The officially unofficial site for details and discussion about the history and legacy of Mike Porco's Center of Folk Music, Gerde's Folk City (&other pertinent stuff)
The People of New York Declare Monday, June 8 is MACDOUGAL STREET STOOP IN
Bring your acoustic instruments and grab a stoop to play. Find space and practice, rehearse, sing and make music. Music Heals. Music Unites. Still not back to work? No excuse to miss this. Share and spread the word.
Help re-establish live music in Greenwich Village ASAP.
All day. Open for all ages.
Bring your guitars and flutes. Sit around. Stand around. Play. Patronize open businesses.
Oh my god your hair is getting long
People jogging in the park with
Whatever they've got on
The shut down has the unemployed writing stupid
little songs
I can't believe we gave up all our Rights
No freedom to assemble
No freedom to talk
No freedom to go drinking
No freedom to walk
No freedom to sit shiva
No freedom to fuck
I can't believe we gave up all our Rights
No Easter No Passover
No time clocks being punched
No spinning yoga Pilates
No ladies who do lunch
No concerts no baseball
No going out for brunch
I can't believe we gave up all our Rights
Come writers poets congressmen
Musicians heed the call
My kin Folk need to save the world
As soon as there's a lull
The death rate (0.03%) is coming down
While the rest of us climb the walls
I can't believe we gave up all our Rights
Twelve hundred bucks was all it took
To take away our jobs
Phil Ochs would shit a golden brick
Of the extent that has been robbed
He's looking down hoping I'd
Stop butchering his song
I can't believe we gave up
I can't believe we gave up
I can't believe we gave up all our Rights
(Apologies for misspeaking in the video saying 'while I'm here' instead of When I'm Gone)
Including the audience! Left to right we have James Maddock, Paul Metsa, Richard Barone, Drummer Konrad Meissner (out of view), Amy Blume, Willie Nile, Karla Blume, Carolyn Hester, Rob Stoner, Terre Roche, some random dude, Johnny Pisano
GERDE'S FOLK CITY 60TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT- Full concert (almost)
Question: How much music have you listened to during the CRISIS?
Bob's answer: Some, not much. To drown out the news, I've played dozens of hours of 'cleansing' sound on YouTube.
528Hz on Youtube. Michael Keaton might say ''529,530, whatever it takes.''
There has also been some looking back on the concert I hosted in January of THIS year. It’s hard to imagine that people used to just sit there and listen to music without masks on!!!!
Of course, I kid. I’m wearing a mask for a few more days then f%ck that. The virus is real but this panic is a manmade pothole. Let’s work and drink and be merry. Eat balls, Fauci and Cuomo. My work is ESSENTIAL.
Once my upload speed got out of the slow lane, I was finally able to post all of my personal footage to my YouTube channel.
Question: Of what?
My answer: Of the GERDES FOLK CITY 60TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT! JANUARY 24, 2020
It's all I got. It's every second recorded that I was able to grab between Green room and main room travel. Doesn't look too bad. Sound is from the camera mic and turned down a bit for this video.
ENJOY IT!!!
(Apologies for not capturing much of James Maddock. But he captured the room and back hall.)
It’s quite a unique time here on Earth.
I’m in Manhattan. It’s quiet. Lots of masks. Lots of hope, too.
The park is full of people getting air and exercising. Don’t be a hermit! If you look back at my March 26 youtube video, you’ll see me suggesting getting quinine, sunshine, zinc and vitamin c. The suggestion stands today. It’s Springtime!!! Get OUT.
When the Lords of Flatbush declare us all alive enough to live life, I shall go back to work, get my wartime paperwork together and start frequenting MUSIC shows.
I mentioned above that I haven’t listened to a ton of music. (Murder most foul notwithstanding)
I’ve tried to PLAY more since the vibration is what it’s all about. All the musicians I know already know this. They play everyday and that’s their therapy, coping mechanism, medicine, happy place, resonating way to live. In the East it’s called Tao.
I’m not a good player but good enough to rattle through several songs. The G chord over and over is also good. Eleven days of G so far! Working on chiming along for the days ahead.
Stay safe, Peoples. Know that our Rights to work and assemble have been wrestled away only temporarily. Can you imagine the return to the real world? Very exciting.
Here you have some details on the oft advertised 60th Anniversary Show:
The 60th 2020 Hindsight Rear View Mirror Revue
The set list!
