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The Third Power

5/24/2014

3 Comments

 
I attended my first "rock" concert/show as a sophomore in high school.  Actually my first was a sock hop in Jr. High that stared a band called "Pepper and the Shakers".  I have almost no memory of this event and can only imagine what my thoughts were.  Probably 'is there a bake sale in here?' 

The first show was at my High School with "The Third Power" headlining and "Harpo Jets" opening. 
"Harpo Jets" were the High School power trio and (as I recall) not bad.  They opened with "The Star Spangled Banner" as performed by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.  The film had just been released.  They had placed bottles of Boone's Farm wine on their amps for effect.  I'm sure the bottles were filled with water as this WAS High School.  

I was deeply impressed. 

"The Third Power" were also a power trio but they had a record out and had a big local reputation.  At the time it wasn't unusual for bands with a record deal to play local High Schools.  Bands like "The Stooges" "The Frost" and "MC5" regularly played High School gigs.

As the band took the stage they hugged some some senior girls they clearly knew.  They roared in to action and as I stood near the stage I remember thinking two things: I want senior girls to hug me and I want to be a part of this world.
3 Comments
unome2L
5/24/2014 10:28:14 am

Now that you mention it, I remember a certain jr. high sock hop...some 8th grader band opened with The MC5 "Kick Out The Jams" starting with the spoken.prologue. It took all of 30 second for the plug to get pulled and it was records after that. Hahaha!
High School gigs? Seger, in his early greatness, played at Notre Dame H.S. and somehow The Who played at Southfield High.
Third Power...footnote to the more well known homegrown bands in Detroit history. I made a cassette off a friend's album. Their heavier hit was "Persecution," but I have always liked your pick here.

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Jeff
5/25/2014 05:16:39 pm

You mention Seger. Drew Abbot,the lead player with Third Power, went on to play lead with "The Silver Bullet Band".

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JEM TARGAL link
5/26/2014 09:00:17 am

We sure did play a lot of high school gigs !!! ... they were "always" ***FUN*** ... we even played at my high school *TROY HIGH* ... Drew even smashed a guitar at that GIG ... I remember playing at ***Kettering*** we had a lot of ***fans*** there !!!!! ***MORE FUN
***

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    Jeff Allen

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    Vertical asked me to join his blog as a guest expert on "Nuggets" era music... Psychedelic, Garage and Fuzz.  Are there others more qualified?  You bet, but they weren't asked. He's also letting me write about anything I want…  We'll see.

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