John Sinclair (poet)
Encyclopedia
John Sinclair is a Detroit poet, one-time manager of the band MC5
, and leader of the White Panther Party
— a militant
ly anti-racist countercultural group of white socialists seeking to assist the Black Panthers in the Civil Rights movement
— from November 1968 to July 1969. Sinclair attended the Flint College of the University of Michigan, now the University of Michigan-Flint. During his time at UM-Flint John served on the university's Publications Board, school newspaper "the word", and was the president of the Cinema Guild. He graduated in 1964.
. Fifth Estate continues to publish to this day, making it one of the longest continuously published alternative periodicals
in the United States. Sinclair also contributed to the formation of Detroit Artists Workshop Press, which published five issues of Work magazine. Sinclair worked as a jazz writer for Down Beat
magazine from 1964 to 1965, being an outspoken advocate for the newly emerging Free Jazz Avant Garde movement. Sinclair was one of the "New Poets" who read at the seminal Berkeley Poetry Conference in July 1965.
from 1966 though 1969. Under his guidance the band embraced the counter-culture revolutionary politics of the White Panther Party
, founded in answer to the Black Panthers' call for white people to support their movement. During this period, Sinclair booked "The Five" as the regular house band at Detroit's famed Grande Ballroom
in what came to be known as the "Kick out the Jams"
shows. He was managing the MC5 at the time of their free concert outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention
in Chicago
. The band was the only group to perform before baton-wielding police broke up the massive anti-Vietnam war rally
, calling it a riot. Eventually, the MC5 came to find Sinclair's politics too heavy-handed. He and the band went their separate ways in 1969 but they are still friends and he has spoken at their recent reunion concerts, including Massive Attack
's 2008 Meltdown
at London's South Bank
. In 2006, Sinclair rejoined MC5 bassist Michael Davis
to help launch the Music Is Revolution Foundation, serving as a general board member.
s of marijuana
to an undercover narcotics officer. This sentence inspired Abbie Hoffman
to jump on the stage during The Who
's performance at Woodstock
to protest. It also sparked the landmark "John Sinclair Freedom Rally
" at Ann Arbor's Crisler Arena
in December 1971. The event brought together luminaries including pop musicians John Lennon
(who recorded the song, "John Sinclair" on his Some Time in New York City
album), Yoko Ono
, David Peel, Stevie Wonder
, Phil Ochs
and Pete Seeger
, jazz artists Archie Shepp
and Roswell Rudd
, and speakers Allen Ginsberg
, Abbie Hoffman, Rennie Davis
, David Dellinger
, Jerry Rubin
, and Bobby Seale
. Three days after the rally, Sinclair was released from prison when the Michigan Supreme Court
ruled that the state's marijuana statutes were unconstitutional. These events inspired the creation of Ann Arbor’s annual pro-legalization Hash Bash
rally, which continues to be held as of 2011, and contributed to the drive for decriminalization of marijuana under the Ann Arbor city charter (see Cannabis laws in Ann Arbor, Michigan).
In 1972, Leonard Weinglass
took on the defense of Sinclair in Detroit, Michigan. The case became United States v. U.S. District Court
, 407 U.S. 297 (1972)
on appeal to the United States Supreme Court a landmark decision prohibiting the government's use of electronic survelliance without a warrant.
On March 22, 2006, Sinclair joined The Black Crowes
on stage at the Paradiso
in Amsterdam, and read his poem "Monk In Orbit" during the instrumental break in the song "Nonfiction". Two days later, he went back onstage at the Black Crowes show in the Paradiso, reading his poem "Fat Boy" during the long instrumental jam following the Black Crowes' song, "How Much For Your Wings?".
On 20 January 2009, to mark Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, Sinclair performed a series of his poems accompanied by a live band, featuring Elliott Levin, Tony Bianco and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
at Cafe OTO in Dalston, East London.
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
, and leader of the White Panther Party
White Panther Party
The White Panthers were a far-left, anti-racist, White American political collective founded in 1968 by Lawrence Plamondon, Leni Sinclair, and John Sinclair. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was asked what white people could do...
— a militant
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
ly anti-racist countercultural group of white socialists seeking to assist the Black Panthers in the Civil Rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
— from November 1968 to July 1969. Sinclair attended the Flint College of the University of Michigan, now the University of Michigan-Flint. During his time at UM-Flint John served on the university's Publications Board, school newspaper "the word", and was the president of the Cinema Guild. He graduated in 1964.
1960s activism
Sinclair was involved in the reorganization of the Detroit underground newspaper, Fifth Estate, during the paper's growth in the late 1960s1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
. Fifth Estate continues to publish to this day, making it one of the longest continuously published alternative periodicals
Alternative media
Alternative media are media which provide alternative information to the mainstream media in a given context, whether the mainstream media are commercial, publicly supported, or government-owned...
in the United States. Sinclair also contributed to the formation of Detroit Artists Workshop Press, which published five issues of Work magazine. Sinclair worked as a jazz writer for Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine from 1964 to 1965, being an outspoken advocate for the newly emerging Free Jazz Avant Garde movement. Sinclair was one of the "New Poets" who read at the seminal Berkeley Poetry Conference in July 1965.
Involvement with the MC5
Sinclair managed the hard-edged proto-punk MC5MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
from 1966 though 1969. Under his guidance the band embraced the counter-culture revolutionary politics of the White Panther Party
White Panther Party
The White Panthers were a far-left, anti-racist, White American political collective founded in 1968 by Lawrence Plamondon, Leni Sinclair, and John Sinclair. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was asked what white people could do...
, founded in answer to the Black Panthers' call for white people to support their movement. During this period, Sinclair booked "The Five" as the regular house band at Detroit's famed Grande Ballroom
Grande Ballroom
The Grande Ballroom is a historic live music venue located at 8952 Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The building was designed by Detroit engineer and architect Charles N. Agree in 1928 and originally served as a multi-purpose building, hosting retail business on the first floor and a large...
in what came to be known as the "Kick out the Jams"
Kick Out the Jams
Kick Out the Jams is the first album by Detroit protopunkers MC5, released in 1969. It was recorded live at Detroit's Grande Ballroom over two nights, Devil's Night and Halloween, 1968. In 2003, the album was ranked number 294 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time...
shows. He was managing the MC5 at the time of their free concert outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. The band was the only group to perform before baton-wielding police broke up the massive anti-Vietnam war rally
Opposition to the Vietnam War
The movement against US involvment in the in Vietnam War began in the United States with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The US became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam, and those who wanted peace. Peace movements consisted largely of...
, calling it a riot. Eventually, the MC5 came to find Sinclair's politics too heavy-handed. He and the band went their separate ways in 1969 but they are still friends and he has spoken at their recent reunion concerts, including Massive Attack
Massive Attack
Massive Attack are an English DJ and trip hop duo from Bristol, England consisting of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Working with co-producers, as well as various session musicians and guest vocalists, they make records and tour live. The duo are considered to be of the trip...
's 2008 Meltdown
Meltdown (festival)
Meltdown is an annual, English festival, held in London, featuring a mix of music, art, performance and film. Meltdown is held in June at Southbank Centre, the arts complex covering and including the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Hayward...
at London's South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
. In 2006, Sinclair rejoined MC5 bassist Michael Davis
Michael Davis (bassist)
Michael Davis is a bass guitarist, singer, songwriter and music producer.- MC5 :He replaced original MC5 bassist Pat Burrows when singer Rob Tyner and guitarist Wayne Kramer decided that they liked Davis' style and wanted him in the band.MC5 comprises:*Michael Davis, bass,*Wayne Kramer,...
to help launch the Music Is Revolution Foundation, serving as a general board member.
Arrest and imprisonment
After a series of convictions for possession of marijuana, Sinclair was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1969 after giving two jointJoint (cannabis)
Joint is a slang term for a cigarette rolled using cannabis. Rolling papers are the most common rolling medium among industrialized countries, however brown paper, cigarettes with the tobacco removed, and newspaper are commonly used in developing countries. Modern papers are now made from a wide...
s of marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
to an undercover narcotics officer. This sentence inspired Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ....
to jump on the stage during The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's performance at Woodstock
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
to protest. It also sparked the landmark "John Sinclair Freedom Rally
John Sinclair Freedom Rally
The John Sinclair Freedom Rally was a protest and concert in response the imprisonment of John Sinclair for possession of marijuana held on December 10, 1971, in Crisler Arena at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan...
" at Ann Arbor's Crisler Arena
Crisler Arena
Crisler Arena, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, is the home arena for the University of Michigan men's and women's basketball teams. Constructed in 1967, the arena seats 13,751 spectators. It is named for Herbert O...
in December 1971. The event brought together luminaries including pop musicians John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
(who recorded the song, "John Sinclair" on his Some Time in New York City
Some Time in New York City
Some Time in New York City was released in 1972 and is John Lennon's third post-Beatles album, fifth with Yoko Ono, and third with producer Phil Spector...
album), Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
, David Peel, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Phil Ochs
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs was an American protest singer and songwriter who was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, earnest humanism, political activism, insightful and alliterative lyrics, and haunting voice...
and Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, jazz artists Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
and Roswell Rudd
Roswell Rudd
Roswell Rudd is a Grammy Award-nominated American jazz trombonist and composer....
