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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Six - 1970 - Page Eight
An ad in the May 1, 1970 issue of the Ann Arbor Argus newspaper for a new single by the UP, with lettering and band logo by Gary Grimshaw.
Up - Just Like An Aborigine (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg_kfGtQiOM
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The kids at Southfield High School did it again, putting together an impressive seven-band line up, headlined by the Amboy Dukes, in their gymnasium, May 1, 1970, with a poster/handbill by an unknown artist. Also appearing were All The Lonely People, Third Power, Blues Train, Plain Brown Wrapper, Red, White & Blues Band, and Virgin Dawn.
The national Grass for the Masses, instigated for May Day, May 1, 1970, was a plan to send pot to random addresses around the country, “a joint in every mailbox”. Not sure how that turned out, don’t remember getting one.
Poster for the May 1, 1970 May Day Grass for the Masses, published in The Fifth Estate newspaper, with an illustration, as noted, drawn by MC5 lead singer Rob Tyner in 1967.
Also on the record racks by this time was the debut album by Brownsville Station. It was the first album released on Punch Andrew’s Palladium record label (the same name as his club in Birmingham, Michigan). Andrews had released at least a dozen singles and two albums on his Hideout record label, going back to 1965. The last Hideout single was by Brownsville Station in 1969, and the first Palladium release was also a Brownsville Station single in 1969, just prior to the release of this album.
On the album’s final track, the band plays a few bars of Link Wray’s classic until interrupted by a voice that shouts, “Hey, c’mon, what are you doin’? Play the fuckin song right!” and they launch into a cranked-up version, with a Led Zeppelin base line and a crazed harmonic rave.
Brownsville Station – Rumble (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4eRO_Z86RI
Not a whole lot of artistic merit on this flyer by an unknown artist, but a historical significance in being one of the few (only?) documentation for the band Harpo Jets, at the CSA Hall in St. Louis, Michigan, about fifty miles north of Lansing, on May 1, 1970.
The back side of the flyer lists the other bands at the show, Arthur (possibly Arthur Pendragon?), Flash Cadillac (a Waterford, Michigan band, not the 50’s band from Colorado), and Durrett & Teague.
Illustration by Dave Baker on the back cover page of the May 1, 1970 issue of the Berkeley Tribe newspaper in Berkeley, California.
Poster by Carol Ann for the Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan, May 1-2, 1970, headlined by Ronnie Hawkins with openers Salvage and Wesselfox the first night, and Julius Victor the second night. Hawkins had opened for Lee Michaels at the Eastown Theater in Detroit three weeks earlier. Back in 1964, Hawkins’ band, The Hawks, had all left Hawkins’ employ to form The Band. Sometime in 1970, Hawkins enlisted a new guitar player into his band named Pat Travers, unknown if Travers was with the band for these shows.
Carol Ann will re-use this image for another poster, later in August, for Teegarden & Van Winkle at the Palladium.
One final recording for Punch Andrew’s Hideout label was a bit of a novelty as the Bob Seger System gave their drummer, Pep Perrine, a night at the club to step up front to showcase his singing and cornball humor. The live recording was made in 1969, but the actual album release may have come some years later.
Their first show on their first US tour, the Jackson 5 land in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a show at the Civic Auditorium on May 2, 1970. Right away, a highly polished act, here is some footage from that night:
Jackson 5 – Live in Philadelphia (05/02/70)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxAPbcGy_YM
Another potentially new show for the Gateway by the MC5, at the Holland Civic Center in Holland, Michigan, at a “Spring Rock Concert” sponsored by the Knickerbocker fraternity of Hope College on May 2, 1970. From a story in The Anchor newspaper:
“Featured at the concert will be the nationally known act, the MC5 who play a “high energy” style of music complimented by a selection of “oldies”. The MC5 has been called the Spawn of the Aquarian Age and the “master builders of a living wall of sound – relentless, irresistible, ear shattering, mind expanding.”
