John Sinclair at The Barbican London UK 31st May 2014 © The Barbican.
Founder/Executive Director, Detroit Jazz Center
John Sinclair has cut a wide swath for more than 50 years as a prolific cultural worker, an innovative poet who sets his verse to music from the blues and jazz tradition, a dynamic performer and bandleader who has collaborated with scores of outstanding musicians in performance and recording, a leading music journalist, acclaimed editor, and writer of album liner notes, an award-winning radio broadcaster and record producer, an iconoclastic educator and lecturer, a passionate crusader against the War in Vietnam and the War on Drugs, and a living testimonial to the power of people to make fundamental changes in the conditions of their lives.
Sinclair founded and directed the Detroit Artists Workshop, managed the MC5, formed the White Panther Party, produced the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, directed the Detroit Jazz Center, taught Blues History at Wayne State University, worked for the Detroit Council of the Arts, produced Piano Night at Tipitina’s for the Professor Longhair Foundation and the “live” broadcast of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for WWOZ-FM. He spent three years in prison for marijuana offenses, overthrew the Michigan marijuana laws, helped institute Ann Arbor’s historic $5 fine for possession of weed, founded the Ann Arbor Hash Bash and served as High Priest of the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam.
Sinclair has collaborated with a brilliant array of contemporary musicians, from saxophone giants Archie Shepp, Marion Brown, Daniel Carter and Earl Turbinton to hornmen David Amram, Michael Ray, Charles Moore, James Andrews and Kermit Ruffins, guitarists Wayne Kramer, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, Willie King, Jim McCarty and Jeff “Baby” Grand, and West African griots Bala Tounkare and Guelel Kuumba.
Sinclair has released more than 20 CDs, including several with his band of Blues Scholars, and his recent books include It’s All Good—A John Sinclair Reader, Song of Praise: Homage to John Coltrane, Sun Ra Interviews & Essays (editor), a book of blues verse called Fattening Frogs For Snakes, and i mean you: a book for penny.
John Sinclair was born in Flint, Michigan on October 2, 1941. He attended
Albion College and graduated from the University of Michigan-Flint College in 1964 with an A.B. in English Literature. At college he began writing poetry and music criticism and edited the school paper, The Word,.Sinclair pursued graduate studies in American Literature at Wayne State University in Detroit, completing his master’s thesis on William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch while beginning his career as a poet, journalist, music presenter, concert and festival producer, music historian, radio broadcaster and educator.
As a cultural activist Sinclair helped establish and direct the Detroit Artists Workshop, the Allied Artists Association, Jazz Research Institute and Detroit Jazz Center. He managed the MC5, Mitch Ryder & Detroit and other bands, produced dance concerts at the Grande Ballroom, free concerts in the parks, the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festivals, and countless left-wing benefits, community cultural events, jazz concerts and poetry readings.
Sinclair has booked bands, bought talent and done publicity for nightclubs, bars and concert halls; developed programs, written grants, raised funds and directed projects for jazz artists and community arts organizations; and produced records by artists from the MC-5, Little Sonny and Deacon John to Sun Ra, Victoria Spivey and Roosevelt Sykes.
He’s been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts; a professor of Blues History at Wayne State University; director of the City Arts Gallery and editor of the City Arts Quarterly for the City of Detroit Council of the Arts; producer and host of radio program series at WCBN-FM, WDET-FM and WWOZ-FM New Orleans; and designer and producer of WWOZ’s live broadcast from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
As a professional journalist Sinclair has written columns, features and reviews of jazz and blues, rock & roll and poetry and writing for publications of all sorts, from obscure local papers to downbeat and Playboy magazine. He’s published poetry books and journals, edited underground newspapers, arts quarterlies and blues magazines, and written liner notes for albums by artists from Louis Armstrong, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes to Johnny Adams, the Wild Magnolias and the Re-Birth Brass Band.
