It has come to my attention that many of you have a serious deficit in your musical and cultural knowledge. I’m here to fix that, so grab your coffee and pull up a chair.
A long time ago (1964) in a galaxy far, far away (Detroit), a band was formed. That band was the MC5.
Technically, the MC5 were formed in Lincoln Park, a suburb of Detroit, but I’m trying to keep this simple.
The band was formed by Wayne Kramer (guitar), Fred “Sonic” Smith (guitar), Michael Davis (bass), Dennis Thompson (drums), and Rob Tyner (vocals). Fred Smith is also known as Patti Smith’s (deceased) husband. I’m trying to keep this simple, so we’re going to gloss over some of the details. If you want more minutia than even I can handle, here’s an MC5 timeline.
The MC5 were (are) musically brilliant, loud, political, and they put on a wildly energetic stage show.
I tell you all of this for two reasons. One, you should know it. Two, Wayne Kramer has partnered with Billy Bragg to bring Bragg’s Jail Guitar Doors project to the United States and it’s the kind of initiative you should know more about. (Because I said so).
Kramer went to Federal prison decades ago on a narcotics charge. Now clean and sober, he’s a prolific working musician and composer and is included on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time. (Those lists aren’t ever controversial).
Despite your appalling lack of knowledge about MC5, I have faith in you that you’re conversant in the body of music produced by The Clash. In light of that, you’re probably saying to yourself, “Hey! Jail Guitar Doors. Isn’t that the name of a Clash song from 1978?” You are correct, my friend. And if you think really hard, you might recall that the song begins,
Let me tell you bout wayne and his deals of Cocaine
A little more every day
Holding for a friend till the band do well
Then the DEA locked him away
I imagine Kramer spends a lot of time reiterating that he thinks prisons do serve a purpose and that there are people who do belong there, but a program that improves people’s lives in a desperate situation also belongs in prison. Kramer outlines the current problems the War on Drugs has created and what he’s doing about it:
Kramer Report
5.8.09
Los AngelesOn Saturday, May 2nd 2009, I returned to prison. Again.
Tom Morello, Jerry Cantrell, Billy Bragg, Perry Farrell & Etty Lau Farrell, Gilby Clarke, Boots Riley, Carl Restivo, Dave Gibbs, Don Was, Handsome Dick Manitoba, Eric Gardner and the Road Recovery staff went with me. The prison was the infamous Sing Sing maximum-security facility in Ossining, New York. I talked with the prisoners and we played music for them.
And we went in with the blessing of the New York State Department of Corrections to inaugurate a new program focusing on inmate rehabilitation. To tell you the truth, I didn’t think it would happen. I could not have been more wrong. We had all played a concert the night before in Manhattan for Road Recovery, a non-profit organization that works with at-risk kids. The show was sold out with the help of my comrade Iggy Pop and it was a resounding success.
The Sing Sing show was a bonus. To say it was memorable would be a massive understatement. As would be understating the importance of reaching out to the people on the receiving end of the greatest failure of social policy in America’s domestic history.
You would have to be living on the moon to not know what a disaster the “War On Drugs” has been. Twenty billion dollars a year for the last 30 years, two million Americans in prison — 60% of them non-violent drug offenders — and you can go out on any American street corner and buy cheaper, higher quality heroin and cocaine than you could anywhere in America 30 years ago. The political expediency of “get tough on crime” along with the sure-fire vote getting “lock them up and throw away the key” mentality has successfully created the highly profitable Prison Industrial Complex.
[read the rest – it’s worthwhile]
For some reason – you can’t deeplink to individual posts on the Kramer Reports section of the website, but I suspect that post will be at the top for a while since it’s already several months old.
Kramer isn’t on the fringe with his argument that society needs to focus more on treatment and less on incarceration for non-violent offenders, even Gil Kerlikowske, the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (you know, the Drug Czar) agrees.
But I digress. Let’s get back to the music. You can read more at the allmusic guide to the mc5 or you can just scurry on over to Spotify or Pandora or last.fm or wherever you find new music and have a listen. You can thank me later.
