SCOTT CAMPBELL:
Back in the mid-70's, Detroit was a vast arid wasteland for bands playing their own music. The coffeehouse and ballroom scene of the mid-60's had disappeared. No band got a bar gig without five sets of Top 40 mainstream radio covers. Bar owners would actually give song lists to bands with the condition that they had to play those songs if they were going to play at all. Stages were short and tiny or nonexistent and no bar had it's own PA.
Then, disco reared its ugly head. It was cheaper to hire a deejay than a band and bar goers seemed to like it. Original rock bands had nowhere to play unless they were huge national acts. Even mid level bands from outside Detroit had nowhere to play if they couldn't pull in 4,000 people. One band that was willing to do something about it was The Sillies.
They formed in 1977 and did their first show second-billed to Rob Tyner's new version of The MC5, renting a theater for the show. The crowd topped 1,000 but the band lost money due to a curious lack of money at the door. Something smaller and on a weekly basis was needed to kick start the local music scene again. By early 1978, The Sillies did a few shows in closed bars that were open one night for the event. They soon got an invitation to play Frank Gagen's, an old supper club on West McNichols (Six Mile) that was operating as a gay disco.
The bar down the street (Menjo's) had taken most of their business and the owner Sam Stewart was willing to try anything. Though the sign said "Gagen's", the place was known as "Bookie's Club 870" after Stewart's nickname and the address, 870 W. McNichols. Two weeks before the scheduled show, Don Fagenson, better known now as producer "Don Was", came in with his Motor City Revue and his attempt at a punk band, The Traitors. The Sillies bided their time and did their scheduled shows on March 17 and 18. By the end of the second night, Bookie handed the bar over to The Sillies to book as they chose.
After that, every weekend was a concert with three bands doing a set of their own music instead of one band doing five sets of radio hits. Detroit acts like Wayne Kramer, The Romantics, Destroy All Monsters (with Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, Niagara, Rob King and MC5 bassist Mike Davis) would headline some weekends while bands such as The Police, The Damned, Ultravox, The Cramps, The Dead Boys, and many others made Bookie's their one and only Michigan tour date.
Bowie parked outside the front door in his limousine the night he played Detroit in 1978, but only his band actually came inside to hear "punk rock disco" for an admission price of 50 cents (it was a weekday with no live band).
The music before and between the live sets was the only place people could hear the latest punk and New Wave records in Detroit as no radio station would play them. Sillies vocalist Ben Waugh would bring his own records from home or borrow others from friends and bar regulars, then stop the music and run to the mixing board to run sound for the live band.
Radio deejays like Sky Daniels of W4 would occasionally come to the club and hear "Roxanne" by The Police before it was ever released in the U.S. Eventually, Bookie's was a victim of it's own success. A concert promotion company took over the club and The Sillies concentrated on touring the U.S. and Canada.
A succession of promoters ran the room for varying periods of time until Bookie sold it to someone who thought it would be a good idea to turn it back into a drag show bar. The building mysteriously burned to the ground in 1991 and was torn down. Now only a parking lot exists where J. Geils played to a packed house after a three day sellout at Pine Knob.
A handful of unreleased recordings, videotapes, and photos are all that is left of that brief moment of creativity and originality. On the other hand, Bookie's inspired the opening of Lili's, Paycheck's, and an endless stream of like-minded clubs that exist to this very day. Bookie's itself disappeared before its ashes were cold, but its legacy as a showcase for Detroit music continues to this very day.
"It wasn't huge, but it had a faded elegance about it that gave it a lot of character. After I left in late 1979, they gutted it to shoehorn as many people as possible. It was awful. It was like they stuffed and mounted Syd Barrett and put him on tour. I saw what they did to it and it almost made me cry."
8 comments:
I saw the Damned at Bookie's on July 4, 1979, hands down the loudest show I've ever been to. It was like sticking your head into the butt end of the Concord upon take-off.
In case you are interested, I'm starting a NEW Bookie's Club 870 over 20 years after the original burned down. It's at 16117 Mack, the site of the old Mr. Lou's/Zodiac/Circus Circus, etc. I intend not to repeat the mistakes of '78-79. I was proud to present The DAMNED, ULTRAVOX, The DEAD BOYS, The POLICE, etc. but nobody gets to hit me in the face with a beer bottle and live to tell about it!
Dr Detroit...send me an email plz....
I saw three shows at Bookies in 1979. They included Peter Hammill in February, Ultravox in March, and John Cale in April. They were all terrific shows. I specifically remember John Cale performing with a mannequin propped between his head and the ceiling (the club had a very low ceiling). It was very Daliesque. And for Peter Hammill, I sat on the edge of the stage as he and Graham Smith performed just feet in front of me. I even had the opportunity to talk with them before the show (Peter took a chance to play the pinball machine in the club before the show). And for Ultravox, it was the original band with John Foxx, and they were very electronic and raw. I recorded all the shows and still have the posters as well. It was a great time in Michigan rock history.
Nice to meet you today. Great History. I’m Happy your keeping it alive!
Bookies Club 870 was the breath of fresh air from the mundane rock of the 70’s, Good times not forgotten.
Police, Iggy,Magizine,999,Dammed, Ultravox,J giels,Lena Lovic,Pere bu,kissed my first and last guy on new years eve didn't know it was a guy all being said it was quite passionate 77to78 best times in my life shout out to Michael Profane .I would love to share horror stories about the good old days if anyone out there wants to musciajohn8@gmail.com keep on keeping on
One of the best gigs I ever saw at Bookie's, and that's saying a lot, was The Pagans on a wintry weeknight. There were less than 20 people there, but it was great anyway.
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