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Friday, June 10, 1977THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page rive
'Murder City'rockers arise
WHOEVER SAID, "Never on a Sunday," ob- club has also presented interesting newcomers
, et&P .411 viously hasn't heeded the handbills pasted all like The Ramones.
over town and the writing on the walls that spell
By D. B. KEEPS Loren is an accomplished film- out the message: Rock and Roll is alive and SONIC'S RENDEZVOUS BAND (see accom
maker/photographer, who was ready to devastate Ann Arbor! panying story), who recently opened for The
"WATCH OUT!" hos been a consistent prizewinner in clas- This Sunday, the management of Second Ramones, will headline Sunday's concert, as they
their password, and a perfectly sical guitar recitals in his youth. Chance offers a unique triple bill comprised of have consistently done this past year. Mugsy,
appropriate one at that, as De- He penned most of the music Detroit area bands that are known for both a Detroit glam-boogie outfit, who recently open-
stroy All Monsters, an idea and lyrics in the D.A.M. repre- their originality and diversity in musical style. ed for Brownsville Station will also appear.
whose time has come, surfaces toire, including the powerfully erovriyi uia tl. e o rwsil tto ilas per
from their stylishly avant-garde psycho-psychedelic "Assansina- In the past, Second Chance has -served as a Making their professional debut, Destroy All
underground to explode upon the tion Photograph" and "Novem- showcase for Detroit rock stars who have since Monsters (see accompanying story) will unleash
current rock scene. ber 22, 1963:" become high-powered national acts (Bob Seger their unique sounds and sights as the concert'
and Ted Nugent, to name a few), and the night- openers. Doors open at 9 p.m.

t-
k-
S

First, there was a magazine,
which brought the group a wild
following in Cleveland. And al-
though different members have
played "Monster" music since
1974, the current seven-piece
membership has only recently
become a reality.
The present line-up consists of
locally reknowned musicians
that .include: Ron Asheton, lead
guitar, Cary E. Loren, rhythm
guitar, Lawrence Bond Miller,
space guitar, Benjamin Rush
Miller, saxophone, Rob King,
drums, Mike Powers, bass, and
vocalist Niagara, who also plays
a mean tambourine.
Herr Asheton, you might re-
call, was the lead guitarist in
The Stooges, and the recent
leader of the New Order,: an
L.A. based heavy metal con-
spiracy that frequently played
Ann Arbor's Second Chance.

The lovely Niagara (pictured
on page 7), gracefully combines
restrained rock and roll nervos-
ity with glamorous morbidity in
powerfully rocking self - penned
tunes, including "(I Love It,
But) You're Dead."
The Miller brothers, Larry and
Ben, have performed in several
Ann Arbor based jazz and funk
bands, but turned down an in-
vitation to becomes Clones in
order to add their souped-up and
spacey saxophone and guitar
playing to the D.A.M. sound.
Drummer Rob King and Mike
Powers on bass comprise the fir-
ing-squad rhythi section. One
look at King's eyes, as he pounds
his kit maniacally, is proof posi-
tive that Destroy All Monsters,
in the tradition of Godzilla, Da-
gora and Megalon (to name a
few) stands poised to reduce
rock and roll to a radiant rubble.

Sonic's Rendezvous Band

The SRB File +

By I)AVID KEEPS
Rising out of the ashes oft
several legendary Detroit bands
of the late sixties and early
seventies, comes the phoenix-
like Sonic's Rendezvous Band,
who have been rocking out with
a smooth blend of heavy metal
and driving, electric R&B since
early 1976.
From left to right, the band's
line-up includes singer and
rhythm guitarist Scott Morgan,
bassist Gary Rasmussen, lead
guitarist and vocalist Fred
'Sonic' Smith and drummer
Scott 'Rock Action' Asheton.
Morgan is the survivor of De-
troit's one-time "white hope"
in R & B, a group called the
Rationals, who put out local
hits on the A2 label in the mid-
sixties, including an original.
version of "Respect", the song
that made Aretha Franklin (al-
though the Rationals recorded
it a year earlier). Morgan
maintains a strong, soulful
voice, and a flair for composi-
tion evident in several SRB
numbers.
Fred 'Sonic' Smith, who nob-
ly lent his name to the group,
is the sole survivor of Detroit's

revolutionary renegades, the
MC 5, and he is the one re-
sponsible for the hack - break-
ing thunder clouds and psyche-
delicized breaks in songs like
"Over and Over" and "Shaking
Street".
Scott 'Rock Action' Asheton,
who has been accused, but nev-
er indicted on charges of drum
abuse, packed the punch into
the Stooges' three classic L.P.'s.
The Stooges are most easily
remembered as the band that
death-dealt groundbreaking psy-
chedelic power rock in songs
like "No Fun" and "I Wanna
Be Your Dog".
Gary Rasmussen, the band's
latest addition on bass, served
memorably in the Ann Arbor
based combo UP, which played
the area frequently a few years
ago.
Collectively, their individuals
powers, both instrumentaly and
intellectualy, surface in intense
rhythm - dominant numbers
including "Step By Step" and
Morgan's 1974 composition
"Soul Mover / Take A Look",
which has recently surfaced as
a blistering encore number
that never fails to fill. the dance
floor.

Destroy All Monsters'
MCM Nugent arauds

By DAVID KEEPS
MOTOR CITY MADMAN TED NUGENT stalked
across the stage, grinning insanely and merciless-
ly fretting his guitar. Lunging and leaping, an-
nounicng songs in a rapid-fire twang, he did
everything short of on-stage murder, all to the
delight of the predominantly stoned throng of
teens at the Pine Knob Music Center.
Nugent, the Field and Stream destroyer in De-
troit's rock hierarchy has finally hit the big time
as a musical act, despite some ten years of cult
stardom in Michigan. That he played to capacity
audiences for two nights at the prestigious Pine
Knob, showplace of the more innocuously super
supergroups like Crosby Stills Nash and Young
and Chicago, is proof.
With his latest bloodthirsty album, Cat Scratch
Fever, from which he played many similar-sound-
og -psychedelic blues numbers, Nugent stands to
increase his audience tremendously, although
many argue that he had long ago hit his stride
with his former group, the Amboy Dukes.

Onstage, Ted and his incredibly powerful four
piece outfit blasted concertgoers through several
walls of'amplifiers, which later served as a perch
for Ted during a demand encore of "Motor City
Madhouse," easily Ted's best song since "Journey
to the Center of Your Mind" way back when with
the Amboy Dukes.
Basked primarily in hot red and orange spot-
lights, Nugent and his group rocked through the
familiar riffs of "Stranglehold" and the title cut
of the current LP, "Cat Scratch Fever," inspiring
an unusual number of fistfights and mad dashes
to the stage, along with the more sedate activities
of fans who stood throughout some numbers with
their fists raised, or toasted Ted with their hash
pipes, or showered him with flares and fireworks.
Ted, a sworn drug hater, looked more than a
little dazed throughout most of the set, but launch-
ed magnificently into a stunning encore with a
smile, a burst of flames, flashing lights that spell-
ed his name, and a forty-five second howl that
neatly displayed his flint-sharp tonsils.

Havin' A Wild Weekend?

By SUSAN RYNSKI
MARCEL MARCEAU returns
to Detroit this weekend, one of
the nine cities he will visit on
his current U.S. tour. Marceau,
incontestably the world's great-
est living mime, and somewhat
of an institution, will be parad-
ing his alter ego, "Bip" across
the stage of Detroit's Music Hall
Center for four performances.
"Hip," created 29 years ago,
is timeless, with his perpetually
white face, striped pullover and
ratty opera hat topped with a
red flower. Timeless also is his
celebration of life through his
adventures and misadventures
with invisible everythings from

butterflies to untameable lions
to dance-hull girls and, occa-
sisnally, abstract philosophical
ideas.
Says Marceau, "By speaking
through the wall of languages,
the mime can become a brother
to all the audinces of the
world."
"Bip" has been called the
"little Tramp's younger broth-
er" and Marceau readily admits
his inspiration from and admir-
ation for Charlie +Chaplin and
other American mime masters
of the silent film period. Ticket
info is available by calling the
Music Hall at 963-7622.
See HAVIN, Page 7