Thanks, Michael Perlin's FB post:
1. Terre Roche : Face Down at Folk City (The Roches)
2. Terre Roche & Richard Barone: When I’m Gone (Phil Ochs)
3. Paul Metsa (from the Iron Range in Minnesota, his home town 20 miles from Hibbing, and the only name I had not known before): Walking in a Woman’s World
4. Terre Roche & Richard Barone & Paul Metsa: Shoals of herring (Clancy Brothers, I think)
5. Rob Stoner (in Dylan’s band for years; listen to the bass guitar solo at the beginning of One More Cup of Coffee; that’s him): If I Can Dream (Elvis Presley)
6. Rob Stoner: Forever Young (BD, in the mode of Elvis)
7. Rob Stoner: It’s a Man’s World (James Brown)
8. Rob Stoner: You’re a Big Girl Now (BD)
9. Rob Stoner: Cryin’ (Roy Orbison)
10. Rob Stoner: Blowin’ in the Wind (BD, but in the mode of Frank Sinatra)
11. Rob Stoner: Been A Long Time (Led Zeppelin)
12. Carolyn Hester: Lonesome Tears (Buddy Holly, whom she said, used to live around the corner from her in the Village (!))
13. Carolyn Hester (with her daughters) on bass and piano: Summertime (Gershwin)
14. Carolyn Hester (with her daughters?) on bass and piano: Get Together (Jesse Colin Young)
15. James Maddock: I Can’t Settle (his)
16. James Maddock: Another Life (his)
17. James Maddock: Beautiful Now (his)
18. Willie Nile (with Johnny Pisano on bass, of course): Seeds of Revolution(his)
19. Willie Nile (with Pisano): American Ride (his)
20. Everyone: One Guitar (Willie Nile)
21. Everyone: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Folk City was the epicenter of the Washington Square Folk and Blues Revival It was known for being the first paying gig for a constellation of Folk and Rock legends. Gerde’s became the premiere showcase for America's most critically acclaimed singer-songwriters, Bluesmen and traditional Folk artists from around the Country.
Folk City ultimately hosted acts as far and wide as Gospel matinees on Sunday in 1960 to Sonic Youth in the ‘80s.
Hear songs from the vast music catalog of Greenwich Village come to life. Our All Star house band will pay tribute to the anthems of American music history.
Solo performances by Texas Songbird Carolyn Hester- Folk City’s first ever Act!
Multi dimensional song craftsman
James Maddock
Terre Roche of the Folk Rock pioneers, The Roches
Worldwide Mod Rocker
Willie Nile
Bandleader extraordinaire, Rolling And Rockin’ Rob Stoner Paul Metsa is a legendary musician and songwriter from Minnesota. Born on the Iron Range, he has been based in Minneapolis since 1978.
The drummer is class act Konrad Meissner
Your show’s Hosts:
Richard Barone of The Bongos
Original proprietor, Mike Porco’s grandson,
Bob Porco
deBlasio and Cuomo talk flippantly about stretching this into May or beyond.
or 2022. why not forever?We won't get there without a crime wave and senseless death from something other than COVID-19.Restaurants, music venues, mom-n-pop stores will be unable to re-open without foot traffic. SEND THE HEALTHY BACK TO WORK.Let New Yorkers assume their own risk. The City and State Government is in the way or our Right to Work, Right to Assemble, Ability to earn.
No storm ever lingers forever. We’ll get beyond this black cloud. Get Vitamin C and D3. Get Zinc and tonic water with quinine.
Our existing immunity is our only real defense.
People have died with COVID-19 when coupled with chronic illness.
I think we are watching a predictable petering out of COVID-19. Its gonna take some time but I am an über optimist. If that’s how I’m described, I’ll take it. If my view here on this blog is seen as insensitivity or denial of the nature of COVID-19, I beg to differ but time will reveal the truth by the numbers in the end.
WEAR A MASK
I’ve decided to don one as a precaution. I have elderly clients and neighbors.
I’m an avid bicyclist here in NYC. The death rate for my age group from COVID-19 is quite laughable in comparison to my daily risk.
What level of risk do we not already assume by crossing Madison Avenue at rush hour?
We enter the outside world at our own risk.
Granted, the safety protocol to mitigate the spread of COVID has been enacted to reduce the risk to others. I am not insensitive to that. My gripe is that the State and City Government is in the way of our Right to Work, Right to Assemble. It’s not Martial Law but it will probably feel like THIS in New York. It’s criminal to prolong it. I don’t trust the CDC with my life.
Crime wave in...10...9...8...7...
It has been declared that the majority of New Yorkers are too young, too healthy and too alive to go about their business. It has been decided that we are not to be allowed to judge our own risk.
“Many are too youthful and positive to go to school and congregate at houses of worship.
Many are too vibrant and musical to create their own safe community,” they may say.
The chronically ill must be protected from exposure to the COVID virus.
The clock ticks and it won’t be long before many defy orders to limit movement. The city will be (is) filled with desperate people.
These ’15 days’ may last to April 15. It’s already day 11 (March 26) and I’m over it.
The day the Folks return to work will be the biggest day of business for many businesses. Black Friday in April.
That said, I’m excited for the end of this panic.
I see us on the cusp of the Roaring 20’s. Banks failed in the early 1920’s but it didn’t affect society at large. It wasn’t a cyber world then. Many more families were self sufficient.
Today, we live in a smart-tech world. The return to ‘’normal’’ may include the need for official papers to leave your house for work. It may include limited State-toState travel. It may lead to a cyber-election. It may lead to immunization verification to enter the subway or office buildings. Business transactions may become cashless. Let the end-times debate begin.
For now, I would trade off some of that for the promise of a global renaissance. I’d love to see people recognize our success over COVID and know that we, collectively, are sailing along together. I hope we recognize that we need to rely less on Amazon and more on neighbors.
Why are we using the Chinese model to combat this virus?
They first isolated patients. Then they shut doors. Then they shut down a region from travel. Then they go collect the dead from their homes. Then they go back to work and monitor other countries unique responses.
Freedom of assembly and right to work are freedoms we took for granted before this. It must return without permanent limitations OR ELSE.
“Or else” we will see all of our cherished rights fade away without debate. Currently, the State is treating all kids, teachers, bankers, musicians, servers and business owners as too incapable to assume their own risk.
”You’re all too alive to go out and die.”
I’m done with it but I shall wait impatiently. I’ll vent online while the internet is still a thing. I fear that the fuse is lit and crawling along towards an explosion of crime and violence. Let’s call the whole thing off!
But be prepared. Prepare to stay in for several more days. We won’t survive weeks more of this. There will be a new definition of “going POSTAL” after a while.
Soon, the State imposed cocoon will crack and we’ll all be ‘allowed’ to go outside again. Guess what: We’re gonna party and thrive like it’s 1999!!!
So be prepared for that, as well. The year 2020 will reveal inverse realities for many of us; perhaps all of us. It will be a mirror image of the past. Day to day, as quickly as a stay at home order can be decreed, a ‘get out and live’ order can be mandated.
This shutdown is holding many hostage on both coasts and will not last indefinitely. It’s a LIE to say that it will not end and that this will ‘become our way of life.’
We’ll all have the cleanest gyms and hands, but this will pass.
Get ready to frequent those music concerts. Be ready to mass up, elbow to elbow, 3 deep at the bar. Play 2 hand touch football in the park. Go to $5 movies, $5 concerts and $5 burgers. Buy $5 items that were once $9.99!
A worse scenario concurrently hangs over us. That might mean a shutdown until the riots and food runs out. Lack of rent money will make the ‘stay at home’ order become an academic anecdote. The level of this business shutdown is the exact level we’ll put up with. I’m already over it.
My recent video series began 4 days ago with a $50 pledge to a friend. Twenty days from now, it could be a life or death situation for thousands (really millions) who, on average, were never exposed to COVID-19. Oh the irony.
My other video logs should reveal that I do have empathy for those in the direct path of this pathogen. The rest of us should LIVE LIFE. Kiss, cavort and buy beer.
Of course, other factors could make my prediction 100% wrong. Those $10 items might be $25. The food may stop. The Market may stop. The 401(k)s may be absconded and won’t I look silly for being optimistic.
That’s why I’m praying for and betting on a mass awakening and coming together. At the moment. The ‘Great Fathers in DC’ are plotting to send millions of Americans thousands of dollars so it can’t be all that bad. It’s a good start. My New York City will be on a delayed curve compared to the rest of the nation but we shall land on our feet. We need to tend to what we can control which is ourselves.
I’m committing to my small team and if we all carry a little more water then we will make it to the greener pasture. We will venture beyond to brighter fields leaving that black cloud behind us. We’ll GET TOGETHER.
I bring it up getting together because I’ve been known to organize groups of listeners for musicians in my circle of friends.
Should those utopian days be delivered upon us, I’ll do what I can do to make a small show for some musician in need.
The longer this lingers, the further away into the future goes that idyllic view.
Stay positive!
Visualize music in the streets.
Know your rights!
The most vital: Speech, artistic expression, assembly and press.
Quinine in Tonic water helps get zinc absorbed. Vitamin C and D3 are vital to the immune system. Zinc works well with Vitamin C. Get exercise. Get out where you can while you can. Your immunity is your only defense.
If Covid won't kill you, the food riots might. There's a wall between (us) and what (we) want and (we) gotta Leap (year) through it I want to share a possible solution to soften the panic. Share some digital money with someone. I've 'adopted' a musician and will keep in contact with him. Ernie Vega @papavega on Venmo. I will give where I can to one dude JUST FUCKING BECAUSE. I'd love for the idea to go 'viral' because math don't lie. If we all adopt one extra, then the worst case scenario is already beat.
That's what started this quarantine video series. It's still my main encouragement. However, Dylan's lyrics appeared to ring true in some ways to me today. I'm not AJ Weberman. It's a layman's analysis.
Groom still waiting at the alter
Prayed in the ghetto with my face in the cement
Heard the last moan of a boxer, seen the massacre of the innocent
Felt around for the light switch, felt around for her face
Been treated like a farm animal on a wild goose chase (We're following orders like pets on a wild goose chase afraid of contact with each other. We'll make great pets.)
