The Mayor of MacDougal Street
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Sean Runnette
About this listen
Hear the memoir that served as inspiration for a major motion picture written and directed by the Coen brothers.
Dave Van Ronk was one of the founding figures of the 1960s folk revival, but he was far more than that. A pioneer of modern acoustic blues, a fine songwriter and arranger, a powerful singer, and one of the most influential guitarists of the ’60s, he was also a marvelous storyteller, a peerless musical historian, and one of the most quotable figures on the Village scene.
The Mayor of MacDougal Street is a firsthand account by a major player in the social and musical history of the ’50s and ’60s. It features encounters with young stars-to-be like Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Joni Mitchell, as well as older luminaries like the Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Odetta. Colorful, hilarious, and engaging, The Mayor of MacDougal Street is a feast for anyone interested in the music, politics, and spirit of a revolutionary period in American culture.
©2005 Elijah Wald and Andrea Vuocolo (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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When musicians in the New York folk scene of the 1960s grew tired of city life, they decided to "get it together in the country". They headed for Woodstock - not to the site of the infamous music festival of 1969 but to the Catskills, to Bearsville, to Woodstock proper. Counterculture revolutionaries like Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, and Paul Butterfield got "back to the land", turning the once sleepy hollow into a funky Shangri-La.
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Captured the era - too many mistakes
- By Frank Canino on 04-17-16
By: Barney Hoskyns
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The Gospel According to Luke
- By: Steve Lukather
- Narrated by: Steve Lukather
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In this incisive memoir, Steve Lukather tells the complete Toto story. He also lifts the lid on what went on behind the closed studio doors, shedding light on the unique creative processes of some of the most legendary names in music: from Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, and Elton John to Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, and Aretha Franklin. Lukather’s extraordinary tale also encompasses the dark side of stardom and the American Dream. Frank, engaging, and often hilarious, The Gospel According to Luke is no ordinary rock memoir.
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Wow Best Rock Biography Ever
- By Hercules on 09-29-18
By: Steve Lukather
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Outlaw
- Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville
- By: Michael Streissguth
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Waylon Jennings. Willie Nelson. Kris Kristofferson. Three renegade musicians. Three unexpected stars. Three men who changed Nashville and country music forever. Streissguth's new book brings to life an incredible chapter in musical history and reveals for the first time a surprising outlaw zeitgeist in Nashville. Based on extensive research and probing interviews with key players, what emerges is a fascinating glimpse into three of the most legendary artists of our times and the definitive story of how they changed music in Nashville and everywhere.
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Revealing little-known Details does Captivate!
- By Cody Meyer on 11-20-17
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The Wrecking Crew
- The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret
- By: Kent Hartman
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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If you were a fan of popular music in the 1960s and early '70s, you were a fan of the Wrecking Crew - whether you knew it or not. On hit record after hit record by everyone from the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Monkees to the Grass Roots, the 5th Dimension, Sonny & Cher, and Simon & Garfunkel, this collection of West Coast studio musicians from diverse backgrounds established themselves as the driving sound of pop music - sometimes over the objection of actual band members....
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Left Guessing
- By Patrick King on 04-29-14
By: Kent Hartman
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So Many Roads
- The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead
- By: David Browne
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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No longer dismissed as relics of the hippie era, a new generation has lionized the Dead for creating a culture that paved the way for social networking, free music swapping, and the uncompromising anticorporate attitude of indie rock. Now, fifty years after the band first began changing rock 'n' roll both sonically and psychically, So Many Roads paints the most vivid portrait yet of the Grateful Dead, one of the most enduring institutions in American music and culture.
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Great first book on the Dead
- By robert on 10-30-15
By: David Browne
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Walk This Way
- Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever
- By: Geoff Edgers
- Narrated by: Geoff Edgers
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Washington Post staff writer Geoff Edgers takes a deep dive into the story behind "Walk This Way", Aerosmith and Run-DMC's legendary, groundbreaking mashup that forever changed music.
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A MUST LISTEN/READ
- By Aron Teo Lee on 05-17-19
By: Geoff Edgers
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The Never-Ending Present
- The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip
- By: Michael Barclay
- Narrated by: George Stroumboulopoulos
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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From our talent-rich neighbor to the north comes this biography of one of the most successful Canadian rock bands, The Tragically Hip, which announced a year-long tour after sharing the news of lead singer Gord Downie’s inoperable cancer. Now available to US listeners, The Never-Ending Present details what led up to the memorable night when music fans all over the world watched Downie’s heroic final performance.
