The girl on the ticket line wanted "two tickets to the Bob Dylan concert." In fact the evening was a "Concert Tribute to Phil Ochs," and the irony would not have been lost on Phil. Even past the very end he didn't give the people what they wanted….

Phil killed himself. If you must gauge your life, I think a good standard would be your effect on your friends. Another, if you're lucky, would be your effect on the public at large. Phil's friends gathered onstage at New York's Felt Forum with a socialist vision and one more opportunity to say it out loud. There have been moments in which that vision seemed a safer bet, closer to fruition, sometimes almost inevitable—but few in which its risks were more clear. Fortunately for Phil, he and his friends chose each other so they would carry on….

It's very...