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Splatt Gallery's History of Michigan Concert Posters
The Grande Ballroom Posters - Page Three
The 36th weekend, June 9-10, 1967, at The Grande Ballroom featured Donnie Dope’s fourth poster for the venue, a profuse illustration that captured the newspaper ad’s theme of “a dance concert in honor of people who keep their heads”. Continuing the Tolkien obsession, the admitted free gimmick was for “Happy Hobbits”.
The original handbill was printed on pale yellow stock and measures approximately 8″ x 11″.
The bands were the Apostles with the Morticians, and Thyme with the Eccentrics.
Jeep Holland recorded a single for the Thyme, as an A-Square Production, distributed by Bang Records, the A-side was a cover of a Neil Diamond Song and the B-side was a cover of a song by the Mamas & the Papas.
The Thyme – Love to Love (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-tpEQREZdE
The Thyme – Very Last Day (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz9WlXywbX4&feature=g-vrec&context=G2917585RVAAAAAAAABA
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Newspaper ad for the “Keep Their Heads” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, June 9-10, 1967.
The 37th weekend at The Grande Ballroom, June 16-17, 1967 featured Donnie Dope’s fifth poster for the venue. This must have been Father’s Day weekend, as the newspaper ad presented “a dance concert in honor of American fathers” and the admitted free gimmick was for “Good Dads”.
The original handbill measures approximately 8″ x 11″.
The bands were Jagged Edge with Shifting Sands, and MC5 with Those Guys.
We are going to run out of tracks by The Jagged Edge (which are a scant few) way before we run out of their appearances at the Grande (which were many).
The Jagged Edge – Crystal Rain (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZQz8fMcD2Y
A newspaper ad for the “American Dads” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, June 16-17, 1967.
We’ve talked about The Spike Drivers before, back in 1965 when guitarist Ted Lucas got his hands on the first batch of Owsley acid to arrive in Detroit which inspired him to create the group. Original drummer, Steve Booker left the group early on to pursue a varied solo career that continues to this day (as Muruga) and in June, 1967, Lucas and bass player Richard Keelan decided to break away and become The Misty Wizards. The remaining original members, Sid and Marycarol Brown recruited Marshall Rubinoff and Ron Cobb and continued on as the Spike Drivers.
The band organized a rare Tuesday night show at the Grande Ballroom, called the “Love Prom”, June 20, 1967, to introduce the new line-up. The other groups that performed were the Family Medicine Chest, the Group, and the Jazz Disciples.
Here’s one of the last appearances of the Spike Drivers, still with Ted Lucas, on Robin Seymour’s Swingin’ Time TV show.
The Spike Drivers – Strange Mysterious Sounds (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3nAe4mjFAg
The 38th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, June 23-24, 1967, a dance concert “honoring school closing”, featured Donnie Dope’s sixth poster for the venue. The bands were MC5 with Phogg and Scot Richard Case with the Upset. No recordings by Waterford, Michigan covers band The Phogg, but they seem to figure prominently in the novel “Suburban Blues” by Al Pauly (former band member?). A book report will be forthcoming.
This image was printed only as a handbill, approximately 8″ x 11″, with black ink on pale blue paper. The one on the gray paper is a forgery.
A hand-lettered ad by an unknown artist that lists most of the shows at the Grande Ballroom for the month of June, including June 30 - July 1, 1967, for Echoes From A Broken Mirror with Southampton Rowe, and MC5 with the English Ryders. A newspaper ad declared the dance concert to be “In Honor of Independence Day” with the admitted free gimmick for “Daughters of the American Revolution”.
The Southhampton Rowe from Plymouth, Michigan headlined Friday night in their only (?) Grande Ballroom appearance. The MC5, scheduled for Saturday night, probably didn’t make it due to lack of their repossessed equipment.
The 40th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, July 7-8, 1967, featured Donnie Dope’s seventh poster for the venue. The bands were Thyme with the Hideaways and the Malibus, and Ourselves with the Berry Patch.
The original handbill measures approximately 8″ x 10″.
Russ Gibb must have been swept up in the Sgt. Pepper fever as the newspaper ad was for “a dance concert in honor of the New Inspired Beatles Sound” and the admitted-free gimmick was for “Men with real ¼-inch Beards and Moustaches”.
Also, obviously influenced by Sgt. Pepper, the Thyme were well on their way in their transition from the Kalamazoo garage band, The Hitchhikers, into Ann Arbor’s standard bearers of the new psychedelic music.
A newspaper ad for the “New Inspired Beatles Sound” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, July 7-8, 1967.
