We love the Bow Thayer (Gayesville, VT-native) cd featuring Levon Helm on drums (recorded @ Levon's studio/barn) we picked up @ the August 23rd Midnight Ramble. We're heading to The Barnard Inn in Barnard, VT this Sunday between 2-6 PM as Bow & his band will perform to raise money for two local charities. Cost is only $8/person.
Memorial stones for founder Harvey Fite & his wife near the main ramp of Opus 40 where their ashes were spread. The 3rd pic is of the famous monolith.
Here is 59 Tinker Street, currently home to the Center for Photography, but frmrly The Expresso & Tinker Street Cafe, located @ the center of Woodstock, NY across from the unique Woodstock Legends store. Bob Dylan wrote songs for two albums here: Another Side of Bob Dylan & Bringing It All Back Home. Legend has it, Dylan was too drunk to drive home while a regular customer of The Expresso, so the owners let him stay & he made it a bit of a permenant stay in "the white room" upstairs. The Tinker Street Cafe witnessed great performers such as Rick Danko.
The beautiful Ashokan Reservoir is located south of Woodstock, NY near Hurley, Olive & a number of other neighboring NY towns. These two photos were taken near Hurley on Dike Road, which we connected onto from Rt. 28 & Basin Road. Some of The Band members, as noted in levon Helm's This Wheel's on Fire book, lived near the Ashokan Reservoir.
Ohayo Mountain Road runs from Woodstock, NY down to the Ashokan Reservoir region & has been made famous by late '60s photos taken @ Bob Dylan's Ohayo Mountain Road home by Elliott Landy. Dylan relocated to this home from his famed Byrdcliffe residence currently owned by Steely Dan member Donald Fagan.
Maria's Bazar is owned by reunited The Band guitarist Jim weider's wife, located @ the center of Woodstock, NY. Great coffee & food.
What an amazing second line-up to Levon Helm's August 23, 2008 Midnight Ramble. Billy Bob Thornton has put together a great six-piece bande clad in black suits & ties. Great guitar sound & Billy Bob mixes his voice up well. Here is our autographed copy of their debut album. A not-for-children Christmas album will soon appear. We were able to say hi & shake Billy Bob's hand as well as a few other band members.
Here is the Zena Road / Rt. 212 intersection in West Saugerties, NY, a location where Levon Helm notes in his This Wheel's on Fire book of a wild car accident near a curve on Rt. 212. Zena Road runs from West Saugerties down to the Ashokan Reservoir region.
Here are a couple of exterior pics of Levon Helm's property. His pond is beautiful & he videotaped there during A&E's Classic Albums episode for The Band. Unfortunately, due to timing, we could not get better pics of his house / studio. The right-hand side is the studio portion where he recorded his Grammy-winning Dirt Farmer album & the left-hand side is his residence.
Wittenberg Road sign in Bearsville, a famous The Band-related road that leads down to the Ashokan Reservoir region. Cooper Lake Road leads up to the beautiful Cooper Lake.
Just outside of the center of Woodstock, NY heading towards Bearsville on Tinker Street is the renovated Methodist Church that became the Tinker Street Cinema, a favorite hangout to Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix had a beautiful stone estate w/ pool on Traver Hollow Road in Boiceville, NY, just south of Bearsville / Woodstock.
Unfortunately, Albert Grossman's Bearsville Studios is no more & has become a private residence. It is located near the top of Rick's Road in Woodstock, NY, the same road Robbie & Dominique resided around the Basement Tapes era. Levon Helm record a wonderful album @ Bearsville Studios w/ Muddy Waters in '75. During last night's Midnight Ramble, Howard Johnson joined the horn section & he too, performed on this same album.
We've shown pics of this famous Bob Dylan / The Band hangout & songwriting West Saugerties, NY site before, but we love revisiting it & photographing it again nevertheless.
Famed '69 Woodstock Festival, The Band & Bob Dylan photographer Elliott Landy took a wonderful late '60's photo of The Band for its Music from Big Pink album photo shoot on this deadend road off from Ohayo Mt Rd. Spencer Road has been listed in the past as being in Bearsville / Woodstock, but technically it's located in Glenford (just south of Woodstock). The famous Civil War-era style photograph of the five Band members in black & white by Landy was shot on this road. Gorgeous views of the amazing Ashokan Reservoir.
This is the second time we've brought our Weimaraner Lula Mae (5 yrs-old) to Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble & both times Levon's gorgeous dog Muddy has checked her out. The Helmland staff has both times had us park towards the rear of the parking lot near Levon's beautiful pond to keep the attention to the other dogs down. But that doesn't stop Muddy from coming over & checking out his "woman." Muddy is a very sweet dog.
