The East End
Long Island's rock history leaves no community unrecognized. In Montauk, 118 miles from the East River, there is a small village green that The Rolling Stones once used as a bandstand. The boys felt the need to play after too many hedonistic days at Andy Warhol's cliff estate. The Memory Motel (where rooms are still tough to get in-season) in the heart of town became their clubhouse. And so The Stones played on the green one summer afternoon until the crowd got larger than the local constabulary cared to control.
It was in Montauk, that on August 30, 1990, Paul Simon and Billy Joel performed at a benefit concert for 6,000 to save the lighthouse that George Washington commissioned. "That's what this place, Long Island, is all about," noted Suffolk County Executive Patrick Halpin. One week after the Montauk event, Billy Joel performed two benefit performances at Jones Beach Theater for the embattled shellfish baymen of Long Island. At these shows, Paul Simon made guest appearances. Needless to say, Paul Simon and Billy Joel are mighty popular homeboys. Simon has continued the tradition with his "Concert At The Ranch," packing the fields and hay bales with happy locals. His musical guests have included James Taylor, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Highwaymen, Willie Nelson (solo) and Jimmy Buffett (who, by the way, has a place, and a boat, over in North Haven.)
Not
too far away, in The Springs, The Who filmed a beer commercial at Barnes Grocery.
Just south, in Amagansett, Leon Russell and Bruce Hornsby performed at Stephen
Talkhouse, the tastiest, tiniest roadhouse/concert hall around.
Amazing local bands find The Talkhouse a favorite venue. Klyph Black and Rumor Has It always pack the Saturday late show. Over the years, many greats have performed at The Talkhouse: John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Albert Collins, Dr. John, David Bromberg, Little Feat and Delbert McClinton among them. Pictures of the stars line the walls. Billy Joel once performed a live morning radio show from the stage of The Stephen Talkhouse. NRBQ likes to play early sets so they can catch the last ferry back to Bridgeport, their home. On September 2, 1990, after a performance by John Doe and Steppin' Out, the somewhat less than maximum capacity of patrons were treated to a jam session featuring Van Morrison, Foreigner's Mick Jones and the ubiquitous Mister Joel. The group improvised into the wee hours through The Beatles', "I Saw Her Standing There" and Jerry Lee Lewis', "All Shook Up." It only took a few minutes for Billy to get home as he lives down the road by the ocean in an estate named "Middle Sea." Mick Jones rented next door. Michael Kamen rented next to him. Paul McCartney has a place around the corner. But then, so does Yoko. There is even a secret studio located in a barn where, rumor has it, Mssrs. Joel, Simon, McCartney and special friends lay down demos. Oh, to be a fly on the wall...
Down the way is an estate where an elderly groupie welcomed The Hassles to crash in her basement during that crazy summer of '65. For a short time, they shared the digs with Sparrow, John Kay's pre-Steppenwolf band. Up the road, in East Hampton, along Three Mile Harbor, is a house once rented to John and Judy Belushi. They spent the summer here prior to the filming of Animal House. Belushi had just become a star of Saturday Night Live and his beat-up old Bluesmobile sat out front as the stereo blared inside. Dan Ackroyd was a frequent houseguest.
North
in Sag Harbor, John Sebastion once had a house. Ostensibly a New York City
group, The Lovin' Spoonful had deep Long Island roots. In fact, Joe Butler
was from Glen Cove. Didn't they record a snappy little instrumental entitled
"Big Noise From Speonk"? Sebastion, no stranger to Long Island, had frequented
the East End for many years. In the spring of 1969, he invited several friends
out to Sag Harbor. "They wanted to see if they had a blend and they didn't
want to be bothered. So David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash moved
in. I introduced them to Dallas Taylor. Of course, you could say they found
what they were looking for. Having them around the house all the time...,
well, you know, they began to get on my nerves (giggles) and I got them another
rental down the road." The story goes that David Crosby, while under the influence
and in contemplation of the masts rising above the rustic old whaling harbor,
was inspired to write "Wooden Ships".