The 41st weekend at The Grande Ballroom, July 14-15, 1967, featured Donnie Dope’s eighth poster for the venue. The newspaper ad was for “a dance concert in honor of King Neptune” and the admitted-free gimmick was for “Suba (scuba?) In Wet Suits and Gear”.
The original handbill is green, black, and purple and measures approximately 8″ x 11″.
The bands were the Rationals with Bump, and Jagged Edge with Craig Sutherland Movement.
The Rationals straddled the two different worlds between the Grande Ballroom and The Roostertail supper club, where they frequently headlined as well as provided the backing for Al Greene in his “Back Up Train” days.
The Rationals – Out in the Streets (Sing!) (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29E-GpsT0Kg
A newspaper ad for the “King Neptune” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, July 14-15, 1967.
The 42nd weekend at The Grande Ballroom, July 21-22, 1967 featured Donnie Dope’s ninth poster for the venue. It was singer/songwriter Tim Buckley’s debut in Detroit, and it was the first time the Grande featured an artist from outside the region. The newspaper ad was for “a dance concert in honor of the New American Sound” and the admitted-free gimmick was for “All Buckleys”.
This image was printed only as a poster that measures approximately 10″ x 16″.
Tim Buckley headlined both nights, with MC5 and Ourselves opening on the first night, and the Shaggs (not the infamous sisters girl band) and the UP, a band formed by the Grande’s stage manager/announcer Frank Bach, making their debut appearance.
Tim Buckley – Song to the Siren (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMTEtDBHGY4
A newspaper ad for the “Buckley” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, July 21-22, 1967.
A map of the spread of the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, showing the relative location of the Grande Ballroom.
The Grande Ballroom was notoriously a steam bath on a hot summer night and after closing, the staff and bands usually took to the roof of the building to hang out and chill. As the sun was coming up on Sunday morning, July 23, following Tim Buckley’s second night, the party decided it would be a good day to hang out at the Kensington Metro Park and as they got into their cars to make the hour-long drive out of the city little did they know that just two miles down Joy Road in the opposite direction a disturbance outside a blind pig had been roiling for a few hours and was just about to get out of hand.
The group spent the day at the park in blissful oblivion and it wasn't until they returned to Russ Gibb's home in Dearborn that night that they turned on the TV and saw the city was in flames. Tim Buckley had left his guitar at the Grande and wanted to get it, and Gibb was worrying if the ballroom was even still standing.
They took Buckley's drummer, a black man, Carter Collins, along who kept crouched in the back seat until they crossed the police line, then switched places with Collins driving while the two white guys hid in back as they traveled through streets of war zone level destruction, a few isolated remaining buildings still standing with hastily scrawled "Soul Brother" signs as a plea to spare black-owned businesses.
When they got to the Grande it was remarkably undamaged although looters were streaming past. In a story that has become legendary, Gibb asked a passer-by why the building had been left untouched and the kid said. "They got music in there, man".
The Grande Ballroom didn’t miss a beat because of the riot/rebellion as by Friday, July 28th the violence had quelled and the curfews lifted.
Wayne Kramer of The MC5 had been at the party at the lake with Tim Buckley on the Sunday that it had started. He rode home with Frank Bach, stage manager at The Grande and singer for the new band, The Up, in a beat-up truck that wasn’t safe for highway travel so they took Grand River Avenue into the heart of the city. The flames in the sky which looked cool from a distance became a close-up horror of madness when they reached their apartments.
Kramer hunkered down for the following days, observing events through a telescope that he had in his home. On Thursday, the final day of disturbances, the Army and State Police noticed the telescope and believing it was an aid for snipers, invaded the apartment and administered some complimentary beatings, arrested Kramer and his roommates, only to release them without charges.
The poster for the 43rd weekend at The Grande Ballroom, July 28-29, 1967, was Donnie Dope’s 10th poster for the venue. It measures approximately 7″ x 10″.
The bands were Scot Richard Case with the Euphonic Aggregation, and the Apostles with the Upset.
There was no poster for the 44th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, August 4-5, 1967, but the newspaper ad was for a “dance concert in honor of vacationers” and the admitted free gimmick was for “All campers in camp clothing”. The bands were Thyme with Odds & Ends, and the Apostles with the Bouys.
The following weekend was a milestone event, with the first appearance of the Grateful Dead in Detroit. John Sinclair was a big admirer of the band mainly because “they didn’t kiss anybody’s ass”. During the shows at The Grande, Sinclair got to know The Dead’s managers, Rock Scully and Danny Rifkin, and concluding that they were “just as nuts as I am”, Sinclair made the decision to become the formal manager for the MC5.
