This blog post was originally published November 27, 2024, and is one of our favorites among the more than 200 we’ve published over the last year. To stay current on all our posts, follow us on X or Facebook, or subscribe to our blog feed via email here. A rock star, a legend, a genius, Jimi Hendrix was one of […]
A rock star, a legend, a genius, Jimi Hendrix was one of a kind. He carried a generation and pushed music to never-before-seen, electric limits. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame cites Hendrix as “…the most gifted instrumentalist of all time.” Born November 27, 1942, to Al Hendrix and Lucille Jeter, hardship and struggle […]
The Agnes Balcer Collection of our 4,700 piece (and growing!) historic image archive is one of our smallest collections, but the photos it contains have an outsize story to tell relating to the family that donated them and Greenwich Village history. Agnes Balcer was from Bemidji, Minnesota, and worked as an executive secretary in Washington, D.C. […]
On July 22, 1974, Stevie Wonder’s seventh studio album, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, was released by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. The classic album, considered the fourth of five from Wonder’s ”classic” period (which included the earlier Where I’m Coming From, Music From My Mind, Talking Book, and Innervisions, and the later Songs in the […]
On a farm far from the city on August 15, 1969, the Woodstock music festival entered into history and helped define a generation. The “Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music” was held at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm which was actually in Bethel, New York. Woodstock marked a pivotal moment in music and countercultural […]
This is one in a series of posts marking the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Check out our year-long activities and celebrations at gvshp.org/GVHD50. Music is an integral part of the cultural legacy and impact of our neighborhoods! In March 2019 we explored the iconic music venues and punk meccas of the East […]
Jimi Hendrix would have turned 75 this week. In his brief 27 years and even briefer musical career, Hendrix left an indelible mark upon guitar playing and rock music, permanently transforming both art forms. But perhaps in some ways his most lasting impact came from a project completed just three weeks before his death–the opening of Electric […]
I found this cool photo in the archives of Fred McDarrah’s work and the neon sign for “The Village Barn” immediately caught my eye. I had no idea what this place was and, intrigued, I of course, consulted Facebook. Turns out that when the Village Barn closed in the late 1960s, it became the basement […]
Who doesn’t know the opening notes? Who can’t recognize the wild, seething energy behind them? Who hasn’t seen his face, wavering with smoke and mystery? We heard him at concerts and celebrations all over the world. We watched and heard those first stark notes at Woodstock. We see him in his bright, colorful outfits. We […]
On November 20, 1981, The Clash’s genre-defying record ‘This Is Radio Clash’ was released. The band’s last stand-alone single, it presaged not only the direction the band would go in years to come, but also the direction of much of popular music in the decades which followed.
On October 28, 1972, Stevie Wonder released his album, Talking Book recorded at Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street. Rolling Stone Magazine’s review of the album at the time described it as “…the laid back funk of the vocals resting on a deliciously liquid instrumental track like a body on a waterbed. Yet […]
David Bowie’s plastic soul-funk hit “Fame,” his first (and one of only two) American number one singles and a biting cautionary tale about success and excess in the entertainment business, was released on July 25th, 1975. The song is considered a classic of the era, and is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 […]
We have two great birthdays in the world of punk to mark. The two celebrants straddle the East and West Village, and both sides of the Atlantic.
On February 24th, 1975, Led Zeppelin’s double studio album Physical Graffiti was unleashed upon the world. The band’s second most commercially successful album, it went sixteen times platinum in the United States, and spawned such classics as Trampled Under Foot, Boogie With Stu, and the east-meets-west magnum opus, Kashmir. The monster album also emerged roughly […]
On December 13, 1975, Patti Smith’s album ‘Horses’ was released. Simply put, music was never the same again.
You don’t have to live in the Village to celebrate the birthday of John Lennon, who was born on October 9th, 1940. But Villagers, and those who love the Village, have a special reason to celebrate the birth of one of the greatest and most transcendent popular musicians of the late 20th century.
…what a long, strange trip it’s been. On August 26th, 1970, an electric lady was introduced to the rock and roll scene on 8th Street in Greenwich Village. Ushered in by none other than Jimi Hendrix, Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street was built to provide Hendrix with affordable studio space that would […]