A marijuana activist since 1964, Sinclair has fought on the marijuana side of the War on Drugs through Detroit LEMAR, Amorphia, NORML and a five-year struggle in the courts of Michigan that cost him 2-1/2 years in prison before he overturned Michigan’s marijuana laws on appeal and helped enact the historic $5 fine for marijuana activity in Ann Arbor.
Sinclair was Chairman of the White Panther Party and its successor, the Rainbow Peoples Party, battling Richard M. Nixon and his goons from the beginning of his administration to the bitter end. It was Sinclair’s court case challenging Nixon’s warrantless wiretap program that produced the historic Supreme Court decision in U.S. vs. U.S. District Court that “national security” wiretaps could not be allowed—at least not until the Bush-Cheney-Rove era of the 2000s.
Sinclair left Detroit in 1991 and spent 12 years in New Orleans before establishing his present base in Amsterdam in 2003, where he founded his internet radio station, www.RadioFreeAmsterdam.com, in 2004 and began the process of establishing the John Sinclair Foundation. He continues to release records and books and tours throughout Europe and around the United States with a stunning variety of musical collaborators.
Sinclair’s books have been translated into Italian, French and Spanish, and the poet was recently honored as the International recipient of the prestigious Targa Matteo Salvatore in Foggia, Italy. He’s appeared at the Festival Internazionale della Letteratura Resistente in Tuscany and been featured at major events and festivals in Rome, Milano, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Florence, and Santiago, Chile.
At the 2006 Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam a potent, prize-winning strain of Dutch marijuana was named in his honor. Later the Ceres Seed Company developed John Sinclair Seeds for sale and distribution throughout Europe and the United Kingdom.
John Sinclair may be reached through the John Sinclair Foundation, Singel 10-sous, 1013GA Amsterdam, The Netherlands or at jo*************@gm***.com.
JOHN SINCLAIR TIME LINE
1941-1959
Born October 2 at Women’s Hospital, Flint, Michigan
Parents: John Sr. (Jack) and Elsie Sinclair
Sister Kathleen born 1943, brother David born 1945
Attended Davison Public Schools, Davison, Michigan 1959
1959-1964
Attended Albion College, Albion, Michigan, 1959-61
Attended Flint Junior College, 1961
Attended University of Michigan-Flint College. 1962-64
Editor, The Word, UM–Flint
President, UM—Flint Cinema Guild
Graduated UM-Flint, January 1964, A.B. English Literature
1964-67
Attended Wayne State University, Detroit, Graduate School of English
Master’s Thesis: William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch
Convicted of Marijuana Possession, Detroit Recorders Court,
Sentenced to two years probation
Co-Founder & Director, Detroit Artists Workshop
Founder & Director, Detroit LEMAR (Legalize Marijuana)
Editor & Publisher, Artists Workshop Press
Editor & Publisher, Warren-Forest Sun newspaper
Co-Founder & Director, WSU Artists’ Society
Detroit Correspondent, downbeat Magazine, Chicago
Married Magdalene Arndt, June 1965
Berkeley Poetry Conference. Four Young American Poets Reading
Convicted of Marijuana Possession, Detroit Recorders Court,
Sentenced to three years probation
Prisoner, Detroit House of Correction, February-August 1966
Co-Editor, Guerrilla: A Newspaper of Cultural Revolution, Detroit
Talent Consultant, Grande Ballroom, Detroit
Author, This Is Our Music, Artists Workshop Press
Author, FIRE MUSIC: a record, Artists Workshop Press
Author, The Poem For Warner Stringfellow, Artists Workshop Press
Author, “A New Song / For A New Year”, Artists Workshop Press Broadside
Author, “Sing The Song”, Artists Workshop Press Broadside
Author, “When A Man / Loves A Woman”, Fenian Head Centre Press Broadside)
Author, “Weathering”, Fenian Head Centre Press Broadside
Editor, Free Poems/Among Friends, Artists Workshop Press
Editor, Detroit Artists’ Worksheet, Artists Workshop Press
Editor (with Robin Eichele), Ten Wayne Poets, Wayne State University
Contributor, Hettie Jones, Editor, Poems Now, Kulchur Press
1967-1968
Artists’ Manager, MC-5
Producer, MC-5, “Looking At You”/”Borderline”, A-Square Records 45
Author, Meditations: A Suite For John Coltrane, Artists Workshop Press
Talent Consultant, Grande Ballroom, Detroit
President, Trans-Love Energies, Inc., Detroit > Ann Arbor
Daughter: Marion Sunny Sinclair, born May 4, 1967
Editor & Publisher, Ann Arbor Sun newspaper
Founder & Talent Coordinator, Free Concerts in the Parks
Columnist, San Francisco Oracle
Columnist, Ann Arbor Argus
Director, Free University of Ann Arbor
Founder, Minister of Information, Chairman, White Panther Party
Director, MC5, Kick Out The Jams promotional film, Elektra Records
Contributor, Dudley Randall & Margaret G. Burroughs, Editors,
For Malcolm X, Broadside Press
1969-1971
Convicted of Marijuana Possession, Detroit Recorders Court
Prisoner, Marquette Branch Prison, July 1969-September 1970
Daughter: Celia Sanchez Mao Sinclair, born January 17, 1970
Defendant, U.S. District Court, Detroit, Conspiracy to Damage
Government Property: Ann Arbor CIA office
Prisoner, State Prison of Southern Michigan at Jackson, September 1970-
December 1971
Author (with Robert Levin), Music & Politics, Jazz & Pop/World Books
Author, “The Alternative Press”, Alternative Press Broadside
Contributing Writer, Creem, Coda, Jazz & Pop, Ann Arbor Sun
Contributor, The Dial-A-Poem Poets, Giorno Poetry Systems LP
Film, Breathing Together: Electric Conspiracy by Morley Markson
Contributor, Clarence Major, Editor, The New Black Poetry
Contributor, Walter Lowenfels, Editor, The Writing On The Wall
1972-1974
Author, Guitar Army: Street Writings/Prison Writings (Douglas/World Books)
Chairman, Rainbow Peoples Party, Ann Arbor
V-P/Creative Director, Rainbow Multi-Media Corporation, Ann Arbor
Artists’ Manager, Mitch Ryder, Detroit, The Rockets, Guardian Angel
Board Member, Amorphia: The Cannabis Cooperative
Film, Ten For Two: The John Sinclair Freedom Rally by Steve Gebhardt
Organizer, Ann Arbor Human Rights Party
Founder & Director, Michigan Committee for Prisoners Rights
Lecturer, Community Control of Prisons, University of Michigan
Producer & Host, Toke Time, WNRZ-FM, Detroit
Talent Coordinator, Ann Arbor Community Parks Program
Founder & Talent Coordinator, People’s Ballroom, Ann Arbor
Founder, Ann Arbor Tribal Council
Coordinator, Michigan Marijuana Initiative
Contributor, Thomas King Forcade, Editor, Underground Press Anthology
Contributor, David Horowitz, Michael P. Lerner & Craig Pyes, Editors,
Counterculture & Revolution, Random House
Contributor, Cynthia Owen Philip, Editor, Imprisoned In America— Prison Communications:1776 To Attica, Harper & Row
Creative Director & Co-Producer, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festivals
1975-1976
Arts Editor, Editor-In-Chief, Detroit Sun Newspaper
President, Rainbow Productions, Inc., Detroit
Creative Director/Talent Coordinator, Rainbow Room, Shelby Hotel
V-P/Creative Director, Strata Records, Inc., Detroit
Producer & Host, Ancestor Worship, WCBN-FM, Ann Arbor
Change of Name: Omowale John Sinclair, U.S. District Court, Detroit
1977-1979
President, Strata Associates, Inc., Detroit
Executive Director, Allied Artists Association, Detroit
Producer & Host, RE: Visions—Another Look At Modern Music, WCBN-FM
Concert Producer, Orchestra Hall/The Paradise Theatre
Producer/Project Director, Detroit Jazz Artists on Tour
Director, Motor City Blues at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, Video Documentary
Director, CJQ at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, Video Documentary
Michigan Director, National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws
Expansion Arts Panelist, National Endowment for the Arts
1979-1981
Executive Director, Jazz Research Institute, Detroit
Concert Producer, World Stage & Jazz Gallery, Detroit Jazz Center
Talent Coordinator, Cobb’s Corner Bar, Club Con Brio, Concerts by the River
Producer & Host, The Sound of Detroit, WCBN-FM
Contributor, Glen Mannisto, Dennis Teichman & Jim Wanless, Editors,
48222: A Detroit Book of Poetry, Detroit River Press
1982-1987
Artists’ Manager, The Urbations, Celluloid Records
Concert Producer, St. Andrews Hall, Detroit
Booking Agent/Talent Coordinator, M/S/A, Detroit
Talent Coordinator, B’Stilla, Red Carpet, Kicks (Detroit), Mr. Christians
(Royal Oak), Sully’s (Dearborn), Blue Frogge (Ann Arbor)
Contributing Writer, Detroit Metro Times, Detroit News,
Detroit Free Press
Poet/Performer, John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars
Author, thelonious: a book of monk—volume one (privately published)
Author, “rhythm-a-ning”, Maximus & Company Broadside
Author, “I Can’t Be Satisfied”, Alternative Press Broadside
Lawrence Goldstein, Editor, Detroit: An American City,
University of Michigan Quarterly Review)
1988-1991
Author, We Just Change The Beat: Selected Poems, Ridgway Press
Cassette, We Just Change The Beat with the Blues Scholars, M/S/A
Poetry Series Producer (with Bob Rudnick), Union Street, Detroit
Editor, City Arts Quarterly, Detroit Council of the Arts
Director, City Arts Gallery, Detroit Council of the Arts
Adjunct Professor of Music History, Wayne State University,
History of Rock & Roll, Blues History
Producer & Host, Blue Sensations, WDET-FM, Detroit, MI
Poet/Performer, John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars
Contribuutor, Wavelength, OffBeat, New Orleans
Divorced from Magdalene (Leni) Sinclair, 1988
Married Patricia Brown, January 1, 1989
Contributor, Sherry Hendrick, Editor, Detroit 1989 (privately printed)
Author, “fly right”—a monk suite (privately printed)
Contributor, Ron Allen & Stella Crews, Editors, HIPology, Broadside Press
Contributor, Sascha Feinstein & Yusef Komunyakaa, Editors,
The Jazz Poetry Anthology, Indiana University Press
Contributor, Playboy’s History of Jazz & Rock
Film, Growing Up In America by Morley Markson
Recording, fly right—a monk suite with Ed Moss (unissued)
1991-2003
Creative Director/Producer, Big Chief Productions, New Orleans, LA
Poet/Performer, John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars
Senior Producer, WWOZ-FM, New Orleans
Producer & Host, Blues & Roots and The New Orleans Music Show, WWOZ-FM
Producer & Host, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival “Live” Broadcast, WWOZ-FM
Writer & Music Programmer, “Crescent City Sounds,” WGBH Radio
Writer & Producer, “Mardi Gras Special with Dr. John,” WWOZ-FM
Writer & Producer, “The Sounds of New Orleans,” WWOZ-FM
Silver Reel Award, National Federation of Community Broadcasters,
Mardi Gras Indian Music Special, WWOZ-FM
Board Member & Historian, Professor Longhair Foundation
Cassette, Beyond Humidity, Mesechabe magazine compilation
Contributor, David Meltzer, Editor, Reading Jazz
Contributor, P-Funk Guitar Army (produced by George Clinton),
Blues Interactions Records compilation
Contributor, Smokin’! The Sounds of New Orleans, Volume 2
with Marion Brown, WWOZ compilation
Co-producer (with Jerry Brock), Piano Night at Tipitina’s
Producer, Piano Night at Tipitina’s , Volumes 1 & 2 I, Overture Records
Feature Writer & Columnist, OffBeat Magazine, New Orleans
Contributing Writer, New Orleans Times-Picayune, Gambit Weekly
Mesechabe. Boston Phoenix, Living Blues, High Times, AllMusic
Guide, Addicted To Noise, Signal To Noise, Perfect Sound Forever,
Arthur, Big City Blues, Addicted To Noise, Heartland Journal,
Woodstock Times, Hour Detroit Producer, Alabama Jubilee Broadcast, WVAS-FM, Montgomery AL
CD, Full Moon Night with the Blues Scholars, Total Energy/Alive Records
10” LP, Friday the 13th with Wayne Kramer (Alive Records
CD, thelonious: a book of monk—volume one (New Alliance Records
CD, If I Could Be With You with Ed Moss & the Society Jazz Orchestra (Schoolkids Records
CD, Full Circle with Wayne Kramer & the Blues Scholars, Alive Records
Producer, WWOZ on CD: The Sounds of New Orleans, Volume 1
Producer, WWOZ on CD: The Sounds of New Orleans, Volume 2
Producer, WWOZ on CD: The Sounds of New Orleans, Volume 3
Producer, Alabama Jubilee—Music from the Jubilee CityFest, WVAS Radio
Producer, MC-5, Power Trip, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, MC-5, Ice Pick Slim, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, MC-5, Teen Age Lust, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, MC-5, Starship, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, MC-5, American Ruse, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, MC-5, Human Being Lawnmower, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, MC-5, Looking At You, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, The Up, Killer Up, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, The Rationals, Temptation’s ‘Bout To Get Me, Total Energy/ Alive Records
Producer, Mitch Ryder & Detroit, Get Out The Vote, Total Energy/ Alive Records
Producer, Little Sonny, Blues With A Feeling, Schoolkids Records
Producer, Please Mr. Foreman: Motor City Blues, Schoolkids Records
Producer, Roosevelt Sykes/Victoria Spivey, Grind It!, Schoolkids Records
Producer, Big Walter Horton/Original King Biscuit Boys, Well All Right!, Schoolkids Records
Producer, Sun Ra & His Arkestra, Life Is Splendid, Total Energy/ Alive Records
Producer, Sun Ra & His Arkestra, Outer Space Employment Agency, Total Energy Records/Alive Records
Producer, Sun Ra & Arkestra, It Is Forbidden, Total Energy/Alive Records
Producer, Ann Arbor Boogie, Blues Interactions Records compilation
Producer, Deacon John, Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival 1994, RedBone Records
Liner notes for BlackTop Records, EMI, CBS/Legacy, Rounder Records,
Orleans Records, Sound of New Orleans Records, Alive Records,
Schoolkids Records, Overture Records and others
Author, Full Circle, minimal press
Film, Slam! by Mark Levin & Richard Stratton
Contributor, Urban Roots, Cutting Edge Compilation CD
Contributor, Motor City’s Burning, Alive Records Compilation CD
Contributor, Jas Mathus & the Knockdown Society, Songs For Rosetta
Contributor, Jazz: The Language of New Orleans, Volume 1,
Louisiana Red Hot Records Compilation CD
Contributor, What It Sounds Like, Mesechabe Cassette Compilation
High Priest, Cannabis Cup 1998. Amsterdam
Composer-Performer, Viper Madness Suite with the Blues Scholars
featuring James Andrews, Milkweg, Amsterdam
European Tour: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Basel, Berlin
Panelist/Performer, I Rip You You Rip Me, Rotterdam Museum of Art
CD, It’s All Good with Fluxedo Junction, Fluxedo Records
Film, High Times Cannabis Cup 1998 by Steven Hager
Poet/Performer, Collaborations with Walter “Wolfman” Washington,
Johnny Vidacovich, Earl Turbinton, James Andrews, Kidd Jordan,
Carlo Ditta, Rockin’ Jake, Coco Robicheaux, Andre Wiliams,
New Orleans Juice, North Mississippi All Stars, Archie Shepp,
Ed Sanders, Bala Tounkare, David Amram, Wayne Kramer,
Charles Moore, Daniel Carter, Dee Pop, Calvin Weston, Elliott Levin, Ed Moss & the Society Jazz Orchestra, Jimmie Lee Robinson,
James Montgomery, Devil Gods, T.J. Wheeler & The Smokers, Johnnie Bassett & the Blues Insurgents, Bennie Smith, Steve Mackay, Black Mike Henderson, Howling Diablos, Jeff “Baby” Grand, Mick Vranich, Mark Ritsema, Michael Ray & the Cosmic Krewe, Marion Brown, Corey Harris, Eluard Burt, Tim Green, Kermit Ruffins, Willie King, James McCarty, Phil Hale, Thornetta Davis, Lyman Woodard, Harmonica Shah, Kudzu Kings, Afrosippi and others
CD, Steady Rollin’ Man with the Boston Blues Scholars, TriPup Records
CD, Underground Issues, SpyBoy Records
CD, White Buffalo Prayer with the Blues Scholars featuring Wayne
Kramer, SpyBoy Records
Managing Editor, Blues Access Magazine
Best of the Beat Award, “Best Radio Personality,” OffBeat, 1998-1999-
2000-2001-2002-2003
Instructor, “Poetry of the Blues,” Common Ground on the Hill, McDaniel College, Westminster MD
Instructor, “Poetry of the Blues,” New Orleans School of the Imagination
Writer & Producer, Roots Music Gathering, Music Business Institute
Contributor, Bill Milkowski, Rockers, Jazzbos & Visionaries
Contributor, Kudzu Kings, Y 2 Cow CD
Contributor, Cruisin’ Songs from the Motor City with the Blues Scholars,
Harmonie Park Records CD Compilation
Contributor, Welcome to Little Milton, Malaco Records CD
Contributor, Music Is Revolution, The End Is Here CD Compilation
Featured Speaker, White Buffalo Day (St. John Coltrane Church, San
Francisco), MassCann Freedom Rally (Boston Common),
WHEE—World Hemp Expo Extravaganja, (Eugene OR),
Martin Luther King 2000 Symposium (University of Michigan),
Hash Bash (Ann Arbor), Phil Ochs Memorial (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland), Human Rights Festival (Athens GA), SXSW (Austin TX), Tennessee Williams Festival (Le Petite Theatre, New Orleans), Bluesstock (Memphis)
Festival appearances, MassCann (Boston), Sunflower Blues Festival
(Clarksdale, MS), North Beach Jazz Festival (San Francisco),
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Kansas City Blues & Jazz
Festival, Baton Rouge Blues Festival, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz
Festival, Crossing Borders Festival (Amsterdam), Cannabis Cup
(Amsterdam), Music of the World Festival (Basel), Lowell Celebrates Kerouac (Lowell MA), Berkshire Mountain Music Festival, RiverFest
(Manchester NH), Portsmouth Blues Festival, American Music
Festival (Westminster MD), Greektown Festival (Detroit),
Rainbow Farm Hemp Festival (Niles MI), Chicago Blues Festival,
