Who the hell are these guys?

That was Ringo Starr’s reported response upon hearing the Vanilla Fudge’s explosive cover of “Ticket to Ride.”

Ringo wasn’t the only Beatle blown away by the Fudge’s symphonic interpretations of “Ticket” and “Eleanor Rigby” on the group’s 1967 debut album. George Harrison reportedly played the album to anyone who would listen. Considering that the Beatles had just released “Sgt. Pepper,” that was no small compliment. Read the rest of this entry »

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He was an early mentor to Bob Dylan and a pioneer of modern acoustic blues, but his music is seldom heard today.

Dave Van Ronk was the Grand Poobah of the early Sixties Greenwich Village folk music scene. Second only to Woody Guthrie in his influence on Dylan, Van Ronk never achieved the commercial success enjoyed by fellow folkies Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Peter, Paul, and Mary. Yet it was Van Ronk’s bluesy growl that set the bar for Greenwich Village folk performers in the 1960s. Read the rest of this entry »

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Surprise quiz.

Who was a bigger influence on popular music, Elvis Presley or the Beatles? Read the rest of this entry »

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Mention folk music today, and many Americans would think of the 2003 movie spoof, A Mighty Wind.

Yet the folk music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s was a powerful influence on American youth. Folk music nourished college kids who rejected the mainstream pap offered by Frankie Avalon and Connie Francis. Read the rest of this entry »

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There have always been two Woodstocks – the event and the myth.

Woodstock the event consisted of lots of rain, little food, bad acid, and sometimes bad music.  Woodstock the myth, according to festival promoter Michael Lang, gave young Americans “a sense of possibility and hope” that “spread around the globe.”

Lang’s long-awaited memoir, The Road to Woodstock, sheds new light on the event even as it offers more undeserved hoke about the importance of those three days at Bethel, NY in August 1969. Read the rest of this entry »

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To London record executives in 1962, Liverpool may as well have been Timbuktu.

Small wonder that a provincial rock band calling itself “The Beatles” couldn’t beg, borrow, or steal a record contract.  How a desperate Brian Epstein, after a crushing rejection by Decca, finally secured a recording contract is one of the many engaging stories told in Bob Spitz’s The Beatles: A Biography.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Robin Williams said if you remember the Sixties, you weren’t there.

One thing you couldn’t forget was the music.  Bob Dylan sparked an artistic renaissance in rock music which hasn’t been equaled since.  Most of those great songs of the Sixties are now available on You Tube.  Here are a few of my favorite music videos which you can check out for yourself.  (I’m recommending the You Tube video which contains the best available sound recording of each song.) Read the rest of this entry »

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It was easy to have your album overlooked in 1969.

That was the year of Abbey Road, Let it Bleed, Volunteers, and debut albums by Blind Faith, Santana, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and the Allman Brothers.  One overlooked gem that year was the New York Rock and Roll Ensemble’s “Faithful Friends…Flattering Foe.”

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Movin and a groovin, Big M

Movin and a groovin, Big M

Movin and a groovin, having a ball

With Cousin Bruce

How important were Cousin Brucie and WABC Radio to New York area teens in the Sixties?

Imagine the Pope, the President, and Mickey Mantle rolled into one.  Maybe throw in Roger Maris. Read the rest of this entry »

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This group’s 1967 album is considered a rock classic, but the band attracted no more than a cult following outside its native Los Angeles.   Read the rest of this entry »

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Bob Dylan was one little twerp.

Don’t take my word for it.  “The Twerp” was the name given to Dylan by former girlfriend Suze Rotolo and other members of her family, according to Dylan biographer Bob Spitz.  Suze was Dylan’s inspiration for many of his early Greenwich Village songs such as “Don’t Think Twice” and “Boots of Spanish Leather. Read the rest of this entry »

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