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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Fourteen - 1978
A 1978 WABX Detroit radio calendar with art by Gary Grimshaw.
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This full-page ad in the January 1978 issue of Ballroom Blitz magazine, announcing “Wayne Kramer Is Back!!” is a bit misleading, Kramer was still imprisoned at Lexington and would remain so for most of the rest of the year. What was now on the streets, however, was a new Wayne Kramer single.
When the British music magazine New Musical Express published their in-prison interview with Kramer as the cover story of the August 1977 issue, journalist and Kramer’s friend, Mick Farren, arranged the release of a demo that Kramer had recorded with drummer Melvin Davis and bassist Tim Shafe to tie-in with the NME interview and as a benefit to raise money for Kramer’s support. It was released on the Stifwick label, which was a collaboration between Stiff Records and Cheswick Records.
The A-side was a rendition of Kramer’s signature song while with the MC5, “Ramblin’ Rose”, the B-side “Get Some” was co-written by Farren and Kramer. The single quickly sold 10,000 copies in England and did raise some windfall funds from the royalties for Kramer upon his eventual release from prison in late 1978.
Picture sleeve and labels for the Wayne Kramer single, released to coincide with the August 1977 in-prison interview published in the British music magazine New Musical Express as a benefit to help support Kramer.
Wayne Kramer – Ramblin’ Rose (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW3AeLea0Jg
Wayne Kramer – Get Some (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6nM04NGZq0
A flyer/ad for the 1978 calendar from WABX-FM radio station in Detroit, Michigan.
The inside back cover ad in the January 1978 issue of Ballroom Blitz magazine, for the release of the single “I’m Bored” b/w “You’re Gonna Die” by Destroy All Monsters, making this the earliest mention of the single that we’ve found, four months sooner than the April 1978 show review in the Michigan Daily newspaper in Ann Abor where we had first found a reference to the release.
Cover art by Niagara with photos by D.B. Keeps and Sue Rynski, and Graphic Assistance & Fabrication by Dennis Loren. You may notice that Cary Loren has gone missing, leaving Niagara as the only remaining member of the band’s original four-piece line-up.
Destroy All Monsters – Bored (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaCSggNlnkg
Destroy All Monsters - Youre Gonna Die (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TXL8ocad_s
A small flyer by David Keeps that was sent out with promo copies of the first single by Destroy All Monsters.
Poster/flyer that could be used as a “show blank” for Destroy All Monsters, stamped with the address of IDBI Records label, with illustration by Niagara and design by Dennis Loren.
An ad for Dennis Loren’s Solid Graphics in the January 1978 issue of Ballroom Blitz magazine.
CREEM magazine produced a limited edition rock and roll poster calendar in January 1978, adding to their extracurricular media that included a trade paperback book titled “Rock Revolution” and a special “Best of” anthology issue of the magazine, with a second “Best Of” issue about to be released. The rock and roll calendar became a monthly feature in the magazine in 1979.
A full-page Warner Bros. Records ad in the January 1978 issue of CREEM magazine for the debut, and only, studio album by the Sex Pistols.
A full page Epic Records ad for “Double Live Gonzo!”, a 2-LP set by Ted Nugent, released in January 1978. It was the first live album of his solo career, his fourth solo release, and his highest charting album to date, peaking at #13 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Band members were Derek St. Holmes on guitar and vocals, Rob Grange on bass, and Cliff Davies on drums.
A second, and a third, full page Epic Records ad for “Double Live Gonzo!”, a 2-LP set by Ted Nugent, released in January 1978.
A fourth full page Epic Records ad for “Double Live Gonzo!”, a 2-LP set by Ted Nugent, released in January 1978.
Poster/flyer, which could have been made by band manager Jack Tann, for the Traitors and the Ramrods at JC’s Rock Saloon in Detroit, Michigan, January 2-3, 1978.
A show review for Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet band at Kansas City Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri on January 4, 1978 was headlined “Detroit Rock Flying High”. The review also praised the openers, also from Detroit, the Rockets. The photo of high-flying saxophonist Tom Cartmell, aka Alto Reed, appeared in CREEM magazine later in the year.
A collage by Sue Rynski that is marked on the back, January 5, 1978.
A newspaper ad for the Suds Factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan on January 8, 1978 with WGPR-FM DJ Electrifying Mojo holding down the Sunday nights.
An ad with the Rockets opening for KISS at the Coliseum near Cleveland, Ohio on January 8, 1978.
A full-page ad from the Recordland record stores with a sale on the debut album by the Rockets following their appearance with KISS at the Coliseum near Cleveland, Ohio on January 8, 1978. Album cover artwork by Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley.
