John Sinclair (poet)
John Sinclair | |
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Born | Flint, Michigan, U.S. | October 2, 1941
Died | April 2, 2024 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | (aged 82)
Alma mater | University of Michigan-Flint |
Occupations |
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John Sinclair (October 2, 1941 – April 2, 2024) was an American poet, writer, and political activist from Flint, Michigan. Sinclair's defining style is jazz poetry, and he released most of his works in audio formats. Most of his pieces include musical accompaniment, usually by a varying group of collaborators dubbed Blues Scholars.
As an emerging young poet in the mid-1960s, Sinclair took on the role of manager for the Detroit rock band MC5. The band's politically charged music and its Yippie core audience dovetailed with Sinclair's own radical development. In 1968, while still working with the band, he conspicuously served as a founding member of the White Panther Party, a militantly anti-racist socialist group and counterpart of the Black Panthers.
Arrested for sale of marijuana in 1969, Sinclair was given ten years in prison. The sentence was criticized by many as unduly harsh, and it galvanized a noisy protest movement led by prominent figures of the 1960s counterculture. Sinclair was freed in December 1971, but he remained in litigation – his case against the government for illegal domestic surveillance was successfully pleaded to the US Supreme Court in United States v. U.S. District Court (1972).
Sinclair eventually left the US and took up residency in Amsterdam. He continued to write and record and, from 2005, hosted a regular radio program, The John Sinclair Radio Show, as well as producing a line-up of other shows on his own radio station, Radio Free Amsterdam.
Sinclair was among the first people to purchase recreational marijuana when it became legal in Michigan on December 1, 2019.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Sinclair was born in Flint, Michigan, but grew up in Davison.[2] He was a member of the Class of 1960 at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, but he dropped out after his first year.[3] Sinclair subsequently attended the Flint College of the University of Michigan, now the University of Michigan-Flint. During his time at UM-Flint he served on the university's Publications Board, school newspaper The Word, and was the president of the Cinema Guild. He graduated in 1964.[4]
1960s activism[edit]
Sinclair was music editor and columnist for the Detroit underground newspaper, Fifth Estate, during the paper's growth in the late 1960s.[5] Fifth Estate continues to publish to this day, making it one of the longest continuously published alternative periodicals in the United States.
Sinclair also contributed to the formation of Detroit Artists Workshop Press, which published five issues of Work Magazine. Sinclair worked as a jazz writer for DownBeat from 1964 to 1965,[5] being an outspoken advocate for the newly emerging Free Jazz Avant Garde movement. Sinclair was one of the "New Poets" who read at the seminal Berkeley Poetry Conference in July 1965.
In April 1967 he founded the Ann Arbor Sun, a biweekly underground newspaper,[6] with his wife Leni Sinclair and artist Gary Grimshaw.[7][8]
He was front and center on the issue of legalization of cannabis, and promoted its benefits while decrying is illegality. He was there to prominently buy legal cannabis when it became legal in Michigan.[1][9] Leni Sinclair is credited as an unsung hero of the fight for legalization — she took over for John during his two years in prison.[9]
The argument for legalization was summed up in a Sinclair said in a 2011 interview, which highlighted the original goal of Hash Bash was total legalization. He said:
“They need to get rid of this idiotic, hypocritical war on drugs. Marijuana, there’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. “It doesn’t harm anybody, it’s not a dangerous substance, and millions of people use it — and they’re just characterized as criminals by these people whose drug of choice is alcohol. So the first thing you get rid of is tremendous hypocrisy.”[9]
During the 1960s, White Panther Party, the precursor to the Rainbow People’s Party, billed itself as an "anti racist political colllective." They hosted free live concerts in Ann Arbor’s West Park, until city council ended them.[9]
“Everybody was on acid at West Park. We just had a ball at that motherf*****,” he once recalled, noting they called themselves “acid freeks,” spelled with two Es like “free.”
