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Reading is Funktamental: Talkin' Greenwich Village - The Rise and Fall of NYC's Bohemian Enclave with Author David Browne

Feb 12, 2025: 10am - 11am
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Reading is Funktamental: Talkin' Greenwich Village - The Rise and Fall of NYC's Bohemian Enclave with Author David Browne

Reading is Funktamental: Talkin' Greenwich Village - The Rise and Fall of NYC's Bohemian Enclave with Author David Browne. Credit: Hachette Press (Feb 12, 2025)

Hosted by Sal Cataldi.

Guest: David Browne, Author of Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Capital (Hachette Books).

New York’s Greenwich Village is a compact sanctuary that has attracted a legion of visionaries and non-conformists who had an outsized influence on 20th-century culture – on alternative lifestyles, progressive politics, and the arts, especially music. Within the maze of coffeehouses, nightclubs, and watering holes on its narrow streets, the legends-to-be of folk, jazz, and rock coalesced into tight-knit communities that birthed sound innovations that continue to resonate today. Now veteran music journalist David Browne has expertly chronicled this community's sprawling history and impact in a new book, Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Capital (Hachette Books).

Browne is well-equipped to take on this task and to discuss all the ins and outs in this latest episode of Reading Is Funktamental. Presently a senior writer at Rolling Stone Magazine, he is the author of acclaimed biographies of musicians including Sonic Youth, Tim and Jeff Buckley, the Grateful Dead, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. This New Yorker also witnessed some of the many watershed moments that transpired during the book’s pivotal epochs – from the 1950s folk jamborees and turbulent rock and jazz revolutions of the 1960s to the no-holds-barred punk 1970s to the all-too-brief folk music revival of the 1980s. Based on 150 interviews with notables like Judy Collins, John Sebastian, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Suzanne Vega, and Terre and Suzzy Roche, Talkin’ Greenwich Village lends this saga the epic scope it has long deserved. You can read my extensive review of the book for the culture site PopMatters at this link: https://www.popmatters.com/greenwich-village-david-browne-feature

"Reading is Funktamental" is a monthly one-hour show/podcast about great books written about music and music-makers. In each episode, host Sal Cataldi speaks to the authors of some of the best reads about rock, jazz, punk, world, experimental music, and much more. Occasionally, the host is joined by notable musicians who have written about their careers. Recent guests have included eccentric British singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera, Traffic co-founder Dave Mason, and Moon Zappa. Expect a great conversation and a playlist of great music to go with it.

Sal Cataldi is a musician and writer based in Saugerties. He is best known for his work with his genre-leaping solo project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, and is also a member of the ambient guitar duo, Guitars A Go Go, the poetry and music duo, Vapor Vespers, the jazz ensemble Hari Karaoke Trio of Doom and the quartet, Spaceheater. His writing on music, books and film has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, PopMatters, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, Inside+Out Upstate NY, and NYSMusic.com, where he is the book reviewer.

Playlist:
  • Time for Letting Go / Spaghetti Eastern Music
  • The Times They Are A-Changin' / Bob Dylan
  • You Didn't Have To Be So Nice / The Lovin' Spoonful
  • Alice In Wonderland / Bill Evans Trio