The Coat Puller

THE COAT PULLER

Spring is Sprung, people are starting to come out into the open again, and there's getting to be so much music around here that we're harder pressed than ever to be able to cover it all. In the last three weeks since your correspondent returned from a trip to Mardi Gras in New Orleans (and yes, you'll get a special report in our next issue) and started making "the rounds" once again, personal witness has been given to an incredible array of local and visiting talent, including Richard "Groove" Holmes and Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers at Baker's Keyboard, the Lyman Woodard Organization at the Boogie Down, Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Masonic, the Spinners and Natalie Cole at EMU, Count Basie and his Orchestra at the Northwest Activities Center, Duke Ellington Orchestra and Ella Fitzgerald at Masonic, Keith Jarrett at Music Hall, Little Sonny and the great Jimmy Scott at Ethel's, Kim Weston and Andre Moore's band at Lowman's, New Detroit Jazz Orchestra at the Langston Hughes Theatre, Johnny Winter and Little Richard at Cobo, Patti Smith and Bebop Deluxe at Ford, Honey Boy at the Roadhouse in Ann Arbor, and Journey/Starcastle/Dr. Feelgood at Ford ... We're sorry to say we missed a lot besides, like Sam Sanders & Visions at the Langston Hughes, the "Save Georgetown" Benefit at WSU with Griot Galaxy, cellist Joanna de Keyser, the Barbara Wolf Dance Group, Highland Park String Quartet, Jenny Bottomley, Marta Lagos & La Palamia Theatre Group, and the Red Label Strugglers, the House Rockers with Jody Blair (guitar), Rusty Day (vocals), and John Sauter (bass) at the Red Carpet, Dallas Hodge's new band at J.C.'s Rock Saloon, Phil Ranelin's Jazz Heritage concert at the Langston Hughes with Kim Weston, Griot Galaxy, and Tribe, Oliver Sain and the Latimore revue at Henry's Lounge, and Laura Lee with Garland Green at Ethel's ... Now that's what this seasoned observer would call a scene ...

COMING UP: At the Showcase Theatre, Probity Productions promises a gala month of April, warming up with blues master Albert King and the debut of Norma Bell and Necessity (her new band). March 27th ... The great Sonny Rollins returns to Detroit for the first time since his Mr. Kelly's appearance (with painter Richard "Prophet" Jennings) in 1962. With the colossal tenor saxophonist at the Showcase April 11th (and in East Lansing April 9-10, for Showcase Jazz) will be Mike Wolfe (keyboards), James Benjamin (bass), Eddie Moore (drums), and Robert Kenyatta (percussion). Please don't miss this important musico-cultural event ... April 16 (Good Friday) brings the incomparable Ravi Shankar, with Alla Rakha on tabla, to the Showcase, followed on Easter Sunday by the Los Angeles entertainer Tom Waits (April 18) ... People's Bicentennial Commission Director Jeremy Rifkin will present Probity's second Rolling Stone Lecture Series installment on April 21, and Jean-Luc Ponty and his band will be in April 24th. Keep it up, bros! ...

At Ethel's Lounge the presence of new manager Allen White, recently of Orlando, Florida, promises some hot new action at the Mack Avenue blues spot, exposing Detroiters to some acts heretofore unheard here -- including maniac guitarist Chick ("Stoop Down, Baby") Willis April 1-4, and vocalist Ernie ("You're Gonna Miss Me") Johnson, shortly thereafter ... White has also been very active since he hit town in pulling together a number of potent blues and soul forces (including Little Junior Cannady, Jesse Williams, Mac Collins, Mister Bo and Nelson Sanders) to form a production-management-booking-promotion agency called Star-Town Productions. Based at Ethel's Lounge, 7341 Mack, Star-Town will be packaging and promoting personal appearances and records by Detroit blues stars for national and international exposure. We'll have a feature on this fast-breaking combine in the near future, but in the meantime be sure to check out the new Blue Monday Disco series at Ethel's every Monday night, presented by Star-Town Productions in conjunction with the Sun, and featuring your favorite Motor City blues masters ... The turn-outs for the Time Is Now and Sam Sanders/Visions productions at the Langston Hughes were out of sight, according to all reports, and you've still got a chance to catch Tribe (March 29-30-31) and Airtight (April 5-6-7) before the series ends ... Gerald Lemmons' play "The Natural Trial" is at the Langston Hughes this weekend (25-28), and Ron Milner says he's bringing his great "Season's Reasons" back into the theatre later this spring. Meanwhile, Ed Vaughn can use a lot of help in keeping the Langston Hughes open, including volunteer maintenance, production, advertising, promotion, publicity, and general assistance on a part- or full-time basis. Stop by and get into something! ... Weather Report, with Dave Leibman and Lookout Farm, appear in Ann Arbor April 1st at Hill Auditorium, another excellent Eclipse Jazz/UAC presentation which should be a perfect capper for the 5th Annual Hash Bash festivities that afternoon on the Diag ... Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul & Co. will swing back through Detroit on the 25th of April, sharing the bill with John McLaughlin at Masonic -- a Bamboo Production ... Bamboo will try another black-oriented show April 11th at Masonic with Grover Washington and the Brecker Brothers ... The Four Tops are back in town for a benefit concert at Masonic April 4th ... Harold Melvin, Sharon Paige & the new Blue Notes do three days at the Fisher Theatre this week-

