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My Red Blood: A Memoir of Growing Up Communist, Coming Onto the Greenwich Village Folk Scene, and Coming Out in the Feminist Movement
Women’s music legend Alix Dobkin for the first time chronicles her rise to fame as the first artist to record an openly lesbian album in 1973. Her story, however, opens much earlier in postwar New York City, where, growing up in a Communist family, she watches Jackie Robinson steal home, rubs elbows with radical Left celebrities like Paul Robeson, and comes of age under the watchful eye of the FBI. Dobkin herself joins the party at the height of the McCarthy witch hunts and offers readers a firsthand glimpse of daily life as a young person living under government surveillance. During this time she also matures as a devotee of folk music, having fallen under the spell of renowned performers such as Lead Belly and Pete Seeger. Yet it’s after she arrives on the burgeoning folk music scene of Greenwich Village, where she meets the up-and-coming Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby, John Sebastian, Buffy Ste. Marie, and Flip Wilson, among many other rising luminaries, that she achieves her first acclaim as a singer-songwriter. Her music takes on overt feminist dimensions when she joins a women’s consciousness-raising group and comes out as a lesbian. Rich in period detail, storytelling, and outspoken politics, My Red Blood is essential reading for lovers of music and history. Singer-songwriter and producer of the groundbreaking 1973 Lavender Jane Loves Women , Alix Dobkin has six additional highly praised albums and a songbook to her credit. She lives in Woodstock, New York.
275 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
198 people want to read
About the author
Alix Dobkin
5 books4 followersAlix Dobkin is an American folk singer-songwriter best known for her involvement in the women's music and feminist movements.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 17, 2019
Just recently saw Alix in concert twice. I adore her, I think she is wonderful. But somehow her talent as singer, songwriter, entertainer, and apparently graphic/visual artist don't make her also a talented book length writer. The writing is a bit flat and clunky. Way too much just list of names of what all singers were playing where when. Not nearly enough sense of her interior life. Nice nostalgia trip for those of us who lived through the times she writes about it. But probably not real helpful to give a sense of those times for those who don't have their own memories of it.
October 23, 2009
Alix writes about me in the last chapter of this book. A detailed and interesting look at an unusual American life. She explores what it was like to live in a communist family in the forties and fifties, the anxiety and the sense of community. Lots of great stuff about pop music and the Greenwich Village folk music scene in the sixties, in which Alix was a player, both on stage and as a club owner.
April 2, 2012
I like to come up with one word reviews for plays I see and thought perhaps I could translate that to the books I read. Unfortunately the first word I thought of for this book was 'pedestrian'.
On the other hand, the author and I shared a generation and community. It's not the first time I've realized that others (Patti Smith's "Just Kids") made braver, more interesting choices.
Although it felt like a slog sometimes, I finished the book and actually came to vicariously enjoy Alix Dobkin's tale of growing up communist and becoming a lesbian. Not knowing her music put me at a disadvantage, but I greatly enjoyed remembering the folksong scene, the beginning of the women's movement, civil rights, the special places in Philadelphia she mentions, and other relics of the time period as well as the famous people she met and knew.
Perhaps I should change the one word review to 'transformative'.
On the other hand, the author and I shared a generation and community. It's not the first time I've realized that others (Patti Smith's "Just Kids") made braver, more interesting choices.
Although it felt like a slog sometimes, I finished the book and actually came to vicariously enjoy Alix Dobkin's tale of growing up communist and becoming a lesbian. Not knowing her music put me at a disadvantage, but I greatly enjoyed remembering the folksong scene, the beginning of the women's movement, civil rights, the special places in Philadelphia she mentions, and other relics of the time period as well as the famous people she met and knew.
Perhaps I should change the one word review to 'transformative'.
December 25, 2025
Such an interesting life. Would recommend if you can get over the unfortunate fact she was a transphobe, which while mostly unmentioned she briefly defends in her epilogue.
April 22, 2010
Vivid account of Alix Dobkin's, the pioneering Lesbian folksinger,early years, growing up Communist, leftwing movement experiences,in the folk and rock music scene in Village and on the road, feminist movement and friends and "coming out" experiences which are quite hilarious. A must read for those who wish to remember the Red diaper baby and teen experiences and a must read for those who should know or want to know what the movers and shakers in those times were thinking and doing.
June 20, 2017
Alix Dobkin makes it clear to her latter day fans right in the forward that this is a memoir of the earlier portion of her life--her youth as the child of Jewish political Communist Party members, her emergence into the folk scene of Greenwich Village and her marriage to the Manager of the Gaslight Cafe.
She states clearly that those looking for accounts of her life as a "Professional Lesbian" should look to her albums of songs, and her interviews and other writings in the feminist press of the last few decades.
Well, fair enough. But for those us her knew her in the '90s as the maternal voice of reason throughout the cultural clashes between different political factions at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and elsewhere--then this memoir is a bit of a surprise.