Involvement with the MC5[edit]
Sinclair managed the proto-punk band MC5 from 1966 through 1969.[10][11][12] Under his guidance the band embraced the counter-culture revolutionary politics of the White Panther Party, founded in answer to the Black Panthers' call for white people to support their movement.[13][14]
The album Kick Out the Jams caused some controversy due to John Sinclair's inflammatory liner notes and the title track's rallying cry of "Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!" According to Kramer, the band recorded this as "Kick out the jams, brothers and sisters!" for the single released for radio play; Tyner claimed this was done without group consensus.[15] The edited version also appeared in some LP copies, which also withdrew Sinclair's excitable comments. The album was released in January 1969; reviews were mixed, but the album was relatively successful, quickly selling over 100,000 copies and peaking at #30 on the Billboard 200 chart in May 1969 during a 23-week stay.[16]
During this period, Sinclair booked "The Five" as the regular house band at Detroit's famed Grande Ballroom in what came to be known as the "Kick out the Jams" shows. He was managing the MC5 at the time of their free concert outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The band was the only group to perform before police broke up the massive anti-Vietnam war rally. Eventually, the MC5 came to find Sinclair's politics too heavy-handed. He and the band separated in 1969.[17] In 2006, Sinclair joined MC5 bassist Michael Davis to launch the Music Is Revolution Foundation, serving as a general board member. They issued a CD, Music is Revolution: From the John & Leni Sinclair library with Leni Sinclair. Oak Park, MI: Book Beat Gallery, 2000, a spoken word CD (compiled from 50 hours of historical recordings at the Bentley Historical Library, plus an illustrated book featuring posters and pictures of the MC5, an documenting radical political history.[18]
The band and Sinclair lived together in a commune on Hill Street in Ann Arbor for several years. Marijuana and hallucogenics were commonly used.[9]
He was said to be charismatic and theatrical. As the Detroit Free Press wrote: "Gleefully proclaiming the joys of rock ‘n’ roll, drugs and sex in the streets, John Sinclair reigned as a nationally celebrated troubadour of youth rebellion during the psychedelic era, playing a lead role in making Detroit and Ann Arbor counterculture hot spots with the MC5 band, the White Panther Party, cutting-edge concerts and flamboyant rhetoric." He proselytized a "utopian dream of a post-industrial society based on leisure and marijuana never went beyond a small group of collaborators.-" seeing to "to mount a “total assault” on the “death culture” of America." He proclaimed the "pig-death machine" toe be "anti-life by definition.” Sinclair was unapologetic, although he later acknowledged his hippie driven utopia was a "naïve fantasy."[19]
While managing the MC5 and leading the White Panthers he was able to build the Detroit’s Grande Ballroo, into one of the leading Midwestern concert venue. He was a forceful driver of Iggy Pop's now long and successful career. Iggy Pop started as the flamboyant lead singer of the[[Psychedelic Stooges[[. Meanwhile, Sinclair spread his rebellious gospel widely, making appearances at high schools and other venues.[19]
In Guitar World Sinclair proclaimed that it was "the crazed guerilla warfare we were wang with the MC5." His death came only two months after MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer's passing.[20]
Imprisonment and public support[edit]
After a series of convictions for deliver, free of charge. of marijuana,[A] Sinclair was sentenced to 9 1/2 to 12 years in prison in 1969 after offering two joints to an undercover female narcotics officer.[21][20]
The severity of his sentence sparked high-profile protests, including an infamous incident at the 1969 Woodstock Festival wherein Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman jumped on the stage and seized a microphone during a performance by The Who. Hoffman managed to shout only a few words about Sinclair's plight before he was forcibly ejected from the stage by guitarist Pete Townshend.[22][23]
With a more successful protest, attended by Stevie Wonder and Bob Seger, John Lennon performed his new song "John Sinclair" on television[24] and recorded it for his next album, Some Time in New York City (1972),[25] though by that time Sinclair had been released.[26] With "directness and simplicity", said one critic,[24] the lyrics lament Sinclair's intended harsh punishment: "They gave him ten for two – what else can the bastards do?"[24] The event drew 15,000 sympathizers. Sinclair drew a 9 1/2-to-10-year prison sentence in 1969 from Detroit Recorder's Court Judge Robert Colombo for giving two joints to undercover officers. He served 29 months but was released a few days after Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger and others performed in front of 15,000 attendees at the University of Michigan's Crisler Arena.
