Category Archives: Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Birthdays, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Percussionist Gerardo Jerry Velez

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Percussionist Gerardo Jerry Velez

Happy birthday!

born August 15, 1947

Percussionist Gerardo Jerry Velez

Gerardo “Jerry” Velez was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in the Bronx, and played with Jimi Hendrix’s Gypsy Sun and Rainbows at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair three days after he turned twenty-two.

Not bad.

Percussionist Gerardo Jerry Velez

Post Woodstock

From his site: “…Velez went on to perform with such luminaries as David Bowie, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Destiny’s Child, Stevie Nicks, Chaka Khan, Marc Anthony and countless others. Then he was poised for greatness as an original member of the Best Selling Contemporary Jazz Groups of all time Spyro Gyra, garnering multiple Gold and Platinum recording awards, also best new group of 1978, several number one hit songs, Billboard Magazine’s Jazz Band of the 80’s….and 14 Grammy Nominations.”

Percussionist Gerardo Jerry Velez

Outside playing

Also from his site: “…Velez’s event company Gerardo Velez Productions (GVP) has been producing hundreds of shows and events since 1981. Nationally and internationally creating events, gala’s, concerts, festivals for such clients as New York Stock Exchange, The Security Traders Association of New York, Bank of America, H.B.O., Comedy Central, and SAP Software. Time Warner, Donna Karan, Chopard Jewelry, Mirimax Films, and Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino just to mention a few.

“His range in Music continues as a musical supervisor and director for Conde Nast Travelers Awards, United Way’s 25th. Anniversary , National Football League Properties working with Rap, Rand B, and country superstars…Buster Rhymes , Destiny’s Child, Terry Bradshaw, Tim McGraw , Jerry Rice, 98 Degrees, Isaac Hayes, each song coupled an athlete with a musician.”

Many happy returns…

Gerardo Jerry Velez

Here’s a great and thorough montage of Velez from YouTube…

Many happy returns, Jerry. Thanks you for all your music, especially that damp Bethel Monday morning a few days after that 22nd birthday.

Percussionist Gerardo Jerry Velez
Birthdays, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

David Van Cortland Crosby

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David Van Cortland Crosby

August 14, 1941 – January 18, 2023

Wherever one stands regarding David Crosby, we cannot deny that he was, at the least,  in the right places at the right times.

He was born in Los Angeles and like so many artistically-inclined young people, found the conventional educational system discomforting. He enjoyed and participated in art programs offered by schools, but the traditional “Three Rs” not so much.

He graduated from high school via correspondence and eventually found his way to Greenwich Village at the same time that that young man Bob Dylan was there.

As his musical abilities grew, particularly regarding vocal harmonies, he went back west and became part of what would become the Byrds with Jim (later Roger) McGuinn and Gene Clark. They called themselves the Jet Set.

David Van Cortland Crosby

Mr Tambourine Man

Most are aware that their 1965 cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man” put the Jet Set, now the Byrds, on the musical map. The Byrd’s sound we first think of is McGuinn’s 12-string guitar, but the Crosby-influenced harmonies stand strong beside it.

Artistic differences led to an erosion of Crosby’s and other band members’ cohesion. Crosby, in particular, became more vocally political. Not unusual at the time, of course.

In mid-1967 Crosby and the Byrds separated.

David Van Cortland Crosby

Stephen Stills

Crosby and then Buffalo Springfield’s Stephen Stills had become friends and when Springfield broke up, the two hung out more together. Together with ex-Hollies Graham Nash, the three formed the now legendary Crosby, Stills and Nash (no Oxford comma).

While “it was only there second gig, man” at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, that appearance, their critically acclaimed first album, and the addition of Neil Young combined to again put Crosby in the middle of a musically successful maelstrom.

C, S, N (and sometimes Y) continued as a solid unit into the early 1970s with each of them doing solo work as well.

Once again artistic differences let to a breakup that have occurred regularly since.

David Van Cortland Crosby

David Crosby

David Crosby and Graham Nash have worked together. Crosby continued solo work. Formed and disbanded CPR or Crosby, Pevar & Raymond with session guitarist Jeff Pevar, and pianist James Raymond, Crosby’s son.

In April, Graham Nash and Crosby had a falling out. Among his many comments, Nash reportedly said, ““I don’t like David Crosby right now. He’s been awful for me the last two years, just fucking awful…. I’ve been there and saved his fucking ass for 45 years, and he treated me like shit. You can’t do that to me. You can do it for a day or so, until I think you’re going to come around. When it goes on longer, and I keep getting nasty emails from him, I’m done. Fuck you. David has ripped the heart out of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.”

Critical comments by Crosby regarding Neil Young’s wife Daryl Hannah also led to a Crosby-Young rift, though Crosby did apologize.

In 2014, Crosby released his first solo album in 21 years, “Croz,” which debuted in the Billboard Top 40. It ushered in one of the most prolific periods in his career, in which he released five solo albums, the last, “For Free,” in 2021.

He is one of the columns in the 1960s Pantheon of counter cultural music,

Crosby is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a Byrd and a member of C, S, N and Y.

Crosby died on January 18, 2023 after a long illness [NYT obituary]

David Van Cortland Crosby
Birthdays, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Sha Na Na Scott Powell

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Sha Na Na Scott Powell

  • Helped found Sha Na Na
  • Woodstock alum
  • TV star
  • MD

Sha Na Na Scott Powell

Sha Na Na Scott Powell

Scott Powell

Scott Powell was born in Dallas, Texas, on August 13, 1948.

Yes I know. Scott Powell is not a household name. Unless, of course, you are in his house.

Sha Na Na was not a household name at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair either, but that Sunday morning they came out and performed for the many thousands of fans who had stuck it out and awaited Hendrix.

From his site: “ He performed with the group at the Woodstock Festival, Fillmore East and West, in Europe and Japan, on the syndicated television series, Sha Na Na, and in the movies.”

Movies!

  • 1970 – Woodstock – as himself with Sha Na Na
  • 1972 – Dynamite Chicken – as himself with Sha Na Na
  • 1978 – Grease – with Sha Na Na as Johnny Casino and The Gamblers
  • 1980 – Caddyshack – Gatsby
  • 1994 – Woodstock Diary – as himself with Sha Na Na
  • 2003 – Festival Express – as himself with Sha Na Na

He left the band in 1980 and  returned to Columbia to pursue a career in medicine.

To say that that’s not where many of the Woodstock performers went is an understatement, of course.

Sha Na Na Scott Powell

Dr Powell

  • Dr. Powell attended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  • He interned at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.
  • His residency was in Orthopedics at Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York City.
  • He completed his Fellowship in Sports Medicine at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in Los Angeles.
  • Dr. Powell is Board Certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery.

Still musically involved

Again from his site: Dr. Powell has partnered with MusiCares, the charity arm of the Grammys, to bring free medical care to musicians who cannot afford insurance, at the Pierre Cossette Center at Stetson Powell Orthopedics….  Dr. Powell has been elected to the Board of Directors of MusiCares and serves as Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee.

Sha Na Na Scott Powell