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Washington Square Memories
Related threads:
Review: Washington Square Memoirs- CD set (12)
Washington Square Memoirs (7)
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Joe Locker Date: 17 Dec 11 - 10:23 AM Laura - I have some good old photos from the Square, late 1950s to early 1960s including Eric Weissberg, Marshall Brickman, Roger Sprung, Bob Yellin, Paul Prestopino, Winnie Winston, Lionel Kilberg, Danny Z,Artie Rose,Tom Paley,Jules Hansen, my brother Willie, "The Professor" me,et al. If you tell me how to e-mail them, I'd be happy to do so. If you want to e-mail me directly, go to http://www.scorpweb.co.uk/html/davis_locker____.html and click on "contact D,L & W" at the bottom of the page. One of the best articles on the Square was written by Jay Feldman for Bluegrass Unlimited a while back, covering many of the above folk, plus the famous "riot". See http://www.jfeldman.com/square.pdf There's also a documentary film on the Sunday riot. More ideas if you contact me. Joe Locker |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: MissouriMud Date: 14 Dec 11 - 05:30 PM I missed this thread the first few times around. As a teenager from Connecticut I could not get in to the City to do the Washington Square thing often, but I got in a few Saturdays and Sundays in 1964 and 1965. I would take the train in from Connecticut with my long neck banjo in tow- take the subway down to the Square and try to blend in. I didnt know any one - I probably would have recognized Dylan or Seeger or Mary Travers but I think by 1964 folks of their status werent playing in the square regularly. In any event most of the times I was there it was mid day and there seemed to be smaller groups in various parts of the square (rather than one mass jam). I would gravitate toward whichever one looked the most inviting and in need of a banjo player. Typically there would be an instrument case open to collect donations and once we got a couple of bucks some one 18 or older would be dispatched to buy a bottle of Thunderbird or something comparable that we would all pass around. Then I'd catch the train back home in time for dinner - missing out on most of the night life. I did see Buffy play one night in 1965 at one of the Village spots after I was 18 - really intense. A brief but wonderfully educational experience for a 17-18 year old. Wish I could have lived closer. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Laura Date: 13 Dec 11 - 08:06 PM Hello, Just finishing a documentary on the music scene in The Village during the 60's and early 70's. I'm looking for some hidden treasures in the way of photos from the day. if you are interested in sharing, please email me. Thanks very much, Laura ps the film should be at festivals in the spring (2012). www.greenwichmusicdoc.com (for the trailer) |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Suffet Date: 26 Sep 10 - 08:57 PM Greetings: I had a wonderful time at the sixth annual Washington Square Park folk musicians reunion this afternoon (Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010). I especially enjoyed having the opportunity to jam with the legendary Roger Sprung, who has been making music in Washington Square Park since 1947, the year I was born. Roger's older brother George Sprung was also there. He is the person who obtained the Parks Department permit allowing music every Sunday afternoon from 2:00 to 6:00 PM after complaints from neighbors had shut down the music altogether. Were any other Mudcatters at the reunion this year? By the way, I first came to Washington Square Park as a listener in 1960, and I used to perform there pretty regularly from 1963 to 1968, and then off and on for another two or three years, by which time it was no longer the same. --- Steve |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: SINSULL Date: 11 Sep 10 - 11:00 AM 1964 - 16 year old Catholic School girl too shy to do anything but watch. I would sit in Washington Square and hope to see somebody "famous". LOL Saw Dylan once and followed him but too shy to speak. Probably just as well - I was tempting in that plaid skirt and white shirt. Hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick in a coffee house with music and poetry readings. Frequent sightings of the Paper Bag Man, a sad soul who wore a supermarket bag over his head. Funny to think that you guys were all around me and it just wasn't time to meet. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Marcia Stehr Date: 11 Sep 10 - 10:23 AM Video of Greenwich Village in the 1960's. Many Folk singers are here. http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x8qbl |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Amos Date: 15 Jan 03 - 01:28 PM Nice job, Stefan!! A |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Stefan Wirz Date: 15 Jan 03 - 11:31 AM wished I could contribute 'memories' (sigh!), but anyhow:
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: musicmick Date: 15 Jan 03 - 01:19 AM Right you are, Frank. Speaking of guitar masters, do you remember a guy named Sandy Bull. He specialized in 12 string flash. I thought that Billy Faer was, primarily, a banjoist, a frailer like Dick Weissman and Billy Vanaver. (Here's a bit of trivia. I was Vanaver's den leader when he was a cub scout) I hear from Lionel every six months or so and I see Roger a couple times a year, when he comes down to Philly. By the way, I never thanked you for an impromptu lesson you gave me one night at the Gilded Cage. I dont think of you as a New Yorker. I've always associated you with Chicago. Must be the lake effect. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: WFDU - Ron Olesko Date: 14 Jan 03 - 09:15 PM Mark Spoelstra is living in California. He has been playing music for his family and friends for years, but recently he has returned to play a few gigs and record a CD. He still sounds great. I will find his website and post it here. Ron |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Art Thieme Date: 14 Jan 03 - 08:41 PM ...and I just found 3 "snapshots" (remember those?) I took with my trusty Kodak Brownie in '64 ---- folkies singin' with the arch in the background... Could be some of you were yhere !? Art |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Mark Ross Date: 14 Jan 03 - 08:34 PM I spent much happy time in the Village hanging around(slept there on the benches on occassion, the Square being the spiritual center of it all, if the weather was good. I had the best day I ever had, busking there New Years Day 1973. where is Mark Spoelstra these days, he was an early influence and I still can play JESSE'S JUMP. Started hanging out there at 14, later moved to the Village to play the baskethouses, worked at the FOLKLORE CENTER (after Izzy left). It changed my whole life. Mark Ross |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Ron Olesko Date: 14 Jan 03 - 04:55 PM It's also great to see how many people are still part of "the scene". I was a wee lad when the folk scare hit and most of my memories are second hand. It is nice to see that folk music wasn't a fad and many of the names mentioned in this thread are still participating in folk music - either as performers, promoters or fans. Steve-o mentioned Bill Vanaver who has a new CD coming out. Erik Darling recorded a wonderful CD about two years ago. I had a lovely conversation with Mark Spoelstra who just released a CD. I saw Roger Sprung at a party last year and he still sounds amazing. And of course there are all of the Mudcatters whose names are mentioned in this thread and continue to spread the music. I would just like to say "thanks". While I might not be sitting in Washington Square Park on Sunday afternoons, Bill Hahn and I are busy spinning songs on the radio. We wouldn't be there if it weren't for all of you. Thanks for starting something and even more importantly, for carrying the tradition along to the rest of us. Ron |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Steve-o Date: 14 Jan 03 - 04:44 PM What a wonderful thread!!! Thanks to all (and don't stop now...) for your great memories and stories. Being a west-coastie, I missed all of this amazing stuff. In the mid/late sixties I went to college with a few people who had been a part of the Washington Square scene, one of them being Bill Vanaver. Learned a lot of songs from him, heard some great stories, wished I had been a part of it all. My Southern California scene centered around The Ash Grove in Hollywood, the best place to hear all the great folk singers traveling around on the circuits in those days. I got to see and hear loads of them, and even picked with a few in the front room jam sessions. It was heavenly.....just on a much smaller scale. And at this point in time...heh heh heh...I've got tickets for the UCLA show!!!!! |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 14 Jan 03 - 02:54 PM MusicMic, there were a few others. :) How about Erik Darling and Dick Rosmini? Billy Faer? Tom Paley? And plenty more. True, a lot were part-timers in the music biz but just as good as those who were in the spotlight. Frank |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: musicmick Date: 14 Jan 03 - 01:39 AM You bet Fred Hellerman was a fine guitarist. I should have included his name on that list. Speaking of Paul Cadwell, did any of you get to those great parties at his place in Queens? I have never forgotten the host of great musicians who played there. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Date: 13 Jan 03 - 03:13 PM Yes, I neglected to say that one of the best hangouts for us folkies was Izzy Young's Folklore Center, a few doors down from Alan Block's sandal shop. We'd gather there spontaneously of an evening to sing and play, gossip, and occasionally buy a book or record- Izzy was a wonderful host. That all started on the very night of the opening of Izzy's place...I have color shots! Let's see, there was Happy Traum, Cynthia Gooding, Carolyn Hester, Molly Scott, Jerry Silverman,us (Jean & George), and one or two others I'll think of after awhile. Wasn't that a time! If you're ever in Sweden, that's where Izzy's place is now. The address I have is Folklore Centrum, Wollmar YXKullsgat, AN 2 11850, Stockholm,Sweden. He may have moved from there by now... Art, I do wish there was an online picture gallery. Anyway, one of those shots is in the background just before Disc Two, in Washington Memoires. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Sandy Paton Date: 13 Jan 03 - 02:04 AM Thanks, Frank, for the correction re: the Bob Carey Trio. It was the hiccup I was thinking about when I described their "Tom Dooley" as being remarkably similar to the later Kingston rendition. Paul Cadwell's gone now, but he was playing that fishing-line strung banjo well into his nineties. Used to see him at Indian Neck every year. Tex Koenig is gone, too. I met him when I did a concert at a small college in Colorado. I needed a set of silk-&-steel strings for my antique Washburn (the one now owned by Hedy West -- or was, the last time I saw it and her) and couldn't find one anywhere in town. Tex was a student at the college, majoring in gunsmithing, no less, and he offered me a set. Saw him once again in New York -- just ran into him on the street -- and then once again in Toronto before he died. Saw Robin Roberts at the 2002 NOMAD festival in Newtown, CT. She shared fond memories of Alan Lomax with us. I think we can thank Jack Langstaff for getting her there. And we can thank Jerry Epstein for getting Jack there. Jack played a great tape of Lomax addressing the crowd at the annual Cowboy Poetry gathering -- reminiscing and singing examples from the Lomax collection. Robin talked about her adventures collecting in Ireland with Alan. But all this is off-topic. Sorry. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: karen k Date: 13 Jan 03 - 12:39 AM Hope this thread just keeps going and going. Visited Washington Square a couple of times in the late 60's but I'm just a little young to have been there during the best of times mentioned above. Boy, this kind of thread is what Mudcat is all about for me. Thanks Jean, Art, Sandy and all the rest of you for great memories. karen k |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Amos Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:39 PM Fred Hellerman was surely no slouch. I remember meeting him in a little beatnix abode in rural Connecticut rented by sculptor Sandy Jackson and his wife, and watching his magic fingers run that keyboard like it was a part of his body. A |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: musicmick Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:03 PM The trio that Roger and Lionel formed was called The Shanty Boys. The third member was Mike Cohen. Another trio from the Village was The Old Reliable String Band, which was composed of Tom Paley, Artie Rose and Roy Berkley. Tom and Roy had been charter members of The New Lost City Ramblers but Roy was replaced by Mike Seeger and,when Tom went to Europe, his place was taken by Tracey Schwartz. The best guitarists, at that time, were Jerry Silverman, Ray Bogislov, John Stauber, Millard Thomas, Dick Weissman and Carol Hunter. They worked as accompanyists for singers like Belafonte, Ives, Bibb. Their names are unknown today but they shouldn't be. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Art Thieme Date: 12 Jan 03 - 09:20 PM TECH QUESTION____ I just scanned the cover of Sandy's first album and have those photos George did saved on a floppy. Can't figure out how to send it out as an attachment or as an e-mail though. Nowhere I go has that as an option----not tools or file or view anyhow. Sorry for my lack of compu-savvy Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Peter T. Date: 12 Jan 03 - 12:07 PM So that's who Peter Pickow is! I have about 5 of his great How To books. Never made the connection. yours, Peter T. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:57 AM Sorry to take up so much space here but.........Erik Darling is at work on his autobio of the times. Sure wish you would write yours, Jean. Your rich perspective would be a history lesson not to be missed! Frank |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 12 Jan 03 - 11:55 AM Hi Sandy, "Roger Sprung, Lionel Kilberg, and others. Wasn't it those two, along with Bob Carey, who made up the trio that first recorded "Tom Dooley" on a Stinson album, several years before the Kingston's recorded a remarkably similar take on the song?" No , Sandy, it was Erik Darling, Roger and Bob. Bob Carey was the one who put the "hiccup" in the song which the KT propelled to the "charts". They were the Folksay Trio for Asch-Stinson Records. Hang down your head Tom (hiccup) Dooley. Frank |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: JJ Date: 12 Jan 03 - 09:44 AM For a map of the old folk clubs, try "Hoot!" by Robbie Woliver. I got a copy from my local library. "Washington Square Memoirs" is a terrific set, but I have one question for Jean. Who is the other girl in the picture with Mary Travers? |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: musicmick Date: 12 Jan 03 - 03:15 AM I just remembered why I hung out at the Caricature. They used to have a late night bridge game in the front room. I couldn't afford to play in the after hours poker game at the Gaslight. The Village was a haven for young folksingers in the late 50's. Izzy Young's place was on 6th ave around the corner from Gerde's Folk City (that was the place to play in those days. Most of the other clubs were basket houses.) I stayed at Lionel's loft or at Roy Berkeley's apartment on Houston. I remember Jules, Paul Cadwell, Robin Roberts and Tex Koenig. My God, were we really ever that young? |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Francy Date: 12 Jan 03 - 02:23 AM I worked as a broiler cook at the old Brass Rail in Times Square in 1962 and 1963....played a little folk at a bar on 57th street off Times Square called Henry's and lived way uptown on W96th.....Spent many a day down on Bleeker and all around the village.....Looking back brings a bit o' mist to the old eyes.........Met Ed McCurdy in those days and got to know him a bit and so many others.....Frank of Toledo |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST Date: 12 Jan 03 - 01:47 AM Well, as I told Mick in a short PM, I witnessed the scene in the Square a few times, but was always much too shy and much too intimidated by the instrumental skills displayed there to get any closer to the action than the outer edge of the listening crowd. This was in the mid 1950s. I was involved in a few off B'way (very far off) productions at a small theater called the 4th Street Theater. We did Shaw plays, just a few doors east of the great "Uncle Vanya" production that ran forever, seems like. Our "Man of Destiny" ran for eight months. Not bad for beginners. I did hang out a bit at Izzy Young's Folklore Center before it moved to the upstairs location on 6th Avenue, mostly gathering books. Stayed briefly in a really neat apartment on Minetta Lane, vacated temporarily by a playwrite who was away in California trying to become famous. Compared to the loft on the Bowery where I was actually living, it was pure luxury, and I saw no cockroaches there, Art. Didn't meet Jac Holzman until he was comfortably surrounded by walnut paneling on Bleecker Street (is that where Elektra was located in 1958?) . But Paul Clayton took me to meet Moe Ashe at Folkways in 1956. Not much of this relates to a Washington Square thread, but I did listen there a few times to the likes of Roger Sprung, Lionel Kilberg, and others. Wasn't it those two, along with Bob Carey, who made up the trio that first recorded "Tom Dooley" on a Stinson album, several years before the Kingston's recorded a remarkably similar take on the song? I've seen Roger many times since, of course, and Dave Sear was at one of Jerry Rasmussen's Stamford Museum festivals, possibly in the 80s, and was still sounding so much like Pete Seeger that people did double takes when they heard him. That may have been his curse, rather than a blessing. Oh, yes -- super photographer George Pickow took the cover shot for my Elektra album (1959), and Freddy Hellerman added some sophisticated guitar licks to some of the songs, far beyond anything I could play. I got to know Oscar Brand in 1960, but as Jean says, that's another story. My life took me to the west coast, then to England and Scotland, then to Colorado, then to Chicago, then to Vermont, so my memories are scattered elsewhere. Sandy |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Art Thieme Date: 11 Jan 03 - 10:17 PM Frank, Jean has been at Mudcat for quite a while. Her name here is kytrad----. But, hell, you knew that, right? Yeah, I figured. Ms. Jean, That first ten-inch LP pf yours has always been a favorite here. You signed