Bleecker Street and Beyond: The Greenwich Village Music Scene of the 60s

Beat Generation poets held forth in the parks and coffee houses of New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1950s, but by the next decade, a new movement was taking over – a wave of politically conscious, guitar strumming poets who turned the Bohemian coffeehouses of the Village, like The Gaslight Cafe, Gerde’s Folk City, The Bitter End, and more into the focal point of the sixties folk revival. Inspired by the Weavers and others, young troubadours like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, Judy Collins, Simon & Garfunkel, the Kingston Trio and others, rose to prominence there while others, like the Mamas and the Papas, The Lovin’ Spoonful and The Youngbloods had a more oblique connection.

In a live music-spiced examination of this cultural phenomenon, singing duo Bill Bowen and Joan Friedenberg, who perform professionally as the PinkSlip Duo, retrace the steps of these music legends and iconic locales – and bring you with them. Power Point photos illustrate as the story wends its way through the Village, with commentary that recalls its coffeehouses and folk and pop heroes and their poignant ballads, sung in harmony-rich arrangements, for an enjoyable sing-along and an educational and nostalgic journey.