Times change Mr. Lang ... If you want a sponsor,
the new theme is healthcare.
Sponsored by:
Posted on 08/05/2009 10:34:48 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
Woodstock promoter Michael Lang has dropped plans for a 40th anniversary concert. Asked why he abandoned the pursuit for a third anniversary concert celebrating the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Lang simply told Rolling Stone, “Money. No sponsors.”
Lang, one of the four partners to stage Woodstock in 1969, had wanted to hold a free concert in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to coincide with the anniversary in mid-August. Those plans were postponed after he failed to find sponsors to cover the $8-$10 million cost. He then turned his attention to the end of September and had hoped to hold the concert in conjunction with Climate Week, which is set for September 20-26th and is part of the international Seal the Deal! Campaign. This effort, according to a United Nations Website, is pushing governments scheduled to meet at COP 15, in Copenhagen this December, to agree on a sustainable climate change pact and promote an international green economy. Lang had wanted to make any Woodstock anniversary concert as green as possible.
“It would have been a big boost for the issue,” he said of the concert.
Lang, however, remains busy with Woodstock-related projects. On August 8th, he will join Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee and screenwriter/producer James Schamus in Woodstock, New York, for an advance screening of the comedy Taking Woodstock, which hits theaters August 28th. The film, directed by Lee, with screenplay by Schamus, is based on a book written by Elliot Tiber, who along with his parents ran a motel in Bethel during the Woodstock festival.
On Friday, August 14th, VH1 will air Woodstock: Now & Then, a documentary directed by Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple that Lang executive produced. The History Channel will show Woodstock: Now & Then on August 17th.
And on August 23rd at Belleayre Mountain, just west of Woodstock, Lang will co-present Kidstock, with a “Tribute to Woodstock” by young musicians from Paul Green’s School of Rock, the inspiration for the Jack Black movie.
Rock PING
The comments on the Rolling Stoned website are a hoot.
What did they say. The orginal concerts had sucky bands with the exception of The Who. And yeah Jimi was overrated. Great guitarist but the songs were not that great.
What did they say. The orginal concerts had sucky bands with the exception of The Who. And yeah Jimi was overrated. Great guitarist but the songs were not that great.
I would hardly rate Crosby, Stills and Nash, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin as "sucky" bands.
Jimi was whacked out that day as were Santana. Someone had dosed the Who’s drinks with acid too (they played all of Tommy and felt the audience wasn’t into it).
If there hadn’t been a movie and soundtrack album, it might’ve been largely forgotten.
There were similar festivals with many of the same bands in Atlanta, Palm Beach Florida, etc. Today they are largely known just by their concert posters.
Isle of Wight Festival was also filmed but it doesn’t have the same level of recognition (at least in the States).
I guess it is harder today to find sheep for the single men that may attend the concert than it was forty years ago. No, I am not being sarcastic, the film has the proof what happened forty years ago.
Jefferson Airplane’s best 2 songs were actually Great Society songs.
Thank God for that!
If you saw the hedonistic filth and perv fest of the last one you know why
The first was unique and had a mystique that can never be reproduced. The last have been hideous attempts to force the same, but for profit.
I picked the 3 I liked best to refute the “suckiness.” All of those you mention were great in my opinion.
Glad it tanked. How can somebody be as old as Lang and still be a moron?
After reading your comment I took a look at the site and read through some of those comments. My fellow employees now think I'm nuts because I can't stop laughing at this one:
"Since the anniversary concert isn’t happening, can we at least have a moment of silence in honor of me taking a dump in the woods and wiping my ass with a sock 40 years ago?"
It was posted by someone who goes by the name "Dirty Hippie." ROFL.
John Sebastian and Sly Stone were definitely not “sucky” either.. Ten Years After (Alvin Lee) may have been sucky but I liked them anyway. Same with Canned Heat and Paul Butterfield.
Just like they predicted in the 1970s.
The first one was filled with violence, vandalism, and theft as well. Don’t forget they tore down the fences. They burned down the burger guy “capitalist”’s booth he paid for. There were some deaths. Some radical who’s name eludes me now trying to steal the film crew’s rented equipment with mob force. Abbie Hoffman and the Black Panthers demanded $10,000 extortion money about a month before the concert to not cause problems there (they got the money and booth space and Abbie still tried to storm the stage during the Who’s set).
The peace love hope change vibe of the original was a myth.
The crowd left plenty of garbage so the ecology of it was a shame too.
Not to mention the crops that were ruined.
LOL! - I actually remember that one!
Don’t see the point. Woodstock in Brooklyn? Why not go to Bonnarroo which I understand is still in a field in Manchester, Tenn? Or if you want a festival in a city go to ACL or Lollapalooza. Woodstock would just be superfluous today.
The day of Woodstock has passed and Lang is out of touch with contemporary music.
“There’s some bad antacid being passed around out there...”
Hey - ShaNaNa played also.
I think it was just before either The Who or Hendrix
Oh yea - and Johnny Winter also
The Newburyport Ma newspaper has a good story about
Woodstock today.The guy that did the sound lived there.
Big story of how he did it
Didn`t know there were 400 cows running loose at the
time of the concert,a farmer shooting in the air he
was so mad.
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