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Melanie: Look What's She's Done

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By WALT BELCHER

wbelcher@tampatrib.com

Published: January 25, 2009

TAMPA - When Melanie Safka Schekeryk signed on to sing at what she thought would be "a nice little picnic in a field," she had no idea that it would change her life.

"When the promoters told me that it would be three days of peace, love and music, I pictured a pastoral field with families and blankets," she says in a telephone interview.

She was just 22 and had been singing in Greenwich Village clubs when she performed at Woodstock in the summer of 1969.

One of the landmark events for baby boomers and a defining moment for the counterculture movement, Woodstock was held on a 600-acre dairy farm near Bethel, N.Y. It featured more than 30 acts, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, The Who, The Grateful Dead, Santana, Credence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane.

She would become simply Melanie, the poster girl for hippie flower power and a part of pop music history. She is best remembered for the catchy 1970s hits "Brand New Key" and "Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma," but she has recorded more than 30 albums since then.

Her "Candles in the Rain," a tribute to Woodstock, became an anthem at music festivals through the '70s.

Melanie turns 62 in February, and the singer and songwriter will be kicking off her 40th anniversary of Woodstock world tour in Ruth Eckerd Hall's intimate Murray Studio Theater on Friday and Saturday.

"I will be performing with my son, Beau Jarred Schekeryk, who is very talented," she says. "It's like a homecoming because we lived in the Clearwater and Safety Harbor area all through the '90s, and we are working our way back."

Her daughters, musicians Leilah and Jeordie, graduated from Countryside High. Beau was home-schooled. In 1998, she opened a restaurant and coffee house in Tarpon Springs. It folded.

"I didn't know much about the restaurant business," she says.

She and her longtime husband, producer Peter Schekeryk, moved to Nashville, Tenn., about six years ago.

"We have lived all over, but we still think of Florida as home," says the native New Yorker from Astoria. "Safety Harbor seems like the hometown that I've always been looking for."

No Tomatoes, Please!

She says it's hard to imagine that Woodstock was 40 years ago.

She recalls being in England during the build-up for the event and being surprised by its scope when she arrived.

"I had no idea," she says. "I arrived with just my guitar and my mother. We drove up toward the town and got stuck in all the traffic."

The August concert reportedly drew more than 450,000 people.

"We were picked up by helicopter and taken to a hotel, and there was Janis Joplin with her bottle of Southern Comfort and Jimi Hendrix and all these major stars of the day," she says. "And there I was hoping that people won't throw tomatoes at me."

She was flown to the staging area on a Friday morning and waited all day for her spot, which came late that night.

"I had been waiting and waiting in a little tent with a dirt floor, and I developed a deep nervous cough," she says. "Joan Baez heard me coughing and sent over some tea."

She went on after Ravi Shankar, she says.

"It was getting dark, and there were a lot of clouds," she recalls. "It looked like it was going to rain. I was scared to death. I didn't think people would know me."

As she sang her self-composed single "Beautiful People," she saw candles being passed out.

"There was an announcement about lighting them to keep warm and keep the rain away," she says. "I watched the flames go on in a wave through the crowd. It was like a million fireflies. I had an out-of-body experience that night, and it inspired me to write about 'Candles in the Rain.'"

Brand New Popularity

After Woodstock, Melanie, who had been writing songs since she was a child, became popular on the folk festival circuit. In 1970 she scored her biggest-selling hit, "Brand New Key."

Written on a whim, it became known as "The Roller Skate Song." Some radio stations refused to play it because some said the lyrics were veiled sexual references.

"But I really was only writing about a little girl on roller skates," she says. "That song became too cute, and it sort of stereotyped me. There was a time when I wanted to distance myself from it. But now, I appreciate it for its kitschy charm."

She is proud of "Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma," a lament that every creative person understands.

"It's been recorded by many artists, but when Ray Charles did it, that was the biggest thrill for me," she says.

She has recorded an album just about every year since the '70s. All were produced by her husband. She tours Europe and Asia often, and she won an Emmy for writing the theme song for the 1980s TV show "Beauty and the Beast. "

At Ruth Eckerd Hall, she plans to sing the Woodstock songs and "Candles in the Rain" as well as "Brand New Key" and many of the songs she has written since.

IN CONCERT

Melanie's 40th Anniversary Woodstock World Tour Kickoff

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday

WHERE: Murray Studio Theater, Ruth Eckerd Hall, 1111 N. McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater

HOW MUCH: $39.75; (727) 791-7400.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654.

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