I saw Phil Ochs around 1973 and I saw Zach Stevenson's performance of "The Ballad of Phil Ochs" last month.

Zach's singing voice is uncannily like Ochs. His onstage style while singing, with a lot of theatrical mannerisms, doesn't really jive with how I remember seeing Phil Ochs. After all, it was back in the days of miking your guitar, you couldn't move around that much, and I'm pretty sure he was sitting down to perform. But Art T's comments suggest that he was like that sometimes...and all of us seem to have seen different facets of the real Phil Ochs. My take was that he was a consummate and riveting performer, clearly bitter, but there was no indication that he was becoming unhinged. I sure am glad I saw him, one of my most worthwhile trips to Le Hibou.

The website for Ballad of Phil Ochs notes that they will be releasing a CD of the songs from the show in the near future. They will be touring Ontario in January, but only Ottawa and Toronto dates are on the website so far. (I've been trying to book them here but there are scheduling difficulties).

W-O