Splatt Gallery
Double click here to add text.
Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Music Posters
Volume Two - 1964-1966 - Page Eight
************************************************************
Volume Two - 1964-1966 - continues - HERE
Collage from the wall of the Club Ponytail in Harbor Springs, Michigan showing a developed aesthetic with a nice continuity in their poster design.
Presenting another mystery, we see a poster for an appearance by The MC5, although we have not been able to find a show at the Ponytail in any of the databases.
There are some eyewitness accounts that put the show(s) as in “the late ‘60’s” and comments, “I remember the night well. Stan had to come out and tell MC5 to turn down the volume; the second time we were treated to an amazingly loud version of Kick Out the Jams”.
The Club Ponytail burned down in 1969.
Here is a YouTube channel of Club Ponytail videos, with photomontages that are simply accompanied by studio recordings of the hits, but you can’t go wrong with Bob Seger, Electric Prunes (check out the psychedelic “effects”), Roy Orbison, Them, Four Tops, Amboy Dukes, The Animals, Del Shannon, Sam the Sham, The Crystals, Shangri-Las, and 96 Tears as your Sunday morning soundtrack:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVN8A59_U7CrUGaXBxbsMtcRzFHq5Bdaz
Full wall collage from the Club Ponytail.
An ad for a Motown show at Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, Maryland, August 15, 1965, featuring Jr. Walker & the All Stars, and the Marvelettes.
A full-page ad for Mary Wells in the August 14, 1965 issue of Cash Box magazine.
A full-page Amy Records ad for Del Shannon in the August 14, 1965 issue of Cash Box magazine.
An ad for Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit with apparently the only Michigan appearance by composer and pianist Vince Guaraldi, August 13-21, 1965.
Guaraldi got a lucky break when radio DJs began playing the B-side to his first single, released in July 1962. That song, called “Cast Your Fate to the Wind”, rose to #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and grabbed the attention of animation producer Lee Mendelson who commissioned Guaraldi to compose the music for his 1963 documentary “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”. The show was never aired on television due to the lack of sponsorship, but Guaraldi released the music on his 1964 album “Jazz Impressions Of "A Boy Named Charlie Brown".
The album’s success led to Mendelson retaining Guaradi again, for the music to the 1965 television special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” which was a big hit and the collaboration between Guaraldi and the entire Peanuts franchise lasted until Guaraldi's death in 1976.
Vince Guaraldi – Cast Your Fate to the Wind (1962)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTA3aOfrDHA
Flyer/program for the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC, with Billy Eckstine, the Four Tops, and Kim Weston appearing, August 13-19, 1965.
An ad for the Club Gay Haven in Dearborn, Michigan with Rusty Day & the Midnighters, in their earliest known appearance, along with Nikki Layne and the Royal Jokers, August 12-14, 1965.
An Amy Records ad in the August 7, 1965 issue of Billboard magazine for Del Shannon’s most punk rock record, co-written by, and featuring, Funk Brothers’ guitarist Dennis Coffey.
Del Shannon – Move It On Over (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeFDvALqNMI
The influence of the British bands changed the make-up of the aspiring teenage rocking combos. Most of them had been instrumental outfits like The Royaltones and Johnny & The Hurricanes, but now they were beginning to feature lead singers like Billy Lee & The Rivieras. The nature of the teen clubs was changing too. Most of them played records and had featured stars lip synch to their hits, but now they began to hire live bands.
One of the most famous was Club Ponytail in Harbor Springs, way up at the top of the state near Traverse City. They hired a band from Ann Arbor called The Iguanas to be the house band during the summer of 1965. The drummer for The Iguanas was Jim Osterberg, but in a play on the band’s name, people began calling him “Iggy”.
The Iguanas – Hey, Mona (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5z0IzyIFus
As the house band for Club Ponytail in Harbor Springs, Michigan in the summer of 1965, the Ann Arbor band, The Fabulous Iguanas would open for the headlining act and their drummer, Jim Osterberg would often fill in on drums for the headliners.
