John Sinclair; author, poet, and activist, spent the sixties embracing the ideal of love and peace, and drugs and rock 'n' roll. He was a jazz poet, founder of the Detroit Artists Workshop and manager of the MC5. With the release of the first MC5 album also came the declaration they had formed the White Panther Party, in support of the Black Panther Party and in opposition to the U.S. Government.
In 1970 he found himself sentenced to nine and a half to ten years in prison for giving two joints to an undercover policewoman. While the movement he started, along with much of the rock world, protested for his freedom, Sinclair began compiling the columns he had written for the underground newspapers and writing the resulting book Guitar Army. He was given his freedom 29 months later, three days after the expansive "John Sinclair Freedom Rally" at the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Dec. 10, 1971). Guitar Army, which became known as a manual for revolution, was re-released May 1, 2007 by Process and includes previously unreleased photos as well as a CD of recordings of the MC5 and other Detroit area bands of the time.
John Sinclair sat down with me last week at a local restaurant near the record store he would later sign copies of Guitar Army and read from its pages. We found most things in life are circular - to move forward you have to look back. We talked about the ideals of the time, those he expressed back then, and how it all relates to the social and political state today. The conversation drifted from music, to baseball, to the effect of the media on the youth of today, and back again.
Is there a reason, other than the 35th anniversary, that you are re-releasing the book Guitar Army?
I got a publisher (laughs). It's been available for 35 years but no one has had the good taste to want to put it out again. Finally they did and it coincided with the 35 years. It rings a bell with journalism of today.
Major anniversaries?
Right. I've been active for these past 35 years, but since I wasn't in trouble, and I don't call major press conferences they don't know. They ask 'Where you been?' Well, I was in your town six months ago, but you didn't pay any attention. Now I have a product and a publicist and it's about the old days, so it's safe to talk about.
Because enough time has passed?
If I brought this out now I couldn't get a review. On the basis of the content I mean.
Article comments
1 - willie bobo
what hipocrites...you say speak up say whats on your mind,then no personal attacks,what gives..some phoneys need to be attacked to expose them to the masses and what are you afraid of? come on get real you can't have it both ways...