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The Coat Puller 9-3-1976

The Coat Puller 9-3-1976 image
Parent Issue
Day
3
Month
September
Year
1976
OCR Text

THE COAT PULLER

Yes, dear readers, this is really it -- the first weekly issue of Kulchur, official organ and Journal of the Motor City Cultural Association, now published every Friday in the pages of The Detroit Sun. You can contact The Coatpuller here at the offices of The Sun -- telephone 961-3555 -- to pass on cultural or entertainment information by the week, and we'll be glad to carry as much sincere data as we can fit into our meager format ... Incidentally, people who are doing things around town will want to know that long-time Calendar Editor Peggy Taube has been promoted to Assistant Editor of Kulchur, and that the popular Barbara Quarles (pictured here with Kulchur Associate Editors Edwenna Edwards and Kittie Lee) has taken her place at The Sun's Calendar Desk. So B.Q. is the one to call with your calendar information from now on, and please do what you can to keep her posted on your activities. If she doesn't know, there's no way she can pass it on to our eager readers -- and if they don't know, what are we doing this for? A word to the wise, and all that ...

... Interest in modern dance keeps spreading locally, and the Detroit dance scene continues to develop as a result. While Clifford Fears and his troupe have added power and spice to the musical Selma at Music Hall, the hard-working members of the Harbinger Dance Company have been preparing a big move. Headquartered for two years in the Detroit Community Music School, the Harbinger crew now have their own spacious studios at 75 Victor (just off Woodward) in Highland Park. Harbinger, the only full-time professional troupe in the city (i.e. with salaried dancers, choreographers, etc.), got considerable attention this year with their children's Christmas special, Ebenezer is a Geezer, and they will continue to give top-flight concerts at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Dance classes formerly taught at the Music School (ages five and up) will begin September 23 at the new studio on Victor. Folks interested in learning and/or supporting modern dance in the city should contact Harbinger TO5-9200, or attend the benefit extravaganza Saturday night, September 11 at the Showcase Ballroom, Harper and Van Dyke just off I-94 ...

... Check our regular calendar section for details on the Harbinger Benefit and tons of other hip happenings around town. By the way, we've expanded our calendar section, streamlined it somewhat and given it the new Motor City Edutainment Guide title to better reflect our intention here. Regular readers will also notice some changes in the new weekly Kulchur: the addition of "Focus," "Free Trips," and The "Motor City College of Musical Knowledge," plus the whole centerfold in 10-point type! We hope you'll like it as much as we do. Film, book, and record coverage is also being expanded and, well, there's a whole lot more ...

TIDS & TADS:

The premier Motor City rock and roll band, the Rockets, are expected to "make some tapes" in a few weeks with producer Don Davis (Ron Banks' Dramatics, Mavis Staples, Johnnie "Disco Lady" Taylor) at Davis' famous United Sound Studios. Hmmmmmm ... The popular jams "Saturday Night Special" and "Starship" were recorded on Buddha under the name of drummer Norman Conners because Conners is the bandleader -- but that's Detroit bassist Michael Henderson whose interesting singing voice is heard throughout. Henderson, who has played with Miles Davis, Aretha, and most of the Motown groups, just recorded his own lp for Buddha, Solid, and he won't be working with Conners anymore. "It won't do my career any good to continue with him," he told Billboard ... Leonard King, who does the popular Full Circle radio show on WDET-FM and contributes here as well as drumming with Eddie Kendricks, recently gigged at the L.A. Convention Center along with the Dramatics and Johnnie Guitar Watson ... Vocalists Debbie Duncan and Doris Duesette are turning heads as members of the Detroit-based Sweet Thunder band ... Kulchur Editor Frank Bach had to "run the gauntlet" in the Kulchur offices after being discovered solely responsible for two factual errors in the last issue. LaVerna Mason, vocalist with the Selma cast, was featured recently on the smash James Cleveland Lp, God Smiled on Me, not the Harold Smith/Majestics hit record Lord Help Me to Hold Out. And Carolyn Franklin was studying in Los Angeles for two years under Lincoln Kilpatrick at the Cambridge School of Drama, not with ex-Mod Squadder Clarence Williams III. Sorry, sisters ...

A TIP OF THE C.P. BORSOLINO to Channel 56 for airing five excellent musical programs as part of the August "Jazz at the Top" series, which featured Stanley Turrentine/Freddíe Hubbard, a tribute to Bix Beiderbicke, Joe Williams/Dee Dee Bridgewater, Count Basie (!!!), and Keith Jarrett ... Keith Stroup, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told Rolling Stone magazine recently, "We may have to fold up our tent and go home." NORML, which has been substantially funded by the Playboy Foundation in the past, has been instrumental in bringing a measure of sanity to several states which have recently lowered their marijuana penalties. NORML's work in other, less fortunate places (like Michigan) is threatened this year by a lack of money and ever-growing expenses. For information requests, donations, and offers of assistance, write NORML at 2317 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20037. You'll feel better if you do ...

Finally, we bid a fond farewell to longtime Sun staffer David Fenton, who has left the paper to take an editorial position with High Times magazine in New York. Good luck, old buddy ...

Photo captions: Edwards, Quarles, and Lee -- Harbinger Dance Company