Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life

Last updated

Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life is a memoir describing the origins of the 1969 Woodstock Festival by Elliot Tiber with Tom Monte. It was published in 2007 by Square One Publishers, Inc., and was adapted into a movie of the same name by James Schamus, Ang Lee's long time writing/producing partner. It was released in August 2009. Tiber is portrayed in the movie by Demetri Martin.

Contents

The book describes Tiber's involvement, as a young gay man, with the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, and his key role in bringing the Woodstock festival to Bethel, New York.

Before Woodstock

Tiber begins by describing his early years, and his awakening sexuality and alienation from his parents. He was born Eliyahu Teichberg to Jewish immigrant parents in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. His father was born in Austria, and his mother was from Russia. His father was a roofer. Tiber attended a Brooklyn yeshiva. He graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. [1]

In 1955, while Tiber was attending college, his parents bought a dilapidated boarding house in White Lake, which is located at the intersection of Route 55 and 17B, a major intersection in White Lake, which is in the town of Bethel, New York. The area, part of the Borscht Belt, was in decline in the 1960s, and his parents struggled to meet their mortgage payments. The property was soon expanded into a motel. Tiber chose to live in New York City and spend his weekends with his parents in Bethel. [2]

After graduating from college, Tiber got an apartment in Greenwich Village and became a display designer and decorator at the W. & J. Sloane department store on New York's Fifth Avenue. He also painted murals at upscale New York apartment buildings. [3]

Tiber is gay, and he lived what he describes as a double life, pretending to be straight during his weekends helping his parents in Bethel, while living an openly gay life in New York City. The book describes the difficulties and traumas experienced by gays in the 1950s and 1960s. He describes being beaten up and robbed by youths who targeted him because of his homosexuality. [4] He also describes encounters with celebrities, including Marlon Brando, Wally Cox, Rock Hudson, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams. Hudson is described as lying nude and comatose at an upscale party, where he was subjected to sexual acts by guests. [5]

Gays tended to quietly accept their fate at the time, Tiber says, but that all changed after the Stonewall riots, which occurred at a bar in Greenwich Village on June 28, 1969. Tiber describes being present at the Stonewall bar as the riots commenced, and he describes the experience as a liberating one that changed his life. [6]

Tiber became president of the Bethel Chamber of Commerce, and he unsuccessfully sought a New York City clientele by inviting an acting troupe to the motel, and establishing an "underground cinema." He describes how he became friendly with Max Yasgur, who operated the largest farm in the area and had his own brand of dairy products.

Woodstock

Every year, Tiber sponsored a rock festival at which six to ten local bands would perform. As head of the chamber of commerce, he had the authority to grant himself an official town permit allowing him to conduct the annual music and arts festival. When Tiber learned that the town of Walkill had decided not to allow the Woodstock festival to be held there, Tiber telephoned Woodstock organizer Michael Lang and told him that he had a valid permit to hold a rock festival, and fifteen acres to hold it in. Lang flew over immediately in a helicopter and met with him. [7]

Lang was unimpressed with the motel property, so, according to Tiber's account, he told him about Yasgur's farm, which was located nearby, and drove with him to meet with Yasgur. [8]

The book describes how the El Monaco became the headquarters for the Woodstock organizers, and how Tiber became the exclusive ticket agent for the festival and held a press conference at the motel. He describes in detail the strong opposition to the festival from local residents, some of whom created a human wall to try to stop young people from coming to the festival. [9]

Tiber claims in the book that he was approached on several occasions by underworld characters, some of whom made threats, and that he and his parents had to physically fend them off, with the help of a transvestite named Velma. He also describes rowing out into the middle of White Lake, near the festival site, to pay off underworld characters. [10]

Tiber was only able to come to the festival once, during which he had an LSD trip, and describes how the entire experience of Woodstock changed his life. [11]

Aftermath

Tiber left Bethel shortly after the festival and became a set designer for movie studios in California. His father died shortly afterwards and his mother died in 2006. The motel became an Italian restaurant and was later torn down. [12]

