Monthly Archive

Justin and I will be there tomorrow, 10-4, $40 crate special. Wear a costume while you dig and get 2 free records.

——————————–

Also, I’m bringing in my Ann Arbor Suns for viewing, and will be driving in with a station wagon-full of new records. Look for the first of the content on the Suns to appear on Saturday or sometime next week, as we’ll be working on that tomorrow.

Cousin Geoff’s note: I was given permission by John Sinclair to post articles I have from the Ann Arbor Sun newspaper. I have 27 issues dating from 1972-1975 that I acquired from a woman who was an old John Sinclair follower and had saved them all these years. The content pertains to Ann Arbor and Detroit and what was happening with music, politics, and culture in those days from the perspective of this highly influential and legendary Ann Arbor rebel underground newspaper. If you want to know more about John Sinclair, I highly recommend his book, Guitar Army. John Sinclair can also be followed through his official website.

I feel strongly that John deserves to have his voice heard once again. I will also be lending the Suns to a local library after we finish with our project, where they intend to pursue these being released into the creative commons, as well as publishing them on their website. John often said that this music, these words, this consciousness, belongs to the people and that is my intention in putting these out. It is amazing to me that there has been such an interest in these, in many different ways and perspectives, but it is deservingly so. The influence that the people’s movement had in and around Ann Arbor and Detroit should truly be represented as part of what made us what we are. They changed politics, they changed civil rights, they certainly changed music. It’s about embracing the message, understanding the message, and applying that to what is happening today.

We’re undergoing change and uncertainty. Human rights and equality are evolving but have yet to be reached. Polarization of public opinion on government policies and economic theory is escalating. Throughout all this, we have our history in place to teach us, to get us thinking, or to relax us all a little bit.

This is not what the Sun Project will look like. I just threw this together tonight to give an idea. Those images above are just off the front and back of the first issue I have. Each newspaper will be digitized and released one at a time as pdf’s. We’ll have to start late in the first year of publication for the Sun, in 1972, because that’s the first issue I have. It ends in 1975, with a few issues here and there missing but the majority in a row, including my early ones.

I will be highlighting certain articles I feel are particularly important or just interesting. I like the fact, for example, that Shakey Jake is featured on a full page ad for Sun recruiting other newspaper peddlers. I like reading the calendar of who was playing around town, like at the Blind Pig when Otis Rush comes in for a Thursday Friday Saturday for a buck a show. I like hearing that Blind Pig opened at midnight during the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival because all the employees were at the show until then. I find it interesting that McDonalds was protested and my dad remembers people eating Big Macs and taking pills to throw up all over the floor (for the record, I am a total unashamed McDonalds junkie - every Saturday on the way into the shop I hit the drive thru for a #2 breakfast: Sausage Egg McMuffin with hash browns and OJ). I enjoy reading the interviews with obscure local bands as well as artists such as Bob Dylan and John Lee Hooker (JLK’s conducted by the Black Panther Party). I like reading the review of Scott Morgan’s short lived band Lightning and their 45 on Rainbow records. I like looking at the ads for local Ann Arbor stores during that time. I enjoy the Hempman and Rainbowoman comics. I appreciate the collective message and spirit woven between articles and issues and what much of the music represented: love, peace, human experience, human rights, and justice. Cultures coming together, race relations repaired, tensions eased. There’s so much there and I want to share it. I hope you’ll enjoy something out of these too.

The end result of all this will be all the Ann Arbor Suns available for free to everyone to read. I think that’s the way John wants it.

———————————-

Worth noting: I wrote this a few years ago on the site after reading the first few chapters of Guitar Army and listening to the uncensored MC5.

———————————–

Halloween! Check out this vintage Cousins Vinyl Max post on the 60s Michigan garage band The Marauders, and their song Nightmare.

———————————

I know what I want my costume to be! I’m going to wear an old black suit and tie with slicked back hair and when I’m asked what I am I’ll look at that person like they’re crazy and say, “Don’t you get it? I’m Robert White of the Candy Mountain Boys“. Then I’ll spend my time pacing nervously, looking at the sky, and ask people periodically if they’ve seen the spaceship yet, I’ve got a feelin’ it’s a -comin’ tonight.

Our Lords Spaceship: