THE WRITINGS OF PHIL OCHS (and a December 25th song from Bonnie Koloc)

This has been a tough December (following many and many a tough month in this most immemorial year. Heading into the supposedly “cheerful” holiday season, which many find depressing even in the best of times, we had the 40th anniversary of an assassination.

“...distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor….”

For me, and so many others, it still is a bitter hurt.

Of course, the pandemic came back with a vengeance. The KILL rate may be somewhat low (in America, 3,000 die each day but the country has about 300 million, so what are the odds, the “so what” people snicker). Meanwhile, those sickened by Covid are clogging up the hospitals to full capacity, and anti-vax anti-mask assholes will prolong the suffering well past another few months, for sure.

TODAY? DECEMBER 19th?

It’s the anniversary of a death not particularly well remembered at this point (see: COLE, Bobby) and a birthday that unfortunately lets us know that Phil Ochs is not among the small circle of friends celebrating his 80th. He died at 35 by his own hand, at the end of his rope.

His friendly rival Bob Dylan has apparently retired, by the way. The “never ending tour” was no rehearsal for retirement, but perhaps he was feeling the strains, and the pandemic shut down was the final push. Rumor has it he instantly took his band off the payroll, and of course, soon after, sold the rights to all his songs. That does seem like he may simply spend time painting, sculpting, writing memoirs, and perhaps calling in some people for a new studio album if he feels like it.

A bright spot for me was, after being postponed by the pandemic because nobody was able to work at the publishing house or the printer etc. etc., “The Writings of Phil Ochs” scheduled for May, FINALLY made its appearance here in December. For those “50 fans” who can’t be wrong, and hopefully another 500 or 1000 at least, this is a handsomely done volume that saves us a grip to fucking Oklahoma to try and make an appointment to peruse the actual documents for a few hours at the “Woody Guthrie Museum” where they lay. (It’s nice, and often the only thing to do, when material is donated to a college library or a museum, but so many of these places are proprietary. They won’t stream online or allow scholars to get copies for a legit research project. They deny rights to documentary film makers. So big thanks THIS book appeared at all!)

The mild caveat here is that the book IS dated. Only Phil fans would be interested in his Free Press interview with failed mayoral candidate and current L.A. police chief Tom Reddin…and then, only because the interview exposes Phil’s honesty and vulnerability. He admits to having panic attacks while talking to the guy, and Reddin comes off as mature and sympathetic, telling Phil to take it easy, have a glass of water…rather than snicker at the hippie who has crumbled in confronting “The Man.” Phil’s interview questions, by the way, are much more journalist than Abbie Hoffman wiseass, another thing to his credit if you bother to read the piece.

As for “Will Elliot Richardson Be Our Next President?” that’s one of the bon bons I’ll save for last, or not at all, like the nougat piece in the Whitman sampler box. Likewise, “Brezhnev on TV’s Let’s Make a Deal” probably wasn’t all that hilarious to readers even at the time it was published. The provocatively titled “James Dean Lives in Indiana” is actually just a screed against Hubert Humphrey. Anyone remember “The Happy Warrior?”

For happiness…for a shot of Phil the wicked wiseguy, I’m glad to say that the book fearlessly (who knows who owns copyright, if anyone, for 60’s magazines and newspapers) reprints an article from Cavalier. Cavalier was a B-level men’s magazine competing with Playboy. It just happened to be a very worthy adversary, with a lot of the more radical writers and comedians contributing pieces, and the girls showing a little more, and a little more often than what you got in Hef’s mag. Along with Rogue (where Lenny Bruce had a column) and Swank (with Bruce Jay Friedman editing), Cavalier back issues are certainly worth reading.

Phil’s put-on contemplates a bunch of new releases with exciting photos on the cover. It was first published in DECEMBER of 1965, and includes these:

COVER: A color close-up of a large female breast.

TITLE: More of Judy Henske

COVER: A dungareed half-smling long-haired boy walking down a snow-covered street wth Susie Rotolo.

TITLE: The Free-Stealing Phli Ochs

COVER: A dungareed half-smiling long-haired boy leaning over the body of a dead Negro woman with a cane.

TITLE: Still Another Side of Bob Dylan.

There’s more to this still-amusing article. MUCH more interesting and often valuable writings in here, including a few diary entries from Phil’s trips overseas. If it’s any consolation, though Phil died at 35, he traveled the world more times than some seasoned 80 year-old, and left behind a prolific amount of songs and writings, too, AND his political activity from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles would have exhausted most anyone else. As Paul Simon sang it, “some folks’ lives roll easy…” and some people just meander through it, and Phil…for much of it, it was an amazing rollercoaster of a ride with a great amount of highs.

A discovered gem from Phil’s very early days (yes, they’ve got his writings from college newspapers and even earlier) is “The Fight,” a short short story he wrote while attending the Staunton Miltary Academy in 1958.

There’s a lot to enjoy in this book, and it’s always interesting to see who Phil was championing (Buffy Saint-Marie, Gordon Lightfoot) and true fans will even wonder, marvel, and be confused by the assortment of never-before-seen poems he wrote. If you were mildly baffled by some of Phil’s liner note-poems, here’s more of the same.

There are also never-before-seen photos, which show the artist at his best; revolutionary and challenging, cheeky and satiric, or just staring right through you with poetic poignance, seeming to know you and holding secrets he will reveal in song.

David Cohen’s previous tome was a valuable bio-bibliography published long before the Internet, which remarkably gave Phil fans a huge amount of stuff to try and find, from writings (now collected here) to bootleg concert recordings.

There will be celebrations for Phil’s birthday if you can find them, including “Phil Ochs Night” things, and I suppose some “helpful” people giving away Phil’s Elektra and A&M records along with the more forgivable passing around of the thirsty boots.

BIG thanks here to David Cohen for ALL his research work and editing, and to the “Phil Ochs Estate” (listed as copyright owners for this book ie, brother Michael Ochs and daughter Meegan Ochs).

This December, we can still give thanks for staying alive, and for most, being able to say the same for friends, relatives and those we admire. And, cliche though it is, the “archive’s alive” on Phil’s recordings, and now, at least, submitted for your approval…here is “THE WRITINGS OF PHIL OCHS.”

Your download?

Well, there are even more obscure folkies out there. And I’ve always liked Bonnie Koloc’s melancholy “25th of December.”

“My baby left me a little too soon….and it’s so hard to find just a little piece of mind when everything you’ve got’s been taken away…”

BONNIE KOLOC- THE 25th of DECEMBER