Splatt Gallery
Double click here to add text.
Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Six - 1970 - Page Seven
Tom Kuchenski, an artist in Springfield, Massachusetts, who created similarly nice posters for other shows in the area, created this beauty for the MC5 at the Woodrose, April 10, 1970. And, once again, Foul Grundle.
***********************************************************
Two more poster/flyers for the MC5 at the Woodrose, April 10, 1970, the one on the left is also created by Tom Kuchenski, the one on the right is by an unknown artist.
On April 10, 1970, Paul McCartney announced he was leaving The Beatles, effectively the break-up of the band and the launch of four solo careers.
According to the concert database, Roberta Flack made her first Michigan appearance at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge on April 10, 1970. The next day, she performed in Ann Arbor for an afternoon show, then it was back to Baker’s that night, and for the next five nights after.
At this point she had released her first album, in June 1969, her second album would come after these Detroit shows, in August 1970, and her third would be released in November 1971. None of the three sold particularly well, but when movie director Clint Eastwood used a track from her first album in his movie “Play Misty For Me”, also released in November 1971, the song, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” shot up to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, staying there for six weeks, and became Billboard’s top song for 1972, it also won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1973.
Later, when she was asked about recording the song, she told a story about losing her pet cat, “I had come home from my first job away from Washington DC, at a club in Detroit, and my cat was in the yard, dead. I was so torn up about it.” That would have been in 1968, or early 1969, with her first non-local show happening in Detroit.
Roberta Flack – The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqW-eO3jTVU
Concert poster by Al Shamie (Bad Dog) for Frost, 3rd Power, and Virgin Dawn at the Factorie Ballroom in Waterford, Michigan, April 10-11, 1970, the earliest known poster for this venue. We kept thinking this was an Alice Cooper poster.
An ad for the Troubadour in Los Angeles, California with Longbranch Pennywhistle, the group formed by Glenn Frey and John David Souther, appearing April 10-12, 1970.
An ad for an anti-war march and rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a musical performance by the band Floating Opera on April 11, 1970.
The break up of a rock and roll band would hardly be front page news, unless that group was the Beatles, and the front page of the April 11, 1970 edition of the Michigan Daily newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan featured the photo story caption headlined “There goes the Sun King” reporting on Paul McCartney's announcement the day before. The split was expected to be temporary.
The album “Let It Be” was released about a month later, and the feature film of the same name was released about a month after that.
The Beatles – Let It Be (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LMSOfs10mA
The first Ann Arbor Blues Festival, in 1969, was such a success that plans were made immediately for a follow-up in 1970. This was a preview concert on April 12, 1970 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The festival was scheduled for the first full weekend in August, just as in the previous year, but this time the promoters would find that they would be in competition with another big festival that was just about to be announced, called Goose Lake.
As described in an earlier post, the reformed Small Faces, with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, developed a quick affinity for Detroit and they played seven shows within a month’s time in, or near, Detroit on their first US tour. We’ve added those dates, starting with April 3, 1970, with their interesting assortment of opening acts, to this generic tour poster.
By the spring of 1970, three Michigan artists, Gary Grimshaw, Carl Lundgren, and Dave Baker, had all taken refuge in San Francisco, California and all three were featured regularly in The Berkeley Tribe newspaper.
In the last issue of April, 1970, the subscription form, which always appeared on the back pages, was titled “Motor City Madness” saying, “We’ve got to go back to Detroit!”
The second poster for the Factorie Ballroom in Waterford, Michigan, April 17-18, 1970, very nicely done by an unknown artist, with Savage Grace, the Rationals, John Drake, and the Atlantic Train on the first night and with the Stooges, the Rationals, John Drake, and the Atlantic Train on the second night. There is a signature, we’ve looked at our copy through a magnifying glass and still can’t make it out.
Alice Cooper at the Rondeau Pavilion on the shores of Lake Erie, about two hours from Windsor, Canada, April 17, 1970 (conflicts with sources that have the band in Detroit this night, we believe Rondeau is correct). The Sunday Funnies, followed up the next day.
Large ad by Ron Norton for an appearance by Armageddon, a Christian rock group, at Michigan State University in East Lansing, April 17, 1970. Reproduction from newsprint is probably what makes them look so damn demonic, although the original is probably not far off, take a look at those faces.
The Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Michigan presented a string of classy, stylish acts with classy, stylish poster/ads, such as the Temptations on April 18, 1970.
The Faces, coming off of two nights at the Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan, and Alice Cooper, last seen in Canada on Friday night, crossed paths in Minneapolis, Minnesota for this show at the Labor Temple, Sunday, April 19, 1970, with another fabulous poster by Minneapolis artist, Juryj (“George”) Ostroushko.
Ostroushko tells the story that he deliberately used the recently-discarded band name “Small Faces” to protest his disappointment that Steve Marriott had left the band and his even bigger disappointment that Rod Stewart had joined up, a confession he disclosed over a laugh and a joint with band members Ronnie Lane and Kenny Jones
This poster/ad for Spirit, with Universal Family and Ormandy at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, April 19, 1970, may be the pinnacle for the artist known as Perry Highway Limited. A companion piece to the Alice Cooper poster two weeks earlier, this one adds even more depth and detail.
“Greek Week” at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, April 20, 1970 brought the band The Ides of March from Berwyn, Illinois to town, their recently released single “Vehicle” was about to hit it big in another month.
April 22, 1970 was the first Earth Day. The now famous Ecology symbol, the marriage of an “e” and an “o”, was no simple doodle, Ron Cobb designed it for a cartoon in the November 7, 1969 issue of the Los Angeles Free Press, complete with analytic detail of its purposeful meanings.
Cobb, selflessly, released the symbol into the public domain. Look magazine incorporated it into the Ecology Flag in their April 21, 1970 issue, the symbol yellow against a green square, with green and white strips in the fashion of the American flag.
A newsprint version in the Michigan Daily newspaper in Ann Arbor of a poster by an unknown artist for the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970.
Another pair of ads by Dennis Preston from late-April 1970 for the Chain Reaction and Vibrations stores inside the Free Spirit shopping mall in Lansing, Michigan. “Botmun” introduces new superlatives such as “they really lay eggs” and “makes me want to chew grapes”, while “Geenee” goes on the fritz, babbling about the “…Durbs of Zoings be of yellow prunes not of tomorrow’s red elephuntz. Whaleygators do exist!...”
An ad for the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, California with Catfish appearing with Argent for five nights, April 22-26, 1970. The Stooges were also coming soon.
A “boxing style” poster for “7 Big Days” at the Capitol Theatre in Chicago, Illinois starting on April 24, 1970, with two Detroit groups, the Detroit Emeralds and the Chairmen of the Board.
If the song “Give Me Just a Little More Time” sounds like a Motown track, it’s because it was written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, using the pseudonym Edith Wayne during their legal battle with Berry Gordy, and it was performed by moonlighting Funk Brothers, Bob Babbitt on bass, guitarists Dennis Coffey, Eddie Willis, and Ray Monette, Johnny Griffith on
keyboards, with drums and percussion by Richard "Pistol" Allen and Jack Ashford.
Chairmen of the Board – Give Me Just a Little More Time (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMfxQq1GCMg
Poster/ad for a Motown Show in Toledo, Ohio on April 24, 1970, with Gladys Knight & the Pips and the Spinners.
The MC5 performed at The Cellar in Arlington Heights, Illinois on April 24, 1970, their second appearance, at least, at the legendary suburban Chicago club. The only image we can find of the poster is not very good, so we include a picture of the joint.
The Cellar was opened in 1964 by record store owner Paul Sampson, who became the manager of his most popular house band, The Shadows of Knight. In addition to being the breeding ground for a host of area bands, including the Amboy Dukes, it was also one of those unlikely, small venues that managed to present bands like The Who and Cream in their first tours through the area.
The Cellar closed in 1970, probably shortly after the MC5 show, though not necessarily related.
A little more than eight months after the event, the “Woodstock” movie premiered in Detroit, Michigan on April 24, 1970.
A tribute to singer Darrell Banks in the April 24, 1970 issue of the British music magazine Blues & Soul. Banks was shot to death by an off-duty Detroit police officer during a scuffle over a romantic triangle with Banks’ girlfriend. Banks shot first and missed, no charges were brought against the officer.
Banks had his biggest success with the 1966 single "Open the Door to Your Heart" on the Revilot label. The single became so rare that a copy sold for $23,000 in 2014.
Darrell Banks – Open The Door to Your Heart (1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWlPIAxDAA0
Poster/handbill by Chad Hines, for the Tony Williams Lifetime (incorrect on the poster as “Life Story”) at the Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan April 24-25, 1970.
An interesting poster/handbill by an unknown artist, signed “Wolfie” for the Factorie Ballroom in Waterford, Michigan. There were two Saturdays the 25th in 1970, in April and in July, and we believe this was April 25, 1970 since there is some evidence that Norman Greenbaum, who rarely toured, was doing some limited touring in April, including an appearance on American Bandstand that month. This seems to be Greenbaum’s only Michigan appearance.
Somewhat surprising, it wasn’t until three years after his breakthrough to international fame, that British singer Engelbert Humperdinck made his first US tour, the second stop being at the Olympia Stadium, April 25, 1970. His prior US appearances were one-off shows in New York and Los Angeles in 1969, and prior to that, a single show, oddly at the Arizona State Fair, in 1967.
An ad for Funkadelic’s single “I Got A Thing, Everbody’s Got A Thing”, the second single from the debut album which peaked at #30 on the US Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart on April 25, 1970.
A newspaper ad with the Temptations kicking off a “Shower of Stars” series of concerts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on April 25, 1970, with Led Zeppelin and Peter Nero to follow.
A rally for John Sinclair in Provo Park, Berkeley, California, April 26, 1970, with a California-style pot leaf, and a rally for John Sinclair in Lansing, April 30, 1970, with a Michigan-style pot leaf by an unknown artist.
Poster/handbill for the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Sacramento, California on April 26, 1970 that uses the same artwork as on the cover of SRC’s album “Traveler’s Tale”.
An ad with Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen with Mike Bloomfield and Peace, Bread & Land in a benefit show at the UC Berkeley campus on April 28, 1970. Two days earlier there had been a rally in Provo Park in support of political prisoners Roger Priest, Bobby Seale, and John Sinclair.
Poster by an unknown artist for the British band The Hollies, in one of their rare Michigan appearances, at the Holland Civic Center in Holland, Michigan, April 29, 1970. Their only other known Michigan show was at the Shadowland Ballroom in St; Joseph in October 1966.
Although they were huge in their native England, considered the third biggest group in the country, only behind the Beatles and the Stones for years, and they did have a string of hit singles in the United States, performing in the US never seemed to be a priority for the band, probably because they were able to command big fees staying closer to home, while in the US, despite the hit records, the group never developed a band recognition like the Beatles or the Stones where each member’s name was well-known.
Ad by an unknown artist for an appearance by the Esquires at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, April 29, 1970.
The Esquires, an R&B group from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were best known for their 1967 two-sided single, “Get On Up”/”And Get Away”.
The Esquires – Get On Up (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnQ8yQJROCI
The Esquires – And Get Away (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w1iYILaOsA
A couple of Dennis Preston ads for the Vibrations store in Lansing, Michigan, circa April 30, 1970, juxtaposed with the prevailing ad illustration style of the time.
“Deee-troit Seen” was a section in The Fifth Estate newspaper, filled with interesting anecdotes and gossip, such as the report in the April 30, 1970 issue that “the MC5 beat the SRC, 14 – 7, in a recent baseball game in Hamburg, Michigan”.
Near the end of April 1970, the first, and only, album by the band Third Power was released on Vanguard records. Miles Davis was a fan, they should have been huge.
Third Power – Like Me, Love Me (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX0HEoQA3uM
Promotional flyer for the Third Power album, artwork by “Boof” Design, aka band member Jem Targal. Vanguard Records, while also being the label for Frost, turned out to be an unfortunate choice, and they dropped the band shortly after the album release.
Cover artwork by Stanley Mouse & Alton Kelley for the second record album by Timothy Leary, “You Can Be Anyone This Time Around”, released in April 1970. The disc features three "raps" by Leary backed with psychedelic music. The title track and "What Do You Turn On When You Turn On" both feature sampling of music by other artists, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Ravi Shankar. The music for the opening track, "Live And Let Live", came from an all-star jam session with Jimi Hendrix on bass guitar, Buddy Miles on drums, and John Sebastian and Stephen Stills on guitars.
Timothy Leary - Live And Let Live (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMEtU13aCeE
Timothy Leary - You Can Be Anyone This Time Around (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4-_QVT3jH4
Timothy Leary - What Do You Turn On When You Turn On (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd1uw8CYKbk
Hot on the heels of Third Power’s first album, the first album by Savage Grace was released on the Reprise record label near the end of April 1970.
Savage Grace – 1984 (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GyZzktB30I
A Reprise Records promo poster for the debut album by Savage Grace, released near the end of April 1970.
Another Reprise Records promo poster for Savage Grace, this one created by BOOF Design, which was founded by Third Power bassist Jem Targal.
An ad from Plumm Records for the single “God, Love and Rock & Roll” by Teegarden & Van Winkle in April or May 1970, along with various picture sleeves around the world and the beautiful Westbound Records logo, who subsequently also released the record. It was the duo’s biggest hit, peaking at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and #7 in Canada.
Teegarden & Van Winkle – God, Love and Rock & Roll (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZun5oRA3Qg
Iggy Pop of the Stooges on the cover of the May 1970 issue of CREEM magazine with photo by Leni Sinclair.
A full-page ad for WKNR-FM radio in Detroit, Michigan in the May 1970 issue of CREEM magazine.
Three of the four Beatles illustrated by Dennis Preston in these ads from May 1970.
Volume Six - 1970 - continues - HERE
Ads for People’s Light & Power Co. for concert light shows, “and all occasions”, and A&A Productions in Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 1970.
There is conflicting information regarding the date of this show at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California with the Chairmen of the Board, Eric Burdon & War, and Alice Cooper due to the lettering by artist Evelyn Guerrero. In this image it clearly looks to be April 24, 1970 although in other printings it appears more like April 27, which seems to be the date that many sources will cite. At any rate, it's a moot point as the show was cancelled and re-scheduled for June 5th, by which date it is unlikely that any of the scheduled artists would still be available, an there isn’t any evidence that the June 5th concert ever happened either.
