Music Inn Reunion Draws a Crowd and Memories
 David Grover, left, headlined with Puggie Demary and Mike Sacco at the Music Inn reunion on Sunday |
From 1950 to 1979 the inn provided a unique venue to some of the most famous artists in music history, including Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, The Band, Emmylou Harris and, of course, James Taylor. According to Carol Ide, a former member of Shenandoah, the Berkshire-based band that gained popularity in the 1970s and '80s, the legend of the inn wasn’t just about the people, but the place itself.
"It was a wonderful place to see a good band," she said. "I remember seeing Little Feat. Everything I could’ve watched was there. It was the hippest place to be at the time."
Ide along with 150 others gathered at the Race Brook Lodge on Sunday to relive the memories of a place they once called home. The Music Inn anniversary reunion was a fundraiser to help former inn owner David Rothstein (now owner of the lodge) catalog hundreds of photos and memorabilia from the inn’s 30-year run. Rothstein invited friends and former employees at the inn to share their stories. Producer and director Stuart Shapiro, who was an usher in the 1960s, shared many anecdotes about the “hippest place on earth.”
“I remember when Ike and Tina Turner played,” he said. “And they played a short show, only about 20 minutes long, and my brother Eddie started waving the check in front of Ike saying he wasn’t going to pay him. Of course, this is Ike Turner. And Ike just grabbed the check and said, ‘What are you gonna do now?’ That’s when Eddie knew he was way out of his league.”
Shapiro also recalled a quieter moment at the inn when the Berkshires' beloved Taylor became a star.
"I remember it was after his concert, James was just sitting in a chair kind of glowing," he said. "I think it was his first moment of recognition that he was a star. It was definitely a peak."
Bernie Gelb who was the general manager of the Music Inn also remembered the Taylor show.
"James was used to getting maybe $400 for a show, if that," Gelb said. “That night I gave him $10,000, that was his cut, and he looked confused. ‘But I don’t deserve it’ is what he said. God, there was a lot of good music on that field."
Aside from the hundreds of stories and the black-and-white photo gallery of the inn in its heyday, the highlight of the reunion was the headliner. The surviving members of Shenandoah, including Ide and her husband, Steven, David Grover, Rob Putnam and Terry Hall gathered to perform and reminisce with the crowd. As the room filled with music there was a hint of sadness as many noted those who were not among them.
"I'm here for a lot of reasons," said Joni Carron, sister of singer/songwriter David Carron who died in 1984. “I'm here because I'm the sister of David Carron and because there are people here that I haven’t seen for 40 years. I’m here because it’s the Music Inn, plain and simple."
