Courtesy Photo Alpena band the Frost is seen in this undated photo.

BAY CITY — Located at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Ninth Street, the multi-story Bay County Historical Society Museum offers a multitude of regional and informative exhibits, similar in venue to that of the Besser Museum for Northeastern Michigan.

On the Bay City museum’s second floor, extending down a hallway to the first floor, is the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame began as a vision by Gary Johnson.

“While in junior high school conducting rock and roll history research, I first realized Michigan did not have a rock and roll hall of fame,” Johnson said.

During the following decades, his vision morphed into multimedia rock and roll music trivia shows, online nomination voting for Michigan artists and recordings, and subsequent exhibits appearing at the Bay City Motor Co. and Scotty’s Sandbar restaurant on the Saginaw River’s shores.

In early 2020, Johnson began exploratory discussions with the Bay County Museum. The Hall of Fame was officially dedicated and opened on March 12, 2022.

“It begins at the first-floor stairway,” Johnson said. “A mural depicting many of Michigan’s teen clubs and independent record labels. Moving up the staircase, it offers a poster exhibit, featuring many of Gary Grimshaw’s creations.”

The expansive exhibit continues with displays on Michigan artists and music, such as Bob Seger, the MC5, Amboy Dukes, Stevie Wonder, Ted Nugent, Sonny Bono, Madonna, Alice Cooper, Del Shannon, and dozens upon dozens of others.

Presently on the second floor is a video featuring the Supremes, the Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, and numerous others,

The Hall of fame currently honors 123 inductees, including Alpena’s Frost.

This fall, the Hall of Fame will offer exhibits honoring the Upper Peninsula rock groups Excels, Galaxies, and Riot Squad.

With a celebrated and interesting history, the Frost featured Dick Wagner, Bobby Rigg, Gordy Garris, and Donny Hartman.

The year is 1969. Astronaut Neil Armstrong walked the moon’s surface, the Vietnam War continued to rage, and “Star Trek” was in its final television season.

Locally, you could feast on a 59-cent Lud’s giant burger, 45-rpm records could be purchased for 69 cents. At night, Northeast Michigan teenagers tuned into Chicago’s WBZ or WCFL radio for top 40 music, hip hugger and bell bottom ladies’ slacks were the rage, and, on weekends, the Water Street Armory was filled with live music and teen dances.

Wagner had already played with rock bands such as the Invictas, Playboys, Bossman, and auditioned with Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

The moons aligned and Wagner joined Bobby Rigg and the Chevelles, later to be renamed the Frost.

After numerous local and regional engagements, the Frost appeared at Detroit’s Meadowbrook Theater before a crowd estimated at 10,000. They took the same stage as the MC5 and Stooges.

The Frost also performed at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom and Eastown Theater with Bob Seger, Eric Burton and the Animals, Amboy Dukes, Three Dog Night, and Nirvana.

Columbia and Vanguard records began pursuing a Frost contract. Vanguard achieved a contract.

Multiple albums and a few singles were produced. However, historic accounts revealed Vanguard lacked a viable marketing and promotional campaign for the Frost.

The Frost’s musical pinnacle occurred in August 1970, near Jackson, at the Goose Lake International Music Festival. Admission was $15 per person and the festival occurred one year after Woodstock.

Before a crowd of 200,000 (roughly Lansing’s then-population) Alpena’s rock group appeared with Rod Stewart, Jethro Tull, Chicago, Mitch Ryder, and numerous other rock groups of the era.

Within the year, after a Canadian tour, the Frost approached their end.

In the years to come, Rigg and Hartman periodically rekindled the Frost on stage. In 1999, Rigg and Hartman appeared with Wagner for a 30th anniversary Frost reunion. Garris never participated in any subsequent Frost reunions.

In 2008, Frost was inducted into Michigan’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2010 and 2012, their “Mystery Man” and “Rock and Roll Music” were voted legendary songs.

A Dollar Shave Club television commercial features Frost’s “Mystery Man” as background music.

Jeffrey D. Brasie is a retired health care CEO. He frequently writes historic feature stories and op-eds for various Michigan newspapers. As a Vietnam-era veteran, he served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Naval Reserve. He served on the public affairs staff of the secretary of the navy. He grew up in Alpena and resides in suburban Detroit.