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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Music Posters
Volume Nine - 1973 - Page Nine
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A full-page Capitol Records ad for the single “We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk in the June 30, 1973 issue of Billboard magazine.
The Winter brothers from Beaumont, Texas cut some fairly striking figures, with Edgar appearing on the cover of the March 1973 issue of CREEM magazine and Johnny appearing on the cover of the July 1973 issue.
Johnny released his fifth studio album, and his first in almost three years, in March 1973, and Edgar was enjoying his largest career success (#3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart) with the album “They Only Come Out at Night”, released near the end of 1972.
Johnny performed one Michigan show in 1973, his first return in two years, at Cobo Arena in Detroit in April. Edgar performed five Michigan shows in 1973, starting with two nights at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit in March.
An illustration by Gary Grimshaw that accompanied a buyer’s guide for guitar amplifiers in the July 1973 issue of CREEM magazine.
Poster for the Evansville Freedom Celebration in Evansville, Indiana, July 1, 1973, with headliner Stevie Wonder, and with Michael Quatro also on the bill. This was also the first date of a US tour by West, Bruce and Laing, however Jack Bruce had taken ill so he was replaced by Tom Robb on bass, Peter Baron on second guitar, and Mitch Ryder on vocals.
As the tour progressed, the band became known as Leslie West’s Wild West Show. We don’t know for certain if Ryder was with the band for this first show, but there are recordings of some of the later shows, including an upcoming show in Detroit, that definitely have him on vocals.
A sweet poster, in the appropriate color, for Al Green with Bobby Womack in Dallas, Texas on July 1, 1973.
Grand Funk hired Todd Rundgren as a producer and their first release, on July 2, 1973, was the band’s first #1 single.
Grand Funk was only the fourth Michigan artist, outside of Motown, to hit the top of Billboard’s “Top 100” Chart. The first was Del Shannon with “Runaway” in 1961. Next was Tommy James & the Shondells with “Hanky Panky” in 1966 (and again with “Crimson & Clover” in 1969). And the third was ? & the Mysterians with “96 Tears” in 1966.
Grand Funk Railroad – We’re An American Band (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4pErX-HPyM
An ad for the single “We’re an American Band” by Grand Funk.
Poster by an unknown artist for Luther Allison at The Brewery in East Lansing, Michigan, July 2, 1973.
Dennis Preston illustration used as a template for a series of bookings at The Stables in East Lansing, Michigan, July 2-13, 1973, featuring Dean Rutledge and Jonathan Round.
Newspaper ad for Sly & the Family Stone at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, Michigan, July 3, 1973, the band’s 16th Michigan appearance, going back to the Grande Ballroom in 1968.
A full-page Epic Records ad for the sixth album by Sly & the Family Stone, coinciding with their show at the Masonic Auditorium.
An explosive poster by an unknown artist for a July 4, 1973 concert in Camdenton, Missouri, with the James Gang, Black Oak Arkansas, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Brownsville Station.
Gary Grimshaw poster for the Boogie Brothers at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 4, 1973.
Newspaper ad for an appearance by Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band at the Meadowbrook Music Festival in Rochester Hills, Michigan, July 4, 1973. Arguably, Rick Nelson’s first Michigan show, although he had previously appeared at the 1958 and the 1961 Michigan State Fairs as the teen idol “Ricky” Nelson. His transition from teen idol “Ricky” to musician “Rick” had not been particularly easy or well-received, as he described in his 1972 song “Garden Party”.
Rick Nelson – Garden Party (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHR7_VZdRw
Newspaper ad for the Rock & Roll Farm, “The Farm” in Wayne, Michigan, with Moonstone (formerly known as Boone’s Farm), July 4-15, 1973. Billed as appearing every Tuesday, was the BoDiddlies, who also appear to have backed up Bob Seger when he performed at the Coral Gables in East Lansing, July 27-29.
A flyer with Brownsville Station opening for the James Gang in Springfield, Illinois on July 6, 1973.
Gary Grimshaw handbill, for Iggy & the Stooges, with Bob Seger and Catfish Hodge at the Civic Arena in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, July 6, 1973. It’s all about the lettering, and the little devil wing.
