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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
Volume Eight - 1972 - Page Two
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Dennis Preston poster for the Melody Ballroom in Inkster, Michigan, January 29, 1972. Bands were Silverhawk, Masoud, and Spangus Marangus.
Poster by Patrick Irla for SRC with Freedom Street at the Roseville Ballroom in Roseville, Michigan on January 29, 1972.
A full-page Paramount Records ad, with art by Stanley Mouse, for the debut self-titled album by the band Detroit which entered the Billboard Top LP’s chart at #183 for the week ending on January 29, 1972. It peaked at #176 two weeks later.
Poster by an unknown artist for SRC, Heavyn (or Heavy N) and American Pastime at the Lincoln Park Theatre, January 30, 1972.
Poster for Alice Cooper with Bloodrock in Baltimore, Maryland, January 30, 1972.
A real beauty of a poster by H. Zevallos, with drawing by K. Waghorn, for John Lee Hooker in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on January 30, 1972.
The back cover of the February 1972 issue of CREEM magazine with an ad for “E Pluribus Funk”, the fifth studio album by Grand Funk Railroad, released in November 1971.
A Paramount Records ad, illustrated by Chris Frayne, in the February 1972 issue of CREEM magazine for the debut album by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen.
An ad for Dennis Coffey & the Detroit Guitar Band at the Gables in East Lansing, Michigan, February 2, 1972. Rick Shaull, who wrote the Music column for the Joint Issue newspaper, and whose writings provide an excellent monthly documentation of the area’s local bands, wrote about the point we made earlier, “Wow! What a change in the Bar Scene there’s been. The first week that 18 year-olds have been allowed in has been really strange. Every night from 9 to 12 there’s been lines outside every bar in East Lansing. The Gables must be making a mint. Other changes also; the Northwind Stables now has a rock band from Tuesday through Saturday, with no cover and room for dancing.”
Gary Grimshaw poster for Ike & Tina Turner Revue with Catfish, at the Finch Field House on the campus of Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, February 3, 1972.
A poster and an ad for Alice Cooper at the Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, California on February 3, 1972. Howlin’ Wolf was an interesting opening act. The ad also has an upcoming show by Rare Earth on March 1st.
Poster by German poster artist Gunther Kieser for Stevie Wonder in concert in Frankfurt, Germany, February 4, 1972, his first appearance in Germany. This poster is commonly bootlegged, one way to tell if it’s a fake, besides a cheap price, is that the word “soulful!” on the bootlegs is typically a solid red instead of the red fade into white of the original.
The February 4, 1972 issue of the Ann Arbor Sun reported that Righteous Bob Rudnick had joined CJOM-FM, a Canadian radio station in Windsor, across the river from Detroit. The station had adopted the “progressive rock” format in 1970, with the change in its call letters, calling itself “Ohm-FM”. The station is currently known as “89X”, since 1991. Illustration by Gary Grimshaw.
Gary Grimshaw poster from the February 4, 1972 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper.
Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen opened for Alice Cooper at the Palladium in Los Angeles, California on February 4, 1972. Notice Rare Earth also coming to town.
A newspaper ad and coupon for a motorcycle show in Des Moines, Iowa, February 4-6, 1972, with entertainment provided by the Amboy Dukes.
Rare Earth went on tour with an odd booking at the beginning that had them go from Kansas City to Kalamazoo, performing at Western Michigan University on February 5, 1972. From there, it was back into the heartland with a number of shows in Texas, wrapping up in Anaheim, California at the end of the month.
The MC5, missing in action since their show at the Grande Ballroom on the first day of the year, embarked on a European tour, with the first show at the London School of Economics in London, England, February 5, 1972.
Bass player Michael Davis, traveling separately from the rest of the band, was turned away from boarding the plane in Detroit because of a syringe in his possession. He took the flight the next day, but he had missed the gig.
Dennis Preston poster for the Melody Ballroom in Inkster, Michigan, February 5, 1972. Bands were Rumor, Blackwood Drake, and Cheap Thrills.
Gary Grimshaw ad for the Tivoli Theatre in Windsor, Ontario, Canada for a show by Spirit, Whiz Kids and Justine on February 5, 1972, and for the following week’s show by Pacific Gas & Electric with Crabby Appleton and Ontario (?)
A concert production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the University of Detroit Memorial Building, February 5, 1972. People may have forgotten that JCS was an album first and a stage play later (and later yet, apparently, a round of authorized concert presentations).
Three variations of the posters/ads by Hugh Surratt, for Gordon Lightfoot at the MSU Union in East Lansing, Michigan, February 6, 1972.
