woodstock camille I wondered what woodstock might have been like to see... I found this descript From: surfin the net Subject: Goin' Up The Country Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 13:07:05 EDT Greetings from the supercilious one. I haven't seen anything written here about the Bethel concert and I'd bet you've all seen the pictures of the performers standing in front of the big pop art backdrop, so, I thought (and I hope I'm not being presumptuous here)....I thought ya'll (is that correct best westernese ElWayno/CitySlickerSteve, or is it yaw'll??)....regardless.....here's my take. A-guy and I headed off to Bethel early Saturday morning...driving through some pristine country, up past the Neversink reservoir, over the river and through the woods. Not a very long drive from our cabin in the woods, in fact we've taken a few trips to Bethel to see what's goin' on as various anniversaries of the big '69 event surfaced. All previous gatherings had been spontaneous, organized solely by those who felt a need to be "In The Garden" and by people paying homage to what they viewed as the place that hosted a world-changing event, which it was. All 28 previous gatherings were unauthorized, discouraged by the town officials and by owner, June Gelish, who'd spend the weeks leading up to the anniversaries spreading chicken manure on the site, making it impossible for any 'hippies' to walk the grounds for any purpose. Ms. Gelish has now departed the planet. So, who owns the land? (I realize this is a rhetorical question, as if anyone could ever truly 'own' land, but since we've all pretty much fallen prey to this delusion, I'll continue on with the thought). A Sullivan county native bought the land. Someone who lived through the '69 event. A businessman whose children talked him into the purchase and who approached the town officials with big ideas that he claimed would help Sullivan county businesses, now and in the future. The new owner, Alan Gerry, readied the site by digging into his deep pockets and laying down freshly wood-chipped paths (illuminated at night) through the woods, installing miles of split-rail cedar fencing and readying several parking lots (not paved, thank god...still grass). He made sure all the 'locals' got a good supply of comp tickets, arranged to let them sell just about anything they wished, got local businesses in on the on-site concession stands and (talk about attention to detail) personally requested the porta-johns be turned around so none would be facing the stage. Then, not 'owning' the 'rights' to the Woodstock logo, (original organizers Michael Lang and his pals are hanging onto that for dear life!), Gerry dubbed this year's event "A Day In The Garden." If you're old enough to remember Woodstock, you're old enough to know that the cool day to go was Saturday. Friday was some sort of get-the-kinks-out opening day thing and Sunday was a day of music geared for 'the kids,' but Saturday was THE day, if you were gonna go at all. I wasn't so hot on the idea. A-guy was hot on it the minute he heard the lineup. These were the real-deal performers. He was right, no matter what someone here said about Lou Reed being the antithesis to Woodstock (a statement that smacks of undue criticism. Lou's been into Peace, Love and Personal Freedom for as long as I can remember, albeit with slightly more cynical mindset, spewing his viewpoints forth from the bowels of Manhattan). By the time we piled into the car with our ponchos, tarp and assorted rain gear, I was the one singin' "Goin' Up The Country"...which is very weird, considering our cabin is situated in the middle of five acres of woods....anyway, so what? I was psyched. We took all tiny back roads....roads with no names, just numbers.... the little known circuitous route that only we locals feel comfortable with, passing by several parking lots and being told to 'continue on' at every lot, finally arriving at not- too-shabby of a parking area that required only about a 1/2 mile trek into The Garden. By the time we got to Woodstock....ooops....A Day In The Garden, Breathtaking. It's simply the most-beautiful setting in which anyone could hope to experience live music. A natural amphitheater, surrounded by pines, trees of all sorts, overlooking the serenity of an old horse farm. Gorgeous!! We walked a while, thinking about where to sit when we were stopped dead in our tracks by an intense quality of sound that told us, this is the place. Tarp down, sheet down, backpacks down....ahhh....great view and fantastic sound!! Melanie opened up at 10am, commenting that it took her thirty years to get to 'this,' which is cool since Melanie has performed at the Bethel site, every year, singing for a few hundred brave souls that weren't supposed to be there and, now, here she was in front of tens of thousands and diggin' it immensely. Donovan came on stage at 11am, voice as great as ever, warmly received, he played everything you'd ever want Donovan to play (with the exception of anything from Sutras oh well,) Donovan was fantastic. He was Peace and Love Incarnate. Richie Havens followed with all the necessary songs and ended with an amazing tribute to Hendrix, played by an excellent guitarist....a local recording artist (Point Blank Records) from Middletown, NY, Bill Perry....Star Spangled Banner!!!!! which got us ALL on our feet and blew our minds. Then Lou Reed, in the middle of the DAY, dressed in black, won everyone over with songs from the past mixed with several selections from Set The Twilight Reeling. Joni played quite a bit of new music and charmed the audience by taking out a camera and snapping photos of them! She seemed