The Legendary RT and Sredni

THE LEGENDARY RT AND SREDNI
I was born in "da Bronx". A good day there, was hanging out in the woods that surrounded the Bronx Zoo, or writing by the side of the Bronx River or Lake Agassiz (lol). Then I discovered that a subway train could take me to another Universe, and as a young teenager, I felt drawn to Greenwich Village. There, I ran into another kid from Brooklyn, Ned Carter (Edward Edelman), a folk and classical guitarist, who taught me how to play. We would play in Washington Square Park or the local coffee houses like The Rafio, The Fat Black Pussy Cat, Rienzi's, The Thirs Side, The Basement, The Cafe Wha? and others; Ned sang folk songs and I read my Beat Poetry. We would go to the Village Vanguard, the Five Spot, the Jazz Gallery, or Gerdes Folk City and catch sets by Thelonious Monk, Yusef Lateef, Sonny Rollins, John Lee Hooker, Dave van Ronk or the Rev, Gary Davis...all of whom infected my brain and influence my music still.
In the afternoons, we would hang out in Wasington Square, Izzy's (Israel Young) Folklore Center, or one of the stoops on MacDougal Street. We would listen to or play with, Richie Havens (and Splivy), Mike Manne, David Blue (Cohen), Karen Dalton, Dino Valenti, John Sebastian Jr., Bobby Dylan, Freddie Neil, Tom Paxton, Bob Gibson, Tim Hardin and many others who passed through the NY Folk and Blues Revival of the 1960's.
I grew up and started a record label, Armtrac Records, a music company, ROHO Music, a band, Sneaky Cooking and, after Marianne Faithful showed me the difference between a poem and a song, I began writing songs. After accumulating bad trips, with Columbia Records, drugs, band members dying...I forsook NY and the music scene and opened a gift store in the middle of nowhere with my wife, Kim. We raised two great kids, Naomi and Noah, out of the chaos which is the music scene.
The kids are now grown and I was wood-shedding in my kitchen, and A.J. Weberman asked me to open his reprise of a Be-In in Central Park (NYC). After my set, someone from The Villager (a local newspaper) asked me who I was. I did not think fast enough or clever enough and so I became RT. After playing Frankie D's intermission at Olive's in Nyack for about a year, I made a CD (Potpourri) and added Frankie's intro: the best solo act I ever heard (LOL; he is prone to hyperbole!), the legendary RT. That is how I became The Legendary RT.
Sredni had played with Sneaky Cooking, (as did Michael and, occasionally Randy, Brecker, Mick Ronson, Rob Stoner, Howie Wyeth, Doane Perry, Tony Caniff, Angie Howell (Barton), Jocelyn Brown, Rona Wyeth Barrow, Chrissy Faith; we played with Stuff (Cornell Dupre), Orleans, Stormin' Norman et al). He went on to play with The Band, Don Covay, Rick Danko, Otis Rush, Corky Lang, Leslie West, Danny Kalb, Dr. John, Mick Ronson, Kinky Friedman, Mississippi Fred McDowell, NRPS, Buddy Cage, Gene Clark, Paul Butterfield, Rashid Ali, Hot Tuna, Happy Traum, Andy Bobinson, and others...When I found out he still lived near Woodstock, we got together. The result is The Legendary RT and Sredni and Friends, whose music you will find here and on youtube and in a venue near you soon.