1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:12,720 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: the MC five are insane. Their music soundtrack the violence 3 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:22,479 Speaker 1: of multiple nineteen sixties riots. They were the only band 4 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: to perform at the infamous protest outside the nineteen sixty 5 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: eight Democratic National Convention. Their home was raided by Cobbs. 6 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: Government officials clocked their subversive career moves, and a US 7 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: Army tank was once deployed to intimidate the group and 8 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: bring them into custody. Their manager, John Sinclair, aligned the 9 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: band with the Black Panthers and openly subscribed to a 10 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,519 Speaker 1: revolutionary ethos of rock and roll, dope and fucking in 11 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: the streets. The MC five's politics scared the shit out 12 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: of mainstream white America, as did their music. Great music, 13 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: unlike that music I played for you at the top 14 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a 15 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called Crock Rock MK one. 16 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,400 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 17 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,920 Speaker 1: rights to Hey Jude by the Beatles. And why would 18 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: I play you that specific slice of take a sad 19 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: song and make it better cheese? Could I afford it? 20 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 21 00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: October thirtieth, nineteen sixty eight, and that was the day 22 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:37,560 Speaker 1: the MC five began recording their live debut album, Forever 23 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,040 Speaker 1: changing the meaning of the word revolution within the context 24 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:46,960 Speaker 1: of rock and roll. On this episode, riots Revolution, rock 25 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: and roll, dope, fucking in the streets in the MC five, 26 00:01:52,040 --> 00:02:28,440 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan in this this disgraceland revolution. Rachel Greene 27 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: knew nothing about any revolution. Yet there it was on 28 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: her T shirt, right there in the central perk. Joey 29 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: wanted to borrow Monica's Porsche, Chandler wanted Ross to explain 30 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: the word boohockey, and Phoebe was says to be expected, 31 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: significantly confused, as was I not over the inane, safe, 32 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: moderately humorous dialogue. After all, why else do we watch Friends? 33 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: Why does everyone watch one of, if not the most 34 00:02:55,919 --> 00:03:00,919 Speaker 1: successful television shows of all time. It's easy come. It's 35 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: not supposed to make you think. In fact, it's supposed 36 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: to do the opposite. There are no sharp edges, no 37 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: real emotional stakes, no struggle, no revolution. Yet again, the 38 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: revolution was right there on the screen on Rachel Green's 39 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,920 Speaker 1: T shirt. In the MC five band logo in distressed, red, white, 40 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: and blue. Three decades ago. That logo maybe still meant something. Today, 41 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: that logo doesn't symbolize revolution. It symbolizes the all too 42 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: familiar corporatization of sixties culture. But back in nineteen sixty eight, 43 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: things were much different. That MC five logo was a 44 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: testimonial from a Detroit rock band, a revolutionary manifesto that 45 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: called for American youth to rise up and join the 46 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: MC five. That logo met something besides corporate greed. In 47 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, that MC five logo meant rock and roll, dope, 48 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: and fucking in the streets. Wayne Kramer, guitarist for the 49 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: MC five, watched them mount to Detroit police gallop into 50 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: the so called love in on Belle Isle. The cop 51 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: could give a fuck about peace and love. This was 52 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven. There was a revolution going on. Wayne 53 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: didn't know it yet, but the cops saw him and 54 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,160 Speaker 1: his friends as a threat to their way of life, 55 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,720 Speaker 1: a movement away from the Eisenhower era social construct that 56 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: protected the cops and the establishment. Wayne didn't know anything 57 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 1: about that at the time. He just wanted to smoke grass, 58 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: play guitar, and scam chicks. But The Detroit cops saw 59 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,359 Speaker 1: it differently. Dope, long haired music, free love. It was 60 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: all a challenge to their authority under the guise of 61 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: peace and love. If Heads didn't roll, then violent revolution 62 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 1: would displace them. So Heads were gonna roll. His band, 63 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,080 Speaker 1: the MC five, up on that stage on Belle Isle, 64 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: played loud and fast on of necessity. They had no 65 00:04:56,279 --> 00:04:59,039 Speaker 1: other choice, and they knew no other way. But like 66 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: the best Detroit rock and roll, they had feel to 67 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 1: match their fury. That's what happens when you grow up 68 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: with guitars in the shadow. 