Hollywood making fun of folk musicians for being pretentious? That’s pretty. Its Hollywood’s self righteousness that keeps me away from “critically acclaimed” TV and movies.
I loved Dylan and the Village when i was young. Hung out there. In the 70’s. Loved folk music.
You did leave out a lot. They had "heart"? I suppose, but no account of this era could fail to point out how the heart went sour. The folkies became wokies (before that was a term) no less because the founders of the movement included genuine Stalinist commies, with all the bitter intolerance that entailed.
The schoolteachers of that era foisted that stuff on us, which is perhaps why the mockumentaries resonate so well with some of us.
I heard that Darin dabbled in folk and never could process it - it just shows that folk really spread like wildfire.
I also read but cannot verify that - get this - Joan Baez sang a duet on TV with Pat Boone. Yup - The Queen of Folk with a bland pop idol.
Then there were The Journeymen, who became The New Journeymen, who became the Mamas & The Papas - as The New Journeymen they visually resembled Peter, Paul, & Mary: two studious looking guys with a lovely blonde in the middle.
Mitch "Sing Along With Mitch!" Miller was the head of A&R at Columbia, wasn't he?
I never heard of Baez & Boone either. It's a throwaway line, a quote of someone else, from one of the books I've been reading. If I find the source I'll quote it. But it's not totally crazy. I used to see her on the Tonight Show.
PS I just found it in Joan Didion's SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM. She wrote an amazing piece - I'll write about this later but for now:
"Manny Greenhill shrugs. “One time she sang one of Pat Boone’s songs with him,” he adds, “which proves she can get along, but still. We don’t want her up there with some dance routine behind her.”
Terrific piece!
Excellent. I really enjoyed this piece.
Hollywood making fun of folk musicians for being pretentious? That’s pretty. Its Hollywood’s self righteousness that keeps me away from “critically acclaimed” TV and movies.
I loved Dylan and the Village when i was young. Hung out there. In the 70’s. Loved folk music.
Thanks for this !!
Dylan was in the Village until about 1964. Don't lie about your age, Ira.
/wink/
I wrote i was there in the 70’s. Didnt say i met Dylan.
Didn't say you did; the sequence of sentences as written made it sound as if you had seen him in the 70s.
My understanding is that the folk scene by the 70s was still there but a pale shadow of its former self.
You did leave out a lot. They had "heart"? I suppose, but no account of this era could fail to point out how the heart went sour. The folkies became wokies (before that was a term) no less because the founders of the movement included genuine Stalinist commies, with all the bitter intolerance that entailed.
The schoolteachers of that era foisted that stuff on us, which is perhaps why the mockumentaries resonate so well with some of us.
"The folkies became wokies"
Man, you read my mind! - as soon as I hit "send" I thought, "The folkies were the original wokies."
That's gonna be in Part II.
Wait for it.
There were deep roots in the unrepentant Stalinist communist party. A fascinating story.
I'll be dealing with that. I just started Joe Klein's bio of Guthrie.
Looking forward to reading it.
Ha, I thought you'd come in and fill in the huge blank I left with "and others." I knew about most of these but not The Byrds or Springfield.
Just proves the point: Llewyn Davis was hostile revisionism!
I heard that Darin dabbled in folk and never could process it - it just shows that folk really spread like wildfire.
I also read but cannot verify that - get this - Joan Baez sang a duet on TV with Pat Boone. Yup - The Queen of Folk with a bland pop idol.
Then there were The Journeymen, who became The New Journeymen, who became the Mamas & The Papas - as The New Journeymen they visually resembled Peter, Paul, & Mary: two studious looking guys with a lovely blonde in the middle.
It was an amazing period of time.
Mitch "Sing Along With Mitch!" Miller was the head of A&R at Columbia, wasn't he?
I never heard of Baez & Boone either. It's a throwaway line, a quote of someone else, from one of the books I've been reading. If I find the source I'll quote it. But it's not totally crazy. I used to see her on the Tonight Show.
PS I just found it in Joan Didion's SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM. She wrote an amazing piece - I'll write about this later but for now:
"Manny Greenhill shrugs. “One time she sang one of Pat Boone’s songs with him,” he adds, “which proves she can get along, but still. We don’t want her up there with some dance routine behind her.”