Inside Woodstock with organizer Michael Lang

January 12, 2015 6:00 PM

An interview with Michael Lang, organizer of the 1969 Woodstock festival.
posted by paleyellowwithorange (6 comments total)

I was born six months after Woodstock, but for some reason lately I've been feeling intense nostalgia and a sense of loss for that whole period of rock n roll -- that there were heroes then, blah blah. It's silly and indefensible, but there it is. I wonder how much the movie and triple album, both of which I remember from my childhood, had to do with that.
posted by argybarg at 10:15 PM on January 12, 2015

Ang Lee's truly excellent movie Taking Woodstock is a great cross-reference to this. It's not about the festival itself as much as it's about the logistics of putting on the festival, from the point of view from a native who had left and returned to his small hometown just in time to get involved. I watched it with my partner, who is old enough to have been a part of that generation, and he had tears in his eyes by the end of it, bless his hippie heart.

And the actor who plays Lang looks shockingly like Lang. Obviously created to look that way, but they did that with anyone who had "a look" that would be recognized from that event. If I were going to do a double-feature about Woodstock, I would show Taking Woodstock first, and then the concert film (preferably one of the expanded 40th Anniversary cuts of the film).
posted by hippybear at 1:42 AM on January 13, 2015 [1 favorite]

My father in law gave me a book about Woodstock. I'm not sure why he did that since he was too old for it and I was too young, but it's a pretty good read. It's just stories of people who went there without the hype.

I'm sure it was a good time for most people, but the lack of drinking water and toilets would not have been fun.

Woodstock Revisited
posted by freakazoid at 8:56 AM on January 13, 2015

If I were going to do a double-feature about Woodstock, I would show Taking Woodstock first, and then the concert film

I did exactly that when Taking Woodstock was released on video. My wife had never seen the concert film so it was a real revelation for her.
And we both noted how bang-on they portrayed Lang in Taking Woodstock, in both look and mannerisms.
posted by rocket88 at 11:30 AM on January 13, 2015

Anybody notice that Lang mentioned asking the Army Corps of Engineers for advice, but they turned him down?
posted by jonp72 at 7:17 AM on January 14, 2015

Taking Woodstock was delightful. Thanks for the tip, hippybear.
posted by paleyellowwithorange at 2:58 PM on January 17, 2015