Various public and private protests culminated in the "John Sinclair Freedom Rally" at Ann Arbor's Crisler Arena in December 1971. The event brought together celebrities including Lennon and Yoko Ono; musicians David Peel, Stevie Wonder, Phil Ochs and Bob Seger, Archie Shepp and Roswell Rudd; poets Allen Ginsberg and Ed Sanders; and countercultural speakers including Abbie Hoffman, Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, Jerry Rubin, and Bobby Seale.[27][28][29][30][31] Three days after the rally, Sinclair was released from prison when the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the state's marijuana statutes were unconstitutional.[32] These events inspired the creation of Ann Arbor's annual pro-legalization Hash Bash rally.[33]
In 1972, Leonard Weinglass took on the defense of Sinclair in Detroit, Michigan after he was charged with conspiracy to destroy government property along with Larry 'Pun' Plamondon and John Forrest. While awaiting trial and after being convicted, the government admitted to wiretapping without a warrant. The case went to the United States Supreme Court and was decided in United States v. U.S. District Court, also now famously known as the Keith Case, which held that not even the invocation of "national security" by the president of the United States could insulate illegal activity from Constitutional rights to privacy (407 U.S. 297 (1972)). The charges were dismissed.[B][35][36]
Hash Bash[edit]
In 1972 Ann Arbor's annual marijuana celebration and toke and smoke fest in the Diag began. This was four months after the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, who was at the time still serving time on his ten year sentence for delivery of two joints. John Lennon had come to that rally and penned a song[1][9]
He was present for the 2023 Hash Bash.[9]
Sinclair died four days before a scheduled appearance at hash bash. It is slated as a Sinclair memorial:
“This Hash Bash is the John Sinclair memorial Hash Bash and we will carry on in his name until we win complete freedom for cannabis,” said Ann Arbor activist Chuck Ream, calling it absurd that pot is still illegal at the federal level.[9]
Writing, performances, and poetry[edit]
Starting in the mid-1980s, Sinclair wrote a newspaper column on cannabis, titled "Free the Weed". The primary focus of Sinclair's column was the social history of cannabis use in the US; however, he often touched upon the global campaign for its legalisation.[citation needed]
From the mid-1990s Sinclair performed and recorded his spoken word pieces with his band The Blues Scholars, which included such musicians as Wayne Kramer, Brock Avery, Charles Moore, Doug Lunn, and Paul Ill, among many others. He also performed as a distinctive disc jockey for New Orleans' WWOZ Radio, the public jazz and heritage station.[37]
On March 22, 2006, Sinclair joined The Black Crowes on stage at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, and read his poem "Monk in Orbit" during the instrumental break in the song "Nonfiction".[38] Two days later, he went back onstage at the Black Crowes show in the Paradiso, reading his poem "Fat Boy" during the long instrumental jam following the Black Crowes' song, "How Much for Your Wings?".[39]
On January 20, 2009, to mark Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, Sinclair performed a series of his poems accompanied by a live band, featuring Elliott Levin, Tony Bianco and Jair-Rohm Parker Wells at Cafe OTO in Dalston, East London.[40][41]
In 2011, Sinclair recorded spoken-word for the intro to the song “Best Lasts Forever” by Scottish band The View, produced by Youth.[42]
In 2023, Sinclair did a eulogy at the tribute for Pun Plamondon, with whom he helped found the White Panthers party. Sinclair said, “He was a brilliant character,” but went on at such length about his own contribution — so much so that he was interrupted and reminded that 'this is about Pun.'[43]
Sinclair made a career of being a poet adn prooter. lso promoted concerts and festivals and helped to establish The Detroit Artists Workshop and Detroit Jazz Center were among his promoted events, as were other concerts and festivals. At Wayne State Univeersity he taught[[Blues {music)|Blues]] history and hosted radio programs in Detroit WDET, New Orleans and Amsterdam. He authhored liner notes for albums of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and The Isley Brothers.[20]
The John Sinclair Foundation[edit]
