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Young Men With Unlimited Capital: The Story of Woodstock
It started with this ad, placed by Joel Rosenman and John Roberts as a way to find interesting work after college. It led Rosenman and Roberts to stage a gathering that changed the face of popular culture: the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in August 1969. Woodstock is rightly remembered as the pivotal event that united a generation, but the behind-the-scenes story is less utopian -- and absolutely fascinating.Rosenman and Roberts describe their shock as they realized, after a long struggle to find a site and placate area residents, that the festival was attracting a crowd ten times larger than expected, stalling traffic for miles around, and forcing thousands of ticket holders to be turned away. The instant city of Woodstock created mind-boggling logistical and medical help, a death, births, bad drugs -- and waking up their local banker in the middle of the night to get $15,000 for The Who and the Grateful Dead, who refused to go onstage without cash in their pockets.
By the time Jimi Hendrix played "The Star-Spangled Banner" at 6:30 Monday Morning, there were "only" 25,000 people left, but Rosenman and Roberts faced a sea of mud and trash, irate neighbors, bad press ("Nightmare in the Catskills"), staggering debts, and some seventy separate legal proceedings against them. But the ultimate impact of that weekend was far greater -- and far more triumphal for all involved. Young Men With Unlimited Capital is both an amazing and humorous story, and one that chronicles a defining event of 1960's America.
By the time Jimi Hendrix played "The Star-Spangled Banner" at 6:30 Monday Morning, there were "only" 25,000 people left, but Rosenman and Roberts faced a sea of mud and trash, irate neighbors, bad press ("Nightmare in the Catskills"), staggering debts, and some seventy separate legal proceedings against them. But the ultimate impact of that weekend was far greater -- and far more triumphal for all involved. Young Men With Unlimited Capital is both an amazing and humorous story, and one that chronicles a defining event of 1960's America.
- GenresMusicHistoryNonfiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 22, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is not so much a good book as a GREAT story about the greatest tipping point in popular culture and youth empowerment. This is the story of the Woodstock festival told by the two guys who paid for it. With their own(trust fund) money.
Just read these excerpts to get some of the picture:
“Not too long after we set up the Woodstock offices on 57th Street, we went into an intensive hiring phase. The cubicles that lined the corridor of our suite filled with gaily bedecked maidens and dudes of the hippie persuasion, many of them as inept as they were handsome. There were exquisite secretaries who were afraid of electric typewriters, mail sorters who were prone to disabling paper cuts, and file clerks who had never quite mastered the alphabet. Somehow this staff got the work done, while contributing greatly to the ambiance of the office.”
(...)
“One of the many problems we faced in the area of employee relations was the all-consuming love of our staff for marijuana. Such a passion among normal people would not have caused us much anxiety, since pot's illegality could have been counted on to foster a degree of discretion in its use. Among those elements of society from which Woodstock recruited its labor force, however, grass smoking with a reckless disregard for the statutory amenities had, by 1969, become a sort of badge of honor. It had even gotten to be a kind of matadorial contest, in fact, and the more blatant your offense, the better your high. Things had reached a point where a number of the more firmly established heads simply could not get off more than ten yards from a police station, and the most coveted coup de grass of all was to roll, ignite, and consume a joint while you were being arraigned for picketing. Of course, the fact remained that getting caught wasn't cool, but it wasn't serious either, since all you lost were style points. And besides, getting busted gave you something to rap about the next time you got stoned.”
(...)
“Between one and two million people made a move toward the Festival that weekend, and the roughly half million who made it were there for the duration,”
(...)
“John Morris's voice split the skies. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the promoters of this concert, Woodstock Ventures, have declared this a free festival. A free festival. The show's on us. We'll be getting it on at four this afternoon, so please be patient with us till then." There was no irony in his voice, but there was something very like it in the raucous cheer that went up from the crowd.”
(...)
“The stagehands were frantically wiring and testing. Lights were being strung up and taken down and strung up again. People were stumbling over a large tarpaulin that was being readied for service in case of rain. They were tripping on it, bumping it into other structures on the stage, knocking each other over with one end of it when they tried to move the other—it was like a Keystone Cops comedy. As things turned out, the show didn't actually get under way until around six. Richie Havens led off”
(...)
“The crowd was indeed dispersing. It had been trickling away all Sunday. Toward midnight "only" 150,000 people were still hanging on. The concert lasted another nine hours. Our last act, Jimi Hendrix, had been paid more than any other entertainer for performing: $36,000. He went on at 6:30 Monday morning and played to about 25,000 bone-weary souls.”
“It ended Monday morning with Jimi Hendrix playing before the remnants of the weekend, animate and (mostly) otherwise. As he played, the audience he had missed was fanning out across the continent. Mournfully, Hendrix concluded his performance with a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The children of Aquarius, having proven something to the world, were now, with reluctance, on their way back to America.”
