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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Five - 1969 - Page Fourteen
Ad for the Amboy Dukes in Atlanta, Georgia, July 15, 1969, that also quotes Billboard magazine’s article headline “Trimmed Amboy Dukes Down to Real Playing”. The band had “trimmed” down from a six-piece to a four-piece with the departure of vocalist Rusty Day and guitarist Steve Farmer, their sixth line-up change over four years.
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Poster by an unknown artist, and another flyer, for the Amboy Dukes in Atlanta, Georgia, July 15, 1969.
The July 28, 1969 issue of The Great Speckled Bird newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia carried a review of the Amboy Dukes concert at the Georgian Terrace Hotel on July 15, 1969.
Doug Huston illustration for an East Lansing Sidewalk Sale on July 16, 1969.
Poster/ad for the Madison Pop-Rock Festival in Madison, Wisconsin which consisted of a series of four shows on successive Thursdays throughout the month, with the Bob Seger System headlining the second show, on July 17, 1969.
Poster/full-page ad by Dennis Preston for the opening of the Sounds & Diversions record store inside the Free Spirit mall in Lansing, Michigan on July 17, 1969.
Terry Sharbach poster for The Box Tops at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, July 18, 1969, two years on since sixteen year-old Alex Chilton had his first worldwide Number One hit with “The Letter”, a song that barely lasted two minutes. This was the follow-up hit, a year later.
The Box Tops –Cry like a Baby (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY2f9tI9xzA
On July 18, 1969, the Stooges performed a show at the Fifth Forum movie theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They were billed, maybe for the last time, as the Psychedelic Stooges. The silhouette of Iggy, from an unknown source, will be re-used on future posters, this looks to be its first appearance.
Poster/flyer by by an unknown artist for the Psychedelic Stooges at the Fifth Forum movie theater, double-billed with a Cartoon Festival, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 18, 1969.
This appears to be the first ad following the opening of the Free Spirit community of boutiques in Lansing, Michigan, published in the July 18, 1969, along with one of the “preview” ads prior to the opening.
Newspaper ad for the Grande Ballroom, July 11-20, 1969 with logo by Dave Baker. The July 11-12 shows appear to have been cancelled. For the 143rd weekend, July 18-20, 1969, Spooky Tooth headlined three shows, with Ten Years After at the first two. Local support was provided by the Chip Stevens Band, Sand, and Stuart Avery Assemblage. The ad also lists the upcoming “Salute to Michigan Rock” festival at Meadowbrook at Oakland University.
Mitch Ryder brought his 10-piece revue to The Grove in Romulus, Michigan, July 19, 1969.
A full-page Motown Records ad in the July 19, 1969 issue of Record World magazine.
Poster by Carol Ann for the Midway in Royal Oak, Michigan, July 19, 1969, with Wilson Mower Pursuit and Frijid Pink.
Poster by Brigit Slind for Smokey and the Miracles in Seattle, Washington, July 19, 1969.
July 20, 1969, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”.
The Apollo 11 moon landing also affected the release of British singer David Bowie’s tenth single. Bowie had originally recorded the song in February, 1969 and the finished version was released on July 11, 1969, but the BBC radio refused to air the song until after the Apollo 11 astronauts had returned safely to Earth.
It was Bowie’s first charting single in the UK, but it would not be until a re-release in 1973 that Bowie scored his first US hit. Here is the original 1969 promo video.
David Bowie – Space Oddity (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67kmFzSh_o
The first WABX free concert of the season at Tarter Field in Detroit happened on the same day as the first lunar landing, on July 20, 1969, with Plum Wine, Virgin Dawn, Savage Grace, SRC, and the Wilson Mower Pursuit.
Flyer by the unknown artist “Sunnygood” for the Sunday Free Concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 20, 1969, the same day that two Apollo 11 astronauts became the first humans to land on the Moon. The free concert featured Catfish, Elysian Fields, Chain, and the People. The flyer also lists the upcoming John Sinclair Benefit at the Grande Ballroom on July 23rd.
A full-page Capitol Records ad in the July 21, 1969 issue of the Great Speckled Bird newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia for a group of titles available as 8-track cassettes, with the first SRC album front and center (and colorized by us).
An ad for Diana Ross & the Supremes for a six-day run at the Westbury Music Fair near Westbury, New York, July 21-26, 1969.
Poster by Jas. R. Hounshell Art Studio for Bob Seger and the Underground Wall at the Carrawee Ballroom in Flat Rock, Michigan on July 22, 1969.
The MC5 had physically separated themselves from John Sinclair and the White Panther Party when they moved out to Hamburg, Michigan with the advance they got from Atlantic Records to record their second album. Now they wanted to formally sever their ties with Sinclair as their manager and they had Sinclair come out to Hamburg for a meeting. They were appreciative of everything Sinclair had done for them, and they made a fairly generous offer to continue to send him 15% of their earnings, but they felt he couldn’t do much more for them. They also informed him that they would no longer desire the services of Brother JC Crawford, the Zenta high priest, in opening their shows with his audience exhortations.
At one point in the conversation, someone allegedly pointed out that Sinclair could possibly be in jail in the near future, but nobody really believed that. The benefit shows continued to raise money, such as this show at the Grande Ballroom, July 23, 1969, victories were being achieved by his legal team over the two-and-a-half-year long battle, and nobody thought that Sinclair would ever go to jail.
Poster by an unknown artist for the benefit show for the John Sinclair Defense Fund at the Grande Ballroom on July 23, 1969, featuring the MC5, Stooges, and the Tate Blues Band. Five days later, on July 28, Sinclair was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
Poster by Al Shamie (Bad Dog) for the Tate Blues Band on the Jefferson Plaza in Detroit, Michigan on an unspecified date, we are placing it near the band’s appearance at the Grande Ballroom on July 23, 1969.
Terry Sharbach ad for Universal Family at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, July 23, 1969.
A pair of ads for the Whisky A-Go-Go in West Hollywood, California showing a booking of the Michigan band Frost, opening for the Sir Douglas Quintet, July 23-27, 1969. However, a subsequent ad, published on the 25th, in the middle of the run, has the local band Smokestack Lightning opening for the Sir Douglas Quintet, so Frost either bailed halfway through, or did not make these shows at all.
Trying to reconstruct Frost’s only West Coast tour, we are confident about the kick-off at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, July 8-10, a newspaper listing has them at the Water Mark in Los Angeles July 18-19, and then these shows at the Whisky.
One of our readers reports that he heard a radio interview with Dick Wagner upon the band’s return to Michigan, and Wagner said that Frost played at Thee Experience in Los Angeles, and also said that the owner of the club told the band that they were the worst musicians he had ever heard. Wagner shrugged it off.
Nice illustration by an unknown artist for the Red Roach café in Detroit, Michigan, July 24, 1969.
A second poster by the same unknown artist for the Red Roach in Detroit, Michigan, with the Gold Brothers and the New Components, circa July 1969.
Newspaper ad for a free concert by Savage Grace in Dewitt, Michigan on July 25, 1969. Now we know what a “grasser” is.
Newspaper ad with Dave Baker logo for the 144th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, July 25-27, 1969, with the Jeff Beck Group headlining two shows, supported by Man, Catfish, and Sky. The 145th weekend presented the return of Joe Cocker & the Grease Band (still misspelled as “Crocker”) for two shows, August 1-2, supported by Sky both nights, and by Geyda and the Chip Stevens Blues Band.
Wish we could find a larger image of this ad so we could read whatever hyperbolic statement is under each of these major Grand Funk Railroad appearances, no doubt they were glowing. Show records cannot confirm the myths that at each of these festivals, the band was asked to come back the following day and perform as the headliners, and logic and set placements (they were usually added before the scheduled first openers, playing while the crowds were still milling in), defy that they continually “blew the headlining acts away!”
Yet some things are undeniable, Terry Knight was getting the band onto these stages, the act was generally well-received and often outright crowd-pleasers, all three were highly proficient musicians, and Knight was getting their records released on the Capitol label.
We described earlier how they do seem to have gotten themselves on the bill for the First Annual Detroit Rock & Roll Revival as their first public appearance, although they do not seem to have made much of an impression as they are unmentioned in any show reviews that we’ve found. The earliest documented shows that we can find of them in Detroit is a two-night stand at the Eastown Theater, July 25-26, 1969.
We picked this track from their first album, released in August, 1969, because it is the shortest one.
Grand Funk Railroad – High on a Horse (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Za8NOPSWA
A higher quality image of the “Grand Funk Railroad Hauls It!” ad from August 1969, and we can read the fine print:
DETROIT ROCK ‘n’ ROLL REVIVAL: 15,500 people give birth…GRAND FUNK is born!
ATLANTA POP FESTIVAL: 125,000 people hear three men play…and learn it’s not how big it is…it’s how you use it!
CINCINNATI, OHIO: 12,500 people get it off together…on GRAND FUNK!
NASHVILLE MUSIC FESTIVAL: 30,000 climb aboard…GRAND FUNK thunders through!
TEXAS INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL: 180,000 people give…and GRAND FUNK gets it all!
LOS ANGELES, CALIF: GRAND FUNK came…and so did L.A.!
1969 was the second year for a rock festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the previous Milwaukee Pop Festival of 1968 was one of multiple events at various locations around the city, loosely grouped together under the name Summerfest.
