Father of Woodstock to share his story in Bristol
With a memoir out, Artie Kornfeld talks about the event like no on else



PHOTO COURTESY ARTIE KORNFELD - Artie Kornfeld co-created and pro ...


Contributed by Artie Kornfeld - Artie Kornfeld, a gifted songwrit ...


PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTIE KORNFELD - Young Artie Kornfeld, known at ...


PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTIE KORNFELD - “My book is not a Woodst ...

Published: January 15, 2011

BY TOM NETHERLAND
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

Poll a pack of Bristolians and odds are that nary a one would know the name Artie Kornfeld.

But they sure know Kornfeld’s work.

Artie Kornfeld co-created and promoted Woodstock.

Hear the man known as The Father of Woodstock speak on Woodstock in addition to his more than half-century life in music on Jan. 18 at the Bristol Public Library in Bristol, Va. A gifted songwriter and music executive, Kornfeld documented his life in his memoirs, “The Pied Piper of Woodstock.”

“My book is not a Woodstock picture book,” Kornfeld said by phone from his home in Del Ray Beach, Fla. “I talk about the spirit of Woodstock. That’s about helping your brothers and sisters through life.”

And his appearance in Bristol?

“I can take them to Woodstock like no one else can,” Kornfeld said.

What follows is how Kornfeld got to Woodstock and how the three-day festival from 1969 impacted generations thereafter.

The ‘Pied Piper’

The son of a New York City policeman, Kornfeld was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He gravitated to music as a child, and built a life therein.

“I was signed to an agency deal in 1958 when I was in the 10th grade,” Kornfeld said.

As time passed by, Kornfeld wrote songs such that he became a prolific songwriter. His songs have been recorded by Cher, Wayne Newton, Jan & Dean (Kornfeld co-wrote 1964’s “Dead Man’s Curve”), Dusty Springfield and even Woody Allen among many others.

Yet first came a tour as a member of the Changing Times with Dion and the Delmonts and Sonny and Cher in 1965. Kornfeld had written the song “Pied Piper,” which snuck into Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles chart in late 1965.

“(‘Pied Piper’) set the stage for (Woodstock) as far as I’m concerned,” Kornfeld said. “It says, I am you and you are me and we are all together, and that’s what Woodstock was all about. It’s a really spiritual message.”

In 1967, Kornfeld became the youngest vice president of rock music at Capitol Records at age 25. He held his position with Capitol until 1969 when given the choice between working on one of rock’s mightiest labels and Woodstock.

“I gave up a wonderful life to do Woodstock,” Kornfeld said.

Why on Earth would someone do that?

“Woodstock is something that I think I was preparing for all my life,” he said.

Woodstock was for Peace

Kornfeld and Michael Lang created Woodstock.

Billed as the “Woodstock Music & Art Fair, An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music,” the three-day festival staged Aug. 15-17, 1969. Held on Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., 32 acts including Santana, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Who and Jimi Hendrix rounded out the bill.

Tickets sold for $6 per day.

“I’ve always believed that music is for the soul,” Kornfeld said.

But music was not the star of Woodstock.

“I made Woodstock the star of Woodstock,” Kornfeld said.

But Woodstock was not for everyone. Numerous bands and musicians declined invitations to perform. Most famously among them, Bob Dylan, often hailed as the voice of the 1960s.

Heavy hitters Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Byrds and the Moody Blues also turned down invitations. Most bizarre of all those invited was Western music star Roy Rogers. Lang invited him with intent on having Rogers perform the finale at Woodstock.

“I wanted “Happy Trails” to close the festival,” Lang told the Washington Examiner in 2009. “We all grew up with Roy Rogers.”

Also absent from Woodstock was rock’s rowdies, the Rolling Stones. For good reason, Kornfeld said, they were never invited.

“They were a violent band,” he said. “They were not a peaceful band.”

And so Woodstock rolled into history without the Rolling Stones, Dylan, Led Zeppelin and so on. Historic though it was, the festival did not make money on its own.

“It cost $2.4 million because Michael Lang went 600 percent over budget,” Kornfeld said. “We lost $1.4 million.”

Kornfeld, Lang and the more than 1,600 staffers at Woodstock aimed for higher ground than merely staging a money making music festival. They sought a statement that would resound not simply for three days. They wanted to change the world.

“Woodstock was a cocoon for peace,” Kornfeld said. “It’s an eternal spirit.”



After Woodstock

But that spirit did materialize into dollars.

A documentary of the festival, “Woodstock,” was released in 1970 and promptly won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Two albums were issued. One included the song “Woodstock,” written by Joni Mitchell who was not at Woodstock, which became a Top 15 hit in 1970 for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who were.

Along the way and as America changed with the new decade, so too did the Woodstock nation.

“The Woodstock nation dropped the ball,” Kornfeld said. “With my book I want to show to every single person who reads it that the Woodstock generation that was active became not very active.”

That accelerated as the 1970s led to the 1980s.

