A Conversation with John Sinclair

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A Conversation with John Sinclair

By Al Hellus

John Sinclair - Photo by David Williams

The first time I met John Sinclair it was 1985 and I'd set him up with a gig in a small bar called Cross Street Station in Ypsilanti. He brought three sax players with him and a fistful of bluesy/jazz oriented poems. He gave the musicians only the sketchiest one-line directions ("Play me some space music") and they'd go off on three very strange running lines that worked into a hot bed of wailing sound while he bellowed over them.

Afterwards, we sat and talked in a back booth. He put the arm on me to get up and read a few things before he left (to go pick up Dr. John at Metro Airport) and I declined emphatically. No way was I going to follow the legendary Sinclair & company.

He's one of the founding members of the White Panther Party in 1967 (think Black Panthers for white folk). He appeared with the notoriously rock & raunchy MC5, whom he managed, at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968 and participated in the riots that erupted in the streets while the whole world watched on TV. He was set up and busted for two joints of marijuana and did 4 years of a 9-and-a-half year sentence. Even benefits by the likes of John Lennon couldn't spring him. The government considered him that dangerous.

The story is that Abbie Hoffman jumped on stage and was yelling "Free John

Sinclair" when, in mid-sentence, Pete Townsend knocked him out and off the

stage at Woodstock.

Yeah, I was sitting across the table from an honest to Gawd flesh & bone

counter-cultural hero.

He's got that gritty rasp to his voice that sounds like a '57 Chevy up on

blocks in an inner city junkyard that's been ridden hard and put away wet.

Must be about 6'5". When he performs, the stage shakes. He ain't Tony

Bennett.

Sinclair appeared in Saginaw twice before, once in '97 at the Red Eye

Coffee House for a poetry slam and again in '99 at Zingger's where he

played with members of the Magic Poetry Band from Detroit and none other

than Matt 'The Flash' Besey. They wailed.

What's he doing now?

"I'm rolling right along," he tells me. "I'm living a very productive and

happy life at present." Some people, he says, go to soothsayers and tarot

readers to divine the future. John Sinclair don't wanna know. That's what

makes things interesting, he says.

"Idle hands are the Devil's workshop," he chuckles. "There's a sound bite

for ya."

He writes liner notes for scores of cd's down there in New Orleans. He

writes articles about music for various magazines, writes his own poetry

and performs with the band.

He's got a regular gig at WWWZ. You can hear it on the internetŠ.WWWZ.org.

He's put out 8 cd's of his own and can't remember how many books he's

published over the years; most of which, he hastens to add, are out of

print.

He also teaches a class called 'Poetry of the Blues' at the New Orleans

School For the Imagination.

When he hits Michigan next week he'll hit the ground running. His itinerary

looks something like this: he MC's the Greek Festival in Detroit for a

couple of days, makes his way to Saugatuck, Traverse City, Ann Arbor, Flint

and Oak Park.

In between he'll spend time with his 34-year old daughter, who's having her

first baby. Yeah, John Sinclair's gonna be a grandpaw. And he wants to hit

a Tiger's game. And visit his father's family gravesite in Port Austin.

His last stop, before he heads over to the Blues Festival in Chicago, is

here in Saginaw for the second White's Sessions on the 27th of this month.

He'll be joined by five of the hippest musicians from these environs: Bruce

Crawley on bass, Matt Besey on guitar, Tony Ioppolo on drums, Dan 'Dr. Sax'

on alto and Buddy 'Shabazz' Harris on percussion.

Sinclair likes it here in Saginaw - he used to have relatives in these

parts. He tells me his Dad used a little non sequitur on occasion that

went: "Yeah, and I know the police chief of Saginaw."

The show starts at 8 pm and ya might wanna come early for a good seat. The

joint, as they say, will be jumping.

Watch for Detroit performance poetry band SPOKE for session number two in June.

The White's Sessions is a monthly series that features off-beat

performances by various artists from anywhere. White's Bar is located at

2609 State St. Look for their monthly schedule at www.whitesbar.com

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