Joan Baez performance on Maine Public Radio

Checkout (thru April 25th) Maine Public Radio for a link to Joan's late-March performance in Waterville, ME.

http://www.mpbn.net/joanbaez/index.html

Joan Baez on Maine Public Radio

Maine Public Radio & Joan Baez have been generous in providing a recording

Attention LL Beaners - Nalgene bottle "alert".

Hard-plastic Nalgene water bottles made with bisphenol A will be pulled from stores over the next few months because of growing consumer concern over whether the chemical poses a health risk.

Record Store Day April 19th.

Tomorrow is Record Store Day. Numerous artists & independently owned record stores have joined forces to promote this event.

Checkout the website www.recordstoreday.com.

Nice note from John Simon.

Producer of The Band's 1st two albums, Music From Big Pink & The Band (aka Brown album) recently sent us this very nice note (Jim Weider also thanked us - http://www.jimweider.com/):


Thanks for directing me to your blog.
It's the first one I've ever visited. I'm a 19th century guy!
I appreciate the link too.
I don't know the nature of blogs, but, if you'd like and if you can, you might tell people that they can make a longer Woodstock weekend out of it by catching my trio playing every Thursday night 45 minutes down Route 209 from the Woodstock Thruway exit at The Aroma Thyme Bistro -- fabulous, VERY HEALTHY food -- no cover charge. 845-647-3000
Then they can have a leisurely Friday, sight-seeing the beautiful Catskills and Hudson Valley and hit a Ramble that Saturday.
Presto: a travel package!
Thanks again.
js

http://www.johnsimonmusic.net/

Wedding presents.

These three items, along w/ three gorgeous b&w still photos of our Weimaraner, are our wedding presents to each other: autographed Bob Dylan Nashville Skyline print by Elliott Landy; autograph & 45 LP by Ronnie "The Hawk" Hawkins; & compilation of 1974 Bob Dylan/The Band autographs, including Dylan, the five original Band members & frmr mgrs Jon Taplin & Bill Scheele, plus ticket stub, Rolling Stone review & leather tour memonto (all retrieved & assembled by us). A recently Valentine's Day present was an autographed The Band (from Big Pink album) photo by Elliott Landy.

Sean Costello.....rest in peace.

Talented Delta bluesman Sean Costello passed away in Atlanta, GA one day before his b'day on April 15, 2008. Sean played w/ Levon Helm & crew in his Woodstock, NY studio. He will be sadly missed.

www.myspace.com/seancostello

Big Pink.

Parnassus Lane sign (dead end road leading to Big Pink) off from Stoll RD. Sign for Stoll RD @ intersection to Goat Hill RD. Row of mailboxes (Big Pink's is the large green one in the center w/ #56 & #2188) @ the intersection of Stoll RD & Parnassus LN. Big Pink near the end of Parnassus RD in West Saugerties, NY. Bob Dylan initially rented the house while introducing The Band (minus Levon Helm) to Woodstock. Rick Danko later assumed the rent. This was the second location of the recording of the Basement Tapes.
Beautiful mountain view from Parnassus Lane in front of Big Pink.

Byrdcliffe - Bob Dylan's residence.

Byrdcliffe artist colony sign @ one of the two Glasco Turnpike & Upper Byrdcliffe RD intersections. The colony offers beautiful views of mountains, forest, birds & deer. Residents appear very friendly, often waving while driving by us as we walked the lovely roads.

Sign for Upper Byrdcliffe Way (off from Upper Byrdcliffe RD) in front of Byrdcliffe Theater that leads to Bob Dylan's former Camelot RD residence.

Byrdcliffe Theater, located near the peak of Upper Byrdcliffe RD & @ the base of Upper Byrdcliffe Way, which leads to Bob Dylan's Camelot RD residence. Upper Byrdcliffe Way is the dirt road shown in front of the theater. Dylan's Byrdcliffe residence was where he & The Band (minus Levon Helm) began recording the Basement Tapes. It was somewhere between his house & Grossman's 1960's Rick's RD residence that Dylan crashed his motorcycle on Striebel RD.

Striebel Rd - Bob Dylan's crash site road.

Striebel Rd (Woodstock, NY) runs between Rt 212 in Bearsville up to the Glasco Tnpk (Byrdcliffe). Albert (mgr for Dylan & The Band) & Sally Grossman lived on this road & Dylan crashed his Triumph motorcycle on a sharp turn, sparking his reuniting w/ The Band members to create the Basement Tapes.

