NYC's Folk City Celebrates 50 Years with Concert Monday, June 7th

The legendary Gerdes Folk City was the epicenter of the folk music movement in the 1960s and beyond--and it was set to get a big 50th anniversary party on June 7th. Many big names either got their start at Folk City or played at the club owned by Mike Porco, including Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Jose Feliciano, Emmylou Harris, Jack Hardy, Simon and Garfunkel, Judy Collins, and Peter, Paul and Mary.

Porco's grandson Bob planned a "Folk City at 50" anniversary concert for Monday night, and Hardy, Eric Weissberg, and many others were scheduled to appear, including Greenwich Village folk scene veterans David Massengill, Rod MacDonald, Sylvia Tyson (of Ian and Sylvia), and Frank Christian, to name just a few. The emcees for the concert were to be Hardy and Dominic Chianese ("Junior" from The Sopranos), who was an emcee at the original Folk City. (See the list of "Folk City at 50" scheduled performers at Bob Porco's blog about the concert, FolkCityatFifty.blogspot.com.)

The concert was to be held at 130 West 3rd Street in the Village, where Folk City resided for its last decade and a half. (The location is now home to The Fat Black Pussycat and the Village Underground.) Unfortunately I was unable to make it to the show, but look forward to seeing some reviews of it. Porco's website calls it "the once in a lifetime gathering of Folk Music's finest," and it's definitely a legendary line-up--not to mention maybe the last time some of these greats will play together at one event.

Though I'm disappointed at missing the live show, a recording of the "Folk City at 50" concert will be made available to those who can chip in at least $10 to the project's Kickstarter fundraising page for future events (the June 7th concert is "just the beginning of a series of events and happenings being put together to celebrate the 50th Anniversary").

To learn more about the club, see this article by Frank Beacham on the history of Folk City, as well as this story from the Burlington Free Press about Vermont artists recalling Folk City.