard Park, New York, teaming up with Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band and J. Geils for a show on August 20, then back to Michigan with two shows in Detroit at Cobo Arena, August 22 and 23.
A poster for Jeannie C. Riley & the Red River Symphony at the Armada Fair in Armada, Michigan on August 19, 1977. Riley has a long, successful career in music and television, but nothing ever matched her debut single “Harper Valley PTA”, released in August 1968.
It hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Country Singles charts, the only female artist to achieve that feat until Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" in 1981. It jumped from #81 to #7 in its second week on the charts, the biggest leap into the Top Ten than any other single in the Sixties. It won a Grammy and spawned a movie and a tv show.
We knew this couldn’t have been Riley’s only Michigan appearance even though it is the only poster or ad found so far. Our “go-to” website, The Concert Database has no listed shows. But right at the top of her Wikipedia page is a photo of her captioned “at the Civic Center in Lansing, Michigan on February 4, 1973.”
Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley P.T.A. (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZPBUu7Fro
An ad for the Viking Lounge in Mount Clemens, Michigan with Merlin appearing August 19-20, 1977 and with Holy Smoke the following week.
Poster/flyer by an unknown artist for the Rockets at Abigail’s in Ypsilanti, Michigan, August 19-20, 1977.
Handbill for the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas, Nevada with Alice Cooper appearing August 19-20, 1977.
The August 20, 1977 issue of the British magazine New Musical Express had a cover story and an interview with an incarcerated Wayne Kramer. The photo on the left is credited to Leni Sinclair, the one on the right is by Pennie Smith.
Poster/flyer for the New Ballroom in Sterling Heights, Michigan with the bands Roxwell and Holy Smoke through August 21, 1977.
Poster for Moose & the Sharks in Leamington, Ontario, Canada on August 21, 1977.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Books, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with the Romantics and Brataxis at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on August 22, 1977.
Newspaper ad with John Lee Hooker and Bonnie Raitt at Painters Mill in Owings Mills, Maryland on August 23, 1977.
A Capricorn Records ad for the live album “Raisin’ Hell” by Elvin Bishop, published at the time of his appearance at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan opening for Dave Mason on August 23, 1977. Here is a clip of the group on The Midnight Special TV show performing their biggest hit, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”. The lead vocalist is Mickey Thomas, who would soon after join the Jefferson Starship.
Elvin Bishop - Fooled Around and Fell in Love (1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev8SibkJhNg
A ticket to see the Dogs in Canoga Park, California on August 25, 1977.
A pair of posters for a pair of shows by Marvin Gaye, in Portland, Oregon on August 26, 1977 and in Oakland, California on August 27th.
A full-page Motown Records ad promoting four of their latest singles. “Another Star” was the second single released from Stevie Wonder’s epic album “Songs in the Key of Life”. The Commodores released one of their best-known songs “Brick House” on August 26, 1977. Smokey Robinson released a soundtrack album to the movie “Big Time”. The group High Inergy from Pasadena, California were discovered by Berry Gordy's sister Gwen Gordy Fuqua and were signed to Motown's Gordy subsidiary. Their debut album included the hit "You Can't Turn Me Off (In the Middle of Turning Me On)".
Stevie Wonder – Another Star (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9KKBvWTdMQ
Commodores – Brick House (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5EmnQp3V48
Smokey Robinson – Theme from Big Time (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL705AMLw1I
High Inergy - You Can't Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turnin Me On) (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGdIrYCGkvM
The marquee at the Whisky in Hollywood, California with the Dogs sharing the stage with AC/DC on their first US tour. Their show just before these was their Michigan debut, at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on August 27, 1977.
In Detroit, they were added to the bill of Johnny Winter with .38 Special, mis-matched according to an eyewitness report from Thor of Taylor, Michigan on the AC/DC website:
“We were just cruising around downtown Detroit looking for something to do as 18 year olds like us were prone to do. The radio said Johnny Winter was at Masonic so we went. The crowd was there to see southern rockers (everyone around us were wearing cowboy hats). AC/DC came on first. I had never heard of them. I was so impressed, they totally blew me away!!
“The idiots around us were jeering and booing. They just didn't get it. .38 Special & Johnny Winter were a let-down compared to AC/DC's set. It was the only time I remember going to the record store the day after a show to buy an album on the strength of the previous night’s performance. Bought "Let There be Rock" on vinyl AND cassette. I wore them both out turning all my friends on to "this amazing new band from Australia."
Jimmy G from Detroit adds, “Saw this concert, AC/DC was all but booed off the stage”, while Rockchik from the Detroit Metro Area was apparently in a slightly friendlier section of the audience:
“Nobody was sure how to react especially when they came to see southern rock music!?! (38 special threw out glass 5ths of Jack Daniels to the audience for an idea...) BUT this was a crowd that appreciated the guitar to be sure so when it was all over, they definitely got a HELL YEA despite nobody quite knowing any of the songs.”
The video linked below is from a BBC broadcast show in London, England later in the year, and you can see why Thor and Rockchik were blown away.
AC/DC – Problem Child (live BBC London) (10/27/77)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nng92efL2f8
A nice color-effective poster with Ted Nugent in Seattle, Washington on August 31, 1977.
