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

This is a fantastically funny and true story of the life of THE Father of Woodstock, Elliot Tiber. It is also true that, "Success has a thousand Fathers, while Failure is an Orphan". There is more than one self-proclaimed "Father of Woodstock" out there, but Elliot Tiber is the real deal. Elliot is not ONLY the one who introduced Woodstock Venture's Mike Lang to Max Yasgur in the 11th hour to provide the site, after the first site had to be abandoned, but equally vital to the Festival, he also provided the permit for same! This is why he is also referred to as the Woodstock Messiah.

The timing could not have been better as Elliot was holding his parent's struggling tourist hotel together with "bubble gum and rubber bands" so to speak, when Mike Lang literally, not figuratively, descended from the sky in a helicopter to save the day with bags of John Robert's money, again, literally not figuratively. A fairy tale come true.

My only caution would be chapter 3, which could be considered optional as it describes perhaps a little more than we really need to know about his "coming of age" as a gay man. However, for uninhibited people like myself, with no hangups about different strokes for different folks, it was equally entertaining. In chapter 5, Elliot describes how he was also present for another piece of history, the famous Stonewall Rebellion that gave birth to the Gay Liberation Movement in June of 1969.

You will have a hard time putting this book down once you start to read it, so start out when you have plenty of time to spend enjoying this hilarious, true story of how the Woodstock Festival, that "defined a generation", came to be. This is the most entertaining AND informative book I have ever read on any subject. Roger P. Orcutt, Ph.D. (Microbiology).

The above would be an appropriate subtitle for this heartfelt but energetic and witty coming-of-age autobiography/memoir by Elliot Tiber, whose main claim to fame is that he fought the petty politics and narrow-mindedness of his small town of Bethel, NY, in order to make possible the Woodstock Festival in 1969.

The author (born Eliyahu Teichberg) grew up in the richly ethnic neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in an emotionally-starved but hardworking family with his Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. His father worked as a roofer, while his mother ran a housewares store in which they all helped out. Elliot finished college and began a moderately successful career in art design, primarily starting out dressing store windows and painting murals for rich Manhattanites. A trip to the Catskills resulted in the family buying a run-down motel right off Highway 17B at White Lake, in the town of Bethel NY, and Elliot found himself splitting his time, working weekdays in NYC and spending weekends doing whatever had to be done to keep the motel operational and barely financially afloat.

At the same time, Elliot came to the realization that he was gay, and - for whatever reason - favored the underground S&M flavored scene that existed in NYC in the mid 1960's. He met and partied with Robert Mapplethorpe, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and even encountered Rock Hudson at one point. Of course, coming out to his conservative parents wasn't an option for him at the time, but his "secret life" during the week somewhat served to make bearable the weekends at the motel, scrubbing toilets and dealing with customer complaints (The Teichbergs cut a few corners in customer service. For example, they had phones in each room, but they weren't connected to anything. The TV was an empty box, as was the air conditioner sleeve below the window. Need soap and a towel? It'll cost ya extra, but you're lucky you made it in today, since Dad has hosed off your sheets - the only cleaning they ever got - just yesterday.)

In early 1969, Elliot read with interest the news accounts that the promoters of the planned Woodstock Music and Art Festival had been denied a permit by the town of Walkill, their planned location. As president (nobody else wanted the job) of Bethel's Chamber of Commerce, he had the authority to issue festival permits, and contacted the promoters about the possibility of moving the festival to Bethel, and offered the meadow of a friend, dairy farmer Max Yasgur, as the perfect venue. Much of the book details the whirlwind events that followed, as the festival took on a life of its own, eventually attracting around 500,000 people to the small town, resulting in threats by locals, payoffs to those who opposed it, nudity, drugs, gangsters, people bathing in the lake, shortages of food and water, but - despite it all - the most historic event in music and counterculture history, after which nothing would ever be the same again for Elliot and his family.

The author has a gift in telling a story, even one as obviously self-centered as this one is, for the most part. Witty and engaging, sure to bring back memories of that era. Looking forward to the movie based on the book. A full 5 blacklight-glowing stars out of 5!

This new paperback edition of Elliot Tiber's "stranger than fiction" memoir has a new Dedication in the front and features some very cool "Things I Kinda Remember from 1969" factoids (care of the author) in the French-folds of the front and back cover. I'm really excited to see the film that Ang Lee made from this film, and I'm going to read this book again before I go see the movie in August. Woodstock Nation, our Freak Flags are again waving - hang 'em high so everyone can see us!!!