David Sanborn always seems to be around. When I hear his name, my first thought is when he sat in with Paul Shaffer on the Letterman Show. Then I remember taping his show on NBC, ” Night Music” (1988 to 1990) and watching musicians like Sanborn, talented but rarely seen on TV: Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Joe Sample, Pharoah Sanders, and many others.
Saxophonist David Sanborn
Really? Woodstock?
When I first started to volunteer at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts one of the projects I worked on was creating a list of all the performers at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Who should appear with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band? David Sanborn, of course. Not sure why his appearance there surprised me, but it did. Here’s a video of the band that Monday morning (before Sha Na Na). Paul Butterfield is the main feature, but the movie’s producers snuck in Mr Sanborn about a minute into the video.
Saxophonist David Sanborn
Much much more
The list all of the music David Sanborn has made or helped make is a very long one. Luckily, All Music had taken care of that. Impressive as it is long.
You’ll need a Snickers.
And…
Who were some of these people Sanborn played with? Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, Bobby Charles, Roger Waters, Esther Phillips, James Brown, Ween, and over a hundred more.
As it says at his site, “David Sanborn has released 24 albums, won six Grammy Awards, and has had eight Gold albums and one Platinum. Having inspired countless other musicians, Dave has worked in many genres which typically blend instrumental pop, R&B and traditional jazz. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school when he was inspired by the great Chicago blues artists near his hometown of St. Louis.”
Saxophonist David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn was born in Tampa, Florida, but raised in Kirkwood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Contracting polio at the age of three, he struggled with the disease for eight years. In its aftermath, he began to play saxophone on the advice of a doctor, who thought it would aid him in strengthening his chest muscles.
Not bad David. I guess your practice paid off. Nice job!
The question never asked is, “What happened in Wallkill?”
Here’s what was happening in July 1969 while Woodstock Ventures, the partnership that created the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, continued to prepare the Wallkill, NY site for the August festival.
Rt 17B, early Saturday morning 16 August 1969 (photo by J Shelley)
Bethel Becomes Woodstock
Wallkill declines
On July 14, 1969, Woodstock Ventures had again met with Wallkill town officials and presented its revised application for the festival. Wallkill had instituted new ordinances and Woodstock Ventures felt it had done what was necessary to meet those demands.
The next day, in a closed session at the town hall, the Wallkill Zoning Board of Appeals passed judgment on the status of Woodstock Venture’s application for a permit. The five-member board refused to allow the festival to build anything on the 200-acre site.
July 16: officials posted an eviction notice on the front door of Howard Mill’s barn (one of the organizing locations for the festival) The notice told Woodstock Ventures to vacate the premises. To this point Woodstock Ventures had sold approximately 150,000 tickets for each day and had spent $500,000 on the concert. Woodstock Ventures went to court.
Bethel Becomes Woodstock
Bethel’s Woodstock
The move to Bethel, New York is a bit shrouded in a Sullivan County early morning fog. That is not surprising. No one followed Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, Joel Rosenman, or John Roberts around with a tape recorder or notepad to document every word for posterity. No one knew that posterity would be interested.
That same day (July 16) Mel Lawrence (Director of Operations) and Michael Lang took a helicopter over nearby areas looking for a concert new location.
While they were gone, Elliott Tieber apparently contacted Woodstock Ventures about a place in Bethel, NY, 30 miles away. Tieber’s family ran the El Monaco Motel at the intersection of Rts 17B and 55.
Upon investigation, the site was completely unsuitable. Tieber (perhaps, perhaps not) set up a meeting with Max Yasgur.
Bethel Becomes Woodstock
Max and men on the moon
July 17: although not particularly interested, Max Yasgur agreed to meet with Woodstock Ventures. Area media had covered the festival’s troubles in Wallkill and Yasgur knew all about the Wallkill eviction.
July 18: in the morning before the Yasgur meeting, Michael Lang and Ticia Bernuth (production assistant) explored the Bethel area. They saw an area they thought suitable.
The first site Yasgur offered did not please Lang. Yasgur offered another site, a field he owned about a mile away. It was the same site Lang and Bernuth had seen that morning. Yasgur and Lang made an agreement.
July 20: Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Bethel Becomes Woodstock
Blowback
July 20: someone nailed a sign to tree at driveway entrance.
July 21: Judge Edward O’Gorman handed down a decision. It banned the festival from the Wallkill site. That evening, the Bethel Council unanimously voted to grant permission to Woodstock Ventures to hold the festival.
July 22: Mel Lawrence brought festival workers from Wallkill to Bethel. He held a general meeting at Tieber’s El Monaco Motel.
July 24: the Bethel Supervisor reported that he’d received about twenty phone calls from residents opposed to festival, but no legal threats.
July 26: Wes Pomeroy, the Chief of Security, began interviewing NYC police. He explained that those selected will not be in uniform, will carry no weapons, and will not hassle attendees about drug use, dress, or language.
That same day a local petition circulated to ban the festival.
Yasgur continued to support his decision and made the following statement: “I hear you are considering changing the zoning law to prevent the festival. I hear you don’t like the look of the kids who are working at the site. I hear you don’t like their lifestyle. I hear you don’t like they are against the war and that they say so very loudly. . . I don’t particularly like the looks of some of those kids either. I don’t particularly like their lifestyle, especially the drugs and free love. And I don’t like what some of them are saying about our government. However, if I know my American history, tens of thousands of Americans in uniform gave their lives in war after war just so those kids would have the freedom to do exactly what they are doing. That’s what this country is all about and I am not going to let you throw them out of our town just because you don’t like their dress or their hair or the way they live or what they believe. This is America and they are going to have their festival.”
After organizers had drafted Country Joe McDonald to do a solo performance at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair that fair Saturday afternoon, August 16, 1969, the young couple pictured above turned around and offered friend Tony and me a toke. Straight as an arrow at the time, we politely refused. They were from San Francisco and asked us, “Have you ever heard of …” and gave the name of the next act. We said we hadn’t. Neither had most of the others sitting in that big grassy bowl.
Soul Sacrifice
White kids getting sunburned
After that next band finished “Soul Sacrifice” and 400,000 people stood, applauded, stamped, hooted, shouted, yelled, and generally ululated, we all knew Santana and would never forget that moment. I grabbed my borrowed 35 mm camera and shot a picture of that scene. Looking at it today, the echos cannot be heard, the vibrations felt. I know though.
Jose Areas
My guess is that most of those many white kids getting sunburned have not forgotten that moment either. The mixture of Carlos Santana’s electric guitar, Gregg Rolie‘s searing organ, David Brown‘s thumping bass, and ALL that percussion chugging along.
Jose “Chepito” Areas’s timbales were amongst all that chugging percussion. He was an original member of Santana and played with them while Carlos was with the band and without and reunited.
Jose “Chepito” Areas
Areas released a solo album, “Jose Chepito Areas” in 1974. Listen and I dare you not to start moving in sync. Here’s “Gurafeo” from that album.
Percussionist Jose Chepito Areas
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Areas along with his other band mates from the original line up were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He was not present.
If you’d like to keep up with Jose, he has a Facebook page.
Percussionist Jose Chepito Areas
What's so funny about peace, love, art, and activism?