West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
Try to be pure at heart, they arrest you for robbery
Mistake your shyness for aloofness, your shyness for snobbery
Got the message this morning, the one that was sent to me
About the madness of becoming what one was never meant to be (Everyone shying behind masks stumbling over curbs to stay 6 feet away from others. Madness over a strain and pandemic that was meant to be a beta test for the real pandemic to come. Covid likely to be less deadly than the projections)
West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
Don't know what I can say about Claudette (Corona) wouldn't come back to haunt me
Finally had to give her up about the time she began to want me
But I know God has mercy on them who are slandered and humiliated
I'd a-done anything for that woman if she'd only make me feel obligated (I could be wrong but Viruses mutate themselves out of existence. Your body will expel Covid. Healthy bodies don't want covid as badly as she wants you. Covid came through America in January)
West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature?
I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture
There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap through it
Tonight you got the power to take it, tomorrow you won't have the power to keep it (Shutdown orders in major cities happened in short order by overnight decree. Know which Rights we all just lost our own power over- work, movement, congregation, leisure. People would like to work but the doors and walls are closed.)
West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar
Cities on fire, phones out of order
They're killing nuns and soldiers, there's fighting on the border
What can I say about Claudette?
Ain't seen her since January
She could be respectfully married or running a whorehouse in Buenos Aires (The worst scenario- cities on fire, no cell service, lockdown on State borders for a virus already here since January and nearly GONE. Pray)
West of Jordan, east of the Rock of Gibraltar
I see the turning of the page
Curtain rising on a new age
See the groom still waiting at the altar (We'll collectively live to collectively see the real Groom; another panic and another .1% death rate flu-like strain)
Dead man, dead man
[Verse 1]
Uttering idle words from a reprobate mind
Clinging to strange promises, dying on the vine
Never being able to separate the good from the bad
Ooh, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it
It’s making me feel so sad
(I Don't trust Dr. Fauci. We have to keep 6 feet from the world but not him. ''Masks are good, masks are useless, masks are good'' What did he do about H1N1 which killed 12,000 in the US? How many of his HIV patients are alive? Hint: Zero. Owned by big pharma 100%)
[Chorus]
Dead man, dead man
When will you arise?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes
[Verse 2]
Satan got you by the heel, there’s a bird’s nest in your hair
Do you have any faith at all? Do you have any love to share?
The way that you hold your head, cursing God with every move
Ooh, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it
What are you trying to prove? (We were collectively too sated and happy before. Phone, Tv, bowl of cereal, alarm set for the morning. Now we, at least I, have resorted to praying for us all. Churches and synagogues closed: Walmart open)
[Chorus]
Dead man, dead man
When will you arise?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes
[Verse 3]
The glamour and the bright lights and the politics of sin
The ghetto that you build for me is the one you end up in
The race of the engine that overrules your heart
Ooh, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it
Pretending that you’re so smart
(Politicians and Mayors shutting down work and gyms while they go to work and the gym. The People are locked at home while THEY work and take income from the engine generated by the People's past labor.)
[Verse 4]
What are you trying to overpower me with, the doctrine or the gun?
My back is already to the wall, where can I run?
The tuxedo that you’re wearing, the flower in your lapel
Ooh, I can’t stand it, I can’t stand it
You want to take me down to hell (This won't end with any politician or unelected bureaucrat skating away after blanketing entire cities in fear. Pitchforks ready once the National Guard leaves the streets. Until then, it's just a manmade decree to not work. A Belly up economy will force people against the wall. Not a pretty vision. Protests and riots inevitable.)
Dead man, dead man
When will you arise?
Cobwebs in your mind
Dust upon your eyes
I want to share a possible solution. Share some digital money with someone. I've 'adopted' a musician and will keep in contact with him. Ernie Vega @papavega on Venmo. I will give where I can to one dude JUST FUCKING BECAUSE. I already support my daughter and ex with service. I hope Ernie can appreciate the gesture. I'd love for the idea to go 'viral' because math don't lie. If we all adopt one extra, then the worst case scenario is already beat.
How does this virus and lockdown affect the world of musicians?
Can a solution be right in front of our faces?
Yes, says Bob Porco.
CHOOSE one person to support a little.
A MANDATE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF THE STATE OF MIND
Is it possible to inspire a solution to Covid through Facebook and the internet?
It could be a rough patch for some so I've 'adopted' a musician who is out of work and will help with the groceries. If we all help one, everybody eats. Very simple. Please share.
Here's the guy I sent digital money to: @papavega on Venmo. Reputable guy. Took lessons from Van Ronk. We worked together at the Gaslight on MacDougal Street in 2012 with Randy Burns. Met him in 2010 live on air at Bob Fass' Radio Unnamable. How things change.
