They Can t Hide Us Anymore - Tapa dura

It's clear from reading this memoir by folksinger and social activist Richie Havens that this is one '60s survivor who hasn't become jaded. They Can't Hide Us Anymore (the title comes from a remark Havens made when he opened the Woodstock festival) traces Havens's journey from Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant district (where his musical skills aided him in staving off unwanted gang attention) to Greenwich Village at the cusp of the early-'60s folk boom. There, the positive-thinking artist/gadfly/aspiring entertainer crossed paths with everyone from Bob Dylan to Wilt Chamberlain. Then it was on to Woodstock and international (if fairly fleeting) fame. As befits an unapologetic counterculture adherent, Havens's memoir/life guide doesn't adhere to a tight structure. One minute he's offering a hasty guitar lesson, the next he's making passing reference to an encounter with the ghost of Aaron Burr at New York's Cafe Bizarre. He devotes as many words to unknown pals who've made a positive impression on him as he does to encounters with the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Some may find the fanciful flow of Havens's narrative disconcerting, but it's clearly the way the man has lived his life. It makes sense that he'd chronicle his experiences that way, too. --Steven Stolder

Richie Havens has been performing and recording for more than thirty years. He has also been active in environmental, young people's, and nonviolence causes.He lives in New Jersey.