UNDERAPPRECIATED MUSIC: RICHARD & MIMI FARINA

Before his untimely death at age 29, Richard Farina blazed a career as a counter-culture hero through his poetry and songs, as well as his classic cult novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me.   At age 22, he was a Greenwich Village regular where he met folk singer Carolyn Hester, marrying her 18 days later.  While in Europe in the spring of 1962 he met Mimi Farina, teenage sister of Joan Baez.  Shortly afterward, Hester divorced Farina, who then married the 17-year-old Mimi in 1963.  They recorded three albums together, the late being released after Farina's death in a motorcycle accident.  Both Richard and Mimi Farina were active in the protest movement and  a number of liberal causes.  Mimi Farina continued performing after Richard's death.  She founded Bread and Roses in 1974, a non-profit cooperative designed to bring free music and entertainment to institutions.  Mimi Farina died from cancer in 2001.  Her Bread and Roses organization continues providing some 500 concerts a year.

"Pack Up your Sorrows"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4LbU8w7Th4

"A Swallow Song"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHNSAK-iWy0

"House Un American Blues Activity Dream"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znUHAXfL3J4

"Bold Maurader"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KbSMYRMbDE

"Children of Darkness"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWPjWh_EwBo

"Birmingham Sunday"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRajvYWwJFA

"Reflections in a Crystal Wind"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYiYNg-pwD8

"Blood Red Roses"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM9lAYjSdf8

"V"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8UfrC3HnmA

"Falcon"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up8xaLQrcQ8

"Celebration for a Grey Day"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTQLUst4aaM

"Hard Lovin' Loser"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZwRyodoPV4

"The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAQtQngA62w

"Lemonade Lady"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqNXv6bxrtg

"Michael, Andrew, and James"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06YCqfPwV08