Victor Maymudes (December 2, 1935 – January 27, 2001) was
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 ...
's tour manager at the beginning of his musical success in the early 1960s. After a hiatus in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, Maymudes rejoined Dylan as his tour manager from 1986 to 1996. After his death in 2001, Maymudes' son published a memoir based on hours of taped interviews.
Biography
In his unfinished autobiography, posted on a website, Maymudes recalled opening the Unicorn coffee house in Los Angeles. The Unicorn (located on the
Sunset Strip next to what would become the
Whisky a Go Go
The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed "the Whisky") is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boule ...
) opened in 1957 by Maymudes and
Herb Cohen
Herbert Cohen (December 30, 1932 – March 16, 2010) was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Judy Henske, Linda Ronstadt, Frank Zappa, Tim Buckley, Odetta, Tom Waits, Geo ...
(later well-known rock manager of
Frank Zappa,
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years. Buckley began his career based in folk music, but his subsequent albums experimented with ...
, and
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...
), was the first of its kind on the West Coast, south of San Francisco. "We had live music and poetry. People would read and play chess," he wrote.
In 1961, folk musician
Ramblin' Jack Elliot
Ramblin' Jack Elliott (born Elliot Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer and songwriter.
Life and career
Elliott was born in 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, United States, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adnopoz, a ...
introduced Maymudes to a
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
folk musician five years his junior who had just arrived in New York City's
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 ...
. "We went to the Gaslight Cafè on MacDougal Street, where everyone hung out," Maymudes wrote. "When we came in, Bob Dylan was in the back room where the performers hung out. He had been typing on an old typewriter in the back room. He was a two-finger typer. He was writing a new song. This one would be a hard rain that was going to fall." Maymudes developed his own reputation in the annals of
Dylanology. He was "tall, taciturn" with "penetrating dark eyes, turbulent hair and an uncanny
ability to keep his mouth shut", wrote
Robert Shelton in his 1986 biography of Dylan, ''No Direction Home''. Photographs show Maymudes playing
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
with Dylan and standing enigmatically beside him.
Death
Maymudes died January 27, 2001, at UCLA Hospital in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...
, a day after he was stricken with a
cerebral aneurysm
An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.
Aneurysms in the posterior circula ...
at his home in
Pacific Palisades.
References
External links
*
A Dylan Insider's Back Pages, ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', August 7, 2014
1935 births
2001 deaths
American music people
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