(Book). Elliott Landy has his finger on the pulse of the Woodstock generation. He was there before the famous festival, hanging out with Dylan and The Band; he was the photographer of record at the festival itself; and he still lives in Woodstock today. Here he captures and preserves the true vision and pure essence of that incredibly influential event what it was like to be part of the '60s, sharing the spirit of unlimited hope, optimism, and the belief that the world can be made better through peace and love.
(Book). Once in a while a photographer gains the trust of an artist or a band, and his work fuses with that of the artist in such a way that the two become married in the public consciousness. One can think of David Duncan's pictures of Picasso at work or Alfred Wertheimer's pictures of Elvis backstage in 1956. Elliott Landy's chronicle of The Band from 1968-1969 is of similar importance. He was trusted so deeply that this group of photographs is as intimate a portrait of a group of musicians inventing a new music as you are ever likely to come across. Today we call that music "Americana," and it is played all over the world by everyone from Mumford and Sons to the Zac Brown Band. But in 1968, when Elliott first started making these pictures, it was played by six musicians in the town of Woodstock, New York Bob Dylan and a group called The Hawks. They later changed their name to The Band. They had been The Hawks for five years when Bob Dylan pulled them out of Tony Mart's dive bar on the Jersey Shore to be his band.
"Love At Sixty" is the personal account of Elliott and Lynda Landy, two children of the sixties whose chance connection 40 years after college awakens a love suspended by time. It is a story of starting over, of letting go and of rejuvenation told through a passionate and artistic blend of photography and prose. In 2000, inspired by the beauty of their personal relationship and the desire to share its joy with others, famed photographer Elliott Landy began to focus his lens on his life partner Lynda. Touched by the developing imagery, Lynda picked up her pen once again. Through a series of moving and often humorous vignettes she began to chronicle the spiritual and sensual rekindling of their love as well as the complexities of starting over at 60. "Love At Sixty" is the result of their collaboration, a photo verite journal that captures the spontaneity of life, the essence of womanhood and the wonder of love at any age.
Think "Woodstock" and the mind turns to the seminal 1969 festival that crowned a seismic decade of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. But the town of Woodstock, New York, the original planned venue of the concert, is located over 60 miles from the site to which the fabled half a million flocked. Long before the landmark music festival usurped the name, Woodstock-the tiny Catskills town where Bob Dylan holed up after his infamous 1966 motorcycle accident-was already a key location in the '60s rock landscape. In Small Town Talk, Barney Hoskyns re-creates Woodstock's community of brilliant dysfunctional musicians, scheming dealers, and opportunistic hippie capitalists drawn to the area by Dylan and his sidekicks from the Band. Central to the book's narrative is the broodingly powerful presence of Albert Grossman, manager of Dylan, the Band, Janis Joplin, Paul Butterfield, and Todd Rundgren-and the Big Daddy of a personal fiefdom in Bearsville that encompassed studios, restaurants, and his own record label. Intertwined in the story are the Woodstock experiences and associations of artists as diverse as Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Tim Hardin, Karen Dalton, and Bobby Charles (whose immortal song-portrait of Woodstock gives the book its title). Drawing on numerous first-hand interviews with the remaining key players in the scene-and on the period when he lived there himself in the 1990s-Hoskyns has produced an East Coast companion to his bestselling L.A. canyon classic Hotel California. This is a richly absorbing study of a vital music scene in a revolutionary time and place.
Woodstock Then and Now is a first-hand transcription of a series of roundtable discussions and interviews with "Woodstock luminaries" held at the Berklee College of Music in April 2019. Here, the words of Michael Lang (Woodstock cofounder) Chip Monck (emcee, stage and lighting designer), Bill Hanley (audio engineer), Henry Diltz and Elliott Landy (photographers), Rona Elliot (public relations), and Gerardo Velez (percussionist for Jimi Hendrix) are presented for scholars and fans alike. Meeting all together for the first time since 1969, these luminaries shared Woodstock stories, talking about the impact of the festival on their careers and on society as a whole.
A definitive account of the turbulent 1960s, "America Divided" presents the most sophisticated understanding to date of all sides of the decade's many political, social, and cultural conflicts. 45 photos.
A richly illustrated panel discussion transcript comprises the first part of the book. It is followed by a roots of Woodstock photo essay that highlights such Woodstock writers and performers as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Allen Ginsberg, Pete Seeger, and Richie Havens. In addition it chronicles the Arts and Crafts origins of the town from the 1800s, and highlights the town's hallowed tradition of weekend-long musical concerts. These began in the early 1900s with Woodstock's Maverick festivals, and stretched up through the countercultural Sound-Outs of the 1960s. Bob Fass, a Woodstock Sound-Out emcee and host of WBAI's Radio Unnameable for close to fifty years has contributed a brilliant and evocative foreword to the book. Also included are a compendium of important Woodstock players, a map of historic 1960s locations in the Woodstock area, and 115 images many of them rare, vintage photos of the Woodstock music and art scenes.
“Helm lays it all bare in vivid, impassioned prose, adding an earthly, backwoods tone that makes the book read like a Southern novel, like Thomas Wolfe writing about rock ’n’ roll.” —Boston Globe “One of the most insightful and intelligent rock bios in recent memory.” —Entertainment Weekly The Band, who backed Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965 and then turned out a half-dozen albums of beautifully crafted, image-rich songs, is now regarded as one of the most influential rock groups of the '60s. But while their music evoked a Southern mythology, only their Arkansawyer drummer, Levon Helm, was the genuine article. From the cotton fields to Woodstock, from seeing Sonny Boy Williamson and Elvis Presley to playing for President Clinton, This Wheel’s on Fire replays the tumultuous history of our times in Levon’s own unforgettable folksy drawl. This edition is expanded with a new epilogue covering the last dozen years of Levon's life. Levon Helm (1940-2012) met Ronnie Hawkins at the age of 17 and formed what would soon become The Band. He maintained a successful career as a singer and actor until his death. Stephen Davis is the author of Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga; More Room in a Broken Heart: The True Adventures of Carly Simon; Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40-Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones; Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend; Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith; and others.
As the fiftieth anniversary of the Woodstock festival nears, Woodstock 1969 stands out for its singular voice. Photojournalist Jason Lauré followed his unerring instinct for being in the right place at the crucial moment. He and coauthor Ettagale Blauer trace the historic events that preceded the festival and then envelop the reader with photographs of the headliner rock stars that performed during the landmark three-day concert including the Who, Janis Joplin, Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. Threading his way back and forth from the stage, through a sea of happy audience members, Jason Lauré photographed the communal life that was an essential part of the phenomenon that was Woodstock. Never intrusive, yet working close-up, he managed to capture these innocent moments in the pond and in the woods with the same compassion and intimacy he brought to his coverage of all the crucial events of the era. After Woodstock, he photographed such legends as Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, and Jim Morrison of the Doors. Woodstock 1969 gives the reader an appreciation of the lasting impact of the festival, showing the way it changed the lives of all who experienced it. It served as the high point of the counterculture that started in earnest in the Summer of Love, and also as a leading influence in the decades that followed. The book concludes with a look at Woodstock's lasting legacy, from Greenwich Village and the rock scene of the Fillmore East to the establishment of Earth Day and the burgeoning environmental movement.
