Editing Dave Van Ronk (section)

==Life and career==
Van Ronk was born in [[Brooklyn|Brooklyn, New York City]], to a family that was "mostly Irish, despite the Dutch '[[Van (Dutch)|Van]]' name".<ref>''Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll''. p. 255, Pearson: 1987; {{ISBN|0137822936}}</ref> He moved from Brooklyn to [[Queens]] around 1945 and began attending Holy Child Jesus Catholic School, whose students were mainly of Irish descent. He had been performing in a [[Barbershop music|barbershop quartet]] since 1949, but left before finishing high school spending time in the [[United States Merchant Marine|Merchant Marine]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/meet-the-folk-singer-who-inspired-inside-llewyn-davis-243730/|title = Meet the Folk Singer Who Inspired 'Inside Llewyn Davis'|magazine = [[Rolling Stone]]|date = 2 December 2013}}</ref>

His first professional gigs were playing tenor banjola, a wooden bodied combination of mandola and banjo, with various traditional jazz bands around New York City, of which he later observed: "We wanted to play traditional jazz in the worst way&nbsp;... and we did!"  But the [[trad jazz]] revival had already passed its prime, and Van Ronk turned to performing the blues he had stumbled across while shopping for jazz 78s by artists like the [[Reverend Gary Davis]], [[Furry Lewis]] and [[Mississippi John Hurt]].

By about 1958, he was firmly committed to the folk-blues style, accompanying himself with his own acoustic guitar. He performed [[blues]], [[jazz]] and [[folk music]], occasionally writing his own songs but generally arranging the work of earlier artists and his folk revival peers.

He became noted both for his large physical stature and for his expansive charisma which bespoke an intellectual, cultured gentleman of diverse talents. Among his many interests were cooking, [[science fiction]] (he was active for some time in [[science fiction fandom]], referring to it as "mind rot",<ref name= "memoir">{{cite book|author=Dave Van Ronk, Elijah Wald|title=The Mayor of MacDougal Street|place=New York|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2005|pages=230|isbn=978-0306814792}}</ref> contributing to [[science fiction fanzines|fanzines]]), world history, and politics. During the 1960s he supported left-wing political causes and was, at various times, a member of the [[Libertarian League]] and the [[Young People's Socialist League (1907)|Young Socialist League]], at that time the youth wing of the "[[Shachtmanism|Shachtmanite]]" [[Independent Socialist League]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Thal |first=Terri |title=My Greenwich Village: Dave, Bob and Me |publisher=McNidder & Grace |year=2023 |isbn=9780857162489 |pages=161}}</ref> In 1964, he was part of a group expelled from the Trotskyist [[Socialist Workers Party (United States)|Socialist Workers Party]] which would eventually go on to become the [[American Committee for the Fourth International]] (ACFI, later renamed the Workers League<ref>{{Cite web |title=SWP Political Committee decision suspending Wohlforthites |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/swp-us/idb/swp-pc-min/PC%20Apr%201964-Sep%201966/45-PC-decision-suspending-Wohlforthites-jun-30-1964.pdf |access-date=8 January 2024 |website=Marxists Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Jackson Alexander|year=1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eUtQjseKaIC&pg=PA552 |title=International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: a documented analysis of the movement |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |page=552, para. 2 |isbn=978-0-8223-1066-2}}</ref>). 

In 1974, he appeared at "An Evening For [[Salvador Allende]]", a concert organized by [[Phil Ochs]], alongside such other performers as his old friend Bob Dylan, to protest the overthrow of the democratic socialist government of Chile and to aid refugees from the U.S.-backed military junta led by [[Augusto Pinochet]]. After Ochs's suicide in 1976, Van Ronk joined the many performers who played at his memorial concert in the [[Felt Forum]] at [[Madison Square Garden]], playing his bluesy version of the traditional folk ballad "[[He Was A Friend Of Mine]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/HE1WASA.HTM|title=He Was A Friend of Mine (Just A Hand To Hold)|publisher=Grateful Dead Lyric & Song Finder|access-date=August 13, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708164150/http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?%2F~acsa%2Fsongfile%2FHE1WASA.HTM|archive-date=July 8, 2011}}</ref> Although Van Ronk was less politically active in later years, he remained committed to anarchist and socialist ideals and was a dues-paying member of the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW) almost until his death. According to former wife and manager Terri Thal, Van Ronk "insisted that he was a Trotskyist until he died."<ref name=":0" /><!--cited in song's article-->

Van Ronk was among 13 people arrested at the [[Stonewall Inn]] June 28, 1969, the night of the [[Stonewall Riots]], which is widely credited as the spark of the contemporary gay rights movement. He had been dining at a neighboring restaurant and joined the riot against the police occupation of the club and was dragged from the crowd into the building by police deputy inspector [[Seymour Pine]].<ref name="bausum">{{cite book |last=Bausum |first=Ann |date=2015 |title=Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights |edition=1st |chapter=Chapter 5: Revolution |pages=50–51|publisher=Viking}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gay Power Comes to Sheridan Square|author=Lucian Truscott IV|work=Village Voice |date=July 3, 1969|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/exhibitions/sw25/voice_19690703_truscott.html|format=Transcript|access-date=August 14, 2010}} [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/exhibitions/sw25/voice1.html page scans]</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Carter, David|title=Stonewall: The riots that sparked the gay revolution|isbn= 978-0312671938|publisher=St. Martin’s Griffin|year=2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j04jLSvGNSMC&dq=%22+folksinger+was+yet+a+third+person%22&pg=PA155|pages=155–156}}</ref> The police slapped and punched Van Ronk to the point of near unconsciousness, handcuffed him to a radiator near the doorway, and charged him with assault.<ref name="full moon">{{cite news|author=Howard Smith|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2015/06/26/full-moon-over-the-stonewall-howard-smiths-account-of-the-stonewall-riots/|title=Full Moon over the Stonewall|publisher=The Village Voice|date=July 3, 1969|access-date=July 2, 2019}}</ref> Recalling the expanding riot, Van Ronk said, "There were more people out there [outside the building] when I came out than when I went in. Things were still flying through the air, cacophony—I mean, just screaming and yelling, sirens, strobe lights, the whole spaghetti."<ref name="carter">{{cite book |last=Carter |first=David |date=2010 |title=Stonewall: The Riots That Started the Gay Revolution |edition=1st |publisher=Griffin|page=174}}</ref> The next day, he was arrested and later released on his own recognizance for having thrown a heavy object at a police officer.<ref name="nyt62969">Eskow, Dennis. "4 Policemen Hurt in 'Village' Raid: Melee Near Sheridan Square Follows Action at Bar", ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 29, 1969, p. 33.</ref> City records show he was charged with felony assault in the second degree<ref name="DocketA9798">Criminal Court of the City of New York, docket number A9798: original charge against Van Ronk: pL 120.05</ref> and pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of harassment, classified in 1969 as a violation under PL 240.25.

In 2000, he performed at Blind Willie's in [[Atlanta]], speaking fondly of his impending return to Greenwich Village. He reminisced over tunes like "You've Been a Good Old Wagon", a song teasing a worn-out lover, which he ruefully remarked had seemed humorous to him back in 1962.

He continued to perform for four decades and gave his last concert just a few months before his death.