Detroit Life

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The John Sinclair Foundation Presents DETROIT LIFE RADIO 01 [DL-0901] Bohemian National Home, Detroit Wednesday, November 5, 2008 @ 5:00-6:00 pm Detroit Life Radio 01 The first episode of DETROIT LIFE RADIO with John Sinclair was made at the Bohemian National Home in Detroit on the day after the 2008 presidential election and I’m celebrating [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I’m celebrating the 200th episode of the John Sinclair Radio Show with a special program of “live” music recorded at the 1st Annual John Sinclair’s 420 Music & Art Fair at the Hastings Street Ballroom in Detroit on April 20, 2005. My host, Holice P. Woods, and I just celebrated the 4th annual 420 party at the Jazz Loft in Detroit, but this concert is from the first manifestation of the event and features a splendid edition of the Motor City Blues Scholars with the great James McCarty on guitar; Phil Hale at the keyboards; Chris Rumel on bass; Martin “Little Tino” Gross on drums; and Showtime Johnny Evans on the tenor saxophone. The music was recorded by Mike Boulan of No Cover Records for Holice P. Woods Productions and this program was produced at the Holice P. Woods Studio near Eastern Market in Detroit on April 30, 2008.

I really don’t know why Smitty killed Lucky. I really don’t. My wife and I did everything we could to keep him from going over there, but no matter what we did, Smitty would always find a way to get back into the neighbor’s yard. He knew instinctively that there was always an opening somewhere, it was just a matter of testing the weaknesses until one of them gave way.

Any musician will tell you – hell, any artist of any sort will tell you – that love and passion are the only sources of fuel that will carry you through the swamps of this business and, if you’re lucky, to the other side. Not that there’s any guarantee of solid ground once you get to that other side but, well, progress is progress. The rest, as they say, is past tense.

From Fear of a Black Planet to Fear of a Black President. Chuck D. was a prophet? I was never much of a fan of rap, but when it came to Public Enemy, and a handful of other groups, I definitely made an exception. From an artistic/performance sensibility, I sincerely appreciated the fact that these [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I’ve been staying with my friend Hollywood, professionally known as Holice P. Woods, in his studio across Gratiot Avenue from the Eastern Market on the near east side of Detroit while spending the month of April in the Motor City, and today I’m taking advantage of the peace and quiet here to put together the 199th episode of the John Sinclair Radio Show, with a nice assortment of music by James Andrews, Willy DeVille, the Juke Joint Boys, Thelonious Monk, and Motor City artists the Detroit Cobras, Johnnie Bassett, John Sinclair & Wayne Kramer, Little Junior Cannady, Willie D. Warren, and Jeff “Baby” Grand.