The Grateful Dead headlined both the Friday and Saturday shows at the Grande Ballroom, August 11-12, 1967, with Southbound Freeway and the Rationals opening both nights. The Bishops and the Ashmollyan Quintet were also on the bill Friday and Saturday respectively.
The following day, the Dead went to Ann Arbor and played a Sunday free show at West Park. Leni Sinclair took the nice color photograph that day that remains a favorite of the Grateful Dead archives.
The poster for The Grande shows was Donnie Dope’s 11th for the venue. The red splotches that are on all copies indicate that there was a mistake, or a change, on the dates, and even the words “Grateful Dead” seem to be a last-minute addition to the artwork. The admitted-free gimmick in the newspaper ad was for “Licensed Morticians” and provided a phone number to call “if you are dead”.
The Grateful Dead – Friend of the Devil (1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XacvydVrhuI
Here is the rare, pre-modified version of Donnie Dope’s poster for the Grande Ballroom, dated August 2-3, before the last-minute change for the Grateful Dead’s first Michigan appearance. As shown above in the Grateful Dead photo, the modified version blocked out the August 2-3 dates with pieces of red tape and added, in plain text along the top and the sides, the Grateful Dead and the new dates of August 11-12.
And here’s another look at the final, modified version. The original handbill was printed in red ink on light green/gray stock and measures approximately 8″ x 12″.
A newspaper ad for the Grateful Dead weekend at the Grande Ballroom, August 11-12, 1967.
A second newspaper ad for the Grateful Dead weekend at the Grande Ballroom, August 11-12, 1967.
The 46th weekend at The Grande Ballroom, August 18-19, 1967 featured Donnie Dope’s 12th poster for the venue. The original handbill measures approximately 7″ x 10″.
The illustration once again seems in line with the newspaper ad for a “dance concert in honor of The Sky People” with the admitted-free gimmick this time for “Sky-Divers with Chutes”.
The newspaper ad also offered a chance for a free trip to San Francisco. Russ Gibb had been traveling back and forth to San Francisco, visiting friends and getting refresher courses from Bill Graham. It may have been the result of one of these trips that had brought The Grateful Dead to The Grande.
The headlining band for Saturday night was The Shaggs, who had also appeared at the Grande Ballroom a few weeks earlier. This was not the all-sisters band from New Hampshire that later achieved a cult status in outsider art, as that group was not formed by their father until 1968. Rather, it was a band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (actually spelled, “The Shags” and later, “The Shag”) who’s record, “Stop and Listen” is called the first anti-drug rock song.
The Shag – Stop and Listen (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33V9wEe-J0&feature=youtu.be
Another image of Donnie Dope’s twelfth poster for the Grande Ballroom, August 18-19, 1967, ragged but definitely authentic. This show seems to be the only known show by the band the Troyes, and they may have even been replaced if the following ad is correct.
The bands on the first night were the Uncalled Four, in their only known appearance, and the Thyme. The bands on the second night were the Shaggs, who were actually the Shag as we described in our previous post, and the Troyes.
The Troyes were a band from Battle Creek, Michigan who attracted the attention of famed band leader Ray Anthony, who in turn, signed the group to a new record label that he had started called Space Records.
Their first record was the single “Rainbow Chaser” which rose to #3 on the regional charts and encouraged Anthony to record an album’s worth of material with the band at the United Sound studio in Detroit. A second single, “Love Comes, Love Dies” was released, but the album never came to pass, that is until 2014 when the reissue label Cicadelic Records issued the collection of all 24 tracks that the band had recorded, and you can hear them here:
The Troyes – Rainbow Chaser Complete Recordings 1966-1968 (album) (2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy--2yceSHk
A newspaper ad for the 46th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, August 18-19, 1967, “In Honor of the Sky People” and “Sky-Divers with Chutes” admitted free. It also has the band Psyco Dellic Lollipops in place of the Uncalled Four, and Mothers Little Helpers in place of the Troyes.
The 47th weekend at The Grande Ballroom, August 25-26, 1967 featured Donnie Dope’s 13th poster for the venue. The original handbill measures approximately 8½″ x 11″. No other version is known. This also appears to be the final poster to have the “General Custer” Uncle Russ logo.
The poster is co-credited to Alice Cow, who may not be a real person (?) and gives the theme as “a dance concert honoring Alice in the Looking Class”. In contrast, the theme in the newspaper ad is “in honor of the Cave People” and the admitted-free gimmick is “Spelunkers Admitted Free”.
The bands in the ad were listed as Thyme with the Apostles and Our Mother’s Children, and Scot Richard Case with the MC5 and Certified Chalk Cyrcle.