Later, Osterberg, now known as Iggy Pop, recalling this night, August 6, 1965, told an interviewer, “I was as close to Abdul Fakir’s butt as I am to you right now, and they were doing the footwork, and I was watching”.
Of all the bands that Iggy played drums for at the Club Ponytail during the summer of 1965, we’d venture to guess that one of his favorites was The Shangri-Las, this show on August 10, 1965 was one of many that the Iquanas served as the backing band for the girls. The girl group from Queens, New York later came to Ann Arbor, in March, 1966, where at the Mother’s Club in the old Ann Arbor Armory, they performed with The Prime Movers, whom Iggy had just joined after leaving the Iguanas, and Iggy backed them up again on drums.
A Red Bird Records ad for the Shangri-Las' 1964 single "Remember (Walking in the Sand)".
The Shangri- Las - Remember ( Walking in the Sand) (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5YxtweUxrA
An ad for the Supremes at Palisades Park in New Jersey on August 7, 1965 during a break from their Copa engagement. Admission to the park was thirty-five cents.
A Fontana Records company ad for the British group Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders with a list of cities for their first US tour. They performed in Detroit at the Cobo Arena, opening for Herman’s Hermits on July 26, 1965.
Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders – The Game of Love (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkbfEK_owGk
A very fine looking poster for Liberace at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit, Michigan for a week long engagement beginning on July 26, 1965.
A cartoon in the July 27, 1965 issue of the State News newspaper in East Lansing, Michigan, announcing the publication of a book of “The Best of Phil Frank”.
An ad in Billboard magazine touted the Supremes as “the hottest recording group in the world” with five consecutive #1 singles and announced the group’s debut at the Copacabana in NYC on July 29, 1965.
The photo, and signatures, from the ad were used for the cover of the tour program book, which was titled “Meet the Supremes”, the title of their 1962 debut album, which was also re-released with a new cover.
All the above superimposed on a 1965 tour-blank poster.
Poster for The Supremes’ first shows at the Copacabana in New York City, a three-week engagement from July 29, 1965 through August 18, 1965, with two shows per night and three per night on the weekends. It is from these performances that the Supremes’ live album “At The Copa” was recorded. It was also during this stay that the infamous meeting with The Beatles took place, the Beatles being in town for their concert at Shea Stadium on August 15th.
A poster by Scoop Printing Co. for a “Summer Parade of Stars” in Columbia, South Carolina on August 2, 1965, featuring Gladys Knight & the Pips just prior to the group signing with Motown Records.
One of 1965’s biggest movies was Goldfinger, the third James Bond film, released in December 1964 in the US. It set off a national spy craze and riding the wave, Edwin Starr launched his career with the song “Agent Double-O Soul”. It was released on the Ric-Tic record label, a subsidiary of Golden World, entering the Billboard magazine R&B singles chart on July 31, 1965, peaking at #8.
Edwin Starr – Agent Double-O Soul (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHJXfM91B0g
An ad for John Lee Hooker at the Bikini-A-Go-Go in Atlanta
Georgia, July 30-31, 1965.
Georgia, July 30-31, 1965.
An ad for D-Town Records in the July 31, 1965 issue of Billboard magazine for the singles “Boss Love” by Lee Rogers and “Hide and Seek” by Lillian Dupree. An adjacent story announce the start of Robin Seymour’s “Swingin’ Summertime” on CKLW-TV.
Lee Rogers – Boss Love (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQU5WWmyJiU
Lillian Dupree - Hide & Seek (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bNtb8AjRoU
A flyer for the Kingsmen at the Platter Box in Clarkston, Michigan on July 28, 1965.
As we recounted earlier, The Kingsmen from Portland, Oregon broke up their band just as their fluke recording of “Louie, Louie” was being discovered by DJ’s around the country and turned into a nation-wide smash hit. The ousted lead singer on the record, Jack Ely, formed a new group, also called The Kingsmen until a court order awarded the name back to the other members with the promise that they would credit Ely on the recording and stop lip-synching to it in their live performances. They toured for years on the basis of that song and added a few more tunes to their repertoire including this little ditty.
The Kingsmen – Jolly Green Giant (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSlUq2dCOEA
Only twenty days after their opening, the Band Canyon club in Bay City, Michigan landed a scoop with the first Michigan appearance of The Byrds on July 22, 1965. The earliest ads mis-spelled the deliberately mis-spelled band name, but got it rightly wrong in the later ads.
An excellent and complete account of this show can be found here:
http://www.michiganrockandrolllegends.com/dr-js-blog/312-band-canyon-2-the-byrds
The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYLKlgalHMs
Motown Records full-page ad in the July 24, 1965 issue of Billboard magazine with singles by the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, the Spinners, and the Temptations.
At age eighteen, Carl Lundgren helped found the first Detroit Triple Fan Fair, held at a downtown hotel on July 24-25, 1965 featuring comics, movies, and science fiction, which became the model for comic conventions to follow. One of his partners was Sheldon Dorf, also born in Detroit, who later founded the world-famous San Diego Comic-Con International show.
Detroit was a breeding ground for comic book artists, writers, inkers, and letterers, that ended up with illustrious careers at Marvel and DC Comics, including Rich Buckler, Arvell Jones, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, and others that became known as “the Detroit Mob” in comic book fandom. Lundgren’s ambition, however, was to become a cover illustration artist for science fiction and fantasy books. His path to that goal would take him through the world of rock concert posters first.
Poster by Shel Dorf for the Triple Fan Fair, July 24-25, 1965.
Poster for Jackie Wilson at Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, Maryland, July 25, 1965, with the Four Tops coming up.
A Globe Poster with Gladys Knight & the Pips, not yet with Motown, as part of the “Summer Parade of Stars” in Brandywine, Maryland on July 25, 1965.
A poster for the Supremes at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire on July 24, 1965.
Newspaper ad for Frank Sinatra at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on July 16, 1965, his first Michigan show in nearly twenty years. Also with Count Basie and the Oscar Peterson Trio, and with Quincy Jones conducting Sinatra’s band.
Motown Records full-page ad in the July 17, 1965 issue of Billboard magazine.
The Four Tops – It’s the Same Old Song (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkKJy4UaPHM
A Globe Poster with Hank Ballard & the Midnighters on a bill headlined by Little Richard in Annapolis, Maryland on July 18, 1965.
An ad for Joan & Chuck Mitchell in their first Detroit appearances, at the Chess Mate coffee house for six nights, beginning on July 20, 1965. They would perform there well over sixty times over the next eight months.
A full-page Motown Records ad for singles by Marvin Gaye and the Spinners, in the July 10, 1965 issue of Billboard magazine.
A full-page ABC Records ad for the single “After Loving You” by Della Reese in the July 10, 1965 issue of Cash Box magazine.
The earliest dated show by the MC5, at a WKNR's "Keener Caravan" show at the Ambassador Roller Rink in Clawson, Michigan on August 25, 1965, photo by Emil Bacilla.
Right around the same time, the band played another WKNR show at Plymouth High School in Plymouth, Michigan, recalled by WKNR DJ Jerry Goodwin:
" As a DJ at WKNR-AM in Detroit in '65 I did regular "record hops" on a weekly basis. I used a band at that time called "Jack and the Misfits." When that band broke up I then picked up "The Motor City Five", a hot rock band that was doing all the greatest rock songs of the day. (Stones, Motown, Chuck Berry, etc.)"
