Tag Archives: Woodstock

Woodstock 50 (#RIP) And The Reality Distortion Field

Peter Kraayanger – Pixabay License

I originally published this on March 8, 2019. On April 29th Woodstock 50 was cancelled, with $30,000,000 spent on pre-production costs.

If you aren’t aware of it, you soon will be. This August will mark the 50-year anniversary of the music festival we all know as Woodstock. The three-day festival was a counterculture zeitgeist, reflecting the rapid changes in society and culture from a generation that swelled in number after the second world war, questioning and redefining many of the values, mores, and behavior of those before them. It is viewed as a touchstone in time not merely for the music, but for the unplanned forces of the sheer size of audience, disruption of service, weather, and perhaps most importantly, a perceived lack of chaos.

It’s been noted that if you believe all the people who said they attended Woodstock, it would add up to well over ten times the number of those who were actually there. Through the news coverage, the film and its subsequent soundtrack, and countless books and recollections, it has been seared into our collective memory banks. Studied, dissected, altered, memorialized, commoditized, monetized, and taken far beyond what it really was: three days in the rain with a lot of people and some great music.

A man named Bud Tribble who worked in software development back in 1981 used the term “reality distortion field” to describe Steve Jobs. He said he picked up the term from a Star Trek episode. It is also said that Jobs himself studied the concept when he attended college in 1972. Andy Hertzfield, another early tech dude, described it as “the ability to convince himself (Jobs) and others to believe almost anything with a mix of charm, charisma, bravado, hyperbole, marketing, appeasement and persistence. It was said to distort an audience’s sense of proportion and scales of difficulties and made them believe that the task at hand was possible.” (Folklore)

Earlier this year it was announced that during the third weekend of August there would not simply be one 50th anniversary festival, but two. The first would be at the original site in Bethel Woods (no, Woodstock did not take place in Woodstock) and the second would be the “official and authorized” event held at Watkins Glen, over 150 miles to the west. I didn’t find this surprising, but I did wonder how long it would take for a Broadway show to get produced, a holographic tour to be announced, perhaps one of those cruises on a ship in the Caribbean with some of the original performers, a special to be aired during a PBS pledge drive, and of course a Time-Life infomercial hawking something, anything … it doesn’t matter what.

In a matter of weeks there was a change in the wind. The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the nonprofit organization that bought the 800-acre farm where the 1969 festival took place and has since created a “unique educational, performance, and retreat environment focused on building creative capital to inspire individuals to contribute positively to the world around them,” pulled out of the announced festival and replaced it with a series of smaller events to be held throughout the year. There will be new exhibitions at their museum, weekend concerts that sometimes will include wine and craft beer tasting, and on that August weekend they’ll show the director’s cut of the film and have two concerts. One will feature Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band, Arlo Guthrie, and Edgar Winter. The next night will be Santana and The Doobie Brothers. A third concert has yet to be announced.

Meanwhile, a group called Woodstock 50 is licensing the name and rights for the official Watkins Glen event from Woodstock Ventures, which is owned by three-fourths of the original team: Michael Lang, Joel Rosenman, and the family of the late John Roberts. The other original co-producer, Artie Kornfeld, will also join the group in some capacity. This was Lang’s statement when he announced this year’s event:

“It’s time to put the speculation to rest and officially announce that Woodstock 50 is happening. The original festival in ’69 was a reaction by the youth of the time to the causes we felt compelled to fight for – civil rights, women’s rights, and the antiwar movement, and it gave way to our mission to share peace, love, and music. Today, we’re experiencing similar disconnects in our country, and one thing we’ve learned is that music has the power to bring people together. So, it’s time to bring the Woodstock spirit back, get involved and make our voices heard.

The Woodstock 50th Anniversary will be about sharing an experience with great artists and encouraging people to get educated and involved in the social issues impacting everyone on the planet. It’s so inspiring to see young people today channeling their passion into causes they care about. That’s something that’s always been a part of Woodstock’s mission, and it’s a big focus at the 50th festival.