Jeep Holland released a single humorously credited to “The Old Exciting Scot Richard Case” which was cover of a song by The Pretty Things, which shows again Holland’s deep knowledge of the more obscure British bands and its influence on the bands he managed.
The Old Exciting Scot Richard Case – Get the Picture (1968)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dr-hPynxpQ
The newspaper ad for the “Cave People” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, August 25-26, 1967.
A Sunday night benefit show for Trans-Love Energies on August 27, 1967 at the Grande Ballroom saw the return of Gary Grimshaw with his 20th poster for the venue, following a 12-week run of posters by Donnie Dope. The bands at the benefit show were the MC5, Billy C & the Sunshine, and the Spike Drivers.
The original handbill was produced in two types, each measuring approximately 8″ x 11″, with either brown ink or black ink.
A hand-colored copy of Gary Grimshaw’s poster for the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, for a Trans-Love benefit show on August 28, 1967, with a rare look at the back side that carried the announcement of the return of The SUN newspaper, which hadn’t had a proper, non-mimeographed, issue since April.
There was also a newspaper ad for the Sunday benefit show (with the wrong date) that is signed by Gary Grimshaw.
An ad in the Fifth Estate newspaper in Detroit, Michigan for several shows at the Grande Ballroom, beginning with the Chambers Brothers, MC5, Thyme, and System(?), September 1-2, 1967. A really sweet image, undoubtably by Gary Grimshaw, who was on the Fifth Estate staff, credited as “Art” in the staff box.
The 48th weekend at The Grande Ballroom, September 1-2, 1967, featured Gary Grimshaw’s 21st poster for the venue, with the Chambers Brothers headlining both nights, the MC5 opened the first night and Thyme opened the second night.
The original poster was printed with red and brown ink and measures approximately 14″ x 21″. The original handbill was printed in brown ink and measures approximately 7″ x 10″.
The newspaper ad was for a “dance concert in honor of La Haut Monde” (fashionable society) and the admitted-free gimmick was “Ranas Admitted Free” (no idea).
The Chambers Brothers had appeared in Detroit only once before, three years earlier, in 1964, with a six-night engagement at The Retort Coffee House in the basement of the Mt. Royal Hotel. True to the style of that venue, in those days The Chamber Brothers were a well-respected folk-music group, but by the time they played the Grande, their souls had been psychedelicized.
The Chamber Brothers – Time Has Come Today (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAScA6YUT30
High-quality image of Gary Grimshaw’s poster for the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan with the Chambers Brothers, MC-5 and Thyme, September 1-2, 1967.
Handbill version of Gary Grimshaw’s poster for the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan with the Chambers Brothers, MC-5 and Thyme, September 1-2, 1967.
A newspaper ad for the Chambers Brothers weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 1-2, 1967.
The 49th weekend at The Grande Ballroom, September 8-9, 1967, saw the return of Donnie Dope with his 14th poster for the venue, featuring Scot Richard Case with the Buoys, and the Rationals with Shaggs, Jagged Edge, and UP.
The original handbill measures approximately 8″ x 11″.
The newspaper ad was for a “dance concert in honor of people who read” and the admitted-free gimmick was for “Librarians”.
A newspaper ad for the “Librarians” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 8-9, 1967.
Issue #4 of the SUN, September 1967, had a subscription form for the high school underground newspaper DEVA next to an ad by an unknown artist for the Grande Ballroom that listed seven weeks’ worth of upcoming shows, starting the 49th weekend, September 8-9, 1967,
Ironically, it did not include the benefit show for DEVA which must have been scheduled after publication. It also promised an appearance by the Denver, Colorado band Lothar & The Hand People which never actually happened, nor for that matter did the “The Case of E.T. Hooley”. But it did let the cat out of the bag, a full month and a half early that the British super-group Cream was coming to Detroit.
Cream – Tales of Brave Ulysses (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8hLc_nqx8g
The 50th weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 15-16, 1967, featured Donnie Dope’s 15th poster for the venue. It was a bit of a departure from his usual style in that it was a collage instead of a drawing, a brilliantly simple Beatle Paul as Mouseketeer and he signed his real name, Forsyth.
The bands were MC5 with the Gang and Ourselves, and the Pack with the Ashmollyan Quintet. The newspaper ad also had the band Odds & Ends on the second night.
The newspaper ad was for a “dance concert in honor Zoo People” and the admitted-free gimmick was for “Zoo Employees”.
The original handbill was printed in blue ink and measures approximately 8″ x 10″.
The newspaper ad for the “Zoo People” concert at the Grande Ballroom, September 15-16, 1967.
