Washington Squares: 2017
![The Washington Squares' Tom Goodkind, Billy Ficca, Lauren Agnelli, Mike Fornatale and "Sunday Supper" host John Platt (photo by Jeremy Rainer)](/sites/default/files/images/imported/music/Washington%20Squares%20in%20A.JPG "The Washington Squares' Tom Goodkind, Billy Ficca, Lauren Agnelli, Mike Fornatale and "Sunday Supper" host John Platt (photo by Jeremy Rainer)")
The Washington Squares' Tom Goodkind, Billy Ficca, Lauren Agnelli, Mike Fornatale and "Sunday Supper" host John Platt (photo by Jeremy Rainer)
In the late 1980s the folk music revival was booming in Greenwich Village. Quite apart from the singer-songwriters of the Fast Folk community (Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, et al.), an alt-folk group was coming together, formed by Tom Goodkind, talent booker at the Peppermint Lounge, punk rocker Bruce Paskow, and journalist-singer Lauren Agnelli. Some of their repertoire drew on classic folk songs, and their look was neo-beatnik, with striped shirts and berets, but their attitude was more cutting edge. They were the Washington Squares.
The band's flair and musicianship quickly caught on, leading to two successful albums on Gold Castle Records (produced by Mitch Easter and Steven Soles), but with Paskow's death in the early '90s, they disbanded. Now, nearly a quarter-century later, the surviving Squares have reunited to perform at City Winery on January 10, with special guests including Richard Barone. In anticipation of the gig, they came to FUV, performing three songs, including Leonard Cohen's eerily relevant "Everybody Knows" in this session for "Sunday Supper."
[recorded: 12/18/17]
