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In the public street in NYC: Kitty Genovese was repeatedly stabbed for ½
hour and died, 3/13/1964. No one even lifted a phone - no one helped.
Oh look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed
They drag her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed
Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain
But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game
And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody
Outside of a small circle of friends
"Small Circle Of Friends," Phil Ochs [thanx Steve Suffet]
(this was followed up by Steve Suffet)
Kitty Genovese's murder took place in the Kew Gardens section of
the Borough of Queens, near the Kew Gardens station of the Long Island
Railroad. Her apartment, which she never reached that night, was on the
second floor of a building that housed store fronts on the ground floor.
One of those store fronts, the corner one to be exact, was the Interlude
Cafe, a coffee house which featured folk performers on the Friday and
Saturday nights. Thursday was an open mike hoot, and you didn't have to
pay the 50c cover if you had the courage to get up and sing a song or two.
The limit was three.
Among the people I heard play the Interlude: Pat Sky, Michael
Cooney, Dave Van Ronk, Rev. Gary Davis, the Holy Modal Rounders, Eric
Weissberg & Marshall Brickman, Phil Ochs. Al Cooper, later of Blood,
Sweat, & Tears, was a regular at the Thursday night hoots. For a while so
was Michael Cooney. I know that Michael lived in Kitty Genovese's
building, and perhaps in the apartment which became vacant upon her death
--- not sure of that, however.
Interlude waitress Lucy Brown appears in a photo on the back of
one of Pat Sky's LP dust jackets --- "A Harvest of Gentle Clang" perhaps?
The Interlude folded in the late sixties. I never learned what
became of the two owners, Max and Dave.
Coming soon: memories of the Abmaphd Coffee House, Uniondale, Long
Island, NY.
Regards,
Steve
© Abby Sale - all rights reserved
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