Toledo Blues Festival, Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle), Washington
Square Park Jazz Festival (San Francisco), Detroit International Jazz
Festival, White Buffalo Day (New Orleans), Bluestock (Memphis),
Heatstock (North Branch MI), Human Rights Festival (Athens GA),
Insomniac-A-Thon (Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans),
Double Decker Festival (Oxford MS)
Film, Happy Here & Now by Michael Almagordo
Member, Screen Actors Guild
Film, Zombie vs. Mardi Gras by Karl DeMolay, Will Frank & Mike Lyddon
Contributor, Legs McNeil & Gillian McCain, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Contributor, BluesHound Guide to the Blues
Author, PeyoteMind, The End Is Here Press
CD, PeyoteMind with Mystery Island, The End Is Here Records
Author, Fattening Frogs For Snakes: Delta Sound Suite, Surregional Press
CD, Fattening Frogs For Snakes, Volume 1: The Delta Sound with the Blues Scholars, Okra-Tone/Rooster Blues Records
Artist in Residence, Wesleyan University, University of Illinois
Contributor. The Brakemen CD
Contributor Live on Frenchmen Street CD with the New Orleans Jazz Vipers
Film, Funky New Orleans by Jean-Francois Bizot
Author, “the Screamers” New Orleans School of the Imagination Broadside, Author, “rhythm-a-ning,” Surregional Press Broadside
CD, KnockOut with Langfrans & Baas B, D-Men Records
Film, MC5: A True Testimonial by David Thomas & Laurel Legler
2003-2008
Poet in Residence, 420 Café, Amsterdam
Producer & Host, The John Sinclair Radio Show, Amsterdam
Founder & Program Director, RadioFreeAmsterdam.com
Columnist, “On The Road,” Little Rock Free Press
Contributor, Encyclopedia of the Blues
Columnist, “Blues & Roots,” [An] Honest Tune
Poet in Residence, The Dolphins coffeeshop, Amsterdam
CD, No Money Down: Greatest Hits, Volume 1, Big Chief Records
Film, U.S. vs. John Lennon by David Leaf & John Scheinfeld
Film, Punk/attitude by Don Letts
Author, “i mean you”—a book for penny, palOmine press
MC/Performer, Davison Blues Festival, Davison MI
Poet/Performer, Detroit International Jazz Festival with the Blues Scholars
Poet/Performer, ArthurFest, Los Angeles
Poet/Performer, HempFest, Seattle
Poet/Performer, Vurige Tongen @ Ruigoord, Amsterdam
Poet/Performer, Beat Hippie Autonomie Punk Exhibit, Cox 18, Milan, Italy
Author, Va Tutto Bene (en Italiano), Stampa Alternativa
CD, criss cross with Mark Ritsema, Big Chief Records
Poet/Performer, Radio Onda Rossa, Roma
Poet/Performer, Libri, Pitigliano, Italy
Poet/Performer, Teatro del Fuoco, Foggia, Italy
Award, Targa Matteo Salvatore, Foggia, Italy
Guest MC, MC5 & Stooges, All Tomorrow’s Parties, UK
Guest Poet, DKT/MC5, Paradiso, Amsterdam
Guest Poet, Black Crowes, Paradiso, Amsterdam
Poet/Performer, Forte Prenestino, Roma
Poet/Performer, Museo Arte di Paolo Pini, Milano
- Poet/Performer, Festival della Letteratura Resistente, Elmo, Italy
- Author, Guitar Army (en Italiano), Stampa Alternativa
- Author, Guitar Army—Street Writings/Prison Writings
(2nd Edition with CD), Process Books/Feral House Press
- Guest, Cannabis Film Festival, Santiago, Chile
Film, Sun Ra: Brother from Another Planet by Don Letts
Film, Charles Olson: Polis Is This by Henry Ferrini
Writer & Co-Producer, 20 To Life: The Life & Times of John Sinclair, a film by Steve Gebhardt
2008-2012
Poet In Residence, Bohemian National Home, Detroit
Author, It’s All Good—A John Sinclair Reader (with CD), Headpress Books
Poet/Performer, Detroit Life with the Motor City Blues Scholars, No Cover Records
