The first five places I would visit if some incredibly generous genius dropped a time machine on my doorstep!
1.)
(All photos by the marvelous Elliott Landy, who captured the times so perfectly.)
2.) Woodstock, New York and the surrounding communities. The first photo is of the Band's legendary clubhouse, Big Pink, in West Saugerties. The second photo is the Band, minus Richard, playing outside of Richard and Garth's house above the Ashokan reservoir in Woodstock. The next is Bob, Sara, and Jesse Dylan on the porch of Bob's Byrdcliffe home in Woodstock. (By the way, the history of the Byrdcliffe art colony is quite fascinating. The first batch of many artists to take up in Woodstock.) The last is the Band playing ball outside of Levon and Rick's home in Bearsville. Woodstock was another true artist mecca. A rural town in upstate New York surrounded by the Catskill mountains, Woodstock has been attracting artists since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1902, the Byrdcliffe art colony was founded. They began teaching about ceramics, metal work, weaving, and started the first painting school in the area. Soon enough, philosophers, poets, and musicians started to arrive. Though all this sounds interesting, I would've liked to arrive quite a bit later. Preferably after Bob Dylan's infamous motorcycle accident, which brought the Band to Woodstock. the Band settled in Woodstock for a number of reasons: Bob wanted his friends around, they needed a place where nobody was going to tell them to stop playing music due to the volume, and Peter Yarrow, of Peter Paul and Mary, was working on a film up there that a few of them were a part of. I believe it was Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, who were working with Yarrow, that began house hunting. They found a fantasticly ugly pink house on Stoll Rd, with tons of land, and settled in, along with Garth Hudson. Levon Helm soon joined them. He had left them on the Dylan tour, due to the boos, and was in Arkansas at the time, after wandering a bit. (Mexico, Memphis..) Robbie Robertson took up with his new wife, Dominique, on the nearby Ricks Rd. Everyone knows what happened from here.. They hooked up with Dylan on the Basement Tapes, made the legendary Music from Big Pink album, etc. etc. Though by the time the Big Pink album was released, the Big Pink house was history. Garth and Richard got a house together above the reservoir on Spencer Rd, and Levon and Rick got a house in Bearsville. Robbie and Dominique were by then living on Glasco Turnpike. The Band's best music came from their time in Woodstock. Though they could certainly drink like men, they were still mere innocents. Then, in addition to be handsome, talented young bucks, they were rich, famous, handsome, talented young bucks.. A dangerous combination. They ended up with a little too much free time on their hands than necessary, and soon left the quietness of Woodstock for a faster life on the beaches of Southern California. Again, taking a cue from Bob Dylan. Sounds changed, and I don't think it was personally a good time for any party involved. Some never returned, at least not to live. That's all unimportant, because I would want to go when everything was swell and quaint. I would want to hangout at Big Pink, with Hamlet, the big dog they got from Dylan, and then perhaps go down the road and see Bob and Sara Dylan with all of their then-itty bitty children. And stay throughout all the beautiful season changes, while Big Pink was being created. I love the serenity, normalcy, and just the down-home vibes that Woodstock seems to have had. It seems while the rest of America was getting caught up in the madness, Woodstock went unaffected, and I think that's what
everyone who lived there was looking for at that moment. It seems Woodstock still has what attracted everyone there in the first place, and still attracts the most interesting people.
3.) France. Two completely different eras, two completely different locations. The only thing they have in common is that they are both in France. The first photo is of
La Closerie des Lilas, a cafe Ernest Hemingway and his 1920's cohorts frequented, including Fitzgerald.
Though, this photo dates back to 1909. Of all the the places Hemingway talked about in
"A Moveable Feast
", this is the place that stuck with me. This time and the people in it are now known as the "Lost Generation", but at the time they were nothing but incredibly talented, incredibly starving artists of sorts looking for their big break. On September 3, 1921, Ernest Hemingway married his first wife, the adorable Hadley Richardson. They soon moved from cramped apartment to cramped apartment in Chicago, and Hadley hated it. So on the advice of Sherwood Anderson, they relocated to Paris, France. Hemingway soon became acquainted with Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, who became his mentors. (In "A Moveable Feast", Hemingway tells a hilarious story of teaching Ezra Pound to box.) Hemingway wrote of also frequenting the intriguing Sylvia Beach's bookshop, Shakespeare and Co. He also wrote about once seeing Aleister Crowley walk by him while he was with Ford Maddox Ford. Ford thought he had "cut" Hilaire Belloc. After Ford left, Hemingway asked a friend if it was indeed Belloc, but is told it was actually Crowley. I believe he is then called the "wickedest man of all"
. While in Paris, Hemingway had been working as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star. He and Hadley briefly returned to Toronto, and during this time Hadley gave birth to John "Jack" Hadley Nicanor Hemingway, affectionately called Bumby. During this time, he had a falling out with his editor and resigned. Though, this went ignored or they patched things up because Hemingway continued to write for the Star through 1924. He published "In Our Time", and in April 1925, just two weeks after "the Great Gatsby" had been published, he met for the first time F. Scott Fitzgerald at the Dingo Bar. They were close friends and drinking buddies. Scott would tell Hemingway about his woes at home with his wife, Zelda. They helped each other with their writing (Hemingway tried to keep alcohol away from Scott), and Scott tried to do as much as he could to get Hemingway's work to the public. Hemingway became inspired in France, and wrote his first novel "the Sun Also Rises", which is supposedly semi-autobiographical. He wrote parts of "the Sun Also Rises" at
La Closerie des Lilas. He and Hadley divorced in 1927 and he married Pauline Pfeiffer, a Roman Catholic fashion reporter from Arkansas. They soon moved to Key West, and Hemingway's time as a struggling writer in Paris came to a close. Quite a few of these sites still remain, and
La Closerie Des Lilas became a favorite to all sorts. (Picasso, Sartre, Juliette Greco, Mick Jagger, Lauren Bacall, Johnny Depp, Tim Burton) It still remains.
As for the second photo, that would be Keith Richards, Anita Pallenberg, and their tot Marlon at Villa Nellcote, located in the South of France, in the summer of 1971. In the spring of 1971, the Stones knew they had to leave England or the British government would expect them to pay a large amount of taxes.
After much consideration, the Stones settled in France at Villefranche-sur-Mer. Keith rented a mansion, Villa Nellcote. Nellcote is a 19th century sixteen-room mansion right off the water. Nellcote served as the headquarters of the local Gestapo while the Nazis occupied France in the early 1940's, with the vents decorated with swastikas. In mid-June 1971 , the Stones began recording their masterpiece, Exile on Main St. According to Anita Pallenberg, they lost the keys so it was literally an open house. William S. Burroughs, Gram Parsons, and Terry Southern (who had also been a Woodstock resident) were a few of the many interesting people running around Nellcote. It is a mystery as to whether Gram Parsons appears on the album or not. Keith says it's a possibility, he may be buried in some track, perhaps "Sweet Virginia".
The
police were very interesting in busting Nellcote, because they were aware of the Stones history. Not to mention, Keith was cooking up a mean heroin addiction at this point. Burroughs, Parsons, and Southern were all already full blown junkies. Mick Jagger was busy with his new wife, Nicaraguan beauty Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías.
Bill Wyman wasn't a fan of the happenings at Nellcote, and
is only featured on eight of eighteen tracks. At this time, the Stones were split into distinctive two camps. One that enjoyed excessive drug use: Keith, Mick Taylor, producer Jimmy Miller, saxophonist Bobby Keyes, and engineer Andy Johns. And the others who were hardly interested: Bill, Mick, and Charlie. Jagger also had his only child with Bianca, Jade, during the recording of the album. As Keith slipped farther into addiction, Mick gained more control which shows on the albums that followed Exile. Though their time in France was short (they eventually finished the album in LA), Anita Pallenberg refers to it as one of her fondest memories with the Stones, and I like to think of it that way. Any photos you may find of Keith, Anita, and Marlon acting like a normal family were probably taken at Nellcote. Great location, wonderful music, and I'm sure plenty of laughs. Nellcote is still around, though Keith never returned.
4.) Laurel Canyon in the 60's and 70's. The above photos: Joni, David, and Eric in the backyard of Mama Cass. Zappa Cabin. Joni in the window of "Our House". I would say the Laurel Canyon bug bit me after I read the very lovely, very telling book by Michael Walker, aptly titled "Laurel Canyon". Or perhaps any book detailing the era. It seems as though you could simply talk a stroll down the road and see David Crosby zooming by in his fast car, cape trailing behind him. Or just about any big LA rock star, if you waited around the Canyon Store long enough. (Random fact: After I had my kidney stone, roughly three years ago, I first peed at the Canyon Store!) I love Graham Nash singing about his life being absolutely perfect with Joni Mitchell (and two cats!) for just a moment. I love the overall ethereal, everybody-loves-everybody perfection that Laurel Canyon embodied and still embodies. I love the image of Chris Hillman, and perhaps Michael Clarke, speeding down the road in their Porsches to fire David Crosby from the Byrds. I love that on any given night, Joni Mitchell or Crosby Stills and Nash could randomly show up in someone's living room and give an impromptu performance. I love that bands like Crosby Stills and Nash could form in one of those living rooms! I love the magic that was the Zappa cabin, and the unity felt there. I love that people don't really live in Laurel Canyon unless they love these things too, and are artistic in some way. I love the mystique of the Mary Astor house, where she would have secret trysts with notable studio executives and actors. I love that the Stones later stayed there, and that Marilyn Manson (who I loathe) lived there. I love that I literally have an image in my head of a perfect California day and just walking along the shady streets, and enjoying the music coming from every house. I love that every year the Laurel Canyon residents gather to take a photo in front of the Canyon Store.
5.) Hollywood, specifically in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. I don't have nearly as much interest in this time period as the ones mentioned above, but I would just love to see how different Hollywood was. I would also love to see all of the wonderful actors of the time, that are all mostly dead now. Also, to see the ins and outs of the studio system would be interesting. Stephen Bogart, pictured above with parents Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, spoke of life in Holmby Hills while he was a child, in his book In Search of My Father. Hanging out with Judy Garland's children who were neighbors, having Spencer Tracy constantly looming around the house (and later wishing he got to know him), and of course life with Bogie and Bacall as parents. He wrote from a five year old's point of view, watching Hollywood try to cope with normalcy and trying to make fit homes for their ever-growing families.
It's also worth noting that Hollywood obviously had a booming music scene in the 60's and 70's, and though I would love to see the Strip lit up in 1968, I would much prefer to see all the above mentioned.
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