What was LI's connection to Woodstock?
Woodstock Festival producer Artie Kornfeld, who grew up in Levittown, is in the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. Credit: FilmMagic/George Napolitano
Are there any connections between Long Island and the Woodstock Festival? Yes, there are:
* Artie Kornfeld, one of the key members of Woodstock Ventures, the group that promoted the festival, graduated from Levittown Division High School (where he played varsity baseball).
* Co-promoter, venture capitalist Joel Rosenman is a Cold Spring Harbor native.
* Rosenman met John Roberts on the golf course at Sunken Meadow State Park and quickly became friends and business partners. Roberts, the heir to the Polident fortune (yes, the dentures), helped finance the festival.
* Kornfeld and Brooklyn-born co-promoter Michael Lang were both inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame last year, along with “Brand New Key” singer Melanie, a Queens native, who performed at the festival.
* Leslie West, who was raised in Lawrence and whose band Mountain regularly played The Action House in Island Park, is also a Long Island Music Hall of Fame inductee, in part for Mountain’s memorable Woodstock set.
