Talk:John Sinclair (poet)

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More information about this article... The following comments have been left for this page: I HAD THE PLEASURE OF MEETING MR. SINCLAIR. JOHN IF YOU EVER GET TO READ THIS YOU ARE A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR SIR. I HAVE SEEN YOU COME INTO BEANS AND BYTES ON MANY OCCASSIONS AND NOT KNOW THAT YOU WERE PART OF AND MADE HISTORY. IT WAS TRULLY A PLEASURE MEETIN YOU SIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Big ed414 (talk • contribs) 21:59, 26 February 2008 (UTC) (edit)

So how long did John Sinclair spend in jail from his 10 year sentence ?

oops, just read article and paid attention.. he got released 3 days after the concert Lennon played at.. fkn way to go John-boy !!!!!  :) Dirk Diggler Jnr

[edit] Fifth Estate

I don't think its right to credit JS with being involved in the "formation" of the Fifth Estate. I think that takes too much away from Harvey Ovshinsky. There was much synergy between Fifth Estate, WPP, Plum Street, MC5, Grande Ballroom, WABX, and other important insitutions of Detroit alternative culture of the 60's. JS played an important role, and may have at times been involved in the leadership of FE. see also Fifth Estate. I will change this to something like "was involved in restucturing FE." unless I hear reasons not to. Edivorce 03:40, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Conflicting Details

It just occurred to me that some comments I recently posted on the John Lennon Talk page ought to be posted here as well:

== John Sinclair details ==

Comparing the material in this article with the John Sinclair (poet) article, I noticed several minor discrepancies, which we should endeavor to resolve for the sake of consistency.

1) This article states that Sinclair sold two joints to the narc; the "Sinclair" article can't even agree with itself :) -- one paragraph says he sold them, another paragraph says he gave them.

2) This article states that Sinclair was released from prison two days after the concert; the "Sinclair" article says he was released three days later.

3) This article gives the crowd size as "20,000"; the "Sinclair" article used the figure "15,000" (which I changed to read "15-20,000").

Crowd estimates are notoriously unreliable, of course -- but I still think WP articles should agree with one another whenever possible.

Cgingold 15:16, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps someone who edits this page can come up with the answers. Cgingold 08:35, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

In The US vs. John Lennon, Sinclair says he was jailed for 'giving' many times throughout the film.

[edit] Songs About John Sinclair

Blind Melon wrote a song about John Sinclair. Here are the Lyrics:

It ain't fair, John Sinclair

In the stir for breathing air

Won't you care for John Sinclair

In the stir for breathing air

Let him be, set him free

Let him be like you and me

They gave him ten for two

What else can the judges do

Gotta set him free

If he'd been a soldier man

Shooting gooks in Vietnam

If he was the CIA

Selling dope and making hay

He'd be free, they'd let him be

Breathing air, like you and me

They gave him ten for two

They got Ali Otis too

Gotta set him free

Was he jailed for what he done

Or representing everyone

Free John now, if we can

From the clutchs of the man

Let him be, lift the lid

Bring him to his wife and kids

They gave him ten for two

What else can the bastards do

Gotta set him free —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sir Shaggy (talk • contribs) 19:12, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Funny, those are the exact lyrics that John Lennon sang back in the day. Matter of fact, he even wrote them,too. :) Cgingold 10:10, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Poet?

Should the word poet in parentheses be in the title of this article? It doesn't list any of his poems or poetry books. He seems more of an activist than a poet. Griot 20:21, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

First, the reason it says (poet) in the title is to distinguish the article from other John Sinclairs. And second, his poetry is mentioned at least twice in the article, though not discussed at length. IMO, he is more well known as an activist than as a poet (at least outside of Michigan), so it's not surprising that's what gets the major emphasis in the article.

PS - new sections should always be added to the bottom of talk pages (and do remember to indent with colons when adding a reply!)

Cgingold 04:40, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Poet? Why yes he is!

I happened to attend a talk by him at the LOndon Print workshop last night. He read a poem about Jazz - very beautiful it was. Very Allen Ginsburg influenced. Then there was a film of his life, which had many more good poems and excerpts in it. There is stuff in the film that is not on the page.

He stuck me as a major counter cultural leader of the Sixites, in Detroit at first but of wider significance later.

Szczels (talk) 13:56, 7 March 2008 (UTC)