Factual accuracy

Lang has disputed Tiber's account of the initial meeting with Max Yasgur, and said that he was introduced to Yasgur by a real estate salesman Tiber referred him to. Lang says that the salesman drove Lang, without Tiber, to Yasgur's farm. Sam Yasgur, son of Max Yasgur, agrees with Lang's version, and says that his mother, who is still alive, says Max did not know Tiber. Artie Kornfeld, a Woodstock organizer, has said he found out about Yasgur’s farm from his own sources. [13] [14]

Critical reaction

Publishers Weekly called the book an "occasionally improbable yet thoroughly entertaining tale." [15]

Movie adaptation

Tiber met director Ang Lee at a San Francisco TV station, where Lee was promoting a film. The Los Angeles Times reported that "Tiber thrust his autobiography 'Taking Woodstock' into Lee's hands and pitched himself and his book as a kind of bookend to The Ice Storm , Lee's film about suburbanites wrestling with the hangover of the 1960s." Lee showed the book to Focus Features Chairman James Schamus, who has written most of his films. Lee said, "It seems like it's random occurrence, but that randomness happens all the time. I chose to do it and I connect with the material. I think that's fate." [16] Schamus wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of the book.

Notes

  1. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 18-23
  2. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 24-26
  3. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 23, 41
  4. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 66-70
  5. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 41, 72-77
  6. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 77-81
  7. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 59, 84-87
  8. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 89-92
  9. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 124-145
  10. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 147-152
  11. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 197-208
  12. ↑ Taking Woodstock, p. 209-215
  13. ↑ Bleyer, Bill (2009-08-08). "The road to Woodstock runs through Sunken Meadow State Park". Newsday. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
  14. ↑ Bloom, Nate (2009-08-27). "Revisiting Woodstock, Other flicks, His son, the rabbi". Jweekly.com. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  15. ↑ "Amazon.com: Taking Woodstock" . Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  16. ↑ Abramowitz, Rachel (2009-08-27). "Ang Lee, hippie?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-08-27.

Related Research Articles

Stonewall riots 1969 spontaneous uprising for gay rights in New York City

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City, New York, United States of America. Patrons of the Stonewall, other Village lesbian and gay bars, and neighborhood street people fought back when the police became violent. The riots are widely considered a watershed event that transformed the gay liberation movement and the twentieth-century fight for LGBT rights in the United States.

Woodstock 1969 music festival in New York, United States

Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to simply as Woodstock, was a music festival held August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 40 miles (65 km) southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music" and alternatively referred to as the Woodstock Rock Festival, it attracted an audience of more than 400,000. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite sporadic rain.

Bethel, New York Town in New York, United States

Bethel is a town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was estimated at 4,255 in 2010. The town received worldwide attention after it served as the location of Woodstock in 1969, which was originally planned for Wallkill, New York, but was relocated to Bethel after Wallkill withdrew.

<i>Hulk</i> (film) 2003 film directed by Ang Lee

Hulk is a 2003 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, directed by Ang Lee and written by James Schamus, Michael France, and John Turman from a story by Schamus. Eric Bana stars as Bruce Banner/Hulk, alongside Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, and Nick Nolte. The film explores Bruce Banner's origins. After a lab accident involving gamma radiation, he transforms into a giant, green-skinned creature known as the "Hulk" whenever stressed or emotionally provoked. The United States military pursues him, and he clashes with his biological father, who has dark plans for his son.

<i>The Wedding Banquet</i> 1993 Taiwanese film

The Wedding Banquet is a 1993 romantic comedy film directed by Ang Lee and starring Winston Chao, May Chin, Gua Ah-leh, Sihung Lung, and Mitchell Lichtenstein. The screenplay concerns a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet and he has to hide the truth of his gay partner.

Max Yasgur

Max B. Yasgur was an American farmer. He was the owner of the 600-acre (240 ha) dairy farm in Bethel, New York, where the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held on August 15–18, 1969. He sold his farm in 1971 and retired to Florida, where he died in 1973.

James Schamus American filmmaker

James Allan Schamus is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal.

