MOTOR CITY ROCK LEGENDS: Authors Brett Callwood and John Sinclair on the Stooges & MC5 at Book Beat  

Please join us at Book Beat, 26010 GREENFIELD in Oak Park on November 5th at 7 PM for a celebration of Detroit rock 'n roll history. Brett Callwood is the author of a newly published biography: The Stooges: A Journey Through the Michigan Underworld and MC5: Sonically Speaking: A Tale of Revolution and Rock 'n' Roll. Poet John Sinclair was the manager of the MC5 and helped to sign both the Stooges and the MC5 to the Elektra label in 1968 and things have never been the same since. We are hoping to also have available Sinclair's recent release: Headpress #28: The Gospel According to Unpopular Culture. As Sinclair has noted, November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day and the hopeful afterglow of the USA elections - this is sure to be an evening of interesting discussion and Detroit style celebration. Kick out the Jams! Please call 248-968-1190  or visit thebookbeat.com for more information.

About the Books:

The Stooges: A Journey Through the Michigan Underworld :

Containing primary interviews with all the band members and Iggy himself, as well as other key characters, this biography provides a collection of exclusive and captivating eye-witness accounts of this most important of rock bands. The influence of The Stooges on the world of punk and rock 'n' roll is immeasurable. The band's three albums - "The Stooges", "Fun House" and "Raw Power" - are bona fide classics. The fact that the band only existed for a few short years at the end of the '60s and start of the '70s makes their achievements all the more impressive.Of course, lead singer Iggy Pop went on to have huge success as a solo artist, working with the likes of David Bowie and Green Day, but here, for the first time, The Stooges story is told in-depth, through original interviews with the band members. Just after the turn of the new millennium, Iggy reformed The Stooges with all of the key members present, including brothers Ron and Scott 'Rock Action' Asheton. The Stooges have gone from strength to strength since the reunion, headlining festivals around the world.Their contribution to rock music history is without question and this book is an important document of those times and their lives. 

MC5: Sonically Speaking: A Tale of Revolution and Rock 'n' Roll:

Although nobody realised it at the time, the historic importance of the MC5 is vast. Often considered a ‘post-punk’ band along with fellow Detroiters The Stooges as well as Big Apple natives the New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground, the influence of the MC5 reaches far and wide, with everyone from Green Day, The White Stripes, Motorhead, Ramones, Rage Against The Machine and Bad Brains citing them.
Fuelled by the radical politics of the White Panther party, the MC5 preached revolution and were often a target for the authorities. Having released three albums between 1969 and 1971, two of the band passed away and guitarist Wayne Kramer spent time behind bars for drug-related offences. Thirty years of low-key solo projects followed, before the band reunited in the new Millennium for a one-off show that turned into a full-on reunion. The book details not only the seismic impact that they’ve had on music, but also the social climate in which they evolved.

Headpress #28: The Gospel According to Unpopular Culture

The baton of the White Panthers is now in the hands of Headpress. John Sinclair, cofounding member of the White Panthers political party in 1968, is the editor of HEADPRESS 28. Mr Sinclair, a Detroit poet and one-time manager of the band MC5, became the focus of the counterculture and international media when John Lennon named a song after him and joined Stevie Wonder for a benefit concert to free him from jail. HEADPRESS 28 marks the fortieth anniversary of the original White Panthers movement and heralds the launch of the “HEADPRESS PANTHERS” and “THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO UNPOPULAR CULTURE.” 

About the Authors: 

Brett Callwood is a freelance music journalist whose work has appeared in publications such as Kerrang!, Record Collector, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer, Bizarre, Rhythm, Total Guitar, Guitarist, The Metro Times and Metromix. Brett is originally from the UK and recently moved to Detroit (far out!) to keep up with all the high energy happenings in this city-of-the-future. More information at: Brett Callwood Myspace site.

John Sinclair is legendary as the man who guided the rock-and-revolution MC-5 to early fame, and as the political prisoner in the early days of the War on Drugs whose 1971 release from a 9-1/2-to-10-year sentence for possession of two joints was secured by high-profile supporters like John Lennon and Stevie Wonder. 

But in subsequent years John Sinclair forged a whole new legend as a New Orleans-based preacher of the power of blues and jazz, "his love and knowledge of which form the basis of his wonderful spoken-word performances" (John Strausbaugh, New York Press) and popular award-winning music programs for WWOZ Radio.

Relentlessly criss-crossing the USA and western Europe to deliver his verses in front of a variety of high-energy musical ensembles, Sinclair is sort of a 21st-century American griot who's been called "The Last of the Beatnik Warrior Poets" (Mick Farren, Los Angeles Weekly) and "The Hardest-Working Poet in Show Business" (Ben Edmonds, San Francisco Chronicle). Source: John Sinclair biography by PT Dante

The Book Beat is an independent bookstore serving the Detroit metro area for over 25 years. 

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