Nothing says Woodstock weekend quite like breaking an axle on the way to Yasgur’s Farm.
That was how my Saturday started.
I was headed to Bethel with the KZE Kamper loaded with enough broadcast and recording gear to make turning around not much of an option when the axle decided it had other plans. Fortunately, this is where the music community tends to show what it is made of. Lee Mazzola and Tim Craig from Mazzstock jumped in and helped get me back up and running.
This was a shining example of the old GD mantra.. but instead of “strangers helping strangers,” it became “festivals helping festivals. “Jeryl needs you over there, I’m gonna need you next weekend. So get to it,” was the last thing I heard from Lee as I was getting ready to finally hit the road.
A few hours later, the Kamper was sitting at Yasgur Road, I had audio running, the broadcast was on the air and Saturday was underway.
Broadcasting Live From Yasgur Road
I was flying the Kamper solo for this one, recording the performances and broadcasting live on KZE, so most of my view of the festival came from behind the console, through a pair of headphones and during the occasional few minutes I could get outside.
But you can learn a lot about a festival by listening to it that way.
And Saturday sounded great.
Kung Fu Leads a Strong Saturday Lineup
Kung Fu was one of the obvious highlights. Their history on the property goes back through different versions of the band, including the Psychedelic Breakfast and The Breakfast years, so having them back to headline Saturday of Yasgur Road’s 30th anniversary felt appropriate.
They also played like they belonged there.
Kung Fu can get ridiculously deep into the musicianship without forgetting that a field full of people would also like to dance. There is precision underneath everything they do, but it never feels sterile. By the time their set really got moving, you could hear the audience responding from inside the Kamper.
The Collaborations Are What Make Yasgur Road Special
Jonny G’s Yasgur Road All Stars were another highlight for me. Jonny Grusauskas from lespecial is exactly the kind of musician who works in this environment. Put good players together, give them some room and see where it goes. The All Stars brought together musicians connected to lespecial, Lotus, Kung Fu, Deep Banana Blackout, ShwizZ and Residual Groove, among others.
Rob Glassman’s Music Never Stopped with Deep Banana Blackout alum Jen Durkin and Beau Sasser added another layer to Saturday. Jen remains one of those performers who can completely change the temperature of a stage. If you spent any time around the Northeast funk and jam scene when Deep Banana Blackout was tearing through clubs and festivals, you already know.
That whole portion of Saturday had what I like about these festivals: musicians reacting to musicians in real time instead of reproducing the same 75-minute show they played the night before.
That’s the stuff I want to record.
And it was consistent with what was happening all over the property. Saturday had Kung Fu, Peak, Hannah’s Field, Gypsy Funk Squad, Derek Woods Band, Jen Durkin, Beau Sasser, Jonny G, Spunday Mourning and a bunch of other players moving through the day. The photos, clips and chatter coming out of Saturday generally showed the same thing I was hearing from the truck: people dancing, musicians mixing it up and a crowd that seemed interested in the whole weekend rather than simply waiting for one headliner.
More Than a Festival Lineup
But Yasgur Road Reunion has never really been about putting a bunch of names on a poster.
Jeryl Abramson Howard opens this property every August and, for a few days, this little piece of Bethel becomes its own strange village again. People camp. Bands bleed into other bands. Somebody is always carrying a guitar somewhere. People disappear into the woods and reappear at another stage. You run into somebody you haven’t seen since last summer.
Keeping the Spirit of Yasgur’s Farm Alive
The history underneath all of it is impossible to separate from the experience.
This is the former Yasgur homestead. When people who had been returning to Bethel for the Woodstock anniversary needed somewhere to gather in the 1990s, Roy Howard opened the property to them. Jeryl has continued that tradition of welcoming people back.
And hovering over all of it is Max Yasgur.
Standing in front of the Woodstock crowd in 1969, Yasgur told them:
“You’ve proven something to the world.”
He was talking about hundreds of thousands of people managing to gather for music despite all of the logistical chaos surrounding them.
Fifty-seven years later, obviously nobody is pretending that a few hundred people on Yasgur Road is Woodstock. It shouldn’t be. You can’t recreate Woodstock.
What you can preserve is some of the idea behind it and generate a new experience based on the rich cultural accident that was born at that same location decades ago.
Woodstock’s Continuing Impact on Sullivan County
There is also a very practical side to keeping this tradition alive. Every August, people come back to Sullivan County because of Woodstock. They buy gas. They eat breakfast. They stop at bars and restaurants. They stay in hotels, motels and campgrounds. They buy ice, coffee, groceries and whatever piece of camping equipment they forgot to bring.
For businesses around Bethel, White Lake and the rest of Sullivan County, the Woodstock anniversary isn’t simply history. It continues to be part of the summer economy. Yasgur Road Reunion helps keep people making that trip and those visitors keep those businesses humming.
Taking Radio Back to the Music
For me, Saturday also wound up being a pretty good reminder of why I built the KZE Kamper in the first place. Radio has spent the last couple of decades finding increasingly efficient ways not to leave the building. I would rather take the radio station to where the music actually is.
So on Saturday, August 15, KZE was sitting on Yasgur Road, recording the bands and broadcasting live from Bethel while another Woodstock weekend rolled through Sullivan County. One guy in an old camper recording some great local bands, and a broken axle before breakfast.
As I often say to my wife, owning a radio station is a pretty fun midlife crisis.
MendoWerks would love to hear from you! Submit your music now for a review.
About Author
