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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.

A 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.

Al 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. According to his own journal entries, at this meeting he brought a marijuana joint which would be the first pot smoked by the Beatles.

On August 28, 1964, the Beatles were staying in the Delmonico Hotel in New York City. Aronowitz brought Dylan to meet the band and also introduced them to marijuana that evening. According to John Lennon's interview in Rolling Stone magazine, Dylan "thought 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' - when it goes 'I can't hide' - he thought we were singing 'I get high.' So he turns up with Al Aronowitz and turns us on, and we had the biggest laugh all night - forever."

Aronowitz also claimed that Dylan wrote the song “Mr. Tambourine Man” while staying in Aronowitz’s Berkeley Heights, NJ home.

Aronowitz's son Myles is a well-known photographer, often credited as the still photographer on feature film productions.^[1]

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