69 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,040 Speaker 2: Of Motown's musical giants and within the industrial echo of 70 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 2: the Big three motor companies. The MC five sounded like 71 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 2: their hometown, like Detroit, like the perfect mix of American 72 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 2: muscle in Hitsville, USA. 73 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: Willie Billy, Louis Louis. The MC five will content the 74 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:25,719 Speaker 1: blasts of bell Ile love him with the frat rock favorites. 75 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: But the violence of the Bellisle Riot would soon inspire 76 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:31,840 Speaker 1: a more radical take on rock and roll. How could 77 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: it not. MC five members Wayne Kramer, Rob Tyner, Fred 78 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: Sonic Smith, Michael Davis, and Dennis Thompson watched helplessly as 79 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: Detroit PD's mobile tactical unit bludgeoned their friends and fellow Detroiters. 80 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: The cops moved in with a riot squad to disperse 81 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of peaceful high school and college kids who 82 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: were just there to smoke dope in public, listen to 83 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: rock and roll, and protest the war in Vietnam. From 84 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:00,480 Speaker 1: atop their horses, they swung their billy clubs into Irminently 85 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,560 Speaker 1: most in attendance. SAT Day made their way to the 86 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,679 Speaker 1: MacArthur Bridge that connected Belle Isle, situated in the middle 87 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:10,160 Speaker 1: of the Detroit River, to the mainland. The police had 88 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: the bridge road blocked. They had the protesters right where 89 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: they wanted them. Members of the MC five sat in 90 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: their van, horrified, watching the scene unfold before them. The 91 00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 1: riot officers unloaded with their billy clubs from up on 92 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: high on their horses, walloping the hippies on their heads 93 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:30,200 Speaker 1: in some sick version of crowd control. Screams, tears, blood. 94 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: Cops were merciless unless the hippies wanted to jump off 95 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: the bridge eighty feet into the water. There was only 96 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:41,279 Speaker 1: one way off the island through the Detroit PD meat grinder. Somehow, 97 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: the MC five knite it off Bellisle relatively unscathed. The 98 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: police response to the peaceful protest on Belle Isle was 99 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 1: totally disproportionate to the threat and posed by the youthful protesters. 100 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:57,320 Speaker 1: After the dust settled, it was clear to at least 101 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: some members of the MC five that the cops weren't 102 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: out stop long haired adolescents from listening to their brand 103 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,160 Speaker 1: of soup, dub, rock and roll. They were there instead 104 00:07:05,240 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: to stop them from fomenting a revolution, a revolution that 105 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: was being stoked by a dangerous agitator the likes of 106 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: whom Detroit had never seen. A tall, long haired, charismatic 107 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: modern day Ben Franklin minus the syphilis, plus a double 108 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: dose of dope powered subversion named John Sinclair. John Saint 109 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:30,200 Speaker 1: Clair was the unofficial leader of Detroit's nineteen sixties protest movement. 110 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 1: He preached revolution, published regularly in underground newspapers, listened to 111 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: free jazz, got high with Archie Shepp, got high in public, 112 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: and was a rumored sex maniac. But above all, he 113 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: showed a pension for real organization. John Sinclair organized the 114 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: Belle Isle Lovin. John Saint Clair had the year of 115 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: Detroit's youth. John Sainclair was a threat, John Sinclair managed 116 00:07:55,600 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: the MC five. Our program is cultural revolution through a 117 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: total assault on the culture, which makes us use every tool, 118 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: every energy, and any media we can get our collective 119 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:33,160 Speaker 1: hands on. We take our program with us everywhere we 120 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,559 Speaker 1: go and use any means necessary to expose people to it. 121 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: Our culture, our art, music, newspapers, books, posters, our clothing, 122 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: our homes, the way we walk and talk, the way 123 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: our hair grows, the way we smoke, dope and fucking 124 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: eat and sleep. 125 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 3: It's all one message, and the message is freedom. 126 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:57,239 Speaker 1: So went the opening paragraph of the White Panther Party's manifesto, 127 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: as written by MC five manager Johnson. It went on, 128 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: rock and roll music is the spearhead of our attack 129 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 1: because it is so effective and so much fun. We've 130 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: developed organic, high energy guerrilla bands who are infiltrating the 131 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: popular culture and destroying millions of minds in the process. 