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Hometown Heroes
- By Tommy Garou on 12-13-18
By: Michael Barclay
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Anger Is an Energy
- My Life Uncensored
- By: John Lydon
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 18 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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John Lydon is an icon - one of the most recognizable and influential cultural figures of the last 40 years. As Johnny Rotten, he was the lead singer of the Sex Pistols, the world's most notorious band. The Pistols shot to fame in the mid-1970s with songs such as "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen". So incendiary was their impact at the time that in their native England, the Houses of Parliament questioned whether they violated the Traitors and Treasons Act.
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I Just Can't
- By notamatopoeia on 12-30-15
By: John Lydon
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Unknown Pleasures
- Inside Joy Division
- By: Peter Hook
- Narrated by: Peter Hook
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Joy Division changed the face of music. Godfathers of alternative rock, they reinvented music in the post-punk era, creating a new sound - dark, hypnotic, and intense - that would influence U2, Morrissey, R.E.M., Radiohead, and numerous others. The story is now legendary: In 1980, on the heels of their groundbreaking debut, Unknown Pleasures, and on the eve of their first U.S. tour, the band was rent asunder by the tragic death of their enigmatic lead singer, Ian Curtis.
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Like sitting next to Hooky in a bar...
- By Andrew on 03-26-13
By: Peter Hook
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Punk Rock Blitzkrieg
- My Life as a Ramone
- By: Rich Herschlag, Marky Ramone
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones' improbable rise from obtuse beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn't all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn't shy away from discussing his own struggles.
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Dedicated Punk Fans Must Read
- By Leostriple on 03-26-15
By: Rich Herschlag, and others
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The One
- The Life and Music of James Brown
- By: R. J. Smith
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Senior editor at L.A. Magazine RJ Smith saw his first book, The Great Black Way, win the coveted California Book Award. With The One, Smith profiles one of the 20th century’s most innovative musical icons, the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. Drawing on extensive research and captivating interviews, Smith chronicles Brown’s rise from abject poverty to the pinnacle of fame, while also detailing Brown’s work as a civil rights activist and entrepreneur.
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pitiable, lovable, despicable,understandable
- By Anonymous User on 01-06-13
By: R. J. Smith
What listeners say about The Mayor of MacDougal Street
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-19-23
Dave
The first time I heard Dave was on a Phoenix underground radio station in 1971. I loved folk music then as now. The first impression was that this guy is the real thing and have, over the years, collected every piece of his that I could find. And I saw the movie. This book validates my original conclusion.
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- Andreas
- 07-19-15
Informative and entertaining, surprisingly funny
Van Ronk had a bitingly sharp wit, and this collaborstive auto-biography is a great read.
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2 people found this helpful
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- MidwestGeek
- 01-26-14
Overview of NYC folk music scene of '50's & 60's.
If you like folk music of the mid- to late 20th century, you'll probably enjoy this memoir, an insider's perspective of the folk music scene, mostly around Greenwich Village. Mention Dave Van Ronk to someone today and you are likely to get a blank stare. Van Ronk never was a superstar but was well known, especially among other folk singers. The narrative is first person, but this is more like an autobiography of his professional life than his personal life. For example, we learn that he was married twice, but you learn little more about his wives than their names. Wald has done a brilliant job editing the material left by Dave Van Ronk. In an epilogue by Wald, you can tell this was a labor of love.
Although the book was the inspiration for the Coen Brothers film "Inside Llewyn Davis," van Ronk differed in important ways from the character in the film. For example, Dave's first love was jazz, and he never abandoned it. Although he hitched a ride to Chicago and back once in hopes of playing at The Gate of Horn, there was never involved a jazz musician resembling Roland Turner nor the Kerouac-like driver/beat poet Johnny Five.
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7 people found this helpful
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- Paul Sas
- 03-26-14
Pitch perfect, humble, witty
Dave Van Ronk had the absolutely best window on the world that spawned the folk revival in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. His memoir is full of fascinating details (e.g., folk music was originally scheduled in Beat coffee houses to clear the room between sets, so that a new round of coffee drinkers would come in to hear the next poet). I wished this could have been 2X as long.