Gary Grimshaw poster for the Primo Showbar in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which opened on July 6, 1973 at the venue previously called Mackinac Jack’s.
T-shirt and newspaper ad with Gary Grimshaw’s logo for the Primo Showbar in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Woolies released only their second, and their final album, recorded live at Lizards in East Lansing, Michigan, July 7, 1973. This album, like the recent, and similar, Danny Hernandez & the Ones’ live recording at the Brewery, was also released on The Woolies’ Spirit label, but it is not as hard to find.
As it read in the Ann Arbor SUN newspaper, “The Odyssey opened its familiar doors for the last time on Saturday, July 7 (1973)” In the accompanying article, written by the manager of the Odyssey, Jon Campbell, the main reason given for the closing was the onerous Michigan Liquor Control Act that contained pages of antiquated laws that the police could, and did, selectively use to harass the bar, laws such as no smoking or drinking on the dance floor, no drinking while standing unless at the bar, no mingling of the staff with the customers, no free food, no serving intoxicated (not drunk) patrons, even laws against serving gays, drug dealers, or prostitutes.
Campbell also blamed costly acts of destruction and theft by the patrons, pointing out that folks would ignore these actions until it was their own purse or jacket or wallet that was stolen and urged that people should look out for each other and to protect the establishments where they enjoyed their services.
He did thank WNRZ radio, particularly Righteous Bob Rudnick, the Sun newspaper “(even if we did have a couple differences of opinion)”, the staff and the bands “for keeping the Odyssey going as long as it did”. It was in operation for about two and a half years, and had presented close to 200 shows.
Here is a link to a nice webpage that is in tribute to the Odyssey bar, and provides some really good information on every band that played there:
http://tropicaljon.blogspot.com/2011/06/infamous-odyssey-bar.html
Gary Grimshaw poster for the Sunday Free Concert in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 8, 1973, featuring Sky King Blues Band (formerly New Heavenly Blue), Skip (Van Winkle) Knape & the Nightrockers, Law, and the Ann Arbor Afro-American Drum & Dance Troupe.
Drummer David Teegarden was playing in Bob Seger’s band and keyboardist Van Winkle, going by his real name, Skip Knape, formed his own band. The pair would release one more album together, called “Experimental Groundwork” on Westbound Records in 1973, but even that record was billed with their full names. The old familiar “Teegarden & Van Winkle”, that we’ve seen on so many of our posters, was no more.
An awesomely designed poster for Leslie West’s Wild West Show (likely with Mitch Ryder) at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York City, July 8, 1973.
Volume Nine - 1973 - continues - HERE
Poster/flyer by Gary Grimshaw for the Grand Opening of the Primo Showbar in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 6-7, 1973.
Poster/flyer by Gary Grimshaw for a Home Town Get Down in New Haven, Michigan on July 7, 1973, featuring Little Leon and Radio King.
Poster/flyer by Gary Grimshaw for a Sunday Free Concert at Wilson Park in Flint, Michigan on July 8, 1973, with Justice Miles and Castle Rock.
Newspaper ad for The Chi-Lites (misspelled), at the Driftwood Lounge in the Twenty Grand Club in Detroit, Michigan, June 29, 1973 through July 8th.
There was another Driftwood Lounge in Detroit, where we believe these recordings of the band Detroit were recorded in 1973. The band line-up at the time, according to the comments on the video, was Rusty Day, Steve Gaines (ex-Rio Smokehouse, pre-Crawdad, pre-Lynyrd Skynryd) on guitar, Bill Hodgeson (pre-(or current) Shadowfax) on guitar, Nathaniel Peterson (ex-Brataxis, pre-Smokestack Lightning, pre-Twin Dragons) on bass, Terry Emery (pre-Crawdad, pre-.38 Special, pre-Moxie Band Atlanta) on keys, and Ted “T-Mel” Smith (ex-Spinners) on drums.
Detroit with Rusty Day – Live at the Driftwood Lounge, Detroit (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%27Dead+Man%27s+Hand%27+detroit
Detroit – Dead Man’s Hand (live) (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99HucetcnTo
Full-page ad in the June 30, 1973 issue of Billboard magazine for the soundtrack to the movie “Shaft in Africa”, with the theme song sung by The Four Tops.
The Four Tops - Are You Man Enough (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qLpeXZyH4
A poster with Brownsville Station appearing with ZZ Top, Birtha (mis-spelled), and White Witch at the Charlie B Ranch Arena in Seneca, South Carolina on June 30, 1973.
A full-page Motown records ad in the June 30, 1973 issue of Billboard magazine for the third solo album by former Temptations member Eddie Kendricks. Self-titled, it was Kendricks’ most successful album on the Billboard 200 albums chart, peaking at #18, propelled by the track “Keep On Truckin’” which was a #1 single on both the pop and R&B singles charts.
A full-page A&M Records ad for Frampton’s Camel, coinciding with the group’s first Michigan appearance, opening for the J. Geils Band at Masonic Auditorium in Detroit on July 1, 1973.
An ad for the “Tube Trip” TV show in Atlanta, Georgia, with Bob Seger and Brownsville Station appearing on the June 23, 1973 program.
Dennis Preston ad for an appearance by New York’s Gunhill Road, with Chicago singer-songwriter Bill Quateman, at The Stables in East Lansing, Michigan, June 26-30, 1973.
Gunhill Road’s sole one-hit wonder made the rounds, it has the distinction of being in the Top 10 in more different markets at more different times than any other record in 1973.
Gunhill Road – Back When My Hair Was Short (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE2kQe0PghU
The band Gunhill Road cancelled their appearance, so Dennis Preston came up with a new ad for just Bill Quateman alone, with his hit song instead, at The Stables in East Lansing, June 26-30, 1973.
Bill Quateman – Only Love (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEkPAedBP-c
Gary Grimshaw poster for Lightnin’ at the Full Tilt Boogie Ballroom in Monroe, Michigan, June 27, 1973.
Newspaper ad for Stevie Wonder with Earth, Wind & Fire in Cleveland, Ohio on June 28, 1973. Photo is from the front cover of the July 1973 issue of Fusion magazine.
An ad for the Newport Jazz festival with Stevie Wonder appearing on June 23, 1973.
Following the show in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom, James Williamson rejoined the Stooges and they went to Los Angeles, California, for a five-night, two shows per night, stand at the Whisky A Go Go, June 20-24, 1973.
The shows would open with Bob Sheff at the keyboards, with a string of red lightbulbs in his hair, pounding a riff as the rest of the band came onstage and joined in, Iggy would prowl onto the stage, glaring at the audience, mingling with girls at the edge of stage, before pushing away from them and launching into “Raw Power”. Physically exhausted, and possibly injured from his stage-diving antics, he was only able to do one show on each of the last two nights.
Some sources say that Sheff left the band during this engagement, others say he played one more show with the band back in Michigan, but either way, Sheff did leave the band and started to pursue his solo career as the avant-garde performance artist, “Blue” Gene Tyranny.
Gary Grimshaw poster for a Rainbow Energies, Inc Party at Carpenter Hall in Ypsilanti, Michigan, June 22, 1973, with Detroit and Uprising. The only recording by Uprising we’ve found, on a couple of compilation albums:
Uprising – Long Hard Road (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eDwXaJy7Ak
A full-page Motown Records ad for the fourth studio album by Diana Ross, released on June 22, 1973.
Tour ad for Pink Floyd with a show at Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, on June 23, 1973. It was the band’s second Detroit show since the release of the album “Dark Side of the Moon”, but the earlier show occurred just four days after the album release on March 1, 1973. This time, the magnitude of the album was in full bloom and the band was vastly wealthier than just three months prior.
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (album) (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmHrHQEmp2Q
Record company ad for Blue Oyster Cult’s second album from around the same time that they made their sixth Michigan appearance, at the Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan, June 23, 1973 with Captain Beefheart and Malo opening.
