Tag: John sinclair

  • TOT

    TOT

    https://www.patreon.com/cw/stevefly/shop

    PRESENT AUTHORS INTRODUCTION


    So what have we here then Steve? Tinkering with the AI again are we? I told you and warned you a thousand times about it and you just kept going and going and now look wot’ you’ve gone and done. Claiming it’s a bit ov’ a modern verse epic, but know full well it could never truly be the thing, as to our beingness and human struggle through time.Chatting to myself again, as Homo Promptus, in first person reflection space. The following series of essays are AI generated, spoiler alert. And I can already sense that slight frown and disappointment that I wasn’t hand crafting this big shebang, or rag-bag of notes. That’s under construction, in the meantime, this work is my contribution, an example of what I find interesting firstly, and also with luck what you dear reader, enjoy.

    The subject matter reflects a purposeful choice, and works on a few different levels, both personal-historical and geographical meaning to me myself and I. For those that know me…the flesh and bone present author…will experience reading these articles in a different way to a total stranger. However I hope the unpredictability of the order and content within rings many bells at once, each effectively acting as an Epyllion (a mini modern epic) but, alas, lacking poetry turns of phrase and typographic experimentation, grammatical loop-da-loops and tricks of human authors with a pen or typewriter, battling digital algorithms and infernal averages. Hot stuff.

    There’s something for everyone here, so at the least maybe give it a quick browse. In some sense this is a browsing document, a mini wikipedia world whipped up around this author’s ego, weird esoteric interests, fictional fancies, friends, family, hobbies, and a recurring theme: demonstrating the paradox of the tale of the tribe. Subjective experiences of mine, loves and some struggles, at the same time as containing historical forces (can we say facts without annoying too many people?). Leading, with luck, to distinguished science facts, methods, experiments, peer reviewed studies, when required, generously blended with my own mystical personal queries, carefully crafted and selected for you here. Feels a bit like cheating for an exam, producing all the goods to at least get a pass, but did I and do I really understand these Frankenstein’s Monster mash-ups? Who knows, here’s the results of my experiments. Hope you have a s much fun as I did.   

    In no particular order the articles feature such people and concepts as Rituals, Sports Mega Events, Economics, Beatboxing, Dutch, English, American History, Turntablism, Shakespeare, James Joyce, Typewriter Innovation, Lisbon Maru, Maj Frank Foley, AI, The Modern Verse Epic, Robert Anton Wilson, Ostriches, Countering Hate Speech, DIY Pot Hole Guide, Konnakol, Led Zeppelin, Swimming, Lightening, Thunder and the Brontic Logos, Magick, Tarot, LBJP, Drumming, Geronimo Pratt, Identity, McLuhan, Climate Science Solutions, The Black Country, Dutch Water Management, Story telling, John Sinclair, Street Art, Jazz, Stage Lighting, Causes Of War, Genealogy Writing, Digital I.D.J, Kim Stanley Robinson, thoughts on thoughts about thoughts.

    • Off The Cuff N’ Ruff
      Poetry, stuff. Thoughts.
    • TOT
      All in all an updated answer to critical questions concerning the limits of AI and what distinguishes human beings with their wet-ware–AI-like interacting human nervous system–from the probability cloud intelligences. Short answer by way of analogy, see the limits and questions and paradox inherent in the tale of the tribe, a poem, a modern verse epic, a poem including history, from an individual in time yet also bringing historical forces to bear, facts from a widely shared globally vindicated source. Like Thunder. It did or it didn’t? Toward a universal agreeability. Negotiations. Understanding. To peace. To digress I digress. Yeah, Ostriches too. Let’s goo. I, still can’t really decide what order to present them in tbh.
    • Ambidexless – A Blend
      The sharp contrast and flip between hot and cold seems like a powerful force across scale, materials and technology. Geology, thermodynamics and data hardware depend upon stable temperature parameters. Like wearing six hoodies and thermal underpants in a sauna, or swimming with no wet suit in the North Sea after eating ten choc’ ice’s, these sharp contrasts are testing human capacity to adequately house and feed everyone. I conclude, burn less fossil fuels, utilise the natural abundance of untapped energy in wind, water, solar and novel natural carbon capture technologies. I’m drifting… 
    • Loves Labours Lost Mixtape
    • Climate Scenarios, Urban Impacts, and Adaptation Frameworks for the Netherlands
      The acceleration of global cryospheric decay represents one of the most critical variables in contemporary sea level rise projections. Recent observational data and numerical modeling of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, particularly the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), indicate that major marine-terminating glaciers are undergoing unprecedented rates of retreat and destabilization.
    • Makes Me Wanna’ Hurl
      A poem spoken with added guitar and then just mixed together on the fly and put out….shape of things to come. x
  • HORNITHOLOGY FOR JOHN SINCLAIR

