Carla Rotolo
Carla Rotolo | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 5, 1941 |
| Died | August 25, 2014 (aged 73) Santa Teresa di Gallura |
| Occupation(s) | Artist, folk singer, folk music researcher |
| Family | Mary Rotolo (mother), Suze Rotolo (sister) |
Carla Rotolo (March 5, 1941 – August 25, 2014) was an American artist, folk singer and folk music researcher.
Early life
Rotolo was the first child of Joachim Rotolo and Mary (Pezzati) Rotolo, who were union activists. Mary was a writer and editor for several union newspapers, and Joachim painted worker murals.
Like her mother, Rotolo was a political activist but also followed in her artist father's footsteps. As an artist, she painted, drew and sculpted. She also worked as a set decorator for many off-Broadway plays and shows in New York. Her younger sister Suze often joined her.[1]
Greenwich Village years
In the early 1960s Rotolo was an assistant to the eminent folklorist and musicologist Alan Lomax.[2][3] She accompanied him on his excursions down South to record remote folk singers. Rotolo helped with the 1960 release of 12 folk albums for the Prestige International Records label.[1]
She was involved with the
Relationship with Bob Dylan
In 1961, Rotolo became aware of
Dylan would go on to feature Carla Rotolo in his 1964 song "Ballad in Plain D", labeling her as the "parasite sister", after Suze and Dylan broke up in Rotolo's apartment.[8][9] When interviewed by Howard Sounes for his 2001 Dylan biography, Down the Highway The Life Of Bob Dylan, Rotolo stated: "I remember it being a terrible experience". Informing Sounes that when she heard the song, she had no doubt that she was meant to be the "parasite".[10]
Rotolo resented the term, stating: "I got dragged into something that, frankly by then I didn't give a fuck about, because Suze was going to choose whoever she liked, I couldn't keep sitting in my no-door room with screaming and yelling going on [sic]." She stated that on the night in question she had asked Dylan to leave, but he refused to go. And that Dylan pushed her, so she pushed him back and that a physical fight almost ensued, adding that friends had to be called and Dylan forcibly removed. Rotolo was left with a very negative view of Dylan, considering him selfish, manipulative, and emotionally immature.[10]
Later life
In 1970, Rotolo married Rolando Peña a Venezuelan artist and actor. During the 70s she worked for the controversial Grove Press run by Barney Rosset, and later worked for former baseball player Joe Garagiola, as his personal assistant during his years at NBC. Afterwards she worked as a proofreader and copy editor at various publications.[11]
In 1986, Rotolo was credited with compiling the recordings for a 134-track Bob Dylan bootleg collection called Zimmerman: Ten of Swords. It is considered the "most famous Bob Dylan bootleg of all time". In a shot at Bob Dylan's "Ballad in Plain D", printed on the back of the multi-record set is, "This album was compiled by: Carla Rotolo, chairperson of the board, P.S.A.* (* Parasite Sisters Anonymous)."[12][13]
Right after the Dylan bootleg release, Rotolo moved to
In July and August 2014 Carla Rotolo was portrayed by actress Jaime Babbitt in the Larry Mollin play Search: Paul Clayton – A True Tale of Love, Folk Music and Betrayal at the Martha's Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.[14][15]
Rotolo continued to be politically active while living abroad and took part in several conservationist rallies and other efforts to bring awareness to the plight of animals and the natural environment. She staunchly supported the
Rotolo died from a bad fall in the kitchen of her condo in
Notes
- ^ a b Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s, Ronald D. Cohen, Rachel Clare Donaldson, page 128.
- ^ Dylan, Chronicles, Volume One, p. 265.
- ^ Bob Dylan: Voice of a Generation, Jeremy Roberts, page 37.
- ^ Paul Clayton and the Folksong Revival, Bob Coltman, page 165.
- ^ Ballads, Blues and Bluegrass, Media-Generation DVD, 2012
- ^ No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, Robert Shelton, Beech Tree Books, 1986
- ^ No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, Robert Shelton, Beech Tree Books, 1986, page 134.
- ^ Counting Down Bob Dylan: His 100 Finest Songs, Jim Beviglia, page 45.
- ^ No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan, Robert Shelton, Beech Tree Books, 1986, page 222.
- ^ ISBN 0-552-99929-6P123
- ^ a b Yankee Jazz Beat, Carla Maria Rotolo (1941-2014)
- ^ Ten of Swords
- ^ Philadelphia Inquirer For Dylan Die-hards, A Classy Bootleg, Howard Goodman, February 13, 1986
- ^ Martha's Vineyard Times, Folksinger Paul Clayton the 20th century Salieri to Bob Dylan’s ‘Amadeus’, Holly Nadler, July 23, 2014.
- ^ Boston Globe, ‘Search’ is tangled up in Bob Dylan, Joel Brown, July 10, 2014.
References
- Cohen, Ronald (2014). Roots of the Revival: American and British Folk Music in the 1950s. ISBN 978-0-2520-9642-6.
- Dylan, Bob (2004). ISBN 0-7432-2815-4.
- Flanagan, Bill (1990). Written In My Soul. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-2224-1.
- Gray, Michael (2006), The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, Continuum International, ISBN 0-8264-6933-7
- Heylin, Clinton (2003). Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited. Perennial Currents. ISBN 0-06-052569-X.
- Rotolo, Suze (2009), A Freewheelin' Time, Aurum Press, ISBN 978-0-7679-2688-1
- Shelton, Robert (2003) [1986]. No Direction Home. reprint. Da Capo Press. p. 576. ISBN 0-306-81287-8.
- Sounes, Howard (2001). Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan. Grove Press. ISBN 0-8021-1686-8.
- Woliver, Robbie (1994). Hoot! A 25-Year History of the Greenwich Village Music Scene. St.Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-10995-4.