Rick's Rd & Robbie Robertson's Woodstock, NY home.

Sign @ the base of Rick's RD located about halfway between the center of Woodstock & Bearsville (runs between Rt 212 & Glasco Trnpk). Albert & Sally Grossman & Robbie & Dominique Robertson resided on this road during the recording of the Basement Tapes.

Robbie & Dominique Robertson's residence (thanks to Sid Griffin's book "The Million Dollar Bash") near the base of Rick's RD. They lived here during the recording of the Basement Tapes.

Bearsville Theatre & Albert Grossman's grave.

Albert Grossman's Bearsville Theatre next to Todd Rundgren's former video studio "Utopia". Beautiful workwork inside adorn w/ numerous autographed Elliot Landy prints of The Band members, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Van Morrison & numerous others. Grossman's grave & memorial stones are located behind the theatre amid granite benches. Grossman was the mgr for The Band, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin & others. He suffered a fatal heart attack while on a flight over the Atlantic Ocean to London.

John Joy Rd - The Band's Brown LP cover photo shoot location.

John Joy Rd runs between Saugerties (green sign) & Woodstock, NY (white sign) & is the road that famed Woodstock photographer Elliot Landy shot The Band's Brown LP cover photo.

Sign of the times.

Sign of the times located in the ctr of Woodstock, NY.

Richard Manuel's Bellows Ln residence in Woodstock, NY

Richard Manuel, pianist & one of three amazing The Band voices, lived in this Bellows Ln house. The house was built for famed boxing (Dempsey era) painter George Bellows in the early 1920s & Richard lived there in the 1960s. He wrote the song Whispering Pines @ this house. Bellows Ln is located @ the southern tier of the Byrdcliffe artist colony. Take Rock City Rd off from Rt 212 in the ctr of Woodstock - near the top of the road, take a left onto Lower Byrdcliffe Rd & then a left onto Bellows Ln.

Woodstock Playhouse

The Woodstock Playhouse is located on the right side of Rt 212 as you enter Woodstock, NY from Saugerties, NY. The Band recorded its album Stage Fright, w/ Todd Rundgren engineering, in this building. Levon Helm wrote in his book, This Wheel's On Fire, that the stage curtains were opened & closed to adjust for the acoustics on the album.

Grave of The Band bassist Rick Danko

While on our wkd trip in Woodstock, NY, we visited the grave of The Band bassist Rick Danko. Unfortunately, we never experienced Rick Danko in person, but fortunately there are numerous wonderful available account by those who did. His publicist, Carol Caffin, along with The Band website(http://theband.hiof.no/) hosted by Norwegian Jan Hoiberg, is the best avenue to get an understanding for an amazing musician & man.

Here is the entrance to Woodstock Cemetary off from Rock City Rd & Rick's grave stone that replaced a small sign about one yr ago per Carol. Rick's grave is next to his son's (Eli), who passed away in 1989. The stones are difficult to locate. Fairly easy description to locate the stone is to head up Rock City RD @ the center of Woodstock; Woodstock Music is on the right & Woodstock Cemetary is on the same side w/in eyesight; after you enter the cemetary (by vehicle or on foot) through the stone pillars the road splits into two; it doesn't matter which side you take; if you take the left side, go to its end & bear right; follow the road deep into the cemetary & bear right after the above ground grave vaults on the right; go about halfway down the road & on the left are three fairly distinct vertical grave stones w/ the names Cook, Ruggles & Wilson (in that order each on a separate stone); behind Ruggles is Ricky's grade level stone & his son's (Eli) is behind the Wilson stone. Ricky's & Eli's are similar style stones.

Plochmann Lane

To say we are big fans of Bob Dylan & The Band is an understatement. Plochmann Lane is the road The Band drummer Levon Helm's studio is off from in Woodstock, NY, which we recently visited. Our long wkd trip was based around the March 29, 2008 Midnight Ramble, which you can learn more about by clicking on Levon's link. He & his staff are amazingly inviting when you sign-up & attend a Ramble. Rambles last four hrs, no more than about 150 folks attend & no one is more than thirty-feet from the stage. It is one of the most amazing experiences of our lives. Levon & crew played numbers from The Band era, traditional songs & tunes from his new Grammy-winning album Dirt Farmer.