Poster by Dennis Preston for Severe Hands at the Discotec Lounge in East Lansing, where the band began a three-week run as reported in the February 7, 1972 issue of the Joint Issue newspaper. It’s a shame that Severe Hands had no recordings, as far as we know, since the band is consistently described as one of the area’s best, a horn-based jazz-rock fusion group. We have learned that trumpeter Dan Jacobs moved to California in 1973, where he began a stellar career in the world of high-profile jazz stars, in the process becoming one of them himself.
An ad for the Mouse House in the February 10, 1972 issue of the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit, Michigan.
Gary Grimshaw poster, and red handbill, for Ike & Tina Turner Revue with Blue Scepter (formerly SRC), at the IMA Auditorium in Flint, Michigan, February 11, 1972.
The second show in the MC5’s European Tour, at the Friars club in Aylesbury, England, February 11, 1972. The concert was filmed and a couple of videos have come from it. Here’s two of them that seem to be the same song from different angles:
MC5 – Kick Out The Jams (live in Aylesbury, England) (02/11/72)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USrjUQk_kXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR4ekLg0Ess
MC5 – Tonight (live in Aylesbury, England) (02/11/72)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR4ekLg0Ess
Two Michigan bands in the would-be Michigan town of Toledo, Ohio, with Brownsville Station and Detroit featuring Mitch Ryder at the Toledo Sports Arena, February 11, 1972. The images of Brownsville Station were taken from the back cover of their second album, released in 1972. The image of bassist Tony Driggins was reversed, as any good lay-out designer would know how to please the eye, but it makes him look like a left-handed player, which he was not.
Brownsville Station – Rock with the Music (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L5ZDYoT8oY
An ad for Badfinger at Ford Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan on February 11, 1972. The accompanying article implies that drummer Rob Stawinski had left the band Sky with Doug Fieger and John Coury and was with Badfinger at the time of this show.
Ads for the Sixth Annual Cleveland International Auto-Rama, February 11-13, 1972, advertising five bands, four of whom were from Michigan – Amboy Dukes, Bob Seger and Teegarden & Van Winkle, and Brownsville Station. Actually, as correctly designated on the schedule, Seger, Teegarden & Van Winkle was a single combined act, making it four groups of whom three were from Michigan.
Dennis Preston poster for the Melody Ballroom in Inkster, Michigan, February 12, 1972. Bands were 1776 , Chip Stevens, and Happy Fat.
As “1776” the band released an album on Punch Andrews’ Palladium label in 1971, and this single from it. The band had previously been known as Tea, and before that, the Kwintels, both of whom we’ve seen on posters in the past.
Lead singer and guitarist Jerry Zubal will continue his interesting musical path, in 1974 he will be with the band Pendragon and the work of Phantom's Divine Comedy.
1776 – Jesus is Just Alright (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxDhaXYjjuA
Dennis Preston poster, February 12, 1972, for Ike & Tina Turner at the Barton Colosseum in Little Rock, Arkansas, of all places.
Gary Grimshaw poster for Gordon Lightfoot at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, February 12, 1972.
On February 12, 1972, the MC5 played their third UK show of the tour, at the Mardi-Gras Club in Liverpool, England.
Over in England, they also had a “Cream” magazine (spelled with an “a”), and they also had a White Panther Party, who were well aware of the charter group in Ann Arbor, Michigan’s make-over to the Rainbow People, but persisted nevertheless.
On February 13, 1972, the MC5 played their fourth UK show of the tour, at the Greyhound club in Croyden, England. An account of the show, with an interesting snapshot into the band’s thinking at the time, can be found in the link below. Sounds like it was a good show, with an atypical encore, followed by a chat at the pub with the writer. The one thing that was unknown, or at least unspoken, was that this would turn out to be the last show for bass player Michael Davis.
http://makemyday.free.fr/cream.htm
Newspaper ad for the fourth show of the MC5’s UK tour, at the Greyhound club in Croyden, England on February 13, 1972, this was the final performance with the band for bass player Michael Davis (except for the MC5’s final show on New Year’s Eve 1972).
When we last saw Frost, they were playing a two-week residency at the Side Door Saloon in Mount Pleasant, Michigan for the month of October 1971. They began an even longer stay, a three-week run, again at the Side Door Saloon, February 13, 1972 through March 5th, including an “Intra-Fraternity Chugg-Off” near the end.
Mark Behrens’ poster for John Lee Hooker at the Hayward Theater in San Francisco, California on February 13, 1972.
Two posters featuring John Lee Hooker in San Francisco, one at the Hayward Theater on February 13, 1972, and the other at the Matrix in March 1970. Both are by the San Francisco poster artist Mark Twain Behrens, about whom too little is known beyond an impressive body of work that includes the well-known 1970 Iggy & the Stooges and Alice Cooper “New Old Fillmore” poster that we’ve posted earlier.
The backside of the February 13, 1972 “Auto City Hit List”, the weekly published by WWCK-105 radio station in Flint, Michigan. WWCK will become “Flint’s Best Rock”, the “top-rated rock station in the United States in 1985”(?), and the launch pad for DJ-turned filmmaker Michael Moore, but what caught our attention is their album pick of the week by the band Howl the Good on the Rare Earth label.
Howl the Good were a Detroit band called Distant Passage who seem to have picked up ex-Jagged Edge guitarist Ira “Wiley” Pack. Based on the perception that recording in England was a key to success, Motown sent the group to record at Olympic Studio in London, where they were paired with an up-and-coming producer, and founding member of the band Spooky Tooth, Gary Wright, who also wrote two of the tracks, and apparently changed the band’s name to Howl the Good. Unfortunately this led to Billboard magazine concluding that the group was British, the album did not sell, and the group disbanded.
Howl the Good – Howl the Good (album) (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ontMF96-A3I
In Michael Davis’ book, “I Brought Down the MC5”, he describes getting fired from the band as they were packing to leave for the next tour dates in France. In the three days between the last show in Croyden and the departure to France, probably February 14-16, 1972, the rest of the band, without Davis, went into a recording studio in London to lay down tracks to be used in the soundtrack to the movie “Gold”. Again, better described in the following link which also has a download of scenes from the film that feature the MC5’s music:
http://makemyday.free.fr/gold.htm
An ad in Billboard magazine that looks like the work of Overton Loyd for a showcase appearance by Funkadelic at the National Entertainment Conference (NEC) convention in Kansas City, Missouri on February 15, 1972. We wonder how that went over?
Poster by an unknown artist for Badfinger at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti on February 15, 1972.
Ad for the Henry Butler Trio at The Tin Lizzie in Lansing, Michigan, February 15-19, 1972.
King Crimson played their tenth and eleventh Michigan shows with two nights at the Cinderella Ballroom, February 17-18, 1972. The show on the 17th was recorded and is part of the King Crimson Collectors’ Club series, mistakenly labeled as the Grande Ballroom.
King Crimson - Live in Detroit (2/17/72)
https://www.dgmlive.com/albums/grande-ballroom-detroit-united-states?fbclid=IwAR1MagYXkGz_S6CpbbPTLWl4kVXJ5QtQGmjpxsHCK38N3rEMMmRcBAGvZuQ
Handbill by an unknown artist with date discrepancy, also cannot confirm Black Oak Arkansas.
The MC5, without bassist Michael Davis, replaced by English bassist Steve "Annapurna" Moorhouse, performed four shows in France, February 17-22, 1972, at the MJC Drouot in Mulhouse, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Jouy-en-Josas , the Gibus in Paris, and the Piblokto in Dourges.
The still shot shown above and the video linked below come from the Gibus show.
MC5 – Live at the Gibus club in Paris, France (February 1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_cXU71XsKA
Ridiculously beautiful poster by Gary Grimshaw for the Alumni Memorial Gym at the University of Tennessee (of all places) for a show by Rita Coolidge with Crazy Horse on February 18, 1972, and a show by Seals & Crofts on March 3rd. Also, in the fine print at the bottom, a February 29th show at the Stokeley Field House, presumably also at the U of Tenn, with Cactus, Uriah Heep, and Dreams.
Poster by an unknown artist for Bloodrock and Canned Heat at the Lansing Civic Center in Lansing, Michigan, February 18, 1972.
Rows of stencil lettering give a 3D effect to the floating head in this ad for Stevie Wonder at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on February 18, 1972.
An ad for Joni Mitchell with Jackson Browne at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan on February 18, 1972. It was her first time headlining a larger Michigan venue, after years of playing small coffee houses around Detroit with her former husband Chuck.
She and Chuck divorced in 1967 but she kept the last name Mitchell and moved to New York City, and later to Los Angeles, California where she recorded a string of successful albums. Her first return to Detroit had been in December 1969 when she opened for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, also at Masonic. This was her first time performing back in Michigan since then, and it would be another two years before she returned again.
Gary Grimshaw poster on the back cover of the February 18, 1972 edition of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
An article in the February 18, 1972 issue of the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper in Ann Arbor, Michigan broke the news that the Journal of American Medical Association reported a medicinal use for marijuana, namely for treatment of glaucoma.
Dennis Preston poster for the Melody Ballroom in Inkster, Michigan, February 19, 1972. Bands were Third Power , Francois Duval, and KMR II.
A “show-blank” poster by Patrick Irla for the band Sabbath Opera, which could have been used when the band opened for Third Power at the Roseville Ballroom in Roseville, Michigan on February 19, 1972.
Poster by Patrick Irla for Third Power with Sabbath Opera at the Roseville Ballroom in Roseville, Michigan on February 19, 1972. It appears that Third Power had two gigs on this day.
Volume Eight - 1972 - continues - HERE
