My condolences and respects go out to Wayne’s widow, Margaret, and his family and ocean of friends and supporters around the world. I sadly never got to meet Wayne, but I was certainly touched by his music and due to my close orbit with his old co-conspirator John Sinclair, I evolved a deeper appreciation for his music-activism and brevity.
Besides his self-evident musical genius, stage presence and courage, I have a particular admiration for Wayne’s work together with Billy Bragg, Jail Guitar Doors, that works to rehabilitate prisoners through music by providing them with musical instruments.
Wayne was driven by his innate sense of social justice and used his position to forward various campaigns and movements to help protect what fragile democracy is left in the USA, and around the world. I also personally admire Wayne for his outspoken disdain for Donald Trump, yet managing to keep dialogue and his respect for all humanity when engaging with those who he politically disagreed with.
Go listen to MC5, and Wayne’s later albums and collaborative projects (MC50!) Read his interviews. Get inspired, pick up an instrument and kick out the jams motherfuckers!
All Love,
–Steve Fly Agaric 23
The John Sinclair Foundation
Links:
Full Circle (Album with John Sinclair)
Jail Guitar Doors
https://www.jailguitardoors.org.uk
“And how did the idea to make Kick Out of the Jams a live album, to make a live album your debut, come about?
It was a consensus idea between the band and [band associate] John Sinclair and Elektra Records because all of our effort was put into performing live. We had very little studio experience at that point. The idea was that getting this band in a studio to record an album could be costly and labor intensive, whereas we were a fantastic live performing unit. And if we could capture the excitement of the live concert on record, it could be a revolutionary way to introduce the band to the world. And I think that worked.”–RollingStone.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/02/wayne-kramer-co-founder-of-rock-band-mc5-dies-aged-75
https://pitchfork.com/news/mc5-wayne-kramer-dies-at-75
https://nos.nl/artikel/2507458-mc5-gitarist-wayne-kramer-75-overleden-grondlegger-van-de-punk
https://www.mojo4music.com/articles/stories/mc5-return-for-new-album-and-tour
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/mc5s_wayne_kramer_has_passed_away.html
https://variety.com/2024/music/news/wayne-kramer-dead-mc5-1235895922
DEEP SCRATCH 