Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.

Subject: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 06:56 AM

Details of this book (and CD) can be found on the following.

http://www.joeboyd.co.uk/

I am only half way through the book but would heartily recommend it.

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 07:10 AM

I read it when it first came out and it is excellent. It tell you all about Joe Boyd's carreer and all the fascinating artists he ahs worked with. It needs to be read in conjunction with the accompanying CD as well. The unusual thing about the book is that Boyd tells you little or nothing about his personal life, not that that is necessarily a bad thing.

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 08:37 AM

I share the positive opinions above, though it's probably wise to mention the caveat that this book only deals with the (for want of a better term) "Island" years. It ends when Joe leaves the UK for LA to go work for Warner Bros.

There are obviously more volumes in the pipeline (looking forward to the Hannibal period) but in this case I think that's a very good idea. Often this sort of part-1-then-part-2-of-the-saga thing is just about milking a source, but not here. Joe really does have enough history behind him to warrant it, so devoting a whole book to each stage of his professional life means he has the space for detailed narrative without skimming. Definitely on my Good Read list -

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: GUEST,Tom Nelligan
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 10:26 AM

Another enthusiastic recommendation for the book here. Joe is a great storyteller with a dry sense of humor and the book will be of interest to all Fairport/Richard Thompson/Nick Drake/Incredible String Band/etc. fans. As noted above this is only the first part of the story... Joe says another volume will follow.

He is currently doing an extensive promotional tour in the US that involves readings/signings at assorted music clubs and bookstores.

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 12:54 PM

Another enthusiastic recommendation for the book here. Joe is a great storyteller with a dry sense of humor and the book will be of interest to all Fairport/Richard Thompson/Nick Drake/Incredible String Band/etc. fans

That is certainly true but the book's appeal is not limited to fans of those artists.

There can't be many individuals who were central to events at the so-called 'Battle of Newport' and who were also later present at Woodstock.

I did not know that Joe Boyd was also responsible for producing Duelling Banjos and for organising early European Tours for Muddy Waters, Rev Gary Davis and much more.

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 07:28 PM

Biography
JOE BOYD is a record and film producer.

Born in Boston in 1942, he graduated from Harvard in 1964. After university, he worked as a production and tour manager for George Wein in Europe where he traveled with Muddy Waters, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz and others; and at Newport where he supervised Bob Dylan's electric debut. In 1966, he opened UFO, London's psychedelic ballroom.

His first record production was four tracks by "Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse" for Elektra in 1966. He went on to produce Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard & Linda Thompson, Maria Muldaur, Toots and the Maytals, REM, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, 10,000 Maniacs, Billy Bragg, Cubanismo, Taj Mahal and many others.

As head of music for Warner Brothers Films, he organized the scoring of Deliverance, Clockwork Orange and McCabe and Mrs Miller and made Jimi Hendrix, a feature-length documentary. He later went into partnership with Don Simpson to develop film projects. He helped set up Lorne Michaels' "Broadway Pictures" in 1979-1980, then started Hannibal Records, which he ran for 20 years. In 1988, he was Executive Producer of the feature film Scandal.

He resides in London.

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 12:36 AM

There was a long interview with him a few weeks ago on Terry Gross' radio program Fresh Air. Thanks for reminding me of that--I would like to get this book.

SRS

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: PoppaGator
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 04:59 PM

I heard most of the Fresh Air radio interview, but missed the beginning. If any explanation of the title was ever given, I missed it.

Anyone care to explain the phrase "White Bicycles," what it refers to, etc.?

I imagine I'd learn when I have a chance to get the book and read it, but I'm impatient for an answer NOW...;^)

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: houghmagandie
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 05:30 PM

White bicycles were communal bikes in Amsterdam in 1967/68. The book doesn't make any specific reference to white bicycles as far as I remember, I guess the author chose the title because it embodied the spirit of the times.

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 10:19 PM

Here is the link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9007942.

SRS

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: The Shambles
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 04:58 AM

The book doesn't make any specific reference to white bicycles as far as I remember, I guess the author chose the title because it embodied the spirit of the times.

Perhaps you needed to have been in London in those days.

I suggest that like the author, anyone who was in London and who heard Tomorrow perform 'My White Bicycle' - with Steve Howe's thrilling and loud overuse of the (then brand new) wah-wah pedal will instantly be taken back to those times by the book's title.

'Making music in the 1960's' was the book's subtitle. Which probably explains why there is very little of the author's personal life and why this book ends when it does.

There are specific references both to the song and to the white bicycles of Amsterdam which inspired the song and which reflected the ideals of that short moment in time. For there is also reference to a return to Amsterdam only a short time later - to find the once freely provided white bicycles, stolen and painted over.

Subject: RE: Joe Boyd - Book - White Bicycles.
From: The Shambles
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 05:02 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provo

The following from the above.

Its political component won a seat on the city council of Amsterdam, and developed the "White Plans", of which the most famous was the White bicycle plan, which entailed placing white bicycles throughout Amsterdam that could be used for free transportation