youth Archives - Iron Man Records

John Sinclair (1941-2024) Last of the Beatnik Warrior Poets and Cultural Revolutionary has passed away at 82. The work must go on

2 April 2024Mark

“Rock N Roll music is a weapon of cultural revolution. There are not enough musicians around today who are hip to this fact” John Sinclair is best known as the Sixties "marijuana" activist who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for giving two joints to an undercover policewoman. He was eventually freed when John Lennon and Yoko Ono spoke out on his behalf. Less understood is his role as the founder and chairman of the radical anti-war group, The White Panther Party, an offshoot of the Black Panthers. The Black Panther Party was a militant political organization formed after the brutal murders of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Robert…

John Sinclair – Renegade Poet, Beatnik and Cultural Revolutionary

2 April 2024Mark

Immortalized by John Lennon’s 1972 song that bears his name, Sinclair is an iconic figure of ‘60s counterculture, famous for, among other things, having co-founded the anti-racist White Panther Party and for managing Detroit’s legendary proto-punk outfit MC5 early in its history. Following a highly publicized two-year stint in prison for marijuana possession (Lennon’s song was a protest against his incarceration), Sinclair has stuck to his guns as an advocate for marijuana reform. “Living Euro to Euro, sleeping on the couches and extra beds of friends, a man without a country and a post office box in New Orleans for a permanent address.” That's how spoken word poet John Sinclair describes…

John Sinclair Presents Detroit Artists Workshop

1 December 2022Mark

Not many people can say that John Lennon wrote a song about them, but John Sinclair is among that select bunch. Viewed by the powers-that-be as a dangerous revolutionary for his involvement with the White Panther Party, Sinclair was handed a ludicrously harsh sentence – “they gave him ten for two” – for marijuana possession after a police sting. In 1971, Lennon, along with Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Phil Ochs and Archie Shepp played a freedom rally in Michigan and three days later Sinclair was freed. Sinclair is probably best known in the music world for managing riotous proto-punks The MC5 and imbuing them with a radical zeal. But Sinclair is…

50th Anniversary Celebration of the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, Detroit, 10th December, 2021

8 December 2021Mark

Beatnik Youth Ambient by John Sinclair (Detroit, November 20, 2021)—Former Michigan marijuana prisoner John Sinclair, his family and friends will celebrate his release from Jackson Prison 50 years ago with an early evening party at the Ralston Holistic Healing Center at 19730 Ralston Street (near State Fair) from 6:00-10:00 pm on December 10, 2021, exactly 50 years after the John Sinclair Freedom Rally at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor where John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Seale, Phil Ochs, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Seger, Commander Cody and a host of others gathered to speak, play and protest the imprisonment of their friend John Sinclair following a sentence in Detroit Recorder’s…

50th Anniversary Celebration of the John Sinclair Freedom Rally to be held at Ralston Center in Detroit on 10th December, 2021

1 December 2021Mark

Beatnik Youth Ambient by John Sinclair (Detroit, November 20, 2021)—Former Michigan marijuana prisoner John Sinclair, his family and friends will celebrate his release from Jackson Prison 50 years ago with an early evening party at the Ralston Holistic Healing Center and Stonehouse Bar at 19730 Ralston Street (near State Fair) from 6:00-10:00 pm on December 10, 2021, exactly 50 years after the John Sinclair Freedom Rally at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor where John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Seale, Phil Ochs, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Seger, Commander Cody and a host of others gathered to speak, play and protest the imprisonment of their friend John Sinclair following a sentence…

Update from John Sinclair September 20th, 2021

21 September 2021Mark

Beatnik Youth Ambient by John Sinclair THE JOHN SINCLAIR FOUNDATION First things first: On Saturday, October 2—if I live that long—I’ll make 80 years old and plan to celebrate in the city of my birth, Flint, Michigan, from 4:00 to 8:00 pm at the Genesee County Compassion Club, 6340 N. Genesee Rd. Everyone is welcome, donations and contributions will be dedicated to the John Sinclair Foundation, and I believe Steve The Fly will be hosting an intergalactic video broadcast of the event. More details will be announced very soon. Our original idea was to throw another big party like the one we had 5 years ago when I turned 75, returning…

John Sinclair – Time Line from 1941 to 2018. A Life’s work to date…..

14 November 2020Mark

1941-1959 Born October 2 at Women’s Hospital, Flint, Michigan Parents: John Sr. (Jack) and Elsie Sinclair Sister Kathleen born 1943, brother David born 1945 Attended Davison Public Schools, Davison, Michigan 1959 1959-1964 Attended Albion College, Albion, Michigan, 1959-61 Attended Flint Junior College, 1961 Attended University of Michigan-Flint College. 1962-64 Editor, The Word, UM–Flint President, UM—Flint Cinema Guild Graduated UM-Flint, January 1964, A.B. English Literature 1964-67 Attended Wayne State University, Detroit, Graduate School of English Master’s Thesis: William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch Convicted of Marijuana Possession, Detroit Recorders Court, Sentenced to two years probation Co-Founder & Director, Detroit Artists Workshop Founder & Director, Detroit LEMAR (Legalize Marijuana) Editor & Publisher, Artists Workshop Press…

