Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone

[JBFRAME at aol.com]

Excerpts from a review by Douglas Cooke
http://www.richardandmimi.com/longtime.html

Published in 1969 (not 1968, as sometimes stated), while interest in Fariña 
was still high, this volume is comprised of poems, lyrics, stories, and 
essays, some of which had been published in magazines while others appeared 
here for the first time. Added to the mix are notes by Mimi (from a recorded 
conversation with Christopher Cerf), a few brief extracts from Fariña's 
diary, and Joan Baez's essay on Fariña, originally published as a glossy 
spread in Esquire and later reprinted as a chapter in Joan's autobiography, 
Daybreak 

There are two essays in this volume. "The Monterey Fair" tells of an incident 
that occurred when he, Mimi, Joan, Thomas Pynchon and a few other friends 
went to a carnival Richard had a confrontation with members of the John Birch 
Society. Despite the illustrious names, this bit of reportage is not 
particularly interesting. The other essay, "Baez and Dylan: A Generation 
Singing Out," discusses their influence on young people, particularly college 
students. The reference here to Dylan's debut at the Newport Jazz Festival is 
the Newport Folk Festival of 1963, not to be confused with the 1965 fest when 
Dylan "went electric." 

Taken as a whole, the songs, lyrics, poems, stories, and novel, as well as 
the many memoirs and reminiscences of Fariña by others, suggest a man full of 
prodigious talent, originality, and inestimable potential. To dismiss Fariña 
as a second-rate Dylan lacking any claim to distinction, as many people have 
done recently in reviews of Hajdu's Positively 4th Street, is to ignore not 
only the evidence of the superb music he left behind, but also the potential 
suggested by these early writings. One might not guess from Pynchon's early 
stories what a master of modern fiction he became. If we cannot know what 
Fariña might have accomplished, we cannot condemn him for what he failed to 
accomplish when an early death robbed him of the chance. These early writings 
deserve further study through careful comparison with Fariña's total oeuvre.

FYI
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