Daily LOCKDOWN video blogs or Video Logs to be posted. Just because. Plus, I'm temporarily not working either:)
1. Terre Roche : Face Down at Folk City (The Roches)
2. Terre Roche & Richard Barone: When I’m Gone (Phil Ochs)
3. Paul Metsa (from the Iron Range in Minnesota, his home town 20 miles from Hibbing, and the only name I had not known before): Walking in a Woman’s World
4. Terre Roche & Richard Barone & Paul Metsa: Shoals of herring (Clancy Brothers, I think)
5. Rob Stoner (in Dylan’s band for years; listen to the bass guitar solo at the beginning of One More Cup of Coffee; that’s him): If I Can Dream (Elvis Presley)
6. Rob Stoner: Forever Young (BD, in the mode of Elvis)
7. Rob Stoner: It’s a Man’s World (James Brown)
8. Rob Stoner: You’re a Big Girl Now (BD)
9. Rob Stoner: Cryin’ (Roy Orbison)
10. Rob Stoner: Blowin’ in the Wind (BD, but in the mode of Frank Sinatra)
11. Rob Stoner: Been A Long Time (Led Zeppelin)
12. Carolyn Hester: Lonesome Tears (Buddy Holly, whom she said, used to live around the corner from her in the Village (!))
13. Carolyn Hester (with her daughters) on bass and piano: Summertime (Gershwin)
14. Carolyn Hester (with her daughters?) on bass and piano: Get Together (Jesse Colin Young)
15. James Maddock: I Can’t Settle (his)
16. James Maddock: Another Life (his)
17. James Maddock: Beautiful Now (his)
18. Willie Nile (with Johnny Pisano on bass, of course): Seeds of Revolution(his)
19. Willie Nile (with Pisano): American Ride (his)
20. Everyone: One Guitar (Willie Nile)
21. Everyone: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Terre’s new cowbelled up “Face down at Folk City” came across with cheer and remembrance of the real-life events at Folk City that inspired the song. Real-life knock down fighting verses and giving it to the girl’s room bowl verse. Did I mention Mike Porco’s famous dollar beer nights?
Her rendition of “The Shoals of Herring“ was tender and just what we needed. Her voice cradled the new-to-her Irish lyrics and she made the harmony hers. She was able to convey the sea life of passion from the song to the audience.
Richard dazzled with his Phil Ochs tribute singing ‘While I’m here.’ Co-emceeing and rounding out the house band, Richard added some octane to Terre and Paul Metsa’s sets.
Paul spoke of his 1985 debut at Folk City. On the road ever since, Paul brought his seasoned presence to the Ochs song and meshed the stage with Roche and Barone on his own composition.
Stoner’s set was a peek behind the jam session ideas between he and Bob Dylan. Demos of Dylan songs sent to James Brown, Elvis and Sinatra? Worth the price of admission for those stories and songs. He punctuated his set by bringing on Konrad to drum along with a Jerry Lee-style version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Rock and Roll.”
And the house fell down!
Carolyn drew the crowd to their feet as she walked on stage. Truly a Royal welcome by those knowing her connections through the years. From Pete Seeger to Buddy Holly to Bob Dylan to this evening. Her godly hair made the green room inhabitants fawn with courtship praise. A Buddy Holly song opened her set. Her daughters joined her on two more arrangements; Gershwin's 'Summertime' and 'Get together' made famous by the Youngbloods. Another standing O followed her off stage. It was obvious to all that this was a Queen’s visit.
Maddock arrived in time to inspire the green room actors again. After being introduced by Rob Stoner as ‘one of the best modern lyricists’ we smooshed into the hall to listen to the man at work. When Willie Nile is singing along with James Maddock’s songs, you know it’s got to be worth the listen. When does Willie have time to study his peers? Three songs and it was done. He held the audience enrapt for 3 songs and it was gone until next time. Impecable. Sublime.
Willie Nile and Johnny Pisano on bass made their audience holler with affirmation and delight. This is what Willie does. The two of them work so well but welcomed the entire band on stage for his sing along “One guitar.” (Along with ‘Face Down” as the two songs also played at the Folk City 50th.)
For the finale, the entire crew of angels from Folk City’s past brought a couple of modern fellas up there to close the night singing Uncle Bob’s “The times they are-a-changin.”
Including the audience! Left to right we have James Maddock, Paul Metsa, Richard Barone, Drummer Konrad Meissner (out of view), Amy Blume, Willie Nile, Karla Blume, Carolyn Hester, Rob Stoner, Terre Roche and some random dude. Terre was cool with him so who was I to say.
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is just a discrete blog title instead of 'whoopsie'
I’m gonna include here a couple of declarations about the show posted to my own page. This is really how it was seen from the audience!
Mindy:
Willie Nile and me at The Iridian Jazz Club for Folk City’s 60th Anniversary concert! Such an amazing star studded concert. Terre Roche, Richard Barone, Willie Nile, Rob Stoner, James M A Maddock, Carolyn Hester, Paul Metsa and more. Bob Porco, the grandson of Mike Porco, who was the owner of Folk City, produced the concert with Richard BARONE.
