Remembering Richie Havens, 1941-2013
I wasn’t at Max Yasgur’s Farm in 1969 when Richie Havens impressed throngs of people at the Woodstock festival. I was just a youngster then. But I did get to hear him up close and personal in the late 1970s at my alma mater, Huntington High School, in Huntington, New York. He was performing in the auditorium, along with Harry Chapin, at one of the late singer-songwriter’s many benefit concerts. Richie joined his fellow Brooklyn NY-born folksinger in heaven or wherever kindhearted gentle souls go, on April 22, after suffering a heart attack at home in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was 72.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
Remembering Pete Fornatale: A Pioneering New York Radio DJ
The folk, folk-rock and singer-songwriter communities lost one of their most ardent champions and promoters last week with the passing of Pete Fornatale, a pioneering New York radio DJ, who introduced me and many others to some wonderful artists whose music has become the soundtrack of our lives.
[To read the full article -- including reflections from artists who knew Pete and excerpts from an interview I did with him in 1989 -- click on the headline.]
‘Legends of Folk: The Village Scene’ Airs on PBS Stations in August
Well-known figures in folk music perform their best-loved songs in the new PBS documentary, Legends of Folk: the Village Scene. Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary fame hosts the special celebrating the folk era in New York City’s Greenwich Village – the epicenter of the folk, folk-rock and singer-songwriter movements during the 1960s. The special program premieres on PBS television stations in August. Check your local listings for air dates and times in your area.
[To read the full article, click on the headline.]
Ann Arbor Folk Festival Slated for Jan. 29-30
Tickets are currently on sale for the Ann Arbor Folk Festival that takes place January 29-30 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now in its 33rd year, the two-night event featuring traditional and contemporary artists is a fundraiser for The Ark, Ann Arbor’s nonprofit home for folk, roots and ethnic music.
[To read the entire article, click on the headline.]
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