My 5 Minutes with Jazz History

Starting in 1999 and for the next several years, I served as bandleader for the counterculture icon, political activist, musicologist, and poet John Sinclair’s Northeastern tours, essentially working dates in New England and New York City. Sinclair, who turned 81 last year, is a heavyweight in narrative poetry, although he is best known as the manager of the MC5, a founder of the White Panther party, and the subject of John Lennon’s song “John Sinclair,” written after police persecution of Sinclair for his activism led to his arrest and nearly three years of imprisonment for handing two joints to an undercover police officer.

There was never a dull moment on the road with John. First, there was his marvelous wit and perspective, and his storytelling, to keep things lively in the van. And at performances, I met former Black and White Panthers, ex-Weather Underground members, other poets and writers, and, in general, a cast of fascinating characters. I was paid in weed for a concert by a promoter for the first—and only—time. We played with Thurston Moore at Manhattan’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and at historic British rock impresario Giorgio Gomelsky’s downtown loft.

Although John was a bit frail, having endured two serious knee surgeries and leading the kind of lifestyle that doesn’t typically allow humans to reach his current age, every time he took the stage I was inspired. I might have needed to help him get off his chair before a show, but the moment the music started, he’d rise up on the balls of his feet and start his verbal alchemy, keeping the audience—and the band—under his spell for one or two hours as his voice uttered phrases with the free-flying efficacy of John Coltrane’s horn.