"When [John Sinclair] was released in August, the Workshop threw an all-day music and poetry fest to mark his homecoming. One thing Sinclair had not been expecting at his party was a teenage rock band from downriver. But the Five were looking to hook into the Workshop: they needed a place to rehearse. And they believed Sinclair could help the band ... the first meeting of Sinclair and the MC5 did not augur good things: Sinclair, high on freedom (at the very least) and surrounded by his friends and family, ignored the band and their request to play. By the time the MC5 finally got to plug in, he and Leni had gone upstairs to bed." (The Legends of the MC5)


AUGUST 1966

7 Sunday /

feat. musicians and poets performances

*Detroit Artists' Workshop*

Detroit , MI

Wayne Kramer: "We had waited all day to play for him, and then at two in the morning they finish with all the fucking poetry. We had these huge amps, Vox Super Beatle one-hundred-watt tube amps, and we cranked the shit up." "Halfway into the band's third song, Leni came downstairs and pulled the plug. It wasn't until Sinclair reintroduced to Tyner months later that the relationship really clicked." (MH)

Rob Tyner: "We began our assault on the young Sinclair by playing at the joyous gathering held the day (August 7th) he got back from bein' in prison the first time. There was a festival to commemmorate the joyous occasion of john's leaving the clutches of the Honk. At the very end of the lineup was the bizarre MC5. We waited all afternoon in the hot sun to play for him, and it got to be one o'clock in the morning by the time everything was done and there was only a couple of people there. So anyway John unfortunately went upstairs shortly after we began our third song, a standard piece of improvisation, and then Leni Sinclair came downstairs and pulled the plug. Never happened to us before. We were never censored like that before. Here we were, being censored by a bunce of beatniks. It was weird, we were knocking ourselves out to please." (c2#4)

Quotes are taken from the 'Legends of the MC5'