Zenta buttons

Zenta buttons from the White Panther Party religion begun by Brother Jesse Crawford in 1968. These are reprints and NOT vintage buttons.Sold one button per order.

“On 30th October 1968, the revolutionary Detroit commune Trans-Love Energies proclaimed a new era, ringing in the dawn of their Zenta new age at the Grande Ballroom, wherein the MC5 – the commune’s house band – pummelled over two thousand rabid rock’n’roll fans with sonic weaponry. Such a brazen declaration of intent – a calendar separate from the rest of society! – heralded one of the most incendiary events in rock’n’roll history. MC5 manager John Sinclair clarified his commune’s lofty aims for the Zenta Age: “The duty of the revolutionary is to make the revolution. The duty of the musician is to make the music. But there is an equation that must not be missed: MUSIC IS REVOLUTION.” For the MC5, the responsibility as vanguards of the revolution was all the more intensified by a huge added pressure. For this date would also see the live recording of their debut album, the soon-to-be legendary Kick Out the Jams.

After the chaos of the previous year’s events, it’s difficult to imagine the kind of mental states pervading the Trans-Love members by the time October 30th came around. Having already, during the 1967 Detroit Race Riots, survived the tanks of National Guardsmen who’d delighted in aiming their cannons at the Trans-Love Energies house, the two months prior to this Zenta New Year bash had been times of permanent confrontation with the authorities. It had been as revolutionaries that John Sinclair had accepted the MC5’s invitation to play in Chicago, during August 1968, at the Yippies’ “Festival of Life’. For the festival had been craftily organised to coincide with the mass protests planned for the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Every politicised musician and band in the country had been also been invited to perform, but only the MC5 showed up.” —On This Day

$ 5.00

Available on backorder