The Road to Woodstock 1969... July - August

On July 2, 1969, the Town Board of Wallkill met to Vote on the measure to restrict Events of more than 5,000 to adhere to their new Law regarding those Assemblies... which, obviously Woodstock Venture could not possibly meet... the Appeal was held and rejected on the 15th... what to do now?

"We're one month away from the Festival, and we've ridden our Horses into an Ambush from which there is no Escape. It's time to get the Hell out of Dodge." Michael Lang

Construction was underway at the Wallkill site... Lang happened to be there when a Tractor Trail pulled up with a load of Telephone Poles... when asked, "Can we unload?"... the reply was "Hold it"... they had to find a new Site.

Lang went into "Overdrive"... but where and who could find it was the "Question of the Day"... well his Fate was still with HIM, don't ya know!!!

On the 16th, his Village Office got a Call from a Guy who said he had a place in Sullivan County that would be perfect for the Festival... Wow! In his 1969 Porshe 911, he and Tricia (his Assistant) sped to the Catskills.

Once there, they met one Elliot Tiber who, every Summer put on a Production at a Theatre he built on a Farm just outside of Bethel... "I put on a theatre festival every summer," Elliot told us, "and I already have a permit for this year's production... so you've got you permit."

When the rest of Lang's Site team arrived, Elliot promised with a grin, "Follow me! It's a natural bowl and perfect for the festival!" They took the short and, when passing by a Field, Lang said, "STOP THE CAR!"... it was the Field of his dreams.

When Lang asked, "Who does all this land belong to?"

"Max Yasgur," he replied. "He's the biggest dairy farmer in the County. He owns 10 farms and 2 thousand acres. I can call him and see if he's interested in renting to you."

"Let's do that," Lang said... he had to work at staying calm. They found a pay phone and on they went to meet Max. he had heard about our unfortunate incident and said that we had done a "Grave Injustices"... so on they went to look over the land.

In the simple discussion, Max pulled out a pen and started scribbling... when asked by Max how much land do they wanted, Lang replied, "Well, in addition to the field and whatever you have surrounding it, we need another 600 acres, including land for camping and parking." Having crops that would not be harvested until fall, he scribbled some more and said that he would work out a number as to whether he could harvest some crops before the 10th of August Lang was obviously relieved and felt that this land was his Woodstock... and Max was their Savior.

In a meeting the next day, they had agreed to rent the land for $50,000 plus another $75,000 to be held in escrow for any damages that might occur... Lang's Banker handed him a Cashier's Check for that amount. After covering and negotiating the other Issues at hand, at 10 p.m. they signed the Papers. Elation at Last!

The news hit the Papers on the 17th that the Festival was moving to White Lake...plans were made to meet with the Town to get the Permits. That they did over the weekend and the Bethel Town Supervisor felt there were no real problems at hand... a meeting was set up for Monday the 21st.

They rented a whole Motel for a period and started to move their office and set up a Ticket Booth... the Crews started to make repairs on the motel as it was a piece of Shite. By Monday, they had Contracts with the Electric and Phone Companies... they didn't have to about water as there was a small Lake on the property whose water was potable.

Note: Butch had called me on the night of the 15th and asked if I could drive up to meet with the Division Manager of the New York Telephone Company on the 16th... so I drove the 93 miles up in a scoot at 5 am for a breakfast meeting. Although he did not trust these Guys after Wallkill, he was not worried about getting paid as they had total control to shut down their service (no Pay... no Play). First, they wanted as many cables underground as possible and that was vetoed as you cannot recover cables from the dirt (impractical and expensive)... the poles from Wallkill went back to the Boneyard as they were for Urban areas and short Poles would only work on flat ground.

He wanted a plan by the 21st for how many cables and where they were to be put and signed off by Lang... it was so wet that many poles would have to be set by hand if it wasn't on high ground. So we tried to use logic by asking their Communications Manager a thousand questions, most of which needed Lang's approval... but we got it done and all mapped out and the plan was to start on Friday, the 25th (weather permitting).

Lang hired probably the only Sound Engineer on the Planet, one Bill Hanley to build the Sound System for only 200,000... why, I do not know because everyone who was in the know knew it would be more than that - it was obviously a $ concern as Hanley had said that to go higher was not in the reach of the day's equipment. But, no one could doubt the "Man' because of his track record at Newport and Monterey.

