Talk:Prime Movers

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Note: I am submitting this updated bio to the discussin page, and would like the facts here to be considered. Since I am the founder and manager of the band, I don't want to presume to edit material that can be questioned. All of the facts and statements can be backed up that on on this page below. Howe do we go about doing that?

Thanks, Michael Erlewine (founder Prime Movers Blues Band, Manager)


The Prime Movers
Origin Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Genre(s) Blues
Years active 1965 - 1971
Former members
Michael Erlewine
Dan Erlewine
Robert Sheff
Robert Vinopal
Spider Winn
Jack Dawson
James Osterberg
JC Crawford
Eileen Silverman
Garby Leon


The now legendary Prime Movers Blues Band was founded in the summer of 1965 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The band consisted of Michael Erlewine (lead singer, amplified Chicago-style harmonica), Dan Erlewine (lead guitar), Robert Sheff (aka Blue Gene Tyranny on keyboards), Jack Dawson (bass), and Iggy Pop (drums). This was the main group, although Robert Vinopal (bass), and Michael “Spider” Wynn (drums) also played in the very beginning.

James Osterberg got his name “Iggy” (later: Iggy Pop), when he joined the Prime Movers, having left a frat-style band called the Iguanas.

The Prime Movers were known throughout the Midwest for many years. Courted by a subsidiary of Motown Records to be a white group playing “black” music, the story has it that the band refused to cooperate, preferring to study and perform classic Chicago-style blues than to record songs that were fed to them by Motown. A consequence of this is that they were not recorded. Only recently, have any recordings of the original band, with Iggy Pop, been surface, including a recording of Iggy Pop singing Muddy Water’s song “I’m a Man.”

A diagram of Keplerian orbital elements.
A diagram of Keplerian orbital elements.


The band’s respect for Black Music found them frequenting the small blues clubs in Chicago, early on, where they saw legends like Little Walter, Magic Sam, Big Walter Horton, and many other bluesman perform live. This was in 1966.

The Prime Movers Blues Band played a significant part in helping to host the first two Ann Arbor Blues Festivals, in 1969 and 1970, which were the first (and largest) blues festivals (in terms of the number of great bluesman who performed) in the U.S. Michael Erlewine, the groups lead singer, interviewed (audio and video) dozens of the performers, and the spirit of these early festivals carried over into the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival in 1972, 1973, and 1974. Members of the band were also involved in the 1972 festival. The band was also responsible for providing food and (especially) drink to the blues performers at the first three festivals.

As time passed, the Prime Movers Blues Band became kind of the elder statesmen in the burgeoning Ann Arbor music scene, working with the younger groups, and playing with visiting artists like Jerry Garcia. They frequently shared the bill with the MC5.

In the Midwest, the band played at Detroit clubs like the Grande Ballroom, the Living End, the Chessmate, and the Wisdom Tooth. Also, at Mother Blues in Chicago.

Also: Ann Arbor and Michigan clubs like the 5th Dimension, Mothers, Schwaben Inn, Depot House, Town Bar, and Clint’s Club, Mr. Flood’s Party, and many more.

In 1967, the band toured the West Coast and spend the Summer of Love in San Francisco, living at the Sausalito Heliport, and playing at places like The Matrix, The Straight Theater, the Haight A, New Orleans House, and the Fillmore West, where they opened for Cream.

Iggy Popp (who went on to stardom) was replaced by drummer JC Crawford in early 1967. Crawford later became famous as the MC for the MC5, belting out the phrase “Kick out the jams, MF…” that kicked of their shows.

The Prime Movers Blues Band went through some 37 members, and gradually dismembered by 1970. The Erlewine brothers continued to play around the Ann Arbor area for some years after that. Michael Erlewine had a solo piano act as late as 1971.

[edit] External links



Note to Wiki:

I woould like to get to work on documenting to your satisfaction and making this entry more complete. How do we go about it? Thanks. Michael Erlewine