I went to a Woodstock 40th Anniversary Reunion show last night. It was here in Tampa at a place called Skippers and was put on by the local community radio station WMNF.
The idea was a bunch of local bands would “cover” all the Woodstock bands in the order that they performed at the actual Woodstock Festival. So each band would play roughly a 20 minute set and play songs by each Woodstock artist. So the first act would play Richie Havens songs and the last act would do Jimi Hendrix. They would play in the same order as the actual Woodstock bands played.

It all started at 2:00 PM on Saturday and went until the bands were done. Sounds crazy doesn’t it? How would they fit it all in between 2:00 and midnight. Anyway, it looks like they did it. I wasn’t there for the whole time but when I left at 11:00 PM there was only a couple of bands before Jimi was to go on.

Anyway, the show was packed and I was lucky to even get tickets. And it was also a gas. The bands did an amazing job. The highlights that I saw were the bands that did Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, The band that did the Band, and the band that did Melanie… whoops that was Melanie.

Melanie Shows Up

Yes Melanie showed up and played herself. Turns out she lives in the area. She was suppose to perform at an actual show at the original site in Bethel New York, but I guess the show fell through.

Marty Balin also showed up and played with the band that did Jefferson Airplane.

Both Melanie and Marty Balin were surprise “show ups” and the crowd loved them both.

Now I admit I didn’t see everything, so I’m going to depend on my local friends to add to this post and fill in the rest of the details. Come back for more to hear the whole story.

Based on the book Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte, the film tells the real-life story of Tiber and his family and how the Woodstock Music Festival ended up in their backyard (literally).

The Plot

Elliot Tiber (played by comedian Demetri Martin) lives with his parents in Bethel, NY, where they own a small motel which is badly in need of refurbishment. Money is really tight, though, and the family is at risk of losing the property unless they can come up with an exorbitant amount of money.

When Tiber hears of a displaced hippie music festival in need of an area of land to have their festival, he contacts the festivalís coordinator, Michael Lang (played by Broadway veteran Jonathan Groff sporting an awesome hairdo), and gets together with Max Yasgur (Eugene Levy) to offer up Yasgur’s farmland and the Tiber family’s motel. We all know, of course, that many more (try a few hundred thousand more) people showed up than expected, and so began the four legendary days of peace, love, and music known as Woodstock.

Other notable cast members include Liev Schreiber, Emile Hirsch, and Dan Fogler. The film is directed by the incomparable Ang Lee (of Brokeback Mountain fame, among others). Taking Woodstock first premiered at the 2009 Cannes  Film Festival.

My Take

I had the unfortunate privilege of being born almost 20 years too late to attend Woodstock (not a day goes by where I don’t ponder the possibility that I was born in the wrong decade), but I’m a big enough music and Woodstock lover to have very high expectations of this film. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried when I saw notable comedians like Martin, Levy, and Fogler on the cast list, and immediately hoped the producers and director weren’t going to turn this amazing story into an American Pie-like comedic depiction.

After viewing the trailer, my worries were immediately gone. The music, outfits, and general layout of the film look to be extremely authentic.

When I saw the short snipit of Liev Schreiber in the trailer where they show his transvestite character, Vilma, talking to Tiber, I immediately thought, THIS is gonna ROCK. It was sort of the same feeling I felt when I saw Robert De Nero in Stardust as the flamboyant Captain Shakespeare.

The film is rated R for graphic nudity, drug use, language, and sexual content, but let’s be honest – you couldn’t make a remotely authentic depiction of the counterculture revolution with anything less.

I feel the ideals and feelings of the counterculture revolution are coming back full-force today. My generation might not completely understand how significant and trying the late 1960s were, but anyone can see that the ideas of peace and equality are back in the wake of a vastly unpopular overseas war and corrupt leadership (sound familiar?). I hope Taking Woodstock will find great success in the box offices and hearts of the world and help people to see that now is the first time since the Vietnam era where we need to pass on the ideas of love and harmony, and just give peace a chance.