MIKE PORCO's claim to fame
MIKE PORCO's claim to fame
He fronted Dylan his Union dues and actually SIGNED ON THE DOTTED LINE as his legal guardian until he was 21. Mike took Bobby as his responsibility like a mensch
✅ MIKE PORCO was making sauce and mixing drinks in a restaurant on 4th Street while, in the same small room, American music history was being made.
ALL FORMS OF 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN MUSIC WERE SHOWCASED TO OTHER MUSICIANS AND AFICIONADOS.
This never happened before on such a scale. The unique convergence of individual paths could never create more of an impact as 1960.
✅ Some may say that Mike Porco's life was full of historic moments. It's true. He and his club were witness to legendary events during the 1960's Folk and Blues Revival AND the revival of the revival in the 1970s. His name didn't become as well known as some of his friends like Tom Paxton, Richie Havens, Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez but, soon, MUSIC LOVERS and FANS will recall his name in the same breath.
FOLK SCARE scholars already know the PORCO NAME well.😎
In 1960, thanks to Izzy Young Gerde’s became New York’s FIRST Folk Music cabaret. The OPEN MIC, then called the HOOTENANNY, was invented weeks later.
Brother John Sellers, The Clancy Brothers, Rev Gary Davis, Cisco Houston, Dave Van Ronk, Oscar Brand, Vince Martin and Carolyn Hester helped Mike establish Gerde’s as an authentic room for PROS to perform for a salary.
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Having expert knowledge of Gerde’s history, when I think of ‘1961,’ the first name act that comes to mind is…Judy Collins.
Second, only a two weeks behind, is Bob Dylan. Earlier in February at Gerde’s was Cisco Houston’s last gig ever. Sharing the stage, in his first official appearance on stage, was Arlo Guthrie at age 13. Hands of Arlo were young and shaking.
Of course, we can’t forget Bob opened for John Lee Hooker on April 11th. Mike Porco and Hooker remained life long friends. John Lee paid Mike a late-in-life hospital visit in Florida. (1990s)
MIKE APPROACHED DYLAN AND SAID ‘HOW ABOUT YOU WORK HERE?’
“Oh yes, yes, man! Yes, man! Thanks!”
According to Ratso, that’s what Bob said when Mike asked him if he’d like to warm up for John Lee Hooker in late March ’61.
Dylan was hanging around Gerde’s all the time. Mike fed him when he heard Bob’s stomach rumble. He played the Hoots (open mic) like religion on Mondays. Van Ronk’s wife Terri Thal was asking around town trying to get Dylan a paying job singing. Several people were encouraging Bob to ask Mike for work. At the same time, several people were asking Mike to hire Bob. It was a standoff for a moment in time. Dylan never asked for work but Mike Porco DID. Very unorthodox for the time, no amateur waited for the owners of clubs to ask them to get hired. Mike gave Bob some of my Uncle Angelo’s lightly worn clothes.
In the case of getting work, Dylan had help from music fan and reviewer for the New York Times Robert Shelton. He was also encouraging Mike to hire Bobby. Shelton was a patron and fan of Folk City from day one. He and Mike were also friends at the bar. (Did I mention that Gerde’s had a liquor license? Coffee houses had much less benefit for musicians getting paid from the hat. Night business included alcohol. Alcohol kept the doors open and the music playing until the wee hours)
Shelton’s review of Dylan’s Sept 1961 show put him on the map and got him signed with Columbia.
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I must say that I did rifle through many boxes of documents at the Bobst Library at NYU, on the south border of Washington Square Park. I was looking for a copy of the Union filing with Zimmerman’s and Porco’s name on it.
The boxes were haphazardly cared for, in no order and sparse in content. Yet I filed through all the pages IN SEARCH OF the document signed on either April 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th or 9th. One of those days, I thought but, I couldn’t find the sheet. I knew going in to the library that the signed page may have been recovered by someone (perhaps Robert Zimmerman) in any years in the elapsed decades past but I looked anyway.
Some books speculate that the sign up was on this date or that date however the guy at the Bobst made me believe that it was the 6th. I’ll buy that. He happened to be a Dylan fan and had given this some thought in the past. It was a Thursday in 1961. Not Saturday the 8th or Sunday the 9th (closed office) but it’s possible.
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Bob Dylan went pro on Tuesday the 11th of April 1961. Can’t forget that part! Volumes have been written about the significance and influence of his subsequent cannon of work. It had to start with step one: Union and Cabaret Card to perform in NYC. If you happened to be underage, your mom, dad or favorite Porco must sign along as your legal guardian. It’s not quite a legal adoption, but it counts in my mind. Bob’s my rich uncle.
Bob Zimmerman saw a life changing opportunity forming for him. It was in New York, at Gerde’s Folk City. He was in the mid-West. Mr. Z took the action to GO and watch and learn from all the masters in New York. Woody was a draw to NYC, yes, but a job puts food in the ice box. He was confident enough to make a living from music. American Roots and Blues Music was already being mushed together before Dylan arrived. There was no where else in America to be for ambitious amateur musicians. Sixty years on, over 80 years old sits Bob, still adding to the body of work.
Terri Thal appears on the UNNAMED PODCAST and talks about that time when New York Times music critic, ROBERT SHELTON, wrote the big piece that put Bob Dylan on the map.
Terri Thal recalls helping Bob Dylan get work Mike Porco only called one person to spread the news
Terri Thal appears on the UNNAMED PODCAST and talks about that time when my grandfather Mike Porco called to tell her that her 19 year-old client got his first paying gig.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Hv3HRm4bk_g
Many people petitioned Mike Porco to hire Bob Dylan for his first gig at Gerde's. Terri Thal did most of the arm twisting.
https://youtube.com/shorts/t6QZiILjboY