RICHIE HAVENS HAPPY 69TH B'DAY

JANUARY 21
i saw havens on the ed sullivan show a year or more before woodstock. i was astonished. i went out & got whatever albums(mixed bag & something else again) were available at town & country records. his voice was the first thing that struck me but also the guitar style, which i had no idea about at the time but thought was pretty cool. i cooled off on him later due, i'm sure, to his lack of songwriting skills. we all went through a period of dismissing performers if they didn't do their own material(w/exceptions like ronstadt).
years later, di & frank & i were in a gay bar in key west. a song came on that i couldn't place at first but i swore it was havens. richie havens being played in a gay bar? i went up to the dj &, sure enough, it was havens doing stevie nicks' "dreams" & doing a pretty good version. he is one of the great interpreters of dylan & the beatles & nowadays, his voice is still rich & deep & full of a very long history, both his & music's.
enjoy this dylan/morrison mashup.