What a jubilant and memorable night of music, last night at The Iridium (51st & B’way), celebrating the 60th anniversary of the legendary folk, folk/rock club, Gerde’s Folk City, in Greenwich Village, NYC. Friends know that I saw Bob Dylan there for the first time as a 17 year old college freshman (with Jeffrey Lukowsky to whom I am still grateful for convincing me to come)!, and I was back multiple times after that (no set lists from those days, alas), so this was one we (of course, with Linda Mason Perlin) could not miss. And are so happy we went! Performers from (literally) then and now, traditional folk music of all sorts, early protest music, recent hard driving rock, an implausible collection of covers (only four Dylans, but his aura and presence were there for every performance), ending in a hard driving, scream-your-head-off Time They Are A-Changin’ (more on that later)). We – no surprise at all – were fortunate enough to run into (and share a table with our friends Gail Prusslin and Michael Yellin and Glenn Last), and as special bonus, got to spend a few minutes with our son Alex Perlin, while in line waiting for the doors to open (he knew we were there and surprised us; it wasn’t a coincidence).
So many high points, but seeing a gorgeous and radiant Carolyn Hester (who will be 83 next week (!) who *opened* Folk City in 1960, singing solo, with (whom I think were) her granddaughters, and then in the concluding ensembles was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill. And James Maddock and Willie Nile were, of course, as spectacular as when we see them as solo acts.
I’ve missed a couple from the set list, but here is most of it (have left out the drummer – Conrad? – and also, Richard Barone was on guitar with many of the others as well)
Intro: Bob Porco, grandson of Mike Porco, who created Gerde’s: Personal Jesus (the only time that Johnny Cash ever covered Depeche Mode, most likely).
1. Terre Roche : Face Down at Folk City (The Roches)
2. Terre Roche & Richard Barone: When I’m Gone (Phil Ochs)
3. Paul Metsa (from the Iron Range in Minnesota, his home town 20 miles from Hibbing, and the only name I had not known before): Walking in a Woman’s World
4. Terry Roche & Richard Barone & Paul Metsa: Shoals of herring (Clancy Brothers, I think)
5. Rob Stoner (in Dylan’s band for years; listen to the bass guitar solo at the beginning of One More Cup of Coffee; that’s him): If I Can Dream (Elvis Presley)
6. Rob Stoner: Forever Young (BD, in the mode of Elvis)
7. Rob Stoner: It’s a Man’s World (James Brown)
8. Rob Stoner: You’re a Big Girl Now (BD)
9. Rob Stoner: Cryin’ (Roy Orbison)
10. Rob Stoner: Blowin’ in the Wind (BD, but in the mode of Frank Sinatra)
11. Rob Stoner: Been A Long Time (Led Zeppelin)
12. Carolyn Hester: Lonesome Tears (Buddy Holly, whom she said, used to live around the corner from her in the Village (!))
13. Carolyn Hester (with her daughters) on bass and piano: Summertime (Gershwins)
14. Carolyn Hester (with her daughters) on bass and piano: Get Together (Jesse Colin Young)
15. James Maddock: I Can’t Settle (his)
16. James Maddock: Another Life (his)
17. James Maddock: Beautiful Now (his)
18. Willie Nile (with Johnny Pisano on bass, of course): Seeds of Revolution(his)
19. Willie Nile (with Pisano): American Ride (his)
20. Everyone: One Guitar (Willie Nile)
21. Everyone: The Times They Are A-Changin’ (each verse led by one of the stars; the anthem chorus lines by all 160 in the audience; hearing the “Come senators, congressman, please heed the call” and “come mothers and fathers” lines was frighteningly chilling).
In all, a memorable night. Beyond memorable. And the last 57 years went by like a dream. Thank you to everyone who made this possible! (listening to Joan Baez sing Sad Eyed Ladies of the Lowlands as I finish typing this.. about as mise en scene as you can get)
Ryan and I were lucky enough to attend the 60th Anniversary Celebration of Gerdes Folk City last night 🎶 A fabulous show and outstanding performances by all , including Rob Stoner , Carolyn Hester , Willie Nile , Richard Barone , Paul Metsa , Terre Roche, James Maddock , and very talented backup musicians...Big thanks to Bob Porco for keeping the great history of his grandfather Mike Porco going !!! 👍👍✨✨✨ Richard Barone’s version of Phil Ochs When I’m Gone made my eyes swell up ~ i didn’t want the show end .
A youtube glimpse:
Alas, the next day Mr. Jones called it ‘A missed opportunity.' Not fake news. Not gonna argue the point.
Yes. I shanked it. Gotta keep moving. At least I'm not Yoko or Meg Markle.
