Jackson, Aunt Molly
Jackson, Harry
Jaffe, “Prof” Joe
James, Skip
Jancke, Ed
Japan
Jazz
apprenticeship system in
and older folk styles
relations among musicians
trad-Dixieland revival
traditional vs. modern
Jazz and Heritage Festival (New Orleans)
Jazz Cardinals
Jefferson, Blind Lemon
Jews
Jim Kweskin Jug Band. See also Kweskin, Jim
Joan of Arc High School
Joans, Ted
“John Henry,”
Johnson, Blind Willie
Johnson, Bunk
Johnson, James P.
Johnson, Lonnie
Johnson, Robert
Jonson, Ben
Joplin, Scott
Jug bands
Jukovsky, Marty
Kalb, Danny
Kaplan, Eddie
Kaufman, Bob
Kazoo playing
“K.C. Moan,”
Kern, Nan
Kerouac, Jack
Kettle of Fish coffeehouse
Kilberg, Lionel
Kingston Trio
“Kisses Sweeter Than Wine,”
Kornfeld, Barry
writing as “Kafka,”
Kossoy Sisters
KPFA radio station
Krasilowski, Bill
“Kumbaya,”
Kunstadt, Len
Kweskin, Jim
Labor Youth League (LYL)
Laibman, Dave
Lampell, Millard
Lang, Eddie
Langhorne, Bruce
Lass, Roger
“Last Thing on My Mind, The,”
Leadbelly
Leary, Timothy
Lederman, Perry
Lee, Peggy
Lenin, V. I.
Let’s Sing Out (Canadian television show)
Levine, Jerry
Lewis, Furry
Liberals
Libertarian League
Linardos, Byron
Linder, Bob
“Linin’ Track,”
“Links on the Chain,”
Lip-synching
Listening (learning how to listen)
Listen to Our Story (recording)
Little Richard
Lomax, Alan
Lomax, Bess
Lorca, Garcia
“Lord Randall,”
Los Angeles
Louis Armstrong Plays the Blues (recording)
Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five. See also Armstrong, Louis
Lourie, George
“Love Me, I’m a Liberal,”
Loyalty oaths
Lunsford, Bascom Lamar
LYL. See Labor Youth League
McCarthy, Joseph
McCurdy, Ed
MacDonald, Rod
MacDougal Street
McDowell, Fred
McGhee, Brownie
“Mack the Knife,”
McNiff, Tommy
Macon, Uncle Dave
McPartland, Jimmy
Madrigals
Magic Christian, The (Southern)
Maimudes, Victor
Malcolm X,
Mallarmé, Stéphane
“Maple Leaf Rag, The,”
Marais and Miranda
Marijuana
Mariners
Marlowe, Christopher
Martin, George
“Marvelous Toy, The,”
Marxists. See also Communist Party; Socialism/Socialist Party
“Mary Had a Baby,”
Masters, Mates, and Pilots Union
May Day rallies
Melman, Phil
Memphis
“Memphis Blues,”
Memphis Slim
Merchant marine. See under Van Ronk, Dave
Microphones
Middle class
Midnight Special (radio show)
Miller, Henry
Miller, Mitch
Mills, C. Wright
Mills Brothers
Milos, Bob
wife Juanita
Mississippi
Mitchell, John
Mitchell, Joni
Mitchell, “Mitch” and H. L.
Mob
Mocklin, Johnny
Mogull, Artie
Mole, Miff
Money. See under Van Ronk, Dave
Monk, Thelonious
Monkees
“Mooche, The,”
Morton, Jelly Roll
Muldaur, Geoff
“Mule Train,”
Munich, Germany
Musical training
Music and Art High School
“My Darling Party Line,”
Namanworth, Phil
Nationalism
Nebraska
Negroes. See Blacks
Negro Prison Songs (recording)
Neil, Fred
Neo-ethnics
Neuwirth, Bobby
Nevada
New Jersey
New Left
New Lost City Ramblers
New Orleans
Newport Folk Festivals
New song movement
New York (city). See also Greenwich Village; Washington Square Park
New York Times
Niles, John Jacob
Nixon, Richard
“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,”
Noone, Jimmy
Nord, Eric “Big Daddy,”
Norton, Jack (Old Man)
“Now Is the Hour,”
Ochs, Phil
Odetta
Odetta and Larry at the Tin Angel
Oliver, King
Olivier, Barry
Oral traditions
Orange Blossom Jug Five with Dave Van Ronk
Our Singing Heritage (recording)
Paige, Patti
Painters
Paley, Tom(n)
Parker, Charlie
Patrick Henry Brigade
Patton, Charley
Paul Clayton and the Fo’c’sle Singers. See also Clayton, Paul
Paxton, Tom
and new song movement
People’s Artists
People’s Songs
Pepper, Alan
Perlman, Phil
Peter, Paul, and Mary
Philadelphia
Phillips, Utah
Piano playing
Pickford, Mary
Pimps
“Pleasures of the Harbor,”
“Plow Under Every Fourth American Boy,”
Poetry
slang in
as unintelligible
Police
Politics
as overlapping folk scene
See also Liberals; New Left
Porco, Mike
“Port of Amsterdam,”
Pound, Ezra
Profitt, Frank
Protest songs
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Puerto Ricans
Rachell, Yank
Radio shows
Ragtime
Ragtime Jug Stompers
Rainey, Ma
“Ramblin’ Boy,”
Ramblin’ Jack
Ramsey, Frederic
Recordings/record companies
Cadet label
Columbia Records
Decca label
Elektra Records
field recordings
Folkways Records
Gaslight Records label
LP format
Lyrichord label
marketing recordings
Mercury label
MGM label
and musical trends
Okeh label
Polydor label
Prestige Records
reissues
Riverside label
stereo recording
thematic recordings of Paul
Clayton
Topic label (England)
Tradition label
Verve/Forecast label
Warner Brothers label
World Song label See also Van Ronk, Dave, recordings of
Red Channels
Red Chief. See Trevelyan, A. K.
