The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir by Dave Van Ronk, Elijah Wald
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Book Reviews of The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir
Book Review: Van Ronk Holding Court
Summary: 5 Stars
Keep a dictionary handy when you read this book. It's going to make you grin with pleasure, because Dave Van Ronk was no slouch with words. Just as with his music, Van Ronk was deeply devoted to his craft in his writing. He certainly managed to get his big arms around the world he breathed.
This book is bracingly honest, unfailingly adroit, and on top of that, it's funny as all get out. Move over, Bill Bryson. As a raconteur, Van Ronk takes a backseat to no one.
And, what stories he had to tell... He turned down an offer by Albert Grossman to join with Peter Yarrow and Mary Travers to form a trio. "Peter, Dave and Mary would never have worked", Van Ronk grouses. As a folk-bluesman, Van Ronk never made it big, but like the old blues people he pays tribute to, he knew who he was and that's all that counted.
He understood what made the music tick, the times he lived in, and what separated the big successes from the pack. He provides great analysis of Phil Ochs and Bob Dylan.
Anyone who has ever picked up a guitar and tried to learn finger-picking should wax wistful about a fellow like Van Ronk, who rubbed shoulders with and took lessons from the Reverend Gary Davis, and engaged in a snowball fight and arm-wrestled with the ever-spry Mississippi John Hurt.
An amazing book by an amazing man, this is.
Book Review: A Thoroughly Interesting Memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is very interesting due to its subject- the witty yet unschooled, tremendously talented, left-leaning, Mayor of MacDougal Street, Dave Van Ronk. Elijah Wald did an excellent job with this, though this read is not as compelling as Elijah's biography of Josh White, which is one of the best Blues-related books I've ever read, along with "Escaping The Delta", another of Elijah's works, which centers on the birth of the Blues, the "Race Records" industry, and the legend of Robert Johnson. There are many interesting and colorful stories in this book, some of them dealing with cross-country trips and free hamburgers and smuggling illegal substances into the United States. This book also allows us to see that there were players on the Greenwich Village scene before Bob Dylan, and in many cases, these men and women were a lot more talented than young Bob, at least in terms of proficiency on the guitar. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Dave Van Ronk, the Country Blues revival, the popular "Folk" music of the 1960s, and the aforementioned decade in general.Book Review: The Mayor Presides
Summary: 5 Stars
The Mayor of McDougal Street ties together many of Dave Van Ronk's personal recollections of Greenwich Village in the late Fifties and early Sixties. Through his colorful and candid anecdotes, he explains how he and many other great musicians got started, including Mississippi John Hurt, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Joni Mitchell, to name but a few. From his first days playing in Washington Square through what he calls the "Great Folk Scare," we see through his eyes what was happening in New York almost fifty years ago. I first found Dave Van Ronk through a guitar tab book in the Seventies and later through his video lessons and performances. Once I was fortunate enough to see him play in a tent at a summer Blues Festival in Davenport, Iowa. However, through this autobiography I have learned much, much more about the person behind the music. I thought it was a great book.Book Review: Recommended reading for all folk music enthusiasts for its remarkable memoir accounts a musicians life and times
Summary: 5 Stars
Now reissued in paperback, The Mayor Of MacDougal Street: A Memoir, written by the late Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002) with help from Elijah Wald, is the story telling of a pioneer musician and acoustics visionary. Enthralling readers with tales of his youth and the revival of blues and folk music in the 1960s in Greenwich Village. As one of the leading active members of the revival after the "Great Folk Scare", Van Ronk's musical journey as related in The Mayor Of MacDougal Street, his involvement in various jazz bands, the early years in Washington Square Park, his youthful pursuit of interest in traditional American music, his encounters with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan and so others. The Mayor Of MacDougal Street is very strongly recommended reading for all folk music enthusiasts for its remarkable memoir accounts a musicians life and times.
Book Review: Like talking to Dave in a dream
Summary: 5 Stars
Remember his story about learning how to play Candyman in a dream? Well, this book is like having one long smoke break with Dave between sets. He just cracks me up. My husband keeps asking me what I'm snickering about as I read it. Plus, they're friggin great stories of course, told with all the 50 cent words he knows and loves. Funny, I caught an American Roots lately, and the subject coincided perfectly with Dave's stories in this book - Washington Square, 1950s. Really fascinating, really funny, like he's talking to you. I wouldn't have missed this for the world!
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