WOODSTOCK 40th Anniv to Be Celebrated with Bethel, NY Concert -- Levon Helm, Jefferson Starship, Mountain, others to Play

       MUSIC NEWS-  Jefferson Starship, Levon Helm Band and Country Joe McDonald are among the performers that will appear in Bethel, New York, on August 15, 2009 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival, Billboard.biz reports.  Canned Heat, Mountain, Ten Years After and Big Brother and the Holding Co are also on the bill at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, a concert venue built on the site of the original Woodstock, which occurred on August 15th thru 17th, 1969.

Helm was at the 1969 fest as a member of The Band, while Jefferson Starship was on the Woodstock stage back then as Jefferson Airplane. With the exception of Big Brother & the Holding Co, Janis Joplin performed at the ‘69 concert with the Kozmic Blues Band,  the rest of the performers at the on August 15th event all had a part in the original Woodstock festival.   Richie Havens is also due to play at a Woodstock anniv related event on August 14th, to perform “Freedom,” the song that opened up the 1969 festival, at a media-only event.

As the 40th anniversary nears, the Woodstock brand will be out in full force this season. A film,  Taking Woodstock, an Ang Lee-directed comedy about the behind-the-scenes story of the festival, is scheduled to unspool in theatre on August 14th, a documentary, WOODSTOCK : 40yrs Later  will air on VH1 & History Channel and Warner Bros has a new dvd and blu ray release of the original WOODSTOCK concert film.  And, as MNN reported,  Woodstock.com is to relaunch as a social netork some time soon.  The festival’s original concert promoters and organizers are still working to finalize arrangements for their own event to commemorate the original music/social event by 2010, but have been hampered by the poor national economy.