We were allowed to consult with the Sound team, Butch was full-time, and he had the bright idea to get Telephone Lineman to moonlight with the Crew laying the massive amount of cables (at twice the Pay they were making with Ma Bell). I have to admit, if there was anything that was going to screw this Venture UP, it was the Sound System... I remember the bad Sounds at Shea Stadium in 65 for the Beatles Concert as the Crowd noise overwhelmed their poor Speaker System.

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After the 3-hour meeting with the Board ended, they got their Permit with Max testifying surely had an impact... his land was zoned as Commercial and it helped. The main thing that sold it was the amount of Revenue the Town Merchants would gain for its 2,000 Residents regardless of the protests and Threats against for letting a band of Hippies invade their Casa. It did not hurt that Lang was still misrepresenting the Masses that were to invade Sullivan County, but "What the FUK," it was now going to happen!"

By now, they had sold $600,000 worth of Tickets and was no longer on Lang's immediate mind... Trucks from the demolition of Wallkill started to arrive on the 22nd... they started on the Plumbing system, Max did not want any underground pipes that would be difficult to remove. He did give them permission to drill several wells for more potable H20... someone found a "Devinner" who hit 5 of the 8 tries.

Parking was the next issue and they rented $25,000 more of the driest land they could find? Hiring unskilled Workers was not a problem and 70 were hired after the first ad went live... it was the 75-foot Stage that was going to be the biggest challenge as Tower erection was a standard event by skilled Workers. By the 15th of August, they would hire upwards of a thousand workers! (technically we called them "Mudders"... basically, everyone was working 24/7 and happy for the Work!

We had ordered upwards of 300 Telephone Poles, the highest was a couple of 60-footers for spanning the hill from the above to the main Switchboard that we designed... figuring out just how many pairs of wires was a challenge along with the number of Booths and where they would go for the lines that would be formed to call Home. (I never knew exactly the number of them that were installed for "Collect calls' only, but it certainly was not enough... wait times of up to 3 hours happened, only because half would not stay in line, saying "Fuk it."

Recruiting had it disappointments, one Paper said that John Lennon was coming and that caused a run on Sales (of course that was false as he could not even get back into the US because of his Religious BS). A new Poster (25th) was made that said "TO INSURE THREE DAYS OF PEACE AND MUSIC WE'VE LEFT WALLKILL AND ARE AT WHITE LAKE, N.Y." It made the National News that kicked up Sales. On the 28th, they held a Press Conference and met with the Police Department and the State Health Department and were able to deal with them handily.

They were served Papers by 4 Summer Camps who claimed the Festival was disrupting their Business and by Homeowners who rented their places... all to no avail. Parking was becoming a serious issue as all Sites picked were underwater except the Site on the Hill which would only handle about one-fourth of the expected Vehicles (believe me, I did not meet anyone on the Team that had any idea about what was coming). Land knew that the Helicopter was going to save the day so he rented more Land from Max for a Heliport. They also purchased thousands of Xmas light for it and the Camping Areas.

The construction of the Stage and Speaker Towers by August 1 actually was going quite well, magically, and was truly a Miracle... it rained almost every day (sometimes all day) but the Crews never stopped. The Stage was high up and basically could stop any rush and had moveable parts to assist in setting up Band equipment and was solid as a Rock, once finally completed on the 14th.

The Stage was 80' by 100' and they had a unique design plan where the Band behind the one playing could set up and be ready to go when they were finished... the 2 round frames were on wheels and, theoretically, be moved by a few hands making an efficient change-over. Well, it did not work at all and broke down the first day. Back to the old days with a longer set up time that was added to by the weather. Ok, with all the Crap experienced over the 23 days of constructing the Stage, it was basically ready but still with some minor problems that would be solved by Friday (15th) about noonish. In my view, they could have built a better Cover that was retractable... as many Bands were decimated by some of the Storms. I am not sure how and why it all survived, but it did.

