Connections – Bob Dylan and Me – 4 Degrees of Separation?

Moving requires new connections – here & also on MFP I’m glad to connect with old friends and even make some new ones.

I moved a lot in my early life – THREE high schools in very different environments.
My ongoing family music project and a recent documentary illustrates that.

In 1962 we moved to Queens, NYC.  I was 15. 
My mother joined a chorale of a local group of women.
One of the women was Grace Van Ronk.  I remember when her husband died, and the women at the wake were commenting about her son. 
It seems he looked like a hippie – long hair, beard and clothes of the era.

I remember the women talking about how “Grace must be so embarrassed.”
More likely she was proud of her son and his music. I understood that he was quite well known in the evolving folk music community of Greenwich Village in Manhattan. 

I liked folk music and even bought the album of the “Newport Folk Festival 1963.”    I still have it.

Last week I was watching a documentary about Bob Dylan.  I always liked his music, although I must admit I preferred it sung by somebody else, usually Peter, Paul & Mary.
When I bought a guitar in 1968 trying to learn to play from a PBS show, I used the song book “Folk Music Today” with a lot of Dylan songs. 

Anyway, what a shock when repeatedly featured on the documentary were videos and commentary of Dave Van Ronk! 
It seems he was a mentor of Bob Dylan and many other musicians.  He was known as the “Mayor of MacDougal Street”
There was even a movie based on his life.  He released several moderately successful albums. 

Some google research - “Van Ronk was born in Brooklyn.  He moved from Brooklyn to Queens around 1945 and began attending Holy Child Jesus Catholic School”
That was OUR parish. That’s how our mothers met.   Joe & I were married in Holy Child Jesus Church.  

Connection #2 – As I edit over 100 newly digitized tapes of 25 years of my children’s music, I found a performance of my DD (Hayburner1969) at age 12 broadcast by the European Broadcast Union.  Two children from each of 5 countries were featured. 
The other USA musician was Joshua Bell.  If you follow classical music, you recognize the name.  He went on to a famous and very successful international career.
My DD stopped competing after college, got married, had 3 kids and teaches middle school music.  I did write on Spark about her successful return to the stage back in 2016. 
In 2019 we traveled to Munich and St Petersburg for her performances. 

If you’ve read this far, thank you.  While I don’t blog as much as I used to, it’s nice to have a platform to record my thoughts.

If you would like to hear my DD on that International Broadcast, this is the link. 

Jeanne (Hayburner1969) at age 12

(If not clickable, just copy and paste the URL into your browser)

http://www.brigs.us/portfolio/Music%20Archive/Tape-61b%20Music%20Joy%20of%20Youth%20USA%20Jeanne%20Backofen%20Arabesque%20I.mp3