IZZY YOUNG 'just walked in' to offer a Folk Club partnership with Mike Porco in 1959
NEW YORK'S FIRST FOLK MUSIC Cabaret started on a handshake deal
🍺 Sixty four years ago, Mike Porco added live Folk Music to the menu of his Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village . The rest became American Music History. Virtually overnight, Gerdes Folk City became the most coveted gig by every hopeful singer/songwriter to make their way to New York. It was the home of New York 's original Hootenanny now commonly known as open mic. Gerdes offered a stage for aspiring stars to make their names known....and many of them did.
🤌🏼 The list of those who cut their teeth at Gerdes reads like a who's-who of American Folk and Folk Rock royalty: Arlo Guthrie, Richie Havens, Judy Collins, Simon and Garfunkel, Jose Feliciano, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Willie Nile, Steve Forbert, The Roches, Peter, Paul and Mary, Phoebe Snow, David Massengill, Rod MacDonald, Carolyne Mas and, of course, Bobby Dylan.
BUT FIRST In 1957
🏙 There was a transition happening in the Village. Neighborhoods were being reshaped to accommodate New York University. The Beat Poet scene was dying down and the acoustic guitarists were finding more and more work around Washington Square. The building that housed Gerde's Restaurant at 11 West 3rd was demolished. Porco and company moved their operations one block north and went dark at night. There was no music, no stage and Mike Porco had no clue that Israel Young would one day approach him to host Folk Music.
🕰 That day arrived in late 1959 when Izzy and a guy named Tom Prendergast offered to do the heavy lifting to get NEW YORK'S FIRST Folk Music Cabaret off the ground. They put 11 West 4th Street on the map of American Music History.
🎬 As Suze Rotolo put it: Gerde’s was where "the cross-fertilization of different styles and musical eras forged important links in the chain of American musical history." How did the SINGER/SONGWRITER genre form? My grandfather Mike Porco offered up his Italian restaurant to be the headquarters for the 1960s Folk and Blues Revival.
It was HOME to traditional artists and it became HOME BASE for aspiring Singer-Songwriters from all over the country. Back then, talented musicians REALLY COULD take a bus to Washington Square to show their wares and actually find work at one of the THIRTY clubs that welcomed acoustic performers. Early on, there was only ONE venue that was a LEGIT room that paid a professional wage. Traveling Troubadours and Blues originators included Gerde’s Folk City on their Eastern circuit.
THEY CREATED A NEW SOUND! They developed a whole new genre. Country Blues and American Folk mated to create what we now call FOLK ROCK.
But wait!! THERE’S MORE!!!
🪡🧵I’ve sewn together a solid story for any viewer to watch and catch the drift. THIS DOC is the FULL untold story as told from multiple people directly connected to Mike Porco and the Greenwich Village SCENE. A complete stranger and the most staunch Folk Revival student will be wowed.🍿🍿🍿
🍿🍿 TWENTY THREE INTERVIEWEES made it happen.
🎥So many greats went on camera with their memories. The documentary is about two main characters, if you will. That would be MIKE PORCO and the MOTHERSHIP, GERDE’S FOLK CITY. For reasons that you’ll learn in the movie, TWO other main figures were spoken about. The two OTHER main characters on everyone’s lips were Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. Please help spread Mike Porco’s story to music lovers far and wide🌎🌎
🌎 In case you missed it https://bobporco86.substack.com/p/documentary-on-mike-porcos-folk-music
The Gerde’s Folk City documentary is called POSITIVELY PORCO. If you have any interest in the music spawned in the restaurant, you will want to see it. Basically, the American singer/songwriter genre has its roots planted at Gerde's.
✅Make a Substack account
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✅Subscribe for paid to watch the GerdesFolkCityDoc!!!
The documentary landed on Substack here https://bobporco86.substack.com/p/documentary-on-mike-porcos-folk-music