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Produced by Steve Gebhardt & John Sinclair
A Musicus Production with Big Chief Productions
Executive Producer: Robert A. Johnson
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With
appearances by John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Allen
Ginsberg, MC-5, Up, Ed Sanders, Commander Cody & His
Lost Planet Airmen, Ed Moss, Andre Williams,
Bo Dollis and Cyril Neville. Original 16mm footage
from the 1960s and ’70s by Leni Sinclair.
Graphic design by Gary Grimshaw. Music supervision
by John Sinclair. Edited by Tom Hayes. Directed by
Steve Gebhardt. |
Soundtrack
performances by John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars, Chuck
Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, John Coltrane, Miles Davis Sextet,
Detroit Artists Workshop Music
Ensemble, Ed Moss & the Society Jazz Orchestra, MC5, Cecil
Taylor, The Kingsmen, The Youngbloods, Sun Ra & His Solar
Arkestra, Detroit featuring Rusty Day, The Up, Allen
Ginsberg, Ed Sanders, John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band,
Sly & the Family Stone, John Sinclair & Bill Lynn, Commander
Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Thelonious Monk Quartet,
Charles Neville & Diversity, the Wild Magnolias & Re-Birth
Brass Band, Ed Moss & His Hot 5.
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Begun
in 1991 and completed in 2007, 20 TO LIFE is the
real-life story of this legendary poet-provocateur
and American cultural warrior whose exploits have
reverberated throughout the international
underground for 40 years. The story is told by
Sinclair, his family, friends and associates through
the years and highlighted by a series of
electrifying poetry performances by Sinclair’s
contemporary blues and jazz ensembles.
The
disparate elements of Sinclair’s unique story have
been brilliantly assembled and painstakingly
delineated by director Steve Gebhardt and editor Tom
Hayes in this multi-layered 87-minute feature film
from Musicus Media. The soundtrack was supervised by
Sinclair himself and features music by the MC-5,
John Lennon, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, John
Coltrane, Miles Davis, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Allen
Ginsberg, Sly & the Family Stone, Thelonious Monk,
Charles Neville, the Wild Magnolias and the Re-Birth
Brass Band. |
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RELEASE
DATES
Get
up-to-date information by visiting:
www.JohnSinclair.us
John Sinclair Podcast
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www.RadioFreeAmsterdam.com
www.MusicusMedia.com
E-mail
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stevegebhardt@yahoo.com
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John Sinclair
is a real American character. Poet, performing artist
and bandleader, music journalist, radio broadcaster,
record producer, educator and archivist, Sinclair first
emerged out of his small-town Michigan background to
forge a legendary course through the 1960s as a cultural
activist, founder of the Detroit Artists Workshop,
manager of the MC-5, and Chairman of the White Panther
Party.
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An
early victim of the War on Drugs who faced 20
years to life in prison for giving two joints to
an undercover policewoman, Sinclair mounted an
historic challenge to the constitutionality of
Michigan’s marijuana laws and served 29 months
of a 9-1/2-to-10-year sentence before his legal
victory on appeal changed the law for good. |
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The long
campaign waged by Sinclair and his supporters in the
courts, the legislature, the media and the streets
culminated in a massive John Sinclair Freedom Rally
headlined by John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Bob
Seger, Phil Ochs, Allen Ginsberg and Bobby Seale that
resulted in Sinclair’s release from prison on December
13, 1971—just three days after the event.
For the
next 10 years Sinclair persevered as a community
organizer and cultural activist, producing the legendary
Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festivals, writing for the
underground press, founding the Detroit Jazz Center,
developing and directing a wide range of projects for
community arts organizations.
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In
1982 John Sinclair took up his original vocation
as a poet, set his verse to music, formed his
first band of Blues Scholars and began to pursue
a performing arts career that has produced three
books, 10 CDs and hundreds of concert
appearances throughout the United States and
Western Europe with a kaleidoscopic cast of
accompanists including Archie Shepp, Marion
Brown, Wayne Kramer, Daniel Carter, Walter
“Wolfman” Washington, Willie King, the late
Jimmie Lee Robinson and scores more.
Sinclair left Detroit in 1991 for New Orleans
and cut a broad mark there as a popular
performing artist, music journalist,
award-winning broadcast producer and radio
personality on WWOZ-FM. In 1998 Sinclair was
invited by High Times magazine to serve as High
Priest at the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam,
beginning a burgeoning love affair with the
Netherlands that climaxed with Sinclair’s
decision to move to Amsterdam in 2003.
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Articles
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