Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"It takes a village" ... and half a million people, September 12, 2007
The above would be an appropriate subtitle for this heartfelt but energetic and witty coming-of-age autobiography/memoir by Elliot Tiber, whose main claim to fame is that he fought the petty politics and narrow-mindedness of his small town of Bethel, NY, in order to make possible the Woodstock Festival in 1969.
The author (born Eliyahu Teichberg) grew up in the richly ethnic neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in an emotionally-starved but hardworking family with his Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. His father worked as a roofer, while his mother ran a housewares store in which they all helped out. Elliot finished college and began a moderately successful career in art design, primarily starting out dressing store windows and painting murals for rich Manhattanites. A trip to the Catskills resulted in the family buying a run-down motel right off Highway 17B at White Lake, in the town of Bethel NY, and Elliot found himself splitting his time, working weekdays in NYC and spending weekends doing whatever had to be done to keep the motel operational and barely financially afloat.
At the same time, Elliot came to the realization that he was gay, and - for whatever reason - favored the underground S&M flavored scene that existed in NYC in the mid 1960's. He met and partied with Robert Mapplethorpe, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and even encountered Rock Hudson at one point. Of course, coming out to his conservative parents wasn't an option for him at the time, but his "secret life" during the week somewhat served to make bearable the weekends at the motel, scrubbing toilets and dealing with customer complaints (The Teichbergs cut a few corners in customer service. For example, they had phones in each room, but they weren't connected to anything. The TV was an empty box, as was the air conditioner sleeve below the window. Need soap and a towel? It'll cost ya extra, but you're lucky you made it in today, since Dad has hosed off your sheets - the only cleaning they ever got - just yesterday.)
In early 1969, Elliot read with interest the news accounts that the promoters of the planned Woodstock Music and Art Festival had been denied a permit by the town of Walkill, their planned location. As president (nobody else wanted the job) of Bethel's Chamber of Commerce, he had the authority to issue festival permits, and contacted the promoters about the possibility of moving the festival to Bethel, and offered the meadow of a friend, dairy farmer Max Yasgur, as the perfect venue. Much of the book details the whirlwind events that followed, as the festival took on a life of its own, eventually attracting around 500,000 people to the small town, resulting in threats by locals, payoffs to those who opposed it, nudity, drugs, gangsters, people bathing in the lake, shortages of food and water, but - despite it all - the most historic event in music and counterculture history, after which nothing would ever be the same again for Elliot and his family.
The author has a gift in telling a story, even one as obviously self-centered as this one is, for the most part. Witty and engaging, sure to bring back memories of that era. Loved the reversible (regular/psychodelic) dust jacket! 5 stars out of 5.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Here's the Woodstock story that we HAVEN'T heard yet!, August 2, 2007
This book was recommended to me by a friend who had read about it in the Cindy Adams gossip column, of all places. Having just finished reading it, all I can say is that Woodstock wouldn't even have happened if Elliot Tiber hadn't found the courage (and the chutzpah) to contact the Woodstock organizers and help them get a permit to stage a show at Max Yasgur's farm (yes, THAT Yasgur's farm).
First of all, this book comes with double dust jacket covers - there's one cover (and an author photo of Tiber) that is very sedate, while the inside cover is full-tilt psychedelic madness accompanied with a photo of Tiber in all his hippie splendor.
This book is a very quick and easy read. The story moves along very smoothly, revealing the agony and the ecstasy of Tiber's life as he explores his homosexuality in New York City with the likes of Robert Mapplethorpe and Truman Capote (just to name two of the more famous paramours with whom Tiber shared a night or two). Equally interesting is how Elliot managed to live a closeted existence every weekend while helping his demanding "old world" Jewish parents try to make a go of their motel, the El Monaco. This motel makes the Waco compound look like Disneyland by comparison - it's a miracle that Tiber didn't lose his mind in addition to losing his money by staying there all those years.
Something I didn't expect to run across in this book is Elliot's participation in the 1969 Stonewall Riot that essentially gave birth to the Gay Liberation movement in America. It's very interesting to see how entwined the struggles for gay rights and the setting of a "peace and love" concert really were - and Tiber stands as the thread-line between the two.
More about finding one's self in America than just sex, drugs, and rock `n roll (don't worry, though - there's plenty of that to go around in this book!), TAKING WOODSTOCK is a story whose time has certainly come.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Taking Woodstock, October 6, 2008
Entertaining, fast moving story about being gay in the 60's, a background on how Woodstock came to be, and an excellent snapshot of the era. Based on a true story, this book shows indeed, that truth is stranger than fiction. The scenes range from bizarre to wildly hilarious. The author touches on the many issues and nuances of the time without getting weighed down by them. I found it a thoughtful rendition of Woodstock experience, from an entirely different perspective. An easy read, I read it in a day.
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