Woodstock 40 YEAR anniversary: from N.Y. to a little town in Ill.
Sam Wilmes/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 9/11/09 Section: The Verge
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In its 40th year, Woodstock maintains its relevance by inspiring musicians, artists and the creative alike. Most recently, Woodstock was celebrated by the release of a movie on Aug. 28, titled "Taking Woodstock," directed by Ang Lee.
The film captures Woodstock from another point of view. Instead of recreating a story from one random hippie out of hundreds of thousands, the story focused on Elliot Tiber, played by comedian Demetri Martin.
The film is based off the book Tiber wrote, which was about the experience he had during Woodstock. Tiber at the time was the president of Chamber of Commerce in Bethel, NY. His parents owned a motel that was foreclosing and desperately needed money and his help, which led Tiber into meeting with Michael Lang, the creator of Woodstock.
Tiber's trips, struggles and achievements are the general focus of the film. Capturing his point of view of the festival, making the film not really about the music but the effect it had on his life and others during that time, including conservatives, Vietnam veterans and the hippies themselves.
Here in Charleston, the concept of Woodstock has been admired and even taught to students on campus.
Mark Rubel, an Eastern instructor and director of recording, is one of the professors for the Evolution of Jazz and Rock course, in which he teaches the rock portion of the course.
The Woodstock portion, Rubel said "Is the story of how it developed, how few people they thought they had and how many people they ended up with and how they had to fight the city council and move it to another location and then how they thought it would turn out, the road of trying to get there."
Rubel didn't attend the festival, although he says he remembers wanting to go even though he wasn't even a teenager at the time.
"I was visiting my grandmother, and I couldn't imagine driving with my grandmother and then walking the rest. It would probably make a good movie but probably not good for her," Rubel said.
Woodstock also partly inspired the Woodchuck Festival in Charleston Aug. 28-30. Woodchuck was a community-organized festival that took place in a clearing of a forest.Event coordinators sold wristbands for $15 for the entire weekend and $10 for a night to watch live local bands perform.
All the money raised over the three days of the festival was donated to three charities, Hope Women's Center, St. Vincent DePaul and Youth With a Vision.
This was the second Woodchuck festival to take place in Charleston, the last being in April for one night. Community efforts and the Woodchuck Committee, made up of students and local musicians, decided to coordinate the event close to the anniversary of Woodstock to commemorate a time where music and love for one another was free.
"We worked together and there was no jealousy, we all have one connection. Everyone wanted to get to meet and get a chance to meet each other and other musicians," Scott Chaplinski, a student and event coordinator for Woodchuck said.
"A chance to give back and promote local music is what Woodchuck was all about, similar to its predecessor," Chaplinski said. "We're all musicians, but we had help from Mac's Uptowner, the manager of Roc's and other local musicians."
The purpose of these concerts is not to recreate a landmark time but to capture the essence of a utopia. Everyone at these festivals is there for the same reason, to listen to music and basically have a good time. Lang said in the documentary, "The point is that it's happened and it's working."
The anniversary drummed up many dedications from all media publications such as Eastern's own WEIU-FM, which played bands that performed at Woodstock, along with many other radio stations. Television shows also took notice in the anniversary, such as the History Channel, which aired its own documentary of the festival.
Music festivals such as the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Rothbury and Bonnaroo also provide a Woodstock feel, and they have previously cited the 1969 festival as inspiration. But unlike Woodstock, the experience comes at a considerably higher price. The Pygmalion Music Festival in Champaign, Sept. 16-20, will also provide students with a Woodstock-like experience at $60 for a weekend pass.
Woodstock took place 40 years ago, and some who experienced it or live vicariously through documentaries and books may have a hard time using words to explain it. However, it has been decades and it still has made an impact on our society, from a town in New York all the way to a little town in Illinois.
Sam Wilmes can be reached at 581-7942 or at smwilmes@eiu.edu
Submitted by warner bros. and nbc universal
The 1970 documentary titled "Woodstock" inspired Ang Lee's direction in his 2009 film "Taking Woodstock." The first follows the creators of the festival, specifically Michael Lang, in their endeavor to make music history and spread the love. Lee's depiction is fictional, but based on a book written by Elliot Tiber, the man who donated the land after the loss of one venue to the historic festival.
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