". . . Back in '65 there was no less than 4 "top forty" radio stations in Detroit with 5 or 6 DJ's doing record hops all over the area. The local band scene was huge as well. The bands knew that to hook up with a DJ on a regular basis gave them the opportunity to showcase themselves and build a fan base that would travel all over the Detroit area to see them and when and if a band finally came out with a record their fans would buy it . . . "
" On A Saturday night in '65 at Plymouth High School in Plymouth, Michigan, rock and roll changed forever. The format of the record hops that I did at that time was: I did 20 minutes of records and the band did a 20 minute live set with the band always finishing off the night. On this particular night I intro'd the band and before I could even get off the stage both Wayne and Freddy hit an off key chord and moved toward the speakers creating a cacophonous feedback that absolutely froze me in mid-stride. Rob then stepped up to the mike and started screaming at top volume. About 2000 kids in that gym stopped doing whatever the hell they were doing and stood frozen staring at the stage all (I'm sure) wondering if the world was coming to an end. After about a minute or so all 2000 kids started heading toward the doors as quickly as they could. I don't think it took 10 minutes to clear the place. The MC5 just kept on jamming for the whole 20 minutes while I kept the one security cop from pulling the plug. After the gig we sat in their van smoking a joint and they told me that had been listening to Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Pharoah Sanders and Eric Dolphy and that they wanted to take their music in a different direction. They called what they were doing "Avant rock".
This was the first time I had ever heard this term and it made sense. I told them at the time that I felt they had a long row to hoe in finding venues for their music but if they just stuck with me and played the hops I would try to find a club for them to play. We played around the area in the "Keener Karavan" with some other great Detroit area bands and finally in '66 Russ Gibb came back from LA or San Francisco (I don't remember which) with great stories of the "dance halls" on the west coast. By that time I had shed my shirt and tie and had become a card carrying, acid taking, long haired freak doing one of the first "free form" shows on WKNR-FM. Russ was also moonlighting at the station at the time (he was a fifth grade teacher during the day) and asked me about finding a "houseband" for his new Grande Ballroom. It was a perfect time to put Gibb and the MC5 together and, as they say, the rest is history . . ."
Newspaper ad for Aretha Franklin in Baltimore, Maryland August 24-29, 1965.
An ad for “Detroit’s Greatest Jazz Concert” at Cobo Arena on August 15, 1965, with Count Basie, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae and Jimmy Smith.
An ad for a Motown show at Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, Maryland, August 22, 1965, featuring the Four Tops, the Temptations, and Marv Johnson.
A Globe Poster in beautiful-purple for Aretha Franklin in Baltimore, Maryland August 24-29, 1965. Check out her performance of one of the songs on the poster:
Aretha Franklin - No, No, I’m Losing You (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRfvV-VqBdQ
An ad for the Supremes at Meadow Brook in Rochester Hills, Michigan on August 21, 1965.
An ad for John Lee Hooker at Blues Unlimited in Detroit for six nights, August 16-21, 1965.
Ads for mixers and campus events at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, August 23-28, 1965 with the music of the Vanguards, the Vagrants, and the exciting Iguanas.
An ad for the Del Tinos in Manchester, Michigan on August 25, 1965. The image was used for the front of the picture sleeve for the Norton Records re-issue of the band’s 1963 recording of Roy Orbison's "Go! Go! Go!”.
The Del Tinos were a high school band in Manchester, Michigan, the first band formed by Michael Koda, better known as “Cub”. The band broke up following the members’ graduation from high school in 1966. All of the band’s known recordings (ten tracks) were compiled on the 1998 Norton Records album “Go! Go! Go! to Surfin' School: The Del-Tino's Meet the Hesitations”, which includes the track “Nightlife”, the first recorded song that Koda wrote.
The Del-Tinos – Nightlife (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ByNIDe3lM
Chuck and Joni Mitchell spent the month of August 1965 away from the city, appearing at a hootenanny in Toronto and at the Mariposa Folk Festival, where Joni was billed as her maiden name, Joni Anderson, and a three-night engagement at the Buck Tooth Clam in Traverse City, Michigan, August 27-29, 1965. They then traveled Jacksonville, Florida for a two-week engagement at a club called The Jongleur before returning to Detroit.
Ads for the 116th Michigan State Fair with the Four Tops, Johnny Rivers, the Serendipity Singers, and Lesley Gore performing August 27, 1965 through September 1st, and the Supremes, September 2nd through September 6th.