The Sound System: Hanley had a great relationship with Altec Lansing who I had worked with some of the Bell Labs Engineers who had bailed, for the Bucks, to work for the best at that time. The main Speakers weighed a thousand pounds, were 6 feet high, and were powered by 2 huge Transformers putting out 2,000 amps of Power (having that much power near a Crowd like that is scary in itself if they ever blew. Hanley totally rebuilt the Microphones from spare parts that I got sent to Manhattan to pick up at Radio Row... they worked amazingly well, especially during the condition. There was an excuse from David Crosby that he was getting shocked by his Miscrophone but I could never really confirm it... but, the Storm that happened during their performance was quite shocking, itself.

We worked closely with Bill Hanley's Crew who was, in my opinion, the Cream of all Sound Engineers "EVER" assembled to perform the task that I thought would be impossible to create... but they did it, indeed. My part was very simple as I only listened around the back edges and suggested re-aiming some Sprekers. Depending on the wind, that could really blow, there were some areas where the Sounds from the Audience, on a few Sets, that could overwhelm the Speakers Sounds... but all-in-all, I give Bill and his Crew a BIG Thumbs up for their effort.

To solve the Food Issue (Nathans had backed out of a deal).. 3 Bethel Merchants tried to form a Company and make a deal for food for 150 to 200,00 Souls (it was finally coming out how truly BIG this was going to be) for $75K upfront and a split of Concessions. No one liked the deal but they were STUCK! The Company was called "Food for Love" and they were to sell Hot Dogs for 25 cents... well, the story ends with some goers burning down the 2 Concession Stands after they raised the price to a Buck! (LOL)

The Food Issue is a Tale that I still cannot figure (and it isn't worth any more energy to do so) out how the Mass of Souls got fed. Stan Goldstein, Coordinator of Campgrounds for Woodstock, had attended the "Hog Farm" Summer Solstice in New Mexico in June of 1969... he was very impressed by how sensitively members handled Folks tripping on acid, which he knew would be useful for the event he was helping to plan. The 85 Commune Members, who arrived on August 7, were setting up 4 (only 4?) Concession Stands... I guess the local's Plan did not fly.

The Toilet Issue: At a normal Sports Event in America there is a toilet for about 50 Souls... that is why most big Concerts get held in Stadiums made for a Mass of Attendees. Now, I do not claim to know they got away with the solution at the farm, but it is said that the was was one Toilet for about 800... and there was no real cleaning Crew to be found. By Saturday, the 16th, they were overflowing and mingled with Mud... so, the solution was to dig a trench to move the sludge away... not funny at all!

Neither Butch nor I could figure out the Food and Security situation as we were consumed by our work helping the Sound Team doing Gopher work, taking a Helicopter to Manhatten to get parts from an Electronic Shop in Radio Row, and adding Telephone lines wherever needed. And, somehow, all of the rentaCops Lang hired got pulled out by the State Police Commander so the Hog Farm was put in charge of Security (LOL).

Well Mates, I honestly do not know how it all got done... but before it was finished on the morning of Monday, the 11th, Butch woke to see over a thousand or so Souls arriving to find a good spot to Camp. Lang had made an announcement that the Campgrounds would open on Wednesday but none of them gave a shit!. They were supposed to have built a fence to keep non-ticket holders at bay, but it was getting knocked down from the get-go... they tore it down the next day as Lang was worried about People getting hurt. (whoever thought that fence idea up anyway was an idiot as anybody could have climbed over it).

In addition, Lang's legal problems were not over, and, on the 12th, those who filed the complaints went before the Court one more time... their position was presented: we have spent over $1.4 million on the Event that has benefited this Community and plan on spending another $300K and have sold over 120,000 advance Tickets. Well, the Meeting ended with no further action (OK).

After dealing with Police issues, some good news finally came in... on the 14th, they got a Film Deal with Warner Bros. They also said they would fund extra Helicopters to transport the Performers.

Well, Friday the 15th finally came and about 200,000 People were stirring around... and, with the fences down, they were streaming in droves but the roads were blocked by cars standstill and could not move. They knew that trying to sell Tickets was futile so they announced that the Concert was free to all newcomers.

Apparently, Lang had offered Jimi Hendriks a bonus to open but he refused so he had to persuade Richie Valens to open... after some stumbling around, he took the Stage at 5:08, and off it went. Whew!

My coverage from then on is documented separately... Rock On ♪♪♪