I've been reading The Mayor of MacDougal Street recently, which is Dave Van Ronk's memoir of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. The Coen brothers borrowed many of the incidents that happened to Van Ronk during that time as a structure for their character of Llewyn Davis, though they have been at pains to say that the personalities of the two are widely different.
Dave Van Ronk (1936-2002) was one of the founding figures of the 1960s folk revival. He was a pioneer of modern acoustic blues, a fine songwriter and arranger, a powerful singer, and one of the most influential guitarists of the '60s, he was also a marvelous storyteller, a peerless musical historian, and one of the most quotable figures on the Village scene.
The Mayor of MacDougal Street is a first-hand account by a major player in the social and musical history of the '50s and '60s. It features encounters with young stars-to-be like Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Joni Mitchell, as well as older luminaries like Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, and Odetta. I enjoyed The Mayor of MacDougal Street and would recommend it to anyone interested in that period in American culture.
Looking
back on my original reading from over a year ago, it was clearly in the four parts of this structure question that I felt the script let me down. Inside Llewyn Davis has EXACTLY five reveals. In order of importance [not chronology] they are:
Llewyn is a father
Llewyn’s partner threw himself off the George Washington Bridge
Jean’s baby could be anybody’s
The script ends where it begins
Llewyn Saves the [Wrong] Cat
[I word it this way to draw attention to what they were doing. If you don't think this cat stuff was done on PURPOSE to have a little fun at Mr. Snyder's expense... you are mistaken.]
The film is reported to be loosely based on the life of folk icon Dave Van Ronk, though it could be a Bob Dylan-inspired picture. The Dylan song, Farewell, provides the backing track for the entire trailer. The film follows Llewyn Davis, a struggling, aspiring musician living in Greenwich Village.
recently, which is Dave Van Ronk's memoir of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. The Coen brothers borrowed many of the incidents that happened to Van Ronk during that time as a structure for their character of Llewyn Davis, though they have been at pains to say that the personalities of the two are widely different.