    HORNITHOLOGY FOR JOHN SINCLAIR

    Hornithology
    (For John Sinclair set to Ornithology by Charlie Parker)

    1

    i’m thinking of you standing on the corner
    joint in my hand, in my head plays a band
    i thought i’d write a head for you

    for all that you did it’s the least I can do
    for all what you wrote on the blues is true

    and so I’m asking what can we do?

    as long as you stay in my head
    i’ll be feeling well and read

    (we cut our own path and on we tread
    but don’t forget to go to bed)

    2

    we’ll always have your music and your writing
    to brighten our day, and show a new way
    i really miss your singing and laugh

    but inside my heart I have your autograph
    outer space bop and anti-gravity craft

    obli be bop blamster dam

    dizzy bird and monk and rap
    muddy sonny ra and fats

    (ginsberg burroughs kerouac
    hope your happy in you nap)

    3

    i wonder how it is up in the jukebox
    up there in the mix with mingus hendrix
    and all the rockin’ jams that you love

    all the swinging cats an’ the poets you dug
    dancing like a teenager to wolf and bud

    i hear you speaking in my dreams

    a yusef miles and coltrane breeze
    roll up a scroll an’ cheers our teas

    (a drop of honey lemon squeeze
    in the land of ooh blah dee)

    –Steve Fly
    Amsterdam, 2nd April 2025.
    For John Sinclair (R.I.P)

  • John Sinclair: the collected poems

    John Sinclair: the collected poems

    https://www.thebookbeat.com/bookshop/catalog/john-sinclair-the-collected-poems-1964-2024/#prettyPhoto

    John Sinclair: The Collected Poems 1964-2024

                –this life

    of the mind & spirit
    rooted in humanism
    & love of art, & manifested
    in creative production

    & social engagement, like trane said
    “to be a force for good”
    & make an impact
    on the world at large

    “I’m very happy with this book and very grateful to have all my poems collected in one place like this.”
    –John Sinclair

    “Thank you for your poetry, your standing up for the blues and jazz for decades when few did, and for the way you share your talents and good will wherever you go.”
    –David Amram, Musician, Composer and Author

    “Many of these extraordinary poems trace an important method of “transmission of mind,” a form of Investigative Poetry. These poems are a big work that places Sinclair on the path of Charles Olson. This is an extraordinary work.”
    –Edward Sanders, Poet, Activist and founder of the Fugs

    John Sinclair’s Collected Poems 1964-2024 arrived within a week of his passing, and was edited and proofed with an introduction written by Sinclair in late January of 2024. The book was designed by Sinclair’s right-hand commrade at Radio Free Amsterdam Steve “The Fly” Pratt and published by Ridgeway press in a limited first edition of 150 hand-numbered copies with a forward written by M.L. Liebler. Photographs from the covers of each book and recording begin selections taken from each book. Only Fattening Frogs for Snakes, The Book of Monk, and Songs Of Praise for John Coltrane are not entirely included. The book runs 557 pages, with many poems collected here for the first time.

    “I was first attracted to becoming a poet when I read On the Road,” wrote John Sinclair in his introduction, “the idea became more apparent when I read Howl by Allen Ginsberg and Pictures of the Gone World by Lawrence Ferlinghetti after I had ascended into college.”

    Presented are Sinclair’s scarce first books printed in the early sixties by the Artists Workshop press; This is Our Music, Meditations and Fire Music. Selections from Fattening Frogs for Snakes and thelonious a book of monk and several of his recording projects; The White Buffalo Prayer, Detroit Life, Viper Madness. The last section “Mobile Homeland” has over three dozen uncollected poems written between 1964-2024. Many of the books have special introductions and notes on the text which Sinclair completed for this edition over the past several years.


    The Collected Poems includes a concise six page biography, bibliography of major publications, and a discography of the poet’s recordings, a culmination of 60 years of art and life in one collection. Collected Poems 1964-2004 was produced in a first limited edition of 150 hand numbered copies in paperbound wraps, with a signed forward by M. L. Liebler, 557 pages, issued by Ridgeway press. Profits for the book help support the Detroit Writers Guild.

  • BIG CHIEF BIG CHIEF

    BIG CHIEF BIG CHIEF

    Steve Fly and John Sinclair at Red Light Radio.


    big chief has flew
          into infinite flux

    free to roam omnidirectionally with ra

    psychedelic gangster
    of love   

    professin’ music culture


    art form and structure from beard to  

    stars

    teacher and father 

    scholar and gateway for
    millions to bloomdido
    rebel poet including

    history 

    traveller on the road
    shared visions and music

    evidenced

    giving us new ears
    john sinclair


    a friendly giant friend to me
    won’t you care and give it up
    one more once

    Big chief BIG CHIEF!