The original site in Bethel is wonderful, but much too small for what we’re envisioning. Watkins Glen International gives us the ability to create something unlike any other commemorative event and something uniquely Woodstock. It’s a beautiful location and an ideal site.”

For the record, Watkins Glen International is not a bucolic farm with rolling hills and meadows. It’s where they hold NASCAR events and is known as the mecca of North American road racing. It’s also hosted several extremely large concerts, including the 1973 Summer Jam and two Phish fests.

Lang has also produced two previous Woodstock anniversary concerts, in 1994 and 1999. The latter event, at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, N.Y., ended with riots, fires, and allegations of sexual assault. “Woodstock ’99 was just a musical experience with no social significance,” Lang told Rolling Stone. “It was just a big party. With this one — Woodstock 50 — we’re going back to our roots and our original intent. And this time around, we’ll have control of everything.”

I’m an admitted cynic and skeptic, so race car tracks and rock music just remind me of the Altamont concert. Sorry, don’t mean to rain on the parade.

Earlier this week, following reports that the event was having financial issues, representatives for Woodstock 50 confirmed that organizers had wired several million dollars to several major talent agencies representing acts playing Woodstock 50, and one agency boss confirmed to Billboard that, as of Monday evening, their artists had all been paid in full. A source also confirmed to Billboard that festival organizer Superfly, which is handling the logistics of the massive camping festival, had also received full payment.

The festival lineup has yet to be announced, but the rumors suggest Dead and Company, Chance the Rapper, Imagine Dragons, The Killers, and up to possibly 80 acts will be taking the stage. With few nearby hotels, there is quite a bit of work to be done to prepare for an expected 100,000 campers. And as we already know from past history, the weather at that time of the year in New York is always a crapshoot.

Again, from the Billboard article: “There’s also a larger question of how the event will fare in a crowded festival space, and whether Woodstock will be able to attract a millennial audience interested in spending three days with older music fans. One industry insider told Billboard, ‘The next step is to put it on sale and then see if anyone cares enough to buys tickets.’”

For myself, I’d rather stick to the memories of 1969 and forgo a manufactured event that is cloaked in the political-correct ad-speak of “encouraging people to get educated and involved in the social issues.” Let’s at least be real: It’s simply an event to make money, and if you choose to go, please stay safe and be aware of overdosing on the orange Metamucil. Now that could be seriously dangerous.

Postscript: A week after this was posted, Woodstock 50 announced their lineup: The Killers, The Raconteurs, John Fogerty, Miley Cyrus, The Lumineers, Run the Jewels, Santana, Robert Plant, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Akon, Dead & Company, Sturgill Simpson, Margo Price, The Black Keys, Greta Van Fleet, Chance the Rapper, Portugal. The Man, Jay-Z, Janelle Monae, Common, Imagine Dragons, Cage the Elephant, The Zombies and Brandi Carlile.

On April 29th Woodstock 50 was cancelled. $30,000,000 had already been spent in pre-production costs.

This was originally published as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music’s website.

Many of my past columns, articles, and essays can be accessed here at my own site, therealeasyed.com. I also aggregate news and videos on both Flipboard and Facebook as The Real Easy Ed: Americana and Roots Music Daily. My Twitter handle is @therealeasyed and my email address is easyed@therealeasyed.com.

Jules Shear Keeps His Guitar In The Case

I was driving down the highway for my first listen of One More Crooked Dance and barely made it through the second song when I could sense something was very different. By the second note of the third song I screamed out “John Sebastian!” and slammed the steering wheel. Right … but that wasn’t it. A few songs later I had a breakthrough and realized that the right-handed guitar played upside down by the left-handed singer-songwriter was missing and six strings were replaced by 88 keys. The man unplugged himself.

These days when you rely on streaming to get your fix, there is no 12 by 12 album cover to stare at or liner notes to read. You either just don’t care about the credits or lyrics, or you hope a trip to the artist’s website will take care of that. Except Jules Shear doesn’t really have an active website that promotes his latest release, and his record label is uniquely mellow in their marketing approach. The thing is, unless you’re one of a few thousand people who follow his Facebook page, you might not even know that this past November he stealthily released his 13th solo album, with 13 new songs sprinkled with his special magic dust.

