Some Heavy Music at The War Memorial
By Betsy Alexander
Historical Education Coordinator, The War Memorial
When Marion turned over her estate to The Grosse Pointe War Memorial Association, one thing that both she and daughter Josephine were very clear about: they wanted to make sure that there were educational and cultural programs for younger people, not just adults.
From the earliest days of The War Memorial, dances for various age groups were held – sometimes too successfully. Adult dances were very well attended, but the teen bops drew 500-800 regularly. They were usually “record parties,” or featured live jazz combos to dance to. They were also frequently themed and sponsored by War Memorial “youth advisors.” Amid neighbors’ complaints, these early teen dances ceased after the first several years.
By the time the 1960’s rolled around, teen dances and music were a whole other beast. Then Executive Director, John Lake, who wasn’t one for the crowds and loud noise that kids drew, was also very interested in capturing some of the younger market that The Neighborhood Club and schools like Notre Dame attracted. A competitor of Lake was The Hideout in Harper Woods, run by Dave Leone and Bob Seger’s longtime manager, Punch Andrews. Lake wanted The Hideout minus any attempted drinking, smoking, or loud noise, a “wholesome Hideout” so to speak. To ensure this, it was determined that police would be patrolling, and several chaperones would keep a vigilant eye whilst mingling not so nonchalantly. They must have been taken aback by the “psychedelic light shows” and “go-go girls” advertised for some of the dances.
The teen dances were cautiously revived first after basketball games as a diversion, then in the form of the “Junior Other Side” and the cooler “Senior Other Side” dances, the latter featuring some surprising bands. These popular dances were frequently held Friday or Saturday nights, for Pointes-only school kids in the mid-1960’s and early 1970’s and were the ones most frequently remembered. It was many of these same bands that also appeared at The Hideout and other rock clubs, on WKNR and CKLW, and on TV shows like Detroit Tubeworks and Swingin’ Time.
We get many reports of folks stating that they attended numerous Bob Seger shows as proms and other dances at the facility. The only four documented gigs found were on December 23, 1967, when Bob Seger and the Last Heard (“East Side Story”) appeared along with SRC (“I’m So Glad”), a very popular and well-traveled psychedelic act that also played here a few times. Exactly one year later, Bob was “ramblin’ gamblin’” in his War Memorial return with his new group, The Bob Seger System. Pointe teens must have responded very favorably to the previous year’s Yule time dance for him to get a repeat holiday performance. Tickets were $2.75 in advance, $3.25 at the door for this show. For his third War Memorial appearance, January 9,1971, saw the billing read Bob Seger Band. This was the timeframe just after The System had broken up and he was trying various ideas and musicians out. Bob’s fourth appearance was “back in ‘72” on August 3, with his career on a major upswing, and Julia as the supporting act. Many other supposed Seger War Memorial sightings have been attested to, but there is no evidence of them and, as of this writing, Bob’s still not talking.
Notable acts that played at The War Memorial, besides the multiple appearances by SRC, including 1/7/67, 1/10/70, and 11/20/71:
Brownsville Station (“Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room”) 3/13/71
The Frost (“Rock and Roll Music”) 11/6/70
The Rationals (“Respect”) 10/26/68 and 2/28/69
Frijid Pink (“House of the Rising Sun”) 7/26/71 and 7/18/72
Teegarden & Van Winkle (“God, Love and Rock & Roll”) 6/29/72
The Kingsmen (“Louie Louie”) 7/10/66
Mike Quatro Jam Band 12/22/70
Savage Grace (7/12/71)
Springwell (“It’s For You”) 10/30/71
Third Power 8/9/71
Catfish Hodge 8/9/71
Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes (“Journey to the Center of the Mind”) 6/21/71
Other acts that folks swear played here, but there is no evidence of, include Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Spencer Davis Group, and the MC5.
One Grosse Pointe Woods act that presumably should have played here, but I have no documentation for, are The Pleasure Seekers, the first band fronted by Torrey Road’s Quatro sisters: Patti, Suzi, Arlene, and Nancy. I also couldn’t find anything for Cradle (Patti, Suzi, and Nancy).
However, we do have these very cool 1960’s publicity photos of The Pleasure Seekers hanging off our old gate, standing in the knot gardens, and posing in the Reception Room. Patti Quatro, lead guitar/vocals, spoke very fondly of The War Memorial, recalling the dance classes she and her sisters took here for years. She stated that they loved coming over to the house and grounds to explore. Patti also disclosed that when hard rock group, Mountain (“Mississippi Queen”) came to town, they and the Quatro’s came over to horse around in our knot gardens! Patti is the publisher of the bands’ archival materials, having been in three pioneering all women rock bands. In one of her upcoming Rock and Roll Survivor podcasts, she mentioned that she would be talking a bit about The War Memorial.
When I spoke with Scott Richardson, lead vocalist of SRC, he was very enthusiastic about “those amazing days” and the Grosse Pointe audiences he played for. He said the Fries Auditorium was “always packed, maybe 500-600 kids” rocking out! SRC were non-stop touring, more so than other Detroit area bands at their level, but they kept making it back to The War Memorial. They also played the Grande Ballroom’s opening night, on bills with many of the top acts of the ‘60’s, and the big festivals of the day. Once SRC broke up, Scott moved to England and lived and worked with David Bowie circa 1973-1974, before relocating to Los Angeles to work with Bob Dylan on Hearts of Fire, two of The Lord of the Rings films, and other well regarded entertainment work.
It's true; rock and roll never forgets.
To learn more about the history of The War Memorial and the Alger Family, please contact Betsy at balexander@warmemorial.org to schedule a tour.