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By Cousin Geoff
Aaron Timlin, executive director of CAID, is planning a 192 hour dance-in to protest the unnecessary force Detroit Police used to break up a recent after-hours funk dance party. John Sinclair would be proud.
A dance protest seems like no big deal, except that the Detroit Police told them that they needed a permit to dance, and this was one of the things they got ticketed for. Timlin was quoted in the above mention freep article saying, “We’re standing up for what we believe in. We’d prefer that the police come dance with us.” Translation: screw you and your laws, we’re dancing, come and stop us. Totally a page from Sinclair, who once stated that authority figures have no right infringing on the people’s consciousness.
This has gotten a huge amount of attention, with the freep spinning it in favor of Timlin and those who were ticketed at the party. The comments section on both articles in the freep have a ton of responses, with people taking both sides. My initial reaction was that this was totally uncalled for, but now I am starting to see it from the DPD’s perspective. If the police gave the art establishment a fair warning in advance, and they still broke the law, they had every right to crack down - just maybe not with so much force and intensity.
But let’s break this down a bit further. Had this been a mostly black party or a gay club illegally serving alcohol after hours, would there have been this much fuss made? Or did the police treat these white suburbanite hipsters like they would anyone else?
I am very interested in seeing how the police respond to this act of civil disobedience. Do they let ’em dance, or will they show these hipsters who runs things in Detroit?
Maybe Timlin should hand this 45 to the DJ and see where it takes everything:
I have mentioned John Sinclair and his book Guitar Army in previous posts.
I was given a copy of the book recently and I started reading it last night. I can tell already it will be a must-read book for anyone interested in both the history of Ann Arbor-Detroit area rock and roll and also the history of the 60s and 70s social revolution in the Ann Arbor-Detroit area.
So far, I love Sinclair’s writing style. It is very Kerouac-like in stream of conscienceness, with long, excited, jazz-like passages. He began the book by describing the music he grew up listening to that influenced the 60s and 70s rock and roll movement: 1950s artists and groups, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Elvis, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, The Moonglows - he made the pages come alive with images of 45s spinning, rebellious teenagers dancing, the music jumping out at me in rhythm, putting the songs in my head. It actually made it hard to sleep afterwords. He described the youth’s consciousness as being off-limits to anyone with supposed authority, and with this birth of this incredible new rock and roll music out there, they had little interest for anything else. It reminds me again of Robert Jr. Whitall, founder of Big City Rythym and Blues magazine, who was himself a John Sinclair follower, telling me about how much they loved the blues and black music in general in those days - and that is what inspired the Ann Arbor-Detroit punk based rock and roll, which is still being emulated by today’s local bands.
Another exciting part of the book is that it comes with a CD of rare recordings of speeches and music by bands and influencial leaders during the time of the movement he was leading. I noticed it has Allen Ginsberg’s “Prayer For John Sinclair” as well as “Free John Sinclair Now” by the band Up!. We actually had a copy of a 45 that had “Prayer” on one side and “Free” on the other on a private label. We came across it a couple years ago and foolishly sold it - for good money - but now of course I wish I had it to display on this site.
Anyway, when I am done reading it I’ll post an official review - I’m just excited about starting it. Justin is anxious to read it after I’m done.
1,000 people are expected to protest in Lansing over Gov Granholm’s moratorium on $7.5 million in state grants, and an addition $3.6 million funding cut appproved by the Senate, bring our Michigan’s support for music and arts to it’s lowest in decades.
Many people are rightfully upset after working hard to secure grant money, then being told that they can’t have it. When you’re in the hole $686 million like our state is then I guess it’s time to start stealing money from whoever you can. The rally is scheduled for 9:00 AM, and organized by ArtServe Michigan.
Michigan prides itself on it’s culture, arts, and music heritage. If these programs can’t be saved - apparently many small groups have already spent the money that was promised and are faced with insurmountable deficits - then we need to rally to create more and support them by spending money and checking them out.
For those who go to the rally - give ‘em hell!
