John Alexander Sinclair Jr. (October 2, 1941 – April 2, 2024) was an American poet, writer, and political activist from Flint, Michigan. Sinclair's defining style is jazz poetry, and he released most of his works in audio formats. Most of his pieces include musical accompaniment, usually by a varying group of collaborators dubbed Blues Scholars.

As an emerging young poet in the mid-1960s, Sinclair took on the role of manager for the Detroit rock band MC5. The band's politically charged music and its Yippie core audience dovetailed with Sinclair's own radical development. In 1968, while still working with the band, he conspicuously served as a founding member of the White Panther Party, a militantly anti-racist socialist group and counterpart of the Black Panther Party. Arrested for distribution of marijuana in 1969, Sinclair was given ten years in prison. The sentence was criticized by many as unduly harsh, and it galvanized a noisy protest movement led by prominent figures of the 1960s counterculture. He was freed on March 9, 1972, by the Michigan Supreme Court when the possession of marijuana law was declared unconstitutional.

He was indicted for an alleged terrorist bombing of a covert CIA office. That matter involved substantial litigation – his case against the government for illegal domestic surveillance was successfully pleaded to the US Supreme Court in United States v. U.S. District Court (1972). It took the form of a Writ of Mandamus, which was won at the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and an appeal on certiorari to the Supreme Court. The wiretap evidence was suppressed, and the criminal case dropped.

Sinclair eventually left the US and took up residency in Amsterdam. He continued to write and record and, from 2005, hosted a regular radio program, The John Sinclair Radio Show, as well as producing a line-up of other shows on his own radio station, Radio Free Amsterdam.

Sinclair was among the first people to purchase recreational marijuana when it became legal in Michigan on December 1, 2019.

Early life and education

John Alexander Sinclair Jr. was born in Flint, Michigan, on October 2, 1941, and grew up in Davison. He was a member of the Class of 1960 at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, but he dropped out after his first year. Sinclair subsequently attended the Flint College of the University of Michigan, now the University of Michigan-Flint. During his time at UM-Flint he served on the university's Publications Board, school newspaper The Word, and was the president of the Cinema Guild. He graduated in 1964.

1960s activism

Sinclair was music editor and columnist for the Detroit underground newspaper, Fifth Estate, during the paper's growth in the late 1960s. with his wife Leni Sinclair and artist Gary Grimshaw.

He was front and center on the issue of legalization of cannabis, and promoted its benefits while decrying its illegality. He was there to prominently buy legal cannabis when it became legal in Michigan.

The argument for legalization was summed up in a 2011 Sinclair interview, which highlighted the original goal of Hash Bash was total legalization. He said:

<blockquote>"They need to get rid of this idiotic, hypocritical war on drugs. Marijuana, there's nothing wrong with it," he said. "It doesn't harm anybody, it's not a dangerous substance, and millions of people use it—and they're just characterized as criminals by these people whose drug of choice is alcohol. So the first thing you get rid of is tremendous hypocrisy." He was indicted for bombing a CIA office in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on September 29, 1968.

Sinclair was somewhat dismissive of the fact that he was imprisoned something like, 'it comes with the job.'

During the 1960s, the White Panther Party, the precursor to the Rainbow People's Party, billed itself as an "anti racist political collective." They hosted free live concerts in Ann Arbor's West Park, until city council ended them. Under his guidance the band embraced the counter-culture revolutionary politics of the White Panther Party, founded in answer to the Black Panthers' call for white people to support their movement.

The album Kick Out the Jams caused some controversy due to John Sinclair's inflammatory liner notes and the title track's rallying cry of "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!" According to Wayne Kramer the band recorded this as "Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters!" for the single released for radio play; Rob Tyner claimed this was done without group consensus. The edited version also appeared in some LP copies, which also withdrew Sinclair's excitable comments. The album was released in January 1969; reviews were mixed, but the album was relatively successful, quickly selling over 100,000 copies and peaking at #30 on the Billboard 200 chart in May 1969 during a 23-week stay.

During this period, Sinclair booked "The Five" as the regular house band at Detroit's famed Grande Ballroom in what came to be known as the "Kick out the Jams" shows. He was managing the MC5 at the time of their free concert outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The band was the only group to perform before police broke up the massive anti-Vietnam war rally. Eventually, the MC5 came to find Sinclair's politics too heavy-handed. He and the band separated in 1969. In 2006, Sinclair joined MC5 bassist Michael Davis to launch the Music Is Revolution Foundation, serving as a general board member. They issued a CD, Music is Revolution: From the John & Leni Sinclair library with Leni Sinclair. Oak Park, MI: Book Beat Gallery, 2000, a spoken word CD (compiled from 50 hours of historical recordings at the Bentley Historical Library, plus an illustrated book featuring posters and pictures of the MC5, an documenting radical political history.

The band and Sinclair lived together in a commune on Hill Street in Ann Arbor for several years. Marijuana and hallucogenics were commonly used. of marijuana

Hash Bash

In 1972, Ann Arbor's annual marijuana celebration and toke and smoke fest in the Diag (the central part of the main campus) began. This was four months after the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, who was at the time still serving time on his ten year sentence for possession of two joints. John Lennon appeared at that rally and penned a song.

<blockquote>"This Hash Bash is the John Sinclair memorial Hash Bash and we will carry on in his name until we win complete freedom for cannabis," said Ann Arbor activist Chuck Ream, calling it absurd that pot is still illegal at the federal level.

On March 22, 2006, Sinclair joined The Black Crowes on stage at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, and read his poem "Monk in Orbit" during the instrumental break in the song "Nonfiction". Two days later, he went back onstage at the Black Crowes show in the Paradiso, reading his poem "Fat Boy" during the long instrumental jam following the Black Crowes' song, "How Much for Your Wings?".

On January 20, 2009, to mark Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, Sinclair performed a series of his poems accompanied by a live band, featuring Elliott Levin, Tony Bianco and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells at Cafe OTO in Dalston, East London.

In 2011, Sinclair recorded spoken-word for the intro to the song "Best Lasts Forever" by Scottish band The View, produced by Youth.

In 2023, Sinclair did a eulogy at the tribute for Pun Plamondon, with whom he helped found the White Panthers party. Sinclair said, "He was a brilliant character," but went on at such length about his own contribution— so much so that he was interrupted and reminded that "this is about Pun."

Sinclair made a career of being a poet and promoter. Its mission is to ensure the preservation and proper presentation of the creative works via poetry, music, performance, journalism, editing and publishing, broadcast and record production of Sinclair. To date, the foundation has produced books, zines, records, and documentaries highlighting his contribution to the historic cannabis legalization effort, rock music in Detroit and psychedelic communitarianism.

Personal life and death

Sinclair was married twice. His marriage to Magdalene (Leni) Sinclair ended in divorce in 1988, The marriage produced two daughters, Marion "Sunny" and Celia. Hash Bash organizer Jamie Lowell related: ""He's a tough dude, but he has been physically up and down for the last few years for different reasons — he's had diabetes, he's taken some falls, he's had heart surgery," Lowell said"

A memorial service at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) and reception at another location were celebrated on April 9, 2024.

His papers are at the Bentley Historical Library, which is part of the University of Michigan.

  • Underground Issues (2000)

John Sinclair & Mark Ritsema

  • Criss Cross (2007) Big Chief
  • Live at the Scarab Club Presents: Monk's Dream Eld