- The Festival That Wasn't Here...
- The Three Woodstocks...
- Woodstock's Earliest Festivals
- The Dylan Legacy: Still in Progress

The Festival That Wasn't Here ...and how it came to bear the Woodstock name and Michael Lang's role

It was the culmination of societal and cultural rumblings, of change fueled by the conservatism of the 1950s, mistrust of government in the 1960s and young people yearning for a voice for their generation.

Or maybe a half-million people just wanted to hear some kick-butt rock 'n roll.

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was a cornerstone of the counterculture explosion. The three-day concert, featuring two dozen acts from Aug. 15-17, 1969, also put promoter Michael Lang on the map as a musical visionary.

But the road to the concert in Bethel, in Sullivan County, NY, wasn't easy. The concert almost didn't happen. And when it did, it initially lost money - lots of money.

There are conflicting reports about who had the idea for the concert. Some say it was Lang. Others say Lang and a co-promoter, Artie Kornfield, hatched it together. And to this day, there is still confusion by many who think the concert Woodstock took place in the town of Woodstock, an idyllic artists' haven in New York's Ulster County that's 50 miles from Bethel. Why didn't it? That's another controversy. One story has the town backing out because the event was getting too big. Others say it was named Woodstock because Lang's musical inspiration, Bob Dylan, lived there.

What is true is that planning for the show took Lang to several towns, but municipal officials' conservatism kept saying no. But credit him for not letting the idea die.

Lang, as a curly haired 23-year-old, had orchestrated the Miami Pop Festival in 1968. He met up with Artie Kornfield and together hatched the idea of opening a recording studio in the town of Woodstock. They joined up with John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, and the quartet created Woodstock Ventures. The goal: Put on a cultural exposition/rock concert/extravaganza.

They unsuccessfully scouted sites in Rockland County before leasing property in an industrial park in Wallkill, Orange County in March. The size was good, 300 acres. The feel, though, was bad. The cement buildings didn't evoke nature, as Lang wanted. The hesitation was mutual: As word spread, so did opposition. By mid-July, the town said goodbye.

But the publicity over the hubbub was a boon for Lang. Word spread to Elliot Tiber, who had a permit in Bethel to run a chamber music festival. He brought Lang and the others to gentleman farmer Max Yasgur. His milk and cheese farm sloped like an amphitheater; there was a lake. The feel was perfect. A deal was struck for $75,000.

But word got out and opposition mounted, climaxing with a human barricade across Route 17B the day before the concert. But the publicity had worked. They were coming. Car after car after car. And the music ensued, kicking off at 5:07 p.m. on Aug. 15, 1969.

 The first act on Friday night: Richie Havens, doing "High Flyin' Bird." Twenty-six acts followed, finishing with the Hendrix performance of "Hey Joe."

And what a party it was. In all, it cost Woodstock Ventures $2.4 million, and they never sold a ticket at the gate. There wasn't enough food or toilets, but there was plenty of drugs and alcohol. Two died; two were born. Indeed, it was "Three Days of Peace and Music".

 Today, the Yasgur site, at the corner of Hurd Road and West Shore Drive off Route 17B, is a tourism destination, of sorts, a 38-acre international destination for those paying homage to a generation's voice and power.

Yasgur's farm was subdivided after he died in 1973, and today it's owned by Alan Gerry, who has held concerts called "A Day In the Garden" there. And the tourists still come to pay homage to the site that spawned The Counterculture's biggest statement.

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The Three Woodstocks ... one, 1994's, was actually close by in Saugerties.

Three Woodstock festivals. Yet none actually were in the town of Woodstock, the artsy haven of creativity and spirituality in New York's Ulster County that lent the show its name.

The first Woodstock concert, in 1969, was in Bethel, NY, about 50 miles southwest of Woodstock. The third was in 1999 in Rome, NY, about 130 miles north. The second, however, was right next door in Saugerties, a historic, picturesque town tucked between the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River. Saugerties was no stranger to music history; The Band's classic album, "Music from Big Pink," refers to a pink house in town that served as the band's one-time headquarters.

 The second Woodstock, billed as "Three More Days of Peace and Music," was a 25th anniversary show from Aug. 12-14, 1994. Yes, it had elements in common with the 1969 festival: torrential rain, mud, lots of naked people, drugs, alcohol and many historic performances, including some by artists who were at Woodstock '69, such as Joe Cocker and Santana.

But many newer acts cemented their reputation in Saugerties. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Violent Femmes, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Primus, Cypress Hill and Melissa Etheridge thrilled the 350,000 who trekked up the New York State Thruway to the Winslow Farm, an 840-acre pasture at the intersection of routes 212 and 32.

And others showed how technology was continuing to make music evolve. Todd Rundgren, who at the time still owned property in Woodstock, brought his "Todd Pod", a one-man interactive music computer setup allowing him to create music with synthesizers, percussion and improvisation.

Michael Lang and John Roberts, two of the Woodstock '69 promoters, returned with more corporate savvy and detailed planning -- attributes the first show, some say, had rebelled against. Yes, they again overcame substantial neighborhood opposition from residents remembering huge stacks of garbage and free-wheeling teenagers in Bethel.  But the economics were quite different this time. Pay-per-view was a bonanza, and the show was beamed all around the world. In 1969, tickets were $18. In 1994, they were $135. Still, in this case, the song remained the same. Gatecrashers in 1994 meant very few tickets were taken after the first day.  Meanwhile, as the music played in Saugerties, the spirit of Yasgur's Farm in Bethel would not be denied. About 15,000 die-hards in tie-dye and less gathered on the original concert's site for an impromptu show. Since 1969, the site had been sold off and subdivided, and when approached about hosting the 25th anniversary show, Sullivan County officials had refused to sanction another worldwide spectacle.

