Here’s a charming documentary that takes you back to a time when folk music was the most popular sounds of the era. Considered the “Guru of Folk Music,” Izzy Young Is given credit for not only discovering artists like Bob Dylan, but creating an environment at his legendary Folklore Center in Greenwich Village back in the 50s and 60s that spawned a whole musical and political movement. This 50 minute production has Izzy Young returning to his old haunts and meeting up with old warriors such as Pete Seeger, Allen Ginsberg, Tuli Kupferberg and Ed Sanders, not to mention NYC mayor Ed Koch, for a cozy and intriguing reunion of sounds, styles and attitudes.
Mixing performances from a cozy studio to the streets of Greenwich village, this film takes you into a live radio recording as well as the 1961 streets of a demonstration against the Park Department of NYC. You get here Pete Seeger giving a mini class on his guitar technique, Allen Ginsberg delivering “Father Death Blues” as well as Norwegian poet Jan Erik Vold reading his poem “A Meeting” with Chet Baker’s music serving as background music. Modern folk blues artist Eric Bibb delivers a previously unrecorded Dylan tune “Talkin’ Folklore Center Blues” as an added attraction.
There’s lots to appreciate here, especially the fact that music at one time had something important to say besides misogyny.
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