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16. A Night at the Grande As 1968 began to unfold, the Grande Ballroom was drawing steady crowds every weekend. The talent on stage consisted mainly of Detroit-based bands, such as the MC5, Scott Richard Case, the Rationals, Thyme, Jagged Edge and the Apostles. But by late 1967, Russ Gibb was also ‹nancially able to begin booking a few national names. On Friday, December 15, Vanilla Fudge, best known for a slow, psychedelic version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” played the ‹rst of a three-night stand, with the Thyme opening the show. On Saturday night the Rationals opened, and on Sunday the MC5, still the Grande’s regular house band, earning $125 for a night’s work. Cream, the power trio featuring “guitar god” Eric Clapton, was on stage December 22 and 23, with the MC5 and Billy C. and the Sunshine opening both shows. Detroit blues legend John Lee Hooker came home to the Motor City the following week, December 29 and 30, and played to a young but appreciative audience. New Year’s Eve was a family affair at the Grande as the “5” headlined , supported by Billy C. and the Sunshine, Prime Movers, and the Apostles. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers appeared in January 1968, Canned Heat and the Byrds in February. On March 1 and 2, Big Brother and the Holding Company, best known for bluesy lead vocalist Janis Joplin and their big hit “Piece of My Heart,” took the stage. Al Kooper’s Blood, Sweat, and Tears performed on the third. The Who, popular in Detroit since their ‹rst release, “Can’t Explain,” became a local top 5 hit in 1965, performed an explosive set at the Grande on March 9, after which they loaded up their own equipment and headed for a Holiday Inn. According to tour manager Tom Wright, the Who had been on a grueling tour of one-nighters, and when they arrived in Detroit, “Everyone was 153 shot.”1 Having played “the big deals, New York, San Francisco and LA,” the band didn’t have much energy or enthusiasm in reserve. Then the band arrived at the Grande, which Wright described as an experience similar to “dozing off in class and waking up in Times Square at ‹ve in the afternoon, and realizing you’re on acid.”2 The Grande was packed for the performance, and although the Who had played before larger crowds, they had not seen an audience “so close together,” looking like they were “stuck to the walls.”3 The band was more than pleased with their reception in Detroit and how familiar the crowd was with all their early material. Tom Wright “had never seen the Who try harder.” Wright says that after that show, “the Who left Detroit convinced that they would be successful.”4 “I went there the ‹rst time [the Grande] and my mind was just shattered,” recalls Gary Quackenbush, formerly of the Fugitives, and at the time a member of the Scot Richard Case. “The Grande was the best place to go, and the best place to play that there ever was. It was a great stage, great acoustics, great vibe, great crowd, great time on the planet. The Grande made the Detroit audience. It made Detroit the place to play, and the place to be from.”5 Where before music had been a part of the lifestyle of youth, now, in Detroit, it was becoming the lifestyle, and the Grande Ballroom was the epicenter of the scene. A night at the Grande was a unique experience. Entering the large building on Grand River Blvd., patrons climbed an expansive red-carpeted staircase to the second ›oor and the unique spring-suspended, ›oating hardwood dance ›oor built in 1930 to accommodate ‹fteen hundred people.6 At the rear of the massive stage hung a screen showing oil and water images, creating a psychedelic wash of color, splashing across the crowd, bouncing off a huge mirrored ball hanging from a very high ceiling in the center of the room. As the bands rocked on stage, standing on an old Victorian rug under semiadequate lighting, the smell of incense and marijuana hung heavy in the air. The dance ›oor was surrounded by a walkway where people would stroll or just hang out to talk, and at the same time, be able to view what was happening on the dance ›oor, looking through Moorish arches. “I realized that more than just music, we were selling...

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