DETROIT — Some people might think that driving from Toledo to Detroit to see an exhibition of photographs of Bob Seger is crazy, but I’m a travelin’ man so the drive didn’t bother me — and I don’t mind being a stranger in town.
When I was a preteen kid, I listened to Seger’s brand of old time rock ‘n’ roll late at night on a tube-driven Heathkit AM bedside radio tuned to CKLW. I’ve met fellow Seger fans from Kalamazoo to Katmandu and everywhere in between. So when I heard that Seger’s longtime tour photographer, Tom Weschler, was exhibiting his photos at the Detroit Historical Museum, I had to go.
The photos that graced the walls of the exhibit showed Seger, his bandmates, and his friends in shimmering black-and-white. One of the best photos shows the two BS’s — Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen — together at Pine Knob in 1978.
IF YOU GO What: The Detroit Historical Museum
When: Wednesday - Saturday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Sunday: 1 - 5 p.m. The exhibition runs through Sept. 22.
Where: 5401 Woodward Ave., Detroit
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dmission: $10 for adults; $8 for seniors, students, active military and first responders (with valid ID); $6 for children; $35 for a household (up to 6 adults and children with the same address); free for Detroit Historical Society members & children under 6 years old
Information: detroithistorical.org/detroit-historical-museum/plan-your-visit/general-information "Bob Seger is a Detroit music icon,” said Detroit Historical Society President & CEO Elana Rugh. “We're excited to share these rare photos with his many fans. Tom Weschler's images capture the magic of live performances as well as quieter behind-the-scenes glimpses at Seger's life."
Nearly all the photos, shown alongside a few personal items like suitcases, were candids or performance shots that conveyed the exuberant power of rock ‘n’ roll. Many of them showed their subjects in motion, the resulting fuzziness of the image conveying movement, power, and manic energy.
As Weschler explained in a recent interview, “I take candid pictures. What I see is what I shoot. That’s a learned thing – I learned that as I went.”
Bob Seger played in Toledo more than a dozen times, from an early date opening for the Stooges at the Toledo Sports Arena in May, 1971, to a stop at the Huntington Center on his farewell tour in January, 2019.
Cindy Reckley of Temperance remembers what it was like seeing Bob Seger when he was just starting out in 1969 – and what it was like seeing him about 50 years later.
“I was 17 when I saw him the first time. It was at a divey little place called The Club in Monroe. When I walked in, I ran into my old boyfriend – and we wound up getting married,” she said. “Though not that night,” she added with a chuckle.
“There was an electricity there in the room when Seger played that can’t be described. You can feel it go through your whole body. When someone is right on with their music and they’re creating at that level, you feel it. It’s like when you go to church and everybody is praying and you feel the connection.”
Decades later, at the Huntington Center, Reckley saw a lot of people her age coming to hear Seger again and feeling the same electricity. “Everyone was singing along with him,” she recalls. “And that man was moving on that stage. It was indescribable.”
In a 2011 interview with The Blade, Seger recalled an embarrassing outfit choice of short shorts and a Hawaiian shirt that he donned for a performance at the 1983 Speedway Jam at Toledo Speedway.
"Oh, God, I looked like such an idiot ," Seger said at the time. "I'm a huge basketball fan and back then that's how the NBA guys dressed. I was also a jogger. .. I know that was a terrible, terrible look. My wife saw that and said, 'What were you doing?' It was hot! It's not a rock and roll look at all. From that day on after I saw the pictures I said I'm never going to wear shorts onstage again."
Weschler recalled one incident before a show at the Huntington Center when some of Seger’s security team and his media rep were hanging out in an alley leading to the backstage area. The group was in high spirits, laughing and talking.
“Right then Seger showed up in his Jeep, stopped and joined the little group for a minute,” Weschler said. “Punch [Seger’s manager] came a minute later and yelled at everyone! With good cause: he didn’t want Bob to use his voice too much before a show!”
Weschler’s photos have been compiled into a book titled Travelin’ Man: On the Road and Behind the Scenes with Bob Seger , which can be purchased at the museum gift shop.
But there is much, much more to see at the Detroit Historical Museum besides Weschler’s photos of Bob Seger.
The museum is located in Detroit’s Cultural Center Historic District and is an easy walk to The Detroit Institute of Arts and the Michigan Science Center.
The Seger exhibit is part of a larger section of the museum that’s devoted to Detroit’s outsized contributions to American music. It’s an amazing musical legacy that includes Marvin Gaye, John Lee Hooker, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops, Martha Reeves, Edwin Starr, Glenn Frey, Madonna, Eminem, The White Stripes, MC5, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, and many more.
The museum also devotes considerable space to Detroit’s automobile industry.
One striking exhibit was part of an actual Cadillac assembly line, with the chassis and drivetrain completed and the body ready to be dropped. Instead of featuring the dozens of vehicles that were made in the Motor City, the museum focuses on their manufacture and the people who, back in the day, were makin’ Thunderbirds and other models.
There’s also an exhibit about the Detroit riots of July, 1967.
The curators clearly went to great lengths to present a revised and more balanced history of those events than was promulgated at the time by the media, the police, and the political establishment. The museum has collected over 500 oral histories of the riots.
I left thinking that the history of Detroit is a microcosm of the 50 years of American history from 1950 to 2000. In that sense, the Detroit Historical Museum isn’t just a city museum – it’s a monument to American history and culture.
And, at least for the time being, to Bob Seger.
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