Small Town Talk

"Small Town Talk is the story of what happened after Sally and Albert Grossman came to Woodstock." Barney Hoskyns."Every summer I get this longing in my bones to be back in Woodstock." Maria Muldaur."Woodstock is like a Venus flytrap. Whether you get stuck to it or not depends on whether your vibration is in harmony with it." Elliott Landy, photographer famous for his photographs of The Band in Woodstock.If you're tired of the same old observations, points of view, and/or reminiscences about Woodstock, you should read this book. The author, Barney Hoskyns, who wrote (among other things) the great book "Hotel California", has taken a different approach to his book on Woodstock, "the mountains of the mind." This isn't focused solely on the three day festival but instead on a sometimes more personal look (he lived there several years) at the area itself and the people drawn to it beginning (roughly) with the Woodstock Folk Festival in 1962, after briefly describing the "unspoiled landscape that for five thousand years had been home to Native Americans".Yes, included are a number of musicians we all know (Dylan, The Band, Paul Butterfield, etc.) who lived in the area, but also people who're intertwined with that area like Tim Hardin, Janis Joplin, singer Karen Dalton, Peter Yarrow (Peter Paul & Mary), fugitive/singer Bobby Charles (Guidry) whose self-titled album according to the author "may be the quintessential Woodstock album", who wrote "See You Later, Alligator" in the '50s, the Traum brothers, Van Morrison, Geoff and Maria Muldaur, producer John Simon, singer Jesse Winchester (his first great Bearsville album is close to a country sounding album by The Band), Jimi Hendrix, and others. On the jazz side there's German musician Karl Berger, Jack DeJohnette, Marilyn Crispell, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Dave Holland, and others all who lived in the area. On a side note there's a 2 CD set ("The Song Is You") recorded at the Woodstock Jazz Festival which includes DeJohnette, Braxton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and several other great musicians. Writers included Phillip Roth, Ed Sanders, and Allen Ginsberg.Dylan's manager/minder, Albert Grossman ("the Baron of Bearsville") is also included at length--his power during this period was undeniable--not only as a manager, but also as someone who oversaw a number of enterprises (studios, the Bearsville record label, local businesses) in the Woodstock area, and who ruled over people who came into his orbit with a tight fist and his discerning eye for a buck. Grossman's life and influence on various artists forms the major foundation for the book. He's at the core of how that entire area changed beginning in the sixties, for better and for worse depending on who you talk to, and in the book Hoskyns gives ample space for many opinions and observations from a number of people closely aligned to Grossman from both famous and not so famous musicians to waitresses, bartenders, and others who were there during those years.Hoskyns has also included people outside the limelight if you will--the artists, the schemers, dealers, and others who attached themselves (or tried) to anyone who looked to be making money, and who had to endure a sometimes rough life in the harsh winters. Through firsthand interviews with people who were there at the time Hoskyns puts together a picture of this small town which came to be so important to so many--and especially how both Grossman and Dylan changed the area after moving there. Included is a Prologue, a guide map of the area (complete with a numbered list of important places--"Todd Rungren's house", "Big Pink", "Paul Butterfield's house", "Levon Helm's barn", "Byrdcliffe Theater", etc.-- with corresponding numbers on the map), a list of what Hoskyns calls "25 Timeless Tracks", notes on the chapters, Bibliography, and an Index. Interspersed throughout the book are a number of small b&w photos and other ephemera that add depth to the story. There's also eight pages of glossy b&w photos, a few (like Dylan on a trampoline with his kids) that don't usually make it into other books (unless you've seen some of them in Landy's book, "The Band Photographs 1968-1969") we've all seen about Dylan/The Band/Woodstock. And since I mentioned Landy's book I have to say that if you're a deep fan of The Band during their Woodstock era, Landy has published some great photographs that give a deeper look and some insight into what that period was like when The Band lived in the area.Bottom line--if that period of music and the artists associated with the Woodstock area appeals to you, plus a focused look at how that area changed over the years, including some people who usually don't get the limelight, you should check this book out. When I first heard about this book I thought, "Uh-oh, another book on Woodstock". Well it is and it isn't. Hoskyns has taken a different approach and it's a refreshing change from the usual Woodstock/peace/love/tie-dye/mud/flowers stuff we've all read before. Not only is it about the area and the people, but he's tied in other notable events from the same period which gives more of a foundation and insight into the basic premise of what this book is about. This book can sit on the shelf next to other thoughtful books on the Woodstock era.And I have to mention another great book involving many musicians/artists from the same period, "The Smith Tapes: Interviews With Rock Stars & Icons 1969-1972", edited by Ezra Bookstein. These pieces were culled from the late Howard Smith's tapes, found after Smith's death. Smith's position as a writer for the Village Voice and his radio show gave him access to many people. This is another great book that deserves to be on your shelf if you're interested in that period of music. The selected pieces really bring those years back into focus for those who were around then, or give a good idea of what it was like for those who weren't.

Snowed in and kind of under the weather, I decided to re-read this Barney Hoskyns effort from about five years ago. I really liked it then and, as things turned out, it has held up really well. Curiosity reignited having recently read Sandra B. Tooze's terrific LEVON bio, I returned to Small Town Talk with fresh eyes and an open mind. Hoskyns knows how to tell a tale, and he does it especially well here, unleashing the story slowly, surely, and grippingly. He interweaves a series of vignettes that zero in on the likes of Bob Dylan, the members of The Band (yes, the infamous Robertson - Helm songwriting credit feud is touched upon, calmly, sanely & without prejudice), Janis, Jimi, an ever-grumpy Van the Man, and what feels like a cast of hundreds -- all of whom fall under / within the enormous shadow / reach of the late & legendary manager Albert Grossman. You get a fly-on-the-wall view of the scenes as they play out, sometimes learning more than you may want to know. The small town talk is that Woodstock was a whole lot more than the place that lent its name (unwillingly!) to the famous festival. Highly recommended.

Hoskyns successfully portrays the 'big fish in a small pond' nature of famous people who flocked there to get mellow and play farmer. The most interesting part is Hoskyn's plausible assertion that it was ground zero for the flannel shirt, pony tail, natural food, Americana music cultural wave that characterized the country at that time (and still does for some). Even more interesting, if not entirely original, is the argument that Bob Dylan's return to an acoustic sound and his life in the country created the template for that cultural shift.Also very deftly described is the gap, as in college towns, between locals and newcomers. The newcomers here being Dylan, the Band, Albert Grossman and all the moths drawn to their flame. The arc: new possibilities - vital new music scene - hangers on - the dominance of money - the debauchery of alcohol and cocaine - burnout, death and irrelevance - makes for a fascinating read, as does the examination of the toxicity produced by hip cliques such as those surrounding Grossman. Along the way are great stories and personal accounts by many of the major players.There are a few dry spots along the way: too much detail about certain locals, restaurants and tangential characters, awkward attempts to describe why Woodstock and environs are "magical," and way too much about Todd Rundgren whose career in no way contributes to the book's themes and premises.Certainly worth reading for the great stories about Dylan and Albert Grossman, and the sad decline of the Rick Dankos and Richard Manuels left in their wake.

I'm giving this four for the author, whose Waiting for the Sun I adore. BH writes well as ever, but his subjects just fails to interest beyond a certain point.Of Dylan we know enough already and the rest of them seem mainly a motley bunch of unappealing characters without the wherewithall to keep themselves from destroying their lives and their music. Endless 'Americana' (or, as Todd Snider puts it: "unsuccessful country music"), jamming, cocaine, boozing, infidelities, breakdowns, suicides. There isn't an underlying narrative after the big names have fled town beyond some vague connection with Woodstock or the repulsive Albert Grossmann.Could have benefited from a discography, although any of the music I've taken the trouble to search out sounds even more rambling and maudlin than the books later chapters. You actually end up wondering whether The Band should have included the word 'Bar' in their name.

I've enjoyed all the other Barney Hoskyns books I've read, and was pleased to be able to pick this up - by coincidence, just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the start of the Woodstock festival yesterday. Most people know that the festival site was at Bethel, some sixty miles from the eponymous town, but what might not be so obvious is the reason why the festival was given that name. This book explains everything, describing the history of the town as an early bolthole for artists from New York, followed by a dazzling array of musicians from the early 1960s: Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Paul Butterfield, Todd Rundgren, Dave Holland, Tim Hardin, Maria Muldaur, Graham Parker, and many others of whom I hadn't previously heard.The relationship between some of these characters and the idiosyncratic, controversial Albert Grossman (who was one of the earliest residents of the town) is explored in detail: Grossman was Dylan's manager in 1962-70, and wanted to build an empire around his other clients, who included Janis Joplin, Peter Paul & Mary, The Band and Rundgren. This had a physical manifestation in the town: he bought up houses, opened restaurants and built the Bearsville recording studio nearby. The highs and lows of his life (which was ended by a heart attack whilst flying to London on Concorde) are traced out adeptly, as is the way they reflected the fortunes of the town itself.Other strands include a brisk but complete account of the festival's genesis, a re-telling of the sad story of The Band (which Hoskyns treats at greater length in his excellent "Across The Great Divide") and some description of the musical evolution of Dylan and Morrison during this time. It's a stimulating, interesting read, which does a good job of evoking the spirit of the place and its heyday, and reminds us that all good things come to an end.

un libro muy interesante.

El libro está en un estado excelente ya que procede de una biblioteca estatal y eso me encanta. He empezado a leerlo y me ha cautivado al instante porque capta un período de la historia norteamericana que siempre me ha interesado. Contiene datos, fotografías y bibliografía útil para mis compras posteriores y está magníficamente escrito. Lo recomiendo a todos aquellos que, como yo, sientan que hubieran deseado estar allí, en ese instante luminoso en que el mundo cambió, para algunos a mejor y para otros a algo completamente desconocido.

Fascinating account of a place in a particular time. Prompt delivery