It was June 1964, and I was about to turn 13 when The Rolling Stones embarked on their first American tour. Detroit was their sixth show, but I was too young to go. I can still recall seeing them in the newspaper for the first time. They didn’t look like The Beatles, who had matching suits and evenly cut long hair. The Rolling Stones looked more like the bad boys of rock’n roll, showing difference relaxed styles, wearing a sweater vest, jacket, differing long hairstyles, and pointy black leather boots. I immediately fell in love with Mick Jagger, and I knew that the Stones were the band for me. Their edgy rock and blues music style fit their images.
The first song I recall hearing from the Stones was “Not Fade Away.” It was the A Side of their first single. The song “Not Fade Away” was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Crickets in 1957. The song’s rhythmic pattern is a variant of the legendary Bo Diddley beat.
Watching the Stones perform on the Mike Douglas show, Mick, playing his maracas, standing on one leg and shaking it, is the first great scene of my rock and roll adventure, and there were plenty later.
With my love for Mick Jagger, I lasted only a year and a half at a Catholic High School. When the Mother Superior saw my magazine clippings of Mick taped inside my locker, she had them ripped up and thrown away. Then, she told some of my friends that she found a note that I would skip school. There wasn’t any note, and she couldn’t show it to me. So, she had me kicked out of school. She told my mother I was a bad influence on the others. Nuns were always right back then, even when they were wrong. It was good that my mother took my side.
Leaving that school was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I enrolled in a more advanced public school where I learned about the Rock’n Roll Palace called the Grande Ballroom from new friends. Thank you Mick! They threw away my magazine clippings, but my love for you and your music did not fade away.
Screen shot from YouTube of the Mike Douglas Show
My music journey began at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan in the late 60’s. That is where my absolute love for rock music first started. The proprietor and promoter of the Grande (pronounced Grandee) was “Uncle Russ” Russ Gibb. He was also a teacher and disc jockey and best known for the “Paul is Dead” phenomenon on radio station WKNR-FM in Detroit in 1969. I remember listening to the live broadcast as it unfolded. I highly recommend the book “The Grande Ballroom” Detroit’s Rock and Roll Palace by Leo Early with a foreword by Russ Gibb. The cover photo below, taken by Tom Weschler, is of The Who performing at the Grande.
photo by Leni Sinclair
On page 162, there is the above photo of the MC5. I was so excited to see Mr. Early chose that photo for his book because I am in it watching the MC5 play. I’m standing in the background in the white blouse.
The Grande Ballroom was on the second floor of a building at the corner of Beverly and Grand River Roads in Detroit. It was built in 1927 and served as a Big Band Auditorium, Square Dance barn, Polka Hall and a roller skating rink. But, from 1966 to 1971, the Grande Ballroom was the most incredible psychedelic Live rock and roll club in the area. Local bands MC5 and The Psychedelic Stooges (Iggy and the Stooges) were the house bands. I’d always get there early to watch The Stooges, who usually played first. But I stood away because I never knew what Iggy would do next. The people who sat in the wooden chairs at the front didn’t think he’d be jumping off the stage right onto them and knocking them down. I’d watch their shocked facial expressions, especially from the well-dressed girls. I wanted to warn them, but maybe some already knew about his famous stage diving and enjoyed it.
I remember watching them play the song “Now I wanna be your dog” and “1969” because I was standing there thinking, “it’s 1968”. Iggy ahead of his time and is considered the “Godfather of Punk”. Hearing that raw constant driving guitar and bass and those “tell it like it is” and “in your face” type of lyrics was great. Back then it was challenging to know what was going on because the Stooges were inventing a new sound.
My girlfriend Dianne introduced me to Kathy Asheton, sister to Ron and Scott Asheton of the Stooges who were the guitarist and drummer respectively. The song “T.V. Eye”, on the Stooges’ 1970 album called Funhouse, is about something Iggy overheard Kathy say to her girlfriends.
T.V. Eye stands for “twat vibe eye”. She’d say “He’s got a tv eye on you” to a girlfriend whenever she’d see a guy checking them out. I haven’t seen her since the 70’s. I liked her, and she was cool and fun to hang out with. She took us to Iggy’s house when he wasn’t home and showed us his record collection, one of which was “Iggy and the Iguanas.” I didn’t know then, that he had been a drummer before. Sadly, in 2009 her brother Ron died of a heart attack and then about 5 years later, Scott also died of a heart attack.
Kathy Asheton organized “Celebrate the life of Ron Asheton” at the Michigan Theatre on April 19, 2011, in Ann Arbor, featuring Iggy and the Stooges. It was a great show and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. It was a sold-out show that drew National media attention.
