Obituary #5: Wayne Kramer

Friend, poet pays tribute to political rocker

JOE KIDD is a son of Detroit, a poet and musician who is also Michigan state’s Beat Laureate. Few people have the first-hand memories and personal insight to better reflect on the contribution that the MC5’s Wayne Kramer, who died aged 75 on February 2nd, made to the city’s countercultural moment – and to the wider American scene – at the end of the 1960s.

Kidd was also a friend of Kramer’s band manager John Sinclair, a member of the White Panther Party and a man who has, also brought his Beat-inspired spoken word performances to events like the Birthday Bash, Denver’s commemoration of its star progeny Neal Cassady. The piece we publish touches upon Sinclair, too,

But it is to the so-recently-deceased Kramer, stellar guitarist and activist hero, to whom Joe Kidd initially pays warm tribute below…

TONIGHT I AM FLOORED by the death of Wayne Kramer.

Hero, friend, fellow revolutionary, brother White Panther, monster guitar slinger, political activist for real change. A career that began with our hometown crusaders MC5 and developed into an international partnership with some of the most radical and important artists on the planet.

My mind goes all the way back to when this poster hung above my bed as I dreamed of some day doing the same thing, which I did with my own band the White Lines. I recall the first time I saw MC5 at Detroit Rock & Roll Revival #1 and then so many nights at Grande Ballroom hanging on at the foot of the stage with pure rebellion flowing through my body with the sound of galaxies crashing together.

If you are a guitar player from Detroit in that era, Kramer is your idol; if not, then you needed to get your mind right. I first actually met Wayne years later in Hamtramck. We were playing at a small club called Lili's. I can't remember who was on the bill with us, but around midnight Kramer walked in like he owned the place. It wasn't love at first sight. After a few moments all was well and he ended up doing a set on our equipment. It is a night I cherish in my memory.

Pictured above: John Sinclair and Wayne Kramer

Wayne lived through some difficult times. Addiction, prison, but he always came through stronger than ever. Kramer was an artist who has left a mark in history, a footprint on the landscape of revolutionary rock & roll. My own life was immediately and forever redirected the first time I heard him play ‘Ramblin Rose’. He was fearless and yet became sensitive to the needs of those oppressed and victimized by a corrupt and unjust system. He was a teacher. He was one of my teachers.

My heart goes out to those who grieve his loss. His friends, his family, his fellow artists, his city, his world. The loss of giants like Wayne Kramer must be a call to those of us who are breathing, that we understand that it is even more important now for us to rise up in our most powerful capacity to live and work without hesitation to expose and reject tyranny in all of its destructive forms.

If you care to do something easy in his honor, please visit this website – https://jail-guitar-doors.myshopify.com/ – to let his legacy live on.

Right Now, (More Than Ever), It’s Time To Kick Out The Jams.

John Sinclair, still with us at 82, was always a revolutionary artist in all forms. Poet, musician, political prisoner, rebel. Minister of Information as co-founder of the White Panther Party in Ann Arbor Michigan. Along with Wayne Kramer and the rest of MC5, along with Pun Plamondon (Minister of Defense), along with Gary Grimshaw (Minister of Art), Uncle Russ Gibb (owner & promoter at the legendary Grande Ballroom in Detroit, also FM broadcaster who broke the ‘Paul Is Dead’ story), they formed a cohesive and courageous alliance that promoted their 10-point program through music, poetry, print media, and live performance.

Pictured above: John Sinclair at his 80th birthday party with poet Joe Kidd

In a time of uprising against war, poverty, prejudice, and urban violence, they created a loud thunder that echoed through the community of young people who were demanding freedom, justice and equality for all.

With the push from radio stations like WABX-FM, WKNR-FM, and print magazines – including Detroit’s Fifth Estate and Ann Arbor’s Argus – the revolution was in full swing. Momentum was lost when Sinclair was imprisoned for possession and MC5 moved out of the city to pursue their career.

Eventually the band’s manager was released from the penitentiary due in large part to the 1971 Free John Sinclair Rally, staged at an arena in Ann Arbor filled with supporters and media drawn by the appearance of John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Archie Shepp, Phil Ochs, Allen Ginsberg, Ed Sanders, Bobby Seale, Jerry Rubin, and many more.

My brother and I were there with our badges on. We borrowed the $7 or 8 each, from our mother to drive 100 miles to purchase the last two tickets being held for us at a head shop in Flint, Michigan. The lessons we learned by being in this community as impressionable teenage men, still prevail today. Courage, stamina, righteousness, focus, faith. ‘I want to see a sea of hands out there … I give you a testimonial …’ Yeah, the revolution still rages.

See also: ‘Beat Soundtrack #29: Joe Kidd’, July 30th, 2023

Editor’s note: There are other obituaries in the pages of Rock and the Beat Generation – ‘Jay Jeff Jones’, May 24th, 2023; ‘Pete Brown: Superstar poet and Cream of the crop’, May 20th, 2023; ‘Beat, Beetles, Beatles: Royston Ellis, dead at 82’, April 1st, 2023; and Michael Horovitz – ‘Farewell child of Albion’, July 8th, 2021