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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Five - 1969 - Page Fifteen
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Poster by Jas. R. Hounshell Art Studio for SRC at the Carrawee Ballroom in Flat Rock, Michigan on July 29, 1969.
An ad with SRC and Bob Seger System at the Tyndall Northside Armory in Indianapolis, Indiana on July 30, 1969.
A real nice poster by Jim Blashfield for Alice Cooper with Steve Miller at the Masonic Temple in Portland Oregon, July 29-30, 1969.
A full-page Motown Records ad for the Temptations’ single “I Can’t Get Next to You”, released on July 30, 1969. It was their second single to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart (the first was 1964’s “My Girl”), and it was their tenth #1 single on the R&B Chart.
This TV lip-synch performance loses the applause that starts the song on the record, or it is drowned out by the actual applause of the TV audience, but it is a great high quality shot of the guys.
The Temptations – I Can’t Get Next to You (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9dde4p6OBU
Nearly two years after the seminal Monterey Pop Festival, the theatrical release of D.A. Pennebaker’s movie “Monterey Pop” made it to Detroit, and WABX-FM radio offered a free viewing to its listeners, July 30, 1969.
August 1969 calendar from the back-page of The Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, by artist Dave Kelly.
The front cover of the eighth issue of CREEM magazine, which is numbered as Vol 2, No. 3, published in August 1969.
The photo was taken at Jackson Prison in Jackson, Michigan, where several Detroit and Ann Arbor area bands would perform for the inmates. In the foreground is Jeffrey M. Jones, the guitar tech for Savage Grace at the time. Jones was later a guitarist for Guardian Angel and Lightnin'.
A tribute to Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones on the back cover of the eighth issue of CREEM magazine, Vol 2, No. 3, published in August 1969. Jones had passed away on July 3. The photo by Wilson Lindsay of Jones’ “last Detroit appearance” would have been taken at the band’s third Michigan show, at Cobo Arena in Detroit in July 1966.
An ad for the Woodstock Festival that was on the facing page to the familiar silhouette of Iggy in the August 1969 issue of CREEM magazine. We just pushed them closer together.
While he was in London, Stanley Mouse posed as the model for his friend, photographer Bob Seidemann’s concept for the cover of Blind Faith’s album. The shot of Mouse holding a silver airplane was approved by the band, but soon after, Seidemann found an underage girl to pose topless, holding the same airplane, which he decided to use instead.
When the album was released, in August 1969, it was immediately banned, and so a substitute cover with a photo of the band, and lettering done by Mouse, was released in its place. Eventually, the cover with the girl became recognized as “art” and was used on subsequent releases.
Issue #4 of the Berkeley Tribe newspaper in Berkeley, California with a cover date of August 1, 1969. This was the first issue that included Gary Grimshaw’s name in the staff box, although his artwork was evident in the paper since Issue #2. As stated at the top of the cover, the Tribe was formed by former members of the Berkeley Barb newspaper. The Barb was still in publication.
The cover photo was shot by Paul Kagan, whose photos were sometimes used by poster artist Victor Moscoso in Mocoso’s concert posters. Kagan produced concert posters of his own as well, for Family Dog shows at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.
Two ads by an unknown artist for an appearance by Merrilee Rush & the Turnabouts at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, August 1, 1969.
The ninth Michigan festival of 1969 happened in Petoskey, near the top of the Lower Peninsula of the state, about 300 miles northwest of Detroit on August 1-2, 1969. The Detroit bands were well-represented, with SRC, MC5, Frost, Bob Seger System, Savage Grace, Red, White & Blues Band, Third Power, and Dutch Elm, with classic blues artists as the headliners. Poster is by Ozone, the name used by artist Chris Frayne, the brother of Commander Cody.
A second version of the poster for the Petosky Rock Festival, August 1-2, 1969. Like the first poster, this one was also made by Chris Frayne.
On August 1, 1969, the “super-group” Blind Faith made their first, and only, Michigan appearance, at the OIympia Stadium in Detroit, presented by Russ Gibb. Local heroes, Frost opened the show along with the tour’s support acts, Rory Gallagher’s Taste, and Delany & Bonnie, with whom Eric Clapton formed a bond that outlasted Blind Faith. By the way, could they have possibly found a worse photo of Clapton to use on this poster?
Here is a clip from Blind Faith’s debut performance, in London’s Hyde Park, June 7, 1969.
Blind Faith – Can’t Find My Way Home (live in Hyde Park) (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJJnA6zEcGk
If you’d like to see the complete 45-minute performance by Blind Faith at Hyde Park on June 7, 1969, there is an excellent quality, both sound and video, recording here.
There is a ten-minute documentary introduction that’s fairly decent, gives short shrift as usual to Ric Grech and Family, but it does include moon landing footage, which we did not anticipate when we previously posted the Apollo 11 post, seemingly about nothing to do with the history of rock posters in Detroit. We were going to be so bold as to claim, “the history of Detroit rock posters can be neatly divided into Pre-Lunar Landing and Post-Lunar Landing”, but we didn’t want to cause trouble.