Samuel S. Yasgur was an attorney; Sullivan County, New York official; and the son of Max Yasgur, who leased land on his 600 acres (2.4 km2) dairy farm in Bethel, New York for the Woodstock Music & Art Festival in August 1969. Yasgur said that his "consultations with his father" played a crucial role in the concert coming to Bethel. He grew up on his father's farm, and was a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Chicago Law School.

Michael Lang (producer) American concert promoter and record producer (1944-2022)

Michael Scott Lang was an American concert promoter, producer, and artistic manager who was best known as a co-creator of the Woodstock Music & Art Festival in 1969. Lang served as the organizer of the event, as well as the organizer for its follow-up events, Woodstock '94 and the ill-fated Woodstock '99. He later became a producer of records, films, and other concerts, as well as, the manager of performing artists, a critically acclaimed author, and a sculptor.

Joel Rosenman conceived and co-created the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Rosenman thought of the idea for the three-day concert when he and business partner John Roberts were evaluating a proposal from Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld for a recording studio in upstate New York. The four went on to create the event. Rosenman and Roberts are the co-authors of Making Woodstock, originally published as Young Men with Unlimited Capital, a non-fiction account of their exploits as producers of Woodstock.

<i>Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More</i> 1970 live album by various artists

Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More is a live album of selected performances from the 1969 Woodstock counterculture festival officially known as "The Woodstock Music & Art Fair". The album was compiled & produced by Eric Blackstead. Originally released on Atlantic Records' Cotillion label as a triple album on May 11, 1970, it was re-released as a 4 CD box by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labsin 1986 followed by a two-CD set released by Atlantic in 1987. Atlantic re-issued the two-CD set in 1994 correcting a few mastering errors found on their 1987 release. Veteran producer Eddie Kramer along with Lee Osbourne were the sound engineers during the three-day event.

The term Woodstock Nation refers specifically to the attendees of the original 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival that took place from August 15–17 on the farm of Max Yasgur near Bethel, New York. It comes from the title of a book written later that year by Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman, describing his experiences at the festival.

White Lake, Sullivan County, New York Hamlet and CDP in New York, United States

White Lake is a hamlet in the town of Bethel, Sullivan County, New York, United States, on the southeastern shore of a lake of the same name. It was the closest community to the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969.

<i>The Ice Storm</i> (film) 1997 film by Ang Lee

The Ice Storm is a 1997 American drama film directed by Ang Lee, based on Rick Moody's 1994 novel of the same name. The film features an ensemble cast of Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Katie Holmes, Glenn Fitzgerald, Jamey Sheridan, and Sigourney Weaver. Set during Thanksgiving 1973, The Ice Storm is about two dysfunctional New Canaan, Connecticut, upper-class families who are trying to deal with tumultuous social changes of the early 1970s, and their escapism through alcohol, adultery, and sexual experimentation.

<i>Taking Woodstock</i> 2009 American film

Taking Woodstock is a 2009 American comedy-drama film about the Woodstock Festival of 1969, directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay by James Schamus is based on the memoir Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte.

Ang Lee Taiwanese director, screenwriter and film producer

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese filmmaker. Born in the Pingtung County of southern Taiwan, Lee was educated in Taiwan and later in the United States. During his filmmaking career he has received international critical and popular acclaim and a range of accolades.

Elliot Tiber

Elliot Michael Tiber was an artist, professor, and screenwriter who wrote a memoir about the Woodstock Festival held in Bethel, New York in 1969. He claimed responsibility for the relocation of the festival after a permit for it was withdrawn by the zoning board of a nearby town.

The Road to Woodstock is a 2009 book by Michael Lang and Holly George-Warren describing Lang's involvement in creation of the Woodstock Music & Arts Festival.

Woodstock Sound-Outs or soundouts were mini-festivals held outside Woodstock, NY from 1967 to 1970. They were the brainchild of John "Jocko" Moffitt, a roofer and drummer. He had heard about a number of folk festivals in his native California, and he wanted to stage a rock festival in a country setting. Planning for the event began in 1966 and by the early spring of 1967 performers like Richie Havens were being tentatively booked.

Woodstock, New York Town in New York, United States

Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.