May 9 - 22, 2013
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Air of celebration blowin’ in the wind, at Dylan tribute Continued from page 20 three-part harmonies, “Freewheelin’ ” never sold at gold record volumes. But 11 of the album's 13 songs were powerful and soon-beloved Dylan originals. With “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” the kid in the corduroy cap stepped out on his own — and through the five decades since the album’s release, Bob Dylan has remained a force to be reckoned with in popular music. To celebrate the album’s 50th birthday, a baker’s dozen of contemporary folk singers will perform the album’s 13 songs (and more) in a special concert on May 21 at the Village Underground — a most fitting venue, because 130 West 3rd was the second site of Gerde’s Folk City, the club that launched Dylan’s career. Also fitting: Bob Porco, grandson of the legendary Mike Porco (who founded Gerde’s and booked Dylan to his first paid New York gigs) is producing the celebration. “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” is an album worth celebrating. At times Dylan’s voice sounds high and scratchy, at others warm and caressing. The puzzling riddles of “Blowin’ in the Wind,”
At the May 21 tribute, spoken word artist Paul Mills (aka Poez) will deliver Dylan’s black comedy song “Talking World War III Blues.”
the winsome romance of “Girl from the North Country,” the dramatic guitar runs of “Down the Highway,” the antic comedy of “Bob Dylan's Dream,” the Biblical imagery of “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” the ironic resignation of “Don't Think Twice, It’s All Right,” the howling harmonica of “Talking World War III Blues” — Dylan seeds every
track with sounds and styles that have blossomed in the dozens of masterful albums he has recorded since. “The [May 21] concert grew out of the folk revival nights I put on over several years at the old Gaslight," said producer Porco, a trim personal trainer, “and now I'm making a documentary film about my grandfather Mike and his musician friends that he helped get started at Folk City. In March, around the fountain in Washington Square Park, we shot the film’s first interview with Izzy Young. He ran the Folklore Center on MacDougal Street where Dylan, Phil Ochs and the other protest singers hung out.” Porco has put together a congenial group of Folk City alums for the May concert. Terre Roche, known both as a soloist and, with her sisters Maggie and Suzzy, as a member of the folk trio The Roches, will sing “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Judy Gorman, who describes herself as “An Analog Girl in a Digital World,” will perform “Masters of War.” Singerhumorist Willie Nininger, who has won numerous Bob Dylan imitator contests, will handle the stark “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” — and Erik Frandsen will sing “Bob Dylan’s Dream,” a nostalgic song that Dylan adapted from an old English folk melody, “Lord Franklin.” “I’ve always loved how Dylan made traditional tunes his own,” says Frandsen, adding with a chuckle, “or you could say, Bob Dylan knows how to steal!” Samoa Wilson, a singer with a richly romantic alto voice who came to prominence with the Jim Kweskin band, will sing the bittersweet love ballad “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” Paul Mills, better known as the spoken word artist Poez (who, in the 70s, busked in Washington Square, reciting poetry and wearing a black stovepipe hat), will deliver Dylan’s black comedy song, “Talking World War III Blues.” “When I started out, poets imitated Allen Ginsburg’s sing-songy, ‘Dah-dah, dah-dah’ style of reading poetry,” says Poez, now a lawyer who has defended many Occupy Wall Street protestors. “I wanted to get the drama, the music, out of poetry. I’ve always been a huge Dylan fan, especially of the Freewheelin’ album. Dylan’s songs are in the long American tradition of honesty, compassion and simplicity. He’s up there with Dashiell Hammett, John Huston and Ernest Hemingway.”
Photos by Michael Lydon
L to R: Izzy Young and David Massengill, in Washington Square.
Tribeca Spotlight: The Next Voice You Hear
Joe Matarese in Laughs For Mom Friday, May 10 at 8pm . $15 / Students & Senior $10
Joe Matarese
What better way to celebrate family, especially mom, than with stand-up comic Joe Matarese’s completely autobiographical act that pokes fun at his subtly dysfunctional Italian family, his own neuroses, his life with a four year old, and his marriage to a psychologist (his perfect match). With Adrienne Iapalucci and Paul Virzi Call 212-220-1460 for more information or
Visit the Box Office located on the campus of the BMCC 199 Chambers St., NYC. Order single tickets online: www.TribecaPAC.org • Follow us on Facebook & Twitter • Downtown Express comedy may.indd 1
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