Donations for Ron’s favorite charity, the Humane Society for abused and abandoned animals, were being taken up. As it’s my favorite charity, I was glad to donate. You can donate directly at RonAshetonFoundation.org. And Ron did say, “My best friends are my four-legged ones.”
The Grande had live rock and blues bands, psychedelic light shows and strobe lights, artwork, Hippie shop, dancing, a promenade around the dance floor to meet new people and socializing with friends. My girlfriends and I created fashionable outfits and sewed new ones practically every week. People were doing other things like drugs and smoking pot. And I’ve only recently heard that there was a mattress under the stage where people had sex. My first thought was “YUCK” there was probably rodents under there. I mean the place was old and not in good condition. The plumbing was bad and the toilets would overflow.
In between bands performing, Dave Miller, the Disc Jockey and MC at the Grande, often played records by the band Cream, especially “I feel free.” He was friends with the band. The song “I feel free” became my anthem because the Grande freed my soul. It was always one of the first songs I’d hear when I arrived early.
The MC5 were from Lincoln Park, Michigan, and they were the Grande Ballroom’s main house band and my favorite local band. They played very high energy, thunderous rock’n roll. They are best known for literally kicking out the jams! And at times some British bands didn’t like to play after them, and they would wonder why the crowd wasn’t responsive. One of my favorite lyrics from their song “Kick out the Jams” is “Let me be who I am.” Feeling free and accepted for who you are was what the Grande and its music helped me to do.
Poet, writer and political activist John Sinclair was the manager of the MC5 and was involved in reorganizing the underground newspaper The Fifth Estate. From 1965 on, he advocated for the legalization of marijuana. And in 2018, Michigan became the 10th state to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
I wasn’t interested in the anti-establishment, free love and counter-culture movement then; I just wanted to hear the music and have fun. I was 15 at the time, and you had to be at least 17. I used my sister’s I.D., that showed I was 19. Security guards would laugh but let me in. Once inside, some kids would throw their fake I.D’s out the window to a friend trying to get in.
After many years, I read an interview where Michael Davis, bassist of the MC5 referred to the Grande as “our Palace.” It was our palace because it made us feel like music royalty. We were very privileged to see and hear such fantastic, now legendary musicians. I was born at the right time where music is concerned– a child in the 50’s, a teen in the 60’s, and an adult in the 70’s. I knew Michael personally, but I was 16 when I met him. Watching him play in the band and talking to him afterward was exciting. I wrote a poem for him. I was too shy to tell him, but a friend told him I had written one, so he wanted to hear it.
“I am Michael’s bass guitar
I’m always near, never far
With his gentle hand he pulls my string
And holds my neck to make me sing”
Above. The MC5 Fred Smith, Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer, Dennis Thompson and Rob Tyner. Currently trying to verify the photographer, but I believe it’s Leni Sinclair)
A few years ago, I was watching the YouTube of the MC5 playing “Looking at You” at Tartar Field at Wayne State University in 1970 and remembered that I was there. I was shocked to see myself after so many years. I remember standing there in between the speakers. I’m happy to be a small part of the band’s history. I was flipping my hair back several times.
MC5 “Looking at You” with over One Million views on YouTube. Below..Screenshot from the video below. Video taken by Leni Sinclair.
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Pink Floyd played at the Grande on July 12, 1968 and opened for The Who
In the picture of “The Who” below, you see Nick Mason, drummer of Pink Floyd on the side of the stage watching them play. May also be Roger Waters sitting next to him.
Photo by Tom Weschler
Below Photo of Pink Floyd at the Grande
Photo by Tom Weschler.
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Below: Grande postcard announcing The Who and Pink Floyd
artwork by Carl Lundgren
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Detroit’s Grande Ballroom was the first stop on The Who’s 1969 American tour. The concert dates were May 9, 10, and 11, and it was also when The Who premiered their rock opera “Tommy”.
My girlfriend and I got to the Grande early, took a spot in front of the stage, and sat on the floor until the band came out. I’m not sure which of the three nights this was, but we watched the entire show right in front of Pete Townshend. That night, The Who created a music monster of sound that tried breaking through the Grande walls. We could feel it.
Standing at Townshend’s feet, I felt like I was about to faint from the extreme volume coming from his amplifiers, about ten feet away. I also watched them play the songs “Magic Bus”, “Happy Jack”, and “Boris the Spider”, which were my favorites.
