From the MCRFB news archive: 1968
Music Happenings In and Around Detroit Town, 1968
DETROIT — The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed at the Masonic Auditorium, Friday, February 23. The show presentation event was sponsored by WKNR “Keener 13” . . . Ernie Durham, WJLB disk jockey who has for years hosted a Sunday night record hop at the 20 Grand for those 17 and over, will begin a weekly Friday night hop at the club for teenagers 14 to 17. In addition to presenting popular recording acts, Durham also plans to sponsor talent shows on those evenings. . . . Sylvia Burton Christopher, originator of Arthur, the popular discotheque in New York City, is opening a similar establishment here called the Woodward Street Car. . . . The Four Seasons performed a Detroit concert Friday, February 23. . . . Sammy Davis, Jr., will entertain at the annual Fight For Freedom dinner to be held at Cobo Hall, April 28. Cleveland’s Mayor Carl Stokes will be the principal speaker at that affair. . . . Marian Anderson performed at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s last Kresge Concert at the Ford Auditorium, Tuesday, February 13. . . . Count Basie, Mariam Makeba, Wes Montgomery and the Jimmy Smith Trio, the Oscar Peterson Trio, and social comedian Richard Pryor performed together for a one-night jazz concert at Cobo Arena, Friday, February 23. . . . Diana Ross and the Supremes are doing one-nighters across the northern United States, including college campuses. . . . The Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas left town recently to participate in the Motortown Revue Japanese Festival which will tour Japan for one month. The artists have been scheduled for TV appearances, concerts, and will entertain U.S. troops stationed in areas in and around Japan. . . . The Pop Concert Committee of Wayne State University has scheduled its first pop concert for Friday, March 22, at the Ford Auditorium. Dionne Warwick has been chosen to headline the concert, along with other acts still to be determined. . . . Robbie Dee, disk jockey on WCHB, has been promoted to production manager at that station. . . . Hello People are booked into the Chessmate for one week, beginning March 12. . . . Leon Issac is the new early afternoon disk jockey for WJLB. . . . Currently in progress is the Memphis Sounds Show at the Riviera Theater through Thursday, March 29. Among the artists on that show are J. J. Barnes, Pat Lewis, the Holidays, Eddie Floyd, Pig Meat Markham, Ruby Andrews and Barbara Mercer. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; March 2, 1968).
