Tag Archives: Woodstock Birthdays

Birthdays, Music et al, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Harvey Snake Mandel

1 Comment

Harvey Snake Mandel

Blues guitarist
Woodstock alum
Happy birthday to you.
March 11, 1945

Harvey Snake Mandel

Harvey Mandel’s participation at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was accidental.  Playing at the Fillmore West, Canned Heat’s guitarist Henry Vestine suddenly left the group. Canned Heat asked Mandel  to sit in for one half and Mike Bloomfield the other half (not bad replacements!).

Afterwards, the Heat offered Mandel the guitar spot. He accepted and before he knew it he was on his was on his way to Bethel, NY.

Can’t see him a whole lot, but here’s a piece of the Snake from Woodstock.

Harvey Snake Mandel

Detroit

Harvey Mandel was born in Detroit, raised in Chicago, and in 1966 played on his first album, Charlie Musselwhite‘s  Stand Back! Here Comes Charley Musselwhite’s Southside Band.

He moved to San Francisco and began sitting in at the Matrix. His abilities were immediately noticed and in 1968 he released his first album, Christo Redentor, which contained his classic “Wade In the Water” (written by James W. Alexander & Sam Cooke).

Harvey Snake Mandel

John Mayall

Later Mandel joined John Mayall‘s band and in 1972. He helped  formed the band Pure Food and Drug Act, which released one album, Choice Cuts.

Don “Sugarcane” Harris was in the group as well.

He continued to release solo albums and in 2009 he  reunited with Canned Heat’s Larry Taylor and  Fito de la Parra to perform certain shows on the Canned Heat tour.

As the bio at his site concludes, “Harvey Mandel, “The King Of Sustain”, has been cited as a major influence by many of today’s music superstars. The critics call him “an unsung hero,” “a hugely influential but almost forgotten giant of instrumental rock” and “the best known unknown in pop guitar.” As roots music has gained prominence through the 90’s, purists such as Mandel have had the opportunity to forge a path of musical integrity and expose new audiences to the original Harvey Mandel sound!”

Here’s another, the full, version of “Wade in the Water” that you heard at the top of this entry.  It is from Lucille’s Restaurant’ on April 17, 2013.

 

In December 2015, Rolling Stone magazine released its list of the top 100 guitarists. Mandel’s name was notably absent.

“It’s such B.S.,” he said, adding that “it’s kind of irritating” to see names on the list of players “that really suck.”

“I don’t claim to be No. 1 in the world, but I’m definitely in the top 30 of all time,” Mandel said. “I was doing this stuff before these guys knew what was going on.”

In March 2017, Mandel was a guest on the NPR show World Cafe with David Dye.  Give the show a listen.

In 2019 he played in a show of with with the Unauthorized Rolling Stones.  The reason for that band? When Mick Taylor quit the Stones,  Mandel figured he’d be a good enough replacement. After all, he’d participated on their 1976 Black and Blue LP.  Listen to him on “Hot Stuff.”

However, Ronnie Wood, an old friend of the Stones’ Keith Richards, snagged the job and has it still.

Looking back Mandel say, “I got aced by a C-minus guitar player.”

Health

In 2011 he was diagnosed with nose cancer. He needed around 35 surgeries to pull him out of it.

At the time he said: “I could go a year and not play and get up and play good,” he said. “It’s just like being an athlete. But I wouldn’t be in shape. My fingers wouldn’t be as limber. I have to play a little bit every day.”

He added about drug use: “I’m still here. I don’t drink or sniff coke. I have been a weed smoker for 55 years. That’s why I’m still here and in good shape.”

In a 2019 interview, Mandel said “My health is pretty good at the moment,” Mandel said. “I’ve had an eye problem, but nothing major. The cancer is totally in remission” but it did return by 2021.

