"If you are gay and you were at Woodstock, you should tell the next person you meet about it so we can all start to see the numbers," proclaims Elliot Tiber, author of "Taking Woodstock," a memoir by "the gay man who saved Woodstock."And how did Tiber save Woodstock?
You may be surprised to learn that the famous music festival did not actually take place in Woodstock, N.Y. It was originally scheduled to take place in the town of Wallkill, which is pretty close to Woodstock -- about 25 miles south -- but the nervous residents of Wallkill denied the hippies a permit. Where to go? Tiber and his parents just happened to own "a falling-down rat trap otherwise known as the El Monaco Motel" in Bethel, N.Y., about 60 miles from Woodstock, and offered it to grateful concert organizers as festival headquarters.
Tiber was then able to secure that critical outdoor concert permit for the festival in Bethel, thanks in no small part to the fact that he was president of the Bethel Chamber of Commerce. Because the land surrounding the El Monaco wasn't large enough to accommodate the expected throngs of festival-goers, Tiber sought help from his neighbor, Max Yasgur (yes, of "Yasgur's Farm" fame). Seeing that Elliot was trying to do something good, Yasgur happily agreed to host Woodstock at his farm, Tiber recalls, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Of course, precious few realize the key role Tiber played in shaping that history. "Not to mention that in the past 38 years hardly anything has been said about the many gays and lesbians who were at Woodstock," Tiber says. "Our contribution to that iconic event is perpetually ignored. Now that my life memoir has been published, I plan to take this opportunity to change all that."
Portrait of a gay artist
Tiber learned his craft at Brooklyn College under the instruction of such soon-to-be famous masters of New York Abstract Expressionism as Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt, among others.
"Rothko taught me ink drawing; Reinhardt, painting," Tiber says. "They helped me develop my skills and enabled me to feel the first self-worth I had ever known."
"Taking Woodstock" also explores the life of a gay man in 1960s America, focusing on Tiber's relationships with gifted men like Robert Mapplethorpe, Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams.
"I met Mapplethorpe in the notorious sadomasochist leather club called the Mine Shaft, and we were both stoned and all in leather," recalls Tiber with the expected twinkle in his eye. "I had no idea that he was even an artist until he showed me his collection of photographs." Tiber adds that he and the late great playwright Tennessee Williams were neighbors and poolside friends in the same Manhattan Plaza apartment complex for performing artists.
"He introduced me to Capote," Tiber says, "and the three of us shared strange stories about writing, theater, film, and sexual escapades; it was awesome and totally overwhelming." Years later, Tiber's lover, the late actor/director André Ernotte, staged Tennessee Williams' last play, "A House Not Meant to Stand," at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 1982.
"By that time, however Tennessee was heavily into drugs and booze," Tiber says. Williams died in 1983, and in spite of newspaper accounts that he died from his excesses, Tiber still believes he was murdered by one of his hustler tricks.
By June 1969, Tiber himself was not a happy man. Life in the closet was starting to take its toll, as it was for so many in America at that time. Everything changed, however, one historic night at The Stonewall Inn.
"It all started as usual with the police showing up for another raid, another show of aggression," recalled Tiber. "Then, suddenly, a voice shouted out, 'Don't let the pigs harass us anymore! Tonight we're fighting back!'
"We barricaded the doors to keep the cops out, but when we realized that we outnumbered them, we unblocked the exits and ran out onto the street. A group of us started yelling, 'Gay power!' Within seconds, the Stonewall Riot was underway."
While Tiber remembers himself being scared, he was also fed up enough not to care about the repercussions: "A bunch of us rocked a cop car back and forth, then overturned it. More people, gay men and lesbians, showed up to join us."
Gay history & future
While it was clear to Tiber that this was a major moment for everyone involved, he insists that most had no idea their actions signaled the beginning of the gay liberation movement in America. Of course, that's precisely what it was. "That's how it all started," Tiber says today. "We were just a group of people who were doing nothing wrong, and were sick of being pushed around."
Since that incredible year -- Woodstock and Stonewall both happened in 1969 -- Tiber has gone to several reunion festivals held at the original festival site on Yasgur's Farm.
"Each August since '69 it has rained, giving me instant flashbacks to the fest," Tiber says. "The whole experience stays with me; sometimes I shut my eyes and hear the voice of Janis Joplin or Richie Havens or Joe Cocker -- people who made that such a great time in music history." There were quite a number of gay and lesbian people at Woodstock as well, Tiber adds.
Asked what he thinks of subsequent modern Woodstock festivals like the 25th anniversary concert with Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and Primus, Tiber has says he's still all about the original.
"Back then (in 1969), we didn't have computers or cell phones. If we did, there would have been a few million people there, I am sure. But we did have three days of peace and music. Today, however, most music seems so full of violence and hate. I am just so happy that I experienced the first Woodstock and that I was able to take it with me throughout my life. Because I really don't there will ever be an event like that again."
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