Woodstock Counsel of Elders Local Tribe #1969

06/01/2026

Woodstock *94

2 More Days of Peace and Music became known as Mudstock or Greedstock

The event took place on Winston Farm in Saugerties, NY. The crowd was estimated at 350,000, much larger than the organizers had planned.

The security staff, along with the entrance and exit staff, could not continue the reasonable monitoring and inspecting of the increasingly vast numbers of people entering and exiting, while at the same time maintaining safety, security and a peaceful atmosphere. Although they were obviously overburdened, the attendees helped hold things together and the event remained relatively peaceful.

The massive number of attendees enjoyed the landmark music event without any deliberate conflicts, aside from the over enthusiastic mud mosh pits!

06/01/2026

Hector’s Inn about a mile or two from Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, NY has been the site of annual Woodstock reunions as far back as anyone can remember. It is also the home of the annual event known as Hippie Thanksgiving which takes place on Thursday of Woodstock Anniversary weekend every year. Hippie Thanksgiving is essentially an annual pot luck Turkey dinner that serves the purpose of giving people who are arriving in town for Woodstock Anniversary celebrations a rendezvous point and a place to meet and greet each other.

Hector's Inn is a historic bar in Bethel, NY, famous for its role during the 1969 Woodstock festival, where it supplied beer and food to attendees. Now run by the original owners' family, it maintains a rustic, casual atmosphere with a diverse drink selection, live music, and a strong connection to the Woodstock legacy.

The bar played a crucial role during the 1969 festival, selling out of beer and providing sandwiches to concert-goers. It is still run by the family of the original owners, Jerry and Kay, with their daughter Bonnie and her husband now managing it.

06/01/2026

Woodstock ‘99 was a music festival held from July 22 to July 25, 1999, in Rome, New York, United States. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 1969 Woodstock festival.

Like the previous festivals, it was held in upstate New York; the festival site was the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, roughly 100 miles northwest of the 1969 Woodstock site in Bethel. Approximately 220,000 people attended the festival over the 3 days.

MTV covered the festival extensively, and live coverage was available on pay-per-view. Westwood One held its radio rights. Excerpts were released on CD and DVD. In Canada, the event was covered by Much; their coverage included interviews with artists and attendees, but not the musical performances.

The festival was marred by s*xual harassment and rapes, difficult environmental conditions, overpriced food and water, poor sanitation, rioting, looting, vandalism, arson, violence, and three deaths, leading to media attention and controversy that vastly overshadowed coverage of the musical performances.

It has been described as "a flashpoint in cultural nadir", “like a concentration camp", like being "in another country during military conflict", and like "a scene where zombies are coming over the castle walls", with the morning after likened to the Bosnian War. Without wasting any more time describing it, let us simply conclude that it was an abomination, an unmitigated disaster.

06/01/2026

For the 40th Anniversary of Woodstock, the newly opened Bethel Woods Center for the Arts hosted its first big historic event, the ‘Heroes of Woodstock’ show.

The Heroes of Woodstock Tour was actually a North American concert tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. The tour featured several bands, most of which performed at the original Woodstock festival or feature members that performed at the festival. The musicians featured differed slightly from venue to venue but most of the concerts featured Jefferson Starship, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Canned Heat, Ten Years After and Tom Constanten. Some dates featured Melanie, Edgar Winter, John Sebastian, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Mountain and the Levon Helm Band. Country Joe McDonald hosted all of the concerts, playing a couple of songs in between the different sets.

The tour had 16 other stops starting with June 12, 2009 – Del Mar Fairgrounds - San Diego County Fair, San Diego, CA and continuing through October 10, 2009 – Spotlight 29 Casino, Coachella, California.

Among the highlights: Mountain guitarist/singer Leslie West married his fiancé Jenni Maurer at the concert held in Bethel, New York on August, 15 in front of approximately 15,000 people at the conclusion of the show.

05/31/2026

Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton is best known for her portrayal of Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Archie Bunker, on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family. The role earned her three Emmys and two Golden Globes for Best Actress in a comedy series.

Stapleton was born on January 19, 1923 in Manhattan. She was the daughter of Marie A. Stapleton, an opera singer, and Joseph E. Murray, a billboard advertising salesman. She had an elder brother, Jack. Her uncle was a vaudevillian performer, and her brother was a stage actor who inspired her to pursue acting.

Stapleton played the role of Edith in All in the Family, which premiered in 1971. The show was originally broadcast on the CBS network for nine seasons from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979, for a total of 205 episodes. The role earned her three Emmys and two Golden Globes.

Feeling her character had run its course, Stapleton continued the role of Edith for only five more episodes in the follow-up series Archie Bunker's Place to help the transition. In the first episode of season two, the character of Edith had an offscreen stroke and was written out of the show.

Stapleton was married to William Putch from 1957 until his death in 1983. The couple had two children: actor/writer/director John Putch and television producer Pamela Putch.

