I, of course, knew nothing about recording technology, but Albert had hired a very good maintenance engineer named John Gardner, assisted by Richard Lubash, who did most of the wiring of the patch bays and so on. He also hired a fine, young, energetic recording engineer named Mark Harman. He had come from California where he’d done a lot of work with Doug Sahm and The Sir Douglas Quintet. Mark was perpetually in a good mood. He never walked when he could run. He was ready, willing, and able to work, which was good, because once we got up and running it was pretty continuous. Usually it was Albert who told me that so and so would be coming in to record. It was always a case of “this person has to get priority.” Everybody he talked to had to get priority. That was my job — to juggle all of these people and make sure they didn’t get bent out of shape if they couldn’t get in right away.
By this time, Van Morrison was living up there with his band. Paul Butterfield was there with his band, too, which now included David Sanborn, Gene Dinwiddie, and Steve Madaio on horns. Dylan was still there when I arrived, but he soon moved his family to New York City and the relationship between Albert and him was going away. Sadly, Janis Joplin had died in October, so Albert had moved the whole Full Tilt Boogie Band from California to some apartments we had just done up. The Band was there, of course, but because the studio wasn’t ready that summer they recorded the Stage Fright album at the Woodstock Playhouse with Todd Rundgren using a remote truck parked outside. Back when I was visiting Albert in his office to talk about the job, this kid came in to hook up some hi-fi equipment. He was skinny and had long hair and was crawling around under the desk hooking things up. It was Todd Rundgren. After Todd was through making The Band’s album, he would take all my studio time from midnight on to work on his own stuff. I’d come in each morning and there would be microphone cables down the hallway, in the toilet, all over the place. He ran the board and the machines himself and played all the instruments. He recorded his huge hit “Hello, It’s Me” this way. John Gardner would be tearing his hair out. “This place is a mess! This kid is ruining everything!” I’d say, “Hey! He’s good. Let him go. Clean the place up. Let’s get going here.” Of course, the construction never stopped. After the restaurant (“The Bear”) was finished, there was “The Bear Café.” A couple of houses were turned into offices and apartments. My day started before eight in the morning and could easily go until midnight or past, depending on what was going on.
Then there was my social life! Sheila and I were happy to be building our nest. In addition, a community was forming around us. Not too long after we arrived, Bill Keith and Geoff and Maria Muldaur moved over from Cambridge. Happy Traum’s brother Artie had moved up from New York. John Herald was around. So we all started getting together at each other’s places and picking. Some nights brought me back to my early days in Cambridge ten years earlier. There was also a great restaurant in the middle of town called “Deanie’s,” where everyone would go. It was a well-established place with great old waitresses and a woman named Flo who played the piano. The bar was frequented by a mix of the native Woodstockers, many of them of Dutch descent, and the new musical community, which was taking shape. In time, the Bear bar became another watering hole and a place called the Joyous Lake opened up featuring live music. So there was no shortage of night life. I was definitely burning the candle at all available ends.
From In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey by Jim Rooney. Copyright 2014 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press. No part of this excerpt may be reprinted, reproduced, posted on another website or distributed by any means without the written permission of the University of Illinois Press.
Book signing at Bluegrass Clubhouse Thursday, May 8
Rooney has cajoled singer/songwriter Pat Alger, former Woodstocker and longtime collaborator, to make the trip, and Happy Traum has promised to forestall other plans to join in for the evening. Along with Keith, all were members of the Woodstock Mountains Review, so a vague sort of semi-reunion may materialize.Rooney returns to Woodstock for a book signing and lots of music beginning around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8 at the Bluegrass Clubhouse, the ten year old Thursday night gathering at Harmony Café in the Wok n’ Roll Restaurant, 52 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, where he’ll perform with the hosts Saturday Night Bluegrass Band (Brian Hollander, Tim Kapeluck, Guy ‘Fooch’ Fischetti, Geoff Harden, Bill Keith and Eric Weissberg, sitting in on the banjo.)
Admission to the Bluegrass Clubhouse is always a pay what you want, but pay something kind of deal, and Rooney’s new book will be available for signing.
For more information, call 679-3484.