Project to Uncover Ancient Hill Figures – 111 Limited Edition Lithographic Prints by Flinton Chalk

4 November 2020Mark

Iron Man Records is working with the artist Flinton Chalk of the band TC Lethbridge, to produce a series of limited edition 50cm x 70cm Lithographic Prints. Each run of 111 Prints will be signed and numbered and hopes to raise vital funds for the Project to Uncover Ancient Hill Figures on Wandlebury Hill, Cambridgeshire. Flinton’s band TC Lethbridge took their name from Thomas Charles Lethbridge (23 March 1901 – 30 September 1971), better known as T.C. Lethbridge, who was an English archaeologist, parapsychologist, and explorer. TC Lethbridge was a specialist in Anglo-Saxon archaeology, he served as honorary Keeper of Anglo-Saxon Antiquities at the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology…

John Sinclair – The Music & Activism that define his Revolutionary life

31 October 2020Mark

In Episode 26 of Essential Conversations, Ann Delisi spoke with John Sinclair about the music and activism that define his revolutionary life and career. This is one of the best interviews with John Sinclair I've heard to date. If you are an artist, writer, poet, musician or performer of any kind, give this a good listen. Turn off the Television, put your phone away. You may learn something. John Sinclair is an activist, poet, and writer whose life and work is connected by one theme – resistance. Sinclair co-founded the White Panthers, managed the MC5, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the possession of two marijuana cigarettes. His imprisonment…

UPDATE: Project to Uncover Ancient Hill Figures on Wandlebury Hill, Cambridgeshire

24 August 2020Mark

Some things I get involved with make no sense to me at all. The Project to Uncover Ancient Hill Figures is one of them. Flinton Chalk is a dangerous optimist and I find it hard to say no. Would you take instruction from a used car salesman? This is the man who got chased across Fyfield Down near Avebury by a spectral Black Dog and used to spend his spare time dressing up as a Transvestite Pirate Nun, driving around in an old police car which was used in one of the Superman films. You may also know him from recent outings as a member of the band Badger Kull. Let…

TC Lethbridge in 2020 – Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On 

3 August 2020Mark

Long, long ago in in the deep forgotten past, three musicians came together in an ancient landscape and made music that drifted away, seemingly lost for all time. This was in Wiltshire around 1992. Would you like a copy of this book to read? You have three options. 1. Become an Iron Man Records Patron and I will send you a copy as an instant reward. You can also request download codes for all three TC Lethbridge releases to date. 2. If you don't want to do the Patron thing, I will put a few copies for Sale at £23.00 each in the Iron Man Shop and also on Bandcamp when…

Final submission to The Bank of England’s dialogue on the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency.

12 June 2020Mark

Final document 'Response to @bankofengland's Discussion Paper on CBDC' submitted at 4pm 12th June 2020. Thanks to Iron Man Records Patrons and everyone involved for their help and support. To the Governor and Officers of the Bank of England 12th June 2020 Dear Sirs: Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on your Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) discussion paper. We believe that a bearer of a unit of CBDC must have the capacity to destroy it. Specifically, ‘to destroy’ means ‘to permanently remove a unit of currency from circulation’ such that - once destroyed - the bearer is no longer able to retrieve or access the value represented by…

Submission to The Bank of England’s dialogue on the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency.

11 June 2020Mark

The Bank of England (BoE) is the UK's central bank. The Bank's mission is to deliver monetary and financial stability for the people of the United Kingdom. Here is an urgent message from Jonathan Harris, also known as The Money Burning Guy, the first Iron Man Records Patron. #moneyfreaks and money burners! I NEED YOUR URGENT HELP! Below is a link to my submission to Bank of England's dialogue on the design of a Central Bank Digital Currency. Please read & comment on this short letter to help improve it. Offers of co-signatories & cc's also very welcome. Thank You! The deadline for responses is Friday 12th June 2020. I apologise…

TC Lethbridge – Project to Uncover Ancient Hill Figures on Wandlebury Hill, Cambridgeshire

23 April 2020Mark

What’s the best thing you can do with £100? I think I’ve said this before, If you spend too much time in a state of mind which prevents normal perception, behaviour, or social interaction you might end up working with music. Living life in a completely deluded state, generating massive debt for no apparent reason can prove to be a nonsense. Sometimes I do things for money. Sometimes I do things for free, and sometimes I do things I don’t really understand. As the Cheshire Cat says “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” I like to take my nonsense seriously. You can be sitting…

John Sinclair – Kick Out The Jams Limited Edition T-shirt

17 February 2019Mark

This is the first in a series of Limited Edition John Sinclair T-shirts featuring a White Panther design on the FRONT and a quote from John Sinclair on the BACK. Strictly Limited to 50 Shirts including a download code for Beatnik Youth. When these T-shirts are gone, they're gone. The T-shirts are Gildan Extra Tees. A black shirt with a white print on the front and back, with a Green Cannabis Leaf design. The T-shirt is a heavy weight shirt, available in Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large and Extra Extra Large. Also available in Ladies Small. When you buy or pre-order this shirt you also get a download code for John…