false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173164094m/253698.jpg 253698 10 David Hajdu (pronounced HAY-doo), the prizewinning author of the magisterial jazz biography <I>Lush Life</I>, now steam-cleans the legend of the lost folk generation in <I>Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña</I>. What a ripping read! It's like an invitation to the wildest party Greenwich Village ever saw. You feel swept up in the coffeehouse culture that transformed ordinary suburban kids into ragged, radiant avatars of a traditional yet bewilderingly new music. Hajdu's sociomusical analysis is as scholarly as (though less arty than) Greil Marcus's work; he deftly sketches the sources and evolving styles of his ambitious, rather calculating subjects, proving in the process that genius is not individual--it's rooted in a time and place. Hajdu says Dylan heisted many early tunes (e.g., "Maggie's Farm" from Pete Seeger's "Down on Penny's Farm"): "Dylan [told] a radio interviewer that he felt as if his music had always existed and he just wrote it down ... [in fact], much of his early work had existed as other writers' melodies, chord structures, or thematic ideas." But Dylan and company made it all their own, and Hajdu vividly evokes the scenes they made. <p> <I>Positively 4th Street</I> is very much a group portrait. When something amazing happens, Hajdu puts you right there. The unknown Baez barefoot in the rain, bedazzling the Newport Jazz Festival and becoming immortal overnight. The irresistibly irresponsible Fariña talking his folk-star wife out of shooting him dead with his own pistol. The "little spastic gnome" Dylan transmogrified into greatness onstage, bashing Joan with the searing lyrics of "She Belongs to Me." A stoned Fariña advising Dylan to cynically hitch his wagon to Joan's rising star and "start a whole new genre. Poetry set to music, but not chamber music or beatnik jazz, man... poetry you can dance to."<p> The book is as delectably gossipy as <I>Vanity Fair</I> (one of Hajdu's employers). Richard married the exceedingly young beauty Mimi and helmed their career, but he might have dumped her for big sister Joan, whose madcap humor and verbal wit harmonized with his--except that he ineptly killed himself on a motorcycle first. Bob mumblingly courted both sisters, but when he cruelly taunted the insecure Joan, Mimi yanked his hair back until he cried. The account of Bob and Joan's musical-erotic passion is first-rate music history and uproarious soap opera. Hajdu's research is prodigious--even Fariña's close chum Thomas Pynchon granted interviews--and his anecdotes are often off-the-cuff funny: "[Rock manager Albert Grossman] was easy to deal with.... It wasn't till maybe two days after you would see Albert that you'd realize your underwear had been stolen." Full disclosure: Hajdu was one of my long-ago bosses at <I>Entertainment Weekly</I>, but that's certainly not why I heartily endorse this book. It's scholarship with a human face, akin to "poetry you can dance to." <I>--Tim Appelo</I> 946942 2001 Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina total:448|5:84|4:202|3:133|2:22|1:7| 448 1678 614 59 3 4 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Fri Dec 28 08:33:00 -0800 2007 Fri Dec 28 08:38:36 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 3 false false Thu Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 08 13:56:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 01:21:51 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 09 19:46:07 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 20:06:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Thu Aug 09 08:57:29 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 09 09:00:21 -0700 2007 3 1 false false Wed Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 09 13:49:54 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 10 10:00:28 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Jul 13 07:17:51 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 13 08:07:00 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 13 22:15:13 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 30 17:56:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Sep 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 16:49:32 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 05:49:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Apr 03 11:44:40 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 03 11:52:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 23 09:48:18 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 10:32:46 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Sun Feb 17 17:43:52 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 18:04:17 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Sep 28 10:45:29 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 11:03:14 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Sat Dec 20 10:23:24 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 10:34:20 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Tue Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 16 09:11:01 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 09:13:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Jul 24 13:12:43 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 18:45:43 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Oct 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 17:08:57 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 17:11:59 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Apr 07 01:28:55 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 01:28:55 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Feb 14 13:52:25 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 24 12:03:56 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Nov 13 19:12:48 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 19:13:54 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 23 10:11:49 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 10:30:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=253698