The Road to Woodstock

By: Michael Lang, Holly George-Warren

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

The story of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair begins with Michael Lang, a kid out of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who liked to smoke a joint and listen to jazz. He would find his way to Florida, open a head shop, and produce his first festival - Miami Pop, featuring Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and others - then travel to Woodstock, where, after meeting Artie Kornfeld, his vision for a festival where folks could come and stay for a few days amid the rural beauty of upstate New York would become a reality.

With Artie, new partners John Roberts and Joel Rosenman, and his handpicked crew, Lang booked talent, from Janis Joplin and the Who to the virtually unknown Santana and Crosby, Stills, and Nash; won over agents, promoters, and townspeople; took on fleets of volunteers; built a festival site from the ground up; and, in the end, created the landmark cultural event that defined a generation.

©2009 Michael Lang (P)2018 Tantor

I was their (our motto was if it feels good do it)

Younger generation has a hard time looking at gray hair retired professionals had times that rocked the world. Changed the world. We were all chill, no fights or shootings. If you had it we all shared it water, weed or whatever you had. Admittedly by my kids y’all did have the best music. I went with a college roommate he was wrapped to tight for Viet Nam and probably to tight for college. Went it was over and time to go back to school, he said I’m staying and he showed up at school a few days later. The book took me back to the best of times in my generations lives

Behind the scene look at how it all happened!

Enjoyed every minute of our generations great gathering of peace. art and music. A wonderful telling of the how Woodstock came to be. Easy to listen to and went by too quickly.

great book

Learned a tremendous amount about Woodstock 1969. Much of what I thought I knew was wrong.

Worth the listen

Great history of the times and the festival. Narration was great. Besides the occasional liberal propaganda which I guess was expected it was great!

The Backstory to Woodstock

I have been to the Museum at Bethel Woods numerous times and learned a lot about the festival and the sixties. The Road to Woodstock gave me new insight into what it took to put the festival together. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to the story.

From curious to outstanding.

This book was an astonishing breath of fresh air. I learned a lot of super cool things about what went on at Woodstock, there where parts of the story that has my head almost spinning and my heart racing. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to just about anyone but more so to baby boomers.

FANTASTIC

Are you from the decade of love! (The Sixty's) Coffee Houses, Beatniks, Hippies, Kent State Shootings-(May 4th, 1969), Demonstrations of the Vietnam War, and discussions of music!

This took a long look at what happened before, during, and after Woodstock.

Started out slow and dry. Ended up to be a great story and brought back memories that kept flooding in.

Love this book!

It brings you through the whole process and you will feel like you were there at times at at others you’ll feel like your watching the scene from a seat in a helicopter looking down on an ocean of humanity.

It seems like Woodstock was supposed to happen against all odds and I am so very glad that it did happen!

It’s great to learn about the people who made it happen even when it gets ugly. There’s not too much ugly but it’s not all pretty.

As a lover of Music Festivals

As an avid Phish fan who has come back after many 3 night runs asking “why can’t people be like that all the time?” I am fascinated with the event that was Woodstock. This book was well written and had me interested all the way through.

Woodstock

I really wanted to like this more than I did. Parts of the narration seem to be repeated; it’s almost as though it wasn’t proofread. The narrator should be broken up between different speakers as the story line sequences. I’m going to give it another listen but from my first impression it could have been better