For 30 years, William Putch directed a summer stock theater, Totem Pole Playhouse, at Caledonia State Park in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania.

Stapleton performed regularly at the theatre with the resident company. When William Putch died of a heart attack during the run of a touring production in Syracuse, Stapleton insisted on performing that night. Stapleton's brother, Jack Stapleton, was a stage actor. Her cousin was actress Betty Jane Watson. Stapleton was active in the Christian Science church. She was unrelated to actress Maureen Stapleton, contrary to a common misconception.

Stapleton supported Walter Mondale's campaign in the 1984 presidential election, was a vocal supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, and took an active role in the 1977 National Women's Conference.

Stapleton rarely appeared on talk shows; nevertheless, she reunited on-camera with Carroll O'Connoron Donny and Marie Osmond's show on April 24, 2000, a little over a year before O'Connor's death. When the Osmonds asked her to perform in Edith Bunker's voice, she declined to do so and jokingly said that she only did so "for pay".

Stapleton died at her apartment in Manhattan, on May 31, 2013, at age 90.

Norman Lear said, "No one gave more profound 'how to be a human being' lessons than Jean Stapleton."

Co-star Rob Reiner said, "Working with her was one of the greatest experiences of my life."Sally Struthers said, "Jean lived so in the present. She was a Christian Scientist who didn't say or think a negative thing ... She was just a walking, living angel".

The marquee lights on Broadway were dimmed for two minutes on June 5, 2013, at 8 p.m. EDT, to honor the memory of Stapleton.

She was cremated by the Neptune Society in Paramus, New Jersey. Her cenotaph lies at Lincoln Cemetery in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

05/31/2026

05/31/2026

RIP Loretta Swit ❤️ who died one year ago at the age of 87.
(November 4, 1937 - May 30, 2025)

Loretta Swit was born on November 4, 1937, in Passaic, New Jersey, to Lester and Nellie Szwed (née Kassack), who were both of Polish descent. Her father was a salesman and upholsterer. Swit's brother, Robert, was six years and one day her senior. As a child, Swit was a member of a Girl Scout troop sponsored by the Holy Rosary R.C. Church of Passaic, known as the Holy Rosary Scouts.

She graduated from Pope Pius XII High School in Passaic in 1955, where she had been a cheerleader, had taken part in theatrical productions, and was co-captain of the women's basketball team. She graduated from Katharine Gibbs School in Montclair, New Jersey, in June 1957, then was employed at a variety of clerical jobs, including as a stenographer in Bloomfield, New Jersey; personal secretary to Elsa Maxwell; secretary to the ambassador from Ghana to the United Nations; and at the American Rocket Society in New York City while being trained to dance by a classmate, Elizabeth Parent-Barber, a Rockette and student at the New York School of Ballet. During this time, she began developing her acting career. She studied drama with Gene Frankel in Manhattan in New York City and considered him her acting coach. She regularly returned to his studio to speak with aspiring actors throughout her career. Swit was also a singer, having trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

When Swit arrived in Hollywood in 1969, she performed guest roles in various television series, including Hawaii Five-O (her first TV credit), Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, and Mannix.

Starting in 1972, Swit played the extremely capable head nurse Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the television series M*A*S*H, a comedy set in a U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War.

Swit inherited the star-making role from actress Sally Kellerman, who had portrayed Houlihan in the feature film. In the first few seasons, her character was single and blindly patriotic, and she had no friends among the camp surgeons and nurses, with the notable exception of her married lover, Major Frank Burns, portrayed by Larry Linville. Over time, her character was considerably softened. She married a lieutenant colonel but divorced soon after. She became good friends with her fellow officers, and her attitude towards the Koreans in and around the camp became more enlightened. The change reflected that of the series in general, from absurdist dark humor to mature comedy-drama. Swit was one of only four cast members to stay for all 11 seasons of the show, from 1972 to 1983 (the others were Alan Alda, Jamie Farr, and William Christopher).

Swit and Alda were the only actors to have been in both the pilot episode and the finale; she appeared in all but 11 of the total of 256 episodes. Swit received two Emmy Awards for her work on M*A*S*H.

Her favorite episodes were "Hot Lips and Empty Arms", "Margaret's Engagement", and "The Nurses".

She also had a close relationship with Harry Morgan, who played Colonel Sherman T. Potter. They became neighbors after the series ended until his death on December 7, 2011. Swit remained close to Alda, along with his wife, three daughters and seven grandchildren.

Swit was once linked with musician Bill Hudson. She married actor Dennis Holahan in 1983 and divorced him in 1995. Holahan played Per Johannsen, a Swedish diplomat who became briefly involved with Swit's character in an episode of M*A*S*H.

Swit was an animal rights activist. She was a vegetarian for many years before becoming a vegan in 1981.