The festival had originated the year before, inspired by the mayor’s visit to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, and the 1967 event was called Juli Spass, German for “July Fun”, the less-ethnically-tinged Summerfest title was adopted before the follow-up in 1968.
The 1969 Summerfest again followed the format of scattered, separate events around the city, including this Midwest Rock Festival which was held at the State Fair Park, the stage was a flatbed trailer. Cold and rainy weather contributed to low attendance at all the events and the following year, the 1970 Summerfest, all events were consolidated to a single location, a former NIKE missile base on the shores of Lake Michigan, where it remains to this day.
Summerfest has since evolved into the largest music festival in the Western hemisphere, drawing about a million people over its week-long run. That is topped by the Mawazine Festival in Morocco, another week-long festival that draws two million.
But the largest music festival in the world, Donauindelfest brings an incredible three million people to an island in the Danube River in Austria over just a three-day (free) program.
The 1969 Midwest Rock Festival, July 25-27, 1969, included Michigan bands, SRC, MC5, and Bob Seger, (who may have been rained-out).
A contemporary poster for the 1969 Midwest Rock Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, corners held down by an assortment of hand tools.
A nice set of handbills for the Midwest Rock Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 25-27, 1969, with the Bob Seger System, SRC, and MC5 on the final day. Jeff Beck and Jethro Tull may have cancelled. MC5 also performed on the middle day, and SRC performed on all three days.
Poster for the last day of the three-day Midwest Rock Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 27, 1969, with photos of the Bob Seger System, MC5, and SRC.
A two-page spread in the Madison Kaleidoscope newspaper recapping the Midwest Rock Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 25-27, 1969. The MC5 are in the center photo on the left, and SRC are in the center photo on the right.
Two of three posters for the Seattle Pop Festival in Woodinville, Washington, July 25-27, 1969 with Alice Cooper on a bill that includes the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Ike & Tina Turner, Vanilla Fudge, Ten Years After, Guess Who, Santana, Tim Buckley, and many more. Alice Cooper performed on the first night, and then performed at the Eugene Pop Festival in Eugene, Oregon the next night, also with the Doors.
The third, and best, of the three posters for the Seattle Pop Festival in Woodinville, Washington, July 25-27, 1969.
The Box Tops made the most of their 1969 Michigan visit, performing at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, then at Wamplers Lake Pavilion in Onsted, and wrapping up with a slot on this All-Star bill at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, July 26, 1969.
The Box Tops – Soul Deep (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh0BHdNl98
Jeff Beck brought his group back to Detroit, their tenth show at the Grande Ballroom in just a year’s time. No more great posters being made for the Grande, but we do have this recording of the full July 26, 1969 show. Sounds like whoever recorded it was standing next to Beck’s amplifier, Rod Stewart’s vocals can barely be heard, but you get a nice guitar lesson.
Jeff Beck - Live at the Grande Ballroom (7/26/1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8YSgsBxIkU
A beautiful full-page Liberty Records ad for the third studio album by Creedence Clearwater Revival, released just a few weeks after the group’s third Michigan show, at Olympia Stadium in Detroit on July 26, 1969.
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bad Moon Rising (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6iRNVwslM4
Another of the simple geometric, almost art deco, style posters by the unknown artist for Punch Andrews’ Silverbell Hideout for the Bob Seger System with the Stuart Avery Assemblage, July 26, 1969.
A full-page Motown Records ad in the July 26, 1969 issue of Billboard magazine for the single “Nitty Gritty” by Gladys Knight & the Pips from their album of the same name.
Gladys Knight & the Pips – Nitty Gritty (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3hnadwsxOk
The July 27, 1969 edition of the Detroit Free Press with an article pointing out that local bands Amboy Dukes, SRC, and MC5 “can be found all over”, and a classic Sixties Coppertone ad.
The White Panthers never thought it would happen, so the speed and finality of Judge Robert Columbo’s sentencing came as a complete shock. On July 28, 1969, John Sinclair was sentenced to 9-1/2 to ten years in prison for the possession of two joints in the December 1966 sting operation. No further delays or appeals, no more bail bonds, he was immediately hauled away, out of the courtroom, and put behind bars.
Moby Grape – Murder in my Heart for the Judge (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xEbbyKJ0mk
Cover of the July 28, 1969 edition of the SUN in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Poster for Diana Ross & the Supremes with Stevie Wonder at the Opera House in Seattle, Washington, July 28, 1969 through August 2nd.
Cover of the July 29, 1969 edition of the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Ad for Teegarden & Van Winkle’s second album, published in the July 29, 1969 issue of the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper. Here is a clip of one of their performances on the Detroit Tubeworks TV show, broadcast in late 1969.
Teegarden & Van Winkle – Detroit Tubeworks TV (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAWG1mJEFi0
Volume Five - 1969 - continues - HERE
