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Topic: Dave Van Ronk - r.i.p. |
Chip Fossa
From:
Monson, MA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 11 Feb 2002 5:37 pm |
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Well folks, I just got off the [unofficial]
Martin Guitar Forum, hosted and created by our own Steve Stallings, and one of the posts stated that, indeed, folk/blues/giant-of-a-player/icon Dave Van Ronk has left us.
Truly for me, a sad day. "Cocaine Blues",
"Hang Me, Oh Hang Me", "Come Back Baby", "Good Ole' Wagon", and on and on....
played a big ole' Gibson J-200 - clearly one of the most hand-breaking-fretting guitars to pull off any guitar lick....but that big 'ole bear-of-a-man sure could convince you that it was as easy as playin' a gut string.
I want to go on-and-on about this man, who was a big influence in my musical life, but, for now, I wish to cut it short, and reflect a bit, and try to take this heartbreaking news in. Hope to hear from any of you guys/gals who were influenced by the great
Dave Van RonK.
R.I.P., Dave
ChipsAhoy |
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Jason Odd
From:
Stawell, Victoria, Australia
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Posted 11 Feb 2002 7:30 pm
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The Hudson Duster is gone, oh man all those crazt folk blues warblings of his.
My fave white guys were Van Ronk and John Fahey, but I always liked DVR more.
Even Dylan pinched one of Dave's arrangements for his first ablum, while Dave thought that 'Blowin' In The Wind' was the dumbest song Dylan had ever written when he first heard Dylan perform it.
He did jug band, weird folk-rock, blues, folk blues, he was truly an original.
I'm sorry to hear that he has gone. |
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chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
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Posted 11 Feb 2002 8:03 pm
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| I saw him in the Village in 1964, it was the first time I was in New York, I was 16, the first time I heard live folk music, the first time I drank espresso, it all made a deep impression on me. |
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Chip Fossa
From:
Monson, MA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 13 Feb 2002 5:12 am
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Joey, thanks for that link.I read it with both regret and nostalgia. It took me right
back to Bleeker Street, "The Bitter End", and
a great era to be alive and experience.
ChipsAhoy |
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Robert
From:
Chicago
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Posted 13 Feb 2002 12:10 pm
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Chas:
That's a great story - 16 years old, hanging out in the Village and sippin' espresso, listening to Dave Van Ronk. I remember Michael Johnston's great story (right aftr George Harrison died) about him and George standing in line at a corner store to pick up a six pack, somewhere in Los Angeles, I guess - and nobody recognizing George! So many great stories on this forum - I'm 39, and I feel like a pup when I hear some of them.
Rob Yale |
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Steve Frost
From:
Scarborough,Maine
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Posted 17 Feb 2002 8:44 am
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| "When I hear his name, I just can't keep from cryin', he was a friend of mine..." I never met him, but I used to listen to that album a lot in the late 60's( can't recall which one it was, though.) Like Joey Ace , my brother used to play Van Ronks version of St. Louis Tickle, and still dredges it up occasionally. I'll miss that scratchy old voice. How about"Would you like to swing on a star?" |
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Chip Fossa
From:
Monson, MA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 17 Feb 2002 9:51 am
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Right on Steve on, "Swinging On A Star".
I used to see Dave quite a bit all up and down the Northeast coffehouse circuit. The old 'Unicorn' & 'Club 57' in Boston. The 'Y'
Not in Worcester. Gerdes & The Bitter End
in New York, etc.
Dave played just great fingerstyle blues and ragtime; and jazzy stuff as well. Not only was he a great guitarist, but a witty, funny, and engaging storyteller/folksinger.
Dave Van Ronk was/is probably the last of that kind of rare-breed folksinger.
It was always a thrill to go catch him, like the next time around, cause he always had something new and different up his sleeve. He was a walking encyclopedia of traditional music lore. He grabbed songs from everywhere
and put his own twist on them.
ChipsAhoy
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Joey Ace
From:
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Posted 17 Feb 2002 9:58 am
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How could I forget "Would You Like to Swong on a Star"? Thanks Steve.
Dave's voice was as far from Jimminy Cricket as you could get. He took that song and made it his own. Nice jazzy guitar arrangement too.
I also remember "One Meatball". I think that was an Andrews Sisters pop hit long ago.
I loved the fingerpickin simplicity of "Green Rocky Road". Alternating bass dropped D tuning. That was originally a childs game song/chant.
DVR truly took tunes from everywhere. |
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Chip Fossa
From:
Monson, MA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 17 Feb 2002 10:26 am
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An excellent double CD, representative of the many sides of DVR, is called 'Chrestomathy'.
Includes "Candyman", "Romping Through The Swamp", "Alley Oop", and "Teddy Bear's Picnic"...just to name a few.
Now if I can just remember who the scoundrel was that I lent this CD.
ChipsAhoy |
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Henry Nagle
From:
Santa Rosa, California
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Posted 19 May 2006 7:51 pm
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I've been listening to a ton of Dave Van Ronk lately and I just had to add to this. What a great musician and personality. Has anyone heard the live version of Romping Through The Swamp? It's pure gold to my ears.
"Shaving cream! Be nice and clean!"
Edited to add that his recording of "The Entertainer" is stunning![This message was edited by Henry Nagle on 19 May 2006 at 08:55 PM.] |
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Peter Dollard
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Posted 27 May 2006 8:45 am
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| I learned the other day that Van Ronk turned down a job as part of a folk trio Albert Grossman was putting together in the early sixties. Oh the name of the group Peter Paul And Mary....thank the lord he didn't join I have a feeling they might have had a different career path.Don't forget St Louis Tickle on a J-200 is the biggest musical headache of all time for your left hand....Peter |
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