WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ANDY ZWERLING?

Back in 1970 through the end of 1971 Baslow commuted to New College at Hofstra University from his home in Cedarhurst, Long Island. Much of that time he rode along with Paul Socolow, in Paul's VW Beetle. Usually, they were accompanied by someone named Andy Zwerling.

Andy Zwerling was possessed of a species of youthful energy that exhausted Baslow, who was only 19-20 years old at the time. Andy directed his energy exclusively into the pursuit of Rock and Roll. He wrote reviews for Rolling Stone. He was full of extravagant opinions. He seemed to be on a first-name basis with half the leading lights of the Rock world of the time; he frequently spoke about conversations with Jann Wenner. He was full of ideas, schemes, plans. He was, he told us, making an album.

The album was to be called "Spiders In the Night" but Paul immediately renamed it "Arachnids On My Back".

All of this vaguely amused Baslow. Rock and Roll never felt like his music; Jazz and Classical music hit closer to home. He was never impressed by the celebrity of rock stars or the attendant gossip. Andy, therefore, devoting all his considerable enthusiasm to an essentially alien pursuit, seemed vaguely, antically comic. Andy was never really a friend; Baslow never saw him outside the Beetle.

When, after a couple of years, Baslow succeeded in moving out of his house and into a basement domicile within walking distance of school, he lost touch with Andy Zwerling. He has never once, in the thirty-or-so years since then, ever stopped to wonder whatever happened to Andy Zwerling. Now, however, this omission notwithstanding, the New York Times has provided him with an answer: Dreaming for 30 Years: A Struggling Rock Duo Refuses to Quit

Rock on, Andy.