Well darlings, we just hope New Year's Eve '75 was no indication of things to come for '76. Boring, boring, boring. But anyway —

Elvis! Elvis! Elvis! El Swivel-hips performed before his largest audience ever on New Year's Eve and insiders report that because of that the Pelvis had a touching case of pre-show butterflies. Elvis and company raked in more money than any concert ever — $800,000. They didn't fill up the stadium, but the hefty price of the tickets inflated the gate considerably. Elvis's current gal Linda Thompson perched in his dressing room looking gorgeous, and Daddy's little girl Lisa Presley darted in and out. The show was highlighted by Elvis counting down the minutes until midnight and then A coercing the audience to sing " Auld Lang Syne." The Presley pants suffered a split in between numbers when Elvis bent over, but those same insiders tell us that he isn't as incredibly fat as the press would have you believe.

(Y'know, Elvis was never exactly skinny...) Local femme reporter Jackie Kallen of the Oakland Press confessed to us that she hit upon the idea of presenting Elvis with a key to the city of Pontiac while pondering how to meet the supposedly unapproachable crooner. And as you can see in our shot, Jackie did just that, accompanied by Pontiac Mayor Wallace E. Holland. Elvis came on very much the bashful boy.. .when asked if he felt all right he blushed and said "Yeah, thanks."

Who stories are still being swapped months after their December blockbuster show at Ponmet.. .Keith Moon added a Star Security guard's uniform to his collection, posing and generally messing around in the lobby

of the St. Regis with MCA's Gaspar Dilisi and Frank Horowitz. During the Who's stay at the elegant hotel "someone" set off a firecracker in his room which sent the occupants of the room opposite scurrying under their beds. Judy Came and hubby Dominick went down the next morning to confront the desk clerk, who was most apologetic, explaining that the insanity was caused by that famous rock group the Who. At that point the laughing Ms. Came said "The Who? Great, it was bloody boring here in this hotel!"

Ted Nugent, who sells out Cobo Hall as a diversion in between hunting trips, was spotted lunching at Carl's Chop House with local pen jockey Lowell Caufffiel, decorative WR jock Karen Savelli, the ever-charming Ron Douglas from Epic, and a certain bluejeaned photographer who claimed he was from CREEM.

Johnny Randall, practically a WXYZ institution, is gone from 1270 and — we hear — radio, taking a job in business. Johnny's also recently divorced.

What did you do New Year's Day? Dick Tyne was fired from WABX. Ring out the old, ring in the new?

Many Detroiters were in and out of town for the holidays, including Patti Quatro who'd been gigging up in the cool reaches of Canada and is now -back in Los Angeles, Glenn Frey of the Eagles, and Bob "Catfish" Hodge who was in Detroit to visit Ma and brother Dallas.. .and fit in a recording session or two. Naturally .those folks who've been here all year did just the opposite and took off for every conceivable exotic location. Bob Zachary of the Mutants crouched in a secret location hundreds of miles away from Detroit to put the finishing touches on a single that should be out by March. Tom Pomaski of the Sun warmed his bones in Puerto Rico, and Guy Verizer of Hair Media jetted to NYC for a vacation and to sniff out a possible modeling career with Eileen Ford. WEA's Mike Stone chose Pennsylvania for a traditionally snowy Yuletide.

Mike seen sharing a booth at that hot spot Pasquales with the vivacious Jan Rikka on a recent winter's ?ve. Jan's a dancer who was signed on to travel with the circus recently.

Nigel Olsson, former bongo-smasher for Elton John, blew into town for a couple of days to give local folks a glimpse of his peachy English complexion, making appearances at all four Harmony House record stores and debuting as a Big Eight jock on CKLW. As ol' Nigel was leaving one record store an older woman described by witnesses as "about eighty" rushed up to the glamour boy drummer and planted a big wet one right on his incredulous lips.

Those naughty Southern boysLynyrd Skynyrd made quite a mark when they played our town recently.. .at least on the facilities; they left their dressing room at Cobo anointed with mustard and quite thoroughly trashed.. .look for the picture of same in this month's CREEM feature on Lynyrd Skynyrd. Speaking of rock 'n' roll interior de-

coration, Leslie West proved that he is a heavyweight in that field, too, arranging his room's furniture during his stay here in more of a vertical fashion than usual.

Craig Lambert is the new man at WEA, replacing Brian Rooney, who's off for Minneapolis.

George Mosnan of the old Frut gave us a ring when he was in town over the holidays to visit his mom. Seems he'd just scanned the August issue of EXTRA CREEM, and the History of Michigan Rock Part II, and wanted to compliment us upon the treatment of the Frut particularly. George reports that a new group is in the offing, called Clowns... they'll dress up in full Bozo regalia and the show will be written around a "clownin' around" theme. Also participating are the Frut's old bassist Steve Radley and our old favorite Panama Red. Cult fans are waiting breathlessly for Patti Smith's arrival in town March 9 for a show at Masonic Auditorium. Local Arista rep Brian Blatt promises a heavy-duty party in her honor. Edgar Winter polished off his national tour here with a little celebration with his band after their Cobo dates. Ravishing Rick Derringer, Dan Hartman and Chuck Ruff were in attendance. Road manager Teddy Status deserves an honorable mention for leading his road crew through 100 consecutive days on the road without a mishap.

Jay Ross, former owner of the Shelby and manager of the Savoy js closing The Elegant Gent, his men's store, some time this year.

Former ABX music director and Motown promo man John Peetree is doing a radio gig in Chicago now.

Ex-ABX voice Laura Davis has taken to the airwaves at WCOZ in scenic Worcester, Massachusetts.

Party man par excellence Stanley Cohen is closing his Birmingham Just Looking Bootery.. .the Firemill Village location will remain, tho'.

The Showcase Theatre, after failing to bring off a schedule of rock concerts successfully has turned to other areas, beginning with last month's lecture on Patty Hearst presented by Rolling Stone's David Weir and Howard Kohn. You Detroit rock maniacs have done it again: Kiss, and Peter Frampton (with Gary Wright opening) sold out three shows apiece.

Steve Glantz was officially evicted from the Palace ...we hear the result of extensive damage to the interior by frenzied rock fans. Too bad, because that leaves Ann Arbor's Chances Are, East Lansing's Silver Dollar Saloon and Pontiac's the Inn-Between as the only smallish locales for national talent left in the state. Bruce Springsteen's Palace gig came off largely because he was able to establish a sweaty rapport with the audience of rowdies.

Take heart, chickens. Bowie and Patti and everybody else is coming to town, so shake off those Bicentennial Blooz and check in for your MM transfusion next month.