Roots of Woodstock by Weston Blelock
Dayl Wise: A Vietnam Vet’s Journey
Dayl Wise, co-founder of the Post Traumatic Press, grew up in White Plains, New York. He was Christian-raised and a respecter of the Ten Commandments—especially “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” However, dyslexia made reading difficult, so it was no surprise that he dropped out of college after his first semester in 1969. Shortly thereafter, he was drafted and sent to Vietnam. He says that he will never...
Roots of Woodstock: Earth Day Report
As Woodstock gets ready to celebrate Earth Day on Monday, April 22, we wanted to recap some local environmental milestones. In 2003 the Woodstock Environmental Commission (WEC) procured a New York State Energy Research Development Agency grant covering eighty percent of the project cost of a photo-voltaic panel array for the municipal building at 76 Tinker Street. On March 13, 2007, the Town of...
William Pachner: Imagined Fragments
The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild’s exhibition of William Pachner’s drawings runs from March 29 to May 5, 2013. Pachner has lived in Woodstock since 1945 and counts fellow artists Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Eugene Speicher, and Bud Plate as his artist-peers. William Pachner was born in 1915 in Brtnice, Moravia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1920 an...
Gerry Michael and The Bummers
Gerry Michael, a drummer and an alum of Group 212, arrived back in town in 2004. He still drums, but during the day, he paints houses—and he is a damn fine painter at that. Back in 1968, Gerry was the drummer for The Bummers, a circa 1880 Commedia dell’Arte-style group of cowboys and Indians. The performers numbered 14 and included a five-piece rock band who, in addition to Gerry, featured his...
Jerry Jeff Walker: Woodstock Bound?
I’ve been a Jerry Jeff Walker fan since forever. Recently I heard about the Guy Clark tribute album, This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark, and bought it when I heard that Jerry Jeff was on it. It’s a good thing I did. The two-CD album is a standout. According to the liner notes, the “artists brought two key instruments: a guitar and profound reverence” to the recording studio. And what a...
Clarence Schmidt’s “House of Mirrors”
To some, Clarence Schmidt (1897-1978) was an endearing Santa Claus-sized man, and to others, he was the grandfather of pop art. Whatever your position, no one can deny his outrageous take on life in the 1960s. His colossal “House of Mirrors” (HOM) ranged up a hillside atop Ohayo Mountain. It consisted of seven stories of tiered window frames and balconies with runways and gardens. Parts of it...
David Vittek RIP
Earlier this year, we were dismayed to learn from Liza Vittek that David Vittek, her dad, had passed away. He was just 66. Vittek, the bassist, guitarist, and part-time drummer for Holy Moses left us on February 25. Billy Batson, his old bandmate, said recently that David was the“glue” that held the band together. He was the first one to arrive at a gig. He set up all the gear, plugged...
Woodstock Experience
On April 21, 2012, fifty-five members of the Norwegian Folk College visited Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. During the morning, they toured the museum and grounds. In the afternoon, they were bussed over to Woodstock, NY, to learn about the backstory of the 1969 festival. While in Woodstock, some took the Roots of Woodstock walking tour led by Weston Blelock. Others attended the Art and Craft...
Pete + Peggy Seeger @ Bearsville Theater
This past Saturday night, the Bearsville Theater was packed for the Pete and Peggy Seeger concert. Pete led many sing-a-longs and told lots of stories. In one, he told of composing “Where Have all the Flowers Gone” on his way to a concert at Oberlin College—one that Joe Hickerson had a hand in organizing. Some years later, Joe, while at Camp Woodland, added several more verses, and this version...
Frank Spinelli and the Sled Hill Cafe
In the 1960s, Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, The Band, and later Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix were active in the Woodstock area. So, what was it like to grow up in Woodstock in the 1960s? Recently I chatted with Frank Spinelli, the photographer and writer, to explore his life and early times. Frank’s family moved to Woodstock during the summer of 1963. While attending Onteora High School, he...