Times Square Gossip

WESTON and JULIA BLELOCK, whose Woodstock-themed book ROOTS OF THE 1969 WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL (Woodstock Arts) is due out next month, had hoped to include singer KENNY RANKIN at their live Woodstock-In-Woodstock show (being produced by STEVE WALTER) August 15th, but the singer passed away suddenly yesterday. "We had just spoken to his reps are things were moving along ... we're shocked and will dedicate the show to him," says Weston Blelock. The musician, who first gained acclaim as one of the guitarists on Bob Dylan's 1965 album, BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, was currently working on a new album produced by legendary producer PHIL RAMONE (Paul Simon; Paul McCartney; Billy Joel). "That he was still at the top of his game is one of the saddest parts of his passing for me," Denny Stilwell, president of Mack Avenue Records (his current record label), said in a statement. "He performed the new material in our office over the last few months and his voice was st...

**** THE WOODSTOCK 40TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT **** James Blunt And Steve Walter At Cutting Room Weston Blelock, author and editor of WoodstockArts’ forthcoming Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,” has confirmed a rumored 40th anniversary concert to be held on August 15 at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock. Blelock will co-produce the show with his sister, Julia, in association with Steve Walter, formerly of The Cutting Room in New York City. Walter, whose Cutting Room club hosted a series of top-notch music acts like Sheryl Crow, Stills and Nash, Paolo Nutini and Keane, notes, “I am booking bands that will evoke the original festival energy and bring it back home to Woodstock.” Blelock adds, “The town has long been at the epi-center of music festivals—from those on the Maverick beginning in the 1900s, to the Sound-Outs in the 1960s, and the mega-concert of 1969. Simply due to space constraints, some of these failed to happen in the town of Woodstock itse...

Robert Funaro with Steve Walter, Elliot Tiber and Joe Franklin Today is the 38th Anniversary of WOODSTOCK; the three-day festival of Peace and Love in 1969. Last night, at STEVE WALTER's CUTTING ROOM in Chelsea, author ELLIOT TIBER launched his new book TAKING WOODSTOCK; his first hand account of his life and role in the festival. He introduced MAX YASGUR to MICHAEL LANG, and was able to secure the necessary permits that enabled the music festival to go on. Tiber's parents owned the local El Monaco Hotel in Bethel, New York, and he soon found himself on the Chamber of Commerce ... which granted him his extraordinary access as well as putting him at the center of the history-changing event. Tiber also lived a closeted-gay life, journeying to New York on his weekends and dabbling with the likes of ROCK HUDSON; TRUMAN CAPOTE; and, TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, and, immersing himself in the burgeoning gay movement in NY, which culminated in his appearance at the Stonewall riots. With the ...

Chris Gilman and Elliot Tiber Photo By: James Edstrom TAKING WOODSTOCK's ELLIOT TIBER held court at NY's PALM WEST Thursday night, with Times Square Gossip(and pr-powerhouse DAVID SALIDOR), talking about his forthcoming launch party at Steve Walter's Cutting Room on Tuesday, August 14. Tiber's book, released by Square One Publishers, candidly details the efforts Tiber took to make the Woodstock festival happen. "I ran a hotel with my parents in White Lake, NY, the El Monaco, befriended Max Yasgur ... and, when the permit required to hold the festival fell through, I secured the proper notification, as I was on the Bethel Chamber of Commerce ... and, it went off." All along, Tiber was living a closeted-gay-lifestyle; going into New York on the weekends and befriending people like Rock Hudson, Robert Mapplethorpe, artist Mark Rothko; and, Tennessee Williams. Tiber gradated from Hunter College with honors and slowly became enveloped in the burgeoning gay-lifesty...

Richie Havens with Elliot Tiber During the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, there were a series of violent conflicts between the New York City Police and groups of gay and transgender people in New York City. The conflict lasted several days and was a watershed for the worldwide gay rights movement, as gay people had never before acted in such large numbers to forcibly resist police. ELLIOT TIBER, who's parents ran a small inn near Woodstock, was there and chronicles many of his thoughts in his new book TAKING WOODSTOCK (Square One Publishers), as well as his heroic efforts in making the Woodstock festival happen. Tiber lived by day working at his parents inn and by night, in new York City, a closeted gay existence. He came in contact with the likes of TRUMAN CAPOTE, ROCK HUDSON and, ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE. Says Tiber, "Stonewall was a life changing experience ... we all knew it the moment. I was the first to overturn a police car ... an amazing episode." Tiber adds t...

L-R: Steve Porpora, Verde Press, Anthony Pomes, Square One, author ELLIOT TIBER, Square One publisher RUDY SHUR, unidentified guest, and, consultant DAVID SALIDOR. A new book, TAKING WOODSTOCK (Square One Publishers), coming out in August will literally blow the lid off the Woodstock-generation with an in depth behind-the-scenes story of how author ELLIOT TIBER rescued the original Woodstock Festival cancellation. Elliot, who owned along with his parents 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 and his community. Then on Friday, June 28, Elliot walked into the Stonewall Inn - and witnessed a riot that would galvanize the American gay movement and enable him to take stock of his own lifestyle. Then, on July 15, when Elliot learned that the Woodstock Concert promoters were ...