Apparently, according to Bob Dylan ,
it was Butterfield’s birthday on the 17th December
He died in 1987 and would have been 82
Butterfield was an inspiration
and I met him in NYC in 1981 I think
I WAS FILLING IN FOR MY FRIEND STEVE
AT THE MILLS TAVERN ON BLEECKER ST
ONE NIGHT
IT WAS WHAT WE CALLED A DIVE BAR
JACO PASTORIUS AMONG OTHERS
USED TO GO THERE LATE AT NIGHT
AND COP THEIR MEDICATIONS
CHARLIE OWNED MILLS TAVERN
HE WAS ALWAYS IN A BAD MOOD
AND WHEN PEOPLE WHO HE DIDN’T LIKE
CAME INTO THE BAR HE WOULD BRANDISH A 2×4
THAT HE KEPT BEHIND THE BAR
AND YELL “GET OUTAHEAH YA LOUSY COCKSUCKERS”
SO, AFTER THE SET
PAUL BUTTERFIELD ,
WHO HAD BEEN LISTENING AT THE BAR
COMES UP TO ME AND SAYS
“JUST KEEP PLAYING FROM THE HEART
AND DON’T WORRY WHAT EVERYBODY IS SAYING”
WELL I DID’NT KNOW WHAT EVERYBODY WAS SAYING
BUT YEARS LATER A MUSICIAN FRIEND
WHO WAS A BIG FAN OF BUTTERFIELD
AND POSSIBLY INTRODUCED ME TO HIS MUSIC
WOULDN’T EVEN JAM WITH ME
SO, THANKS, PAUL BUTTERFIELD,
FOR THE ENCOURAGING WORDS
YOU SAID TO ME
ALL THOSE YEARS AGO
Category: New York City
John Winston Lennon
16071 days ago John Lennon was murdered
on the streets of New York where he felt comfortable
walking around, meeting street musicians like David Peel
and where he became a protest singer
one of the songs he wrote helped get a man out of jail-
that man was John Sinclair who was serving 10 years for
sharing 2 joints with an undercover police agent
there is a recording of John Sinclair, Leni Sinclair, John Lennon & Yoko Ono
speaking on the phone after Sinclair’s surprise release from prison days after
the concert that Lennon sang his song
Lennon also mentions producing David Peel’s album “The pope smokes dope”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zABnHi6Navo
On that Monday night in New York City
I was at the dugout cafe on bleecker street
waiting to perform at the open mic when Neil, the host ,
told us that John had been shot and killed
outside his apartment at the Dakota
******
I met Lennon once, a typical nyc story as
i was handing out leaflets for a midtown shop
when he and yoko and the kid walked by
i had recently returned from San Francisco
where the poets were talking about a new
constitutional convention so I said hello
and asked him what he thought about that.
“Dunno, he replied, never thought about it.”
and that was that and they all hopped into a cab.
here is sinclair’s poem after Lennon’s murder
mark ritsema accompanies him
In 2011 I did a few gigs in Belgium with Sinclair
and I would sing the Lennon song as part of
the opening act
David Peel died a few years ago
Sinclair passed away a few months ago
but like Lennon,their work ,
fortunately ,lives on ……….
The free Sinclair song performed in Leuven, Belgium
