Phil Ochs - Maybe Baby (Live 1970)

Phil Ochs' cover of Buddy Holly's "Maybe Baby" recorded live at the Troubadour Nightclub in Los Angeles, CA on February 1, 1970.

Phil Ochs in the News

DVD: 'Limitless,' 'Potiche,' 'Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune,'
Los Angeles Daily News
"Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune" is balanced account of the 1960s folksinger's life. Ochs, who committed suicide at 35 in 1976, was neither...

WORD UP! - Enthralling Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune ...
PAPERMAG
Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune (First Run Features), a fascinating documentary by Kenneth Bowser on the short life of the folk singer/songwriter, is out now on DVD. Ochs, an intensely handsome protest singer who committed suicide in ...

First Run Features Releases Three On DVD
Documentaries.About.com
The titles are: Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune - Lee Bowser's thoroughly researched and brilliantly composed documentary about Phil Ochs not only captures the power of the singer/songwriter's personality, it reveals the social and political strife of ...

Phil Ochs: There But For Forture (Review)
Cincinnati CityBeat
By Steven Rosen Phil Ochs was Bob Dylan's chief rival as a Folk-based protest singer in the 1960s — Christopher Hitchens, interviewed in this documentary, maintains Ochs was better, more politically pointed and with a more sarcastic and ...

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune tunes to wild '60s folksinger
Straight.com
By Allan MacInnis, July 28, 2011 Kenneth Bowser, director of the praised documentary Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune, is among those fortunate enough to have seen the 1960s folksinger-activist perform twice—he thinks. “As Dennis Hopper used http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifto say ...

RIVERSIDE: 'Phil Ochs' documentary mirrors today
InlandSoCal.com
By TIMOTHY GUY With its theme of history making events defining a generation, the documentary "Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune," strikes a cord with things that are happening in the world today. And in a sad twist of fate, the film also highlights the ...

Phil Ochs - Joe Hill (Live 1965)

Phil Ochs in the News

Top Picks: James Bond reboot, Bill Moyers on faith, Franz Liszt at 200, and more
The Christian Science Monitor
Convinced he would be a folk icon and competing with the likes of Bob Dylan in the political protest song niche, Ochs makes for a fascinating study in 1960s counterculture.

Top 10 Music Managers Who Fucked Over Their Clients
LA Weekly
His other clients included Todd Rundgren, Peter, Paul and Mary, John Lee Hooker, Phil Ochs Gordon Lightfoot, Richie Havens, The Band and Janis Joplin. ...

Album and Singles Reviews: Sisters' tribute to Ochs sings
San Antonio Express
Phil Ochs has been dead for 35 years. A passionate wordsmith and singer who displayed the courage of his convictions by writing and singing songs of peace, ...

New DVD Movie Release: Watch Phil Ochs - There But for Fortune Documentary Film

Do yourself a favor and buy Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune, out today on DVD. It truly is a wonderful film that I cannot recommend highly enough.

Critics' reviews:

"A TERRIFIC documentary. Ochs was an uncompromising artist who believed in the power of music as a tool for social and political change. His songs provide a stirring soundtrack throughout the film."
-David Rooney, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

"EXCELLENT! A strong and forceful documentary, beautiful and melodic as well as pointedly political."
-Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES

"A-! This FINE, deeply researched documentary, filled with commentary from unusual suspects, is at once an unsentimental portrait of the ambitious singer who thought himself bound for glory, and an affecting elegy for a time when song was a form of revolution."
-Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"An ELECTRIFYING look into the political climate of the 1960s and the ability of certain popular musicians (Ochs, Baez, Seeger, and Bob Dylan) to inspire the people. It's rare to encounter a documentary about a folk musician that is so politically inspiring and musically rich. For those unfamiliar with Ochs and his music, the sheer beauty of his voice can be shocking."
-George Heymont, HUFFINGTON POST

Description:

As our country continues to embroil itself in foreign wars, Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune is a timely and relevant tribute to an unlikely American hero. Over the course of a meteoric music career that spanned two turbulent decades, Phil Ochs sought the bright lights of fame and social justice in equal measure - a contradiction that eventually tore him apart.

