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John Sinclair

John Sinclair

John Sinclair was the manager of the MC5 and the leader of Detroit's White Panther Party. He is the author of Guitar Army and was the editor of Blues Access in the late 1990s.

John Sinclair's website

27 articles

List of articles in the library

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Sun Ra, and Interview: Collision of the Suns

Interview by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, 1 April 1967

THE INTERVIEW with SUN RA, the master musician & prophet, was originally taped & edited by John Sinclair in December 1966 for GUERRILLA. The interview ...

Sun Ra: Interview: Sun Ra Part 2

Interview by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, 14 April 1967

I KNOW I got something to help people but — I don't know what to do about it. I can put it over in music, ...

MC5: An Interview with Rob Tyner

Interview by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, May 1967

The following interview with ROBIN TYNER, the lead singer of the MC5, the major Detroit avant-rock band, was recorded by JOHN SINCLAIR in the first ...

MC5: Rock & Roll Dope #2

Report by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 19 June 1968

A STRANGE polarization (or maybe it's a natural one) seems to be happening with rock and roll fans right now, with white teen-age audiences turning ...

MC5: Rock & Roll Dope #3

Report by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 4 July 1968

I PROMISED you when I started this column that I'd take you behind the scenes in the rock and roll industry so you can see ...

MC5: Rock & Roll Dope #4

Report by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 18 July 1968

IN THE past two weeks since the last issue of this paper a bunch of new developments have taken place: Almost every job for the ...

MC5: Rock & Roll Dope #5

Report by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 1 August 1968

Poet-MC5 manager John Sinclair and MC5 guitarist Fred Smith were brutally assaulted, beaten, MACEd, and arrested by members of the National Security Police, the Oakland ...

John Mayall, MC5, Traffic: Rock and Roll Dope #6

Comment by John Sinclair, Fifth Estate, 15 August 1968

NOW THAT things have cooled down a little for the MC5 and myself after all the excitement of recent weeks maybe I can get into ...

MC5: White Panther Statement

Essay by John Sinclair, The Warren-Forest Sun, 1 November 1968

FIRST I MUST say that this statement, like all statements is bullshit without an active program to back it up. We have a program which ...

MC5: The MC5 Set List

Overview by John Sinclair, Rolling Stone, 4 January 1969

Here is a typical MC5 program, as performed at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. As well as serving as notes for "an evening recital of ...

The Beatles, John Lennon, Yoko Ono: The Beatles and John Lennon

Essay by John Sinclair, Ann Arbor Argus, 24 January 1969

I KNOW YOU'RE tired of hearing all the bullshit about the Beatles and all, but there are things going on that nobody seems to be ...

Poetry is Revolution: Underground Radio

Essay by John Sinclair, Ann Arbor Argus, 13 February 1969

"In a modern telecommunications society, the radio station is one of the real seats of authority; its seizure the seal of a successful revolution." — ...

MC5: The Story Of The MC5 On The West Coast In March Part One

Report by John Sinclair, Ann Arbor Argus, 28 March 1969

John Sinclair, Minister of Information, White Panther Party ...

The Dope Prosecution Process

Essay by John Sinclair, Los Angeles Free Press, 19 December 1969

From one who knows the hemp ropes... ...

MC5: The MC5 is a Whole Thing

Press Release by John Sinclair, Countdown, 1970

THERE IS NO way to get at the music without taking the whole context of the music too – there is no separation. We say ...

Sun Ra And His Myth-Science Arkestra

Profile and Interview by John Sinclair, Creem, November 1972

If you find earth bor-ingJust the same old same thing –If you find earth bor-ingJust the same old same thing – Come on, sign up ...

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes: Lowman's Westside Club, Detroit MI

Live Review by John Sinclair, The Ann Arbor Sun, 1 October 1975

THE SKYROCKETING popularity of the premier black vocal groups — the O'Jays, the Spinners, Gladys Knight & The Pips, the Four Tops, Harold Melvin & ...

J. Geils Band, Gary Wright: Cobo Hall, Detroit MI

Live Review by John Sinclair, The Ann Arbor Sun, 17 December 1975

WHEN THE J. Geils Band hits Detroit it's like rock and roll never went away. The Motor City is a second home for the Beantown bombers ...

Dr. John, The Meters, Professor Longhair, The Wild Magnolias, The Wild Tchoupitoulas: Special Report: Running The Streets Of The Crescent City

Report by John Sinclair, The Ann Arbor Sun, 22 April 1976

Well I'm going to New Orleans,  I wanna see the Mardi Gras  When I see the Mardi Gras,  I wanna know what the carnival for. ...

MC5: The MC5: How the Jams Were Kicked Out!

Retrospective by John Sinclair, ZigZag, July 1977

In Britain, the MC5 are now far more popular than they ever were in their heyday – a fact which has prompted the recent re-release ...

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Ancient to the Future

Profile by John Sinclair, Detroit Metro Times, October 1988

A SMALL ARMY of instruments is what you see first – an entire stage full of saxophones, drums, gongs, percussion implements of every description, bicycle ...

Robert Lockwood Jr.: Blues From The Delta

Profile by John Sinclair, Detroit Metro Times, Summer 1990

THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA, that fertile strip of silt-rich land stretching south from Memphis to Jackson on the east and Vicksburg on the river, has for ...

Dr. John Comes Clean: Kicking Dope & Taking Names

Interview by John Sinclair, Offbeat, 1994

John Sinclair: First things first: everybody wants to know who did your hair for the record cover of Television? ...

Irma Thomas: An Audience With The Soul Queen Of New Orleans

Interview by John Sinclair, Blues Access, Spring 2000

AS HER lengthy reign as the Soul Queen of New Orleans extends into the 21st century, the great Irma Thomas continues to grow as an ...

MC5: DKT/MC5: The Truest Possible Testimonial

Report by John Sinclair, Detroit Metro Times, 9 June 2004

IT'S BEEN MORE than 10 years since Wayne Kramer, Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson took the stage together in Detroit at Rob Tyner's memorial concert ...

R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Mississippi Fred McDowell, North Mississippi Allstars: North Mississippi Hill Country Blues

Overview by John Sinclair, Honest Tune, Spring 2005

WHEN YOU hear the word "blues" you're bound to think of Mississippi. The phrase "Mississippi blues" leads at once to thoughts of Clarksdale and Greenwood ...

Dr. John: Wade In The Water: Dr. John Weathers the Flood

Interview by John Sinclair, Honest Tune, 2006

THERE IS no native son of New Orleans more fiercely native than Mac Rebennack, known professionally now for almost 40 years as Dr. John. ...

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