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FREE THE WEED 26
A Column by John Sinclair
Highest greetings from New Orleans, where we just celebrated the 30th annual French Quarter Festival and await the opening of the two-week-long New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival which will be raging at the Fairgrounds and all over town as this issue hits the streets in Michigan.
When the April issue of MMMReport hit the stands I weas in Detroit for an appearance at the University of Michigan—Dearborn, the sister institution to my alma mater, UM—Flint, and then in Grand Rapids for the weekend at the Creole Pig Festival staged at the Ice Cream Gallery by the Center for Peacebuilding in Western Michigan to raise funds to replenish the wild pig population of Haiti.
The funding of feral pigs may seem an unlikely undertaking, but Ian Swanson and Ted Jauw explain the concept pretty well on the radio program we made together at the Ice Cream Gallery, now available on-line at my website www.radiofreeamsterdam.com as the John Sinclair Radio Show 490. My other guest is Ben Horner, publisher of the MMMReport. Go to the Radio Free Amsterdam Home Page and click on the photo of the man & child with two Creole pigs in hand, then scroll to the bottom of that page and click on the play arrow.
The street-level arts activists in Grand Rapids and I were joined by a group of fellow art guerrillas from Flint operating as the Creative Alliance of Greater Flint, who conducted an interview with Ben and me in the lobby of our hotel after the Ice Cream Gallery show had ended for their www.FlintUnderground.org website.
Along with their very welcome interest in my performance at the Gallery and in what I might have to say for their program, Jennie Moench and her FCA crew brought me a bag of goodies produced by the Creative Alliance since the last time I'd seen them: the tote bag itself, a black t-shirt with the terrific Creative Alliance logo, a stunning little book of collaborations between Flint poets & visual artists, a great book by Jennie about people in the creative arts called Flint Project, a 2013 Calendar, and several little information books & pamphlets published by the group.
Several years ago I enjoyed the opportunity to perform on numerous occasions in Flint & Detroit with a fine band from the Flint area called Glowb, headed by guitarist Corey Planck, and I remember one night on a medicine break in the alley behind Churchill’s Pub between sets when Corey shared with me his vision of forming a Creative Alliance that would provide Flint musicians, poets, writers, painters and other artists with an organizational structure and hopefully a bricks & mortar presence where they could practice their arts, enjoy the fellowship of kindred spirits, make music together and devise various means of publishing, displaying and otherwise sharing their work with the people of the Flint area.
Now I’m holding an attractive collection of evidence attesting to the strength and dynamic growth of the Creative Alliance vision, and when I checked out their website just now I found further proof in the announcements for their regular public meetings: every 2nd & 4th Wednesday at 7 PM at Churchills on Saginaw St. in downtown Flint, and the Creative Collab Nights every 3rd Wednesday at 7 PM at GoodBeans Cafe on Grand Traverse St.
At the public meetings, the members of the Alliance discuss their events and programs, what each creative team is up to, “and what we can do to help the city and each other.” Creative Collab is an open performance forum at which everyone is welcome and encouraged to share their creative talents with an appreciative audience. Both series make sure that the organization will remain open to public input and provide an opportunity for any interested local artist to participate in the FCA’s activities.
There is no way to overstate the importance of arts movements like the Creative Alliance to deteriorated communities like Flint and Detroit, where public institutions from government to the school system have long ago given up on the arts as an essential component of civic life and where all citizens regardless of race, class, or station in life have been subjected to the relentless barrage of consumer culture all their lives and rendered bereft of exposure to the creative arts.
If the twin towers of art and creativity are to rise again against the ugly, barren cultural landscape of contemporary life, it’s up to people like ourselves at the bottom edge of the social order to raise them. There’s no relief in sight except whatever forms we may be able to devise out of our imaginations and our commitment to making something interesting and socially useful happen.
I had meant to continue this discussion but I’ve been having serious computer problems for the past three days since I started writing this column and they’re not over yet, so I think the best solution is for me to sign off right here and send this in before the whole thing breaks down. Thanks for listening!
But first, this sobering meditation from the people at High Times:
“One of our favorite movie lines comes from You Don't Mess with the Zohan, with Adam Sandler playing Zohan, a top Israeli spy. The movie spoofs the never-ending Middle East conflict. At one point, Zohan's mother tries to reassure him: ‘They've been fighting for 2000 years. It can't be much longer.’
“Weirdly, that quote has significance for us because it begs the question: Isn't the War on Pot supposed to end some time?
“Maybe so. A bill was just introduced in Congress that would fix the conflict between the federal prohibition of cannabis and those state laws that allow medical and recreational use. It seeks to ensure that state laws on pot are respected by the Feds.
“Thus far, the federal government seems flummoxed as to how to deal with the “adult recreational use” initiatives passed in Colorado and Washington. Realistically, Capitol Hill observers doubt any change in federal law will be passed this year.
“But, really! The War on Marijuana has been going on for 76 years. It can’t last much longer!”
FREE THE WEED!
—New Orleans
April 16-19, 2013
© 2013 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved. |
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