Al Aronowitz

Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz (May 20, 1928 – August 1, 2005) was an American rock journalist best known for introducing Bob Dylan and The Beatles in 1964.

Aronowitz was born in Bordentown, New Jersey.^[1] A 1950 graduate of Rutgers University, Aronowitz became a journalist in the 1950s and his work in that decade included a 12-part series on the Beat Generation for the New York Post.^[1]

Aronowitz was the original manager of The Velvet Underground, getting the band their first gig at a high school auditorium. The Velvet Underground stole Aronowitz's tape recorder and dumped him weeks later when they met Andy Warhol.

Aronowitz introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles in a New York City hotel room on August 28, 1964; According to his own journal entries, at this meeting he brought a marijuana joint which would be the first pot smoked by the Beatles.^[1]

Aronowitz also claimed that Dylan wrote the song “Mr. Tambourine Man” while staying in Aronowitz’s Berkeley Heights, New Jersey home.^[2]

He died of cancer in Elizabeth, New Jersey on August 1, 2005, at the age of 77.^[1] Aronowitz's son Myles is a photographer, often credited as the still photographer on feature film productions.^{[3] [4]}

References

External links

• The Blacklisted Journalist
• CNN obituary
• "The Go-Between" by Mike Miliard, The Boston Phoenix, December 3, 2004
• "The Rock Journalist At a High Point In Music History" by David Segal, Washington Post, August 3, 2005
• Al Aronowitz on the Poets' Corner.
• "The Man Who Invented The Sixties" by Gary Pig Gold, Cosmik Debris, October, 2004

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