Who knew that Alix was a fixture in the '60s in the Village and was a friend of and fellow-performer with Dylan, Phil Oaks, Jim and Jean, Carolyn Hester, Dave Van Ronk and so many others? She appears in these accounts like the Forrest Gump of folk history. And like Emmy Lou Harris, who commented that when she participated in the historic WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN album in the early '70s that it did not make her nervous to work with DYlan; she was nervous working with her bluegrass heroes like Doc Watson--in a similar way, I did not feel particularly impressed that she hung out with all these 60s folkies; in spite of her disclaimer, I want to hear what it was like creating the "women's music" movement of the'70s.
And speaking of Van Ronk, here is the difficulty I had with Alix's memoir. Most of the book consists of references to dozens, perhaps hundreds of family, friends, and cultural icons of the time. Alix Dobkin describes herself as an eager young musician finding her way as a songwriter and performer, and driven by enthusiasm. But for me, the story did not really become gripping until the very end, when she describes appearing on Liza Cowan's midnight women's music radio show, and their developing relationship. At this point she makes the transition into becoming a lesbian and living in a woman-focused world. This is the story she warned her readers she would not be telling, and the book ends shortly thereafter.
If you want a more compelling account of Greenwich Village in the 60s, you would do well to read Dave Van Ronk's memoir, MAYOR OF MACDOUGAL STREET. He mentions all of the same people (and many more), but he manages to transmit his own independent and often contrary views about music, philosophy, and politics while at the same time conveying his voyage through his own career.
Alix Dobkin tells many anecdotes about these people, but her own strength and conviction do not manage to part the clouds until the very last chapter. For that reason, I hope she will write the rest of the story, and illuminate the many battles women, lesbians and feminists engaged amid a lot of really fine music at women's music festivals. Alix was a major figure at these events. Her humor, he faith in the power of love between humans, and just her confidence that we could work it out are truly worth talking about.
The one incident that will always stay with me happened during one of the Michigan festivals in the mid-90s. Inevitably. some woman performer had made some unfortunate statement that offended half the women there and riled up many more. Throughout days of debate, finally at an evening concert, Alix organized a group of musicians to sing James Taylor's anthem, "Shower the People You Love With Love."
It may sound sentimental and perhaps even goofy, but it was the balm that was needed after a tough couple of non-stop days of arguments. Eight thousand women in the audience saw an example of how to make peace.
That's one of the stories I look forward to reading from a future book by Alix Dobkin. (In spite of her Forward.)
She states clearly that those looking for accounts of her life as a "Professional Lesbian" should look to her albums of songs, and her interviews and other writings in the feminist press of the last few decades.
Well, fair enough. But for those us her knew her in the '90s as the maternal voice of reason throughout the cultural clashes between different political factions at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and elsewhere--then this memoir is a bit of a surprise.
Who knew that Alix was a fixture in the '60s in the Village and was a friend of and fellow-performer with Dylan, Phil Oaks, Jim and Jean, Carolyn Hester, Dave Van Ronk and so many others? She appears in these accounts like the Forrest Gump of folk history. And like Emmy Lou Harris, who commented that when she participated in the historic WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN album in the early '70s that it did not make her nervous to work with DYlan; she was nervous working with her bluegrass heroes like Doc Watson--in a similar way, I did not feel particularly impressed that she hung out with all these 60s folkies; in spite of her disclaimer, I want to hear what it was like creating the "women's music" movement of the'70s.
And speaking of Van Ronk, here is the difficulty I had with Alix's memoir. Most of the book consists of references to dozens, perhaps hundreds of family, friends, and cultural icons of the time. Alix Dobkin describes herself as an eager young musician finding her way as a songwriter and performer, and driven by enthusiasm. But for me, the story did not really become gripping until the very end, when she describes appearing on Liza Cowan's midnight women's music radio show, and their developing relationship. At this point she makes the transition into becoming a lesbian and living in a woman-focused world. This is the story she warned her readers she would not be telling, and the book ends shortly thereafter.
If you want a more compelling account of Greenwich Village in the 60s, you would do well to read Dave Van Ronk's memoir, MAYOR OF MACDOUGAL STREET. He mentions all of the same people (and many more), but he manages to transmit his own independent and often contrary views about music, philosophy, and politics while at the same time conveying his voyage through his own career.
Alix Dobkin tells many anecdotes about these people, but her own strength and conviction do not manage to part the clouds until the very last chapter. For that reason, I hope she will write the rest of the story, and illuminate the many battles women, lesbians and feminists engaged amid a lot of really fine music at women's music festivals. Alix was a major figure at these events. Her humor, he faith in the power of love between humans, and just her confidence that we could work it out are truly worth talking about.
