HOTEL BOHEMIA PRESENTS A SPECIAL ARCHIVAL EPISODE: THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS TRIBUTE TO BARBARA DANE (BARBARA JEAN SPILLMAN) May 12, 1927 – October 20, 2024- ACTIVIST, JAZZ, FOLK, BLUES SINGER, RECORD PRODUCER AND SUBLIME HUMANIST

DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

Breaking News!

FILM PREMIERE

Maureen Gosling's
THE 9 LIVES OF BARBARA DANE
"The amazing story of Barbara Dane, a powerful radical citizen-artist whose magnificent voice and uncompromising dedication to freedom, social justice and global liberation, continues to ring."

--Danny Glover, Executive Producer

WATCH
TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdkTz4Lihmwhttps://www.barbaradane.net/

DOC 'N ROLL FESTIVAL

October 27th, 2024 @ 5:30pm

LONDON - BARBICAN CINEMA 3

Director, Maureen Gosling will lead Q&A after screening

​BARAKAN MUSIC FILM FESTIVAL

September 9th-19th, 2024

TOKYO

Director, Maureen Gosling at Sept 9th screening

​Note from Bill:
5 years ago, about this time of year, Rich approached me about celebrating the extraordinary life of one of his major influences - (he had brought her to our high school in the late 60s to participate in a benefit concert to raise money for Native American schools). I had a lot to learn because Barbara Dane's career spanned most of the 20th century and a good chunk of the present one. And, I was grateful for the study.
Starting out as a teenager from Detroit, Barbara Jean Spillman began singing with Louis Armstrong, and went on to become a sensation in the world of jazz. But, she was too big for that container - she went on to become one of the most influential folk music activists and label owners in history.
Upon learning of her passing last week at the age of 97, it seemed fitting that we revisit that special archival episode. Listen, and be amazed!

"Bessie Smith in Stereo" said jazz critic Leonard Feather in Playboy magazine when Barbara Dane burst onto the scene in the late '50s. In 1958 Time magazine said of her: "The voice is pure, rich...rare as a 20 karat diamond." To Ebony magazine, she seemed "startlingly blonde, especially when that powerful dusky alto voice begins to moan of trouble, two-timing men and freedom... with stubborn determination, enthusiasm and a basic love for the underdog (she is) making a name for herself...aided and abetted by some of the oldest names in jazz who helped give birth to the blues..." The seven-page Ebony article--their first feature story about a white woman (Nov., l959)-- was filled with photos of Dane working with Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Clara Ward, Mama Yancey, Little Brother Montgomery and others...