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Weston Blelock
Roots of Woodstock Live Concert
Sound-Out Era Celebrated on August 15
Woodstock, NY—August 6, 2009—Roots of Woodstock Live Concert, a fortieth-anniversary celebration in Woodstock, represents a return to WOODSTOCK’s Sound-Out roots. The Sound-Out mini-festivals of 1967 through 1969 drew musicians such as John Herald, Tim Hardin, Kenny Rankin, Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield, and Van Morrison. They came together to jam in an open field on the outskirts of Woodstock. As Michael Lang acknowledged in the newly published Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, “The Sound-Outs were kind of the spark for the Woodstock Festival.”
On Saturday, August 15, at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, the Blues Magoos, Hubert Sumlin and band, Ellen McIlwaine, Marc Black, the Robbie Turner Band, and Jerry Moore, with The Children of God, will play straight sets and jam sets in the old Sound-Out tradition. Doors will open at 7 p.m.; the music will begin at 8 p.m. and go all night. For the Blues Magoos, Ellen McIlwaine, and Jerry Moore, the concert will be something of a reunion, as all are Sound-Out veterans. Blues hall of famer Hubert Sumlin and band will perform in a nod to Sound-Out alumni Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Woodstock troubadour Marc Black was strongly influenced by the music of Sound-Out performer Tim Hardin. Robbie Turner, who attended the original Sound-Outs, will participate this time from the stage.
Part of the night’s proceeds will support Woodstock’s Zero-Carbon Initiative, passed in 2007. The Clearwater solar trailer will power the soundstage and a sixties light show. Steve Walter, formerly of The Cutting Room in New York City, has been instrumental in booking the music acts. According to Walter, “The Bearsville Theater is a wonderful performance space and has great acoustics. Given its indoor setting, this will be an intimate WOODSTOCK. Expect a great party and surprise guests.”
As WBAI radio host Bob Fass says of the sixties Sound-Outs in his foreword to Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, “They were to be a party, a happening . . . The blues guitar and the honky-tonk piano met the electron. And with the light shows and the confluence of various liberating potions, there was a feeling that a new cultural mix was taking place . . . The Chicago police rioters and the anti-warriors, the Rosebud Nation, Steam Punks, and multimedia macrobiotic artists all came to the party in Pan Copeland’s field. She danced to the pipes of Pan, and all came to the party called Sound-Out.”
For more on the concert and the Sound-Outs, see www.rootsofwoodstock.com. To purchase 8/15 concert tickets, visit www.bearsvilletheater.com or call 845-679-4406.
About Roots of Woodstock LLC
The concert’s producers are Weston Blelock and Julia Blelock of Roots of Woodstock LLC. The Blelocks are also publishers of a related WoodstockArts book, released in July: Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock.”
About Steve Walter
Concert booker Steve Walter was a managing partner of The Cutting Room from 1999 until earlier this year. Acts associated with the club include Sting, Donovan, Melanie, and many others.
About the Blues Magoos
The Blues Magoos opened nationally for the Who in 1967 and charted at #5 on Billboard with “(We Ain’t Got) Nothin’ Yet.” Their album Psychedelic Lollipop was released in the late sixties. In 1968 they appeared at the Woodstock Sound-Outs, and these days they continue to perform in the New York area. In a recent show, they played at The Fillmore in New York City with The Zombies.
About Hubert Sumlin
Born in 1936, Hubert Sumlin is one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time. He started his climb to fame in 1955 when he became a guitarist for Howlin’ Wolf’s band and is best known for his work in the sixties on such songs as “Built for Fortune,” “Shake for Me,” Goin’ Down Slow,” Killing Floor,” and Wang Dang Doodle.” Rolling Stone has him on their list of 100 greatest guitarists, and Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Robbie Robertson, and Jimi Hendrix have all cited his playing as a source of inspiration. In May 2009, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.
About Ellen McIlwaine
Ellen McIlwaine plays a hot propulsive slide guitar and has a big voice to match. In the early sixties, she opened for Odetta, Richie Havens, and Jimi Hendrix in Greenwich Village. In 1968 she arrived in Woodstock, New York, with her psychedelic band, Fear Itself. Here she played at several of the Sound-Outs. In the 1970s, she recorded a string of albums for Polydor that won her a cult following. In 1987 she became a resident of Canada and is an active participant on the Canadian blues and festival circuit.
About Marc Black
Marc Black has been in the Woodstock area since 1969. He was “Folk Artist of the Year” on ABC Radio’s Fame Games and a Kerrville Festival “New Folk” winner. Over the years, Black has collaborated with such musicians as Warren Bernhardt, Steve Gadd, Art Garfunkel, John Sebastian, Garth Hudson, and Richie Havens. He is now a Woodstock poet and troubadour with his own group, the Marc Black Band. In this show, he will perform as a solo act.
I live in worked in Woodstock from 1968 to 1978. Was good friends with Jerry and all his band members, Link, Naga, Robin & Pepe. they used to play at the Cafe Espresso where I worked when victor Balsamo owned it. They played at my all night going away party when I left. Bless victor for supplying free cases of Dom, but jerry preferred his Myer’s Dark Rum. Those were some of the best years of my life, and the BEST music.
I lived out of the USA for 25 years & would love to get in contact with Jerry or any of the others. I can always be reached by email, my website will be up and running shortly…trying to make a living writing copy. Email me with any info @
ka*******@gm***.com
. Sorry I didn’t hear about this sooner, as i would have been there.
Hi Kathy, thanks for the post–interesting stuff. We’ve forwarded your e-mail address along to Jerry . . . hope you’ll reconnect with him shortly. Stay tuned here for further info regarding the sixties music scene in Woodstock and the Roots concert on 8/15/09. Please let us know your web site URL as soon as it’s up.
looking for info on steve bishop orignal soundout back in 67 68
Hi Tommy,
Steve helped to organize the Woodstock Soundouts page on facebook. I believe he can be found there.
Weston