[Photo of David Peel, 2nd from left, from last summer by Steven]
Several readers have passed along word that longtime LES resident David Peel suffered a heart attack yesterday.
Here's an update from a friend of the musician: "After life-saving open heart surgery, David Peel is on a pump resting in the hospital but he needs additional surgery, next week, to remove critical blockages."
Good vibes to David Peel who has suffered a heart attack and is in surgery.
— EdenBrower (@edenbrower) March 31, 2017
As The New York Times noted in a 2012 profile, Peel was "a fixture at counterculture marches and demonstrations beginning in the late 1960s."
He is best known for his seminal counter-culture albums, such as 1968's "Have a Marijuana" on Elektra Records, with his band the Lower East Side.
His 1972 record "The Pope Smokes Dope" on Apple was produced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Here's footage of Peel and the Lower East Side performing with Lennon and Ono in December 1971 on "The David Frost Show"...
Peel remains a regular presence at summer concerts in Tompkins Square Park.
H/T Rob D.