Early Press Photo From Left To Right: Steve Katz, Dick Halligan, David Clayton-Thomas, Fred Lipsius, Bobby Colomby Jerry Hyman, Chuck Winfield, Jim Fielder, & Lew Soloff. (photo from: http://www.rdrop.com/users/rickert/bst-pg2.html)
Blood Sweat Tears Chuck Winfield
Dear Chuck Winfield,
You were born on February 5, 1943 in Monessen, PA.
You played trumpet and flugelhorn for Blood, Sweat and Tears and were with them at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
Blood Sweat Tears Chuck Winfield
Jazz professor
You taught music at the University of Maine, Augusta and may live in Maine. Your students liked you. One said in 2005:
Chuck is the****!!! Plus he likes my guitar playing, which helps…This guy has played on hit records, played at (the real)Woodstock, a master of trumpet….and STILL has enough time to be one of the nicest men you’ll meet…(wife is cute too)…A+ from me!
Another Said
Another said of the course you taught:
It was pretty decent. Great man. I found the class pretty boring, though I’m not really into music. Don’t ever ask him about his past as one of the members of Blood Sweat and Tears (it seemed as if he got upset at a student for asking about it).
And a third said:
Chuck is smart and has a great sense of humor, makes the class more interesting than it already is!!!
And in 2008 in response to a post on a trumpet board asking about your whereabouts, someone posted:
Being from Maine as a kid I hung a bit with Chuck. He really likes living in Maine and relaxing in the area. I’m not sure how much performing he’s doing but I do see him occasionally (every few years). That reminds me I need to drop him … a note.
But even with the infinite internet, I cannot find anything else about your current status.
Does anyone know?
Here is a picture of Blood Sweat and Tears horn section. You are the second from the right.
The Blood, Sweat and Tears horn section: Fred Lipsius, Dave Bargeron, Chuck Winfield and Lew Soloff
Jefferson Airplane at the Fillmore Auditorium (photo from Wolfgang’s Vault)
Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
Chet Helms
In 1966 Chet Helms (friend of Janis Joplin and the one who connected her with Big Brother and the Holding Company) teamed up with a commune called Family Dog and started putting together a series of shows at the Fillmore Auditorium. Family Dog and Bill Graham, new to the world or rock venues, hosted events on alternating weekends. The two promoters would lock horns many times over the years, and it was always a contrast in styles. Bill Graham had a reputation as an aggressive, no-nonsense business man, whereas others saw Helms as a more down-to-earth guy who was less interested in money and more focused on throwing a great party. His lack of business skills is one of the reasons Chet never made a much money in the music business, but he was never short on ideas.
The Fillmore Auditorium had been used in December 1965 by Bill Graham in his first foray as a rock promoter.
…then the first rock shows as just rock shows (February 4, 5, and 6, 1966) were held at the Fillmore Auditorium.
Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
Jefferson Airplane
poster from first show (“Jefferson airplane fillmore poster 1966” by Bill GrahamUploaded by We hope at en.wikipedia – eBay itemimageTransferred from en.wikipedia by SreeBot. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jefferson_airplane_fillmore_poster_1966.jpg#/media/File:Jefferson_airplane_fillmore_poster_1966.jpg)
Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
Matrix
The Fillmore Auditorium was not the first rock venue in San Francisco. The Matrixhad opened six months earlier on August 13, 1965 showcasing the Jefferson Airplane, which singer/founder Marty Balin had put together as the club’s “house band.”
On October 16, 1965, the Family Dog had put on a dance and concert a the Longshoremen’s Hall with the Jefferson Airplane, the Charlatans, and the Great Society.
Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
Bill Graham
Bill Graham kicked off his 1967 Summer Series with an incredible lineup at the Fillmore. Headlining the show were Rock and Roll’s biggest new stars, the Jefferson Airplane whose album, Surrealistic Pillow, was climbing the American pop charts. Last on the bill behind Jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo was a relatively unknown guitar player named Jimi Hendrix. “Jimi first came to San Francisco right after Monterey Pop. …He opened and then Gabor Szabo and then the Airplane. That was the first night. Afterward, the Airplane asked him if they could open the show. Jimi took the town by storm.” Bill Graham (poster from Wolfgang’s Vault site)
Fillmore Auditorium San Francisco
Pinnacle
From the Fillmore site: The Fillmore represented the pinnacle of creative music making in the late 1960s. From December 10, 1965, when Bill Graham produced a San Francisco Mime troupe benefit (Jefferson Airplane with Great Society and Mystery Trend; the Warlocks, later the Grateful Dead, kicked off the show), until July 4, 1968, The Fillmore audiences experienced a 2 1/2 year musical and cultural Renaissance that produced some of the most innovative, exciting music ever to come out of San Francisco. The careers of the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Moby Grape, the Butterfield Blues Band, and countless others were launched from The Fillmore stage. The most significant musical talent of the day has appeared there: Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Cream, Howlin’ Wolf, Captain Beefheart, Muddy Waters, The Who – well, you get the picture. Or you’ve heard the stories. If you’re lucky, you were there.
In July, 1968, the Fillmore Auditorium morphed and moved to the Fillmore West, a west coast counterpart to Graham’s already-opened Fillmore East in New York City.
The site remained basically the same and has been a venue under different names at various times since. Today it is again the Fillmore.
Melanie Safka was born and raised in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York City.
She loved performing music from childhood and eventually, as so many others had, found herself in Greenwich Village and its folk scene.
She signed with Buddah Records and in 1968 released her first album, “Born to Be.” From it, she had the hit single Bobo’s Party. It was #1 on French charts.
Singer Songwriter Melanie Ann Safka
Her name (just Melanie, of course) came to prominence after her Woodstock Music and Art Fair’s performance. The event inspired her to write “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” because of the many lighter, matches, and candles the crowd there used during her nighttime set.
“(When I heard about Woodstock) I very naively, I said “Wow. That sounds nice: three days of peace, love and music.” What I pictured was families laid out on their blankets, and it being in a big pasture, and being very laid back. Maybe some arts and crafts and maybe some pottery, and I could get some beads and stuff. That’s how I pictured it.” (from http://popcultureaddict.com/interviews/melanie/)
Singer Songwriter Melanie Ann Safka
Melanie performing “Birthday of the Sun” at Woodstock. This video was taken from a laser disk of “Woodstock: The Lost Performances”, which is now out of publication. In the closing credits, Melanie is listed as “Melanie Schekeryk” (her married name).
Singer Songwriter Melanie Ann Safka
Even though Woodstock brought her a measure of fame, Melanie never became famous outside her large circle of loving fans. In 1976 she played at the Bottom Line in New York and New York Times music critic headline said: Melanie Is a Complete Delight at Bottom Line. The lead sentence stated that: Melanie is now 29 years old, and she’s been around since before Woodstock. She has her fans, but she is hardly a big star; for most rock enthusiasts. (NYT article)
Singer Songwriter Melanie Ann Safka
She released dozens of albums and compilations and singles.
Her site talks about her performances this way: “An Evening with Melanie [was] an unforgettable night of songs and stories from the incredible career of the artist who became known as “The Female Bob Dylan”. Accompanied by her son Beau-Jarred, a talented multi-instrumentalist and vocalist in his own right, the show [was] a musical journey from that momentous day in the summer of 1969, to the present.
Melanie and her son Beau-Jarred
Kept the Dream Flowing
In July 2023, Keep the Dream Flowing, the anything-Woostock-related podcast, issued it’s interview with Melanie.
The conversation includes…
how she had run away to California before finishing high school
how just before Woodstock, she was in England with her husband working on a soundtrack
how her Mom picked her up at the airport
how she didn’t have any official credentials at Woodstock
that she thought she’d go on after Richie Havens
that she had an out-of-body experience as she got on stage at Woodstock
a year later at the cancelled Powder Ridge festival, she was the only performer to show up and still perform.
Just before her death she had been in the studio working on a new record of cover songs, “Second Hand Smoke,” for the Cleopatra label; it would have been her 32nd album.