“Also included in the four hour show will be the Third Power, a hard rock group from the Detroit night club circuit, and the Truck, a local group whose music covers almost the entire spectrum of rock sound.
“Tickets are $2.50 with ID and may be purchased from members of the Knickerbocker fraternity or at the door.”
Poster by an unknown artist for the MC5 with Third Power and Truck, at the Holland Civic Center in Holland, Michigan, May 2, 1970, a missing show in the databases.
A fantastic poster with Alice Cooper opening for Ike and Tina Turner and Eric Burdon & War at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino on May 2, 1970. Our notes say “EV Guerro”, so that may be the artist.
On May 4, 1970, four students were killed on the campus of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio when National Guardsmen opened fire on a crowd of protestors. President Richard Nixon’s decision to invade Cambodia at the end of April, 1970, in spite of promising to end the war, re-ignited the anti-war movement, already re-enraged by the disclosure of the My Lai Massacre and the instatement of a draft lottery. Student strikes and protests erupted at hundreds of locations around the country at the beginning of May, the Kent State demonstrations began on May 1st, the ROTC building on campus was burned down the next day and the National Guard were called in.
Photojournalism student John Filo snapped the iconic photo that made Kent State symbolic, and eclipsed the fact that ten days later another two students were killed by police fire at Jackson State University in Mississippi under similar circumstances.
Four days after the Kent State shootings, the “Hard Hat Riot” occurred in New York City when construction workers attacked anti-war demonstrators on the steps of City Hall. While 20,000 marched against the war in New York City on May 21, 1970, three-times that many, a crowd of 60,000, rallied the day before in support of the war.
A Gallup Poll taken shortly after the Kent State shootings found that 58% of the respondents approved of the National Guards actions, only 11% thought it was wrong, and 31% had no opinion.
The Kent State Massacre had another long-term consequence. Future fellow band-mates, Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale were Kent State students at the time. Casale, who was a friend of two of the students who were killed and was within fifteen feet of them when the shots were fired, has said, “I stopped being a hippie and I started to develop the idea of devolution”.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Ohio (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68g76j9VBvM
Devo – Jocko Homo (1977)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JdS-sSKsBc
Ad by Perry Highway Limited for an appearance by Brother Frog from San Francisco at Grandmother’s in East Lansing, Michigan, May 5, 1970.
The Doors made their third Michigan appearance, performing at Cobo Hall in Detroit, May 8, 1970. The show is notable as being one of the longest, if not the longest, concert The Doors ever performed, with an encore that lasted as long as the show itself, and apparently got the Doors banned from Cobo for violating curfew.
In addition to being their longest, it is also considered to be one of their best performances. Here is the complete recording of the show:
The Doors – Live in Detroit (5/8/1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-79EMYTCp8&list=PLCc1CdM5OcYxOGutjKmDBwhWurDk8-DTo
Another excellent poster/handbill for the Factorie Ballroom in Waterford, Michigan, May 8-9, 1970. Unsigned, but believed to be by Al Shamie (Bad Dog) since it is similar to later, signed, pieces to come.
Concert program for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York with an appearance by the MC5 on May 8, 1970, a show that is missing from the timeline.
Inside of the concert program for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York with an appearance by the MC5 on May 8, 1970.
Poster for the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois, May 8, 1970 with SRC and the MC “Righteous” Bob Rudnick.
A cute little ad for the Bob Seger System at the Vincent Massey Secondary School in Windsor, Ontario, Canada on May 8, 1970.
Poster/ad by Randy Tuten, and a second newspaper ad, for Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen at the Great Highway in San Francisco, California, May 8-10, 1970.
An ad for Glen Campbell at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan on May 9, 1970. It was only his second Michigan appearance in five years, since opening for the Beach Boys at Cobo in May 1965.
An ad for the Montreal Pop Festival on May 9, 1970, with four Michigan bands – Grand Funk Railroad, Frijid Pink, Frost, and Amboy Dukes. And a farewell performance by Cream.
