The Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan music scene is mourning the loss of bassist Gary Rasmussen this morning, who passed away yesterday from complications due to pneumococcal pneumonia. Gary was an early mainstay in the Michigan rock scene, right there with the MC5, The Stooges, Bob Seger, and The Amboy Dukes, among others. His band The UP was a key player in the early formation of punk music, though often lost in the shadow of The Stooges spotlight for that credit.

While he also played bass for Patti Smith, The Scott Morgan Band, and others, it was The Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and their one single “City Slang” that he will be perhaps best remembered for. SRB was Fred “Sonic” Smith’s super-group in the ‘70s, after the MC5, and also included Scott Asheton of The Stooges and Scott Morgan from The Rationals. That song rips as hard as anything ever, kicked off by that iconic bass line Gary laid down. Those two bars just before the solo just tear your head off, then the blazing solo and bass-chord break…Michigan rock and roll at its absolutely most ferocious, right there friends.

I first heard about SRB and Gary when I was in high school in Marquette, Michigan from my pal John Burke, drummer for our band The Regulars and later WIG, whose family was close with Gary and ran with that crowd. “City Slang” rocked my world hard as I was straddling the line between Aerosmith and The Clash, what was cool and what was Passé, and somehow, just maybe…could they both be cool together? Listening to that old 7”, the answer was clearly yes, it is possible.

John reminded me today that Gary was at his high school graduation party in Marquette. The Regulars played “City Slang” that night for him. That was almost certainly the night I met him.

I’d later meet Gary a few times in Ann Arbor through John, and he was always soft-spoken, friendly, and humble. But there was also an air in his presence that loomed much louder and more intense. He wasn’t only friendly, he was fucking cool.

Real O Mind Records out of Philadelphia, run by my pal and record-collection doppelganger Geoff Ginsberg released a slew of records and compilations from the golden era of Detroit/Ann Arbor rock and early punk, some built around the low-end that Gary laid down, including Scott Morgan Medium Rare (which also includes tracks with John Burke) and Sonic’s Rendezvous Band Gettin’ There is Half the Fun. Geoff and Gary hung out regularly when Geoff was in Ann Arbor, and he recalls that on the rare occasion Gary would pick up a guitar, he sounded just like Fred Smith.  

“He had a skinny ass, but a fat bottom!” – Geoff Ginsberg 

And in 2006 Gary did a brief stint on bass with my brothers in Porchsleeper, who’d recently lost their bassist, and were thrilled beyond belief to have a legend in their midst.

“I will forever cherish the gifts of his tales (after much probing) of touring Europe with Iggy, or the Ramones gushing over the Rendezvous in NYC while heating up lentil soup in his kitchen after practice. Or that one time we opened up for the Hold Steady at the Magic Stick. All the THS guys gathering around, pointing and staring at his old, weathered 60s P-Bass before soundcheck until they realized who Gary actually was and then quickly gathered around him pointing and staring like star struck teenagers. He had no clue who those dudes were but he politely entertained their interrogations just the same. `Cause that’s who he was.”
- Brian Raleigh, Porchsleeper/Television City

Thanks, Brian. That sums it all up just about as well as anything I’ve read today.

Rest in Peace Gary. Ann Arbor and Detroit love you, and the entire rock and roll world celebrates your life and your work.

Ricki C.’s two cents; Being the Social Security Rocker of the Pencil Storm Editorial Board at 72 years old, I was lucky enough to witness two of Gary Rasmussen’s bands live; The UP in 1970 and Sonic’s Rendezvous Band five or six times in 1976 & ‘77. The UP show in 1970 was in an Ohio State University lecture hall, holding about 300 people, and the occasion was a speech and “lecture” by John Sinclair - founder of The White Panther Party in Detroit in 1968 and former manager of The MC5. The UP were great - loud ‘n proud - and it easy to see their links/lineage to big brothers The MC5 and The Stooges. (Who I also saw in a University setting, in 1969, at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, where I now live.) (Such was the state of higher education in the late ‘60’s & early ‘70’s; you could see bands like The UP and The Stooges right on your school grounds.) (Higher Education, indeed.)

The Sonic’s Rendezvous Band shows were in all Ann Arbor in 1976 & 1977. Weekends when I had no gigs my reprobate Service Merchandise friends & I would get off work on Friday at 5 pm and decide about 5:05 to make the not-even-three-hour-drive up to Ann Arbor for some rock & roll. We’d cash our paychecks, pool our money for gas & drinks, decide whose car could make it to Michigan without breaking down, and spend our Friday night having our heads knocked sideways by Fred, Gary, Scott & Scott, most often at The Blind Pig. (Plus a coupla places in Detroit I can’t put my finger on because I was still drinking heavily in the 70’s.)

Gary Rasmussen, RIP.

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos. Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.
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