50th Anniversary of Free John Sinclair Concert headlined by John Lennon and Yoko Ono

[Lowell]

Today's Free Press features two articles about Detroit radical legend and marijuana legalization advocate John Sinclair and 50th Anniversary of the famous "Free John Sinclair" rally this coming Dec. 10-11.

With John Sinclair in Downtown Detroit 2008

For those not familiar with the event, Sinclair, then manager of the radical MC5 band and organizer of anti-war efforts, was entrapped up by government agents and arrested for selling two joints as a favor to an undercover agent. He was sentenced to ten years in Jackson and seemed destined to rot away there until friends on the outside organized a rally concert in his behalf, headlined by John Lennon and Yoko and including such luminaries as Stevie Wonder and Bob Seger. Three days after the concert at the Univ. of Michigan's Crisler Arena, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered Sinclair released.

Article on the Event:
https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...623669_1346029

Interview with John Sinclair:
https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...b16b38_1346029

It all seems so ridiculous now with recreational legalization of cannabis and much credit for that and the consequent expungement of convictions so commonplace. Somebody had to pay a price for that liberty and John did big time. We owe much of that freedom to John Sinclair.

[renf]

Thank you for posting. I remember when there much controversy about
John Sinclair and the White Panther Party.

[GPCharles]

First year of U of M undergrad. Attended the concert. It went on forever. Latest I was ever in Crisler, which had to be after 2:00 a.m.
Stevie Wonder - great
Bob Seger - great
John Lennon - very good
Yoko Ono - awful - booed off the stage
Commander Cody - very good
Teegarden and Van Winkle - very good
Speakers [[various) - what was to be expected. Marijuana good, Jail bad. Jerry Rubin was particularly boring.

[Henry Whalley]

I remember when there much controversy about John Sinclair and the White Panther Party.

He was a political prisoner persecuted because of his role in muckraking publications including The Fifth Estate and Ann Arbor Sun.

10th Precinct Conspiracy Trial: George Bennett Vs. The Defense | Ann Arbor District Library [[aadl.org)

[EastsideAl]

I remember watching a telecast of it on Channel 56. A couple of my cousins who knew people in the Sinclair/MC5 orbit in Detroit and were big John Lennon fans went to the show.