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In
1966 the Grande Ballroom located on Grand River Avenue at Beverly in
Detroit, Michigan was leased by Dearborn high school teacher and
local radio DJ Russ Gibb. Russ, soon to be known as “Uncle Russ”,
visited San Francisco, saw concerts at the Avalon and Fillmore
Theaters and carried back a vision he was certain would work in
Detroit. Bringing in others such as Detroit counterculture figure
John Sinclair to connect with booking agents and bands, the Grande
hosted awesome shows with San Francisco bands, local bands, and
international acts. The talent loved to play gigs at the Grande as
much as the fans loved to dance and party at the Grande Ballroom.
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Uncle Russ wanted posters like he saw in San Francisco; he turned
to Rob Tyner and Rob suggested Gary Grimshaw, just returned from San
Francisco where he experienced the mind-expanding scene and the
psychedelic posters that went with it. Russ hired Gary to do the
posters and later switched to handbills that could be more easily
distributed to high school students. Gary Grimshaw and later others,
most notably Carl Lundgren, cranked out artworks with very little
advance notice of the line-up. Many of Gary’s posters and handbills
include photographs by Leni Sinclair. Gary and Leni are good friends
even today; currently – 2011 - they are working together on a book
to document this historical time among other chapters, called
Detroit Rocks! A Pictorial History of Motor City Rock and Roll 1965
– 1975. The Grande Ballroom closed as a rock venue in 1972.
Gary’s Grande images were created for: Big Brother and the
Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Yardbirds,
the Doors, the Grateful Dead, Jeff Beck, James Gang, Cream and The
Who, among others. The MC5, Thyme, and Iggy and the Stooges served
as house bands, assuring lots of poster mentions. The Grande also
featured blues and avant-garde jazz, such as Sun Ra and The Arkestra. |
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