Ok. Seriously. This is the last radical, Detroit blog post for awhile. I’m going to look for something completely inconsequential to follow this up with. I actually have a particular album release anniversary in mind and at least one book on my coffee table that’s begging me for a review.

But, for now, here’s one more post about the radical 1960′s that includes Mr. John Sinclair — he really is a true hero who deserves all the posts I can muster. This is actually a documentary inside of a documentary that features some heavyweights of the counterculture looking back on that time when they were crazy. Or were they? It depends on who you ask…

In Growing Up In America, Morley Markson revisits his 1969 counterculture doc, Breathing Together:Revolution Of The Electric Family. He’s accompanied by his original subjects looking back on those wild-eyed times.

We watch as they watch: Jerry Rubin becomes a Capitalist cliche, Fred Hampton is assassinated,
Allen Ginsberg and John Sinclair hold the flames high. This is a compelling glimpse at lives that mattered. Here’s Growing Up In America…

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This week I was reminded of long lost Labor Days in Detroit, marching with my father’s union as a little kid. Thinking about Labor Day and Detroit got me thinking about John Sinclair who famously got thrown in jail in 1969 after giving two joints to an undercover cop, before even more famously getting sprung from jail when John Lennon headlined his benefit concert. Sinclair managed the MC5 and also founded the White Panther Party which backed the agenda of the Black Panther Party while also advocating for a sex, drugs and rock and roll wing of the revolution. He’s a good man, and a great Detroiter. Sinclair now lives in Amsterdam.

Here’s Sinclair’s story in this great doc: White Panther – The Legacy of John Sinclair…

WHITE PANTHER: The Legacy of John Sinclair from Nomad Cinema (Charles B Shaw) on Vimeo.

Stay Awake!

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more Counter Culture posts.