Tear Down The Walls II

The Wall That Says It All: Bob Dylan’s “intimate club room” quote

Tear Down The Walls II:

continued photo essay on sudden 

shuttering of Armando’s Music Hall

by Jamie Jobb

Vince Martin and Fred Neil gained a bit of fame in the mid 1960s for “Tear Down The Walls”, their gentle anthem which became a campfire favorite among student protestors of the time. The “folk song” certainly was more akin to The Smothers Brothers than to say Stokely Carmichael. And by the end of the decade the sentiment of that tune had soured as the political landscape rumbled with campus violence. Now the song is so forgotten, Google finds a more current title unrelated to Martin and Neil and completely detached from American street politics one hundred years after the Civil War.

The photos that follow document the demise of a unique set of very colorful walls that once existed in Martinez California. The full story is found in the first installment “Armando’s Pulls the Plug”.

Roy Jeans behind the bar for the last time: no customers

The Musicians’ wish: Politely asking for silence in Spanish

Armando’s patio wall littered with campaign and street signs

View from The Booth: what the light-and-sound man saw of Armando’s

When you have more than enough paint for the canvas … 

A Sign of End Times: Deconstruction crew removes sign from the window

Cogito, ergo sum: a painting philosopher does the math

The Wall That Said It All: Post No Bills!

Stuck Inside of Mobile with Memphis Blues: ain’t gonna work on Armando’s Farm

View from an Empty Stage: Everywhere an Empty House

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall: the quote musicians saw from stage

View out the front door: abandoned stage (right), empty bar (left)

View from behind the bar: everybody is eighty-sixed!

“Oh Mama, can this really be the end?”

“Dear Landlord: If you don’t underestimate me, I won’t underestimate you”