MY GREENWICH VILLAGE Dave, Bob and Me - PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
A NEW BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR BY BOB DYLAN’S FIRST MANAGER
McNIDDER &
GRACE
MY GREENWICH VILLAGE
Dave, Bob and Me
By Terri Thal
Terri Thal was very much a part of the folk music world in 1960s
Greenwich Village, New York. Few people know that she was 21-year-
old Bob Dylan’s first manager prior to his contract with Albert
Grossman and Columbia Records. She also managed musician Dave
Van Ronk (who later became her husband), and others to include the
Roche sisters, Paul Geremia and The Holy Modal Rounders. She
booked performances at coffee houses, clubs and basket houses. On 6
September 1961, she recorded a set from a young Bob at The Gaslight
Café – it is the first known live recording of his original songs - known
to Dylan fans as the First Gaslight Tape! Terri took this ‘audition’ tape
to clubs to try to get him gigs – and she still owns the original reel-to-
reel tape! She had many friends in Greenwich Village including Suze
Rotolo and a number of seminal 1960s folk musicians.
When Dave Van Ronk first saw young Bob performing in a club in
Greenwich Village he said ‘I just heard this kid who’s a fucking genius.
You’ve got to hear him.’ Within a few days I heard him play and agreed
with Dave. Bob Dylan asked me, ‘Would you get me gigs?’
US Publication Date
5 October 2023
Hardback $32.95
ISBN 9780857162489
EBOOK
ISBN 9780857162496
FORMAT
240x162mm
EXTENT
232 Pages
ILLUSTRATIONS
16pp colour plate section
DESCRIPTION
Terri Thal has two passions: folk music and social justice.
This is a personal story of the world of folk music in 1960s New York
written by a Jewish woman from Brooklyn who, although not a
musician, was an intrinsic part of this scene. Terri describes
Greenwich Village as a community that was supportive, musically
exciting and one in which people had fun.
Terri tells us what it was like to hang out in the Village coffee houses,
to host folk singers like Tom Paxton and Phil Ochs who hung out at
her apartment, and to be a manager. We hear her view and
involvement of the 1960s socialist organizations, and how she later
merged her professional work in not-for-profit agencies.
Terri Thal grew up in Brooklyn and in the 1960s and 70s lived in
Greenwich Village, hanging out with and managing folk singers such
as Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan and the Roche sisters. She was very
much a part of this vibrant and iconic music scene – as well as a
member of socialist organizations. As an avid campaigner for social
justice Terri went on to work for not-for-profit organizations, handling
PR and fundraising, then as executive director. She now spends her
time doing environmental and criminal justice reform work. Terri is an
avid reader, writer and editor.
Book launch September 12 at The Bitter End,
New York at The Village Trip Festival
‘No one was closer to all of it in Greenwich Village than Terri Thal.’
Tom Paxton, folk singer-songwriter
‘A fabulous glimpse into an era of music and politics that changed everything.’
Richard Barone, musician and author of Music + Revolution: Greenwich Village in the 1960s
‘Terri Thal’s candid and deeply personal memoir of the mythological Village of the Sixties answers questions so
many of us have had - and adds to our knowledge of the iconic musicians she befriended and worked with.’
David Browne, author of Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost
Story of 1970
‘When I began writing Bob Dylan In The Big Apple, there were a small number of key people that I was keen to interview. People who were integral not only to the Bob Dylan story but also to Greenwich Village and even New York itself. The most important of them all, Terri Thal, remained elusive. She was Dylan's first
manager, the spark at the heart of 60's Greenwich Village, and was eventually persuaded to contribute to my book. The most vibrant and informative of chapters. Of course. I whooped with delight at the news that Terri would give a rare interview to me... and finally with this book, the world at long last gets the whole story.’
K G Miles, co-author of Bob Dylan in Minnesota
‘Terri Thal, with her razor sharp wit, takes you right back to the late 50's and early
60's Greenwich Village folk scene along with behind the scenes on being Bob Dylan's
first manager. She was a huge link in Bob's chain of success. This is a must read book!'
Marc Percansky, co-author of Bob Dylan in Minnesota
CONTACT PUBLISHER
Andy Peden Smith
andy@mcnidderandgrace.co.uk
PRESS ENQUIRIES
caroline@mcnidderandgrace.co.uk
McNidder & Grace
www.mcnidderandgrace.com
Information:
https://mcnidderandgrace.com/terri-thal-my-greenwich-village
https://mcnidderandgrace.com/terri-thal
https://www.thevillagetrip.com/event/terri-thal/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGh8rdXtKqc
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLavQLnQ-Mnp-rPDOKcciLXmkOlxbqt-mO
Buy:
https://www.amazon.com/My-Greenwich-Village-Dave-Bob/dp/0857162489/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Greenwich-Village-Dave-Bob/dp/0857162489/
https://www.bobdylanisis.com/product/my-greenwich-village-dave-bob-and-me/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-greenwich-village-terri-thal/1143542996?ean=9780857162489