We have not found any documentation of a rare Monday night show at the Grande Ballroom on September 18, 1967 featuring Scot Richard Case with the Buoys, but two of our most reliable sources list this show.
The first source is the Concert Database, and the second is a remarkably comprehensive, day-by-day, history of the band SRC, from the early days as the Fugitives all the way the band’s demise, found on the superb website of rock historian Bruno Ceriotti. The photo above is taken from that site.
Ceriotti goes way beyond just having the best on-line history of SRC, he does the same for dozens of bands, including the Prime Movers, Steppenwolf, the Pleasure Seekers/Cradle, Genesis, Iron Butterfly, Box Tops and many more. Go to them here - http://brunoceriotti.weebly.com/
The 51st weekend at The Grande Ballroom, September 22-24, 1967 (which included a Sunday night benefit show) featured Gary Grimshaw’s 22nd poster for the venue. Performers included Southbound Freeway with Billy C & the Sunshine and Our Mother’s Children, MC5 with the Buoys and the F.D.A., and, on the Sunday night benefit show for the Warren-Forest SUN newspaper, it was MC5 with Charles Moore and UP.
The newspaper ad was for a “dance concert in honor of Education” and the admitted-free gimmick was for “Gentle Teachers”.
This image was printed as both a poster and a postcard.
The original poster measures approximately 12″ x 22″. The circle at the top center has a beige background. The original postcard measures approximately 4″ x 7″ and the circle has a blue background.
The postcard version uses blue ink for the beige circle and the outside border. Technically, it is the first Grande Ballroom postcard, although the back was blank.
The newspaper ad for the “Gentle Teachers” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 22-24, 1967.
The 52nd weekend at The Grande Ballroom, September 29-30, 1967 featured Gary Grimshaw’s 24th poster for the venue, (with a photo credit to Leni Sinclair). The poster is titled “Black To Com” which was the name of the freak-out jam that was typically the MC5 set-closer.
The bands were the Apostles with Eastside Orphans and Happiness Tickets, and MC5 with the Spike Drivers.
The newspaper ad was for “a dance concert in honor of the Equus Caballus” (the horse) and the admitted-free gimmick was for “Equestrians in Full Habit”.
This image was printed as both a poster and a postcard.
The original poster measures approximately 13″ x 22″.
A second print poster was printed in 1997 and measures approximately 14″ x 22″. This reprint has the notation “Poster Art © 1967, 1997 Gary Grimshaw Photo © 1967, 1997 Leni Sinclair” at the bottom.
The original postcard measures approximately 4″ x 7″.
It looks like this may be the final appearance that we’ll see of The Spike Drivers, so here are three last songs of theirs for our soundtrack.
The Spike Drivers – Can’t Stand the Pain/Sometimes/Blue Law Sunday (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aftibVrNZXg
Newspaper ad for the “Horse” weekend at the Grande Ballroom, September 29-30, 1967.
John Sinclair encouraged and supported the emergence of underground student newspapers in the surrounding high schools. Cass Tech High had “Yellow”, originally called the Southampton Ulus-trated Times, or South Hampton International Times (SHIT), Grosse Point High had “Kulchur”, Cooley High had “The Truth” and “The Daily Planet”, and Mumford High had “The Elevator”.
A particularly ambitious project was formed by fourteen-year-old journalist, Dick Schloss, to pool the resources of three papers in the Birmingham and Berkeley high schools into a combined tabloid publication called DEVA. On Sunday, October 1st, 1967, a benefit show for DEVA was held at the Grande Ballroom.
The long list of performers was MC5, Thyme, the Rationals, Children, the F.D.A., the Gang, the Hearde, Ourselves, Period, and the Poor Souls.
The poster measures about 8” x 10”, and the unknown artist is listed as Schriter, Nova Express.
First Year Summary
Over the course of the first year there were 114 shows. The MC5 were the most frequent act with 41 shows, followed by the Southbound Freeway with 15, Thyme with 13, and SRC with 11. The Jagged Edge and the Rationals had 9 and 8, respectively.
The booking of national acts had started in the last three months, with Tim Buckley in July, followed by the Grateful Dead and the Chambers Brothers.
Over the course of the first year, with the 114 shows, there were 50 posters, Grimshaw had 23, Donnie Dope had 15, David Carlin had six, and Rob Tyner had five. Add to those, the one poster by Schriter, Nova Express and you have the 50.
There had also been some very nice ads, from hand-drawn text to detailed images that rivaled the posters. Gary Grimshaw had five, Rob Tyner had four, three were by unknown artists, and, one of the best, was done by James Montgomery.
The Grande Ballroom Posters - continues - HERE