Still, the show went on. Arlo Guthrie, Melanie and Sha Na Na, as well as several local bands, played for free. The counterculture had been revived -- on the same hallowed ground that moved a generation all those years before.

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Woodstock's Earliest Festivals ...the Maverick bohemian and Byrdcliffe fairs of 100 years ago were the real Woodstock fests.

The town of Woodstock as an arts and music sanctuary? By all means.

But it didn't start in 1969 with that famous concert - which didn't even take place here.

 Woodstock's real festivals, which helped carve out the town's identity, have their roots in the start of the 20th century in the communities of Byrdcliffe and Maverick. And because of them, the town became known as a haven that treasures a simpler life, a spiritual life, an art-driven life free of big-city complications and priorities. This continues today.

It all started with Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, a wealthy Englishman looking to start an arts and crafts colony, based on the philosophies of his teacher, John Ruskin. Ruskin, a British philosopher known for his passionate defense of the arts, was disillusioned by the Industrial Revolution's effect, particularly pollution, on the environment.

As Whitehead hiked along Overlook Mountain, he fell in love with the vistas, the solitude and the inspiration it provided. He bought seven farms on the hillside, about 1,200 feet above the hamlet of Woodstock. In 1902, the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony was formed.

Even though transportation there was difficult, artists of all types - painters, writers, dancers, poets -- flocked to the little town. Crafts were created by hand. Art lessons were given and taken. Music was everywhere - weekly dances, widely attended recitals, classical music, garden parties. While classical was popular, folk was stirring as well, fueled by beat poets making their way up from Manhattan.

Meanwhile, Hervey White, who had helped Whitehead scout locations for Byrdcliffe, did not always agree with Whitehead's rigid management style and vision. In 1908, a few miles away in West Hurley, he spun off his own arts enclave and called it Maverick. To help raise money, he started concert and theater presentations in about 1915. Among the early performers at Maverick Concerts: Paul Robeson.

Together, the communities forged Woodstock's reputation. The lure of fostered creativity, combined with natural beauty, was a combination sought by artists around the world. While the nation coped with World War I and its aftermath, and inventions such as the automobile helped people envision what was possible, Woodstock remained focused on spiritual essence.

Today, The Byrdcliffe Arts Colony is the oldest such organization in the country. Administered by the well-respected Woodstock Guild since 1975, it's open for tours and has drawn luminary performers such as Helen Hayes and naturalist John Burroughs. Byrdcliffe furniture pieces, noted for their detail and the care that went into them, are now museum pieces. The guild hosts a range of performances and arts and crafts classes. Maverick is America's oldest continuous summer chamber music series and also offers concerts for kids.  The spirit, indeed, lives on, just as Ralph Whitehead and Hervey White intended.

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The Dylan Legacy: Still in Progress

Bob Dylan had as much to do with the modern-day persona of Woodstock than any other single person or entity. Now he's rewriting his own legacy and touching on his life in Woodstock.

Take a drive through Woodstock, NY, and you'll take a drive through music history - specifically, the life and times of a Jewish folk singer from Minnesota named Bob Dylan.

Visit Tinker Street downtown, where Dylan wrote some of his songs above what was Café Espresso. Take a tight curve on Zena Road, where he lost control of his Triumph motorcycle and nearly died, making shocking news that spurred radio bulletins. See Ohayo Mountain Road and Byrdcliffe, where he lived until fans continually ravaging his tranquility drove him away.

It's all part of Woodstock's overall allure as a musical haven, cemented in many ways by Dylan himself. But it's also American history -- how a creative genius found inspiration, kindred souls and reclusiveness in a small town and used those powers to create anthems speaking to generations.

Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, MN, in 1941, was writing poetry at the age of 10 and could play the guitar and piano as a young teenager. He left college to move to Greenwich Village, where he and other beatniks played music and reveled in the nascent counterculture of the early 1960s. It was here that he became known as Bob Dylan -- reportedly, but never confirmed, taking the name because of his fondness for poet Dylan Thomas.

He joined Columbia Records in 1961 and the hits began. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and "Blowin' in the Wind", the latter a cover of a Peter, Paul and Mary song, showed off his distinctive voice and ability to connect to listeners' souls. In 1963, he first visited Woodstock, introduced to the arts-driven community by his girlfriend, Joan Baez. Dylan rented a room above Café Espresso, now the site of the Center for Photography at Woodstock, but for years the internationally known Tinker Street Café.  In that room, he wrote two acclaimed albums, "Another Side of Bob Dylan" and "Bringing It All Back Home."

After the motorcycle accident on July 29, 1966, Dylan - at the top of the musical world but an icon craving privacy - went underground to recuperate in Byrdcliffe. Taking up a Woodstock tradition, he painted, and one effort became the cover of his album "Self-Portrait", released in 1970.

From 1968-1970, he worked with photographer Elliott Landy, who created textured images of Dylan, his wife Sara and their children.  And he started working with an up-and-coming group called The Hawks, later known as The Band. Among their collaborations were the historic albums, "Music from Big Pink" and "The Basement Tapes."

In September 1970, unable to fend off the droves of fans that continually roamed his property, Dylan moved back to Greenwich Village, again giving him the powerful vibe of a city and the ability to live somewhat more anonymously among crowds.

But Woodstock has stayed with him. Today, the former Robert Allen Zimmerman is telling part of his story in a book released in fall 2004, "Chronicles, Vol. 1." The Woodstock era is prominent, revealing some light on the bygone chapters of his life.

And it's clear the inspiration that once fueled him in Woodstock power the creativity of artists who call the small town home today.

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