The Music of the West Village from Dylan to Springsteen and Beyond, Walking Tour

[image: Ann McDermott with a tour group at Washington Square Park, scene of the folk riots]

Join Ann McDermott and visit the venues and hear the stories of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, two of the most prolific and popular artists of our times. Explore the sites of the dimly lit Greenwich Village clubs, such as The Gaslight Café and Gerde’s Folk City, from where they started out.

This tour will start at the site of Gerde’s Folk City, where Bob had his first paying gig. Our next stop is the former home of the Bottom Line, where Bruce was launched to stardom. Then on to Washington Square Park to see how guitar playing on a Sunday afternoon turned into a major political battle in 1960. We'll explore Bleecker Street and the many clubs where some of our favorite artists played. Turn onto MacDougal Street, the heart of the Greenwich Village music scene, and see the venues where Bob and Bruce played, such as the Gaslight Cafe and Cafe Wha? Then go over to that once “crummy hotel over Washington Square” where Bob and Joan Baez lived in the first flush of their romance and talk about the song she wrote about it.  We’ll pass by Electric Lady Land studios and discuss the very famous folks who recorded there in the past and are working there now!  Then we’ll stroll through the West Village and see the apartment building where Bob used to couch surf with the Mayor of MacDougal Street himself, Dave Van Ronk, and Bob’s first manager, Terri Thal.  You’ll learn about Bob’s hanging out with the Clancy Brothers at the White Horse Tavern and how that shaped his understanding of “Sea Shantis” and Irish folk music.  Then it’s on to Café Society to learn about its role in racially integrating music in New York in the 1940s.  And we’ll end at the former home of Bob and Suze Rotolo at West 4th and Jones Street, and take a picture on the very spot where the cover of Bob’s Freewheelin’ album was taken. Throughout this tour, we will talk about John Hammond, the music mogul from Columbia Records, and his role in launching the careers of Bob, Bruce, and many others.

After the tour, feel free to join Ann for a beverage (not included in the ticket price) at the fabled Washington Square Hotel, formerly the Hotel Earle, immortalized by Joan Baez in “Diamonds and Rust.”

• Ann McDermott

STARTING LOCATION: 11 West 4th Street at Mercer Street (Hebrew Union College)