Rob Dickenson (lead vocals, guitar, banjo, papoose)

Harry, Ghandi and Me

I was born in the post World War II afterglow of the United States. The enemy was vanquished. Everyone owned a beautifully designed American car. Super highways were constructed for our driving pleasure and William Levitt was about to create the housing development which would be the model for a new way of life called “suburbia”. I issued forth on the day that Harry Truman was elected President. It was the year that Ghandi was shot, Israel was created, the Hell’s Angels were founded and I became fascinated by politics. My childhood was spent in one of Chester County, Pennsylvania’s first suburban developments, Grand View Acres. Everyone in the hood had children my age, so we always had enough kids for two teams in pick-up baseball. There was one vacant lot in the development which we kids took over for sports, cigarette smoking and pre-puberty groping. I spent my summers in that lot.

Don Ho Revisited

No matter how many friends or siblings one has, a young one still must have something that is theirs and no one else’s. Music became that very thing for me. It filled those large wondrous spaces that lived inside. My first instrument was the ukulele. I was given a right handed uke for my birthday and immediately committed my first totally contrary act. I played it left handed or as it is otherwise known, ass backwards. It would be the only thing I would do left handed my entire life. Hours upon hours were spent with records of Elvis, Burl Ives and Chuck Berry. Later, it would be The Beatles, Dylan and The Stones. I learned their songs with my own variations and mistakes. These variations and mistakes became my first original songs.

The uke was a bit wimpy for rock and roll, so I purchased my first guitar. I learned this upside down also. During this time, I also studied and performed on drums. The third part of my musical trifecta was singing. My voice was strong, but had all the subtlety of a carnival barker. My affection for music and lack of shyness when performing allowed me to be socially acceptable. Girls soon started to pay a modicum of attention to me and I became known as a “musician” in school. I garnered my first paying gig for a wedding at The Italian Social Club in West Chester. Getting paid to play, Why would work ever be necessary?

During high school, I played for teen dances, at the Chez Vous for the "Geator with the Heater", for Grady and Hurst at The Atlantic City Steel Pier and in numerous battles of the bands. The name of my high school band was “The Contemplations”. We had an image of Rodin’s “Thinker” on the bass drum.

"Don't let schooling interfere with your education." – Mark Twain

I moved on to college at a small Presbyterian school in Grove City, PA. I earned money for gas and six packs by playing at frat parties for Christians trying their best to sin. I continued to hone my songwriting skills using the rapidly evolving world of the sixties as lyrical fodder. When 1968 came, the world changed, for me, forever. Everything I had to say, all the words I would ever scribble, every tune that I would sing would be tinged by the miracles and catastrophes of that year. From that momentous year forward, I reveal and testify to my times with all my works.

When I left college, I decided that music would be my future, not being a barrister. Every human has a decision at that point in life, money or your time. I took the time. This decision has been good for all aspects of my life, with the exception of my wallet. Still my sonorous drivel would pay the rent and take me all over the world. In the seventies, I began to perform on the folk circuit as Annie Crow Road with Jim Littmann and Bill Wagner. We played all the haunts of the time: Gerde’s Folk City, The Passim, The Second Fret, The Main Point, The Cellar Door. We shared the stage and learned from the likes of Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, Pearls Before Swine, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Cooney, Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, Jorma Kaukonen and many others, now, both stiff and upright.

Knights in Shining Leather

In the late seventies and early eighties, I formed a rock band in the Philly area called “Get Right”. We were a touch of psychedelia, a pinch of reggae and a splash of soul dressed in leather pants and fueled by sexual urges and youthful anger. We were part of a vital local scene that included The Hooters, Alan Mann, Philly Gumbo, Robert Hazard, Café Ole, Beru Revue and many more. It was easy to live with the support system of clubs and musicians that existed at that time.

I was knee deep in intoxicants and mourning the death of hippies, when Get Right broke up. I then teamed with some fellow miscreants to form “Life After Elvis”. Instead of leather pants, we wore thin ties and loud jackets. We were the darlings of the T Bird Lounge in Asbury Park, New Jersey, The North Star in Philly, The Elephant Bar in New York City and Joe’s in West Chester, PA. In LAE, I continued raging about flag waving, war love, the silence of God and of course, the lack of quality Caucasians. We did one CD called “Beyond Edukation”. All though nominated in every category for the WMMR/Philly awards, only our sound man, Ken Homer, won a coveted laminated plaque. It was the year of John Eddie.

Reprise

Over the past fifteen years, I have gone back to my acoustic roots. In the present year of our lord, 2008, I released a new CD called “Remembrance”. It is a tribute to the events, people and places that helped to form my character and free my soul. I am currently working on another acoustic CD for 2009 tentatively called “One Hand Washes The Other”. We have just released a new children’s Christmas CD under the guise of The Brandywine Christmas Minstrels. It has 4 original Christmas songs and some unusual arrangements of other’s work. Besides a new acoustic CD, 2009 will also bring my first children’s book complete with music. It will be the first in a series of children’s books based on animals that inhabit The Brandywine Valley.

Bard Unlimited

My life, my beliefs, and my loves are described in full in my work as a musician and writer. As long as I breathe, I will remain a minstrel and poet. I intend, more than any previous time, to produce works of poetry, music, prose and non-fiction for public consumption. I hope my creations will touch you, the reader and listener, in the deepest sense. Thanks for your eyes and ears. I will continue to perform in my various bands (The Rob Dickenson Band, The Brandywine Christmas Minstrels and Good Foot) as long as I remain in the living realm. I want to also thank and give my highest praises to my long time partners in music, Jim Littmann and Mick Rast. Also to those who I am currently involved with over a shorter period of time, Doug Wolfe, Dave Zipse and Chuck Whiteman.