    R.I.P 2nd October 1941 – 2nd April 2024. (82 years and 6 months, 30,133 Days)

  • Wayne Kramer (1948-2024)

    Wayne Kramer (1948-2024)


    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://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/03/wayne-kramer-mc5-complex-and-influential-musician-dogged-by-lucklessness


    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


    https://eu.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/brian-mccollum/2024/02/04/wayne-kramer-ted-nugent-friendship-detroit-music/72466031007


  • Earthday Evening Celebration With John Sinclair

    You are invited to this memorable event at the Ralston Building (FB Link) on Sat. April 22, 2023 at 7pm featuring John Sinclair with Harmonica Shah and Howard Glazer and Steve Glazer. The $10 to $20 donation supports the Ralston Village Community Association (RVCA) and the Artists. Light refreshments, 313 Brand Detroit-made Tortilla Chips, BYOB, Ice available, water.

    The activities and interests of the RVCA include education, healthy lifestyle, historic preservation, the arts (music, visual, performing arts) community discussion panels, land use planning, and positive economic impact. This event welcomes John Sinclair again to the Ralston, and will help to establish Mr Sinclair as Poet/Artist in Residence in the near future. Your attendance helps to set the stage for this to happen, so thanks for considering attending this event!

    Michael Prent, Earth Community Co-Producer
  • Radio Free Amsterdam Now Has ChatGPT

    Radio Free Amsterdam Now Has ChatGPT

    Yesterday, I just had to get a lifetime license for ChatGPT. BoingBoing store was doing a sweet deal, $59 for a lifetime license from Mind2Matter. So I bit the bullet. However, I didn’t do all my homework and it turns out that my current WORDPRESS account is not capable of hosting third party PLUGINS, I need to upgrade to a business account, and that’s a whopping $286 and way out my current price range.

    And then I had a moment of clarity. Sheeet, I can install it over at Radio Free Amsterdam. So I did, and it works. And I think it’s another reason to spread the word about Radio Free Amsterdam: Grass roots music, blues, jazz, funk, soul, all produced by John Sinclair! And now featuring ChatGPT for further entertainment.

    https://radiofreeamsterdam.org/

  • Radio Free Amsterdam Poster 2022

    Art and music can heal and unify people, we can feel this intuitively. Good music makes us well. RFA brings together a potent mixture of good music selectors who mix up the musical medicine to be administered by our medicine man: Big Chief (John Sinclair)

    Music for peace. Music for therapy, for all, criss-crossing boundaries and borders, arriving on-time at the ears and headspace of the people. Tune in, soak up the culture. Relax, take a load off. 

    https://radiofreeamsterdam.org/

  • All Steve Fly Agaric Recordings At Discogs 1999-2017

    Recordings and releases featuring Steven Pratt a.k.a Steve Fly Agaric 23.

    Fly Agaric 23The Fibonacci Project Presents (Not On Label – none)10″, Single
    New Flesh For OldEquilibrium (Big Dada Recordings – bdcd013)
    21 For Sale from €2.00
    CD, Album1999
    VariousWaywords And Meansigns – First Edition (Not On Label – none)17xFile, MP3, Album2015
    VariousWaywords And Meansigns – Opendoor Edition (Not On Label – none)145xFile, MP3, Album2017
    Garaj MahalMondo Garaj (Harmonized Records – HAR-010)
    6 For Sale from €3.44
    CD, Album2003
    Garaj MahalBlueberry Cave (Harmonized Records – HAR-023)
    8 For Sale from €3.99
    CD, Album2005
    The Gregory James BandCome To Me (Rogue Records – 1080-4)
    4 For Sale from €3.26
    CD, Album2003
    John Sinclair (2)Mohawk (Iron Man Records (2) – IMB6022)
    10 For Sale from €3.00
    CD, Album2013
    John Sinclair (2)Beatnik Youth (Iron Man Records (2) – IMB6032)
    3 For Sale from €11.92
    2xCD, Album2017
    VariousDeath To Fanatics (Iron Man Records Compilation CD 1999-2014) (Iron Man Records (2) – IMB6023)
    3 For Sale from €2.97
    CD, Comp2014
    John Sinclair & His International Blues Scholars*Let’s Go Get’em (No Cover Records – none)CD2011
    John Sinclair (2)Beatnik Youth (Track Record – none)CD, Album2012
    John Sinclair (2)Viperism (Big Chief Records – none)CD, Album, Comp2012
    John Sinclair (2)Conspiracy Theory (Big Chief Records – none)CD, Comp2012
    Garaj MahalLive in Northern California (Not On Label – none)CD, Album2001
    VariousTeaming With Talent (Harmonized Records – none)CD, Promo2004
    Robert Anton WilsonMaybe Logic: The Lives And Ideas Of Robert Anton Wilson (deepleaf productions – none)DVD-V2003

    https://www.discogs.com/lists/Steve-Fly-Agaric-Recordings/921478