Handbill by Chris Frayne, aka Ozone, for Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen with Lance Romance at the Paramount Northwest in Portland, Oregon on June 17, 1973.
A calendar of events for the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland with Stevie Wonder appearing on June 17, 1973. Other Michigan acts to follow include the Temptations on August 14, and Rare Earth on August 28, which must have been originally scheduled for an earlier date as they are listed in the upper right-hand corner, between the dates of June 9 and June 15.
On June 19, 1973, in a 63-seat theater in London, England, the premier performance of the play “The Rocky Horror Show” was presented, with British actor Tim Curry cast in the lead role of Frank-N-Furter. Curry had taken a first look at the script and remarked, “Boy, if this works, it’s going to be a smash”.
Terry O’Connor poster for The Brewery in East Lansing, Michigan, June 19, 1973, with Vince Vance & the Valiants. The bird's caption reads. "I knew they'd never be able to resist coming back to their loyal Lansing fans".
A full-page Motown Records ad for the first single from Smokey Robinson’s debut album which was released on June 19, 1973. The song “Sweet Harmony” was his tribute to his former band the Miracles. The ad also notes an upcoming Midnight Special TV show, scheduled for broadcast on July 13th, with Robinson hosting his former band mates along with Rare Earth and Martin & Finley.
Dennis Preston poster for the first show of the new season of Peter Cavanaugh’s “Wild Wednesday Michigan Monster”, at Sherwood Forest in Davison, Michigan, June 20, 1973, with Climax Blues Band, Sugarloaf, Frijid Pink, Mitch Ryder, White Witch, The Whiz Kids, Rumor, Springwell, Black Watch, Sky Hook, Justice Miles, “and others”.
With all of those great Aragon Ballroom posters we, unfortunately, have not found one for this gig with Iggy & the Stooges with Detroit and Blue Ash at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois, June 15, 1973. Pretty sure that if it exists, it’s killer. For now, all we have is this picture of the marquee, courtesy of the Ohio band Blue Ash.
Following Iggy & the Stooges’s return, after a two-year absence, with the show at Ford Auditorium on March 27th, their next three shows - Carnegie Hall in New York City on May 15, Santa Monica, California on June 8, and Michigan Palace in Detroit on June 10 – were all cancelled (see comments for the Santa Monica poster).
This show at the Aragon was the one that guitarist James Williamson was replaced by Warren “Tornado Turner” Klein for a single show.
Blue Ash – Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?) (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So_JQ5FPRac
Gary Grimshaw poster for the next two Sunday Free Concerts at Otis Spann Memorial Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with Detroit, Lightnin’, CJQ, and Walrus on June 17, 1973, followed by the Mojo Boogie Band, Hammer, Whiz Kids, and Terry Tate & United Supply Co. on the 24th.
Rainbow Graphics ad for another benefit dance to Defend Pun and Craig, at the Union Ballroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan with Radio King & his Court of Rhythm, The Rockets, and Terry Tate & United Supply Co, June 17, 1973.
Poster blank by Gary Grimshaw for the 1973 season of the Ann Arbor Free Concerts, names and dates to be added weekly.
The first Sunday Free Concert of the 1973 season, using the Gary Grimshaw template for the poster, at Otis Spann Memorial Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 10, 1973, with Radio King & his Court of Rhythm, Uprising, Brooklyn Blues Busters, and TNT.
A full-page Motown Records ad for the single “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye, released on June 15, 1973. It was his second single to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, after 1968’s "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6QZn9xiuOE
Meanwhile, over in England, Suzi Quatro’s solo career was taking off. Her first single, “Rolling Stone”, recorded with session musicians including Peter Frampton, went to #1 in Portugal. For her second record she assembled her own band, including future husband guitarist Len Tucky, and the record hit #1 throughout Europe and in Australia. Here is a nicely shot live performance:
Suzi Quatro – Can the Can (1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYoogY-UGio
Ann Arbor’s Wild Boys, with Humun Ivy from Birmingham, Michigan, at the Goodman Ballroom in East Lansing, Michigan, June 9, 1973, signed “GRR”, later posters by this mystery artist will sometimes be signed simply “G”.