A July 2022 Facebook post read:  Harvey’s MRI …showed improvements, that the cancer is under control, and the infection that nearly killed him, is gone. So today his PICC will be removed from his chest and he can now start nasal reconstruction. Nasal reconstruction is a very complex surgery performed by an otolaryngologist in conjunction with a plastic surgeon. Recovery from nasal reconstruction, involving complex procedures and multiple surgeries, may take several months.

Unfortunately, there is more that Harvey must endure. The chemo and radiation he needed to kick the cancer ruined his teeth, so he also needs dental implants and a number of dental surgeries. And Harvey also needs new glasses and has an appointment with his optometrist Friday.
With all this medical mess, Harvey has an upbeat attitude. And he has a new album coming out in about a month, something Harvey is looking forward to! He is totally blown away from all the support he’s received and hopes it will continue until he reaches his goal.

 

Mandel had to go nearly three years without performing because of his health, but he said it wouldn’t take long to dust off the rust.

2023 Update

From his FB page: In our last Harvey update 8/2102023 I mentioned that Harvey is working on a new song chronicling his nearly fatal health issues and fighting back from the jaws of death on multiple occasions. Harvey’s long-time producer and former bass player Timm Martin, is tracking bass and drums this weekend in a studio in Chicago. The Snake, well known for his virtuoso instrumental tracks is going to have vocals on this song where the lyrics will be reflective of his struggles fighting a disease that has touched almost everyone’s lives in one way or another. Harvey will be finishing the tracks in his home studio and will be the first recording he has done in two years.

Given all the medical expenses Harvey is still incurring, and still paying back, he’s hardly in position to finance the production. We figured we’d need a budget of about $3,300 and hope that you can help us raise the cash using our “Help Harvey Mandel Kick Cancer GoFundMe page.
Here’s a list of what we need:
All in Producer (Production/Sound Engineering/Mixing); Songwriter; Vocalist; Session Musicians; Studio Time and Engineer for overdubs, Mastering; a limited run CD pressing (250 CDs pressed with two pocket eco packaging); Album art design; and Digital distribution.
Harvey is hoping this song will be the start of a new record – his comeback recording. He’s told me he has most of it in his head. He’s had a few years to dream it up, and now he can actually start work and get back to doing what he loves most: playing guitar.
Is it okay to increase our GoFundMe goal, adding the $3,300 to make the new goal $38,300. Reply here and let me know, it’ll be good to hear from you!
Birthdays, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Guitarist Lawrence Larry Lee

1 Comment

Guitarist Lawrence Larry Lee

Remembering and appreciating

Larry Lee

March 7, 1943 — October 30,  2007
Friend of Jimi Hendrix
Vietnam Vet
Woodstock alum
Guitarist Lawrence Larry H Lee
Jimi Hendrix and Larry Lee at Woodstock Music and Art Fair
Guitarist Lawrence Larry Lee

Just in time

Some Woodstock Music and Art Fair performers got there by the skin of their teeth.

Lawrence H. Lee Jr. was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He met Jimi Hendrix in 1963 and became friends.  And like many musician friends, they found themselves learning from each other and helping find gigs for each other.

By 1969, Jimi Hendrix was going in a new direction and along with bringing in new musicians, he brought in a new friend.

Guitarist Lawrence Larry Lee

Larry Lee

The Jimi Hendrix Experience had dissolved by early August 1969 and Jimi called some friends to join his new band. Lee was one of those old friends. Gypsy Sun and Rainbows was the name of the new band.

At Woodstock, Jimi, of course, was THE main attraction closing the three-day event after four days. Interestingly, Lee played lead and sang on a two songs: Mastermind and Gypsy Women/Aware of Love with Jimi in the background. A cut from Mastermind is heard during this blog entry.

Gypsy Sun and Rainbows eventually became the Band of Gypsys and Lee was not part of that trio.

Larry Lee went on to play as part of Al Green’s touring band. According to Wikipedia, Lee wrote “Judy,” one of Green’s hits, but according to the All Music site, Green wrote it.

Such are the limitations of even the internet.

Lee playing a solo with a little help from his friend Al Green during a Green concert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IY64HT4Ivw

Guitarist Lawrence Larry Lee

Bethel Woods

The downstairs hallway at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has a chronological listing of each group that played at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair as well as a brief bio of those performers. For Larry Lee, the Museum displayed the following:

Guitarist Larry Lee
bio from exhibit at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Lee died from stomach cancer in his hometown of Memphis on October 30, 2007.

Birthdays, Music et al, Music of the 60s, Peace Love Art and Activism, Today in history, Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Edward Chip Monck

3 Comments

Edward Chip Monck

Celebrating his birthday, March 5, 1939
Edward Chip Monck
Chip Monck (from chipmonck.com)

The above audio clip is from an interview with Chip Monck in 2009  on the 40th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival. Glenn A Baker interviewed Monck as part of the Ovation Channel show ‘Monday Night Legends’

The chipmonck.com site starts with these questions:

  1. Have you heard of Woodstock?
  2. Monterey Pop?
  3. The Rolling Stones Tour?
  4. Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals?
  5. The Concert for Bangladesh?

And then answers those questions with this simple answer:

He staged them all
Edward Chip Monck

Chip Monck

Edward Herbert Beresford “Chip” Monck was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts. He became a lighting and staging designer, but as the above references suggest, he did those things for some of the most iconic musical events of the 20th century.

When he was 20, Monck began working at the Greenwich Village nightclub The Village Gate.  While at the gate, his young friend Bobby Dylan worked in Monck’s basement apartment. Reputedly, Dylan wrote “A Hard Rain’s a’Gonna Fall” and “The Ballad of Hollis Brown” there. 

Monck recalls about Dylan,  “He spied the IBM Selectric [typewriter]. He typed while I worked at the Gate. That gave him like six hours, he’d just drift in, I gave him a key and he’d sit down and type and then I’d come back in and he’d go, or we’d go and have a drink or something. We really never spoke much.”

Edward Chip Monck

Festivals

While still working at the Village Gate, Monck also began working with the  Newport Folk Festival, and  the Newport Jazz Festival.

If those credentials aren’t enough, in 1967 he lit the Monterey International Pop Festival where Jimi Hendrix’s American coming out party occurred.

He also worked with Bill Graham in renovating Graham’s Fillmore theaters.

Edward Chip Monck

Woodstock Music and Art Fair

Woodstock Ventures hired Monck to do the lighting at their Fair. The last minute change of venue from Wallkill, NY to Bethel, NY forced Monck to eliminate much of his planned lighting. Spotlights became the primary source.

But to those who attended the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Chip Monck’s voice along with John Morris’s became the reassuring threads that connected each band. Both men took turns not just introducing performers, but giving advice, recommending choices, and explaining what was going on at a time when social media didn’t exist as a term.

Perhaps the most famous quote of that weekend was Monck’s: ““The warning that I’ve received, you might take it with however many grains of salt you wish, that the brown acid that is circulating around is not specifically too good. It is suggested that you stay away from that. But it’s your own trip, be my guest. But please be advised that there’s a warning, okay?”

Edward Chip Monck

A LOT more after Woodstock

For years he helped light Rolling Stone tours and he received Tony nominations in lighting for The Rocky Horror Show and Bette Midler’s Divine Madness.

Edward Herbert Beresford Chip Monck
Playbill

He was always busy working many major venues. In 1989 he helped set up Pope John Paul’s papal mass at L.A.’s Dodger Stadium.

In the early 90s, Monck moved to Australia, his wife’s home country, where he continued in the lighting and design business. (Monck’s wife died in 2002)

Edward Chip Monck

Honors

He continues to live Melbourne, his focus mainly on corporate and retail work. In 2003, he received the  Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award. The award recognizes pioneering, influential professionals and their contributions, honoring both individuals and companies. It is the Oscar of the live event industry.Here is the video that introduced that presentation.

Edward Chip Monck