If you're interested in the Village, in folk music, in NY history (political radicals, musicians, hipsters), this will stand out as a unique record. Never boring, often funny and always well-spoken. Note for Dylan fans (of which I'm one): DVR was one of Dylan's earliest admirers/fellow-travelers. He writes with gentle insight about Dylan, worth hearing, but it's a minor part of the memoir.
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4 people found this helpful
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- jesse
- 09-16-23
An absolute joy
I’ve loved the man’s music for years, but knew next to nothing about his deep involvement in the Greenwich Village folk scene. His unique perspective, having been deeply involved in the community for years before it became a phenomenon, allows for an overview of the contributing factors that I had never considered. Deeply subjective as his view may have been, Van Ronk stays self-aware and self-effacing in a way that is often missing in such personal editorials. I am so grateful for this book, and the man who made it, and love how much more vivid my view now is of this fairly ordinary man who led an extraordinary life, rubbing shoulders with incredible talents like Rev Gary Davis, Bob Dylan, and Mississippi John Hurt, recognizing their deep appreciation of their craft, and emulating them as best he could, and making their styles his own. I am inspired and deeply appreciative of this work, and cannot recommend it highly enough.
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- Doug Lindsay
- 03-18-15
Long Live the Mayor!
Where does The Mayor of MacDougal Street rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
I love this biography/mini-history of the mid-Twentieth century Greenwich Music music scene. It magically transported me to a very special time and place through the eyes and heart of a person who devoted his life to music despite all of the "slings and arrows". His sense of humility, intelligence and humor shined a great spotlight on "The Folk Scare" of the early Sixties. Two of the things that I liked a lot were how hard it was to make it as a musician and the cultural description of NY and other places when he was on road trips elsewhere and briefly living in California.
What other book might you compare The Mayor of MacDougal Street to and why?
Keith Richards biography. Keith barely acknowledges his good luck and seems vain and thin skinned compared to this guy.
Have you listened to any of Sean Runnette’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I have never listened to the narrator before but he did a wonderful job kind of becoming Dave in a way.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes
Any additional comments?
Although the Coen Brothers movie "Inside LLewyn Davis" borrows generously from this book, and I really love the Coen Brothers movies, it is not any kind of accurate reflection of Van Ronk's personality. You would be best served watching it afterward. I saw it both before and after with very different perspectives. If you have already seen it it won't diminish the book in any way.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Martin J Dunleavy
- 02-12-21
Great book about New York music and the 50s and 60s
This was a wonderful and enjoyable book about jazz and blues and bluegrass and folk and singer songwriters it also gave a true feel for a Greenwich Village was like in the 50s and 60s. At the same time it was an autobiography a wonderfully entertaining one about one of the true great characters of music.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-04-21
Interesting, but not what I expected
After hearing the epilogue I understood why a trip to California took up such a chunk of the book. We are fortunate to have this document of a special time, place, and musician.
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1 person found this helpful
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- MaxH
- 11-01-23
Van Ronk
Delightful and honest- as always, Dave shoots from the hip. ‘Tis refreshing, to say the least.
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- Kazuhiko
- 03-29-14
This is what we missed out on!
Honestly, I didn't know who Dave Van Ronk was until I listened to this book. I got this book because I was interested in learning about the 1960's music scene in Greenwich Village. The book taught me much more than what I had expected. Dave Van Ronk is hilarious and honest in his depictions of the period. I was fascinated by the period, disillusioned a little bit but overall really enjoyed the journey through his experience. I always thought Bob Dylan was an elusive character, but Van Ronk's description of him perfectly explained why this was the case. Greenwich Village in the late '50s and early '60s was such a unique place/time - so many of the musicians who flocked in the area influenced each other. Sure, Dylan had a talent, but he would never have emerged as he did without the unique window of space/time described in this book. I also learned what it was like to be a musician trying to be himself. Thank you, Dave Van Ronk. Thank you, Elijah Wald. I recently passed through the neighborhood and felt so sad that many of the cafes/bars described in the book were gone and replaced by chain pharmacies and banks...
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7 people found this helpful