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The Grande Ballroom: Detroit’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Palace (Landmarks)
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About The Grande Ballroom: Detroit’s Rock ‘n’ Roll
Product Description In the 1920s, a jewel of Detroit entertainment arose on the Westside--the Grande Ballroom. The venue flourished under the ownership of infamous gambler Harry Weitzman and management of dance scion Paul Strasburg. The advent of rock "n" roll pushed the ballroom into hard times, but in 1966, local schoolteacher and disc jockey Russ Gibb resurrected it with the promise of live rock music. The new psychedelic ballroom style attracted scores of suburban baby boomers and helped launch the careers of local legends like the MC5, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent. Soon the ballroom's prestige attracted international acts like Cream, the Who and the Jeff Beck Group. Detroit music history expert Leo Early celebrates this beloved venue. Review "With a keen eye for detail and a sharp historical sensibility, Dearborn author Early revisits the tale of the venerable west side ballroom that became one of the country's psychedelic rock meccas in the late '60s. Grande Ballroom lore has loomed large in Detroit through the decades (the documentary "Louder Than Love" was issued on DVD this summer), but nowhere has it been covered at a more granular level than in this 222-page book, which recounts fun rock 'n' roll tales ("The MC5 Versus Cream"), key moments (the Who's live premiere of "Tommy") and signature characters such as Russ Gibb and Tom Wright. " Detroit Free Press About the Author Leo Early is an author, musician, historian and preservationist. He enjoys researching and writing about Detroit history, focusing especially on Detroit's rise and reputation as a music capital. In 2003, Leo launched the GrandeBallroom.com to share his research, and the result was an unexpected groundswell of interest in the ballroom. Early has since met and corresponded with many who experienced the Grande firsthand and, in so doing, has inadvertently become a subject-matter expert on this building, a nexus of Detroit music.
