Literature / Civil rights & activism / Music
John Sinclair
1941–2024 · poet, activist, music manager, radio host
Jazz poet, MC5 manager and White Panther co-founder who helped build Detroit's 1960s Cass Corridor counterculture and died in the city in 2024.
- Born
Flint, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 82- Birth name
- John Alexander Sinclair Jr.
- Detroit years
- 1964–1968, 1970s–1991, 2010s–2024
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Raised near Flint, Sinclair came to Detroit in the mid-1960s for graduate study at Wayne State and quickly became the organizer of the Cass Corridor's bohemian scene: he co-founded the Detroit Artists Workshop in 1964, with its press, jazz concerts and poetry readings, and wrote a music column for the underground paper Fifth Estate. As manager of the MC5 he made them the house band of the Grande Ballroom, where the 'Kick Out the Jams' shows were born. After moving the band and his White Panther Party commune to Ann Arbor, he was sentenced to ten years for two joints; the 1971 Freedom Rally with John Lennon helped free him. He later lived again in Detroit, taught blues history at Wayne State and hosted programs on WDET, before years in New Orleans and Amsterdam. He died at Detroit Receiving Hospital in 2024.
Highlights
- Co-founded the Detroit Artists Workshop (1964)
- Managed the MC5 and made them the Grande Ballroom house band
- Co-founder of the White Panther Party (1968)
- His 1969 marijuana sentence led to the 1971 Freedom Rally with John Lennon and to Ann Arbor's Hash Bash
- Hosted programs on Detroit's WDET and taught blues history at Wayne State
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 4
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1966–1969
Grande Ballroom
Closed · 1928–1972
He booked the MC5 as house band of this rock ballroom, where Kick Out the Jams was recorded in 1968; the building stands empty and deteriorating.
Founded · 1964–1967
Detroit Artists Workshop
Closed
The Cass Corridor-area cooperative of poets, jazz players and artists he co-founded, with its own press.
Worked here · 1980s
WDET 101.9 FM
Wayne State's public radio station, where he hosted music programs.
Related place · 1971
Crisler Center (Crisler Arena)
Site of the December 1971 John Sinclair Freedom Rally with John Lennon and Yoko Ono; he was freed three days later.