Swit wrote a book on needlepoint, titled A Needlepoint Scrapbook.

Swit died on May 30, 2025, at her home in New York City from natural causes, at the age of 87.

05/31/2026

Woodstock Monument on January 5, 2023. Peace and Music Woodstock monument with plaques by sculptor Wayne C. Saward, erected in 1984 on the festival site.

In recent years the Monument has been the subject of controversy. Several deficiencies like misspellings or altogether missing names of artists who performed at the festival have been reported to the custodian (Bethel Woods Center for the Arts), and have yet to be addressed. This has led to growing dissatisfaction among certain alumnae of the event who are concerned that these issues be addressed during their lifetime.

📷 1/5/2023 ☮️ 11:02 AM

05/31/2026

Philip C. Kaufman (born April 26, 1935) is an American record producer, tour manager, and author. He has been referred to as one of the most infamous tour managers in music history. Kaufman worked with Gram Parsons, The Rolling Stones, Emmylou Harris, Joe Cocker, Frank Zappa, Hank Williams III and Etta James, among others.

Kaufman was born in Oceanside, New York. His father had been involved with show business as his grandfather had done, which involved vaudeville and big band. Kaufman joined the Air Force in 1952 and served for four years, which included time in the Korean Warwith the 37th Bomb Squadron. Kaufman had previously acted in Hollywood, with bit parts in Spartacus, Riot in Juvenile Prison, and Pork Chop Hill, among others, before a felony ma*****na smuggling conviction in the mid 1960s. He left Terminal Island Prison in 1968.

After getting out of prison, he was offered a job driving for Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull, who were in Los Angeles at the time for the mixing of Beggars Banquet.

Kaufman's first musical role was as the driver and assistant to The Rolling Stones during the recording of Beggar's Banquet, referred to by Mick Jagger as his "executive nanny."

Through Keith Richards, Kaufman met Gram Parsons, and agreed to tour manage his group The Flying Burrito Brothers, although he had no prior tour managing experience.

Kaufman also served as tour manager for Parsons' post-Flying Burrito Brothers group, Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels. One of Kaufman's tasks was to help Parsons stay away from drugs, and to limit his alcohol intake. Parsons even stayed at Kaufman's house when his relationship with his wife deteriorated.

In July 1973, Parsons expressed his final wish to Kaufman: to be cremated and buried at Joshua Tree National Monument.

On September 19, 1973, Parsons died of an overdose of morphine and alcohol. Though Parsons' stepfather Bob wanted to bury him in New Orleans in a private ceremony, Kaufman and Parsons’ assistant Michael Martin stole Parsons' body from Los Angeles International Airport and drove it to the Cap Rock section of Joshua Tree National Park.

Kaufman poured gallons of gasoline on the casket and threw a lit match, which resulted in a fireball. Parsons' partially-cremated remains were buried in New Orleans, while Kaufman and Martin were each given thirty-day suspended jail sentences, fined $300 each for misdemeanor theft and charged $708 for funeral home expenses.

The theft was later chronicled in the film Grand Theft Parsons with Johnny Knoxville playing Kaufman.
Kaufman once said that "Dying was a great career move for Gram."

The song "Why Does It Hurt When I P*e?" from Frank Zappa's album Joe's Garage tells the story of Kaufman's "urination problems".

Kaufman met Charles Mansonwhile they were inmates in Terminal Island Prison. According to Kaufman, a guard taunted Manson that he would never get out; Manson calmly responded by looking up from his guitar and saying, "Get out of where?"

Manson aspired to be a successful singer–songwriter and Kaufman found him to be good company. He thought Manson was a bad guitar player, but capable enough as a singer and songwriter to have a chance of getting a record contract.

Before Manson's release Kaufman gave him the name of a friend in the film industry, producer Gary Stromberg at Universal Studios. Kaufman advised Manson to wait a few months after he was released to acclimatize to the outside world, and work on his songs, before contacting Stromberg. Manson promised to take the advice.

Months after his release, Manson went to see Stromberg with four female devotees. On the recommendation from Kaufman, the producer authorized a studio recording session. Instead of having been prepared as Kaufman suggested, Manson was unfocused and amateurish, making the recording a disappointment.

Kaufman was released the next year, and would spend time living with the Manson Family. According to Kaufman, he has "had s*x with more murderers than anyone else in show business." Kaufman later left "the Family," claiming it was because he was "too smart".

Manson Family murder victims Leno and Rosemary LaBianca's home was next door to a house where Kaufman once lived. Members of the Manson Family had allegedly attended a party there with Kaufman when still friendly with him.

Kaufman would later produce and release Manson's album at the height of his notoriety, but found that he could not get anyone to stock Lie: The Love and Terror Cult.

He authored the book Road Mangler Deluxe, an autobiography about his experiences in the music business.

As of 2020, Kaufman resides in East Nashville, Tennessee.