Kick out the … bars?

MC5’s Kramer heads to prison — to visit, this time

ENTERTAINMENT. MC5’s Wayne Kramer will be performing at Sing Sing Prison this weekend, but comparisons with Johnny Cash playing Folsom Prison are not entirely appreciated by this veteran guitar hero, who did time for selling narcotics in the ’70s.

“That’s poetic,” he says diplomatically. “But in my case, I actually went to prison for a fair amount of time. [Laughs.] It happens a lot in the media that people go to jail overnight and then they get this outlaw image. I was there for more than overnight,” he explains. “The reality of prison has a resonance for me that is deeper than a public image.”

Did Kramer just give The Man in Black a dig? As our interview goes on, it’s clear that the 61-year-old rock legend has actually maintained a healthy humility despite being responsible for influencing an entire genre of music. Unfortunately, when punks were hailing MC5 as one of the progenitors of their sound, Kramer was in the slammer and uninterested in the association.

“In prison in those days, ‘punk’ had a different meaning,” he says. “‘Punks’ were the kinds of guys that would make you their girlfriend. I didn’t want to have any association with this punk music thing. The bands were saying, ‘We listen to the MC5 and we’re punk rockers.’ I wanted no connection with it.”

One thing Kramer is closely tied with now, however, is Road Recovery, a music-based mentoring program. He’s about to receive an award from the organization for his work with inmates. 

“As a victim of the United States government’s Draconian drug war,” Kramer says, “it’s important that when the opportunity presents itself to shed a light on it and to do something for people that are locked up, that I do it.”