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Motor City College Of Musical Knowledge

Motor City College Of Musical Knowledge image Motor City College Of Musical Knowledge image
Parent Issue
Day
1
Month
October
Year
1976
OCR Text

The crisp autumn air and leaves changing from green to gold - ah, yes, fall is here. Tis' the season for football - and, while we know many of our students tend to be distracted by the pomp and excitement of the big games, we expect you to be up late studying nonetheless. This week's program includes several special courses, so take notes diligently, please.

  • Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers is the next in our series of The Greats of Jazz at Baker's Keyboard Lounge now through Oct. 3. Blakey has had tight, hot musical units consistently since the 50's, when he first put the Jazz Messengers together with Detroiters Donald Byrd and Doug Watkins. The message today is carried through such young players as little Dave Schnitter, whose all encompassing style is like a seminar on late 50's jazz tenor saxophone playing. Blakey is, as ever, an absolute master of the drums.
  • The soul master with a sense of humor, Joe Tex gets down with the folks at Ethel's Cocktail Lounge Sept. 30 to Oct. 3.
  • Louisiana Red and Sugar Blue (last seen with Leon Thomas' Full Circle at Baker's) give lessons in country blues and blues harmonica at the Raven Gallery (Greenfield north of 12 Mile) Sept. 28 to Oct. 3.
  • Another of the very potent musical combinations that have created a jazz renaissance in the Motor City, Tribe has a host of local stars (Wendell Harrison, tenor sax; Charles Moore, trumpet) and more than enough music to keep you going from midnight till dawn at the Music Station in the Midtown Theatre, Oct. 1-2.
  • Yes, it really is the Grateful Dead at Cobo Hall Oct. 3, with none other than Jerry GarcĂ­a on lead guitar, showing us what the psychedelic San Francisco 60's were all about.
  • Former Deep Purple guitarist Tommy Bolan brings his musical odyssey to Ford Auditorium Oct. 5. That's Detroit saxophone whiz Norma Bell on the horn. . .
  • The Rockets rock it at both the Roadhouse in Ann Arbor (Oct. 1-2) and the Red Carpet in Detroit (Oct. 6-10).
  • Vocal velvet lines Dummy George's already-comfy little club out on Six Mile near Meyers right next to Dot and Etta's Shrimp Hut, as Dennis Rowland and Luv take the stage Sept. 30-Oct. 3.
  • Al Wilson ("Show and Tell", "Let Me Be The One") brings all of his slickness to King's Row (Chicago at Meyers) Sept. 30-Oct. 5.
  • Also worth checking are the Motor City's own I Band, nightly at the Library in Mt. Clemens; Boogie Woogie Red Mondays at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor; J. C. Heard hanging in there at Bobbie's English Pub Wed-Sat. nights; and, later on, the Fantastic Four at Ethel's Cocktail Lounge (Oct. 8-10) and funky Grant Green (Oct. 5-10) at Baker's.

[Image Captions:

Louisiana Red

Norma Bell

Scott Morgan]

DETROIT ROCK 'N ROLL SHOW 

(continued from page 17)

Theatre Sunday was a healthy sampling of what is here in Detroit.

Sonic's Rendezvous Band, the show's headliner, is a potent combination of local rock n' roll greats brought together under the wing of Fred "Sonic" Smith. Along with the Who's Peter Townsend, Smith and the now-defunct MC5 pioneered the mighty, booming electronic guitar chording that has been the rhythm base for almost every rock n' roll band since.

Besides Smith, Rendezvous is comprised of soulful vocalist Scott Morgan (formerly with the Rationals and Guardian Angel) doubling on rhythm guitar, pounding bassist Gary Rasmussen (formerly with the Up), and the grim beater himself, Scott Asheton (formerly with Iggy Pop's Stooges) on drums.

Compared to those "new" rock n' roll bands coming out these days, Sonic's music seems even more refreshing than t was 10 years ago. The band is a little loose from lack of practice but still good enough to replace all of the non-musical "rock" groups in New York City. (Let's hope they do!)

The rockin' Rockets, glad for the opportunity to be outside a bar and on a concert stage, gave an especially good performance Sunday, playing a long list of r&b/rock n' roll classics mixed in with originals by leader/drummer/lead singer Johnny "The Bee" Badanjek and guitarist James McCarty. McCarty and the Bee drove Mitch Ryder's Detroit Wheels back when it was the first white rock n' roll band to get over in the U.S.

The Rockets - with Marc Marcano, piano and organ; John Fraga, bass; and Dennis Robbins, second guitar - were self-confident and flashy, playing smoothly and without any letup in energy. With a recording deal imminent, they should finally get the attention they have deserved so much for so long.

Also on the bill was the Punks from Pontiac, a band of very serious teenage musicians who play their own brand of Stooges/MC5 music in the well-proven tradition of learn-by-emulating.

Ted Lucas, once a mainstay with Detroit's first psychedelic rock n' roll band, the Spikedrivers, opened the show with a tasty acoustic set.

It certainly turned out to be a very refreshing idea to get all this rock n' roll energy back together again at the Showcase. Let's not forget we used to do it every week in the same building (when it was going strong as the Eastown concert theatre) and at the Grande Ballroom, among other places.

Those eager faces in the crowd looked like they would like to do this again and again, and so would we.

- Frank Bach

 

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