Quite an invasion of rock "n" roll gangsters, hillbillies, and cool leather boys this month. Pop a beer and have a listen—

That Gangster of Love Steve Miller, in the middle of his first U.S. tour in nearly two years, took his night off in Detroit to meet the press at a small house-and-garden bash. Steve, now living in northern California, put on one of the more interesting shows we've seen lately; featuring "The Joker" done in reggae style, with a vaudeville stage and rear projection vocals. The bash was Craig Lambert's first as a Capitol promo man; nice maiden voyage, Slats. Congrats to Bob Seger on his Ponmet sellout, and a fine evening of rock "n" roll. We do believe that we saw a tear in the eye of a few of the jaded rock press. Or was that from the liquid refreshment? The usual Motown Music Mafia was in attendance; need we list them alk from Rosalie to Dennis and Chris Frawley to Karen Saveliy to The Detroit News (Lowell Cauffiel), to Bryan "Tornado" Blatt, to most of the editors of CREEM, etc., etc., etc? We don't want to list them all, but suffice to say they were all pleased as Punch ...

We bid adieu to Lester Bangs who departs as a full-time editor with this issue; by September Lester will be ensconced in his New York apartment (in the same building as former CREEM editor Robert Duncan, need we say more) and churning out articles for other publications as well as CREEM. What art director of what (America's Only) Rockin" Roll Magazine recently purchased a zippy Datsun 280 Z, the better to wow the fairer sex with? And did you know that Gail Parenteau of Bamboo bought the original silver Datsun 280 Z used in the filming of the Bionic Woman TV series? Has it given you any super powers, Gail?

Mike Stone of WEA threw a spooky party in a haunted house to release the new Warners disc Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, complete with dry ice, passion punch, "hot" dogs and of course, Alice's record. Although the LP is technically not bad, (Detroiters Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter are featured on guitars), local sentiment seems to be that Alice has indeed gone to the fiery depths .

Ian Hunter was in town recently to promote his Columbia LP All American Alien Boy; included on his agenda was an interview on WABX, lunch with Karen Saveliy of W4, and of course a visit to the CREEM offices to visit his mates. No, he did not remove his shades during his entire stay, keeping his mysterioso rock "n" roll persona intact and sending several femme hearts aflutter as well.

Doc Severinson was also in town flogging a record; he stunned the working class folk who just happened to be at a certain McDonald's at Toledo and Southfield Roads by showing up for a quick snack.

That Labelle / Rufus / War / Ohio Players show out at Ponmet turned into quite a fiasco; after War's set their manager, Steve Gold, took the stage (along with Labelle manager Penny Reynolds) to announce that the bands were not being paid the remainder of their money for the evening's performance, but despite that, they would still play for the fans. Then some confusion arose when it was heard that the Ohio Players were not going on; possible violence was avoided when the Players—stuck in a traffic jam on their way out anyway—agreed to go on to keep the peace. The City of Pontiac guaranteed payment to the ushers—also to avoid a disturbance—and the show did stagger on. Brought to you courtesy of Quality Theatrical Productions. Said manager Gold about the promoter: "If I can find him I'll hit him."

Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter seen loitering backstage at Neil Diamond's Pine Knob gig; they stayed over after their own show to catch Neil's. Also spotted backstage at the Diamond concert; long-time fan Bob Talbert, who remarked to Neil: "You're gonna draw a different crowd to Vegas than usually goes— dope smokers and Southern Californians . . ." Said Neil: "Heck, they're here tonight."

On the fifth of July Robbie Robertson of The Band celebrated his birthday with a small bash at the Somerset Inn...

There was a War party at the brand new Northfield Hilton the night before the ill-fated Sunday Ponmet show, and quite a jam erupted at the end of the party—not unusual except that local promo human Jemy Cheers joined in on everything from bongos to guitars. Gosh, we didn't know you were hiding such a talent, Jemy!

WRIF is currently very hot: number two in all of Detroit (a 32-station market) at presstime. Out of left field comes "Magic Radio"—WMJC Birmingham, which is stealing ratings from the older, established firms.

Members of Firefall spotted jamming at the Wagon Wheel in Troy after their concert with The Band. Aren't you sorry you went to a movie?

Creemette Jaan Uhelszki back in her home town for a while in June—after making the rounds of her Motown friends she was off in that big jet in the sky again, to Las Vegas to do a story on Neil Diamond. Jaan's almost for sure going to do a column for Record World along with her free-lance assignments; she's currently rooming with British pal Maureen Donaldson (Cary Grant's current girlfriend).

Marcie Graham and Linda Roback are departing Detroit to make their home in Nashville. Linda is the Pontiac-born shutterbug responsible for the photos of REO Speedwagon on their latest LP cover, the Eagles and also Dan Fogelberg.

Tull-a-Vision . . . what? That's right, the Jethro Tull boys are sparing no expense for their rock "n" roll extravaganza (Maybe Lester won't fall asleep this year. Maybe Lester won't go . . .) No truth to the rumor though, that Jack Ford couldn't get a backstage pass at the Tull/Trower Pontiac show . . . Robin Trower was suggested as a substitute host for the Lou Gordon show.

Nancy over at Dearborn Music says to say "Hi, Extra CREEM sent me" if you stop in the store . . . especially if you look like Peter Frampton. Fireworks on the Fourth in Detroit, Windsor, Dearborn: Boring, boring, boring.

If you're in the mood to cheat on your diet and cop a little glucose buzz don't forget the Traffic Jam at Canfield and Second, which features ice cream sundaes and sodas made with creme de banane, Kahlua and other exotics. The Cat Dancers (Marie and Blake) are back in Michigan after having spent the winter in Europe; they design one-of-a-kind leather creations. Peter Wolf and the J. Geils Band did it right, did it tight and oh so light on graduation night at Cobo and proved once again that they are still Detroit's number one favorite party band. In honor of the Bicentennial the boys from Boston dropped thousands of red, white and blue balloons on the crowd. After the show some fans, including WDRQ's China Jones, stopped Wolf at his favorite restaurant in Greektown (you know who you are) and asked for autographs, which the smiling, young and happy-looking Woofer-goofer gladly did.

Robbie the Limo Driver still won't tell whether Jim Dandy Mangrum of Black Oak Arkansas made that stop at the drugstore for Kleenex to stuff in his pants in, uh, a prominent place, but Dandy had a swell visit in Detroit, making the rounds of the radio stations and record shops last month . . . Tim "You Pave Paradise, Put Up A Parking Lot" Walter of MCA was a guest at the Black Oak Arkansas compound late in June . . . Don't ask us why . .

Extra's man (with a capitol "m") on the scene, Harley Rider, reports nearcapacity attendance for a folkie artist's benefit show in Ann Arbor recently to raise money for the dilapidated Ark coffee house. Harley was unmoved by the majority of performers but highly recommends that our readers catch Diana Marcovitz becase in his words, "She's weird." So much for that biker's bilge, but not so for A2 in toto, which also contains one of the hottest fusion groups this side of Mahavishnu; All Directions, who sometimes appear at The Golden Falcon. So be on the lookout.

Reports of an impromptu jump-roping contest in the basement of Ford Auditorium during the recent Heart, Good Rats and Firefall WABX concert are confirmed. Will the winners please come forward and claim your prizes? Other highlights at the "X" show included the Good Rats" deluge of little made in Hong Kong rubber rats and Heart's encore rendition of Led Zep's uRock'n" Roll. Ann Wilson can match vocal chords with Robert Plant anytime and win, says our male correspondent. The Mouth merely snickers.

Glad to see that The Sun is expanding in so many directions—too bad they still haven't discovered how to laugh at themselves. There's an overpowering aroma of self-righteousness about the former hippie paperthat makes it rather a chore to scan.

What shy jock on the formerlyprogressive Detroit radio station was spotted lunching with what local femme magazine editor? Strictly business, my dears...(?)

Talked to Frank Marino of Mahogany Rush backstage at the Lynyrd Skynyrd/M. Rush date at Pine Knob, but we had to hold our ears when he unleashed with a stream of vitriol against fellow Hendrix scholar Robin Trower: "That over-the-hill, washed-up, has-been 34-year-old [32, Frank—Ed.] married..." Whoa, wait a second—what caused all this? Seems Robin demanded that Frank and the boys vacate the premises before he would appear onstage at an auditorium in Texas. Then Rob changed his mind and opened the show, giving up headliner status to the miffed Canadian rock group. Forgive and forget, Frank. Frank was also displeased with the deal he got from his former record company, blaming it for his group's onsuccess. OK, we're waiting to see what Columbia can do...

Whaaat? No press box or press party for the Elton John / John Miles Ponmet show? Elton should know all pen-pushers are lushes; maybe he's getting back at Detroit Rock City for CREEM's recent pan article. Awwww, have a heart, Eltie; how'd you like to have to go to Kiss concerts for a living? It's either liquor or Romilar to take off the edge ...

Is He Or Isn't He? One source told us that Bryan "Tornado" Blatt was definitely leaving for a West Coast promotion job. Another equally _ reliable Deep Throat said no, no, no; that the intrepid Arista promo man had, in fact, just gotten back from a meeting with The Man—Clive "We Can't Think of Any More Synonyms For Baldie" Davis.

Don't eat at the Midtown, my lovelies— we are currently suffering terminal heartburn from the thicken . ..

Peter Frampton's people tell us that yes, he is playing a Ponmet show this summer (if it hasn't already happened by the time you read this.) Have you noticed the dwindling attendance at the really monstroso rock concerts? We're delighted that these Babylonian orgies of greed have backfired; the fans finally realize that they aren't getting a good show for all that hard-earned cash being forked out. And if it, wasn't for the free booze and the elegant appointments of the Ponmet press box, how many of the working press would you find out there among the sweaty masses? Precious few, we say; including us.

Newest member of the Bicentennial community [?], Jeff Beck, greeted a pre-fourth of July capacity crowd at Masonic Auditorium with doubletime[!] renditions of his first gold LP, Blow By Blow. A louder than usual Detroit audience took Jeffs back-up group by such surprise that their leader, Jan Hammer, of the Jan Hammer group, naturellement, thought that all the huzzah's for his keyboard accompaniment were only so many drunken jeers. So what do you expect from a Czechoslovakian?

Bob Bageris was awarded a platinum LP for Peter Frampton; Bob's Bamboo Productions are credited with breaking Peter in the Midwest by promoting him live so many times.

Former Detroiter Bob Zachary (exMutant) , now rooming in NYC with Danny Fields of 16 Magazine, made a quick trip to Detroit to play tapes of the new band he's managing called Milk n" Cookies . . . they're boyish cuties in the Bay City Roller mold. Danny Goldberg, ex-head of Swan Song (Who could turn down Jimmy Page?) was in town talent-scouting for a new management/recording/ talent development biz he has started based out of NYC.

That's all for now . . .