Read Weston Blelock’s Blog: Roots of Woodstock
Weston Blelock is in touch with everything that is Woodstock—from his roots-of-Woodstock chronicles about the world-famous festival to what’s happening today.
Music Under the Moon
No one had ever seen so many cars inching their way along the normally quiet country roads. Certainly not the deputy sent out by the county sheriff to impose some order on the tangled traffic. Everyone seemed to be heading in the same direction, descending upon an old farmstead where the sounds of music and high spirits were already echoing across the meadows. It was apparent that a major event...
Lambert & Stamp
Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Calixte Stamp, Chris Stamp’s wife. Last April, I saw a review of Lambert & Stamp, the documentary, in Rolling Stone. More recently, I screened a copy from Netflix. Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp managed The Who. Usually, one doesn’t focus on managers of bands, but over the years, the team of Lambert and Stamp built up an undeniable mystique in my...
Roots of Woodstock Book Event and Concert
On August 9, at 7 p.m., join Weston Blelock, author of Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,” for a talk and book signing at the Inquiring Mind Bookstore and Cafe. Blelock will discuss the events—including the Sound-Out Music Festivals in Saugerties—that inspired Michael Lang’s Woodstock Festival of 1969. Also on the bill are FishCastle, a lively folk duo—Cyril...
Rick Danko: The Man Behind the Music
On December 29, Rick Danko, the bass player and singer in The Band, would have been 70. Danko grew up in Ontario, Canada, and left school at 14 to become a rock musician. His break came when he was tapped by Ronnie Hawkins to join The Hawks, one of Canada’s hottest bands at the time. It was there that he met Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson, and Richard Manuel. In 1963 Danko, Helm,...
Early Days at Family of Woodstock
In 1971 the Woodstock Aquarian wrote, “Family is a crisis intervention service—a 24-hour hotline for major and minor crises. Family is communications—it is a gathering together of the community. It is a connecting service. Receptive in that it answers whatever need is shown. Family becomes a mirror of what is happening and what is lacking. It is open to whoever wants to work—straight,...
Rocking and Rolling With Rev. Thunderbear
What is the Rev. Thunderbear Traveling Roadshow (RTTR)? It’s a band headed up by Bill Barrett, a recent Woodstock returnee. Joining Bill are John Coghill on bass, Ian Snyder on lead guitar, and Russell Riley on drums. Barrett is a fan of impassioned three-hour sets, and his musical taste ranges from straight-ahead Rock ’n’ Roll to Reggae and Swing. He played a great date in July at the Colony....
The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project
The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project, a Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) exhibition, is in its final weeks (June 29 to August 18, 2013). The show is curated by Laura Domencic, director of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. This photographic survey, compiled over ten months beginning in late 2011, features the works of six world-class...
Hale Eddy’s “Three More Dinners” Drops in June
Recently I spoke to Alex Cherney, lead singer, and manager of Hale Eddy, about their time in Woodstock. This past winter, he and the band recorded their debut album, Three More Dinners, at “School House,” the former site of Mary D’s Montessori School, on Ohayo Mountain Road. The band is from Setauket, Long Island, and has been playing together since the eighth grade. It is comprised of Alex on...
New York Crossroads Rally
On June 17, New Yorkers Against Fracking, a grassroots energy organization, is organizing a rally in Albany, NY, “calling on Governor Cuomo to reject fracking and lead the nation in constructing a renewable energy economy here and now in New York.” Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial gas extraction method that allows drillers to reach pockets of natural gas...
Woodstock Soundout @ Bearsville Theater
On May 26, 2013, at the Bearsville Theater, Happy Traum will host Marco Benevento, Tracy Bonham, Larry Campbell, and Teresa Williams, Jay Collins, Dave Dreiwitz, Donald Fagan, Amy Helm, Connor Kennedy, Jerry Marotta, Tim Moore, A.C. Newman, Jane Scarpantoni, Jim Weider, Doug Yoel, and Peter Dougan & The WDS Advance Ensemble, among others, singing songs...