[bomp] R.I.P. Al Aronowitz

[Sknoof@xxxxxxx]

Early rock journalist, friend of stars Al Aronowitz dies
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
The Associated Press

Al Aronowitz, a pioneer of rock journalism who introduced Bob Dylan to the
Beatles, died Monday at 77, his son said.

Aronowitz, who was born in Bordentown, N.J., grew up in Linden and Roselle
and lived his last years in Elizabeth, died of cancer at Trinitas Hospital in
Elizabeth, said his son, Joel Roi Aronowitz.

Al Aronowitz became a journalist after studying at Rutgers University in the
mid-1950s. It was at the New York Post in 1959 that he wrote a 12-part series
on the "beat" movement, work that friends say helped sway journalism and his
life.

In reporting the series, he became a friend of such early counterculture
luminaries as poet Allen Ginsberg and novelist Jack Kerouac. "He really fell
into
the whole lifestyle," said Gerry Nicosia, author of the Jack Kerouac biography
"Memory Babe."

The pieces have been described as early examples of participatory journalism,
a technique perfected by better-known writers such as Tom Wolfe and Hunter S.
Thompson,

Soon, Aronowitz was a music scene-ster. He claimed that Bob Dylan wrote "Mr.
Tambourine Man" in his kitchen. And there was the 1964 summit of the Beatles
and Dylan, which came about as Aronowitz was covering the British band for the
Saturday Evening Post.

"The Beatles' magic was in their sound. Bob's magic was in his words. After
they met, the Beatles' words got grittier, and Bob invented folk-rock,"
Aronowitz once wrote.

Aside from some celebrity in the rock world, Aronowitz did not benefit
financially from making the connection, his son said.

"My father was instrumental in a lot of people's success, introducing the
right people in the right combinations," Joel Aronowitz said. "He was never
able
to benefit from it financially himself. He always thought money would end up
in his pocket, too, but it never did."

Aronowitz's life unraveled in 1972, the year his wife Ann died of cancer and
he was fired from his job writing the "Pop Scene" column at the Post.

By then Aronowitz was struggling with drugs, Nicosia said. He disappeared
from the public view until the mid-1990s, when he launched a Web site, "The
Blacklisted Journalist," which gave him a place to post writings of his own
and of
writers he admired.

In his last years, Aronowitz self-published two books, "Bob Dylan and the
Beatles" and "Bobby Darin Was a Friend of Mine" and was working on another,
"Mick
and Miles," about Mick Jagger and Miles Davis, when he died.

In addition to his son Joel, he is survived by children Brett Hillary
Aronowitz, Myles Mason Aronowitz and a longtime companion, Ida Becker.

Joel Aronowitz said graveside service is planned for Thursday in Newark and
that there will later be a public memorial.

August 1, 2005 7:00 PM

===> To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe bomp" to majordomo@xnet2.com <===