Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival

Pan at Ann's Delicatessen in the '60s

In 1938 D.H. Lawrence wrote in The Phoenix, a Woodstock publication, “still in America, among the Indians, the oldest Pan is alive.” This is a fitting tribute to the bacchanalian energy that was present during the Maverick Festivals in the early 1900s. This spirit re-surfaced in the late sixties at the Woodstock Sound-Outs, where festival goers co-habituated with nature in weekend-long parties under the open skies.

What is not so well known is that the host of the Woodstock Sound-Outs was none other than Pansy “Pan” Drake Copeland (1910-1994). Pan was by turns a tough, feisty lady and a sweetheart. Bill West, a long-time politician, remembers taking Jay Rolison (who was running for the State Assembly) around to meet the shop keepers. He stopped in at Ann’s Delicatessen to meet Pan, the current owner. West had barely concluded the introductions when Copeland upbraided him about some totally unrelated town topic. Needless to say, the politicians beat a hasty retreat. On the other hand, according to Ellen McIlwaine, Pan was like a mother to her. In fact so much so that Copeland managed and guided Ellen’s career during the early seventies.

Ann’s Delicatessen was a town hangout. Musicians of all stripes and proclivities met and charged their purchases there. Bob Dylan was a regular, as were entertainers like Jim Black, Larry Packer and Garth Hudson. Larry Packer, the fiddle player for Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, recalls meeting Garth Hudson at the deli one day in the spring of 1968. Garth shyly offered Larry an acetate of a project the boys had been working on. This, of course, was Music from Big Pink, the project that turned out to be The Band’s ground-breaking first album.

Pan’s goodtime Southern cooking and generous portions drew starving musicians and artists to her enclave. In 1965 Copeland obtained title to a farm in West Saugerties. It was only a matter of time before she was hosting shindigs at the old farm site. In addition to the deli, Pan owned and operated the Copeland Gallery. Bob Liikala, the Group 212 coordinator, was an early manager there.

In 1967 Pan teamed up with Jocko Moffitt and Steve Bishop to host the first Woodstock Sound-Out over Labor Day weekend. It was an enormous success—it drew thousands and even rated a mention in the New York Times. In successive years the cream of rock royalty hung out and/or performed at the Sound-Outs. These acts included Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Jeff Walker, the Incredible String Band, Ellen McIlwaine with Fear Itself, New Lost City Ramblers, Bunky and Jake, Children of God, Tim Hardin and countless others. Among the notable attendees who came to be entertained were people like Michael Lang—who went on to model his 1969 mega festival after the Sound-Outs.

It is no accident that this website honors Pan as its patron deity.

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Tags: Bob Liikala, D. H. Lawrence, Maverick Festivals, Music from Big Pink, Pan Copeland, Sound-Outs Posted in Roots Book |