Created in 2004, The John Sinclair Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[5] Its mission is to ensure the preservation and proper presentation of the creative works via poetry, music, performance, journalism, editing and publishing, broadcast and record production of Sinclair.[44] To date, the foundation has produced books, zines, records, and documentaries highlighting his contribution to the historic cannabis legalization effort, rock music in Detroit and psychedelic communitarianism.[44]
Personal life and death[edit]
Sinclair was married twice. His marriage to Leni would undergo a legal separation in 1977 and would later end with a divorce in 1988,[9][45] but produced two daughters in 1967 and 1970 who were later caretakers during his final illness.[9] His second wife was Patricia (Penny) Brown,[9] who he married in 1989.[45]
Per the Detroit Metro Times, Sinclair died of heart failure, the official cause of death, at the Detroit Receiving Hospital, on April 2, 2024, at the age of 82.[9][10] [27][46][9][19][20] Hash Bash organizer Jamie Lowell related: "“He’s a tough dude, but he has been physically up and down for the last few years for different reasons — he’s had diabetes, he’s taken some falls, he’s had heart surgery,” Lowell said"[9] He had been in ill health and had suffered badly from several falls, appearing in a wheel chair at the 2023 Hash Bash.[9]
Discography[edit]
John Sinclair has recorded several of his poems and essays. On these albums blues and jazz musicians provide psychedelic soundscapes to accompany his delivery:
John Sinclair[edit]
- Thelonious Volume 1: A Book of Monk (1996) Blue Notes, Alive Records, New Alliance[47]
- Underground Issues (2000)[47]
- Der Pfähler (2005) Verlagsgr[47]
- It's All Good (2005)[47]
- No Money Down: Greatest Hits, Volume 1 (2005)[47]
- Fattening Frogs For Snakes, Volume Two: Country Blues (2005) Okra-Tone[47]
- Country Blues (2005) No Cover Productions[47]
- Guitar Army (2007)[47]
- It's All Good: A John Sinclair Reader (2010)[47]
- Song of Praise — Homage to John Coltrane (2011)[47]
- Beatnik Youth (2012) Iron Man[47]
- Conspiracy Theory (2012)[47]
- Viperism (2012)[47]
- Fattening Frogs For Snakes, Volume Four: Natural From Our Hearts[47]
- Mohawk (2014) Iron Man[47]
- Beatnik Youth Ambient (2017)[47]
- Mobile Homeland (2017)[47]
- Beatnik Youth (2017)[47]
John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars[edit]
- Full Moon Night (1994)[47]
- Total Energy (1995)[47]
- Full Circle (1997) Alive Records[47]
- White Buffalo Prayer (2000)
- Fattening Frogs For Snakes, Volume Three: Don't Start Me To Talking (2009)[47]
John Sinclair & Ed Moss with The Society Jazz Orchestra[edit]
- If I Could Be With You (1996)[47]
John Sinclair & His Boston Blues Scholars[edit]
- If I Could Be With You (1996)[47]
- Steady Rollin' Man Live (2001) TriPup Records[47]
- Fattening Frogs For Snakes, Volume One: The Delta Sound (2002)[47]
- KnockOut (2002)
John Sinclair & Monster Island[edit]
- PeyoteMind (2002). Sinclair’s reflections, inspired by a peyote trip he had in 1963, are set to music by Cary Loren for Monster Island.[48]
John Sinclair & Mark Ritsema[edit]
- Criss Cross (2007) Big Chief[47]
John Sinclair & Pinkeye[edit]
- Tearing Down the Shrine of Truth & Beauty (2008)[47]
John Sinclair & His Motor City Blues Scholars[edit]
- Detroit Life (2008) CD Baby[47]
John Sinclair & Planet D Nonet[edit]
- Viper Madness (2010) No Cover Productions[47]
John Sinclair & His International Blues Scholars[edit]
John Sinclair & Hollow Bones[edit]
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ "The Detroit police narcotics squad busted Sinclair for marijuana three times in less than three years, once sending more than two dozen cops to raid an apartment filled with stoned hippies listening to John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” After his second arrest he served six months in the old Detroit House of Correction. It was the third arrest, in December 1966, that led to Sinclair going to prison in 1969. His crime: giving ― free of charge ― two joints to an undercover Detroit policewoman.[19]
- ^ Plamundon's "Supreme Court challenge stopped the Nixon Administration from wiretapping domestic dissidents without a warrant. ... he [was] President Pro Tem of CURR, the Congress of Unrepentant Radicals."[34]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b c "Activist and poet John Sinclair among first to purchase legal recreational marijuana in Michigan, 50 years after his historic arrest". MLive. December 1, 2019.
