Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Scott Johnson on Richie Havens

Powerline:

Havens grew up in Brooklyn singing with a choir in church and with doo wop groups on street corners. He crossed the river to figure out how to make a go of it in Greenwich Village as a performer. He recorded two albums on Douglas Records before he signed a contract with Verve Forecast in 1967. He seemed to materialize out of nowhere that year with Mixed Bag, a beautiful album of folk covers and original compositions. The album was full of striking performances, but none more so than Havens’s interpretation of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like A Woman.” By the way, I may need to take a break from what is meant to be an occasional series until we celebrate Bob’s birthday next May with our traditional Bobfest.

By the way, did you catch Amy Klobuchar's oblique reference to Dylan at the Trump Inaugural? And what a speech our boy gave! He can turn on the gravitas when he wants to and needs to.  

Posted

in

, ,

by

Bill Vallicella

Tags:

Comments

8 responses to “Scott Johnson on Richie Havens”

  1. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    Here is the full transcript of Trump’s speech at his second inauguration:
    https://globalnews.ca/news/10967848/donald-trump-full-speech-inauguration-day/

    Reply
  2. Vito B. Caiati Avatar
    Vito B. Caiati

    Bill,
    Yes, what a speech and what a day! It is great to be alive to see this day and what is to come.
    As for Richie Havens, I have always loved his rendition of “Just Like a Woman.”
    I met Havens once, going back stage in some Village club to ask him to perform at an anti-war rally that various student groups were planning at NYU. He immediately accepted, showed up, and helped us to draw a large crowd.
    Vito

    Reply
  3. BV Avatar
    BV

    Joe,
    Thanks for the transcript. It will be much commented upon, unlike Biden’s pathetic farewell address.
    Vito,
    Thanks for the interesting vignette. if you have others you want to share, send them along. And I agree that Havens does a great job with “Just Like a Woman.”

    Reply
  4. Whitewall Avatar
    Whitewall

    Richie was indeed a fine writer and singer. About a year or so after Woodstock I found myself spending some time in Central and Eastern Europe. When Richie would come on the air and sing about ‘freedom, freedom’, I have to admit it galled me a bit. Freedom was not the order of the day in many places I had just been.

    Reply
  5. mharko Avatar
    mharko

    I saw Richie Havens at Newport Folk Festival 1968. It was a pretty good year, but not the one I would’ve wished. I had to sleep in an abandoned culvert for shelter from the storm. It seemed like a golden age at the time. Things have changed.
    I loved how he roasted the assembled cadre. He’s dumb like a fox, I hope; to wit: this stargate enterprise. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, I guess. Altman, Ellison, et al. If he doesn’t co-opt them someone else will/already has.

    Reply
  6. BV Avatar
    BV

    mharko,
    The second half of your comment is less than perspicuous; you, however, I know to be perspicacious.
    I like the way you weaved the Klobuchar Inaugural allusion into your comment.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gsDBuHwqbM

    Reply
  7. mharko Avatar
    mharko

    In appreciation of the undeserved compliment and the vocabulary enhancement you extend to me, let me try to make amends.
    In the post you refer to the inaugural speech. In the second part of my comment I am concurring with you. I chortled as our new president said, “The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.” He called out “a radical and corrupt establishment” in no uncertain terms, as they were squirming in their seats behind him. I loved it. I caught the Klobuchar comment immediately. She left it there unattributed, but conspicuous.
    As regards my further comments, they were in reference to the Stargate deal Trump announced. I am suspicious of the tech bros Altman and Ellison. They have done much to hobble Trump in the past. I am hoping Trump is shrewd enough to not trust them 100%. Shenanigans and skulduggeries abound. I don’t know enough about the other gentleman, Masayoshi Son, but he seemed more genuine. Letting the bros build out the AI infrastructure in Texas and elsewhere domestically is good, where they can be subject to better scrutiny. AI is going to mushroom, and we had better be in the race to steer it towards benevolent uses and governance. Musk seems butthurt, and he perhaps has justifiable grounds for that. But I must assume these issues and intrigues are apparent to the principals involved and that subtleties are their stock-in-trade.

    Reply
  8. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    I think we must be very wary of “AI.” All that a computer really does is to add and subtract ones and zeros. Nothing new or creative can really come from that. Computers are helplessly mired in the material world. And, since “AI” takes its cues from everywhere, and given that stupidity, or at best dullness, is perhaps the most common human state, “AI” will perforce be stupid and dull. I have noticed, in my work of designing things, that ideas and designs come from a place of silence; yet the internals of “AI” are the ceaseless noise of power-consuming, buzzing electronic circuits. Beware ! Beware ! “AI” is the golden calf of the modern age. Nota Bene, Mr. Trump, and Mr. Musk.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Whitewall Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *