The Washington Squares are a neo-

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the 1950s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. History In 1948, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation", generalizing from his social circle to characterize the under ...

folk revival The American folk music revival began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, Billie Holiday, Richard Dyer-Benn ...

music group. Modeled after early 1960s groups like

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

and

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...

, the group was named after

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Washington Square Park Washington Square Park is a public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. One of the best known of New York City's public parks, it is an icon as well as a meeting place and center for cultural activity. ...

, emblematic of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

. The group, consisting of Bruce Jay Paskow, Tom Goodkind, and Lauren Agnelli, came up with their name over free drinks provided by Agnelli, who was a waitress at a Mickey Ruskin's Chinese Chance off

where Goodkind and Paskow were regulars. Paskow, Goodkind, and Agnelli dressed, played, and sang in a style evocative of the idealistic,

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album '' Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * ...

-leaning folk revival groups of the Kennedy era, but added a layer of

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

-era

irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized int ...

. Paskow had previously played in the punk band

The Invaders ''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invas ...

; Agnelli had been in the

Nervus Rex Nervus are an English anarcho-punk band from Watford. The current lineup is Em Foster (guitar, vocals), Paul Etienne (keyboards), Lucinda Livingstone (bass), and Jack Kenny (drums). They have released four full-length albums; ''Permanent Rainbow ...

and a writer for the

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

; Goodkind, the band's leader, had knocked around in U.S. Ape and was best known as creator and manager of large alternative music venues in Manhattan such as Irving Plaza, the

Peppermint Lounge The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965, although a new one was opened in 1980. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s. Many claim ...

, and Roseland. The revivalist concept preceded any real familiarity with this genre of music: to put together their repertoire, the band bought a bunch of records, picked the brains of veteran folksingers, and pooled their money to send Goodkind to Washington, D.C. to do research on folk songs at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

. They followed the Kingston Trio in covering "Greenback Dollar" and Peter, Paul and Mary in the traditional folk song, "Samson and Delilah", and also performed many other traditional folk songs including a bittersweet Polish song associated with the union

Solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

. Many of their own original songs were powerfully political, albeit tempered; for example, "You Can't Kill Me" alludes to the assassination of

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

politician

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with its line "Assassinated in Frisco for a straight man's crime". The band released two records while active; ''The Washington Squares'' and ''Fair and Square''. Their first was recorded at

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten we ...

in New York City, and was produced by

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, best known for his work with

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Their second was produced by Steve Soles, noted for his work with

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

on the

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, and as a member of the Alpha Band with

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. Three more albums of previously unreleased recordings are in the planning with the first due Thanksgiving 2016. The group broke up after Paskow's death in 1994. They reunited for one more concert at New York City's The Bottom Line, hosted by K-Rock's

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, where Tom played Tom Paxton's "Rambling Boy" to his old friend Bruce in tribute. The

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' David Johansen,

Patti Smith Group Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ''Horses''. Called the "punk poet ...

's Lenny Kaye,

Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Howard Crenshaw (born November 11, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as "Someday, Someway," a US top 40 hit in 1982, "Cynical Girl," and "Whenever You're on My Mind." He is ...

, joined the Squares (with Joey Ramone - he Ramonesrom the audience) for the reunion. Agnelli has continued to perform on and off (she sings on some of

Brave Combo Brave Combo is a polka/ rock/ worldbeat band based in Denton, Texas. Founded in 1979 by guitarist/keyboardist/accordionist Carl Finch, they have been a prominent fixture in the Texas music scene for more than thirty-five years. Their music, bot ...

's albums). Goodkind left the music business for some years, re-emerging as the conductor and arranger for

the TriBattery Pops Tom Goodkind Conductor The TriBattery Pops - Tom Goodkind, Conductor is an all-volunteer community band, and is Lower Manhattan's first such band for over a hundred years. The band's founder and conductor is what songwriter Chris Butler of The Waitresses, once called "a ...

, an orchestra of volunteers who live near the

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. He is also a voting member of his local community board in lower Manhattan. The group reunited in 2018 at a sold out City Winery show with

Peter Yarrow Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...

bringing Tom Goodkind to lead guitar and banjo with

Billy Ficca William Joseph Ficca (born February 15, 1950, in Delaware) is an American drummer who was a founding member of the rock groups Television and The Waitresses. Career Italian origins, Ficca was a childhood friend of Tom Verlaine (aka Tom Mill ...

on drums and Mike Fornatale on bass and vocals joining Tom and Lauren. Goodkind died of 9/11 related cancer in February 2019 at the age of 65.

Recordings

* ''The Washington Squares'' (1987) * ''Fair and Square'' (1989) * ''From Greenwich Village, the Complete Washington Squares'' (1997) * ''Monsters of Folk Vol. 1 Sessions 1983 - 1985'' (2016) * ''Folk Riot Vol. 2 Sessions 1985 - 1987'' (2018) * ''Folk Riot Vol. 3 Sessions 1987 - 1990'' (2020) * ''Folk Riot Vol. 4 Sessions 2018 - Live at the City Winery - Video'' (2018)

Notes

External links

Official site

Irving Plaza
{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Squares American folk musical groups Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1991