New Video: When They Tore Down Washington Square Park

I thought you might enjoy this Youtube video/song called “When They Tore Down Washington Square Park.” Steve Baldwin (very talented!) produced the video and the music. He’s playing the guitar and all instrumentation, mixing, etc. I’m singing and conducting the tour around the park.

If you want to rate this video, please click on this link. It will take you directly to Youtube.com, which lets you rate or view this in High Resolution (which also sounds even better).

You can watch the video by simply clicking the “play” icon above or you download the MP3 file and play it on your iPod by clicking here:.

Hope you like it!

– Sharon Woolums

Lyrics: When They Tore Down Washington Square Park

Well they’re chopping down the big old trees
Getting rid of the birds and bees
Because the architect said so
Because the architect said so

Then they dug up the moulderin’ bones
Piled them up in the Quiet Zone
Because the architect said so
Because the architect said so

Bloomberg, Benepe, nobody was ready
When you tore down Washington Square Park

In the fountain they moved away
Where the children all used to play
Is a hole in my heart that cries
For the men who want to privatize

System’s corrupt, ’cause the fence is going up
Things get suspicious when you’re dealing with the Tisches
Desecration’s not a crime, don’t you love the redesign?
The decision was made in the dark, when they tore down Washington Square Park

Copyright 2008 Baldwin/Woolums ASCAP

Quiet Zone or Twilight Zone?

Can’t a lone saxaphonist play music in Washington Square Park anymore?   Those seeking to quell spontaneous public expressions from what was once a vibrant public space would have it so.  There are those (conservancy advocates) who would insist that one will need a permit to sing in the park.  I’m glad that Gabriel Zucker of The Villager wrote a good investigative article about it.

Washington Square Park 40 Years Ago

A wonderful video showing Washington Square Park back in 1968, where folksingers gathered around the fountain. It’s too bad there was no audio recorded with this video, which is now accompanied by a generic “nostalgia” soundtrack. It’s great to see some noteworthy street performers, including David Peel.

When Folk Music Mattered: The Seekers “I’ll Never Find Another You”

Found this great old Youtube video of the Seekers performing the lovely tune “I’ll Never Find Another You.” Remember when you could understand the lyrics in pop music? Let’s drink a toast to the days when folk music mattered and welcomed in Greenwich Village. Frankly, I know we’ll never find another Washington Square Park.

People — and places — are not replaceable, and thirty years after recording “I Know I’ll Never Find Another You,” The Seekers performed it live and for a bunch of white-haired folk, their live rendition deserves credit, even if the music doesn’t have that same youthful bounce. What a great group, and what a great song!

Video: Greenwich Village Sunday

A remarkable time capsule showing the Vilage, including our beloved Washington Square Park, back in 1960. This video was narrated by noted humorist, writer, and radio performer Jean Shepherd, who was soon to become a major voice of the counterculture.

When Obama Came to Washington Square Park

Barak Obama came to the park in September of 2007 and delivered a stirring speech to hundreds. While it was great to see our President-elect there, I wonder if he was even aware that this beloved historic park was soon to be destroyed and completely redesigned spending unnecessarily millions, in a time of economic hardship for the city, for a redesign ‘the people’ clearly did not want.

Doris Diether on Zoning

WNET Channel 13 has produced an online video featuring my friend Doris Diether (the Zoning Czar!) discussing important urban zoning issues at length. I can’t embed the video on this web site but you can view it by following this link:

http://www.thirteen.org/forum/an-overview-of-zoning-past-and-present

The Famous “Bones” Photograph

Here’s the famous photo I took of a skeleton uncovered during the sloppy digging up of Washington Square Park. I had to hide behind a bush more than an hour for fear a construction worker might confiscate my camera. The next phase of construction will uncover many more such human remains, as most of the 20,000 bodies buried in the park are in that quadrant! The desecration was one of many reasons ECO (Emergency Coalition Organization to Save Washington Square Park) and others fought long and valiantly to save Washington Square Park.

An article on this discovery was published in The Villager, Volume 77, Number 39 (the February 27 - March 4, 2008 issue).