As the saying goes, “If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen,” and boy is this final episode of our Summer Special hot! Patti and I conclude our conversation with her big brother Michael Quatro (a.k.a. Mickey or Mike) as we explore what it was like to come back from Los Angeles to Detroit, his reception at Grosse Pointe High by his classmates, the black Stingray purchased with his exorbitant earnings from the Lawrence Welk show, and continuing to play gigs all over town.

We conclude the conversation with Mike sharing a brief description of being at ground zero of the nascent Detroit rock scene in the early 1960s, the festivals he put on and promoted, as well as the bands he signed to his booking agency. Mike followed in his father’s footsteps as a booking agent after recognizing early on that he could fill a business void by being the only agency between L.A. and N.Y. If you’re a Detroit rock city fan of MC5, Bob Seger, Ted Nugent, Grand Funk, and all the other “homeboys” (as Patti describes them), then you’re not going to want to miss this episode! The good news is that it’s only the beginning of a much longer and detailed conversation into the Quatros’ indelible influence on the rock scene in Detroit, and you’ll be able to hear it all on Season Three. Stay tuned…!

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