From youthful idealism to rage to pessimism, the arch of Ochs' life paralleled that of the times, and the anger, satire and righteous indignation that drove his music also drove him to dark despair. In this brilliantly constructed film, interview and performance footage of Ochs is illuminated by the ruminations of Joan Baez, Tom Hayden, Pete Seeger, Sean Penn, Peter Yarrow, Christopher Hitchens and others.

Phil Ochs - City Boy (Live 1965)

Phil Ochs in the News

Revolution! Is anyone really up for it?
Kings of War
First, get yourself in revolutionary mood with a little Phil Ochs ditty 'Outside of a small circle of friends'. The question is not a frivolous one. ...

'Dangerous Folk' plan Hillside Series visit
Richmond-News
You'll hear the music and songs of Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, John Denver, Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie and ...

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune—Kenneth Bowser’s Powerful Biopic
Westchester Magazine
Though Phil has been honored and lauded by fans and peers in the years since his death, and though songs like “There But for Fortune,” “Cops of the World,” and “Ringing of Revolution” are now timelier and more relivant than ever, it’s doubtful that Phil Ochs will ever receive the widespread acclaim he so longed for—and so richly deserves.

The Story of Phil Ochs

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune examines the tragic life and lasting legacy of the political folk singer and activist. Linked below is a discussion the film featuring its director Kenneth Bowser and fellow folk singer Kim Harris.

WNYC - Soundcheck

Phil Ochs in the News

Film Review: Bob Dylan Revealed
Crawdaddy! The Magazine of Rock
Ken Bowser's biopic Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune is one, as is Scorsese's No Direction Home: Bob Dylan and Pennebaker's portrait of Dylan Don't Look ...

Legal scholar strums Phil Ochs' anthem of engagement at convocation
YFile
More News, Legal scholar strums Phil Ochs' anthem of engagement at convocation. During his convocation address to graduates of Osgoode Hall Law School on ...

Yield to the euphony
Times of India
As American protest singer Phil Ochs famously said: 'One good song with a message can bring a point more deeply to more people than a thousand rallies'. ...

The List: Rock stars too young to die
Washington Times
Phil Ochs — The American folk singer who wrote such protest songs as “There but for Fortune,” “The War Is Over” and the patriotic song “Power and the Glory” ...

New Coen Brothers Film May Highlight Greenwich Village Folk Scene
Movieline
... are potentially headed downtown for their next big-screen feature, a story about famed musician Dave Van Ronk and the dawn of the '60s folk music scene in New York's Greenwich Village that helped make Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Phil Ochs famous. ...

Phil Ochs - The Ballad of Sonny Liston

Recorded live on October 19, 1975 at Folk City in New York City, NY.

Phil Ochs in the News

Dylan Jones: 'Bob Dylan once kicked Phil Ochs out of his car saying, 'You’re not a folk singer, you're a journalist'
The Independent
Barack Obama has never spoken of his fondness for the late Phil Ochs, and it is completely possible that he has never heard of him. One of America's foremost protest singers, he described himself as a "left social democrat", and during the Sixties ...

4th of July song lists featuring Phil Ochs:

These go to 11: A Fourth of July soundtrack
Reverb
By Michael Behrenhausen

10 America-Themed Songs for the Fourth of July
95.5 GLO
By Jordan Breindel

Discussion of the documentary Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune, following a screening at the Red River Theatres in Concord, New Hampshire on June 23, 2011:

Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon - Love Me, I'm a Liberal (Live 2009)

Jello Biafra and Mojo Nixon perform the song "Love Me, I'm a Liberal" at a special benefit for Paul Williams in San Francisco on June 28, 2009.

Phil Ochs in the News

The last American heroes
Sydney Morning Herald
As veteran music men will, he continues by citing another lyric, this time from a record he produced for American folk hero Phil Ochs in 1970. ...

Movie profiles '60s singer Phil Ochs
Cincinnati.com
"God help the troubadour who tries to be a star," Phil Ochs warned in his song "Chords of Fame." The lines echo with bitter irony. Ochs' personal celebrity ...

AUDIO: Van Dyke Parks on Phil Ochs (and the Byrds)
Steve Roeser, Rock's Backpages Audio, September 1997