AADL Talks To: Scott Morgan, Singer and Musician

Tue, 07/01/2025 - 3:48pm

Scott Morgan is the former frontman and founding member of The Rationals, a popular Ann Arbor-based rock band that saw success in the mid-1960s and early 1970s with "Guitar Army," "I Need You," and their cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect." The Rationals played regional and national venues with groups like The Yardbirds, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix. After the group disbanded in the early 1970s, Scott founded and performed with other bands, including Guardian Angel, Scots Pirates, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, the Hydromatics, and The Hellacopters. Scott talks with us about growing up in Ann Arbor during the 1960s and the region’s heady music scene during this period; his friendships and collaborations with area musicians such as Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton, Bob Seger, and Fred “Sonic” Smith. He also recalls some favorite Ann Arbor venues and how the local music scene has changed.
 

The Scott Morgan Collection comprises photographs, documents (including posters, postcards, and flyers) from the past 60 years, music from Scott's record collection, and a scrapbook from a fan of The Rationals. We also have news clippings and The Rationals: "Ann Arbor's Beatles," a 1991 interview with Scott Morgan and Bill Figg, by Frank Uhle.
 

AADL Talks To: Andrea Fulton, 1970s Rock Concert Promoter, Photographer, and Psychedelic Ranger

Fri, 08/30/2024 - 4:47pm

Andrea (aka Andye) Fulton-Higgins, is the daughter of Douglas James Fulton, outdoor editor for the Ann Arbor News from 1955 to 1987, and Anna Louise Summers Fulton, an Ann Arbor Public School teacher for 40 years. Andrea shares her memories of coming of age in Ann Arbor during the heady days of counter-cultural Ann Arbor in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She talks about her involvement in the Ann Arbor music scene and discusses the influence of her parents, in particular, her father's work and legacy as a photographer, music lover, editor, conservationist, and friend. Hundreds of Andrea's photographs are also available in the Andrea Fulton Concert Collection.

LGBTQ+ Washtenaw Oral History Project - Lynden Kelly

Sun, 06/30/2024 - 3:25pm

Lynden Kelly, who goes by Kelly (she/her), was born in 1954 in suburban Detroit. In 1972, she moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan. She became involved in countercultural organizations and collectives such as the Ann Arbor Tenants Union and the People’s Wherehouse, a wholesale warehouse for the Michigan Federation of Food Co-ops. She recalls visiting LGBTQ+ spaces in Ann Arbor and beyond, including the U-M Gay Advocates’ Office (now called the Spectrum Center), Canterbury House, the Rubaiyat, and the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. From 1990 to 2003, she and business partner Kate Burkhardt ran Common Language Bookstore, which catered to feminist and LGBTQ+ readers, on Fourth Avenue. Kelly also discusses gender roles, coming out to her parents, marriage equality, and co-founding Ann Arbor Queer Aquatics (A2QUA), a queer swimming group.

View historical materials.

AADL Talks To: Fred LaBour, former writer for The Michigan Daily and member of the musical group Riders in the Sky

Sun, 06/02/2024 - 2:17pm

In this episode, AADL Talks to "Too Slim" Fred LaBour. Fred is a member of Riders in the Sky, an American Country and Western music and comedy quartet that has performed together since 1977. From '67 to '71, Fred was an undergraduate at the University of Michigan where he covered sports and wrote music reviews for The Michigan Daily. Fred discusses the campus culture that shaped his career and he walks us through a day in the life of a too-slim "wise ass" English major whose satirical review of the Beatles’ "Abbey Road" album propelled the “Paul McCartney is Dead” urban legend that took the country by storm.

Read Fred's October 14, 1969 "Paul is Dead" article in The Michigan Daily.

Check out Riders in the Sky in the AADL catalog. The group is also featured on the following CDs: Toy Story Favorites, Toy Story 2, Disney Pixar All Time Favorites, and Woody's Roundup.