I only knew Farina personally of those four (Farina, the Baez sisters,
Dylan). This was earlier, around the end of the fifties, when Farina and
three others (Kirk Sale jr., Tod Perry, David I-forget-his-name) "led", or at
least spokepersoned, a protest ("keep the party in apartyment," in the
language of my friend Peggy's sign) against a tightening of Cornell's in loco
parentis rules--a protest that was at least a good part of the more political
protest scene in Been Down So Long..., Farina's *very* popular book. He died
in May, not July, 1966, by the way--en route, if I remember, to some event
celebrating/following the book's publication. Yes, he was very "ego"--but,
at least from my brief, and rather superficial, acquaintance with him in
Ithaca, in a sort of warm, youthful, exuberant (though, to be sure,
self-involved) way--"charming," but pleasantly. Farina was a writer's
writer, too, then--in the sense that he could switch styles fluently and use
them well. --I've not read the Positively 4th St. book, so I don't know
if this contradicts its claims; like most of us, I've heard the stories of
Joan Baez's ambitiousness, Dylan's callousness, etc, but have no idea if
they're true.
Paula
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Jul 31 2001 - 17:45:46 EDT