132 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: With our music and our economic genius, we plunder the 133 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,199 Speaker 1: unsuspecting straight world for money and the means to carry 134 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: out our program and revolutionize its children. At the same time, 135 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,360 Speaker 1: and with our entrance into the straight media, we have 136 00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: demonstrated to the Honkys that anything they do to fuck 137 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: with us will be exposed to their children. We don't 138 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,320 Speaker 1: need to get rid of all the honkys, you just 139 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: rob them of their replacements and let them breed, atrophy, 140 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: die out. All of this concluded with We're bad. Then 141 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: The White Panther Manifesto listed off its ten point program 142 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: number one full endorsement and support of the Black Panthers 143 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: ten point Program because John Sinclair started the White Panther 144 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: Party partly in response to a call from Black Panther 145 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: co founder Hughey Newton, who was quoted saying that if 146 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,520 Speaker 1: white people wanted to support the Black Panthers, they could 147 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,559 Speaker 1: do so by becoming anti racist and starting a White 148 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:08,680 Speaker 1: Panther Party. Johnson Clair heard Huey Newton loud and clear. 149 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: The second point of his ten point White Panther Program 150 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: stated total assault on the culture by any means necessary, 151 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: including rock and roll, dope, and fucking in the streets. 152 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,240 Speaker 1: This is where Wayne Kramer and his MC five came 153 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: into play. They brought all the rock and roll, a 154 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:28,560 Speaker 1: little bit of the dope, and of course some of 155 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:31,559 Speaker 1: the fucking in the streets. The brutality the bell Ale 156 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 1: riot let the lasting mark on Wayne and his bandmates 157 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: chuck Berry riffs and teenage lust were no longer enough, 158 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: no matter how much inmfetamine they threw at them. There 159 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: was indeed a need for revolution. The cops had made 160 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: that clear. John Sinclair articulated it, and the MC five 161 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 1: were now soldiers in a much bigger war, a war 162 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: with the establishment, with the pigs, with parents, the government, 163 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: with any and all institutions, with John Sinclair as their leader. 164 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: Points three through two hand of Sinclair's ten point White 165 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:04,959 Speaker 1: Panther Party Manifesto hardly mattered because the MC five was 166 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 1: quite literally the perfect manifestation of the second point, total 167 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 1: assault on the culture by any means necessary, including rock 168 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:15,320 Speaker 1: and roll, dope and fucking in the streets. This is 169 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:22,400 Speaker 1: exactly what the MC five were, total assault. It's hard, no, 170 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,920 Speaker 1: it's near impossible to explain the raw power of the 171 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,280 Speaker 1: MC five. There have been nothing like them before, not 172 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: in Detroit, not anywhere. They were Punk. Before punk, there 173 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: were a high watt locomotive, doped up on speed and 174 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: revolution and too young to care and too naive to 175 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: know any better. John Sinclair's politics infused a sense of 176 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: purpose into the MC five. It gave them a point 177 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:49,720 Speaker 1: of view. Every major city in America at the time 178 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 1: had its version of a pre John Sinclair MC five, 179 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:54,720 Speaker 1: which is to say, a great little rock and roll 180 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:57,079 Speaker 1: band that took Chuck Berry's ref side of the garage 181 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,200 Speaker 1: and was on the verge of becoming something original that 182 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: perhaps it didn't sound exactly like a Beatles or Stones 183 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 1: rip off. Seattle had the Sonics, Boston had the Remains, 184 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 1: New Jersey had the Rascals, hell even Idaho had Paul 185 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: Revere and the Fucking Raiders. That Detroit had the MC five, 186 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: but politics would soon separate the MC five from their contemporaries. 187 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: This is more than just a different lyrical point of view. 188 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:25,280 Speaker 1: The political message, the constant call for revolution and radical politics, 189 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: was the Holy Spirit coursing through the bands and their 190 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:33,199 Speaker 1: fans veins. It fused them. They lived and breathed rock 191 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,320 Speaker 1: and roll, dope, and fucking in the streets. MC five 192 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,520 Speaker 1: concerts were part protopunk VFW hall madness, part Sunday testimonial, 193 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: and part political rally. The energy, the excitement, the maximum, sex, drugs, 194 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: and rock and roll was all too much for words 195 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: to witness. The band live was to take part in 196 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,200 Speaker 1: a teenage religious experience. White kids from Detroit's working class 197 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: packed the band shows. They mobbed the stage. They locked 198 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: into the energy of the band, into something that resembled 199 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 1: the spiritual awakening. They shook, they shimmy, They testified, They 200 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,960 Speaker 1: drank Budweiser old style, whatever was wet. They smoked, they 201 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: snorted whatever was available, and they armed themselves, guns, knives, 202 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: et cetera. They had sex anywhere everywhere with the band, 203 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,080 Speaker 1: with each other, backstage, in cars, in the street. The 204 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: kids were pretty fucking far from all right, rock and roll, 205 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,880 Speaker 1: dope and fucking in the streets for sure. Brothers and sisters, 206 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:29,680 Speaker 1: I want to hear a little revolution. Brothers and sisters. 