Cafe Au Go Go

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The Cafe au Go Go was a Greenwich Village night club located in the basement of 152 Bleecker Street, New York, NY.

In 1964, Comedian Lenny Bruce was arrested here on obscenity charges, along with owner, Howard Solomon. In 1964, Solomon also brought in a large group of singers and musicians from an off-Broadway show, and christened them the (Cafe) Au Go Go Singers to rival the Bitter End Singers across the street at the Bitter End Cafe. Solomon managed the group until their break-up in late 1965. In the Au Go Go Singers were Kathy King (who later toured with Bobby Vinton), Jean Gurney, Michael Scott (who afterward played bass for the Highwaymen), Rick (Frederic) Geiger (who later performed in light opera), Roy Michaels (who soon after joined Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, and toured with Jimi Hendrix), and Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, both of whom would eventually form the Buffalo Springfield. Two other members, Nels Gustafson and Bob Harmelink, quit show business entirely after leaving the group.

It was also at the Cafe au Go Go that a new folk/rock group, The Company, was formed (Geiger, Michaels, Scott, Gurney, and Stills) from the remnants of the Au Go Go Singers. It was when the Rollins and Joffee Talent Agency sent The Company on a tour of Canada that Stephen Stills met Neil Young. Eventually, Stills, Young, Richie Furay (another Au Go Go Singers alumnus) and two others became the Buffalo Springfield.

The club was the first New York venue for the Grateful Dead. Richie Havens and the Blues Project were weekly regulars. Jimi Hendrix sat in with blues harp player James Cotton there in 1968. Van Morrison, Tim Hardin, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, the Youngbloods, John Hammond, Jr., the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Jefferson Airplane, Cream all played there. Blues legends Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, and Big Joe Williams performed at the club after being "rediscovered" in the '60s. Before many rock groups began performing there, the au Go Go was an oasis for jazz (Bill Evans, Stan Getz), comedy, and folk music.

When the Cafe au Go Go finally locked its doors for good, now-famous Stephen Stills was a featured performer in the gala closing.

As well as the Cafe au Go Go, one of the major 1950s-'70s Greenwich Village music venues was the Gaslight Cafe on MacDougal Street, a coffee house where perfomers like Mississippi John Hurt, Phil Ochs, Wavy Gravy, Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan, and later, Bruce Springsteen played.