Monday, April 13, 2009

Grand Funk Graffiti

By request, click here to see a photo of Flint's Grand Funk Railroad trestle.



8 comments:

  1. Yes, I remember that bridge. Still don't recall exactly where it was though...

    I recall getting Grand Funk mixed up with the Grateful Dead in a conversation once... didn't do that a 2nd time.

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  2. The bridge is over Fenton Road just south of 12th street. Near the old James Lumber.

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  3. the bridge is on fenton rd. just south of 12th street

    the road narrows quite a lot, back in the day of the land yachts it was a tight squeeze for two cars at one time getting thru there.

    and there are tons of grand funk stories out there....some urban legends...some true

    one legend has it that the memebers of the band used to hop the grand trunk and ride around the county hence the name grand funk railroad...but who knows

    lots of stories out there, i'm sure there are some expats who could share a couple

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  4. Don't feel bad, Grumkin, for years I thought GFR sang "American Woman"...Don't know where I ever got that idea...

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  5. Mark Farner was the 'centerfold' last week in petoskey's tourista magazine. He's still kickin' it old style. the hair's a little thinner, but he can still jam. He'd related a story about the writing of "Closer to Home" in the artie. And he still maintains a grueling tour schedule. Mark recently performed with Mitch Ryder, among others. I remember going into the KMart grocery section on Miller Rd. when it was still shiney,(yeah I'm THAT old), and meeting a young guy stamping the groceries prices, got to talking for a minute when he told me he had played bass for the Funksters. I gave the 'yeah, right' standard answer to that. Didn't find out til a couple of years ago, from Mark, that this kid had played with Grand Funk. If I remember, his name was Herman Jackson. And no, Funk didn't hit the rails, they had their own plane. Guess it must have been something other than a DC3. Wasn't badboy biker clubhouse right by the salvage yd. near the bridge?? There was an incident involving automatic weapons shooting up the clubhouse, I think around '68...oh, yeah, Mark and I watched the WTC come down that awful day, up at my cabin.

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  6. Mark just added a load of new photos to his myspace case thingie.

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  7. In Detroit since Aug.3rd working on Red Dawn remake, Went to the GFR bridge today and on to frankenmuth from there, Coolest road trip since I been here. The Bridge was Very cool. GFR was my first concert, Early 70s at the Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles, Always been a big fan.

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  8. Too Cool. Iconic
    https://maps.google.com/maps?q=fenton+rd+flint&hl=en&ll=42.998778,-83.693204&spn=0.025078,0.055747&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hnear=Fenton+Rd,+Flint+Township,+Genesee,+Michigan&gl=us&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=42.998864,-83.69321&panoid=bc-YmtLAU6-dvNzlItyN_g&cbp=12,6.3,,0,-5.2

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.