207 00:13:29,679 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 3: The time has come for each and every one of 208 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 3: you can decide whether you were part of the problem 209 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 3: or part of the solution. You must choose, brothers, You 210 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:40,560 Speaker 3: must choose brothers. It's time to testify, and I want 211 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:42,679 Speaker 3: to know are you ready to testify? 212 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:43,840 Speaker 1: Are you ready? 213 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:47,960 Speaker 3: I give you a testimonial d MC five. 214 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: John Sinclair couldn't have said it better himself. The urgency 215 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: in those words that served in part as the band's 216 00:13:55,840 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: live stage introduction were absolutely necessary. Sinclaire's on it was 217 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: time for a testimony who was ready? Which side were 218 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: you on? There was a larger war that was worth fighting. 219 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,720 Speaker 1: And outside, on the streets of Detroit there was a 220 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:18,760 Speaker 1: riot going on. Literally July nineteen sixty seven, the stuffed 221 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: shirts on the local news predicted a long, hot summer. Boy, 222 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 1: howdy were they ever right? Wayne Kramer of the MC 223 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 1: five looked out across the Detroit skyline as the evening 224 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:34,640 Speaker 1: sun went down above Grand River Avenue. He saw it revolution. 225 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: Not on a T shirt and not on a handbill, 226 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:40,880 Speaker 1: not spewing from the lips of some hyped up hippie Charlton. 227 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:44,920 Speaker 1: He saw revolutions smoking from atop the flames that tore 228 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 1: through the four and five story apartment buildings on Grand 229 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: River Avenue. Detroit had had enough, and Detroit was on fire. 230 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 1: Destruction was the price Detroit was paying for years of 231 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: systemic racism and economic hardship foisted upon its black community. 232 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: Just like Newark, New Jersey, which had recently exploded in 233 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: urban violence, leaving twenty three dead, all but two of 234 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: them black, Just like Cleveland, Watts and Philadelphia were rioting, 235 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: was also exploding over urban frustration. It was just as 236 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:21,720 Speaker 1: Malcolm X said, the chickens coming home to roost, Smoke 237 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: covered the sky, Sirens blasted through the evening air. Young 238 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: black men and women sprinted down the streets, holding as 239 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: much merchandise as they could in their hands. Television sets, 240 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: racks of clothing, cases of booze, food, toilet paper, baby formula, 241 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,440 Speaker 1: makeshift signs covered shop windows with hand painted slogans that 242 00:15:39,480 --> 00:15:42,480 Speaker 1: read Black Power and Soul brother. In a desperate effort 243 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 1: to deter the looters, Detroit police officers patrolled the streets 244 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,640 Speaker 1: with shotguns viciously beat down any and all rioters and 245 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: black civilians they encountered with their nightsticks. Try as they did, 246 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: the cops could not suppress the rioting. It dragged on 247 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,680 Speaker 1: for days. Local politicians made them please on television. The 248 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,560 Speaker 1: mayor enacted a curfew banned the sale of alcohol and firearms. 249 00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: The riots still raged. Community organizers failed to organize a 250 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: stand down more looting. Detroit Tigers left fielder Willie Horton 251 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: drove straight into the riot on Twelfth Avenue after a game, 252 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: stood up on the hood of his car and pleaded 253 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: with the black residents of the neighborhood he'd grown up 254 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: in to stop the violence. They didn't listen. Michigan Governor 255 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: George Romney declared the event a state of insurrection, impleaded 256 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: with President Lyndon B. Johnson for federal assistance to comply 257 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:37,200 Speaker 1: with the Federal Insurrection Act. Romney, a Republican, was a 258 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: potential presidential challenger of Johnson's in the upcoming sixty eight election. 259 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: Fuck Romney, fuck Michigan, and fucked the people of Detroit, 260 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: or so went the Democrat Lbjays. Thinking the president did nothing, 261 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: the insurrection raged on. Then more people died, panic in 262 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: the streets, widespread looting. Black owned establishments suffered the worst 263 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: of him. Eight hundreds over two five hundred guns were 264 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,880 Speaker 1: stolen from local shops. Four hundred and eighty three fires. 