Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña, and Richard Fariña Paperback – April 26, 2011

The author has invested prodigious effort--think in terms of a massive archaeological dig--to excavate the 35-40 year old memories of scores of primary sources through hundreds of interviews in order to produce a faithful rendering of lives of four singular individuals: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joan's sister Mimi and Richard Farina, as they came of age during the late 50's and early 60's folk music scene. These were undeniably epic times in the history of 20th century popular music, and Hajdu manages to plumb the depths of these four complex personalities convincingly as he vividly depicts the emergence of folk music scene in Greenwich Village and inner cities in the Northeast. If you are of a certain age, recognize the last two names and remember their music, you will likely find this book to be indispensable. If you have fond memories of sitting in a candlelit apartment in the 60's, among friends with a Dylan album on the stereo--and will admit this to friends. today--you may find the book rewarding. BUt be forewarned, this book is so chock-filled dialogue attributed to scores of different characters. The feel is like a novel, but the extent and depth of the scenes that are presented strains credibility. I bought it, though, hook line and sinker.
Dylan looms over the entire narrative, but is not the star. Joan Baez and, to a lesser extent, her younger sister Mimi are central to the story, and their personalities--refracted through the eyes of their parents, other artists, business associates and ardent admirers--shine through the dark
wakes of pain and disillusion (dissolution!) that Dylan and Richard Farina, leave in their ardent pursuit of fame. Joan Baez achieved the significant success as the barefoot angel of the folk scene at first and subsequent Newport Folk Festivals. She produced the first commercially successful LP among the four. And, through an on-again-off-again infatuation and romance with Dylan--whose affections were plainly calculated to contribute to his budding career--Baez maintains her dignity and humanity in the face of his often misogynistic disregard. Towards the end, the book recounts Baez' emerging political sensibilities and activism, including the creation of a Center for the Study of Non-violence near her home in Carmel California. (For another view of this enterprise, see Joan Didion's 1968 volume of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem)
Farina's life is dissected in detail, from multiple perspectives. He is arguably the hero of this narrative and his life and untimely death seem to serve as a metaphor of the times. His highest ambition was to be a writer, though he dabbled in folk music and achieved some success teaming with his second wife, Joan's sister Mimi. At the age of 26 he was nine years older than Mimi Baez, who was 17 when he married her in 1963. She effectively had her parents permission, though her sister Joan was furious and skeptical of Farina's motives. Farina's creative genius is undeniable, the equal of Dylan's, I think, but he did not possess the pathological need for approval (even to the extent of self-loathing) that animated Dylan in the early part of his career. While Farina quickly became the center of attention in any room he entered, he was usually able to leave everybody feeling better following his seemingly effortless performance. The Dylan Hadju depicts has few redeeming qualities as a human being, which will certainly be off-putting to legions of his admirers. I found this portrait to be profoundly illuminating and consistent with the odd behaviors, arrogance and self aggrandizement that characterizes his autobiography, Chronicles Vol 1, which I found to be virtually unreadable. The book closes shortly after Farina's untimely death in a 1966 motorcycle accident, on the day first his novel, Been Down So Long It Seems Like Up To Me, was released. If you are "of" this time or intrigued by it, read the book. You won't be disappointed.

A short review, mainly as a reply/rebuttal to some themes in many other reviews here..

As a lifelong Dylan fan, Positively 4th Street was a great find, and a interesting, entertaining and gripping read. David Hajdu brings you RIGHT THERE into beatnick Greenwich Village and beyond, and examines the dynamics between the relationships of four particular people: Dylan, Joan & Mimi Baez, and Richard Farina. If you are interested in exploring that embryonic time for Dylan in particular, and getting a glimpse at his formative environment, you'll likely enjoy this as much as I did.

Given some other reviews here, I was turning pages with baited breath waiting for often mentioned "oh, dear" bad behavior to begin. But honestly, I didn't perceive that. Oh sure, it's there for Dylan, but mostly towards the end when he reaches his "folk rejection" stage. As has always been the case for Dylan as an artist, he conceives new personas and in doing actively destroys the previous one. He's done it his whole life. So it's not his time, per se, with Joan Baez that is filled with poor behavior, it's the end of that time when she is pooled in Dylan's mind with things he wants to dispose of. Joan got lumped in with "protest Bob" and got dumped as poorly as anyone has ever been dumped. But when they were together, he may have been quiet and eccentric, but he wasn't "bad". None of the four were. They were just ambitious young adults, looking for their place in the world. And their pursuits are hardly of the tune out / drop out variety - they were hard working, focused, young dreamers.

Some have spoken about whether Richard Farina deserves the attention he gets from the author in regards to his music. Never having heard him and Mimi before, I sampled some of their work and my conclusion is much the same as Dylan's own assessment - there isn't anything special going on there. I'm certainly not motivated to purchase any of this material.

Farina's excellence was as an author. I did pick up his "Been Down So Long It Looks Up To Me" novel, released just before he was killed, and it's wonderful. He was a later bloomer than Bob or Joan, and it's very sad that we only have the one large piece of work from him (short stories were released posthumously). But in short I agree that Hajdu spends too much time heaping praise on Farina's work. I suspect his successes on the stage were more a factor of his charisma than his material.

So, don't expect this to be a salaciously revealing read. For the hard-core Dylan fan, it's another key resource in understanding the artist. For the romantics, it's an exploration of their well-known Baez/Dylan affair that goes beyond the standard biographies. You'll learn how co-dependent these two people were at that point in their lives. And, most of all, it resurrects New York's early 60's Greenwich Village, and explains how all those folksters got there in the first place.

A fine, enjoyable book.

A very interesting book, although it reads a little slow at times. I think the entire Baez family comes out looking good and they should, they're decent bunch. Farina is overly ambitious but generally a good guy, this is especially evident with Mimi's 21st Birthday party. Dylan comes off as his regular self, Great song writer, average performer, and overall rotten human being. This should come as no surprise to anyone remotely familiar with Bob Dylan. Dylan's treatment of Joan Baez was absolutely despicable.

If you like to read about the 60's from an insider's perspective and a social history perspective, this is a good shot. I have recently read Van Ronk's memoirs and Suze Rotolo's great reflections on Dylan and Greenwich Village. Hajdu is a bit of an outsider, but this is real in depth reporting. In addition to Dylan and Joan Baez, you get a real interesting view of Mimi Farina, Richard Farina, Thomas Pynchon, and Eric Von Schmidt Add to that Pete Seegar, and you get a mice rounded view of people and personalities. Other memoirs and biographies exist, but most of it is sex, dope, and rock and roll, and this goes much further. For me, all this began by seeing Inside Llewelyn Davis and reading Teri Thal's comments on the movie. I will tell you, of them all, Bob Dylan comes out looking the worst and the rest - Joan Baez and the Farinas, surprisingly good.

I wanted to read this book because of my fascination with Farina. I found the author's representation of the four main characters very fair but revealing. I finally realized just how big a star Joan Baez was in the early sixties.