Poet/Performer, Tokyo Hipster Club, Tokyo, Japan; Obama Inauguration
Celebration, Café Oto, London with the Londin Blues Scholars; CosmoPoetica, Cordoba, Spain with Mark Ritsema; CosmoPoetica, Murcia, Spain with Mark Ritsema; Jazz & Poetry, Lincoln Center, New York City with Sonny Fortune; Festival Rochefort-en-Accords, France; Hempstock, Portland OR; Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, Lowell MA
Guest, Raindance Film Festival HQ, London
Producer/Host, Sinclair On The Air, Salto Wereld FM, Amsterdam
Producer/Host, Radio Free Genoa, Piazza del Erbe, Genoa
Panelist, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin
Poet/Performer, Tearing Down The Shrine Of Truth & Beauty
with the Pinkeye Orchestra, LocoGnosis Records
Poet/Performer, Viper Madness with the Planet D Nonet, MoSound Records
Speaker, UMass 420 Festival, Amherst MA
Speaker, Medical Cannabis Cup, Seattle
Editor, Sun Ra Interviews & Essays, Headpress
Poet/Performer, Collaborations with Howard Glazer, Guelel Kuumba,
Eric Deaton, Lightning Malcolm, Jim Dickinson, David Kimbrough, Kenny Kimbrough, Cedric Burnside, Gilles Riberolles, Tom Worrell, Adventures in Bluesland, Ras Moshe, Jah-Rom Parker Wells, Burton Greene, Marshall Allen, Elliott Levin, Sonny Fortune, Rashied Ali, Reginald Workman, and others
Poet In Residence, Café The Zen, Amsterdam
Poet/Performer, Let’s Go Get ’Em with the Blues Scholars, MoSound Records
Author, Song Of Praise: Homage To John Coltrane (Trembling Pillow Press)
Poet/Performer, Song Of Praise: Homage To John Coltrane (Trembling Pillow Press
Poet/Panelist, Clinton Memorial Library, Little Rock, AR with David Kimbrough
Poet/Performer, Honoring The Local Gods with Hollow Bones, Straw2Gold Records
Poet/Performer, Beatnik Youth with the Beatnik Youth Orchestra, Track Records
Breathing Air Tour with Howard Marks—Ireland-Scotland-England
Guest Poet, DKT/MC5 & Primal Scream, Royal Festival Hall, London
Poet in Residence, Frenchy Gallery, New Orleans
2013-2016
Poet/Performer, Detroit Artists Workshop 50th Anniversary Concert, Scarab Club,
Detroit with the Blues Scholars; An Evening with John Sinclair, University of
Michigan—Flint College; Barclays Center, Brooklyn with Rodriquez;
Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, Lowell MA with David Amram; Neal Cassidy Birthday Party, Denver with Tom Worrell; Sun Ra 100 Concert, Royal Festival Hall, London with Founder Effect; Double Decker Festival, Oxford MS with Eric Deaton; Hempstalk Festival, Portland OR; Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead Opening, MOCAD, Detroit; Viper Madness, Akhnaton, Amsterdam; Freeing John Sinclair, The Ark, Ann Arbor with Wayne Kramer & the Blues Scholars; Maine Harvest Ball, Starks, ME with Portland Art Quartet; Canary Wharf Festival, London with Founder Effect; Detroit Boom Boom Exhibit, Lille, France
Poet In Residence, New Orleans Institute for the Imagination
CD, mohawk with Steve The Fly, Ironman Records
Author, It’s All Good—A John Sinclair Reader, Horner Press
Poet/Performer, It’s All Good—A John Sinclair Reader, CD-Baby Album
Poet/Performer, Keeping The Blues Alive with Adventures in Bluesland, Worldwide Vibe Records
Poet/Performer, Viperism, CD-Baby Album
Poet/Performer, Conspiracy Theory, CD-Baby Album
Poet/Performer Fattening Frogs For Snakes (Volumes 1-2-3-4), CD-Baby
Poet/Performer, Beatnik Youth, Ironman Records CD & LP
Panelist, Detroit Artists Workshop Exhibit, Horse Hospital, London
—Assembled @ Bristol UK, May 16-18, 2016
© 2017 The John Sinclair Foundation