relaxed, in great spirits and great voice (of course), as she nonchalantly lit up cigarettes and sang her famous Woodstock song....back to the garden. This was a really cool experience. Pete Townshend must have played for a couple of hours but don't take that as gospel 'cause I was transported to another planet and my sources (me, myself and I) were quite unreliable at this point in the show. Amazing!! Best moment for me was when Taj Mahal joined him and they played 'GOIN' UP THE COUNTRY'!!!!!!!! YES!!! Everybody was up on their feet, singing and dancing up a storm...great, great fun!! I felt just like a cog in something turning! Best Woodstock Moments: Watching people who had obviously had a little too much of some drug, or other, being carried out by friends. (this brought a tear to my eye, making me nostalgic for those old days....the ones that everyone told me were such great fun). Hooking up with the Times Herald Record's music writer, Stephen Israel and being introduced to his family. Having known Stephen for years, I asked him if he'd seen my friends, Don and Bev, and described Don as having gray hair and a gray beard, a description which pretty much brought the house down, as it fit just about every other person in the audience. And, the kids. Remember the cover of the Woodstock album? All children under 12 were admitted free and they were everywhere and they were ALL having such fun, dancing, eating, playing....it was so great to watch them....and their parents...so loving, so cool...and the teenagers diggin' on all this old music, the Yuppies (yes, THEY were there with their cellphones, using the cash machine, and getting their photos developed in the on-site, one hour photo developing stand!)...the Yuppies were okay....whatcha gonna do man? It's a free country, right? Then, there were the old hippies. The ones who threw their hands in the air whenever anyone on stage gave mention to the first concert...they were there and here they were and it was really, really cool to be among them All, even the Yuppies. We weren't among 500,000, it was more like 25,000, but there was a beautiful vibe and a very strong feeling that this land holds a definite spiritual quality. I'm convinced that next year it'll be a major event which will be called Woodstock. I'm feeling positive that Alan Gerry and Michael Lang and friends will combine their efforts and their bankrolls, smile on their brother, everybody get together and blow us all away. 000831 ... plumbrook woodstock is snoopy's bird best friend you dumb fucks!!! at least that's what my six year old brother says. then he tries to light a cigarette. too bad there won't be a music movement from when i was young for him to forget. well, not the same thing anyway. 030301 ... Averatruth In July 1995, Abigail Storm founded the Woodstock Nation Foundation as a not-for-profit corporation chartered to protect public assembly at the Woodstock site and prevent development of the property, to raise funds and ultimately buy out whoever was discovered to be the true owner of the Woodstock site. A board of 6 trustees They staged a benefit concert in the Hamlet of Woodstock starring Arlo Guthrie and raised enough to open an office and purchase a computer and fax. Unbeknownst to the Woodstock Nation Foundation, in April of 1996 June Gelish ignored the court order and entered into a secret agreement with Alan Gerry to form Gelish Reality, L.L.C. The foundation believes Gelish Realty was created for the sole purpose of establishing a false chain of ownership to deceive the public and Helen Necketopoulos. (according to deposition filed in the Brooklyn Surrogate Court by Darrell Supak, who claims to be senior vice-president of Gelish Realty, LLC, and Granite Associates, LP.) The court order issued by the Surrogate court of Brooklyn and filed in Sullivan county,New York is a public record intended to inform and protect the people of the State of New York from fraud. It is prima faci evidence that June Gelih had no legal standing to sell, transfer,or hypothecate the Woodstock Property in April of 1996. The problem here is Gelish Realty, LLC, is a corporation created to conceal hypothecation and transfer of title to the Woodstock property prohibited by court order and establish a false public record. The question before the court are: Was the court order against June Gelish enforceable in April, 1996, when she transferred the property? Do Storm and Eggink and the people of New York have standing to challenge the deceptive chain of title? When June Gelish died in April, 1997 without a will, Alan Gerry in the press announced he had bought the site from her for $1,100,000. and the public would be denied free access to the property. on May 29th 1997 The attorneys for the widow Helen Necketopolous filed an order to show cause to discover real property withheld and belonging to the Decedent. The court order prohibiting transfer was still in affect and no effort had been made to make a settlement with Mrs. Necketopolous the widow. July 9th Daniel Eggink, Abigail Storm, daughter Jewel, Joe Anderson, his son Jay and daughter Joy Debberman set up tents on the Woodstock property as an exhibit of the publics right of prescriptive easement because they believed Alan Garry could not in good faith have legally acquired the Woodstock property and did not have the lawful right to arbitrarily prohibit public access. July 1997 Photo by Wayne Skala Eggink Family camping on 1969 Woodstock Festival Site When Eggink et all were informed they would have to leave the property or be charged with trespass they challenged Bill Ruth the agent of Granite Associates to prove ownership. They then had a