MUSIC NEWS - In the summer of 1969, on a farm about 90 miles north of New York City, more than 500,000 people gathered for a three day music festival that in an instant, defined a generation and changed popular culture forever ... Woodstock.
Now, 40 years after that historic moment, VH1 Rock Docs and History have joined for a television collaboration: the definitive two-hour documentary, "Woodstock: 40 Years Later" (working title), will air this August on VH1, History and VH1 Classic. Directed by two-time Academy Award winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple and Executive Produced by Michael Lang, the original festival organizer, the film will examinee Woodstock from the perspectives of not only the musicians who appeared on the stage, but also the fans who gathered in the fields, the concert promoters who risked everything and many others whose unique experiences help paint a tapestry of Woodstock that hasn't been seen in recent years.
"Woodstock: 40 Years Later" will explore the frenzied days leading up to and throughout the festival, from the planners scrambling to find a concert site and the traffic jams that shut down the New York State thruway to the infamously bad "brown acid," the thunderous rain and mud and, of course, the music. Weaving together first-hand accounts with rare archival images and an iconic soundtrack, the documentary allows those who were there a chance to relive the experience and gives an entirely new generation an opportunity to feel the magic of that time. The film will also take an important look at Woodstock's legacy through the eyes of today's musicians and activists examining why Woodstock and all it symbolizes is still relevant in today's culture.
To celebrate the airing and the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, VH1 will partner with Warner Home Video on several promotions around the Woodstock newss. Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music -- the four-hour director's cut of the 1970 Oscar(R)-winning documentary about the landmark music event that featured some of the greatest rock 'n' roll performers in history -- will be released this summer in a new Blu-ray and DVD Ultimate Collector's Edition. The new video release will have two extra hours of rare performance footage; some of it newly-discovered, some only seen in part and some never seen at all. In the meantime, stock up on current Woodstock DVDs. The two extra hours of rare performance footage features 18 new performances as never before seen from 13 groups, including Joan Baez, Country Joe McDonald, Santana, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Canned Heat, Joe Cocker and five (Paul Butterfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Grateful Dead, Johnny Winter and Mountain) who played at Woodstock but never appeared in any film version.
A third hour of bonus material also on the UCE includes a featurette gallery showcasing interviews with Martin Scorsese, producer Michael Lang, director Michael Wadleigh, Hugh Hefner, Eddie Kramer (the concert’s original chief on-site engineer and producer-engineer for Jimi Hendrix) and others who chronicle the making of the festival and the film. Included are such segments as 3 Days in a Truck, No Rain! No Rain! and Living Up To Idealism. Additionally, exclusive to Blu-ray a Customize Your Own Woodstock Playlist from the 18 bonus performances and other special features like Media Center, My WB Commentary and Live Community Screening.
Check back at MNN as more Woodstock 40th Anniv news developes.
UPDATE 6/24/09 - The definitive two-hour documentary, "Woodstock: Now & Then", will premiere on Friday, August 14 at 9pm on VH1 and VH1 Classic and on Monday, August 17 at 8pm on History.
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