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end (26-27-28) ... Hard-hitting LaVerna Mason now at Little David's over on Livernois on the weekends ... Paul Stanley, the Lansing promoter responsible tor the sound system fiasco at the Billy Cobham/George Duke show at the Showcase last month, is now spreading into the suburbs with a series of concerts at the Royal Oak Theatre, starting April 2nd with Maria Muldaur and Martin Mull, and George Carlin April 9th ... Dick "Night Train" Lane and the Police Athletic League (PAL), which he heads, are staging the Mldwest premier of "Sparkle," a new flick about three soul singers ("Sister & the Sisters") who rose from the ghetto to stardom -- music by Curtis Mayfield, sung by Aretha Franklin -- at the Norwest Theatre (Grand River near Southfield) April 6th. Call 224-4080 for details ... Detroiter Bobby Franklin, formerly of Bobby Franklin's lnsanity, looks like a hit with his first CBS single "Mutha's Love" ... The Beale Street Blues Boy, Mr. B.B. King, breezes into King's Row out on W. Chicago for six big nights, April 1-6, but it takes a sawbuck to get you through the door ... Joe Simon at Henry's this weekend. and he'll probably be held over ... The Dramatics at manager Ben Crosby's Hi-Chapparal March 26th ... The Peddy Players take their production of "Great White Hope" back into the Northwest Activities Center April 1-2-3 -- call 224-7595 for details ... Joe Cocker will be sporting an all-star soul band, including guitarists Eric Gale and Cornell Dupree and drummer Pretty Purdie, when he pops into Cobo April 11th with Hot Chocolate ("You Sexy Thing") and KGB, a mid-range rock "supergroup" formed by Ray Kennedy, Barry Goldberg, Mike Bloomfield, Rick Grech and Carmine Appice. Bloomfield has already left the band, though -- he confessed to an interviewer that KGB "sucks" and was immediately relieved of all duties -- and Detroit's own James McCarty (Detroit Wheels, Cactus, the Rockets) got the call to replace the prominent Jewish guitarist. McCarty decided to stay with his pals Johnny Bee, John Fraga, and new guitarist Dennis Rollins in their latest incarnation, Honey Boy . . . The Honeyboys tore down the walls at the Grand Opening of the new Roadhouse nightspot outside of Ann Arbor (US-23 and N. Territorial Road) March 19th, charging the joint with the correct vibes to insure its success. Friends Roadshow this weekend, Dallas Hodge's new band (April 2-3), and the Mojo Boogie Band (April 9-10) promise to keep the place jumpin', and the Lyman Woodard Organization is set for soon atter that ... Detroiters Jerry Brooks, Clarence Douglas and Leroy Moore of 14th Floor Productions have sold their recording of "America Here It Comes -- Freedom Train" to the American Freedom Train Foundation, who will use it to promote appearances of the Train all over the country ... WDET-FM raised some $47,000 in its Transmitter Marathon, insuring that the new equipment will be installed soon. Congratulations to the station's listeners tor displaying such exquisite taste ... Steve Palid and his pals at the Trinity Methodist Church in Highland Park are unveiling a new Friday night coffeehouse series April 2nd with a benefit concert featuring Ron English & Bud Spangler (jazz), the Sunnysiders (bluegrass), Bobo Jenkins and his band (blues), and the Aging Children, a folk-song combo. Sam Sanders & Visions are featured April 9th, with Satori set for April 23 and Dede Palazolla plus the Oakland Mime Troupe April 30th. Call Steve at 893-0942 for details ... Guitarist Earl Klugh has a new LP due out April 5th -- look for it where you cop your records ... "Michigan Survey" at the Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum sets out 49 works by 28 Michigan artists, including Robert Sites, Patricia Quinlan, Gerard Huber, Lester Johnson, Brenda Goodman, Lucille Nawara, Glen Davis, Tom Fitzgerald, and Nancy Bonior, from March 30 to April 18 ... The Michigan Chamber Orchestra, directed by Virginia Catanese, has two concerts set tor April, the first (4/3) featuring conductor Eve Queler (Music Director of the Opera Orchestra of New York) and soprano Pauline Domanski in works by Mozart, Berlioz, Rossini, and Yardumian, and the second (4/9) bringing the great Sarah Caldwell in to conduct the MCO and the Kenneth Jewell Chorale in Bach's "St. John's Passion" at St. Paul's Cathedral (4800 Woodward). The April 9 show sold out immediately with the mention of Ms. Caldwell's hallowed name, and two more dates (April 10-11) were added to acommodate the crowds. The Eve Queler evening will grace the Rackham Memorial Building on Woodward just south of the Institute of Art, and you can call 832-7400 for more information ... A George Wein production called the Kool "Jazz" Festival is set for the Ponmet Stadium August 6-7, but there's no "jazz" scheduled at all. Wein's R&B Festival will offer Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the Staple Singers, Donald Byrd, the Stylistics, Al Green, Ray Charles, B.B. King, the Crusaders, and some others ... Point Blank Records reports that its Ron Shaull Shakedown LP, Makin' Ya Feel Good, is now available all over Detroit via the Motor City's Inter-Soul Distributors -- check it out ... Former Ann Arborites Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen have finally thrown in the towel, missing a scheduled Sun "After Midnight" concert at Ann Arbor's Michigan Theatre by just two weeks ... The Detroit Repertory Theatre, on Woodrow Wilson near Davison, opens its new comedy The Adding Machine, by Elmer Rice, on March 18. Running Thursdays thru Sundays until May 9th, The Adding Machine stars Charles Roseborough, Robert Williams, Yolanda Williams, Barbara Busby, and veteran DRT mainstay William Boswell. Call 868-1347 for ticket information ... Strutter's Ball (Lorna Richards, Peter Ostle, Damon Hyde, Brian Golden, and Steve Hillebrand) copped a steady gig at the new Hyatt Regency in Dearborn and will open for Lou Rawls, among others, at d.b.'s Lounge there ... The Music Hall proudly presents the second concert in its "Music of the Black Church" series, produced by Perry Moore and Woody Miller, with Odetta and the Brazeal Denard Chorale focusing on "The Spiritual" on April 11th, 6:30 p.m. ... Woody Miller, who served Music Hall as its Director of Audience Development for two years, has opened his own agency, Midtown Associates, with offices in the popular Belcrest Hotel on the WSU campus. Word has it there may be a hookup between Midtown and the people at Probity Productions for some tasty shows at the Showcase soon. Let's hope so! ... Ex-Detroiter and Ann Arborite Lisa Gottlieb, the force behind the hip music policies at the Savoy Room in the Shelby Hotel and the late, lamented King Pleasure's in AA, was back in the area to cover the Ann Arbor Film Festival last weekend, and will file her report with the Sun from her current home in Chicago. Righteous Bob Rudnick, another present Chicagoan, followed her into Michigan for a rare visit -- his new radio show "Howlin' at the Moon," heard on Chicago's WNIB-FM weekly, keeps his nose to the turntable these days -- but his "Howlin'" partner John Petrie (another former Detroiter) had to remain in the Windy City, where he's doubling as regional promotion man for Chicago-based Mercury Records ... And speaking of the radio, it seems that the latest ratings have shaken a few people up locally, starting with Paul Christy, who was canned as WWWW's Program Director when the numbers revealed that WABX has begun to regain the audience John Detz deserted. Christy found a home at WNIC, where his tight-format approach should fit in nicely, and W4 now has the golden opportunity to promote Jerry Lubin or Danny Carlisle to the PD spot, a move which is long overdue ... WJZZ lost some ground, and may we suggest once again that eliminating the MOR-"jazzy" approach might bring in some dramatic results? ... Finally, Jim Dulzo got his break at WIQB-FM in Ann Arbor, where his "Night Train" show can be heard throughout the week starting at midnight on 102.9 FM. Isn't it great to have a happy ending?

Photo captions:

Chick Willis

Little Sonny

From left: Leroy Moore, Clarence Douglas, Freedom Train Foundation Director J.J. MacDonald, and Jerry P. Brooks