Poster/flyer, presumably by Freddie Books, with photo by Robert Matheu for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and the Romantics at the Ballroom in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with two shows nightly from August 31, 1977 through September 4th.
Ted Nugent on the front cover of the September 1977 issue of CREEM magazine. It was his second cover appearance although it had been well over seven and a half years since his first, on the February 1970 issue.
Also on the cover of the fictional EAT magazine inside the September 1977 issue of CREEM magazine.
A story on former Doors’ keyboardist Ray Manzarek’s Nite City band in the September 1977 issue of CREEM magazine. The group included two Michigan musicians with guitarist Paul Warren and drummer Jimmy Hunter.
Fantastic full-page photo of Iggy Pop by Chalkie Davies in the September 1977 issue of CREEM magazine.
CREEM magazine published the first of their special editions for an individual band in September 1977, with this issue for KISS, a seventy-page monster, with previously printed and new material.
Gary Grimshaw’s rendition of the band KISS in CREEM magazine’s first Special Edition issue in September 1977.
Full-page color ad from Casablanca Records for the album “Parliament Live: P-Funk Earth Tour” in the September 1977 issue of CREEM magazine.
George Clinton brought the mothership in for its second Detroit landing, at Cobo Hall on September 2, 1977. Along with the touring support of Bootsy’s Rubber Band and Fred Wesley & the Horny Horns, the local groups CJ & Company and Sons of Satan opened the show.
Poster for the “Dog Day Rock Fest” in Atlanta, Georgia on September 3, 1977 featuring Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band.
A full-page RCA Records ad in the September 3, 1977 issue of Music Week magazine for the Iggy Pop album “Lust For Life”.
A poster for Tommy James appearing near Wahoo, Nebraska on September 4, 1977, with a list of his impressive repertoire of hit songs. It is estimated that over 300 artists have covered his songs, Joan Jett had a Top Ten hit with her 1982 cover of "Crimson and Clover", and artists Tiffany and Billy Idol had back-to-back #1 hits with James’ songs in 1987, Tiffany with "I Think We're Alone Now", and Idol with "Mony Mony".
Poster for Alice Cooper in Missoula, Montana on September 4, 1977, originally intended as the final show of the “King of the Silver Screen Tour” but the show was cancelled. An eye witness at a show in Denver, Colorado six days earlier, on August 30, recalls that at the end of that show Alice announced he was canceling the rest of the tour (all one show of it?) and checking himself into hospital. At least three different witnesses also state Styx opened.
"I had the extremely lucky good fortune to see Alice's last concert in Denver at the end of his “Lace and Whiskey” tour, which was Alice's final record before getting sober and subsequently releasing “From The Inside” (my friends & I all thought he lost his sinister aura from then on).
“We had no idea at the time that Alice was slated for de-tox -- we were treated by a surprise at the end of the concert, when the entire cast of the show, including members of opening act Styx, roadies and all, gathered on stage; an announcement was made that Alice was going straight from McNichols Sports Arena to be committed to rehab after the show. Alice was then strapped in a harness and hoisted into the air above the stage, and everyone took a turn spraying him with agitated champagne bottles - a priceless and spectacular memory!!!
“Unfortunately, I had exposed too much of my smuggled super-8 film recording Styx, and I ran out just at the end of Alice Cooper's set -- therefore I had no way to document Alice's last intoxicated minutes for posterity - something I will forever regret."
A pair of ads for Abigail’s Saloon in Ypsilanti, Michigan with an appearance by Frijid Pink on September 9, 1977, followed by Salem Witchcraft, September 10th through September 14th, Wednesday 10 cent night.
Thwarted in the barroom name challenge when the rival Ann Arbor club changed their name from Chances Are to Second Chance, owner Leo Speer’s Sure Thing no longer had the zinger, so he changed it to Abigail’s Dirty Shame Saloon, shortened soon after to simply Abigail’s.
Two full-page RCA Records ads for the second solo studio album by Iggy Pop, “Lust For Life”, released on September 9, 1977.
Under the pretense of making a movie, or maybe honest intent but there was apparently no film in that camera, George Clinton arranged to stage a landing of the mothership in Times Square in NYC in the early pre-dawn morning the day of their show at Madison Square Garden on September 10, 1977. Bootsy emerged from the craft in lieu of Dr. Funkenstein, and Bootsy’s Rubber Band proceeded to the United Nations building and performed a free show on the outside steps with the sunrise.
Poster/ad by an unknown artist for “The Electric Rodeo” in Sparta, Michigan, near Grand Rapids, on September 10, 1977. Featuring Commander Cody in his first return to Michigan since dropping the Lost Planet Airmen, and an appearance by Jimmy Buffett, who is strangely missing from the concert database.
An interesting ad for an Iggy Pop concert in Rotterdam, Netherlands, although they either missed a digit on the date, or it could have been rescheduled after the ad was printed, as all sources have the show date as September 14, 1977.
Volume Thirteen - 1977 - continues - HERE
A dozen sample pages from CREEM magazine’s first Special Edition issue, for KISS, in September 1977.
A two-page spread for Parliament Funkadelic in the CREEM magazine’s September 1977 KISS Special Edition. The Casablanca Records labelmates were included as one of the four “Top Contenders” which included Starz, Aerosmith, and Angel.
