MC5 Guitarist Wayne Kramer Returning to Jail — With Guitars
In the 1970s, Wayne Kramer, the guitarist for rock's seminal pre-punk band, MC5, spent two years in a federal prison for trying to sell cocaine to undercover agents.
Today, he's trying really hard to get back behind bars. Only this time he wants to bring his guitar with him, and enough guitars for a few dozen inmates to enjoy.
The Associated Press reports that Kramer, with some help from Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett, ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke and others, has formed Jail Guitar Doors USA. Kramer runs the nonprofit charitable organization with his wife, Margaret, out of his Hollywood studio.
Jail Guitar Doors USA has delivered countless instruments to prisons and jails in Nevada, California and Texas.
"When I played music in prison, I wasn't in prison anymore," Kramer, 63, said. "And that's what we're trying to accomplish with the instrument donations. That this is a way that you can get through this time, that you can go someplace else, you can get involved in your guitar."
Kramer was in his 20s when he arrived at the federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky, in the 1970s.
For more on this story, visit The Huffington Post.
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
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