265 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: Firefighters who attempted to call the flames were shot at. 266 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: President Johnson finally gave in to his political opponent, Governor 267 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,920 Speaker 1: George Romney, and at one thirty am on July twenty fifth, 268 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,640 Speaker 1: sent in the National Guard to crack skulls. In the end, 269 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: seven thousand Detroiters were arrested, forty three were dead. Police, 270 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:30,119 Speaker 1: fearful of rioting snipers on rooftops, went on a rampage 271 00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: during the insurrection. They discarded legal police tactics and toura 272 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: by any means necessary. Page out of the Black Panthers playbook. 273 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: Illegal searches and police brutality became the order of the day. 274 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: Wayne Kramer and his bandmates in the MC five were 275 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: not immune to the abuse and oppression from local law enforcement. 276 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:54,760 Speaker 1: Eight thousand National Guard troops nearly five thousand paratroopers US 277 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,480 Speaker 1: Army tanks rolled down Detroit streets flanked by local police. 278 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: To Wayne and his band mates, it was an unimaginable scene. 279 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: The power and reach of local, state, and federal authorities 280 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: was downright shilling John Sinclair's rented home on Warren Avenue, 281 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,000 Speaker 1: who sat just down the block from Wayne Kramer's. On 282 00:18:14,080 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 1: the roof of the home, John placed a large sign 283 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:20,879 Speaker 1: that read burn Baby Burn. The police raided his home 284 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: without a warrant, guns drawn. Sinclair refused to back down. 285 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: He held his newborn baby up in front of him 286 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,080 Speaker 1: in the faces of the cops with their drawn shotguns. 287 00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:32,880 Speaker 1: He dared them to shoot. Either shoot me or get 288 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,400 Speaker 1: the fuck out of my house. The cops back down. 289 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,919 Speaker 1: It was fucked up, all of it, the entire scene, 290 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,640 Speaker 1: but it was a win. Wayne Kramer knew it then 291 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:51,159 Speaker 1: the revolution was on. Days later, after the rioting had subsided, 292 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: Wayne Kramer slept quietly in his apartment just down the 293 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:58,240 Speaker 1: street from John Sinclair's place. He awoke to the sound 294 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,239 Speaker 1: of his German shepherd whimpering and on the receiving end 295 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 1: of a Michigan State police beating. Stadies were flooding his 296 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: home now with guns drawn, ripping long hairs out of 297 00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:11,440 Speaker 1: their slumber by their scalps, rousing them awake, naked and confused, 298 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,200 Speaker 1: and demanding to know where the guns were. The cops 299 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: wanted to bust some snipers, except Wayne and his roommate 300 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,399 Speaker 1: didn't have any guns. The cops had confused the telescope 301 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,840 Speaker 1: in an upstairs window for a shotgun. It didn't matter 302 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: Wayne and his roommates were arrested anyway, and they were 303 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:30,200 Speaker 1: let out of his house and handcuffs. What Wayne Kramer 304 00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:34,639 Speaker 1: saw blew his mind. There in his front yard the 305 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,920 Speaker 1: US Army tank with his cannon pointed straight at him. 306 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 1: Wayne Kramer, John Sinclair, the MC five were officially at war. 307 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this word were were. The 308 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 1: arrests didn't stick. A couple nights in local cooler and 309 00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: Wayne and his roommates were released without being charged charged 310 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: for a crime. That is, in another way, Wayne had 311 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: been completely charged. He took the shock and awe of 312 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: government power and authoritative overreach and used it to power 313 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: him creatively. He and his bandmates in the MC five 314 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:23,159 Speaker 1: in those early days, they took their roles as revolutionaries seriously. 315 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: As a rock and roll band and political functionaries of 316 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:29,959 Speaker 1: John Sinclair's movement, they were uniquely suited to reach and 317 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:35,439 Speaker 1: inspire American youth for the cause toward revolution. This task 318 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: became a lot easier when the MC five were signed, 319 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: along with their little rock and roll brothers from Detroit, 320 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: the Stooges, to Electra Records. With a record deal. The 321 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:47,920 Speaker 1: MC five had money coming in, money that John Sinclair 322 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,359 Speaker 1: managed sort of, with much of it funding is trans 323 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: Love Energy and a narcosyndicate commune slash boarding house slash 324 00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: MC five production team in that order. Kind of. I 325 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,880 Speaker 1: guess I'm not really, but the band isn't mind. That's 326 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: the point. They wanted John Sinclair to manage them. They're 327 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: on the road spreading their message, performing alongside bands like 328 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,440 Speaker 1: the Velvet Underground in the Jimmy Hendricks Experience, blowing Eric 329 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: Clapton's cream off the stage, refusing Janis Joplin's drunken advances backstage. 