“They became the SUV-driving yuppie generation,” Kornfeld said.

Don’t misread Kornfeld’s words.

He’s downright pickled in all things Woodstock. He brims with optimism in regards to Woodstock’s enduring impact that he said has found a new place in the current generation.

They are, Kornfeld said, the new Woodstock generation.

“They have the same ideals, the same bright-eyed, bushy-tailed outlook,” he said. “Keep your head up and we shall overcome.”

Golden Woodstock

Rolling Stone magazine selected Woodstock as one of the 50 moments that changed the history of rock music.

Books, posters, albums, movies, songs, museums, two subsequent Woodstock concerts more than 40 years hence and so on resulted. Count Kornfeld’s book, “The Pied Piper of Woodstock” among the throng of memorabilia.

And yet Kornfeld said that he owns no Woodstock memorabilia.

“I am memorabilia,” he said.

However.

To some folks Woodstock amounted to a gigantic mud pit inhabited by wildly unkempt high-as-the-sky hippies. Roger Daltrey of The Who once said of their performance at Woodstock that “it was the worst gig we ever played.”

Daltrey wasn’t alone.

But as Kornfeld said, Woodstock was not simply just about the music. Despite the rain and subsequent mud, despite rampant drug use and thousands of people who showed up and didn’t pay to enter the event Woodstock heralded peace and harmony.

“When you have 500,000 people together and you don’t have one fistfight,” Kornfeld said, “you know you’re onto something.”

He was onto something all right.

Time magazine called Woodstock “the greatest peaceful event in history.”

“Woodstock was waiting to happen,” Kornfeld said. “Woodstock was the star of Woodstock.”

Tom Netherland is a freelance writer. He may be reached at features@bristolnews.com.

IF YOU GO
>> Who: Artie Kornfeld, The Father of Woodstock
>> When: Jan. 18, 7 p.m.
>> Where: Bristol Public Library, J. Henry Kegley Meeting Room, 701 Goode St., Bristol, Va.
>> Admission: Free
>> Info: (276) 645-8780
>> Web: www.artiekornfeld-woodstock.com
>> And: www.bristol-library.org

[www2.tricities.com]

"Also absent from Woodstock was rock’s rowdies, the Rolling Stones. For good reason, Kornfeld said, they were never invited.

“They were a violent band,” he said. “They were not a peaceful band.”

What a ridiculous comment.

Ironic considering the Who's stage act was pretty violent and at the event itself Townshend physically assaulted Abbie Hoffman with his guitar.

The Stones wouldnt have played Woodstock anyway had they been invited, as Jagger was in Australia shooting 'Ned Kelly' until mid September.

Kornfeld is entitled to think what he wants and invite who he wants.
I don't mind him describing 60's era Stones as "violent".

Just think if Keith had connected with his guitar on that fellow he took a swipe at that time with his guitar?

...Where's that blade when you need it...

["I can hear the Bullfrog calling me..."]

Maybe he said that because of Altamont (although that happened after Woodstock, it may have influenced his overall view of the Stones).

That craziness was due to the Hells Angels though, not the Stones.

Woodstock is an overrated event the Stones did not need. I would not like to visit an event with 500.000 visitors that lasts for days without toilets.

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windmelody
I would not like to visit an event with 500.000 visitors that lasts for days without toilets.

Well, you don't want to come to the Mardi Gras then!: [www.myspace.com]

the sad thing is this guy knows it was just a bunch of stoned idiots rolling around in the mud at a rock concert.never have so many people tried to sell such a large amount of cow manure as the 60's generation.

"the woodstock generation dropped the ball"-yeah,dumbf/ck,its hard to keep your eye on the ball when you're high on acid.what was the exact message here anyway,peace and love? be nice?- well thats fine but its not always applicable in every situation,you learn that when you become a functioning adult.

i grew up in the 70.s and i very well remember a million jerkoffs like this guy who thought they were some kind of chosen ones who were superior to us lowlife stones people.

by the way,how much did you sell the movie rights to woodstock for dali lama jr ? ...f/ck off

[sorry for sounding rude again guys but this is the exact kind of self righteous cretin that gets on my last nerve...]

Wow, even back then fans were already whining and demanding.

[www.goodreads.com]


This book bury's the myth of Woodstock, and exposes the whole "venture" for what it was. One man,Michael Lang's, successful mission to make it into the history books. Of all the main players, Kornfeld, was the least significant.Pretty much along for the ride. Lang was the hustler, Roberts and Rosenbaum the money boys.

"Ironic considering the Who's stage act was pretty violent and at the event itself Townshend physically assaulted Abbie Hoffman with his guitar."

Gazza nailed it.

Pete also kicked a cameraman in the ass (Michael Wadleigh himself, the director of the "Woodstock" documentary), who dared to get too close to film Daltrey. This can be seen in the B&W footage (bootleg) of the gig.

[www.longliverock.org]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-01-17 19:08 by Milan.