When I played baseball, there was that one guy on the team who strikes out twice on six BAD pitches. Not even good ones. Gotta get 'em off the field. That was me for 14 minutes one day. But just for a day…
Does it make me feel better to publish a mea culpa? Nope. Well, maybe a little. Will a few hold a grudge and want their 14 minutes back? Time reveals all.
All I did was step on my d!ck. You’ve heard the expression. In basketball talk, I threw up a brick. Made the team look like the coaches shaped the offense around your brick making skills. Try it sometime. First take out you d!ck. Then step on it.
Like any good team, be it bowling or basketball, a weak member can only help the team get a win if their efforts are supplemented or flat out absorbed. The Guy tossing gutter balls at a bowling tournament needs his teammates to pick him up. A couple of hot hands can make the point moot in the end with extra pins.
In basketball, the whistle blows and the zero sum bitch brick shooting player is escorted from the game. The new set of five players go on to win the game. End of story. Everybody back to work.
It should be the end, but I need to stay to the form I've committed to on this blog and write my own review of shows I promote. I’ve had this blog for 10 years now. Many pictures from my mobile have made it here. Hundreds from the HD camera. I've published screenshot after screenshot of stuff up to and including the GERDE’S FOLK CITY AT 60 event at the Iridium. So my review alludes to my own left footed kick off. No offense to lowly left-footed kickers.
The pictures tell the story. WHAT A NIGHT! One coherent question I asked was 'does Folk City still matter? Look around.' The performers came with passion. Spilled it all over the stage.
I offered my biggest THANK YOU to those who sold that place out. I started there and should have ended there.
My failure was in not sticking to the plan. My plan was to be in a dark corner while holding Carolyn Hester’s hand watching from a distance.
Then the plan slid to another plan with no name and unknown details.
Note to self: Stay off the stage. Revert to Plan A which was sit with Carolyn. Stay. Find time to record some video from the audience after the show is rolling, Bob.
I've considered 60 other options that I could have taken. Silence and elevation to the second floor, in retrospect, appears to be the best unused choice. I could have listened from the street until I knew there was a show rolling downstairs. Then watch. But noooo
Parts of Plan A went down. Not in order. Not when it was needed. But I did stay in the back with Carolyn and her daughters, in a full embrace at one point that was hard enough to flatten my pocketed glasses.
There were laughs and also jeers. Heartfelt but rambling, I think the reviewer said.
Yup. Even my apologies. They ramble.
I still had to wake up the next day and have my own bowel movement. No one else was there to wipe my soiled rear with the two reviews that people bothered to write. I had to do that. I read one review. Heard about the other. Care about zero. No one else rambled like I did. I wonder if Jack Elliott would want me to take the nickname ‘Rambling’ but with the G. Rambling Bob. I wonder. Blogs are good for Rambling. Driving down the road, tryin' to loosen my load, I got 7 women on my mind.
These musicians were willing to put up with me cuz I'm the only Porco in town. The graces I’ve been bestowed never cease. They work with me because they know my heart is in it. And after striking out, they still offered praise. Some. Not all. One performer missed it entirely. Two others didn't care. Another was busy, busy. All were business-like and yet caring, If you can believe it. Striking out didn't change the audience's reaction, standing O's and the fact that not one soul walked out until the lights went back on. Facts.
HAVE and have NOT
My imagined toast to the crowd: To the memories of people who are no longer here. My friends over ten years: Suze Rotolo. Richie Havens. Frank Christian. Jack Hardy. Vince Martin. Bruce Langhorne. John Cohen. Izzy. I HAVE that. Here's to them.
Instead there was too much NOT entertainment in the intro.
As Willie Nile said to me in the green room, Bob, you got us to the dance. “Mike doesn’t need you to do anything from the stage. Just doing this concert and filling the place…that’s all you need to do.”
“Yeah, I froze. I wasn't there. Got us off on a left foot but the music is warming the place up.”
“I’ve been there, man. You don’t have to do anything once the doors open. Mike would be proud just to see this crowd. YOU did that.”
To which I welled up and faced the wall with Willie still in my ear. I’m not saying any tears fell but it fucking felt like it was getting misty. I'm not crying. YOURE crying.
“If you’ve got more of the footage you showed the crowd earlier…that will be Mike Porco’s legacy.”
“Would you believe…that film deal is still alive and conversation about funding…”
“I believe it. Thats for your daughter. Emceeing shows. That’s not Mike’s legacy. That film, his story, that’s what we want to see.” Pausing he said, "That said, James is en route from New Jersey."
I immediately thought of how pleasant and patient the audience was to me.
We smirk a bit. He knows that we held a secret known only to Willie Nile and me Secret Plan A1. That plan was to stall a wee bit early on to enable James Maddock to do his 8pm set in the South of New Jersey and drive to Times Square to do the penultimate appearance for our show. As fate would have it, his girlfriend’s 50 minute drive took him to our door in the exact time he was needed on stage. Whew! was the expression out of Rob Stoner’s mouth. And on he went. And the Musicians themselves oozed with delight at his wordsmithing and delivery.