, and speakers Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, Abbie Hoffman, Rennie Davis
Rennie Davis
Rennard Cordon “Rennie” Davis is a former, prominent American anti-Vietnam War protest leader of the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven....
, David Dellinger
David Dellinger
David T. Dellinger , was an influential American radical, a pacifist and activist for nonviolent social change.-Chicago Seven:...
, Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin
Jerry Rubin was an American social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman.-Early life:...
, and Bobby Seale
Bobby Seale
Robert George "Bobby" Seale , is an activist. He is known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.-Early life:...
. Three days after the rally, Sinclair was released from prison when the Michigan Supreme Court
Michigan Supreme Court
The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is known as Michigan's "court of last resort" and consists of seven justices who are elected to eight-year terms. Candidates are nominated by political parties and are elected on a nonpartisan ballot...
ruled that the state's marijuana statutes were unconstitutional. These events inspired the creation of Ann Arbor’s annual pro-legalization Hash Bash
Hash Bash
Hash Bash is an annual event held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the first Saturday of April at high noon on the University of Michigan Diag. A collection of speeches, live music, street vending and occasional civil disobedience are centered on the goal of reforming federal, state, and local marijuana...
rally, which continues to be held as of 2011, and contributed to the drive for decriminalization of marijuana under the Ann Arbor city charter (see Cannabis laws in Ann Arbor, Michigan).
In 1972, Leonard Weinglass
Leonard Weinglass
Leonard Irving Weinglass was a U.S. criminal defense lawyer and constitutional law advocate. Weinglass graduated from Yale Law School in 1958, then served as a Captain, Judge Advocate, United States Air Force from 1959 to 1961. He was admitted to the bar in the states of New Jersey, New York,...
took on the defense of Sinclair in Detroit, Michigan. The case became United States v. U.S. District Court
United States v. U.S. District Court
United States v. U.S. District Court, 407 U.S. 297 , also known as the Keith case, was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision that upheld, in a unanimous 8-0 ruling, the requirements of the Fourth Amendment in cases of domestic surveillance targeting a domestic threat.-The case:The United...
, 407 U.S. 297 (1972)
Citation
Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression Broadly, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated...
on appeal to the United States Supreme Court a landmark decision prohibiting the government's use of electronic survelliance without a warrant.
Performances, writing and poetry
Since the mid-1990s Sinclair has performed and recorded his spoken word pieces with his band "The Blues Scholars" which has included many members including Wayne Kramer, Brock Avery, Charles Moore, Doug Lunn, Paul Ill, amongst many others. He also performed as a distinctive disc jockey for New Orleans' WWOZ Radio, the public jazz and heritage station.On March 22, 2006, Sinclair joined The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the...
on stage at the Paradiso
Paradiso (Amsterdam)
Paradiso is an iconic rock music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.-History:It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the "Vrije...
in Amsterdam, and read his poem "Monk In Orbit" during the instrumental break in the song "Nonfiction". Two days later, he went back onstage at the Black Crowes show in the Paradiso, reading his poem "Fat Boy" during the long instrumental jam following the Black Crowes' song, "How Much For Your Wings?".
On 20 January 2009, to mark Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, Sinclair performed a series of his poems accompanied by a live band, featuring Elliott Levin, Tony Bianco and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
Jair-Rohm Parker Wells
Jair-Rôhm Parker Wells is an American free jazz bassist , composer and conceptualist. He is one of the founding members of the improvising band Machine Gun which featured Thomas Chapin...
at Cafe OTO in Dalston, East London.
Discography
John Sinclair has recorded several of his poems and essays. On these albums blues and jazz musicians provide psychedelic soundscapes to accompany his delivery:- John Sinclair & Ed Moss with his Society Jazz Orchestra - If I Could Be With You (1994)
- John Sinclair & Monster Island - Full Moon Night (1994)
- John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars - Full Circle (1996)
- John Sinclair - V.1 Thelonious:A Book Of Monk (1996)
- John Sinclair & His Boston Blues Scholars - Steady Rollin' Man: Live (2001)
- John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars - Fattening Frogs For Snakes - Volume One: The Delta Sound (2002)
- John Sinclair & Monster Island - PeyoteMind (2002)
- John Sinclair - Fattening Frogs For Snakes - Volume Two: Country Blues (2005)
- John Sinclair & His Motor City Blues Scholars - Detroit Life (2008)
- John Sinclair & Planet D Nonet - Viper Madness (2010)
- John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars- SONG OF PRAISE Homage to John Coltrane (2011)
- John Sinclair & His International Blues Scholars - Let's Go Get 'Em Let's Go Get 'Em (2011)
- John Sinclair & Hollow Bones - Honoring The Local Gods (2011)