Blind Faith – Live in Hyde Park (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfAHsiTHWfQ
Full back-page photo in The Ann Arbor Argus of the Blind Faith at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, August 1, 1969.
A record company ad with tour dates for Blind Faith, including their only Michigan appearance, at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, August 1, 1969.
A poster for Blind Faith at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, August 1, 1969. We tend to doubt its authenticity, mainly due to the bootleg red flag of having the year printed on a poster from this era. Also, not so sure how this would go over being posted around town in 1969, hell, we don’t even think we can show it uncensored on FaceBook in 2021.
A record company ad with tour dates for Delaney & Bonnie, including their first Michigan appearance, opening for Blind Faith at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, August 1, 1969.
An Elektra Records ad for Delaney & Bonnie appearing at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan on August 1, 1969. Ironically, their “Honesty Is Back” campaign uses fake quotes.
A two-page center spread in the August 1, 1969 issue of the Berkeley Tribe newspaper in San Francisco, California with artwork (lettering at least) by Gary Grimshaw in exile. This is the earliest issue that we’ve found that has Gary Grimshaw’s name listed as part of the newspaper’s staff, which kind of blows his cover. The Feds started snooping around a few months later.
An ad for Windfall Records, a label started by producer Felix Pappalardi following his success as a producer on Cream’s three albums, “Disraeli Gears”, “Wheels of Fire”, and “Goodbye”. The new label’s first release was a solo album by guitarist Leslie West, called “Mountain”. The ad also shows tour dates for West, including two shows at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, August 1-2, 1969. Those shows were cancelled, but Pappalardi had decided to form a band with West, and the band was called Mountain. The band Mountain made their Michigan debut eight weeks later, at the Eastown Theater in Detroit, September 26-27, opening for Eric Burdon’s WAR, who were also making their Michigan debut.
Two students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Cary Gordon and Jim Fishel, managed to arrange possibly the finest line-up of living blues musicians ever assembled for the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival, August 1-3, 1969.
Sleepy John Estes –Diving Duck Blues (1929)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNRbgECGvgQ
Poster/ad for the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival, August 1-3, 1969.
The official poster for the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, August 1-3, 1969. The artist may have been Michael Erlewine. For many, if not most, of the blues musicians booked for the festival, recognition wasn’t something they were used to, being invited to a large event and being paid fairly as well.
Some of them started showing up in Ann Arbor a week before the festival, the University put them up in dorm rooms and Erlewine, as Ann Arbor’s number one blues ambassador, got the cherished assignment to host them during their stay, bringing them food and whiskey, and taking them around the city.
The Ann Arbor Blues Festival of 1969 was an unqualified artistic success, and first-time promoters, University of Michigan students Cary Gordon and Jim Fishel, even managed to turn a profit. They recouped the nearly $70,000 investment made by the University’s Activity Committee and The Canterbury House, an astounding near half-million dollars in today’s valuation, and they came away with a cool two hundred bucks.
Fishel set about planning the next year’s festival, while Gordon moved to Detroit to help start Bamboo Productions, which would become one of the largest concert promoters in the country.
Various assorted graphics for the first Ann Arbor Blues Festival, August 1-3, 1969.
Poster/flyer by Carol Ann for the Midway in Royal Oak, Michigan, August 2, 1969, with All The Lonely People and the Red, White & Blues Band.
A full-page Roulette Records ad in the August 2, 1969 issue of Billboard magazine for Tommy James & the Shondells. We’ve featured “Crimson and Clover” a couple of times, but somehow we’ve missed “Crystal Blue Persuasion”, so we’ll fix that now.
Tommy James & the Shondells - Crystal Blue Persuasion (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvoD2ud1BSw
Another summer weekend in Michigan in 1969, and yet another Pop Festival, this time at Sportsman’s Park in Mt. Clemens on August 3, 1969, the tenth major festival of the year, so far.
The main headliner, Country Joe & the Fish, are missing from this Gary Grimshaw poster. The band Rush is a Warren, Michigan band and not the group that was just in the process of forming in a Toronto, Canada suburb.
Grimshaw’s poster is also missing a number of other acts that are said to have performed, The Attack, Ted Lucas, Owen Love, and The Pleasure Seekers, whom we haven’t seen since their mismatched spring touring with The MC5.
And the band from Union City, Indiana, The McCoys had weathered their early teen band success from their 1966 hit “Hang On Sloopy”, after a few years of endless re-makes of that pop song, they recorded a couple of albums of psychedelic blues-rock. This would be their final Michigan appearance, in 1970 the band became Johnny Winter’s touring unit, while the McCoy’s guitar player, Rick Derringer, joined up with Winter’s brother, Edgar.
The McCoys – It Really doesn’t Matter (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwlPDRxDSFY
Handbill version of Gary Grimshaw’s poster for the Mt. Clemens Pop Festival on August 3, 1969 that has a more legible color choice, showing again Grimshaw's lettering, including a great folding title.
Newspaper ads for the Mt. Clemens Pop Festival on August 3, 1969. A Mike Quatro presentation featuring Eric Burdon & the Animals, John Mayall, MC5, Alice Cooper, Stooges, Ted Lucas & Charlie Latimer, Cat Mother, UP, Savage Grace, Pleasure Seekers, Red, White & Blues Band, the McCoys, and Fruit of the Loom.
More newspaper ads for the Mt. Clemens Pop Festival on August 3, 1969 that lists eight additional acts to the original line-up.
Green goes well on this poster, and so does purple, for Diana Ross & the Supremes in Portland, Oregon on August 3, 1969.
An ad by Phil Frank for a Moldy Monday at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, August 4, 1969.
On August 5, 1969, Elektra Records unleashed the first Stooges album upon the world.
The Stooges – Little Doll (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj1mBl1trG0
A second ad, in color, for the release of the first Stooges album on Elektra Records, August 5, 1969.
An Elektra Records promo poster for the Stooges using a shot from the photo session for their debut album. Author Paul Trynka describes the session in his book “Open Up And Bleed”:
“Joel Brodsky was commissioned by Bill Harvey to shoot the album cover at the beginning of May. When the band arrived at his studio on Twenty-Seventh Street, he found them uncommunicative and unresponsive. But he’d heard that the singer, Iggy, was “physical” and asked if he’d fancy jumping up in the air for the shoot. “Okay, no problem” was the reply. Brodsky finally captured an image of Iggy leaping in the air with no thought of how he would land, while Ron and Scott wince at the prospect of his imminent fall – which was, inevitably, flat on his face. Brodsky rushed the singer to St. Vincent’s Emergency Room, where he had five stitches put in his chin. The stitches were air-brushed out for the final album cover, which was a straight rehash of Elektra’s sleeve for the Door’s debut LP.”
An Elektra Records tour blank for the Stooges, with the cover photo of the first album, released on August 5, 1969.
Poster for a “Full 5-Day Week” at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, Massachusetts, with Teegarden & Van Winkle opening all five days, for B.B. King, August 5-7, 1969, and for Mother Earth on the 8th and 9th. A separate poster for the B.B. King portion of the week.
SRC became the second Michigan band in the year, after Frost, to get a record label push for a new album in the form of a West Coast tour. The band embarked on their first, and only, West Coast tour, playing eleven shows, August 5-20, 1969, beginning with three at the Fillmore West, August 5-7, 1969.
A great ad in the San Francisco Good Times newspaper with the first West Coast tour for SRC, with a clever tie-in to the title of the band’s second album.
Poster by David Singer for the Fillmore West in San Francisco, California, with appearances by two Michigan bands, SRC on August 5-7, 1969 and Jr. Walker & the All Stars on August 8-10. As it turned out, the Grateful Dead had been booked as the headliners for the August 5-7 dates, but you can see that their name has been blacked-out and Jr. Walker headlined those shows as well, making them the only dual-Michigan bands bill at the Fillmore West.
The bands It's A Beautiful Day, and Butterfield Blues Band filled in for Fleetwood Mac, who were on the poster but cancelled at last minute.
Poster by David Singer for the Fillmore West in San Francisco, California, with appearances by two Michigan bands, SRC on August 5-7, 1969 and Jr. Walker & the All Stars on August 8-10. As it turned out, the Grateful Dead had been booked as the headliners for the August 5-7 dates, but you can see that their name has been blacked-out and Jr. Walker headlined those shows as well, making them the only dual-Michigan bands bill at the Fillmore West.
The bands It's A Beautiful Day, and Butterfield Blues Band filled in for Fleetwood Mac, who were on the poster but cancelled at last minute.
Poster for a summer series of events in San Francisco, California with the scheduled shows at the Fillmore West, August 5-10, 1969, with SRC and Junior Walker.
Well, it worked for the MC5, so the decision was made that Frost would record their second album for Vanguard Records, live at the Grande Ballroom, August 6-7, 1969. Poster by Darlene Pond. All The Lonely People opened the first night, with Third Power opening on the second night.
This image was originally printed as both a 14” x 18” poster and as a postcard. The poster was printed on four different colors of paper - blue, yellow, white, and gray. The postcard was printed on blue stock.
The yellow paper version of the poster by Darlene Pond for Frost at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, August 6-7, 1969, the nights of the recording of Frost’s second album.
A pair of ads likely by Terry Sharbach for The Smoke at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, August 6-8, 1969, starting out with no cover and adding a cover later in the week. We’re not sure if this was the English group, The Smoke, but it gives us an excuse for adding this song to our soundtrack.
The Smoke – My Friend Jack (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKSUnZKpgfU
Volume Five - 1969 - continues - HERE