This enough to whet your appetite?
This is not so much a good book as a GREAT story about the greatest tipping point in popular culture and youth empowerment. This is the story of the Woodstock festival told by the two guys who paid for it. With their own(trust fund) money.
Just read these excerpts to get some of the picture:
“Not too long after we set up the Woodstock offices on 57th Street, we went into an intensive hiring phase. The cubicles that lined the corridor of our suite filled with gaily bedecked maidens and dudes of the hippie persuasion, many of them as inept as they were handsome. There were exquisite secretaries who were afraid of electric typewriters, mail sorters who were prone to disabling paper cuts, and file clerks who had never quite mastered the alphabet. Somehow this staff got the work done, while contributing greatly to the ambiance of the office.”
(...)
“One of the many problems we faced in the area of employee relations was the all-consuming love of our staff for marijuana. Such a passion among normal people would not have caused us much anxiety, since pot's illegality could have been counted on to foster a degree of discretion in its use. Among those elements of society from which Woodstock recruited its labor force, however, grass smoking with a reckless disregard for the statutory amenities had, by 1969, become a sort of badge of honor. It had even gotten to be a kind of matadorial contest, in fact, and the more blatant your offense, the better your high. Things had reached a point where a number of the more firmly established heads simply could not get off more than ten yards from a police station, and the most coveted coup de grass of all was to roll, ignite, and consume a joint while you were being arraigned for picketing. Of course, the fact remained that getting caught wasn't cool, but it wasn't serious either, since all you lost were style points. And besides, getting busted gave you something to rap about the next time you got stoned.”
(...)
“Between one and two million people made a move toward the Festival that weekend, and the roughly half million who made it were there for the duration,”
(...)
“John Morris's voice split the skies. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the promoters of this concert, Woodstock Ventures, have declared this a free festival. A free festival. The show's on us. We'll be getting it on at four this afternoon, so please be patient with us till then." There was no irony in his voice, but there was something very like it in the raucous cheer that went up from the crowd.”
(...)
“The stagehands were frantically wiring and testing. Lights were being strung up and taken down and strung up again. People were stumbling over a large tarpaulin that was being readied for service in case of rain. They were tripping on it, bumping it into other structures on the stage, knocking each other over with one end of it when they tried to move the other—it was like a Keystone Cops comedy. As things turned out, the show didn't actually get under way until around six. Richie Havens led off”
(...)
“The crowd was indeed dispersing. It had been trickling away all Sunday. Toward midnight "only" 150,000 people were still hanging on. The concert lasted another nine hours. Our last act, Jimi Hendrix, had been paid more than any other entertainer for performing: $36,000. He went on at 6:30 Monday morning and played to about 25,000 bone-weary souls.”
“It ended Monday morning with Jimi Hendrix playing before the remnants of the weekend, animate and (mostly) otherwise. As he played, the audience he had missed was fanning out across the continent. Mournfully, Hendrix concluded his performance with a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The children of Aquarius, having proven something to the world, were now, with reluctance, on their way back to America.”
This enough to whet your appetite?
December 12, 2017
What a fascinating insider account of Woodstock! Enjoyed the way Joel and John alternated chapters from the dawn of Woodstock Enterprises all the way through the aftermath of the legendary festival. Would definitely recommend it to readers interested in learning about the chaotic, often improvised unfolding of the festival, although it isn't the best for someone who doesn't know much about Woodstock.
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August 31, 2009I actually read the book that was written in 1979 so I'm not sure if this is the same, I'll have to track down a copy and see. Anyway........I read this first, then Michael Lang's new book. The vibe I get makes John and Joel's version of the facts a little more believable. Michael Lang looks posed in most of his photo's, his version of meetings and personality conflicts between himself and John and Joel has a touch of "thou dost protest too much" in my view. I think he was a brilliant man but knowing that John and Joel had the stated "unlimited capital" he went wild on the spending and left John and Joel holding the bag. (sorry dude, that's just how I'm seeing it. peace.)
January 17, 2017
This might be the singularly most important book I've ever read on a specific event in the 20th century. Understanding Woodstock as an event that took money, borrowed from banks on lines of credit funded by liens on trust funds, does so much positive work to destabilize the post-Woodstock narrative that focuses on abstract, baby-boomer nonsense. Bands are only really discussed in the context of their various cash demands throughout the festival, and Mountain and CCR are talked about more than The Who or Sha-Na-Na. A+. Anyone who appropriates hippie-dom in their own personal identity should have this book read to them over and over again until they stop.
May 15, 2019
An amazing book. Biographical in nature story by one of the organizers of Woodstock and their poor project and risk management skills (they were great at marketing though).
I read this book decades ago and it still stands out in my mind. Amazing book.
I read this book decades ago and it still stands out in my mind. Amazing book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews