![]() “I did some work accompanying Steve Stills when he was with Ron Long and the Buffalo Fish. It was mostly by watching him that I picked up some of those things.” - Stephen Stills, Tiger Beat, June 1967 And every time he got up there he would perform and do his whole number, exuding all the personality he could and he did some marvelous comedy routines. He never looks past the fact that he’s supposed to be up there: toĮntertain the people. The way he used to move, the way he used his accent, his whole attitude toward the theater, the entire theater, gave him a great basis from which to work. But Pete has had a great effect on the way I perform. I knew him before I ever saw him perform. He was very warm and very open and willing to talk and communicate and so forth. For four days beforehand I heard from everyone ‘Hey! Have you seen the kid down the street that looks just like you?!’ And Peter told me later that he heard the same thing for approximately the same amount of time.We finally ran into each other at the Four Winds Cafe and he said to me, ‘Oh, hi! You’re the kid that looks like me!’ And that’s how we met. “I can remember the first time I met Peter. Peter has a very active mind.” - Stephen Stills, TeenSet, June 1967 For those of you who wish to give a dollar, I’ll yell “swish” so everybody will know you’re not a piker!’ What goes into the basket has to be provided by you (pointing at the faces in the crowd), because there is a law in New York City…’Īnother was: ‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, since there is a law in New York City that says that singers like myself and my cohorts cannot be paid for singing our beautiful songs for you, I am going to come around with my banjo, which is empty (he would tap it to accent the hollow sound) and accept your kind offerings. What is in the basket? A baby? No, more’s the pity! There is nothing in the basket. Peter’s went like this: There would be a basket at the corner of the stage and Peter would gaze over at it and say, ‘Look at the basket. There’s always a law in New York City! Anyway, your pitch had to let the people down easy and not make you look like a beggar… it had to be very diplomatic. You see, it was against the law for the coffee houses to pay entertainers because they didn’t have cabaret licenses, which cost a whole lot of money in New York City. Everybody had to have a pitch as to how to tell the people after they had been soaked a dollar and a half for a cup of coffee that they had to drop something in the basket to pay the performer. I think it is because he realized that he is just as good a comedian as he is a musician. I don’t remember if we had a name, or if we did, what it was. ![]() Soon after, we decided to form a trio… Peter, John and myself. Through Peter’s girlfriend, who introduced us at the club. Peter played guitar and banjo and sang songs of social import, big, heavy ballads, Phil Ochs’ tunes and occasionally, a show tune. He and I, as well as my roommate, John Hopkins, were all playing the basket houses. “I first saw Peter Tork in Greenwich Village at a coffee house called the Four Winds, which stands on West Third Street, about 25 yards from the subway entrance and about 25 yards from the now-famous Night Owl, birthplace of the now-famous Lovin’ Spoonful. Stephen Stills and Peter Tork, early 1960s (screenshot from Peter’s My Generation interview) and later that decade (photos by Michael Ochs Archives, and Nurit Wilde).
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