THE BEAT GOES ON: DENNIS THOMPSON

 

So now I am officially a member of the Motor City Five. After that “great” gig at the Crystal Bar, things soon begin to change. I am attending Wayne State University, majoring in engineering, with a minor in physics. I am seventeen and still living with mom and dad, going to school, and trying to play in the band.

John Sinclair, poet and activist, and Rob Tyner, our most creative lead singer, meet and we are invited to play at a party for John named “The Festival of People” after his release from jail at the Artist’s Workshop in the Cass Corridor .

Well, it is about 2:00 or 3:00 am when we finally go on, and we play a blaster entitled “Black To Comm”. This is our showcase tune to develop new ideas every time we play it. It is loud, with howling feedback, and a wall of sound scapes that blast the crowd. This is an assault on your senses this song. You either dig this sound or you hate it.

People used to cover their ears—hah! Well, Leni Sinclair goes and pulls the plug on us! I think she may have thought it was too darn loud and probably didn’t want any police hassle, what with John just getting out of jail and all. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. I am starting to really like this band.

So we quit playing. Mucho irony because John eventually goes on to become our manager. He was the perfect link to the “beat” community which we wanted to infiltrate. Many creative people and ideas floating around that community, and as open minded a band as we were becoming, it seemed like just the right thing to do at that time.

John was the jazz master aficionado, and had this monstrous avant-guard jazz record collection, which I became addicted to the minute I hit his record room. Whew! What a find. I became humbled to the nth degree cause these cats could play!

We needed to expand those horizons you hear about. Surely did that. Stay tuned friends of mine.Much more to come on this timeline and do I have some interesting, funny, and amusing stories to share with you... Just wait…

MGT

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