A full two-page spread of a nice work of art by EV Guerrero for a concert at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, with Alice Cooper opening for Eric Burdon & War on May 9, 1970.
Another poster/ad by the mysterious Perry Highway Ltd, for Grandmother’s in East Lansing, May 10, 1970.
Dennis Preston ad for a new arrival of blue jeans in stock at the Vibration store in Lansing, Michigan, published in the May 11, 1970 issue of the State News newspaper.
Ad by Perry Highway Limited for an appearance by Connor & Evans at Grandmother’s in East Lansing on May 11, 1970.
Another poster/ad by Perry Highway Limited, for NJ Orange at Grandmother’s in East Lansing on May 12, 1970.
The Electric Prunes returned to Michigan, enjoying a boost in popularity from having a key track on the soundtrack for the film “Easy Rider”, appearing at Coral Gables in East Lansing, May 13, 1970 and at Austin High School, an all-male prep school in Detroit, two days later.
The Electric Prunes – Kyrie Eleison (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCxHWXep27g
Frigid Pink also released their first album in early 1970 and they hit an international homerun with the single “House of the Rising Sun”. The band played at Ungano’s, in New York City, May 12-14, 1970.
Support for John Sinclair, imprisoned for ten months by the time of this May 15, 1970 issue of the NOLA Express in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Another fine poster for the Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan, May 15-16, 1970, unsigned but possibly by the artist known as Carol Ann. The bands were SRC, UP, Salvage, Third Power, and the Rationals.
Al Shamie (Bad Dog) poster/handbill for the Factorie Ballroom in Waterford, Michigan, May 15-16, 1970. Thanks to one of our readers who identified the art in the previous Shamie Factorie poster as that of Virgil Finlay, the master of pulp, sci-fi, and horror illustrators. This one is another of Virgil Finlay’s art, Shamie must have come across a collection.
Iggy and the Stooges headlined two nights at the Fillmore in San Francisco, California, May 15-16, 1970, along with Alice Cooper and Commander Cody and San Francisco compatriots the Flamin Groovies who were making a go at organizing the venue as the New Old Fillmore. The stand-out poster by San Francisco poster artist Mark Behrens.
Elektra Records had sent the Stooges to Los Angeles for two weeks to record their second album. During the time, the band also played shows at the Whiskey, documented by photographer Ed Caraeff in his book “Iggy & the Stooges: One Night at the Whisky 1970”, one of his photos was used for the album for the Fun House album.
In another development, saxophonist Steve Mackay from the Ann Arbor bands Carnal Kitchen and the Charging Rhinoceros of Soul, had started jamming at the Stooges’ house, at the invitation by Iggy to “play like Maceo Parker on acid”. The band brought Mackay out to LA to record on tracks for the album.
The MC5 were part of a bill that included Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead at the Temple Outdoor Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1970, but they had to cancel and were replaced by the band Cactus.
Back in Michigan, it was a night of cancellations as well, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had to cancel their scheduled May 16 appearance at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit because Stills broke his wrist, and the Jefferson Airplane cancelled their scheduled May 16 appearance at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti because Marty Balin was busted for pot the morning of the show while the band was in Minneapolis.
We believe this was the debut appearance of the band Cactus, opening for Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and the Steve Miller Band at the Temple Outdoor Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1970. They were added to the bill in place of the MC5, who had to cancel. In another ad for the concert, Cactus was described as “a group made up of elements of several successful heavy rock groups. Once Cactus starts touring and selling records, room will most likely have to be made at the top for another super group.”
Both, the Hendrix set and a partial of the Grateful Dead set from this show were recorded and can be heard in the comments below:
The Grateful Dead – Live at Temple University (5/16/70)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEx5enhuQcQ&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3kwqEbgI50BBp5bgNvQC14K3eQu8oiLlSOnrCe_CjUXO8RZa2_RYWMNmc
Jimi Hendrix - Live at Temple University (5/16/70)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5b7sKWeqZo
Poster for Grand Funk Railroad with Rare Earth in Trenton, New Jersey on May 16, 1970 (possibly a commemorative poster).
A Tamla Motown Records ad in the May 16, 1970 issue of Billboard magazine touting the longevity of the Miracles, going on their 13th year, which may have been a bit of passive aggression by the company since, by that time, management had to know that Smokey Robinson was retiring from the group, an exit strategy formed during 1969 so he could focus on his duties as Motown's vice president and raising his two children with his wife Claudette.
But something was about to happen in just a few more weeks that nobody expected.
Over in the UK, Motown Britain wanted to have a Miracles release to capitalize on the group’s popularity over there, and lacking any new material they selected an album track from the 1967 album “Make It Happen” called "The Tears of a Clown".
It shot up to #1 in the UK seven weeks after its July release. Catching on, Motown released the single in the US where it hit #1 on the Hot 100 and the R&B singles charts. Robinson decided to continue performing with the Miracles for another two years.
Newspaper ad for Stevie Wonder at Cobo Hall, May 17, 1970, with the first Michigan appearance of The Friends of Distinction from Los Angeles, California. The Originals and the Fabulous Counts rounded out the bill.
A poster/ad with Mitch Ryder opening for Delany & Bonnie & Friends at the Depot in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 17, 1970.
The first video linked below is from a TV show in Miami, Florida with a guitar jam between Ted Nugent and Mike Pinera, a precursor to their future guitar battle shows of 1974. The video has a date stamp of 1970 and the presenter’s comments note that Pinera was a new member of Iron Butterfly and that the Amboy Dukes were in Miami for a summer pop festival. The Dukes performed at the Miami Stadium in Miami on May 17, 1970. We cannot find that Iron Butterfly were in Miami at the time, but Pinera was a local and could very well have been at home during a break in Iron Butterfly’s activities.
One of the commentators claim that the footage was shot following a performance by the Amboy Dukes at Thee Image rock club in Miami, where they appeared with Pinera’s original band the Blues Image, who were the house band at Thee Image. Run by Miami promoter Marshall Brevetz, Thee Image was in operation in Miami for only thirteen months, from March 1968 through April 1969, when on the advice of Frank Zappa, Brevetz moved to Los Angeles where he opened a club called Thee Experience, bringing the Blues Image band with him to be the house band there.
The Amboy Dukes did perform at Thee Image in Miami on December 14, 1968, and although the commentator provides detailed information about how a Miami DJ named Rick Shaw arranged the Nugent-Pinera jam, we don’t think the video has the “feel” of a 1968 production. Perhaps some of our readers who know these two musicians better than we do can tell if they look more like themselves in 1968 or in 1970.
Zappa was right about the band’s better chances of success in Los Angeles, and shortly after their move they were signed by Atco Records, releasing a self-titled debut album in February 1969. In the fall of 1969, during the recording of their second album, Pinera left the band to join Iron Butterfly, which may have been bad timing as a single from that album called “Ride Captain Ride” shot up to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, giving the band their biggest hit, Pinera is featured on the guitar solo at the end of the song.
Ted Nugent and Mike Pinera – live TV guitar jam (1970?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR31zEsH03E
Blues Image – Ride Captain Ride (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOKaSr3B_II
A new club, called the Unicorn, opened in Lansing, Michigan at a location previously known as C.D.’s, on May 18, 1970, with a series of six ads by an unknown artist. Lionel Hampton performed on the opening night, but the real highlight came a week later with shows by the all-girl band from Kalamazoo called the Socialites.
An introduction to the band was provided by the keyboardist Sandy Tower:
“The Socialites was a top-40 band, with quite a show. Char Velasquez, a phenomenal bass player, was quite wild and uninhibited in expressing her instrument, and many times her sister, Toni Velasquez, the lead guitar player would dance in unison with Char. Both girls would kick their legs up and throw up their instruments in unison, quite a show to see. Their father had his own band, back in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and he encouraged the girls to start their own group. I think they started their group at quite a young age, with a local gal, Nancy Rogers, playing drums and another girl, Nancy Anglum, playing keyboards.
“At some point the girls lost the drummer and hired a drummer from Detroit named Jino Chominski who had been playing with "The Debutantes," a very successful Detroit group. The keyboard player also left the group. The group had been on the road and had been doing tours in Southeast Asia. Their manager came to Indianapolis to offer me a job with them playing in Hawaii. I was playing with a group called the Pastels and the group was going to be breaking up. I accepted the gig in Hawaii without even meeting the players. Soon I was on a plane, 18 years old, flying to Hawaii to meet three girls who were complete strangers. The money was much better playing in an all-girl band as it was quite a novelty.”
We were able to find one track by the Socialites, called “Phooey Phooey On You” on a Sixties’ punk compilation, it starts at the 42:48 mark, but the whole comp is a worthy listen.
The Socialites – Phooey Phooey On You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhVUB_m96JU
An ad by an unknown artist for a speaking appearance by Zolton Ferency at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, where Ferency was a Professor of Criminal Justice, on May 19, 1970.
Ferency was a three-time chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, and the first President of the Human Rights Party, which he helped to co-found. He also ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Michigan five times, unsuccessfully for the Michigan Supreme Court three times, and unsuccessfully for the Michigan Senate once.
The ad is complemented by a Dennis Preston foot-man that bears a passing resemblance to Frank Zappa, asking “Zolton Ferency?”
No shortage of words on these May 21, 1970 ads by Dennis Preston for the Sounds & Diversions and Chain Reactions stores in Lansing, Michigan.
Poster by an unknown artist for Frijid Pink at Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, Michigan, May 22, 1970.
We’ve marveled at how many high schools organized top-level shows in their gymnasiums, most infamously when the kids at Southfield High School scooped Russ Gibb on getting The Who in 1967, but Notre Dame stood out above all the others, in part because it was one of the larger rooms, but mainly because they had Father John Bryson, “the DJ Priest”.
Father Bryson came to the school in 1955 to teach religion and manage the cafeteria. He was also asked to supervise the weekly Friday night student dances, which with a combination of an ear for good music and a personality that forged good connections, he transitioned from record hops to live acts featuring the top Motown and AM radio stars.
No one had a bad word for Father Bryson. When he passed away in 2011, the Notre Dame Alumni Association published a special tribute edition of their magazine, The Leprechaun, filled with testimonials and remembrances, mostly from his former students. Check it out and as Father Bryson would say, “Thanks a million”.
http://www.friendsofnotredame.com/uploads/leprechaun/Special%20Edition%20-%20Tribute%20to%20Fr.%20Bryson.pdf
Poster/flyer for the Palladium in Birmingham, Michigan, May 22-23, 1970, by Chad Hines. The database has the band Detroit at the Palladium on May 22, but the events calendar in The Fifth Estate newspaper, and this poster have Alice Cooper.
Another poster/handbill in the series by Al Shamie, using the art of Virgil Finlay, for the Factorie Ballroom in Waterford, Michigan, this one for May 22-23, 1970. These are the only known shows by the band Embryo.
Two of the bands in this weekend’s billing, Julius Victor and Bump, had just released their first albums.
Julius Victor is sometimes thought of as a New York band because their one album, released late in 1969 or early 1970, was recorded at the famous Record Plant Studios and was produced by jazz musician Ahmad Jamal, but the drummer, who also wrote of all the songs on the album, is Larry Engstrom from the band Odds & Ends that played at the Grande Ballroom at least a dozen times through 1967 and 1968.
Julius Victor – From the Nest (album) (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16648D-FLmA
Bump, allegedly named for a roadside sign, recorded their first album at Pioneer Recording Studio in Detroit, which was released on the studio’s label.
Bump – Bump (album) (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-6tBe0G3s8
Volume Six - 1970 - continues - HERE
A full-page ad for the debut album by Third Power in the May 15, 1970 edition of the Michigan Daily newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
