Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Positively 4th Street

The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

This is the candid, mesmerizing, and often intimate account of how four young people—Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña—gave rise to a modern-day bohemia and created the enduring sound and style of the 1960s.

Even before they became lovers in 1963, Dylan and Joan Baez were seen as the reigning king and queen of folk music. But their songs and their public images grew out of their association with Joan's younger sister, Mimi, a musician in her own right, and Richard Fariña, the roguish novelist Mimi married when she was seventeen. Their rise from scruffy coffeehouse folksingers to pop stars comes about through their complex interpersonal relationships, as the young Dylan courts the famous Joan to further his career, Fariña woos Mimi while looking longingly on her older sister, and Fariña's friend Thomas Pynchon keeps an eye on their amours from afar.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 9, 2001
      Sometimes, gifted people intersect at the perfect moment and spark a cultural movement. According to acclaimed biographer Hajdu (Lush Life), Joan and Mimi Baez, Dylan and Fariña were of that brand of fated genius, and via romantic and creative trysts, they invented 1960s folk and its initially maligned offshoot, folk rock. But their convergence hardly emblematizes the free-loving media version of the 1960s. Egos—especially Joan Baez's and Dylan's—clashed, jealousies flared, romance was strategic. Hajdu does not dwell on Dylan's thoughtless, well-documented breakup with Joan Baez after riding to fame on her flowing skirts. Instead, he spotlights Joan's younger sister, Mimi, a skilled guitarist in her own right, and her husband, novelist-musician Fariña. After divorcing leading folkster Carolyn Hester, the disarmingly groovy Fariña captivated teenage Mimi via love letters and, but for his untimely death, might have pursued Joan. Though Fariña comes off as more opportunistic than Dylan, Hajdu compellingly asserts that Fariña, not Dylan, invented folk rock and provided fodder for Dylan's trademark sensibilities. Hajdu provides a skillfully wrought, honest portrait that neither sentimentalizes nor slams the countercultural heyday. Photos not seen by PW. (June)Forecast:Hajdu's reputation and Dylan's 60th birthday on May 24 will win the book attention.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This engrossing book takes us back to the late '50s and early '60s to explore the lives and loves of four seminal folk performers: Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Richard Fari–a, and Mimi Baez Fari–a. Narrator Bernadette Dunne performs character voices for each person quoted in the book. Thus, we get what amounts to her imitations of Dylan et al., which is disconcerting and distracting. Dunne has a wonderful voice; it's confident, pleasant, and cool. Except for Dylan's distinctive voice, though, we don't know whether she's being true to the other principals. In fiction, a narrator can create. In nonfiction, creativity leads to caricature. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading