In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey

Woodstock

84 FINDING MY OWN VOICE WOODSTOCK With the book completed and turned in, Sheila and I packed up and headed for Woodstock. I had been in touch with Albert Grossman off and on. He had suggested that, since The Band was to be involved in the studio, I should go out on the road with them a couple of times to see if we would “get along.” I had no doubt that we would, so I readily agreed.IdroveuptoKingston,NewYork,oneweekendandmetthemat FIGURE 9. Bossmen book cover. Photograph courtesy of JRP Books. 85 Woodstock theairportwhereweboardedasmall,charteredplanetoflytotheirfirst gig that weekend. After the concerts, I’d hang out with Levon Helm and Rick Danko and play country and bluegrass songs. So right away we got on great. Robbie Robertson seemed to be more involved in the studio development, so each time we got together I’d ask about it and try to get a picture of how it was coming along. All he’d ever say was, “It’s gonna be great, really great.” Aftermovingthreetimesinoneyear,SheilaandIwerereadytosettle down.WefoundacottageonasideroadafewmilesoutoftowninLake Hill. It was a sweet little place at the base of a small mountain, with a stream and meadow across the road. After we arrived at the house and unpackedeverything,ItoldSheilaIwasgoingtotakealookatthestudio. I’d never been able to see it because the road wasn’t ploughed whenever I went up there, so all I knew was that “it’s gonna be great.” As I drove up the dirt road leading to the studio I ran into Albert and Sally taking a walk up the hill, so I stopped and we walked up together. Through the trees,whichwerejuststartingtobudout,Icouldseethisenormouscinder block shell. The walls were about twenty feet high. The wall facing us was probably eighty feet long. It was huge. I couldn’t help but notice that there was no roof on it! Albert turned to me and asked, “What do you think?” I replied, “Well, it’s big. It’s really big.” That was about all I could say. There was no point in asking, “When do we start recording?” Wewanderedaroundasheshowedmewherethingswouldbe.There were going to be two studios in the building—a smaller “B” studio and a large“A”studio,whichwasgoingtobeasbigasabasketballcourt.After a while, when we were walking back to my car, he said, “Have you got a minute?” (A phrase I came to know well, since it always meant that he was going to show me something that entailed work.) I said, “Sure.” He said,“Comedownwithmetothisotherplace.Iwanttoshowyousomething .” We drove down to the village of Bearsville, which consisted of a post office and small grocery at a crossroads. There were a few houses there as well. He took me into one of the houses and said that he was going to turn it into a restaurant. He needed a set of floor plans of the building right away for the liquor board so he could apply for a liquor license.CouldIdothat?Albertdidn’tknowthatmydadwasintheconstructionbusinessandthatI ’dworkedacoupleofsummersformyUncle 86 FINDING MY OWN VOICE Jim as a draftsman. So I told him I could do that and asked him when he needed it. “Right away.” When I got home, Sheila said, “Well, how is it?” I said, “I don’t know. The place isn’t ready to go at all,” and then told her about my first task of drawing up plans for the restaurant to be. But I was there to work, and I was going to be paid a weekly salary, so I just plunged in. I measured up the house, drew the floor plan, and brought it up to Albert at his house. He was happy to get it. While I was there I met this great big giant of a man, Paul Cypert, who was running the construction operation. It was quickly established that I would be there to help Paul get whatever he needed. Sally had been writing the checks for the workers and supplies, so that was turned over to me as well. There again, I was the man for the job, since I had done payroll and the books for the Club 47. My past skills,totallyunknowntoAlbert,werecominginhandy.Asheoftendid, Albert had got lucky. PaulCypertandIhititoffrightaway.Heremindedmeofthebestmen my father had worked with in his construction career. Paul was a master carpenter. He had come to Albert’s attention while building a spiral staircase for The Band’s producer John Simon. The risers were fitted in a spiral around a central 12" × 12" vertical beam...