Rock & Roll Dope: John Sinclair

IT WAS back in the fall of 1966 when Rob Tyner, lead singer for the then "Avant Rock" MC5, and myself got in Rob's beat up old Chevy to "go and check out the freeks" down on Plum Street. Detroit's Plum Street — a gaily painted clump of storefronts that housed head shops, art galleries, a coffeehouse, a small folk/blues/rock and roll club, and stores that sold leather goods and all kinds of weird clothing — is all closed down nowadays, but five years ago it was a brand new thing. Actually, a whole lot of things were new to me back then because I had just graduated from high school, moved away from my parents' house, and found myself amidst a bunch of new friends (like Tyner was), new ideas, and new things to do. And though none of us understood what it all meant, all of us, and all of this, were the creatures and manifestations of a new Rainbow Culture that was beginning to come to life all over Amerika.