The Making Of Woodstock Essay Research Paper

The Making Of Woodstock Essay, Research Paper

The Making Woodstock

Joel Rosenman woke up on Friday, August 15, 1969, at 6:00 A.M. This was the first day of what is now known as the most famous rock festival in history, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. Joel, along with John Roberts, Artie Kornfeld, and Michael Lang, created Woodstock. Joel woke to one of the biggest traffic jams in history located outside The Pines, the hotel where Woodstock s staff was staying. Route 17B lead right to the site of the festival, Max Yasgur s Farm. It took Joel twenty minutes weaving in and out of traffic on his motorcycle to go four miles on Route 17B. The traffic was backed up for ten miles(Rosenman, 155). When the people saw the traffic jam, they knew this thing was going to bigger than they had originally thought. Joel and the rest of the staff have been through hell to get this festival going and now the first day of Woodstock was about to begin.

Joel Rosenman was a graduate of Yale Law School and the son of a Long Island orthodontist. Joel met John Roberts on a golf course in the fall of 1966. Within a year they were roommates. Joel thought, It was instantly a good relationship because he was able to give me so much help in my golf game. (Makower, 21). Joel made his money by playing guitar for lounge bands all over the country. Roberts was heir to a drugstore and toothpaste fortune. He got his money from his multimillion-dollar trust fund. He was a graduate of University of Pennsylvania and had a lieutenant s commission in the Army (http://www.goecities.com/ music-festival/how-w.htm).

The two friends had an idea for a TV sitcom, similar to I Love Lucy.” It was an office comedy about two pals with more money than brains and a thirst for adventure. Every week they would get into a different business venture in some nutty scheme. And every week they would be rescued in the nick of time from their fate” (http://www.goecities.com/ music-festival/how-w.htm).

In order to get plot ideas for their show they ran an ad in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times which read, “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions.” (New York Times, March 22, 1967, p.54) They got replies about everything from biodegradable golf balls to something called Ski-bobs (http://www.goecities.com/ music-festival/how-w.htm).

Two men came to Joel and Roberts with an idea for either building a recording studio or a rock festival. Artie Kornfeld and Michael Lang grew up in the same neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Queens. Kornfeld was a vice president at Capitol Records was smoked hash in his office. Lang was a long hair hippie, who was described by friends as a cosmic pixie, with a head full of curly black hair that bounced on his shoulders. (http://www.goecities.com/ music-festival/how-w.htm) Lang had already produced the two-day Miami Pop Festival and managed a rock group called Train. Lang moved in with Kornfeld and his wife not long after they met(Makower, 25).

The four men met in February 1969, to discuss their plans(Curry, 3). After the first two meetings, the men agreed on building a recording studio. They would throw a party for rock critics and record executives to build up hype for the studio. The studio was to be built in Woodstock, New York. They would take the profit from the party to pay for the recording studio. By the end of the third meeting, the little party had become a concert for 50,000 people. The four men formed a corporation, Woodstock Ventures Inc., in which they each held twenty-five percent (http://www.goecities.com/ music-festival/how-w.htm).

The first task of the Ventures was to find a location for the concert. Joel, the other three men, and real estate agents were searching for a site. They first settled on the 300-acre Mills Industrial Park in the town of Wallkill. The men did not like Mills, but they needed a site as soon as possible. Joel told the Wallkill officials that the concert would have jazz and folk bands and only 50,000 people would attain(http://www.goecities.com/ music-festival/how-w.htm). This would all change when the ads for the concert were printed and bands were signed.

The men decided on the slogan Three Days of Peace and Music. The slogan was meant to sustain peace at the concert. They also enlisted Arnold Skolnickto to design the concert logo, the now famous dove sitting in a guitar(http://home.columbus.rr.com/woodstock1969/). Trouble booking the bands soon arose. The Ventures, in order to sign bands, offered paychecks higher than normal for a concert. The first real band they signed was The Jefferson Airplane for $12,000. After they signed Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Who, other bands began to be signed. The Ventures spent a total of $180,000 on bands(http://www.goecities.com/ music-festival/how-w.htm).

Wallkill began to realize the trouble that was coming. Woodstock was predicted to be the biggest rock show ever. The people were fearful of the hippie community entering the town. The did not want that type of people in their town. Mills and his family were harassed constantly for bringing these people to the town. Mills was even sent death threats. The Wallkill Zoning Board banned The Woodstock Festival in July. This only gave Joel and the other Ventures a month to find a new site.

Elliot Tiber, a