Subterranean 75th Birthday Salute to Bob - HI REZ PIX

Rob Stoner, Bob Cohen

Forever Young

Hurricane

Mike Scott

Happy Traum

The Kennedys

Phil Cimino

Bob Porco

Nick Spinetti

The New World Singers

George Gerdes

Terre Roche

Marc Jonson

Mike+Ruthy

Willie Nininger and Maura
'Like a Rolling Stone'
overture

Astounding

Concert for Bob- May 24th SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

As we approach the merry month of May, many great living artists will be celebrated

on their birthdays. 

Should news of their birthdays start to 

"trend,"

many fans of said artists and writers and

Musicians will pay a simple tribute to 

their favorites by 

POSTING a picture or news report or a song for their

FOLLOWERS to enjoy. Yippie. 

Let's cut to the chase...that don't mean shit. 

Ya call that 'celebrating?'

And if I may be bold in saying, there is NO bigger artist on Earth

poised to experience one of life's special

milestones. 

"The greatest poet 

since Shakespeare to use the English language," as one of my friends likes to say,

will be turning 75 on May 24th. 

Imagine if Shakespeare's friends and colleagues 

took the time to celebrate his 50th turn

around the sun...what a blast they may have had!!

But that was 4 centuries ago. This is now.

We here in New York City have decided

that we won't let Bob Dylan's 75th birthday pass without

having a good bash. 

So for those who have been living under a stone, I will alert you to

the list of performers celebrating this 

May 24

in 

NYC:

Our fearless bandleader for the night

is 

Rob Stoner. 

With

Happy Traum

The Kennedys

George Gerdes

Terre Roche

Marc Jonson

Rod MacDonald

Mark Dann

Mike+Ruthy

And

Drummer

Luther Rix

There are about 65 seats left. Standing room/walk up sales

is pooh-poohed for this show. 

This is an invite to those who want to be at

The Village Underground 

at 

130 West 3rd Street

(the former site of Folk City)

to celebrate in style. 

As if

the list of performers celebrating 

the words and music of Bob Dylan

weren't enough,

what will make you wish you were there 

should be the news that 

SPECIAL GUESTS

scheduled to appear are

members of seminal Folk quartet

The New World Singers. 

That's right. 

Happy Traum will be camping out on stage

for the evening

and at some point,

Bob Cohen and 

Delores Dixon

shall join in and team up once again

54 YEARS since they recorded

"Blowin in the wind" for the 

VERY FIRST TIME. 

(that's right, not Bob)

Bob wrote it and handed it to Gil Turner who then

worked on it with his bandmates

with Bob's blessing. 

ADDITIONALLY

A very special guest is bound to appear

and will play on songs

that he helped arrange, record and perform with Dylan during 

The '60s. 

SSSHHHHH! It's a double-secret visit to Greenwich Village 

for this musician. Not fair to tell or guess!

You can't prepare for what's coming. 

You'll just have to be there to witness it. 

It's over the top COOL. 

PLEASE SECURE A SEAT. 

Go:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/subterranean-75th-birthday-salute-to-bob-dylan-tickets-20145794614

A PORTION OF ALL TICKET SALES

WILL GO TOWARD LESSONS FOR A LOCAL

SCHOOL AGE MUSICIAN.

Help the cause.

A little place called Gerde's
(Fred McDarrah)

Mike Porco

not Mike Porco

Bob Dylan at Gerde's Folk City

Bob Dylan was in the audience for all of
Big Joe's sets this engagement

History unfolded at Folk City

Find your name, ask Bob Porco to come to the show. That easy.

Rob Stoner, Joan Baez, Dylan, Eric Andersen
at the Rolling Thunder kickoff at Folk City, 1975
(Photo Fred McDarrah)

Bob Cohen, Delores Dixon, Happy Traum of
The New World Singers

The Village Underground is under the site of this picture

Somewhere in time, at 130 W3rd Street

THE ANSWER MY FRIENDS

No offense to the other Bob, but he's been known to tell tall tales. 

Was he a carnie in New Mexico? A hobo? Does his driver's license say Jack Frost, Elston Gunn or Robert Zimmerman? Only the shadow knows.

I finally had the opportunity to talk to the sweetest woman living in Riverdale, New York, Delores Dixon. We had promised ourselves a visit with each other back when we met in May of this year. Somehow, that engagement stretched out all the way until today, a sunny and blustery Bronx day in November.

It's not everyday you get to have pizza and chat with a Greenwich Village Folk pioneer. Her name may not be known in every household, but she played an important role in the propagation of American Folk songs in the early 1960s with her trio, and sometime quartet, the New World Singers.

Gil Turner, Bob Cohen, Happy Traum and a young lady named Dee Dixon joined forces to create a band that would go on to be the very first to record the most replicated and re-recorded song of all time, Bob Dylan's 'Blowin' in the Wind.'

It was on a record called Broadsides and legend has it that a young Bobby Dylan showed up at Gerde's one day with the song when he was finally satisfied with the final product. He 'wowed' Gil Turner with the historic song in the basement, and Dylan let Gil be the first to perform it for an audience upstairs at Folk City. 

But the song had to come from somewhere. Of course, the melody had been 'borrowed,' in the folk process form of the word, from a song called 'No more auction block for me.' Delores Dixon became an accomplished singer and pianist playing such Gospels for her church amongst other numerous engagements and concerts. She was pals with 'Robert' and one day in East Harlem, they were tooling around with melodies and arrangements…Jamming, as it were, verbally.

"I watched him as he wrote the lyrics at my mother's house. He had a journal full of lyrics. He could put lyrics together in minutes. He liked the melody I had come up with.''

The other Bob is a little too busy confirm, clarify or to wax poetic about the past. But Dee Dixon just spilled some beans on film for me. Mr. Dylan also said in ''Chronicles'' that Delores was a dancer, journalist and from Alabama, neither of which are true. Make of it what you will.

~~~~~~~~~

I will be continuing to make the definitive documentary on the legendary Folk cabaret, Gerde's Folk City. It's called POSITIVELY PORCO. It's a story made by braiding together all the first person accounts from all the originals on the 'scene.' Delores was there. Robert was there. Gil Turner. Mike Porco. Arlo Guthrie. Odetta. Oscar Brand. John Lee Hooker. Suze Rotolo. Ratso. Stoner. Hammond. Feliciano. The club was truly home to American music history. 

I'm happy to become witness to the most interesting collection of memories and tales I could think of. And I'm more than happy to call Delores a friend, too. She doesn't want me to set the record straight or make a fuss. She speaks matter-of-fact about her past. And you can't change the past. She was part of the first group to record 'Blowin.' Case closed. Robert was at the recording session and was happy to share it with his friends. I think Dylan said it best in that Super Bowl commercial: You can't fake original.

~Porco