GYPSY LANE

(Text and new video below)

The fourth in our series.

When I was working at “The Gaslight” in Greenwich Village, on “off” nights there were open mic showcases. It was a chance for new and local musicians and comics to try out new material. A long list of great musicians would come by. If you were a local, you could sit in the back and listen for free and even get a cup of coffee. I met some of great performers and learned a lot about song writing, singing, guitar playing and performing.

The Gaslight was a magnet, a comfort zone for an extended Village family. I made so many friends who had arrived from all over the country, who had come to New York to “make it.” For the most part, everyone was friendly and engaging. There were a few “fixtures” who had been around for years and everyone knew them and there was also a few who were very quiet and solitary. I would see them wandering around MacDougal and Bleeker Street late into the night. Some were addicts others probably were schizophrenic and others poor and homeless. I was amazed how they were able to survive. I wrote a song about them “Got the Whole Night.”

There was one musician who everyone knew of, legendary, a “Mr. Tambourine Man”. Some  said he was as good as it gets and had a record deal at one time. I would see him all the time wandering around the Village. He did not play at the open mic nights but sometimes would sit in the back and occasionally wander backstage to the kitchen to get some coffee. Once and only once did I see him pick up someone’s guitar and sing. I was floored. He sounded like Buddy Holly singing “Everyday”. His guitar playing was very sophisticated. That was it, I never heard him play again.

Over  many years, during visits back to the city, I would stumble across him here and there, in a diner on 16th and Second avenue, sitting on a stoop on 8th street. He was always talking to himself. We both got greyer and greyer. I am not sure if there was any recognition when I would stop and say hi. It seemed like a miracle to be able to live like that for so long, such a vulnerable soul. I hope he is still around. I wrote this song for him and for me.