Landy's famous shot. The music was great, too.
Many of us are unfamiliar with the name Elliottt Landy, but most of us recognize a few of the photos he took. One set of photos from the Landy portfolio is the iconic cover shot of Dylan's Nashville Skyline. Two weeks ago a friend sent this story about that famous Woodstock photo shoot. The article prompted me to plunge into one of my containers of Dylan memorabilia to find the Saturday Evening Post in which another photo shoot of Dylan at Woodstock took place. Were these Landy's as well? It's not the same guitar. Nor the same outfit. And the article by Alfred G. Aronowitz offers no clues, cites no identity for the various photos of pop legends.
The first three featured stars in the article, titled Pop: The Royal Family, are Jimi, the Doors and Janis. Morrison, Hendrix and Joplin all dead within a couple years.
Dylan in hibernation mode at Woodstock.
It was an unusual time, when the recording industry took risks. Not everyone who got a swing at the plate would have Dylan's longevity. Some of the artists in this Post overview included The Fugs, Ravi Shankar, Tiny Tim and Charles Lloyd, who were all in the spotlight for a time. The Beatles' unending allure had already been cemented, but within a year or so the Fab Four would splinter, releasing the individual members to produce work that corresponded with their own internal rhythms. Simon & Garfunkel likewise parted to follow their own paths.
All this to say it was fun to read the article about Landy at the BestClassicBands.com. And while looking for that old 1968 Saturday Evening Post I came across a few other images that seemed worth sharing, some quite local in scope. Enjoy!
The times were a-changing. This was a generation in motion.