The Road to Woodstock 1969
The Genesis of Woodstock
After promoting the Miami Pop Festival in May 1968, one Michael Lang sold his Hippie Head Shop in Miami and moved to Woodstock, New York after having experienced the thriving Music Community there. The Artists Colony was the Summer residence of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendricks, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, The Band, and members of Blood, Sweat, and Tears. He had the idea of creating a Recording Studio and a Record Label in Woodstock in 1969… to make a local place for Hip Woodstock Residents to record their Songs.
At that time, he was managing a Garage Band called The Train... while hustling to get them a Contract, he met up with one Artie Kornfeld, a Capital Records Executive and they hit it off. Kornfeld liked his idea and to finance the Vision, they decided to make a plan to hold a Concert that would turn into a yearly Event like Newport.
They connected with 2 New York Financiers, John Roberts and Joel Rosenman who would bankroll the Event so they started "Woodstock Ventures". The idea for the concert became a reality when Lang and Kornfeld contacted the two Young, Wealthy investors from New York City who had posted ads in the “Capital Available” sections of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal stating, “Young Men with Unlimited Capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions.”
The four met several times in early 1969 and the Woodstock festival transformed from a mere idea to a reality… Roberts provided $500,000 in initial funds to support the project while Rosenman drew up and reviewed the Legal Contracts and affairs necessary to move the Project forward.
Lang first sought to distribute roles to each of the Partners: Kornfeld would be in charge of Publicity and advertising, investing roughly an additional $200,000 into Promotions while garnering “a tremendous amount of excitement and speculation” about the festival on NYC Radio Stations. Lang acted as the hands-on Producer of the festival… booking the Talent, Designing and Preparing the Site, and putting together the Production Team.
Roberts and Rosenman would utilize their backgrounds in Finance and Law to oversee Business Administration and Ticket distribution and Purchasing. The Partners agreed upon calling the festival, “An Aquarian Exposition: The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair” In regards to the name of the concert, Lang stated:
“I suggested “Aquarian Exposition” to encompass all the arts, not only music but crafts, painting, sculpture, dance, theatre… I wanted to reference the Aquarian age, an era of great harmony predicted by astrologers to coincide with the late twentieth century, a time when stars and planets would align to allow for more understanding, sympathy, and trust in the world. Our festival would be that place for the people to come together to celebrate the coming of a new age.”
To begin Ticket Distribution and Sales, Rosenman and Roberts began researching the major population centers of the northeastern corridor - New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts… and determined that as many as 200,000 people could attend the Festival. With this record-breaking estimation in mind, Lang and his partners set about securing a location for the concert, with Woodstock being their first option.
Finding strong objections from the local Town Fathers of Woodstock, they passed Regulations of such an Event, and for most wealthy Residents, their effort turned to nearby Saugerties… despite the Setback, confidence was so strong amongst the Ventures that August 15 was settled for the 3-day Event.
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