On episode 5 the Pleasure Seekers hit the road and started touring outside Detroit. Patti discusses the multiple line-up changes in the band and why they happened, including the limitations placed on women in the workforce, let alone in rock and roll. It was through this series of line-up changes that Arlene Quatro joined the band, and her then-husband, Leo Fenn, became the band’s manager. Patti reveals a jaw-dropping mob story that happened with the new line-up. It started with a bunch of mafia guys from another territory picking off which girl in the band they wanted, and concluded in a way that could have been in the Sopranos. It’s a harrowing tale that only Patti can tell, including the final aftermath of the event. We conclude the episode with another harrowing tale about the start of the riots in 1967. The city’s civil unrest, political activism, and racial tension had been escalating, and on a hot summer night during the “Summer of Love” (or as Wayne Kramer of the MC5 called it the “Summer of Hate”), the (white) police raided an African-American frequented bar, and the riots were sparked. As a result of this horrific encounter, the Pleasure Seekers wrote and performed “White Pig Blues,” underscoring the angst of those who had witnessed and lived through the audacious display and brutal tactics of the Detroit cops.

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