Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock is the funny, touching, and true story of Elliot Tiber, the man who was instrumental in arranging the site for the original Woodstock Concert. Elliot, whose parents owned an upstate New York motel, was working in Greenwich Village in the summer of 1969. He socialized with the likes of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, and yet somehow managed to keep his gay life a secret from his family. Then on Friday, June 28, Elliot walked into the Stonewall Inn—and witnessed the riot that would galvanize the American gay movement and enable him to take stock of his own lifestyle. And on July 15, when Elliot learned that the Woodstock Concert promoters were unable to stage the show in Wallkill, he offered to find them a new venue. Soon he was swept up in a vortex that would change his life forever.

Before there was a Woodstock Concert, there was Elliot Tiber working to make a go of his parents' upstate New York hotel, the El Monaco. It wasn't easy. The Jewish clientele who had returned to the Catskills year after year had discovered Florida, and the upstate hotel business was dying.

To save his family's livelihood, Elliot put on plays, musicals, and local festivals. In the process, Elliot became the area's official issuer of event permits--not that anybody else wanted that position. Elliot even worked weekends as an interior design artist in New York City, all in the hopes of helping his family.

In the summer of 1969, Elliot Tiber's life changed in a way he never could have foreseen. Greenwich Village had become the mecca for gays in America. There, Elliot had socialized with the likes of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Andy Warhol, and a talented young photographer named Robert Maplethorpe, and yet had managed to keep his gay life a secret from his family. Then on Friday, June 27, Elliot walked into the Stonewall Inn--and witnessed the riot that would galvanize the gay movement in the United States. And on July 17, when Elliot read that the Woodstock Concert promoters had lost their license to stage the show in Wallkill, he called to offer his help in finding a new venue. In the days that followed, Elliot found himself swept up in a vortex that would change his life forever.

The events that unfolded during that hot New York summer have come to be recognized as major turning points in our cultural history. Few, however, have enjoyed Elliot Tiber's unique view of those events. Taking Woodstock is the funny, touching, and true story of the man who enabled Woodstock to take place. It is also the personal story of one man who took stock of his life, his lifestyle, and his future. In short, Taking Woodstock is like no history of Woodstock you have ever read.

Publishers Weekly

Tiber, who helped organize the iconic music festival, recounts the events that led up to Woodstock in this entertaining true story. He recreates the events in dramatic detail, offering readers a new take on a legendary event as well as sharing his own coming-of-age story, his grapples with his homosexuality and run-ins with some of the most celebrated musicians and visual artists of the day. Jim Frangione is the perfect choice for the material: his dramatic flair brings a subtle theatricality to the story. He is able to transcend time and space and transport both himself and his audience back to the 1960s. A Square One hardcover. (Aug.)

Elliot Tiber has been a professional creative writer for over thirty-five years. He has written and produced numerous award-winning plays and musical comedies for the theater, television, and films around the world. He was also dramaturge for the National Theater of Belgium. He was a semi-finalist in the Academy Awards for best film. As a professor of comedy writing and performance, he has taught at the New School University and Hunter College (CUNY) in New York City.

Mr. Tiber is also a best-selling author. His first novel, Rue Haute, was an instant bestseller in Europe, and was published in the US as an Avon Paperback under its English title, High Street. As a humorist, Elliot Tiber has appeared on CNN, NBC, CBS, CNBC, and 20/20, as well as on television shows in France, England, Tokyo, Moscow, and Berlin. Tiber has also performed his standup one-man show, Woodstock Daddy, for clubs, theaters, and TV. He currently resides in both New York City and California.

Tom Monte has written more than 30 books and many hundreds of articles for such magazines and newspapers as Life, Saturday Evening Post, Natural Health, and the Chicago Tribune. Among his many works are The Way of Hope, about the AIDS crisis in New York City. Tom is also the co-author with Dr. Anthony Sattilaro of the best-selling books Recalled By Life (Houghton Mifflin, 1982) and Living Well Naturally.

For the past twenty years, Tom has lectured and provided workshops on healing and personal transformation throughout the United States and Europe, including the University of Massachusetts and Yale University. In May 2005, he was the keynote speaker for the American Cancer Society's Living With Cancer Conference in Augusta, Maine. He and his wife, Toby, live in Massachusetts and are the parents of three adult children.