Down in the Basement at Big Pink

So, this past weekend I went up to Woodstock and caught a show in the basement at Big Pink.  Let me repeat that:  I HUNG OUT IN THE BASEMENT OF BIG PINK!  There, that’s better.

The occassion was the launch of a new series of intimate concerts being filmed there, and the pilot episode featured Dawes, who were awesome.

I had been to Big Pink once before.  My wife surprised me by taking me there for my birthday about ten years ago.  This was in the pre-GPS days and we made a couple wrong turns before finding the place (it’s on a gravel road, off a backroad etc.etc.).  But once you round the bend of the driveway, there it is, looking pretty much the same as it does in this ca. 1968 photo.

But, seriously, I never thought I would set foot inside the basement!  There are cool/odd artifacts everywhere.  Those piano guts hanging from the ceiling, did they once live inside a piano that Richard Manuel played?  Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith commented that his band probably wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for that basement.  I’m sure a lot of his peers feel that way too.