Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man!... Say "Cheese!"

May 7, 2009 6:53 PM

Dr. John Rudoffis a cardiologist in Oregon, but before he entered medical school, he was the staff photographer at The Main Point, a coffeehouse in Bryn Mawr, PA associated with the early 1960s folk revival in the Philadelphia area. His photographs of the Philadelphia folk scene include unidentified local folkies, but also touring folk singers such as Dave van Ronk and John Hammond. Eventually, Rudoff got a press pass to the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he took photos of Mary Travers sharing a moment with Mimi and Dick Fariña and Joan Baez with a pre-psychedelicized Chambers Brothers, but the most amazing discovery of all are the photos of when Bob Dylan "went electric." And now you can see Rudoff's whole collection, thanks to the magic of Flickr.
posted by jonp72 (13 comments total)

What a wonderfully un-mythological picture of Bob Dylan! Just some guy, fooling around on a stage somewhere with a guitar and a harmonica. I love it.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:16 PM on May 7

Great find! Thanks for posting.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:24 PM on May 7

These are incredible.
posted by killdevil at 7:26 PM on May 7

He's got a set of Nina Simone as well, and also the March on Washington. Wow, what a find. Thanks for pointing us to it.
posted by roombythelake at 7:27 PM on May 7

Can a Tokyo Mefite go over to Flapjax At Midnite's house with some smelling salts? He's going to pass the fuck out when he sees these pictures.
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:10 PM on May 7

Where'd John Hurt get that hat, anyhow? That man always had the kindest, most amused-looking eyes.
posted by Forrest Greene at 9:27 PM on May 7

Wow - fantastic. Thanks. Something about the look just seems so contemporary, but I'm not sure why.
posted by chinston at 9:57 PM on May 7

See, you go to that photo, and there's no booing.
posted by dhartung at 9:58 PM on May 7 [1 favorite has favorites]

Holy shit. Truly.
posted by Kinbote at 12:17 AM on May 8

Thanks jonp72. Great stuff.
posted by peacay at 1:20 AM on May 8

What a wonderfully un-mythological picture of Bob Dylan!

Another de-mythologizing aspect to the whole thing is that, if you look closely at the Chambers Brothers pictures, they have electric guitars too.
posted by jonp72 at 4:54 AM on May 8

I like the Portland Beavers Baseball set as well.
posted by tushfestival at 6:44 AM on May 8

There was a thread about Dylan at the Newport festival a few years ago, which included a link to an mp3 of Dylan's performance. Sadly, that link is now broken, but I remembered that I grabbed the song.
posted by MrMoonPie at 7:39 AM on May 8