Poster/handbill, presumably by Freddie Brooks, for Sonic’s Rendezvous Band with The Look at Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 9, 1978. This is the earliest found poster with The Look, whose first show had been on November 17, 1977.
Comprised of musicians of previous bands, Tantrum, Zooster, and Roxwell, and guitarist Sam Warren, who had played in an early version of The Rockets and with Mitch Ryder, The Look would become the first Michigan band to appear on MTV, three years from here.
The Dogs were back in Los Angeles, California, after spending their first Christmas in four years back in Michigan, in time for these shows at the Whisky, January 12-14, 1978.
The caption to the photo shown in the below comments, reads:
“After being taunted to the stage by Tony Sales (Jerry #1) with calls of “Come on asshole”, Sid Vicious (Jerry #2) jumped on stage with The Dogs at The Whisky on Friday the 13th, January 1978 (the night before the Sex Pistols called it quits), and the band launched into a vicious version of “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, as seen in this photo by John Lindemann.
“Loren: “Tony Sales came to The Dogs dressing room upstairs at The Whisky, and this was when The Pistols were playing at the Winterland, and he said, “The Pistols are going to be here, and let’s show them that L.A. isn’t lame”. So, we worked it out, that Tony would come on stage and we’d play “I Wanna Be Your Dog” with Tony fronting it, and that would get Sid up on stage and, Tony would kick his ass. So, in the middle of The Dogs set, we called Tony up, and he in turn gets Sid up on stage with his Warner Brothers security guard, and we did “I Wanna Be Your Dog”. Sid wanted to play Mary’s bass, but she wouldn’t let him. He wanted to sing lead, Tony wouldn’t let him. So, he started jumping around stage, and sang backing vocals.”
Photo with Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols on stage with the Dogs at the Whisky in Hollywood, California on January 13, 1978.
A monster ad for “Bootzilla”, released on January 13, 1978 as the lead single from the upcoming album “Bootsy? Player of the Year”. “Bootzilla” reached the #1 spot on the R&B singles chart, directly following Parliament's #1 hit "Flash Light".
Bootsy’s Rubber Band – Bootzilla (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=husf6po76mU
As mentioned in the previous story about the Dogs, the Sex Pistols played their final show in San Francisco, California on January 14, 1978. It was the last stop on their only US tour, which only consisted of seven shows, provocatively scheduled for unlikely venues in Atlanta, Memphis, San Antonio, Baton Rouge, Dallas and Tulsa. Audio recordings from most of those shows can be heard here:
https://www.openculture.com/2019/09/the-sex-pistols-doomed-1978-tour-through-the-u-s-south.html
The Ramones returned for their sixth Michigan show, at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on January 14, 1978, with the Runaways, in their fourth, and final, Michigan show. Not mentioned is the opening local group Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, but recording of their set is linked below.
Although missing from the database, it appears that Sonic’s Rendezvous Band performed at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan on January 14, 1978, as this recording exists.
Sonic Rendezvous Band – Live in Detroit, Michigan (1/14/78)
https://archive.org/details/sonicsrendezvousbandcd3masonicauditoriumdetroit14jan.1978
Poster/handbill by an unknown artist for the Romantics apparently performing an in-store concert at a Peaches Records store in Fraser, Michigan on January 14, 1978. Spider Records was the name of the group’s self-owned label on which they had released their first single “Little White Lies”. They made one more release on the label, for the band the Reruns.
The first single from the Reruns, released on the Romantics’ label Spider Records. The design of the promo insert and record picture sleeve by Dennis Loren for Solid Graphics.
The Reruns - So So Alone / Since You Gotta Cheat (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pt5gm-R90k
A one-and-a-half page Roadshow Records ad in the January 14, 1978 issue of Billboard magazine promoting the second album by the Detroit soul band Enchantment, which included their biggest hit “It's You That I Need” that topped the R&B singles chart for a week in February 1978.
Enchantment – It’s You That I Need (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgF7Q48Kn9M
Newspaper ad for the first Michigan appearance by composer and keyboardist Carla Bley, at Pease Auditorium in Ypsilanti, Michigan on January 14, 1978. Her 1971 magnum opus, the three-record set “Escalator Over the Hill” caught the attention of some of the rock audience because of the participation of guitarist John McLaughlin, bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce, vocalist Linda Ronstadt and Mothers of Invention keyboardist (and Michigan native) Don Preston.
Here is a short clip from the jazz opera, or the "chronotransduction with words” featuring the vocals of Jeanne Lee, and giving you a brief taste of the sublime artistry of “Escalator Over the Hill”.
Jeanne Lee - Escalator Over The Hill (excerpt) (1971)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KPVlePkZeQ
An ad in the January 14, 1978 issue of the British music magazine Music Week for the single “Which Way Is Up” by Stargard, which was written by Norman Whitfield and was the theme song for the 1977 Richard Pryor movie of the same name.
Stargard - Theme Song From 'Which Way Is Up' (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSJi1H3jZPk
Poster/flyer by an unknown artist for Destroy All Monsters with the Mutants at the Red Carpet Lounge in Detroit, Michigan on January 17, 1978.
A couple of ads for Brownsville Station, at the Flying Machine in Akron, Ohio on January 19, 1978, and at the Palace in Lorain, Ohio on the following night.
A Recordland record stores ad for the Stevie Wonder three-record set anthology in the January 19, 1978 issue of the Northeastern Ohio Scene magazine.
Newspaper ad for KISS at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan on January 20, 1978, with a second show added for the following night, January 21st. The second show was their 36th Michigan show, in less than four years. The Rockets opened for both shows at the Olympia.
Journey released their fourth studio album, “Infinity”, on January 20, 1978, with cover art by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. Mouse and Kelley would do the covers for the next three Journey albums as well.
Poster by Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley for the Journey “World Tour” in support their fourth studio album “Infinity”, the band's first album with vocalist Steve Perry. Mouse and Kelley also created the album cover artwork which was similar to this poster. The tour kicked off in Chicago, Illinois on January 20, 1978, the same day that the album was released, and lasted 32 weeks, ending in Oakland, California on September 2nd.
The ”World Tour” was a bit of a misnomer, other than an appearance at the Pinkpop Festival in the Netherlands on May 15th, and two shows in Canada, all of the rest of the shows, around 120 of them, were in the US. The September 2nd show was the last time that drummer Aynsley Dunbar performed with the band.
A Warner Bros. Records promo poster for the third studio album by Bootsy Collins, “Bootsy? Player of the Year” released on January 20, 1978. It was Bootsy’s second consecutive #1 album on the Billboard R&B Albums chart, his second consecutive Top 20 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart (both peaked at #16), and his second consecutive Gold record. It also contained his only single to hit #1 on the R&B Singles chart, “Bootzilla”.
A full-page Warner Bros. Records ad for the third studio album by Bootsy Collins, “Bootsy? Player of the Year” released on January 20, 1978.
Newspaper ad for Rush in Muskegon, Michigan on January 22, 1978, the second of a four-city swing through the state that included the night before in Saginaw, Lansing on January 23rd and Flint on January 24th. The Flint show would be, at least, their 38th Michigan performance in less than four years. Their first Michigan appearance, at a drive-in theater in Lansing in May 1974 had also been their first US show.
An ad for the Average White Band at Michigan State University in East Lansing on January 23, 1978.
A pair of full-page Motown Records ads for the second single off of Diana Ross’ eighth solo studio album “Baby It’s Me”. Released on January 24, 1978, “Your Love Is So Good For Me” reached #15 on the newly formed Billboard Dance chart and received a Grammy nomination.
Diana Ross - Your Love Is So Good For Me (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS8_OwnG0vQ
A full-page A&M Records ad for the Scottish rock band Nazareth with tour dates including three Michigan shows, in Lansing on January 26, 1978, in Saginaw on February 5th, and at Cobo Arena in Detroit on February 7th, re-scheduled from the original January 27 date.
Poster for the Winter Concert Series 1978 from Eclipse Jazz in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with the complete set of illustrations by “Nosco”, starting with Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock at Hill Auditorium on January 26, 1978.
Poster/ad by Eclipse Jazz for Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 26, 1978.
A two-page Columbia Records ad for the joint tour by Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, including the show at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 26, 1978, the second show of the tour.
A full-page Warner Bros. Records ad for the third album by Bootsy’s Rubber Band, released on January 27, 1978. The album, titled “Bootsy? Player of the Year”, hit #1 on the Billboard Soul Album charts. In their “Top Album Picks”, Billboard’s tip to Dealers was “Bootsy’s following is tremendous”.
The album’s first single “Bootzilla” reached the #1 spot on the R&B singles chart, the second single “Hollywood Squares” failed to chart, but it is an all-time Bootsy favorite.
Bootsy’s Rubber Band – Hollywood Squares (1978)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubAJb3o6upE
The winners of CREEM magazine’s 1977 Reader’s Poll, published in the January 28, 1978 issue of Billboard magazine.
A full-page Motown Records ad in the January 28, 1978 issue of Billboard magazine with the “Magic of Motown” theme, promoting albums by established acts David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks and the 5th Dimension, plus newcomers Feelin’ Fresh, 21st Creation and Fantacy Hill, all three of whom disbanded after these releases.
Volume Fourteen - 1978 - continues - HERE
