Richie Havens These Days

[Teasing the Korean]

Anyone seen him live recently and/or have any idea what his recent music has been like? Truth be told I didn't know he was still performing.

[Dave James]

A quick Google search reveals that Havens is on tour in the New York area as we speak. I never had the opportunity to see him live, but I sure wish I had. He's one of those rare performers whose style allows him to take other people's songs and make them his own. I'll bet I still have a half a dozen of his LP's out in the garage. His MGM release Mixed Bag is one of my all-time favorites.

Edited December 20, 2009 by Dave James

[BFrank]

About 20 years ago I saw him in H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side in NY.

[Tom 1960]

The local radio station in Woodstock played a track the other day from the band Assembly Of Dust's recent release "Some Assembly Required". On the opening track,"All That I Am Now" Havens shares lead vocals. A pretty nice track. If I don't here it again soon, I'll have to phone in and request it.

[brownie]

Richie Havens gave a concert in Paris a couple of weeks ago...

Freedom!

[Guest Bill Barton]

No word on current activity... A comment though... I heard Havens several times back in the late 1970s-early 1980s. Each time he performed exactly the same songs in exactly the same order. And even the between songs "patter" was identical. Ho-hum. A very limited artist.

[AmirBagachelles]

I saw him play a bar date in Mt. Kisco NY in the very late 70s, which I thought was a great treat. I always loved Mixed Bag in high school but when I was a freshman in college (Fall '78) a friend turned me onto the The Great Blind Degree, an LP of songs, mostly covers I think, about generation gaps and social isolation. He and his vision/voice remain huge by me.

[Brad]

There's a great bio about him on Pete Fornatale's Back to the Garden about Woodstock. He was the conscience of the festival by all accounts.