Someone exclaimed, “Maddock just pulled a Chuck Berry maneuver. From the curb side with guitar in hand to the stage in tune!”
That actually happened.
The undistinguished delivery of the show's intro was entirely my doing and my first apology the morning after went directly to Stoner. True statement from me: I know I will get a pass from Mike's friends until the check clears. But discord was not my intention. I have no excuses.
AND STILL It was a special night. The game (was there ever a game to be won at all?) was a victory. Player mentioned above was sent to the Developmental League. There are rumors he’s moved within the organization to accounting. Still dresses up in uniform on game day. No one seems to notice.
And the band marched on. The Tuba player fell flat of his face but the 2 hour long parade of genius players picked him up and marched past. They marched and marched. The Legacy of Mike Porco lives on. Those who remain sour holding grapes have something not worth keeping. Mike’s name was over used, along with Dr. King, during an opening statement. Not criminal. Some bewildered customers went home at the end without the information about “how exactly did Porco’s commitment to run a cabaret in 1960 meld the best music talent America had to offer into one recognizable species of Rock and Roll within a matter of 3 or 4 years?”
That’s a mouth full. Imagine trying to explain this in Spanish:
Comenzando en 1960 y virtualmente de la noche a la mañana, Folk City se convirtió en el escaparate de estreno para los más aclamados cantautores de Estados Unidos, Blues y artistas folclóricos tradicionales.
Jubilant and wonderful, exclaimed one guest of the show.
Amazing and star-studded, said Princess WOW.
Those are the reviews we like.
"We must learn to stand together as brothers or we shall perish as fools."
The day after the show, Kobe Bryant died. I felt like I got off the hook a little. Paying customers had a second to ‘let go’ of the angst about the 60th Opening oxygen debt. Kobe’s death made men cry. I cried immediately and everyday since. Tears of joy. He went home.
"No one cares what you HAVE or have NOT. Just let the show happen." I admit, I broke a cardinal rule: Leave your luggage off stage.
I am lucky to have Grandpa’s friends as my own family. I do not have stage skills. Malice towards taking people’s stagetime was absent. As was preparation. “You jus’a don’t know any better,” my grandfather might say.
Days after the fact, the Plan AAA that could have been comes into clear view. Terri Thal (Dave Van Ronk's first wife; The Roches and Bob Dylan's first manager) was there. As was Dee Dixon (New World Singers lead who helped Dylan write 'Blowin' in the Wind'). They should have taken the stage to discuss 1960 while I was’a walking’ away.
I could have walked to that dark corner with Carolyn and Terre and try to elevate and listen. Faith. Trust. Silence. Listen. Wouldn’t that have been groovy?!
I paid myself a dollar just for recognizing the real Plan AAA that would have worked.
I have an opportunity to improve. The Kobe ‘mentality’ in the headlines makes sense today. The NBA players upped their game in the aftermath. The show went on. Teams played that night. The wake of his death is still noticeable on the faces of the NBA players. They say ‘that’s what Kobe would want. Ya fail. Head goes up. Smile. Move on. Work hard. Work a lot. And appreciate those who benefit from your hard work.’
Makes sense.
They/we are still, at this writing, STILL crying. Bryant's death was a shock to the system. Even people who don’t follow basketball teared up. Don’t lie. The helicopter crash was a 9 person 9.11. Sad and random and so young with such great plans to reach more people in the future. And his poor daughter. It was felt worldwide. The first person I thought of was John Lennon. He was 40. Imagine the music and art he ‘would’ have displayed. Imagine the effect Kobe may have had on Hollywood. Unfathomable.
Just a buck
I have another dollar more today. A dollar Patron on Patreon. My first. I have plans to move on from the flub. I have already moved on- Moving on to sharing my Folk Stash of the Decade with Patrons on Patreon direct. Only costs a dollar to divert me from the stage.
In my studio, I will provide some edited scenes for the Patreon believers. The MOVIE Positively Porco was positively NOT still born. Not by a long shot. Still resonates as loud as ever in the studio. It’s the only REAL project, anyway.
A dollar gets a glimpse of the interviews and other live concert stuff I have.
The rest of the time, I just keep moving. I learned that from Izzy Young. I’m on a first name basis with Izzy. Mike, too. Phil. Vince. Frank. Jack. Cisco. Bruce. John. Fred. Oscar. They send smoke signals every once in a while.
‘Gotta get back in the arena,’ they say. ‘If you want to make amends. Get back in the arena. There’s no room for spectators in this circle.’
And stop being an A-hole. (I said that!)
The day after the 60th, I made a bonfire outside. As hot as heads can get, like the embers in my little campfire, they eventually lose heat. It all becomes ash. One must rise up, leave their charred pit and gather fuel for others within the circle. Faith. Trust. Silence. Day in. Day out.