Red Onion Jazz Band
Redpath, Jean
“Red Sails in the Sunset,”
Red Scare
Reed, Susan
Renaissance (club)
Renaissance Fairs
Rennert, Aaron
Reno, Nevada
Rhodes, Phil “Dusty,”
Richmond Hill, Queens
Rifkin, Ben
Right-wing press
Rilke, Rainer Maria
Rimbaud, Arthur
Ritchie, Jean
“River Come Down,”
Rock ’n’ roll
“Rock Island Line,”
Roderick, Judy
Rodgers, Jimmie
Rolling Stones
Romantic naturalism
Romney, Hugh
Root, John Schuyler (Jock)
Rose, Artie
Rosmini, Dick
Roth, Manny
“Royal Garden Blues,”
“Ruby Tuesday,”
Rushing, Jimmy
Sailing songs
“St. James Infirmary,”
“St. Louis Blues,”
“Saint Louis Tickle,”
St. Marie, Buffy
Salt Lake City
“Samson and Delilah,”
San Francisco
Tortola restaurant in
“San Francisco Bay Blues,”
San Francisco Chronicle
Sastre, Juan
Scabbing
Scaduto, Tony
Schneider, Alexander
Schoenberg, Rick
Schoenwetter, Paul
Sci-fi crowd
Scott, Molly
Scruggs, Earl
Seeger, Pete
“Blind Rafferty” column about
and Hootenanny show
and “The Ballad of Pete Seeger,”
Seidenberg, Bobby
Sellers, Brother John
Selling out
Sex. See also Free love
Shachmanites
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Shakespeare, William
Shanty Boys
Shaw, Lee and Larry
Shelton, Robert
Sherri’s Loft
Shoplifting
Short History of Sex Worship, The
Silverstein, Jean and Joe
Simon, Paul
Sin (watercolorist)
Sinatra, Frank
Sing Out! magazine
Pete Seeger’s column in
Skiffle in Stereo (recording)
Sky, Patrick
Smith, Bessie
Smith, Harry
Smith, Mamie
Smith, Willie “The Lion,”
Snobbery
Socialism/Socialist Party
Somali Youth League
“Song for Woody,”
Song writing
rewriting blues
and topical songs See also New song movement
Sonny and Brownie
Sons of the Pioneers
Sorrels, Rosalie
Sounds of a South American Rain Forest (recording)
“Sounds of Silence,”
Sousa, Phillip
Southern, Terry
Southern Tenant Farmers Union
Soviet Union
Spanish Civil War
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
“Spike Driver’s Blues,”
Spoelstra, Mark
“Sporting Life Blues,”
Sprung, Roger
“Stackolee,”
Stalinists
Stampfel, Peter
Stanley’s bar (East Village)
“Stars and Stripes Forever, The
“Star Spangled Banner,”
Steckert, Ellen
Sternlight, Dave
Stone, Doris
Stookey, Noel
Strikes
Suall, Irwin
Sullivan, Joe
Sullivan, Ray
Sullivan Street Playhouse
Sun Also Rises, The (Hemingway)
Syndicalism
“Talking Folklore Center Blues,”
“Talking New York,”
Tarriers
Tatum, Art
T-Bone Slim
Teagarden, Jack
“Tell Old Bill,”
Terry, Sonny
Thall, Terri (wife of Dave Van Ronk)
Third Side
“This Land Is Your Land,”
Thomas, Dylan
Time magazine
Tips
“Tom Dooley,”
Tompkins Square Park
Topanga Canyon
Topical songs
Tourists
Transvestite bars
Traum, Happy
Travers, Mary
Tresca, Carlo. See also Carlo Tresca Club
Trevelyan, A. K. (Red Chief)
Triple-A Drive-away
Tropic of Capricorn (Miller)
Trotsky, Leon
“True Religion,”
Trumpet playing
Turner, Georgia
“Tzena, Tzena,”
Ukulele music
Umanov, Mattie
Uncle Dominic
Unemployment
Unicorn
“United States March,”
“Urge for Going,”
Vagrancy
Vancouver Folk Festival
Van Duser, Guy
Van Gelder, Rudy
Van Ronk, Dave
childhood/early education
and concert halls vs. clubs
feuds with Bob Dylan
and Hudson Dusters
influences on
as left handed
as Mayor of MacDougal Street
with merchant marine
and money
parents/grandparents
performing sitting down
and Pete Seeger
recordings of
reviews of
as singer
switch from guitar to banjo
trip from Chicago to California
Village Voice cover piece on
wife Andrea
wife Terri. See Thall, Terri
writing as “Blind Rafferty,”
writing under own name
Van Ronk, Grace (mother)
Variety
Vega, Suzanne
Venuti, Joe
Vietnam War
