Record producer hits gold with Stonover

By Kate AbbottPrint Story | Email Story
Tom and Susan Werman at Stonover.(Photo by Kate Abbott)
LENOX — Tom Werman once played percussion for his own records — now he mows his own 10 acres of lawn. Werman left his lifetime career as a heavy metal producer with 13 platinum and 10 gold records to his credit, to open Stonover Bed and Breakfast with his wife, Susan, in July 2002. Judging by their first year of business, which has increased after a national award they received in December, Werman’s second career bids fair to be as golden as the first. He produced such big name bands as Twisted Sister, Ted Nugent, Molly Hatchett, Cheap Trick, Jeff Beck, Poison, Kix and L.A. Guns, he said in an interview last week. He signed others he did not produce, including Boston and REO Speedwagon, during his tenure as a staff producer for CBS Records in Los Angeles “A producer is to a record what a director is to a play,” he said. “He makes every musical decision, from the beginning to the end of the record — selecting songs, arranging songs, perfecting instruments’ parts, placing microphones, adjusting sound, choosing drum heads and instruments, supporting musicians and background singers, deciding what they all play and sing, creating harmonies, mixing and mastering the record.” Werman sometimes wrote lyrics for his records, and he played hand percussion, tambourines and shakers on all of his albums. He did whatever came along, he said, setting high standards and trying not to use substitute musicians — he wanted just the band members on his albums. Most importantly, he said, he had to try to keep bands productive and get the best performance possible from each member. Things didn’t always go smoothly, he said. “It’s not always easy, especially if the artists were using drugs or drinking. That was common. It’s not anymore. It’s harder to make a hit record with a band like Twisted Sister than with a band like The Eagles, because The Eagles know what they’re doing.” Werman discovered most of the bands he signed. People sent tapes and auditioned. He and the other staff producers had pianos in their offices, he said. And they were staff workers, not the superstars producers are today. He said he was not compensated as producers are today, either. “If today’s producer is Tiger Woods, I was Ben Hogan,” he said. Werman came to the music industry early, from the “other side.” He played with a band in high school and another in college. As an undergraduate at Columbia, he played in New York City clubs and at many colleges, including Williams and Bennington. His band was asked to audition for Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager. He turned it down, he said, and has regretted it all his life. He got a master’s degree in business administration at Columbia and “escaped” from a brief year in advertising to Epic Records, part of CBS Records, which was later purchased by Sony. He was still playing music and trying to keep his band together, until he moved to the West Coast. “It’s better to be a producer; it’s fun,” he said. “There’s not as much pressure. With a musician, it’s do or die.” His wife agreed, saying, “Most musicians put everything into their first album and have a hard time following up.” Tom Werman began as an editor of album tracks for release as singles, cutting seven or eight minutes of music to three and a half, and then moved into producing. In his early days, he tried to sign Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Rush, he said. His superiors turned them down. They all went on to become monstrously popular, and people began to respect his ear for a good band, he said. His career lasted longer than most, he said: Most producers stay with the job for five to 10 years. Werman stayed 25. “In early ’90s, everything changed. I thought there would always be hard rock. The music changed. There’s a great difference between Motley Crew and Nirvana. The music got harder, more reckless, angrier — more present, genuine and unprofessional — more garage. A point came in the 90s’ when I could say, ‘Everything you know is wrong.’ Bands didn’t want to be in tune or keep perfect time, to sound necessarily acceptable or good. Bad was good. If they sounded too good, they lost street cred [credibility],” he said. He said he outgrew the music and it outgrew him. “No one in the record business values experience. It’s a young person’s business. I’m passionate about music but not the way you are when you’re 20.” Now he often listens to classical music, classic rock and English church music. A visit to the Applegate Inn in Lee convinced the Wermans to try their hands at innkeeping in the Berkshires, he said. In July 2001, they sold their house in L.A., moved here and began work on Stonover Farm. They had their bed and breakfast open by the following summer. The house and outbuildings look very much as they did as a farm in 1890 but with fewer geese and ducks and many more windows in the greystone. In December, after slightly more than a year in business, Stonover was selected as one of Andrew Harper’s eight “hideaways of the year.” [Adocate, Page 1, Dec. ????] Harper had stayed there incognito during the year. Eight months later, he selected Stonover as one of the top eight inns in the country, and it was the only Bed and Breakfast to make the hideaway list. “It has made a palpable difference in our business,” Werman said, noting that even during the recent frigid weather, the house has been full and the phone has kept ringing. Producing heavy metal albums and innkeeping require many of the same skills, he said, and his are paying off again. An innkeeper, like a producer, needs to be a “detail person,” familiar with lists and happy fiddling with minutia — the kind of person who spots one ladybug in an otherwise immaculate room. “I’m always fiddling with my immediate environment,” Werman said. He and his wife designed Stonover around their own ideas. They said they loved staying at bed and breakfasts, but they saw no reason to sacrifice convenience for charm. Along with the stone buildings, oak beams and brick chimneys, Stonover offers Bose radio and CD players and DVD players in each room and a growing DVD library, along with a high-speed guest computer and free private phone service — even for long distance calls — with voicemail. The Wermans serve their full breakfast in the mornings and wine and cheese at 5 p.m. on tables of red and gold natural woods. The older guests like the comfort, and the younger ones like the technical equipment, Weman said. They said they appreciate their new occupation and way of life so fully that they have been reluctant to express it for fear of sounding corny “Business is great. We love the town, and the community couldn’t have been more welcoming,” Tom Werman said. “We describe it to people in L.A., and it sounds like Pleasantville — with color. But it’s really true. People say to us, ‘You know, you’re living my dream.’”
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Beverly Gans Marks 60 Years & Counting in the Pittsfield Schools

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Public Schools recognized Beverly Gans for her 60 years of service with the district with a lunch and crystal plaque on Friday. Gans will mark 40 years as secretary to principal at Taconic High School in June.
 
"It's been a wonderful experience, and I wouldn't trade it … I've seen generations go through,"  she said. "I've seen kids go through, I've seen their kids go through, I've seen their grandkids go through … it's just been a wonderful life for me to have this,"
 
Her former students will come back to the school surprised to see the secretary they connected with years prior. 
 
The students, staff, and administration are what make this school great, she said. 
 
"I bleed green and gold," Grans said. Last year on her 77th birthday, the faculty bought her green and gold Nike sneakers that she wears every Friday. 
 
She has become a pillar of the district over the last six decades, so much so that even district leaders look up to her. 
 
"Most people come to me for anything and everything, even in the district. I mean, there's so many new people. I mean, most of the secretaries today, I don't even know them," Gans said. 
 
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