Kingston residents polled seem split on an older tourism-related matter: whether tunnels still run under the city from Underground Railroad and Prohibition days.
Former resident Shawn Aitchinson says,” Most of the ones under Uptown are closed off in between buildings, due to different businesses over the years wanting privacy and safety. Which is too bad, at one point they were all connected.”
“Did Dutch Schultz nemesis Jack ‘Legs’ Diamond have a booze pipeline during Prohibition?,” ponders Ultraam alchemist Matthew Cullen. “It was alleged to have run from Uptown to Downtown inside the municipal sewer and water system pipes. My friend did find the remains of a still in his basement on Wall Street when he took down an old wall. So it’s kind of … true?”
Back to Dylan
“I’ve heard that ‘All Along The Watch Tower’ was written about Mohonk near New Paltz, or that Mohonk is where Dylan crashed his motorycle,” says former Starbuck’s employee and subdeacon at the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Jason Gagnon. Speaking of Mohonk, Newpaltzchamber.org reports that Lake Mohonk appears to have gone nameless until 1860, despite the name Mohonk appearing in area legal documents beginning in 1677 (as “Moggonk”). James Felice of The Felice Brothers recounts how if you dip your feet in the Walkill it is said you can never leave the Hudson Valley. Editor Dan Barton says he heard you had to drink from the Wallkill and if he knew you only had to dip your feet in it, that knowledge would have saved him a hellacious lower GI disruption.
Legends persist of an Indian curse on the area, purported to explain the strange weather patterns Woodstock seems to have in relation to the surrounding towns. The advent of smart-phone apps and websites like HudsonValleyWeather.com has broken down our microclimate so even hippies and punks can grasp it and has quieted some of the curse talk. But you never know. Wouldn’t you be mad if someone came and threw moon gatherings incessantly in your nice magic meadow of crabapple trees? Wouldn’t you want to go full Manitou on them and haunt them with Native American mojo as punishment?
One of the more persistent misconceptions about Woodstock that survives to this day is that Phish are a good band, oddly. Sorry, “Phamily” of Woodstock.
Some people even seem to think that The Grateful Dead broke up in 2015, which can’t possibly be true since Jerry has been dead for years. Come on — Joan Osborne looks nothing like him! (Sorry, Joan.) I actually think Phish and The Dead are good but that they have some lame fans in their ranks.
Fine fellows are they
Back to Phish. In truth, my mom met Trey and the Phish guys once for a Hudson River Sloop Clearwater event and said they were great people. It’s funny to think of my mom hanging out with Phish at a press event and partying. She said their mini-trampolines were ridiculous, though.
I was always more of a Kula Shaker guy but American Beauty, Axis: Bold As Love, CrazySexyCool, Lookinglasself and Lawn Boy are all classic Trey Anastasio solo albums, even if Phish fans can be really obnoxious and not understand that Black Sabbath destroys their jammy idols in every way. Even Born Again/Ian Gillan vocals-era Sabbath submerges the Grateful Dead’s Shakedown Street in an avalanche of dugout one-hitter crushing and grilled cheese sandwich-smooshing human skulls and superior long-haired riff majesty.
Take the brown acid. That’s a myth as well. No, actually that is true. Stay away from brown acid. Just don’t take acid. Keep it organic, baby.
Incidentally, Born Again came about as a record after Sabbath’s own Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler recruited the Deep Purple singer during dinner … in Bearsville.
Until we meet again, don’t believe everything you read or hear, child of our times.
