Don’t Pass Up Day One!
I had always thought of John Storyk as the quintessential New Yorker, a city guy. Maybe it’s because he’s tall and carries a self-assuredness, a sense of confidence and leadership. Maybe it’s his love of the Yankees, or the way that long-ago addresses in the Village just roll off his tongue. Most likely it’s because of the lifelong association with Electric Lady Studios and the dozens and dozens of world-class studios he’s built in and around Manhattan.
Sure, he oozes the energy and connectedness of the City, but for nearly his entire adult life, his mind, body and soul have resided in the Mid-Hudson Valley, Woodstock and Bearsville in particular.
Tuesday, July 29: Bearsville Theater and Albert Grossman
So on Tuesday morning, after checking emails and stopping by the WSDG office, we headed north from Highland along a few back roads and drove into the tiny town of Woodstock, right past Andy Lee Field, the original proposed site for the festival with a capacity of about 2,000 visitors, tops. A good thing they moved it 60 miles south.
Then it was up Byrdcliffe Road to see where Dylan lived, followed by a detour to Speare Road and the site of the original Bearsville Studios—the well-worn and rutted road was blocked off, and appeared to have been so for years. So we turned back down the hill, got on Tinker Road, drove by the two-bedroom home (with a garage for the Rolls-Royce) where Albert Grossman presided over his label and publishing groups, and finally dipped into the “Bearsville Campus” for a look at the recently renovated Bearsville Theater.
Back in the late-1960s, Storyk recalls, it was just a barn, and a relatively rickety one at that. The first thing they did was to dig down eight feet, while slightly raising the original floor, adding a full underground labyrinth for artists and lounges and storage and multiple nooks and crannies and special rooms. Upstairs, the acoustics are intimate and impeccable, and they have been for 50-plus years.
Then about five years ago, Lizzie Vann purchased the entire Bearsville Campus, including the theater, Utopia Recording Studios and a couple of restaurants and has generously upgraded the infrastructure, cosmetics and surrounding grounds. It reopened in June 2024 with a show by Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble. It is operated by Dayglo Presents, led by Peter Shapiro, who has something of a track record in working with iconic venues, including New York City nightclub Wetlands and The Capitol Theater in Port Chester, N.Y.
John had been coming to the Woodstock area since long before the 1969 arts and music festival. His third commission as an architect coming out of Princeton—following the nightclub and studio for Jimi Hendrix—was the design of his parents’ retirement home along the famous Byrdcliffe Road, just a half-mile from where Bob Dylan lived from 1964-68. Random knocks on the front door, followed by, “Is this where Bob Dylan lived?” were common.
Soon after, John met Albert Grossman—Dylan’s manager and founder of Bearsville Studios and later Bearsville Theater, along with Todd Rundgren’s Utopia Video Studio, a couple of restaurants and multiple other properties in the near vicinity of The Bearsville Campus. John would have a part in designing them all.
For 12 years, before he met Beth Walters and moved 20 miles away to Highland, John lived on Grossman’s property. He also took a space in Grossman’s NYC label and publishing office. Albert was the closest thing that John had to being a mentor. He was certainly a lifelong friend and a major influence in his life.
On to Radio Kingston
After a full afternoon of walking the floors with the fine team at Dayglo and ducking into the rooms of Bearsville Theater and Utopia Studios Bearsville (a band was in recording, so, alas, no pictures), it was time to head back, but first, a stop on the way in Kingston for a project that John Storyk is particularly proud of: Radio WKNY, known locally as Radio Kingston. On the way, John gave me the background.
Local AM broadcaster WKNY was part of the Westwood One family of stations until recently, when composer, musician and philanthropist Peter Buffett, through his NoVo Foundation, purchased the license and endowed the property in perpetuity as an independent, ad-free radio station serving the greater Kingston community. Quite a gift.
Yes, Peter is one of Warren Buffett’s three siblings, and he has been very generous to the local community, especially—though hardly limited to—support of the arts. He is a private individual, as you might expect, and we will respect that. Except…
Back in 1997, Peter Buffett’s Milwaukee recording studio, Independent Studios, was on the cover of Mix. And we didn’t know he was that Peter Buffett. His story is fascinating: After leaving Omaha, he moved on his own to San Francisco and began writing music for TV commercials, including national spots for the likes of Coca-Cola and others. He wrote memorable early MTV promos. He wrote the “Fire Dance” scene in Dances With Wolves. Completely legit. Completely successful.
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He later moved to Milwaukee, then New York City, and now the Mid-Hudson Valley. John told me that he was a little bit surprised Peter stopped by the station, as he usually prefers the anonymity. But he wanted to “meet Mix.” I remember the cover! I wrote the cover type! I sure hope that our paths cross again soon. He is a truly interesting, talented and world-conscious man.
After a wonderful dinner at John’s favorite nearby Italian place, it was back to Casa Storyk for an early bedtime. Tomorrow, we’d be on the road early for the five-hour drive to Burlington, Vermont, headed for a visit to Mike Gordon’s stunning new Megaplum Studio, which you will soon see in all its glory as the October 2025 cover of Mix.