Views and Comments (newsletter)
Village Gate
Village Vanguard
Village Voice
Villon, François
Von Bergeyk, Ton
Von Schmidt, Eric
von Tilzer, Harry
Waller, Fats
Warhol, Andy
Warner, Frank and Jean
Wasatch Range
Washboard playing
Washington Square Park
beatnik riot in
permits in
Watson, Doc
Watters, Lu
“Way Down in Lubyanka Prison,”
Wayne, John
Weavers
Webster, Ben
Weill, Kurt
Weiner, Sam
Weinstock, Bob
Weissberg, Eric
Weissman, Dick
Weissman, Rochelle
West Side Highway
White, Booker
White, Josh
White Horse Tavern
Whitman, Walt
“Who’ll Buy Your Chickens When I’m Gone,”
“Who’ll Buy You Ribbons,”
Wilkins, Robert
Williams, Big Joe
Williams, Clarence
“Willie the Weeper,”
Wilson, Kid
<
br /> Winn, John
“Winoweh,”
WNYC (radio station)
Women
Wood, Hally
Woods, Dave
Workers
World War II,
Worthy, William
“Wreck of the Old 97,”
Wynn, John
Yancy, Jimmy
Yarrow, Peter
Yellin, Bob
Young, Izzy
Young People’s Socialist League (YPSL)
Young Socialist League (YSL)
YPSL See Young People’s Socialist League
YSL. See Young Socialist League
Zappa, Frank
“Zen Koans Gonna Rise Again,”
Ziegler, Tommy
Zionists
1 Don’t get me wrong, I loved my uncle. For one thing, he taught me how to play harmonica . . . Strike three, come to think of it.
2 It was like the old joke about this guy in the army who keeps walking around picking up pieces of paper, turning them over, and saying, “That’s not it.” He does this for weeks and weeks, and no one can figure it out, and finally they send him off to the shrink’s office. He walks in, picks a piece of paper off the shrink’s desk, and says, “That’s not it.” Then he picks up another piece, and says, “That’s not it.” Finally the shrink says, “Clearly you are not suited for the military life,” and he writes out a psycho discharge. The guy picks it up, and says, “That’s it!” That was exactly how I felt.
3 I actually studied drums for a while, but that went nowhere. It was all discipline and no kicks. On uke or guitar, there was discipline but also kicks: once you learn how to finger a C chord, you strum the strings and, by god, it sounds like a C chord. On drums, if you’re working on a nine-stroke roll, it takes days, weeks, months before it sounds like anything other than six men chopping wood in an echo chamber. There’s no immediate gratification, and I’ve always insisted on immediate gratification.
4 Albeit sometimes wittily. Eddie Condon on bebop: “In my day we didn’t flat our fifths, we drank ’em.” Or Miles Davis on hearing a Bunk Johnson record: “They sound like a prison band, and they should be kept there until they stop playing like that.”
5 Of course, Hawkins was a bit modern for my taste at that point—my idea of a really good saxophone player was one of the guys who played with King Oliver—but I was willing to put up with Coleman Hawkins. As for what he thought of me, all I can say is, he was always very polite . . .
6 The term “viper” for marijuana smoker, which has sadly fallen into disuse, was derived from the sound made while inhaling.
7 I ran into Tom at the Vancouver Folk Festival about forty years later, and went out of my way to thank him for that afternoon, but he did not remember a bit of it. Some people don’t have any sense of history.
8 I still go back and forth on this issue: sometimes I think we were right to distance ourselves from the CP when and wherever possible, and sometimes I think we were a bunch of McCarthyite leftists and, given the situation, we should have been supporting those Stalinist swine right up and down the pike.
The Mayor of MacDougal Street Page 29