The one incident that will always stay with me happened during one of the Michigan festivals in the mid-90s. Inevitably. some woman performer had made some unfortunate statement that offended half the women there and riled up many more. Throughout days of debate, finally at an evening concert, Alix organized a group of musicians to sing James Taylor's anthem, "Shower the People You Love With Love."
It may sound sentimental and perhaps even goofy, but it was the balm that was needed after a tough couple of non-stop days of arguments. Eight thousand women in the audience saw an example of how to make peace.
That's one of the stories I look forward to reading from a future book by Alix Dobkin. (In spite of her Forward.)
February 18, 2015
Singer-songwriter, and producer of the pioneering 1973 ‘Lavender Jane Loves Women’, Alix Dobkin has six additional highly praised albums and a songbook to her credit. ‘My Red Blood’ is a “memoir of growing up communist, coming onto the Greenwich Village folk scene, and coming out in the feminist movement.”
This memoir is the telling, in her own words, of Alix Dobkin’s growing up Jewish and communist, how it shaped her personality and life, and what she learnt from it. It is a candid study of her sexual awakening and how despite experiencing lesbianism in her teen years she chose to hang on to her “heterosexual privileges”, at least for another ten years. This book covers her childhood and part of her adulthood, her marriage and motherhood, from 1934 to 1972, in Philadelphia, Kansas, New York, Florida and other places.
Alix Dobkin came of age under the watchful eye of the FBI, and ironically used their report to recall times, places and events narrated within the pages of this book. While being an active member of the communist party during the McCarthy witch hunts, she developed a love of folk music, learnt to play the guitar and started singing. In the 60’s she became a regular performer on the Greenwich Village folk scene and met Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby, Buffy Ste Marie and many more musicians.
During her marriage, she kept on writing songs, gave birth to her daughter, and joined a women’s consciousness raising group, before amicably divorcing her husband and coming out as a lesbian. ‘My Red Blood’ is more than a record of one’s life, it is a social history encompassing communism, folk music and feminism.
Thank you, Alix Dobkin.
This memoir is the telling, in her own words, of Alix Dobkin’s growing up Jewish and communist, how it shaped her personality and life, and what she learnt from it. It is a candid study of her sexual awakening and how despite experiencing lesbianism in her teen years she chose to hang on to her “heterosexual privileges”, at least for another ten years. This book covers her childhood and part of her adulthood, her marriage and motherhood, from 1934 to 1972, in Philadelphia, Kansas, New York, Florida and other places.
Alix Dobkin came of age under the watchful eye of the FBI, and ironically used their report to recall times, places and events narrated within the pages of this book. While being an active member of the communist party during the McCarthy witch hunts, she developed a love of folk music, learnt to play the guitar and started singing. In the 60’s she became a regular performer on the Greenwich Village folk scene and met Bob Dylan, Bill Cosby, Buffy Ste Marie and many more musicians.
During her marriage, she kept on writing songs, gave birth to her daughter, and joined a women’s consciousness raising group, before amicably divorcing her husband and coming out as a lesbian. ‘My Red Blood’ is more than a record of one’s life, it is a social history encompassing communism, folk music and feminism.
Thank you, Alix Dobkin.
August 5, 2011
This was a waste of my time. Nothing I wanted to know about Alix Dobkin and her life was in this book.
Dobkin seems to think her life was amazing. It wasn't. Name dropping has never held any fascination for me. She starts out with Paul Robeson on page 1, and continues from there. I so didn't care. what I had been interested in learning about was her part in the coming out of Women's Music. She gives a brief pass to that in the lat chapter. BORING!
I asked my library to buy this book, because none of the local libraries had it. I fully intend to donate the cost of the book to my library, along with an apology.
Dobkin seems to think her life was amazing. It wasn't. Name dropping has never held any fascination for me. She starts out with Paul Robeson on page 1, and continues from there. I so didn't care. what I had been interested in learning about was her part in the coming out of Women's Music. She gives a brief pass to that in the lat chapter. BORING!
I asked my library to buy this book, because none of the local libraries had it. I fully intend to donate the cost of the book to my library, along with an apology.
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November 29, 2010I feel like I can't really give this book a star rating, because I didn't really finish it--I merely skimmed ahead and read bits here and there. I really liked the first half of it--Dobkin's story of growing up in a Communist family and then joining the CP herself (against her family's wishes) as a teenager. However, since I'm not that interested in the folk music scene she was a part of, I got a bit bored. Got more interesting for me as Dobkin discovered radical feminism and the CR groups of the time. Since this is due back at the library this week, I felt I had to rush to finish it.
April 9, 2012
i didn't love the book. she's not a writer, but then i saw her speak and it changed my mind about her book. it was a totally different experience hearing her read passages of her life. no matter what kind of writer she is, she certainly has some incredible life stories.
February 4, 2013
Wonderful ! She is soooo real to me !!!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews