Letters

Letters

Brothers and Sisters: We are a rock and roll band from East Lansing called ARCHANGEL. We read in the SUN that you're sponsoring FREE concerts in Ann Arbor this summer and we would like to play for the people there.

I don't know if you are at all familiar with the scène in the East Lansing area so let me tell you what just happened to us. First of all we are musicians first and foremost and we are trying to survive and support ourselves with our music which is very difficult as we end up playing for free most of the time. Now, the only people that are doing concert type things here are WVIC radio and Vaughn Ryan (a d. j. there). They hired us to play at their concert last week. We are a non-union band and the promoter knew this but assured us that there would be no hassle in playing with the other union bands. OK so we were advertised for a week as being there to play.

Now the afternoon of the gig this promoter calls up three hours before we were supposed to be there, informing us that we either have to join the union right now at special rates ($180 tonight and $200 within 30 days) or not play the concert. We're very poor and had no chance in hell of getting that amount of money together. Even if we had been able to we would have resisted the strongarm tactics of the promoter - the whole thing smelling quite like the promoter was getting a kick-back from the union. Now we aren't philosophically opposed to unions--its only that for us its Catch-22, we don't have the money to pay the union in order to be able to make more money.

Now as we see the promoter owes us the money that he signed the contract for and so we are going to take him to court to get it as we weren't able to talk him into paying us. We told him we were going to do this and he threatened us with being black-balled in this area. Well I guess we will be black balled, but we refuse to compromise ourselves and buckle under to the pressure tactics of an underhanded promoter.

Now if you would like to hear a tape we have one. We could bring it down for you to listen to. Also we are having-free concerts in E. Lansing---would some Ann Arbor groups like to play here for free?

Bob Soule/Archangel

ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE

Governor Milliken:

This letter is just one of many letters in support of a member of our changing society, Mr. John Sinclair. In the case of Mr. Sinclair there is a very, very obvious miscarriage of justice.

First of all we will look at the evidence in this case and the manner in which it was obtained. The possession of 11. 5 grains of marijuana (two cigarettes) this is hardly enough of a mislabeled, unjustifiably overrated so called drug to constitute a nine and a half to ten year sentence.

The evidence presented in this case being as it is unquestionably illegal and so conceded by the trial judge, this is the very same evidence used to convict Mr. Sinclair. The real truth being that Mr. Sinclair has been unjustly and illegally sentenced, his bond has been unjustly revoked and refused, he has also been illegally convicted. This in my view is an criminal act by the State, if not to mention cruel and unusual punishment. Added to this is the fact that under federal law this offense was ruled to be only a misdemeanor carrying only (only) a one year maximum sentence. Mr. Sinclair's sentence is the longest and most severe ever dispensed for possession of a small quantity of marijuana. Since then the U. S. Congress 21 state legislatures, the House of Representatives of the state of Michigan and yourself have declared that the marijuana laws are unjust.

This brings out the question, where is justice and who is entitled to receive it  Do our judges pick and choose at their own discretion the individuals to whom they administer true justice, or is justice for all?

There is no question in my mind that Judge Robert Colombo has shown only an untolerable type of justice. The people of our (your) society are expecting you to take this matter and case (Mr. Sinclair) and make the necessary corrections.

Gerald V. Kemp Kent County Jail