- ^ Worth-Nelson, Jan (April 3, 2017). "Review: Poet/pot activist John Sinclair comes briefly home, still paying dues in "Trumpville'". East Village Magazine. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ Albion College Yearbook 1960; Albion College Yearbook 1961
- ^ University of Michigan-Flint Yearbook 1964
- ^ a b c "John and Leni Sinclair papers: 1957-2003". University of Michigan Bentley Library. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
- ^ "Ann Arbor Sun". Ann Arbor District Library. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ Sinclair, John."Back in the Day: An Abbreviated Memoir of Ann Arbor 1968 - 1975." Ann Arbor District Library. Archived from the original. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
- ^ "Freeing John Sinclair: The Day Legends Came To Town." Ann Arbor District Library. Archived from the original. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Stanton, Ryan (April 2, 2024). "John Sinclair, poet whose imprisonment inspired Ann Arbor's Hash Bash, dead at 82". MLive. Ann Arbor. Michigan.
- ^ a b Legaspi, Althea (April 2, 2024). "OBITUARY: John Sinclair, Poet, MC5 Manager, and Activist, Dead at 82". Rolling Stone.
The Detroit counterculture icon who managed the MC5 symbolized youth rebellion in the Sixties
(subscription required) - ^ O'Hagan, Sean (March 3, 2014). "John Sinclair: 'We wanted to kick ass – and raise consciousness'". The Guardian. Retrieved March 3, 2014.
- ^ Tracey, Patrick (March 31, 2000). "Yippie Yi Yay". Washington City Paper.
- ^ Julie Burchill, Tony Parsons, "The Boy Looked at Johnny": The Obituary of Rock and Roll, p.19-20, Pluto Press, London. 1978
- ^ Burgess, Kaya (January 21, 2009). "Obama's inauguration hailed by White Panther founder John Sinclair". The Times. London. Retrieved January 21, 2009.
- ^ Thompson, James H. (March 10, 2000). "MC5: Kickin' Out The Jams". Goldmine. No. 512. Krause Publications.
- ^ "MC5 | Biography, Music & News". Billboard. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
- ^ "MC5 Timeline". Makemyday.free.fr. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
- ^ "John and Leni Sinclair Music is Revolution: From the John & Leni Sinclair Library". printeredmatter.com. Retrieved April 4, 2024."Meet the Board". Music Is Revolution Foundation. Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ^ a b c d McGraw, Bill (April 2, 2024). "John Sinclair, Detroit poet, cannabis activist and counterculture icon, dead at 82". Detroit Free Press – via Yahoo!.
- ^ a b c d "LOCAL NEWS: John Sinclair, Michigan poet and cannabis activist, dies at 82 April 2, 2024". WWJ-TVCBS News. Associated Press. April 2, 2024.
- ^ Cadogan, Patrick (2008). The Revolutionary Artist: John Lennon's Radical Years. Lulu. ISBN 978-1-4357-1863-0.
- ^ Wilkerson, Mark (2006). Amazing Journey: The Life of Pete Townshend. Louisville, KY: Bad News Press. pp. 132–133. ISBN 9781411677005.
- ^ Carson, David A. (2006) [2005]. Grit, Noise, and Revolution: The Birth of Detroit Rock 'n' Roll. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 213. ISBN 9780472031900.
- ^ a b c Urish, Ben (2007). The Words and Music of John Lennon. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 41–42. ISBN 9780275991807.
- ^ "John Sinclair" at AllMusic
- ^ The Beatles Bible, "John Sinclair". Retrieved July 30, 2019.
- ^ a b "John Sinclair, Whose Post and Prison Sentence Who Inspired John Lennon's Song Dies at Age 82". Washington Post. April 2, 2024.
He helped usher in Ann Arbor's $5 fine and celebrated when Michigan legalized recreational cannabis in 2018.
(subscription required) - ^ Worth-Nelson, Jan (April 3, 2017). "Review: Poet/pot activist John Sinclair comes briefly home, still paying dues in 'Trumpville'". East Village Magazine. Flint, Michigan. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ Agis Salpukas, "15,000 Attend Michigan U. Rally to Protest Jailing of Radical Poet," New York Times, December 12, 1971, p. 76.
- ^ Twenty to Life: The Life & Times of John Sinclair at IMDb
- ^ A. Yippie. "A Brief History of the NYC Cannabis Parade". CannabisParade.org. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
- ^ Meyer, Stephen. "The John and Leni Sinclair Papers, 1957–1999 at the Bentley Historical Library". Bentley Historical Library. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved May 4, 2011.
- ^ Stanton, Ryan (April 5, 2019). "A history of Hash Bash and marijuana activism in Ann Arbor". Mlive. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ "INSTRUCTOR Pun Plamondon". Maryland Folk Life Center. Retrieved June 15, 2023.
- ^ "John Sinclair from "Growing Up in America" part 1". Archived from the original on December 12, 2021 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^ "John Sinclair from "Growing Up in America" part 2". Archived from the original on December 12, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ Sinclair, John (February 5, 2006). "WWOZ and the Sound of New Orleans". johnsinclair.us. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010.
- ^ "crowesbase.com :22 Mar 2006 @ Amsterdam, Holland". Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
- ^ "crowesbase.com :24 Mar 2006 @ Amsterdam, Holland". Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
- ^ "Cafeoto.co.uk". Archived from the original on February 20, 2009.
- ^ "Headpress.com". Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
- ^ O'Brien, Jon, Bread & Circuses - The View, AllMusic, AllMusic Review, retrieved April 2, 2024
- ^ "Remembering Pun Plamondon, who thwarted Nixon's Surveillance Plans". Detroit Free Press. June 25, 2023.(subscription required)
- ^ a b "About". The John Sinclair Foundation. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ a b "John and Leni Sinclair papers, 1957-2003". Retrieved April 5, 2024.
- ^ DeVito, Lee (April 2, 2024). "RIP John Sinclair, dead at 82". Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag Campbell, Al. "John Sinclair Biography by Al Campbell". allmusic.com. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
- ^ "Monster Island and John Sinclair". discogs.com. Retrieved April 2, 2024.
- ^ Stevefly (July 4, 2020). "John Sinclair And His International Blues Scholars – Let's Go Get Em' (Album)". Radio Free Amsterdam. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
External links[edit]
- Official website
- Radio Free Amsterdam DJ Schedule 2018 | JohnSinclair.USThe John Sinclair Radio Show] at Radio Free Amsterdam
- "Marijuana Revolution", a 1971 essay by John Sinclair
- Interview with John Sinclair at Woodstock Story
- Interview with John Sinclair at Stay Thirsty
- The John and Leni Sinclair Papers, 1957-1999 at the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
- Twenty to Life: The Life & Times of John Sinclair (film 2004) on IMDb
- Interview with John Sinclair by Stephen McKiernan, Binghamton University Libraries Center for the Study of the 1960s, August 17, 2017
- John Sinclair discography at Discogs
- John Sinclair at IMDb
- 1941 births
- 2024 deaths
- People from Flint, Michigan
- Writers from Flint, Michigan
- 20th-century American poets
- 21st-century American poets
- Poets from Michigan
- University of Michigan–Flint alumni
- American people convicted of drug offenses
- Yippies
- American cannabis activists
- American expatriates in the Netherlands
- Albion College alumni
- Deaths from congestive heart failure