It was a wild scene, and I was so close to all the action that I ducked my head at times for fear I’d get hit when Pete was swinging his arm and his guitar. At the end of the show during “My Generation” Pete began smashing his guitar into the amp and onto the floor, and fans were grabbing and taking pieces of it. Keith Moon’s drums seemed to explode, and he was throwing them across the smoke-filled stage. I had never seen anything like this before. It was unbelievable and so cool up close. I wasn’t even high on weed or anything. I didn’t need it. Music was always the best high for me. I remember Roger Daltrey wore a suede fringed vest while Pete wore his famous white boiler jumpsuit.
On May 28, 2019, before their Detroit area concert started, The Who paid tribute to Russ Gibb, who passed away on April 30 at 87. Photos of Russ and The Who at the Grande were shown in slides on the video screen above the stage. And at the end, it read “Goodbye Russ…Thank you for such great times..You will be missed!” The Who played the Grande 9 times between ’68 and ’69. Russ Gibb became friends with the band particularly with Pete Townshend because Tom Wright, the manager of the Grande was also an old friend of Townshend.
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British blues rock band Savoy Brown played the most extended set ever. The crowd kept screaming for “MORE” and wouldn’t let the band stop. Their boogie rocked the Grande, and the fans rocked along with it.
On the album “A Step Further” by Savoy Brown (1969) there is a 24-minute live performance of the “Savoy Brown Boogie” recorded live in London, England, where Chris Youlden, vocalist, thanks the Detroit crowds. “This is the Boogie by Savoy Brown. I wanna thank and dedicate to the people at Detroit in memory of our good times which were spent boogying in your town”.
Above: Chris Youlden, vocalist and occasional rhythm guitarist for Savoy Brown 1969 at the Grande Ballroom. Photo by Daniel Vanneste
Detroit rock music crowds were the best. After all, it was Motown, and we witnessed the best soul music of the 60’s. For me, that started in 1963. I watched Little Stevie Wonder sing and play “Fingertips” on his harmonica on Detroit TV. He was about 13, I was 12.
I remember so well the night Savoy Brown played for so long because it was late, and I had to drive several girls home. When I got my driver’s license and used car, I became the driver of many of the Grande girls.
One of my great experiences at the Grande was hearing the older blues artists like John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Albert King, BB King, Howlin’ Wolfe and James Cotton. The American Blues and R&B artists influenced the British rock bands. When the British brought their blues-inspired music to America, the new younger audiences were eager to witness the original American blues artists in rock concert halls across the US and Europe.
Even before my Grande Ballroom music adventures, the song by The Lovin’ Spoonful “Do You Believe In Magic,” struck a chord in me that I remember where I was when it hit me. It was after a High School dance in 1965, and I was on a bus going home. A friend had a transistor radio, and that song was playing. I always believed in magic, but this song told how there’s magic in music. And the lyrics “How the music can free her” told me how music can help free me from feeling down about life. But it was the lyrics, “If it’s jug band music or rhythm and blues, just go and listen,” and I did that. I followed the music.
British rock bands of the late 60’s and early 70’s told enchanting tales with their lyrics and music. Some of their English folk-rock ballads are known for their Medieval, Elizabethan, Renaissance, Baroque, and classical influences. Their use of the musical instruments from those eras, like dulcimer, recorders (woodwind) and harpsichord, made the songs even more magical. The musicians were like white knight troubadours in fairy tales. Music was my escape.
Of all the English rock bands that played at the Grande, Procol Harum appeared about ten times during 1968 and ’69, and I was probably there for most. They are most known for the song “Whiter Shade of Pale,” which, for many, is the anthem of the late sixties art and rock music scene. It is one of the best-selling music singles of all time.
Procol Harum are known for their baroque and classical influence, which is what I liked about them. Grande regulars would say that “Kaleidoscope” is the song that reminds them most of being at a Procol Harum show. While on a trip to London in 1971, I met and got to know their bass player through friends.
On October 22, 1968, I saw John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers at the Grande. They began playing the Marquee Club in London as early as 1963. In April 1965, guitarist Eric Clapton, formerly of the Yardbirds, joined the Bluesbreakers. Then, in 1966, Clapton formed the power trio Cream.
Also, that same night, the band Cream was in concert down the street at the Olympia. While taking a quick break from watching Mayall, I was standing in front of Russ Gibb’s office when I overheard someone say that Eric Clapton was coming over. So, I waited at the top of the stairs and saw him. I almost ran to the side of the stage to get a good spot to watch. I knew it would be legendary to see Eric Clapton jamming with John Mayall at the Grande after his concert with Cream. It would be Clapton’s final appearance at the Grande. I love British blues, and the two greats were performing together again. Over the years, whenever I would talk about the Grande, I would tell that story because it’s one my fondest.
