THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENT "DOUBLE TROUBLE" - YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION? WITH THE MC5 AND GIL SCOTT-HERON. DOUBLE DOWN!!

DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

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6d ago 10:36

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Long ago and far away, around 1970, there was a smoldering rage that permeated through every strata of American society. Following a flurry of assassinations in the mid sixties, the Manson murders in ‘69, riots in Detroit, the Motor City in ’67, and in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic Convention, at Kent State in ‘70 with the murder of four protesting students - it seemed that the whole fabric of society was coming apart due to the country being mired in the Viet Nam war and the never ending specter of racism.

Step up to the mic Gil Scott-Heron and the MC5. In “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” Mr. Scott-Heron, in a performance that has earned him the title “The Godfather of Rap” in some quarters - eviscerates those couch potatoes who are watching it all unfold on tv, and that expect things to right themselves between commercial interruptions. And he does it with jazzy flair that made the absurdity of the whole situation crystal clear.. And, then there was the Motor City 5, those scruffy provocateurs whose manager, John Sinclair was jailed for two joints, who fought the good fight the only way they knew how: by “Kicking out the Jams, Motherfucker!”

GIL SCOTT-HERON

Scott-Heron’s combination of spoken word poetry with soul-jazz is a style which has made him influential throughout the decades. So much so that he was inducted as an influence in the Rock and roll Hall of Fame. In “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” he melds the two strains - one melodic, one verbal - together to deliver an unassailable message: there will be no change without intentional activism. It’s word play may be humorous, but it’s deadly serious. Now we have the internet and social media and people are less inclined to believe what they see, or even commit to any action because their attention is being relentlessly consumed. In 1970, despite the horrendous condition of the political scene, Gil Scott-Heron still believed that societal change was possible.

MC5

The same optimism resounds in Kick out the Jams by the MC5. These were kids who saw the wrong headed direction of their government, and tried, by assuming the outlaw stance of revolutionaries, to influence the youth. However, the enterprise was hobbled from the start by drugs, their association with White Panther Party founder, John Sinclair, - and, the radio censorship by their label of their most famous song because of the introduction’s unacceptable word “motherfucker!” They were a great live band of proto-punks, home-town heroes in Detroit, who never achieved the national prominence they deserved. It’s not the lyrics of Kick out the jams that are dangerous - it’s the exuberant energy of the offending word - that, ironically, created history.

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