Manhattan
37 years ago I arrived in Manhattan wearing a fleece lined army surplus flight jacket with a broken zipper, held together with two ropes. I had a back pack and about 75 cents in my pocket. I was twenty years old. I had hitch hiked across country from California with my buddy Scot Simbulan, whom I have not seen since. I remember that I didn’t bring my guitar because I figured everybody would be so good that there would be no room for me. What I found was that Greenwich Village had moved on. What was left was a handful collection of real people and a whole lot of posers waiting to be discovered by TV. But I was in the Village and this was Manhattan and there couldn’t be anything closer to heaven in my book.
Manhattan! That’s where we are now, up at 113th and Riverside Drive, staying with my buddy Mark. He’s a multi instrumentalist and a gas to hang out with. We only have a few days here so it’ll be fast. Last night we played at a book store around the corner from his house, a small but appreciative crowd. Today we’ll just wander around and check out the sights – and for me that means the neighborhoods and the benches. And the smell of the place – a mixture of pizza and concrete. Makes me hungry. Tomorrow morning I’ll get up around 6 am and head downtown to be at the Firehouse Station where they broadcast Democracy Now! Years ago Amy Goodman gave me an open invitation to drop by any time I was in the city and this will be the second time I took her up on it.
I picked up two books last night. “The Mayor Of MacDougle Street – a memoir” by Dave Van Ronk, and “Garcia – A Signpost To A New Space” which is Jerry Garcia interviews. To my thinking they are kindred spirits. Van Ronk was the big great hearted lord of the east coast folk scene – mentoring everybody from Bob Dylan to Joni Mitchell – and Garcia was the folk saturated mandolin/jazz/rock guitar player of the Grateful Dead who carried all that wonderful old folk music with him into the late 20th century. Two generous giants from the same ocean of soul. I would have loved to hear them play together. Maybe they did.
Anyway, I’m going to put this up so that people don’t think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth. I’m off to Berea, Ohio in a couple of days and will finally make it home next week. See you down the road.
Manhattan! That’s where we are now, up at 113th and Riverside Drive, staying with my buddy Mark. He’s a multi instrumentalist and a gas to hang out with. We only have a few days here so it’ll be fast. Last night we played at a book store around the corner from his house, a small but appreciative crowd. Today we’ll just wander around and check out the sights – and for me that means the neighborhoods and the benches. And the smell of the place – a mixture of pizza and concrete. Makes me hungry. Tomorrow morning I’ll get up around 6 am and head downtown to be at the Firehouse Station where they broadcast Democracy Now! Years ago Amy Goodman gave me an open invitation to drop by any time I was in the city and this will be the second time I took her up on it.
I picked up two books last night. “The Mayor Of MacDougle Street – a memoir” by Dave Van Ronk, and “Garcia – A Signpost To A New Space” which is Jerry Garcia interviews. To my thinking they are kindred spirits. Van Ronk was the big great hearted lord of the east coast folk scene – mentoring everybody from Bob Dylan to Joni Mitchell – and Garcia was the folk saturated mandolin/jazz/rock guitar player of the Grateful Dead who carried all that wonderful old folk music with him into the late 20th century. Two generous giants from the same ocean of soul. I would have loved to hear them play together. Maybe they did.
Anyway, I’m going to put this up so that people don’t think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth. I’m off to Berea, Ohio in a couple of days and will finally make it home next week. See you down the road.
posted by Jim Page at 11:37 AM
3 Comments:
Great post Jim...
I get a strong positive sense of your presence in the big apple and your roots all in one!
baba
I don't think Garcia's on any recording playing mandolin. Jerry often played banjo when he teamed up with his good friend, mandolin-playing David Grisman.
P.S. they (Garcia & Van Ronk) most definitely never did play together, at least nothing in the studio or anything recorded and put into our hands, the hands of the public. I've never read anything of them ever meeting up.
Hey AKA... Sorry about that mandolin thing. I meant that Garcia's lead lines often reminded of mandolin. There was a lot of bluegrass in them. Other players I know have said the same thing.
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