Another John Mayall concert at the Grande in March of 1969 (photo below). My favorites are “Room to Move” written by John Mayall and “Parchman Farm” written by Bukka White, later recorded and rewritten by Mose Allison. I love Mayall’s harmonica playing.
Above Photo by Ruth Hoffman (I’m shown far left, top)
When Led Zeppelin first played at the Grande, it was for three consecutive nights on January 17, 18 and 19 of 1969. I was a big fan of the Yardbirds and knew they would be a supergroup. I was there for their first performance. It seemed as though there were only 200 people there. I had heard from a local musician that this was the band we should see. There was a festival that night in Detroit with several bands performing, so that was one reason the Grande was a bit empty. Plus, a winter storm in the area kept people away. I had seen the Yardbirds play at the Carnaby Street Fun Festival in Detroit in November of 1966. I had their records, and my friends and I adored them and their music.
That first night of Led Zeppelin, the band was having sound problems, and I had heard that their amplifiers hadn’t arrived in time due to an ice storm. They used rented amps from a local music store. They didn’t have the high-powered Marshall amps they were used to. I remember watching Jimmy Page play his guitar with a violin bow and thinking how cool it was and how strange a sound it made, like nothing I’d ever heard. It was the beginning of Led Zeppelin, and they would become one of the greatest rock bands in history. Little did I know I’d get to meet them three years later.
From photos of another night, Robert Plant looked nice in deep blue velvet jean-style trousers and a dusty rose-colored sweater. Jimmy Page wore olive green velvet trousers and a shirt of lace fabric with long billowy sleeves. For me, Jimmy Page first brought British fashions to Detroit and the Grande when he was with the Yardbirds. The beautiful materials and styles made the rock music scene more romantic and dreamlike. I believe that of all the guitarists I’ve ever heard, Jimmy Page plays the most beautifully.
On January 18, 2020, Jimmy Page posted the comments and photo below on his Instagram and Facebook pages. So, I’ll let him tell what the shows were like.
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Ruffled pirate shirts were already in our stores, but there was nothing locally like the fashions of the London shops. We copied the British style and created our own apparel, sewing a new outfit practically every week. We wore velvet bell bottoms, satin blouses, sashes worn around the waist, vests, antique blouses and jewelry.
On November 3, 1968, The Jeff Beck Group played at the Grande. One of my girlfriends remarked that she saw Roger Daltrey of The Who walking down the hallway. I felt that that didn’t make sense. Then I figured out later she most likely saw the singer of The Jeff Beck Group, a guy named Rod Stewart, that fans kept calling Jeff. Also, the guitarist Ron Wood was in the band.
Jeff Beck Group at the Grande (photo by George Elanjian).
An audio bootleg recording of The Jeff Beck Group at the Grande is available on YouTube. It’s incredible to hear after all these years. It’s wild how good Jeff Beck is on guitar. And Rod Stewart’s vocals have always been excellent. I love their version of the Willie Dixon song “I Ain’t Superstitious,” first recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1961. On July 26, 1969, they played the Grande again but broke up after that performance.
The Rod Stewart Album, which came out in 1969, or the Yellow Album as we called it, is still one of my all-time favorites. Stewart sings with such a powerful, authentic soul that it grabs your heart, and the songs tell stories full of emotion. The beautiful sound of Nicky Hopkins on piano is unforgettable. Ron Wood plays excellent guitar and slide guitar. I love “An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down,” “I Wouldn’t Ever Change a Thing,” and “Cindy’s Lament,” which were written by Rod Stewart. Every song fits the collection so well. All of the exceptional musicians each play their parts so beautifully, and together, they created a perfect album.
After the Grande closed its doors, the music scene moved to the Eastown Theatre, also in Detroit. That’s where we saw the band Faces with Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagan, and Kenney Jones. After their first concert there, Rod asked my friends and I for a ride. How could we say No? It’s all in the next chapter. Here’s one photo of the band performing.
Photo of Faces, taken by my girlfriend, Marg Field
(Myself under the arrow)
Back to Iggy Pop for a moment. Here is a cool photo of him supporting his fellow local musician friends, SRC (Scot Richard Case), at a free concert in Michigan in 1971. SRC also lived in Ann Arbor.
Photo by Leni Sinclair
Grande concert list, poster by Carl Lundgren 2006
Thank you to all the outstanding musicians and friends who made the Grande Ballroom a truly remarkable Music Palace, where I found my Rock’n’Roll heart and soul and became free to be who I am.
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Publius Enigma Solved 