{"id":45107,"date":"2019-01-19T13:46:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T13:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=45107"},"modified":"2019-02-06T13:37:03","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T13:37:03","slug":"kramer-vs-kramer-mc5-mainman-is-his-own-worst-critic-in-brutally-honest-50th-anniversary-memoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2019\/01\/kramer-vs-kramer-mc5-mainman-is-his-own-worst-critic-in-brutally-honest-50th-anniversary-memoir\/","title":{"rendered":"KRAMER VS KRAMER – MC5 Mainman Is His Own Worst Critic In Brutally Honest 50th Anniversary Memoir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few could claim to have lived a life less ordinary than the MC5\u2019s Wayne Kramer.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Rock star, social activist, addict, burglar, drug dealer, jailbird – he\u2019s done it all and, just about, lived to tell the tale.<\/h4>\n

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A leading light of the late \u201860s counter-culture, Kramer\u2019s band were targeted by FBI counter-intelligence and their inflammatory gigs were a regular target for violence and police brutality.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s perhaps surprising about this memoir, neatly timed to coincide with the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the MC5\u2019s self-titled live debut album, is how little they figure in the story.<\/p>\n

Less than half\u00a0The Hard Stuff – Dope, Crime The MC5 And My Life Of Impossibilities\u00a0<\/i><\/b>is devoted to the rise and rapid fall of the highly influential Detroit proto-punks.<\/p>\n

Instead this is very much Kramer\u2019s story and his struggle to overcome the self-destructive demons that blighted so much of his life and career.<\/p>\n

\"The-Hard-Stuff-Cover-671x1024\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a rollercoaster of extreme highs – in every sense of the word – and brutal, shameful lows; debauchery and degradation; loss, pain and eventual catharsis and redemption.<\/p>\n

Told in a no-nonsense journalistic style, the book pulls no punches, Kramer turning the microscope on his own failings and selfishness without ever resorting to clich\u00e9 or self-pity.<\/p>\n

Not that he had it easy, born Wayne Stanley Kambes<\/strong> in 1948, he’s initially a happy, confident kid – notwithstanding an incident of accidental pyromania \u2013 a portent, perhaps, of the incendiary times to come.<\/p>\n

Things take a turn for the worst when his parents split and the family, kept afloat by Kramer\u2019s indomitable mother Mable and her beauty shop business, move to another side of town.<\/p>\n

Kramer and his younger sister Kathi are forced to deal with an absent father and abusive step-dad.<\/p>\n

After a brief fascination with theology, the young Kramer’s rebellious spirit takes hold,<\/p>\n

He becomes an accomplished thief, his criminal activities developing alongside a growing love of rock \u2018n roll, appreciation of the opposite sex and natural talent for guitar.<\/p>\n

A meeting and fast friendship with co-guitarist Fred \u2018Sonic\u2019 Smith<\/strong> provides the catalyst for the formation of the MC5 and the band\u2019s rapid rise and turbulent history is conveyed with real energy and affection.<\/p>\n

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Kramer (back 2nd right) with the MC5: Fred Smith, Michael Davis, Rob Tyner and Dennis Thompson CREDIT: Atlantic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The band\u2019s involvement in radical revolutionary politics leads to inevitable run-ins with the authorities, but also, Kramer notes with disappointment, other left-wing groups who view MC5\u2019s success as selling out.<\/p>\n

No sooner are they gaining a major foothold in the industry than the rug is pulled from under them and Kramer admits a lot of it’s their own fault.<\/p>\n

Drink and drugs, disastrous marketing campaigns, clashes with record companies and the jailing of manager John Sinclair<\/strong> all contribute to the band\u2019s demise.<\/p>\n

The sentencing of Sinclair, Minister of Information of the White Panthers, leads to a fallout with Kramer that clearly hit the guitarist hard.<\/p>\n

Losing his friend and his band \u2013 not to mention his income \u2013 sends Kramer into a downward spiral.<\/p>\n

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CAT POWER – White Panther Party leadership. From left: Lawrence ‘Pun’ Plamondon -Minister of Defense; John Sinclair – Minister of Information”; and Wayne Kramer – Minister of Culture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To his credit, Kramer does not shy away from the depths he descends and the lies he tells himself and others.<\/p>\n

Addicted to booze and heroin, he finances his habit through low level drug-dealing and house-breaking, kidding himself that he\u2019s become some sort of glamorous rock \u2018n\u2019 roll gangster.<\/p>\n

Jailed after being caught red-handed in a drugs bust, he\u2019s helped through his sentence by fellow inmate Red Rodney<\/a><\/strong><\/span> \u2013 a celebrated jazz trumpeter and long-term addict.<\/p>\n

Though Kramer copes fairly well with life inside FCI<\/strong>\u00a0Lexington<\/strong>, the threat of casual violence is never far away and he has some powerful points to make on society’s treatment of offenders.<\/p>\n

Championed by emerging British punk bands like The Clash, on release, he begins to resurrect his musical career.<\/p>\n

But rebuilding his reputation as a rock star, invites the old temptations \u2013 a brief hook up with fellow addict Johnny Thunders <\/strong>as Gang War<\/strong>, one of many false starts on his journey to recovery.<\/p>\n

With the help of US punk label Epitaph Records<\/a><\/strong><\/span> he begins to restore his musical credibility, but his personal demons are seldom far from the surface.<\/p>\n

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GANG WAR – Kramer (right) with Johnny Thunders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The early deaths of Smith and MC5 frontman Rob<\/strong> Tyner<\/strong> fail to change his lifestyle and he remains his own worst enemy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not until he really hits rock bottom, arrested after being high and drunk on an airliner, to the disgust of fellow passengers and crew, that Kramer finally starts to sort himself out.<\/p>\n

Even then, the road to sobriety is paved with many obstacles and Kramer acknowledges his numerous failings, along with the selfless help and support he gets from others along the way.<\/p>\n

Confronting his unresolved feelings of being rejected by his father, proves a major step in his rehabilitation and the pair share a touching, if all too brief, reconciliation.<\/p>\n

He reunites too, with MC5 bandmates\u00a0Michael Davis<\/strong> and Dennis Thompson<\/strong> for the DKT\/MC5<\/strong> tour, although again that\u2019s not without its complications.<\/p>\n

Kramer is impressed by the performance of stand-in vocalist Mudhoney<\/strong>\u2019s Mark Arm<\/strong>, but kicks Evan Dando, <\/strong>of the Lemonheads <\/strong>off the tour, for behaviour which reminds him of his own past transgressions.<\/p>\n

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MAN AND MUSICIAN – Kramer today and in the MC5 in the ’60s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The love of his second wife Margaret Saadi<\/strong>\u00a0and his surprise and joy at becoming a father well into his sixties make him all the more determined to be a better person.<\/p>\n

He starts to give back, partnering with Billy Bragg <\/strong>on the Jail<\/span> Guitar Doors<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/em> initiative, (named after a Clash song about Kramer’s incarceration), which supplies acoustic guitars to prison inmates.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a positive end to an account of a life, by his own admission not always well lived, but never less than compelling,<\/p>\n

Kramer\u2019s writing is concise and direct and his criticism of the US penal system and America’s failing \u2018war on drugs\u2019 both sharp and insightful.<\/p>\n

As those lucky enough to catch him on last year\u2019s MC50<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>world tour will attest, he remains a dynamic and charismatic performer.<\/p>\n

By turns, explosive, funny, tragic and controversial, this memoir shows us the real man behind the musician.<\/p>\n