330 00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:20,119 Speaker 1: How did it come to this, Wayne Kramer wondered. Months 331 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: ago they were being harassed by police and throne in jail. 332 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:25,919 Speaker 1: Now there were celebrated rock stars I'm gonna come up 333 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: at the vanguard of sixties culture and politics. So when 334 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,160 Speaker 1: they were asked to perform at the nineteen sixty eight 335 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,960 Speaker 1: Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August twenty fifth, they 336 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: of course said yes. Bob Dylan and Jefferson Airplane and 337 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: Country Joe McDonald and his band The Fish were all 338 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,920 Speaker 1: invited to perform, but no one except the MC five 339 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,560 Speaker 1: showed up. There were rumors that the whole scene was 340 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:52,000 Speaker 1: going to go bust. Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, leaders 341 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: of the Yippie movement countercultural Front of the decade's New 342 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: Left specializing in media circuses, had organized a protest outside 343 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: the invention called the Festival of Life. I used the 344 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: word organize loosely. There was barely a stage in zero 345 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 1: production that didn't stop the MC five. There was a 346 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: show to put on, and there were thousands of kids 347 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: there at the convention who had been promised life minded entertainment. 348 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:20,119 Speaker 1: The revolution must continue to turn. So at four PM 349 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:26,679 Speaker 1: the MC five took the stage. Immediately they felt it 350 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: an overwhelming sense of tension and violence in the air. 351 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: From the stage, Wayne Kramer and his bandmates could see 352 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: them in the crowd, real jughead Joe square types riling 353 00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: the hippies up, dudes with flattops and military fatigues, black 354 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: shoes and white socks. It was plain as day to 355 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: anyone with eyes and not completely stoned out of their minds. 356 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 1: These squares in the crowd were government plants, Asian provocateurs, 357 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,480 Speaker 1: placed there by the FBI to create problems, to egg 358 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,359 Speaker 1: on the hippies, to get the kids to overreact, to 359 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: take the first swing and justify our government beat down 360 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: the likes of which this generation had never seen, which 361 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: is exactly what happened. While the MC five stormed through 362 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 1: a manic Detroit powered rock and rolled barnburner of a set, 363 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: the government plants and the crowd cheap shot hippies in 364 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: the ribs, spit on them, pushed them around. Little skirmishes 365 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: broke out. The hippies pushed back, the agents got ugly 366 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 1: fists started to fly more freely. Up above the stage, 367 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,040 Speaker 1: a police helicopter flew low, buzzing the band and adding 368 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:31,320 Speaker 1: a sonic world at Wayne Kramer welcomed it had perfectly 369 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: augmented the electric torrent. He bent out of his red, 370 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: white and blue stratocaster. The helicopter took off, turned and 371 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:41,480 Speaker 1: came thrusting back towards the stage, its giant propellers grinding 372 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,240 Speaker 1: through the Chicago air, sending anything not bolted down on 373 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: the ground to tumble you throughout Lincoln Park. It was 374 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: an intimidation tactic and it worked. The sense of fear 375 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:54,399 Speaker 1: on and off stage was very real. Everyone felt the 376 00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: same sense of impending doom. The MC five wrapped their set, 377 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 1: hopped into their van, and got the hell out of there. 378 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,280 Speaker 1: In their wake, the FEUs they helped ignite would later 379 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:09,960 Speaker 1: explode in violence. The nineteen sixty eight Democratic National Convention 380 00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:12,440 Speaker 1: would go down as one of the most disastrous events 381 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: in American political history. The protest, organized by Abby Hoffman, 382 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 1: Jerry Rubin and the rest of their political pranksters, would 383 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: result in more rioting and clashes with the police. Skulls 384 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,680 Speaker 1: were cracked, heads rolled six hundred and sixty eight were arrested, 385 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: two more than the Devil himself could have managed. A 386 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,440 Speaker 1: similar number were injured, along with one hundred and ninety 387 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:37,719 Speaker 1: two police officers. Hoffman, Reuben and five other organizers who 388 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:41,360 Speaker 1: had converged on Chicago were charged with conspiracy and crossing 389 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: state lines with an intempt to start a riot. They 390 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,159 Speaker 1: would be tried together as the infamous Chicago Seven. The 391 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,359 Speaker 1: conspiracy charges didn't stick, though, because the seven had barely 392 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:54,919 