NEW YORK CITY & Bob Dylan’s GreenwichVillage.
,,I waved goodbyc, stcpped out onto the hard snow. The biting wind hit mc in thc face. At last I was here in ! New York City,“ beschreibt Dylan seine Ankunft in seiner Autobiographie in New York am 24. Januar 1961. Von da an wurde New York und hier insbesondere das Künstlerviertel Greenwich Village zum Dreh- und Angekpunkt seiner Karriere.
Reisereportage aus dem Jahr 1998 für die Zeitschrift TELECRAN
Von da an spielte er regelmäßig in den Literaten-Cafés wie z.B. Gerde’s Folk City in der West Fourth Street; The Gaslight und The Commons und im The Bitter End and the Village Gate in der Bleecker Street. 1964 nahm er mit Suze Rotolo ein Apartment in der 161 West Fourth Street. Später lebte er auch im Earle Hotel, Washington Square mit Joan Baez und 1965 zog er ins Chelsea Hotel mit Sara Lownds und ihrer Tochter Maria.
Bei seiner Rückkehr aus Woodstock 1969 lebte er in der 94 MacDougal Street. Zur Vorbereitung für die Rolling Thunder revue lebte er in der Houston Street und dort im Gramercy Park Hotel.
Uptown befinden sich die Columbia’s Studio A in der Seventh Avenue wio Dylan die ersten fund Alben aufnahm. In der Carnegie Hall hatte er seinen ersten großen Live-Auftritt. Im Madison Square Garden fanden sowohl The Concert for Bangla Desh (1971) und die 30. Bühnenjubiläums-Party 1992 statt.
Schließlich gibts noch unzählige literarische Referenzen an New York wie z.B. in: „Talking New York“; „Hard Times In New York Town“; „Down The Highway“; „Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream“, „Spanish Harlem Incident“, „Positively Fourth Street“; „Tangled Up In Blue“, „Joey“, „Hurricane“, „Sara“ and „Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Thru Dark Heat). – Im folgenden sind 15 markante Punkte und Adressen New Yorks benannt, die mit Dylans Leben im Big Apple zu tun haben.
l. Bleecker Street
…connects the West and EastVillages, running from the intersection of Eighth Avenue and Hudson Street to the Bowery, at which end of Bleecker Street was,until2006,CBGB’s.
2. TheCafeWha?
…hosted early shows by JimiHendrix and The Velvet Underground äs well äs the young Dylan and the legions of folk Singers that populated The Village in the early-’60s. Legend has it that Dylan’s first recorded onstage words in New York were taped here: „Just got here from the west. Name’s Bob Dylan. I’d like to do a few songs. Can I?“ The Cafe Wha? was then owned by Manny Roth, uncle of Van Halen’s David Lee Roth.
3. 161 West 4th Street
Dylan rented his first apartment here, moving in with girlfriend Suze Rotolo in Decemberl961.
4. Jones Street
Dylan and Suze Rotolo were pictured here, walking towards West Fourth Street, for the iconic cover of 1963’s The Freeivheelin’Bob Dylan.
5. One Sheridan Square
Suze Rotolo lived here on the third floor in the early-’60s. Miki Isaacson, with whom Dylan often stayed, lived on the fourth floor, and The Cafe Socicty folk i clubwasinthebasement.
6. TheWhite Horse Tavern
..onHudsonandllth,wasoneofthe \ Village’s mostfamouswateringholes, i whosepatronsinthe’50sand’60s | includedhard-drinkingwriterlytypes like Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac. The Clancy Brothers were favourites there and Dylan was also a regulär.
7. HotelEarle
Dylan regularly stayed here af ter ] he split from Suze Rotolo, often with i JoanBaez.
8. Gerde’sFolkCity
located at 11 West 4th Street, was where Dylan played his first Professional gigon Aprilll, 1961, openingfor John Lee Hooker. Dylan’s appearance here on September 26,1961 was the show famously reviewed in the New York Times by Robert Shelton, and where Suze Rotolo first saw Bob.
9. The Bitter End
This successful Bleecker St club was i knownforitsTuesdaynight | ‚hootenanies’intheearly-‚öOs.It i becameafavouritehauntofDylan’s i when he started hanging out again in j the Village in the summer of 1975, prior i totheRollingThunderRevue.
10. TheVillageGate
at the intersection of Thompson and l Bleecker Street, this was primarily a ! home for jazz greats like John Coltrane, i Coleman Hawkins, Dizzy Gillespie and l Nina Simone, although it was identified ! more in the early ’60s with the folk i boom. Odetta and ArethaFranklin ; madetheir New York debuts here. l
11. 94 MacDougal Street l Dylanmovedintoatownhouseatthis ; addressin!970,whenheleft i Woodstock.Inevitably,fanswere ! drawn to MacDougal Street, to Dylan’s i evident dismay. He was particularly i houndedbytheinfamouslyobsessedAJ ! Weberman, towhomanoutragcdBob
ended upadministeringasoundpublic i thrashing.
12 IzzyYoung’s Folklore Center
„Thecitadelof Americanfolkmusic…it | hadanantiquegrace,likeanancient i chapel,“ Dylan wrote in Chronicles. Izzy i Youngfounded his Folklore Center in i 19S7 and the young Dylan was a regulär ! there, listeningtoYoung’svast i collectionof recordings, studyingsong i foliosandhistoricjournals.Youngalso ! promoted Dylan’s concert at Carnegie l Chapter Hall in November 1961, a month ! before Dylan recorded his debut album. i There were 52 people in the audience.
13. Kettle Of Fish
Populär hang-out for folkies in the early i ’60s, when Dylan would have been seen ; therealot.
14. The Gaslight Cafe
Acoffeehouseinthebasementofllö | MacDougal Street, the Gaslight had hosted readings by Beat poets Allen i Ginsberg and Gregory Corso, but by the l early- ’60s it was one of the main venues ! for folk music. One of Dylan’s early gigs l there was taped, and, afteryearsof I bootlegged versions, released in August i 2005zsLiveAtTheGaslightl962.
15. Chelsea Hotel, 23rd Street.