That video was created by visual artist Sherry Wallace, a fellow Jules fan who has posted dozens of interpretations of both his solo work and collaborations, many with his wife Pal Shazar. You may recognize her name from her own band Slow Children, or for her beautiful artwork. She is a warm and gracious woman, and over the years we’ve met twice and emailed often, and it was through her efforts I managed to get a few words about the album from Jules. Before I get to that, here’s the basic background on One More Crooked Dance that you’ll find repeated verbatim at places such as Amazon, Spotify, and Apple Music:

Jules Shear isn’t being cagy when he insists he doesn’t know what the songs on his 13th studio album, One More Crooked Dance and first since 2013’s Longer to Get to Yesterday are about. He really doesn’t, at least without being able to consult a lyric sheet, which is nowhere in sight at the moment. With nary a guitar, bass or drum in earshot, Shear didn’t have to wander far from his longtime Woodstock, N.Y., home, corralling locals Pepe (piano), touring partner Molly Farley (vocals) and the legendary John Sebastian (harp) at his neighborhood health food store and somehow cajoling them to join him at his friend’s nearby home studio. (Spotify)

Obviously we know Sebastian, and his Woodstock neighbor Happy Traum filled me in that Pepe was a local who played around town. Jules wrote to me that “Molly has gone on the road with me singing background vocals. That’s everybody on the album, except for Lee Danziger. He engineered and we worked in his studio, which is just five minutes from my place. I just wrote the songs until I gave up, and then we recorded them. Lee was very cool with recording everything. Pepe wailed. It gave it a vibe.” When I asked about his lack of internet presence and promotion, and whether he had a sense of himself at either being semi-retired or the reclusive musician living in the mountains, he replied “I guess, at this point, I don’t have a self-image. I just wrote a bunch of songs.”

Molly Farley owns Rock City Vintage, formerly called Sew Woodstock, a clothing boutique featuring a curated collection of one-of-a-kind vintage, designer, and original pieces. When I asked her about the album, she wrote, “It has been such an honor to work with Jules on this album. He is one of my all time favorite songwriters. I love the simplicity of piano and voices. I hope it gets heard by the world! Pep and I have worked together for many years and yet he remains kind of a mystery man. I know he was raised in Forrest Hills in Queens and is a self taught pianist. His knowledge of all types of music is profound. Perhaps he could fill in the blanks for you.”

Pepe responded to my email quickly with his phone number, but as the holidays came and went I got tangled up with the day job and put it off. But he did share this: “Call me and I’ll explain everything. Love to talk to you about it. Jules just put an obscure collection of chords in front of me on a piece of paper. No vocal…no melody….no guitar…no piano…..no nothing… and said “Play”. So I did.” When I asked for more information about himself, like his full name, he replied “Don’t need a surname… just Pep.” I called him when I sat down and started writing this column but we didn’t connect.

For those of you who may not know Shear’s backstory and history, head over to Wikipedia for a more detailed bio. But the short story is that he’s been on my radar since 1976, when he was a member of the Funky Kings, who released one album on Arista Records. Clive Davis was too busy with Barry Manilow and the Bay City Rollers, so the Funky Kings were soon dropped. (T Bone Burnett’s Alpha Band were also on the label around the same time, and they managed to squeak out three obscure albums that were dead on arrival.) Jules and the Polar Bears came next, followed by a few hit singles he wrote for Cyndi Lauper and the Bangles. He helped create the concept for MTV Unplugged and hosted the first 13 episodes. Along with his solo records and various side projects, Shear must hold the record for being on more record labels than any other artist I know. The current count is at least 14. The arrangements on One More Crooked Dance might be considered sparse, but it’s those spaces in-between the notes that bring together the vocals, keys, and harp. Pep’s style recalls jazz innovator Vince Guaraldi, Shear’s songwriting has those subconscious historical reference points that only a musicologist could articulate, and Farley’s vocals are layered, harmonic, and a perfected counterpoint to Shear’s unique melody lines, tone and phrasing. John Sebastian’s harp is used sparingly on only several songs, yet every breath he takes brings a symphonic quality to the album. As a shamelessly admitted fanatical fanboy, I welcome every new Shear song collection as much as a hot cup tea with honey on a cold Woodstock night beneath a blanket of twinkling stars.

Postscript: I was curious how Shear is consuming music these days. We were each born only weeks apart in early 1952 and grew up swimming in the same musical pool, and I’ve given up on ownership in exchange for streaming. “I’m still buying CDs,” he told me. “That’s what I like. I guess that I’m old fashioned, but I like getting the package along with the music. I believe that it’s stupid to not get what the artist wants you to have.” And while it troubles me that much of his catalog remains out of print and hasn’t managed to find a digital home for people to discover, Shear has moved on. “I’m just not thinking about old stuff right now.” And doing that crooked dance.

This article was originally published as an Easy Ed’s Broadside column over at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music’s website.

Welcome Back: A Spoonful of John Sebastian

John Sebastian (left), with Happy Traum. March 2016. Photo by Jane Traum.

At about ten after ten on Christmas Eve, I was sitting on the couch across from my oldest son, each of us engrossed in our own digital universes. Mindlessly killing time by scrolling through Facebook on my phone, an image posted by Woodstock-based musician Happy Traum caught my eye. Painted by his mother back in 1929, I saw that some mutual friends of ours had already hit the “like” button and I read a personal holiday memory of Happy’s mom that was left by Catherine Sebastian.

Although we’ve never met, I knew Catherine was both John’s wife and a photographer whose work I’ve seen and admired. You can read about her work here.. But it was at that very moment, as if Santa himself had just slid down the chimney carrying an autoharp and harmonica, that I heard the following song blast through the speakers of my son’s computer.

Recognizing the opening notes of one of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s most famous songs, my head shot up quickly as I looked at him with bewilderment and asked how he knew what I was reading. He looked over and asked what I was talking about. C’mon dude … how would you know to play this and what the hell is it? He shrugged and looked away. Does that a lot.

Susan, sometimes spelled Suzan if directly taken from the Japanese katakana transliteration of her name, is a pop singer and model who began recording in the early eighties, and often collaborated with members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Her records were never released in America. That my twenty-two year old NYU music major graduate would actually know of this obscure recording would not be surprising if you knew him. That he chose to play it at this particular moment was the absolute f*cking Miracle on 34th Street.

When I woke up on Christmas morning, I had a song in my head, one written by John Sebastian and the late Lowell George. Still laying in bed, it took only a minute to locate it in my digital library.

“Face of Appalachia” is from Sebastian’s fourth solo album, Tarzana Kid. It was produced by Erik Jacobsen, who I believe did most if not all of the Spoonful’s records. The list of musicians and backup singers who played on the album, in addition to Lowell George’s guitar and vocals, include the Pointer Sisters, Emmylou Harris, David Grisman, Ry Cooder, David Lindley, Phil Everly, Jim Gordon, Buddy Emmons, Amos Garrett, Kelly Shanahan, and Ron Koss.

The album originally came out in 1974 but was never really promoted by the label. In 2006, Collector’s Choice Music reissued it along with the other four of Sebastian’s Reprise Records solo albums. In the new liner notes for Tarzana Kid, music journalist and author of Music USA Richie Unterberger wrote:

“With so many skilled singers and instrumentalists pitching in, it’s unsurprising that Tarzana Kid travels across a considerable range of rock and folk combinations, though this eclecticism had been a constant feature in Sebastian’s work. The singer-songwriter had a rather overlooked eye for ethnic styles that were not widely known in the US in the early 1970s, using a steel band from Trinidad on his 1971 LP The Four of Us, which also included a cover of a tune by then-obscure zydeco giant Clifton Chenier.

Tarzana Kid‘s opening track, a cover of Jimmy Cliff’s “Sitting in Limbo” (featured in the classic 1972 movie The Harder They Come), was a pretty adventurous move at a time when reggae was just starting to make inroads into the American consciousness. Certainly one of the most noted tracks on Tarzana Kid was “Dixie Chicken,” which guest guitarist Lowell George had previously recorded as part of Little Feat on the 1973 album of the same name.”

If I had time to write 50,000 words instead of 500, I’d love to share my love, respect, and admiration for the music that John Sebastian has created and collaborated on. His Wikipedia page is a damn good place to start if you’d like to learn more. From jug band music to film and television work, doing classic sessions with the Doors to CSNY, playing with NRBQ and his own J-band, appearance in the film documentary Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost, he’s a great storyteller, performer, music instructor, and activist.

I’ll close this out exactly how I got here, through Happy Traum. On his website bio, it notes that he studied guitar with the blues master Brownie McGhee. Coincidentally, the Lovin’ Spoonful recorded McGhee’s “Sportin’ Life” on their album Do You Believe in Magic?, and Sebastian revived it on Tarzana Kid, although it seems he chose to skip this verse:

Now, I’m goin’ to change my ways
I’m gettin’ older each and every day
When I was young and foolish
I was easy, easy let astray.

This was originally posted as an Easy Ed Broadside column, at No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music.

Instrumentally Speaking…Woodstock Gets Hungry For Music

In 1992, while he was enrolled at George Washington University, Jeff Campbell had an idea that initially was inspired by a class project. The concept was to bring street musicians and other D.C. music talent together for a concert called Hungry for Music, that would benefit the Coalition Against Homelessness.

These concerts were held in 1992 and 1993, and included a food drive. Two years later, Hungry for Music became a tax-exempt non-profit charity, with the purpose of supporting music education and bringing the positive qualities of music to others through concerts and workshops at schools, church programs, retirement homes, and homeless shelters.

Twenty years later, HFM has evolved into an organization that “supports music education & cultural enrichment by acquiring and distributing quality musical instruments to underserved children with willing instructors and a hunger to play.” Explained best on their website: “We serve children who demonstrate a desire to learn music as well as teachers who have students willing to learn.”

By holding events and benefits, community drives to collect musical instruments, and releasing CD compilations to raise awareness and funds, HFM has been able to donate over 7,000 musical instruments in 41 states and 11 countries.

From what I recall, I think my most successful class project was growing a bean plant in a Dixie cup.

This past Father’s Day weekend, the Bearsville Theater (which might be located in the hamlet of Bearsville, but has a Woodstock address) presented an HFM benefit called A Tribute to Harry Smith’s Anthology of Folk Music, featuring some of the area’s residents. This concert culminated a month-long Hudson Valley music instrument drive sponsored by Radio Woodstock.

MMJH Supporting this great charity by lending their time and talent were John Sebastian, Happy Traum, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Steve Katz, Ed Sanders, Mikhail Horowitz and Gilles Malkine, Charlie Knicely, Bill and Livia Vanaver, The Saturday Night Bluegrass Band (with Bill Keith and Eric Weisberg), Professor Louie & the Crowmatix, Women of the World, Michael Eck, and the Rosendale Improvement Association Marching Band and Social Club. There may have been a few more; forgive me if I missed someone.

It would be fruitless for me to even try to explain how magical the music and performances were, but I’ll tell you something…it sure was a night to remember. The old time folk, blues and roots music was presented as an Our Gang-style revue, with each performer doing a couple of songs before turning it over to the next act. Jay, Molly, Sebastian and Traum (above photo) kept popping up to support other musicians as well as doing songs of their own.

In what for me was probably one of the most interesting moments of the night, Ed Sanders spoke eloquently about his friendship with Harry Smith; and told stories about his life and times in the East Village, the bookstore he ran, and recording with the Fugs. (That’s Ed on the right, playing a song about nothing.)

As I was thinking about how I could best talk about the mission of Hungry for Music, and also share the evening’s sparkle and shine, I discovered that photographer Mike Melnyk was in the house and he’s given me permission to share his work. Check out his website for some great galleries of roots music events he’s covered over the years.

There’s a lot of organizations that do great work and ask for our time and money. Hungry for Music does the same, but it also offers musicians and collectors something different. By turning over our unwanted or unused instruments, we can experience and contribute to changing and transforming our big old planet just a tiny bit…one note at a time.