Fifth Estate 27, April 1-15, 1967 Add to the Bookbuilder

The other day an old friend and FIFTH ESTATE contributor staggered into our office fresh from the local Ft. Wayne induction center. Bruised and bleeding, with chains, jewelry, and iron crosses hanging from his black leathers, he told a gruesome tale of unprovoked assault (well, almost).

At the draft center, our hero had understandable difficulty following military regulations. After several “incidents,” the unwashed beardo was sent to lunch. Calmly reading his FIFTH ESTATE in the cafeteria, he was approached by several MPs who had apparently been called by distraught cafeteria personnel.

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The great freak-rock New York band THE FUGS will be in Detroit the 6^th of April for a one-night only concert, under the auspices of the Friday Night Coordinating Committee (FNCC) of WSU. The Thursday night freak-out will take place twice that night at Wayne Comm. Arts Aud., with shows at 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the Fifth Estate and at Mixed Media, at $2 and $3.

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Twenty-three people stood silently at Grand Circus park on Saturday March 18 to indicate their support of the Phoenix, a peace ship sailing to North Vietnam.

The vigil was called by the American Friends Meeting (100 St. Aubin) to publicize the voyage of the Phoenix, which left Hiroshima under sail for Haiphong. Captained by Earle Roberts, the Phoenix is a fifty foot sailing ship which in 1958 was sailed into the Eniwetok nuclear test area by the captain and his family.

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State Senator Roger Craig (D-Dearborn) has introduced a bill in the Michigan Senate that would exempt marijuana from the application of the general narcotics act.

Craig wants the judiciary committee to hold hearings to determine whether it’s appropriate to consider marijuana and opiate derivatives together.

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Violence in our society became real for over 400 people at a conference on that subject on March 18. Draft-age students came with their girl friends and young mothers listened as best they could while their children pulled at their skirts.

The conference at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church was opened by Olga Penn, Chairman of Detroit Women for Peace. She introduced Dr. Paul Lowinger who talked about the effect of violence on young people:

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EDITOR Harvey Ovshinsky

MANAGING EDITOR Peter Werbe

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Cathy West

ART Dave Carlin, Gary Grimshaw

TRAVEL EDITOR Sheil Salasnek

MUSIC & LITERARY EDITOR John Sinclair

CALENDAR Rhona Whipple

ADVERTISING Leon Brenner

FILM EDITORS Joe Fineman, Shirley Hamburg

NEWS EDITOR Frank Joyce

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The Marijuana Scare is getting weirder and weirder, with the grass police moving backwards faster every day, trying to bust everybody they can before the laws won’t let them do it any more. As far as I’m concerned the busts first in Detroit, and now at Grosse Pointe and Livonia high schools, are the best thing that could have happened at this time—short of legalizing grass altogether, of course. Because the only way the police have been able to keep up their screen of lies and fear is by keeping it all “under ground,” where no straight people could see what was happening. Now, with the silly narcotics police breaking in on their sons and daughters almost every day, the middle-class citizens of our time are beginning to wonder about marijuana prohibition—and it’s just about time.

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The Eastern Market is one of those places you must love. She is quite an old woman by now, and part of her (the Gratiot Central Market) was recently gutted by flames: But you love her, for she is very real and genuine—the Lotte Lenya of our local architecture.

She lives just east of the city’s newest “Ditch,” on Vernor near Russell. Confined mostly to bed, she sprawls over a five block area, languishing in meat-packing houses, vegetable stalls, and exotic wholesalers of olive oil, dried apricots, noodles, and wine. She is always vaguely reminiscing her halcyon days, when she was a young immigrant speaking Yiddish and Italian.

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Editors’ note: The following interview by FIFTH ESTATE film editor Joe Fineman took place at the recent Ann Arbor Film Festival. Participants in the interview were film judges Henri Chapier, critic for COMBAT magazine; Gerard Malanga, superstar; and Andrew Lugg, U of M Cinema Guild. The winners of the festival will be shown in late April by FNCC Lower DeRoy Aud. on the Wayne Campus.

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Here’s the political line-up for 1967, so far: There will definitely be a special election in the City of Detroit, and probably the rest of Wayne County, in November. The primary will be held either in August or September.

One of the most interesting races will be for two Detroit Common Council vacancies. Possible candidates are: Walter Shamie, Mary Ball, Rev. James Chambers, State Rep. James Del Rio, Asst. Police Commissioner Hubert Locke, and State Sen. Coleman Young.

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Support The Spring Mobilization To End The War In Vietnam.

As members of the Detroit community we declare our opposition to the illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional war being waged against the people of Vietnam. We declare it particularly to the U.S. leaders who bear ultimate responsibility for the outrages being committed in our names. We indict them thusly:

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All those charged by police in the January 4^th “Great Reefer Raid” have by now been arraigned and examined and, with one exception, bound over for trial in Detroit Recorder’s Court. The exception is Magdelene Sinclair, charged with possession of marijuana, whose March 14^th examination was continued until March 31^st.

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The second annual Detroit Jazz Conference will be held on Saturday, April 8 and Sunday, April 9 at Wayne State University’s McGregor Memorial Conference Center, the Community Arts Auditorium and the Music Wing.

More than 75 musicians and speakers will participate in the week-end program of live performances, discussions and lecture-demonstrations. Headliners include conference artist -in-residence pianist Cecil Taylor and his quartet, guitarist Kenny Burrell, critic-author A.B. Spellman, and Frank Kofsky, FIFTH ESTATE jazz columnist.

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(Special to the FIFTH ESTATE) LONDON—From the suburban sprawls of America where the language of LSD and grass is used to sell cars and discotheque tickets, the appeal of the country that produced Tolkien, “Morgan!,” and George Harrison is strong and readily fulfilled.

Unfortunately after nearly six months in “Swinging London,” I am willing to face General Hershey and his clerks of conscription and the napalm aces of the USAF rather than stay another six.

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