Speaker 1: coordinated anything. They barely even knew each other. Five were 393 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,720 Speaker 1: convicted on the riot charge, facing five years in prison each, 394 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:00,560 Speaker 1: and the judge convicted all seven and their attorney's on 395 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,880 Speaker 1: contempt of court charges thanks to the Yippi's publicity stunts, 396 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:07,479 Speaker 1: which meant even more jail time. Ultimately, it was a 397 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:12,480 Speaker 1: lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, because in the 398 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:17,280 Speaker 1: end nothing changed. The Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey, even his 399 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,639 Speaker 1: name was square. The revolution hit a wall. Wayne Kramer 400 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 1: and the rest of the MC five made it back 401 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:27,920 Speaker 1: safely to Detroit, but their manager, John Sinclair was eventually 402 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,680 Speaker 1: arrested and it looked like he'd be going to jail 403 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:53,880 Speaker 1: for a long long time. Revolution was stressful business. More 404 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: stressful than robbery. The Revolution came and went, but Wayne 405 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:02,000 Speaker 1: Kramer's heroin addiction didn't seem to be going anywhere. It 406 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:05,520 Speaker 1: was nineteen seventy three, five years removed from the heady 407 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,440 Speaker 1: days of the MC five's peak. In only a year 408 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,879 Speaker 1: since they'd broken up. Wayne Kramer was a broke and busted, 409 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:17,639 Speaker 1: unreliable junkie musician. He put the revolution down. Breaking and 410 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: entering was this new hustle. Wayne could tell the owners 411 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: of the massive house on of the outskirts of town 412 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 1: weren't home, no cars in the driveway. He and his 413 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: partner rang the doorbell to be sure, buckus, so they 414 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: broke into the garage. First, located some tools and used 415 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:36,679 Speaker 1: them to pry open the door of the main house. 416 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 1: Once inside, the liquor cabinet was the first stop. Big 417 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 1: gulps of the brown wet stuff to drown the sinking 418 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: feeling that being alone in someone else's home usually gave 419 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,960 Speaker 1: to Wayne. It was wrong, no matter how he tried 420 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: to justify it. Deep down, Wayne knew what he was 421 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,640 Speaker 1: doing was fucked up. He went through the motions, trying 422 00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: to locate jewelry, expensive rocks, television sets, and high five equipment. 423 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,639 Speaker 1: He led his mind wander back a couple of years 424 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: to a better time. So much had happened since his 425 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: days in the MC five. They had appeared on the 426 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: cover of Rolling Stone before their first record, Kick Out 427 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: the Jams, was even released. When it came out, all 428 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 1: their dreams of revolution and rock and roll rebellion seemed inevitable. 429 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,439 Speaker 1: Then Electra Records dropped them over a skirmish with a retailer. Next, 430 00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: John Sinclair got sent to jail over him easily two joints. 431 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,520 Speaker 1: Saint Clair wanted more support from the MC five, more money, 432 00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:37,960 Speaker 1: more revolution, more more more. Wayne and the band offered 433 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 1: to help, but what they brought to the table wasn't 434 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,359 Speaker 1: enough for John. Sinclair skewered the MC five in the 435 00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,200 Speaker 1: underground press. He said the band wanted to be bigger 436 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:48,119 Speaker 1: than the Beatles, but he wanted them to be bigger 437 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:52,680 Speaker 1: than Chairman Mao. That stung, but John Sinclair was stressed. 438 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,240 Speaker 1: He was heading to prison. He had a wife and 439 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,000 Speaker 1: a young child to take care of from behind cell doors. 440 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:01,479 Speaker 1: Then the White Pant There's got indicted for the bombing 441 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,119 Speaker 1: of a CIA office in Detroit. The evidence was questionable 442 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: in several of the Chicago Seven's attorneys represented the white Panthers. 443 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: Now this time they would score a cleaner victory, and 444 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: presenting their case, the government was caught using warrantless wire 445 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: tabs to spy on the white and the Black Panthers. 446 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: The Michigan judge overseeing the trial even sued the federal 447 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,160 Speaker 1: government to force them to reveal their warrant with surveillance, 448 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: and the nixt administration appealed the case all the way 449 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: to the Supreme Court, before the Panthers, in the Fourth 450 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: Amendment of the Constitution, got their ultimate vindication. In the process, 451 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: the MC five fell apart, their records bombed, their record 452 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 1: labels gave up on them. They became known as unreliable drunks, 453 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: too fucked up to make it to the gig on time, 454 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: and they broke up. In nineteen seventy two, Wayne took 455 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: up a heroin abbit. He no longer hung out with 456 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 1: rock stars and revolutionaries. Instead, he spent his days with 457 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: reprobates and thieves, hustlers, pimps, dealers, anyone who could go 458 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,400 Speaker 1: up a scam that will result in him staying high. 459 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:07,720 Speaker 1: And the revolution was dead and Wayne Kramer was barely alive. 460 00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: He was busted and, like John Sinclair of a Forum, 461 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:16,800 Speaker 1: heading to jail. His life as a low down being 462 00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:19,520 Speaker 1: e Man came to an abrupt halt in late nineteen 463 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,720 Speaker 1: seventy four when he was busted for some serious narcotic 464 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:25,960 Speaker 1: way while on probation for a previous bust for possession 465 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: of stolen goods. The DEA kept his latest arrest out 466 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: of the news, hoping to gain Wayne's cooperation as an 467 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: undercover informant, but Wayne decided to face the music for 468 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,680 Speaker 1: practical reasons. He wanted to move past all this Sunday 469 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: and he knew the life expectancy of snitches. So Wayne 470 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: was sentenced to four years at the Federal Correctional Institution 471 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: in Lexington, Kentucky, commonly known as the Narcotic Firm, with 472 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: its history of housing addicts, including many of them the 473 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: most famous Jasmine of the nineteen thirties, forties, and fifties 474 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 1: in prison. Especially in this prison, Wayne Kramer was able 475 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: to get his hands on a guitar. Playing music with 476 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,960 Speaker 1: a clear head and a renewed focus helped him do 477 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:08,720 Speaker 1: his time, But when he was released on parole three 478 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,240 Speaker 1: years later, he was truly rehabilitated. Through the power and 479 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: the saving grace of music. After his incarceration, Wayne teamed 480 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: with the great musician Billy Bragg to expand Bragg's charity organization, 481 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: Jail Guitar Doris, named after the clash song that Joe 482 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: Strummer and Mick Jones wrote in part about Kramer's incarceration. 483 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:33,680 Speaker 1: Jail Guitar Doris' mission is to help rehabilitate incarcerated individuals 484 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: through the transformative power of music. Fittingly, Wayne Kramer of 485 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 1: the MC five is its executive director. Post prisoner, Wayne 486 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:45,880 Speaker 1: Kramer kicked his addictions and started a family. Now he 487 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 1: leads the Jail Guitar's organization and his image and through 488 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:52,560 Speaker 1: the example he set by providing guitars and rehabilitative programming 489 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: for prisoners throughout the United States, Wayne himself has personally 490 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: led many music lessons in songwriting sessions for the org. 491 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,520 Speaker 1: Program overall has expanded to include artists, mentor in convicts, 492 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: and wrap piano and more, extending its reach into over 493 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,080 Speaker 1: one hundred and forty prisons in jails across the US. 494 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: The revolution may have failed, but Jail Guitar Doors, like 495 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,520 Speaker 1: Wayne Kramer of the MC five, is a success. Because 496 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: the only revolution that really matters is a personal revolution. 497 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: You say you want a revolution, you want to save 498 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: the world. Change yourself, then change your family, then your friends, 499 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:33,479 Speaker 1: then your community. Changing the world is impossible. It's juvenile folly, 500 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: a utopian hippie dream that America is still unfortunately hung 501 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: up on from the nineteen sixties. Society doesn't change, doesn't 502 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: matter the error, It'll always be unjust. Politicians don't change. 503 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what party. They will always be corrupt individuals. 504 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: So they can change revolution from the inside out. Real 505 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,240 Speaker 1: change the power to change yourself, to break your own 506 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:01,480 Speaker 1: cycles of narcissism and selfish and make yourself a valuable 507 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:07,400 Speaker 1: contributor to society. This is extremely difficult, but change revolution 508 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 1: on a personal level is always possible. Sure, it isn't 509 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:15,720 Speaker 1: as sexy as rock and roll, dope and fucking in 510 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: the streets, but Wayne Kramer of the MC five he 511 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:25,800 Speaker 1: proved that personal revolution can deliver one from disgrace. I'm 512 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by 513 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 1: Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 514 00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:49,960 Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 515 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelandpod dot com. If you're listening as 516 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,120 Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. 517 00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become 518 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:03,320 Speaker 1: a member right now by going to disgraceslampod dot com 519 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,680 Speaker 1: Slash Membership. 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