The Man Behind Woodstock

Last year we started a new feature on BoomerCafé: interviews with prominent people who have changed the way baby boomers look at life. They are done by Nettie Hartsock, who has made her bones talking with authors and luminaries. In this installment, Nettie talks with Michael Lang, producer and co-creator in 1969 of the Woodstock Festival. He also has just written “The Road to Woodstock.”

…..Intuition, Inspiration and Keeping Your Inbox Free…..

BC: I loved the book. One of the things I read is that you said, “Money has never been my aim – always a side effect of what I do.” Can you talk about that in terms of your life and career path?

Michael: I’ve been very lucky in that anything I’ve done, I would have done whether it was something that was a paying proposition or not, so I’ve never really had to work at something just for money. That’s been a wonderful way to have gone through life and I’ve been very lucky to have done that. And luckily enough, the things I’ve done have made me a comfortable life and enabled me to continue to do the things I’ve wanted to do. I’ve always sort of looked at money as a tool to do other things.

BC: Can you tell us the story about your Dad being on the scaffolding at Woodstock and who was playing?

Michael: Sure, that is something I just discovered last year as I watched the DVD of Woodstock which I had not watched for years. We were looking through some of the outtakes and footage. And as Richie Havens is walking offstage, I caught a glimpse of my father, sitting above the deck, about 15 feet off the deck of the stage on the scaffolding. It had never registered that weekend and it was just a great moment for me seeing that footage. I discovered it when we were making the new film.

BC: Was your dad smiling?

Michael: Oh yeah, he was having a great time.

BC: It’s like the metaphor for dads in Texas sitting in the football stadium. Except your dad got to sit in an amazing music stadium and watch his son.

Michael: (laughs) That’s right. And he had the best seat of the house.

BC: Can you talk about John Lennon? In your book you talk about wanting him to come. Was he in Canada?

Michael: Yes, he was in Canada. He had been busted in England and was in Canada in early ’68, ‘69. The Nixon administration was very much trying to keep him out of the country because of his anti-Vietnam war stance and he was very vocal about his stance on the war. So there was really no way to get him a visa. We’d been working a long time in trying to make it happen.

In writing the book and doing my research, I went through what I euphemistically call my files, which are old boxes stuffed in the basement. And I came across a letter, and it had an offer (the Beatles) made for them to send The Plastic Ono band, James Taylor and Billy Preston, which all three would have been wonderful to have. But the letter came just as we were getting thrown out of Wallkill (the town where the organizers originally wanted to have the festival until a zoning board banned it). And with the office being all packed up and all the confusion, I never saw the letter until last year.

BC: Was the letter opened? Or you found it and then opened it?

Michael: It was opened probably by one of my assistants and then left in my pile.

BC: Wow, that’s even a good lesson for the digital age – clean out your inbox.

Michael: (laughs) Exactly stay on top of it.

…..Synchronicity, luck and being prepared…..

BC: What do you think about the role of synchronicity and serendipity in your life and how this event played out?

Michael: I felt we were in this energy flow that was moving us forward. I’ve always had, I guess what some people would call luck. I really look at it more as, if you’re really prepared as well as you can be in every way that you can be and an opportunity presents itself, that’s luck. Lucky that you’re in a position to take advantage of whatever comes along. That’s how I interpret luck. There might be something beyond that, but being prepared is really 90% of it.

Be prepared for the opportunity to come. Because of all the work we did – preparation, planning, and how thorough we tried to be, I think that’s why when those moments came along and things looked grim, and we might have needed that extra moment of faith or luck or whatever you want to call it, it happened for us.

BC: Is there a lot of pressure on you to be the best party thrower in the world? What is it like to be an icon?

Michael: (laughs) It’s always been really a positive experience. Everyone that comes up to me seems to relate it as a positive memory.

BC: Is it true that the helicopter dropped flowers and dried clothes?

Michael: It was not true. It is close to truth. It was small plane and it was rose petals.

BC: And what precipitated that small plane dropping rose petals?

Michael: I had hired the plane early on because I thought it would be neat. It was a lot of rose petals and it cost us like $400 or $500.

BC: What is your favorite performance?

Michael: I was stunned by Richie, Country Joe, Joe Cocker, Santana – the highlight of the energy created by the audience was Jimi Hendrix redefining the national anthem.

BC: Has Pete Townshend been less grumpy since Woodstock?

Michael. (laughs.) Yes, I think he realized it was a good thing he did.

…..Sustainability, Woodstock.com and the future…..

BC: You said about Woodstock, “We just avoided the silly confrontations that stupid rules can create.” Do you still do that in business?

Michael: Yes. Absolutely.

BC: What about Woodstock.com – http://www.woodstock.com , as a brand for the 21st Century, sustainability, the green movement and your venture?

Michael: We want to be successful at promoting those ideas that are critical to our planet’s survival and the well-being of our kids and make some sort of contribution to empower the way people get along. I think Woodstock symbolizes that potential for things to work in a better way and I hope we’re useful for that to continue. I’m working on a musical now.

BC: What are you doing with that?

Michael: It’s called the Summer of 69 and it’s really about that summer when everything changed for us and hopefully, it will give the audience an experience of what it was like to go through that experience.

BC: Do you still drum?

Michael: (Laughs.) I do, but not outside of my children’s drum sets. My kids are into heavy metal.

BC: Have you come home again with all of this? Do you feel you’ve completed a circle?

Michael: Yeah, I do, funnily enough. It’s an experience that I tried to move away from for a long time and I’ve embraced it to write the book and it has been very rewarding. I’ve gained a new perspective on it all and at the same time, the people that worked on it are a pretty close-knit bunch of people and we’re all still together.

BC: Are there parallels you see today in how this culture is changing and embracing a more authentic truthful way of being in the world?

Michael: I think absolutely. You talk about authenticity in that day, we were really interested in the real thing, not just appearances. We felt we were really dealing with real issues and we’ve come back around to that. We’ve dealt with the ‘80s and the ‘90s, and we’re left in a position where we treated the planet badly and treated each other badly and now we’re facing the consequence. I’m very hopeful for the future and that we can all work for the greater good. Young people are getting more involved and creating a big difference in where we’re heading.

BC: What do you hope will happen with the Woodstock.com site long-term?

Michael: I hope it becomes a place where people can change ideas, and becomes a place of sustainability where we can all work together for the future.

Tags: Michael Lang, Nettie Hartsock, Woodstock

Category: Baby Boomers, Nettie Hartsock