it for me 25 years after it came out --- Might've been when I opened for you at Richard Harding's place upstairs at Belmont & Sheffield in Chicago---the Quiet Knight. Art |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 11 Jan 03 - 06:44 PM Anyway, the computer sent the message before I was finished. Just wanted to say that you set the background for WS and you answered the thread the best, Jean. Can't forget Glen Yarborough. Ed McCurdy lived nearby in a local hotel. Had a chat with a young Bob Dylan in WS one afternoon. Jean, were you around for the Alamanac hootenannies? Great to hear from you on Mudcat. Frank |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 11 Jan 03 - 06:34 PM Hi Jean, Great memories! No, I didn't know you were there at that time. I thought of the Ritchie family of the Cumberlands and that seemed so far away but I did hear tell of you when Guy, Jack and I were at a folk school in Kentucky. I remember Alan Block's Sandal Shop and Elaine Starkman had one too. Pete and Toshi in the Village would have been somewhere around late forties I think, before they moved to Beacon. I guess I remember Jac Holzman as a stockbroker who played flamenco guitar at some of the parties. You must remember Jean and Francesca Raskin, Those Were The Days, pun intended. I think your work with Oscar was later wasn't it? Oscar had the definitive radio show at the time, but there was also was it Les Claypool? Billy Faer had a radio show about that time too. Dick Greenhaus was around WS when I was there. Dick, married to Kiki? Still, Dick? Art Rosenbaum was there. The Traums were there, Happy and Artie. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Date: 11 Jan 03 - 05:56 PM I see that none of you remember that I was there- but the reason is that I was almost always too shy to sing then- George would urge me to, but I thought no one would hear my quiet voice so I was content with listening. You may remember that sort of pushy redhead with the big baby-carriage (our first son Peter Pickow, now ed-in chief at Music Sales), trying to get the babe in close to the music! It seemed to have worked, as he went on to become a fine guitar player, and did The Hammered Dulcimer, a book many players & teachers use, and has since written dozens of How-to-Play books for Oak, etc. We lived in our first real apartment, corner of Bleeker and 7th Ave. South, on the top floor up two LONG flights of marble stairs (try that with a big baby-carriage). We got the apartment in 1951 through Frank Kleinholz the artist who had both pads on the top floor- one he kept for his studio; he let us have the one above the 7th Ave. Lafayette Bakery (YUM! The cookies baking used to kill me). Wonderful apartment with a huge skylight in the big livingroom, a large bedroom, a kitchen, bath and tiny foyer. The middle floor was the home of the Tamawa Club (only noisy on meeting nights), and the street walkthrough was a beautiful drugstore (The Village Drug?). No children yet, (Pete was born in 1954), we went to little coffee houses near us,and to the Village Vanguard to hear Leadbelly, and Cynthia Gooding among others. Or sometimes, rent parties in Alan Block's loft. Alan and his wife gave me my first guitar, a small one they weren't using, because I had learned FOUR chords and they thought I ought to have a guitar as well as that strange instrument the dulcimer which no one had seen before (or very few). And other times, Sunday afternoon sings at Pete and Toshi's apartment (Toshi's Mom minded the baby upstairs), with fifteen or twenty of us would-be musicians crowded in. In 1952 I had my Fulbright year abroad, collecting in England, Scotland and Ireland (another story). We rented out 88 7th Ave. So. to Jac Holzman, a young boy who was recording my singing as his first folk record for Elektra. He had a tiny music shop on 10th St., around the corner from us. I completed the recordings, George did the logo for Elektra, and photographed me for the cover (and did all of Elektra's covers for years afterward), and we left for England. The album came out while we were there, and Jac wrote to say he was thrilled with the sales- that he expected it to sell maybe 2000 copies! Mid-1953, we came back home and soon after began with Lou Gordon to run the midnight folk concerts at Cherry Lane Theatre where two Irish actors were struggling to keep afloat, presenting Irish plays- they were Tom and Paddy Clancy, and after several concerts we pursuaded them to sing a song or two on one of the concerts (they kept insisting they didn't know any songs and weren't really singers). And that's another story... And THEN the Washington Square sings began. So now you know a bit of the musical background (it IS personal, and only a very small part of what was going on in the Village then), and can see a corner of the stage that was set for the Washington Square revels! With fond affection for those and these times and friends, Jean R. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Tinker Date: 11 Jan 03 - 12:35 PM Wow... |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Big Mick Date: 11 Jan 03 - 12:19 PM I was waiting for you to chime in, Frank. I was sure you had hung out there. Someone ought to drop Sandy a line and see if he has any recollections....think I will do that right now. Mick |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton Date: 11 Jan 03 - 12:14 PM Usta' hang out there on Sunday afternoons. The Folklore Center on MacDougal Street run by Izzy Young was the place. Mary Travers to be sure (The Amazon of WS), Roger Sprung, with his electric lightbulb in his banjo which lit up when he played fast, my buddy Erik Darling, Jack Elliott Adnopos, Fred Gerlach, the Leadbelly acolyte on 12-string, John Stewart, early on Woody would show up, Dave Sears, The Kossoy Sisters (from Astoria), Harry and Jeannie West (Virginia), Bob Gibson, who in those days played just guitar and sang "I Want To Go Back To Where I Come From" ......Theo Bikel never showed up there but had some great parties in Washington Square Village apartments, Micheal Saul...a great clawhammer banjo player, Woody Wachtel, ditto, of course John Cohen and Tom Paley (before the NLCR) were there, Guy Carawan, Lee Haring, Mike Vidor, Joe Jaffe (could sound just like Pete like Dave Sears), I think Mo Hirsch was there too...a great musician...and whoever you chose to hang out with. There were a lot of little cliques doing the music they liked the best. Jerry Silverman, Ethel Raim (Pennywhistlers), and I think Freddie Hellerman might have shown up once in a while. Don't remember seeing Pete there much. Cafe Rienzis was a local hangout as well as Figaros on the corner of Bleeker and MacDougal. The Caracature had a back room for pickers. A lot of playing was done on the subways at that time. Frank |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Charley Noble Date: 11 Jan 03 - 11:16 AM My mother grew up in Greenwich Village, across from the Jefferson County Courthouse, back in the 1920's and has some great memories of who was hanging out there then. Even one great dive where "real pirates" were the doormen! My own first visit was with my big brother in the early 1960's, when we found our way up the stairs to some folk club or other where Leon Bibb and the Roof Top Singers were holding forth. We were shocked at how much the waiting staff charged for a coke but we were thrilled to hear the music live. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Big Mick Date: 11 Jan 03 - 11:09 AM This thread deserves special status as one of the best of The Mudcat. Jean, I sure wish you would tell us that story, but I understand that it is personal. I am going to have to find a copy of DULCIMER PEOPLE. Art, that is such a wonderful bit of your past.........I sure wish I could talk you into publishing that book....mebbe I need to come over and spend some time with a tape recorder.......hhhhmmmmmmmm. Please go on, this is absolutely fascinating. Mick |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: InOBU Date: 11 Jan 03 - 07:10 AM And in 64, there was I, playing in my brother's band, the Saint Marks Five, being alowed to reherce at the 5 Spot on the corner of St. Marks and 3rd, - under a whore house, still a whore house now owned by the famose Queen of Mean hotel chain... and going to ride bikes over to Washington Sq, with my pal, Ornette Dinardo Coleman, who had, as he put it, a serrious root beer jones, then over to the loft while Denny reherced with his dad for the Empty Fox Hole album, which won an award when releaced, while Sonja Sanchez the poet was my homeroom teacher at the Downtown Community School, and Martin Sobel was still in jail and his wife taught us math... and was looked up to because her husband was a real life Russian spy... and damn but those were great days... Larry |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: musicmick Date: 11 Jan 03 - 02:39 AM Wow, somebody is old enough to remember Washington Square and the Sunday sessions. Roger Sprung (and his brother, George) were there but I think that Lionel Kilberg got the permit. It all started back in the mid 50's. Lionel lived in a crowded loft on Ave.B. Other regulars included Jerry Silverman (who wrote the Folksinger's Guitar Guide), Eric Weisberg, Steve Mandel (They played the banjo and guitar parts for the movie, DELIVERENCE), Mike Cohen (Guitarist for the Shanty Boys) and his brother John (The New Lost City Ramblers), Tom Paley, Roy Berkeley and, if memory serves, Cynthia Gooding, Dave VanRonk, Mark Silver, Artie Rose, Harry and Jeanie West, 4 String Arnie Feldman and a host of others who made my teenage a joy. Later on, in the 60's, Tom Paxton, Marc Spolstra, Phil Ochs, Bobby Dylan and Buffy St. Marie immigrated and politicised the sessions, which was appropriate to their talents and the tenor of the times. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Art Thieme Date: 11 Jan 03 - 12:03 AM Genie, I was sleeping in the park because I couldn't afford that "closet" you had been renting. I think I stayed there for 2 days and the cockroaches running across the floor made such a racket I just couldn't sleep there. I used to pretend they were racing. The one that won I'd kill first. Art |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Genie Date: 10 Jan 03 - 11:21 PM Amos, in 1962 and 1963, I spent summers in Greenwich Village. I performed at Gerde's Folk City once at a "hootenanny" (i.e., an open mike), and once at a place on Bleeker St. (IIRC) called "The Dugout." Jerry, "The Fat Black Pussycat" coffeehouse was tucked away on a mid-block back street called "Minetta Lane" (where I lived in a 4th-floor walk-up And, ah, yes! the automat! (I earned $55 a week that summer of 1962, but I could buy an egg salad sandwich for lunch for about 50 cents and coffee for about a dime.) The real treat was to buy shaved Italian ices from the pushcart vendors around Washington Square. Genie |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: BH Date: 10 Jan 03 - 08:39 PM OK==Definitive answer now. The album is "3 Saints, 4 Sinners, and 6 Other People--Pete Seeger. It is on Columbia (folk Odyssey). The particular song about Newbold Morris ( my error) is Washington Square. The original title of the album was "Story Songs". For whatever reasons Columbia's re issue changed the name to the above. More colorful certainly. Pretty Boy Floyd is on there---I doubt he is the saint. Bill Hahn |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: John Hindsill Date: 10 Jan 03 - 08:32 PM Like J.O., I too have this book/CD set; it's a terrific representation of the era. Just today received a brochure from UCLA fine arts programs. The Washington Square concert will be at Royce Hall on Jan. 25. Think I will try to catch it...I'll pass along a review if I do. Happy new year to you all. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: BH Date: 10 Jan 03 - 08:29 PM I recall the title as something like---4 Saints and 1 Sinner---or 4 sinners and 1 saint. Newbold the Bold was always the one that struck me---having to do with the ban on folk singers in Wash. Sq. Fun song written in the style of a parody of an Elizabethian ballad as I recall. Or a spoof on the Robinhood legend. Bill Hahn |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Art Thieme Date: 10 Jan 03 - 07:50 PM I think it was on Pete's first BROADSIDE LP for Folkways. Or maybe the second one. As I think about it, it could've been on his first LP for Columbia---STORY SONGS. So much for memory. Art |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: BH Date: 10 Jan 03 - 06:42 PM As to the police shutting down the sings. Newbold Morris was the Parks commissioner then(and all in all a good one) who asked for this. Pete Seeger has a song about it on an old LP called---I believe--4 Sinners and 1 Saint (or something close). The song is about "Newbold the Bold". Very clever piece. Bill Hahn |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: Amos Date: 10 Jan 03 - 06:40 PM Jes' shows to go ya, Dick -- plus ca change, plus c'est la meme old chose. A |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: dick greenhaus Date: 10 Jan 03 - 06:15 PM Gee- Back in 1960 we were lamenting about how much better Washington Square had been ca. 1950. Remember Roger Sprung (or was it George) who held the precious permit. |
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Subject: RE: Washington Square Memories From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie) Date: 10 Jan 03 - 04:20 PM Art- thanks for your interest, and yes it is a fascinating story (for me), but I don't think it should take over this thread. Maybe I'll write to you personal-like? I did describe those days somewhat in the first chapter of DULCIMER PEOPLE,- but that's also pretty personal. We WERE often at the Washington Square sings of a Sunday; as a matter of fact, George did the "Young Mary Travers Singing," picture there, and the Jack Elliot shots that have been widely published. Somehow we never thought of photographing ourselves. And did you know that the police tried to shut down the Sunday sings?- made them illegal for awhile, but the music won out |
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