meeting with Alen Gerry and informed him that they did not believe he owned the property. A few days later Daniel Eggink et all were arrested and charged with trespass As a defense against the trespass charge they have standing to require proof of lawful ownership by Alan Gerry, Granite associates L.P.and Gelish Realty at the time of their arrest. The Bethel Town Magistrate would not allow the attorney for Storm and Eggink to introduce evidence that Alan Gerry could not be the lawfull owner of the Woodstock site and convicted Daniel Eggink, Abigail Storm, their daughter Jewel, Joe Anderson, his son Jay and daughter Joy Debberman of trespass and fined them $350 each. Darrel Supak Senior vice president and chief of staff of Granite associates in a deposition filed on the 18th day of July 1997 says that at no time prior to the July 24th 1996 closing did the Gerry respondents know that a court had issued a temporary restraining order in 1991. He failed to mention the restraining order was renewed in 1994. Supak goes on to say "Prior to the closing Granite requested ( and Gelish agreed) to amend the purchase agreement so that instead of Gelish transferring title to Granite, the property was transferred to the LLC, and the interests of the LLC were simultaneously transferred to Granite and Alan Gerry." He says"(Gelish transferred her stock in Gelish properties, Inc,. which held an interest in the LLC to Gerry and Gelish transferred her personal interest in the LLC to Granite). He said the" consideration paid to Gelish was $1.1 million (inclusive of the commritive monument on the site". This testimony does not match with the Sullivan County Public record where June Gelish on July 24th 1996 filed a deed in violation of a valid court order transferring The Woodstock property from herself June Gelish to Gelish reality LLC for no money and naming herself as the buyer as President of Gelish Reality LLC with office at her address in Brooklyn,New York. Supak testified that "The transfer of the Woodstock property to the LLC concurrent with the transfer of the LLCs interests as set forth above avoided the need to record a deed with the Sullivan County Clerk naming Granite as the owner of the Woodstock Property and from which the purchase price could be discerned". So the LLC was created to avoid filing with the Sullivan County Clerk by June Gelish the President of Gelish Realty LLC and Derill Supak Vice President of Granite Associates L.P. with the agreement of Alen Gerry. Then June Gelish President of Gelish Realty LLC went ahead ignoring the court order prohibiting the transfer and filed a false record of transfer with the Sullivan County Clerk. The only conclusion can be that Gelish Realty LLC was created for a fraudulent purpose and its the people of the State of New York who have been defrauded. Six members of the public were falsely arrested and prosecuted for trespass and fined a total of one thousand, eight hundred and fifty dollars. The Woodstock Nation Foundation was unable to continue a credible fundraising campaign to buy the property from whoever proved to be the lawful owner. protecting that the public easement and the becoming caretakers of the property in cooperation with others. And hundreds of thousands of Tourists were turned away from the Festival site by state troopers acting as private security for Alan Gerry, depriving Sullivan County tax payers the revenue from sales tax that would have been in the millions. Since June Gelish president of Gelish Gelish Realty, L.L.C. formed that corporation with the intent to deceive and defraud the public it cannot be a legal corporation in the State of New York. Therefore, any interest Gelish Realty LLC obtained from Mrs. Necketopolous is void because of the basic fraud. When Storm and Eggink heard that Gerry intended to build an entertainment center on the Woodstock site they again on August 19th 2000 challanged his ownership by staying on the property after dark and were arrested. Woodstock Nation Foundation Home Page ã copyright 1998 EGGINK "a family business" The Woodstock Nation Foundation web site is generously donated by The Woodstock Nation Saga Think about it. Pray about it. Why would anyone challenge the alleged ownership of the Woodstock Festival site at Hurd Road in Bethel, New York? Answer: to prevent destruction from construction. Check out Friends of Yasgur's Farm Activist Abby Hoffman took the microphone at the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York, and started to tell the public about John Sinclair who had been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for possession of one Marijuana cigarette. He was knocked off the stage by Peter Townsend of the "WHO". Twenty years later another Abby, Abigail Storm, arrived in the catskill Hamlet of Woodstock, New York to be dipped deep into the Woodstock Spirit. She started attending the Annual Woodstock Nation reunions at the original Woodstock Festival site in Bethel, New York. During that time she learned that ownership of the site was in dispute. As a paralegal she did her homework and discovered that A fraudulent chain of title was created by June Gelish, President of Gelish Realty, LLC, in violation of a court order from the Brooklyn Surrogate Court prohibiting her from transferring title of the Woodstock Property. Here's how it happened. August, 1989, Louis Nicky (Necketopolous), last owner of record, died. June Gelish, his secretary and girlfriend, claimed ownership of the property. Sullivan County attorney Ira Cohen, then in private practice, was her attorney at the time. Sullivan County Attorney, Ira Cohen, told us he learned about Helen Necketopolous, widow of Louis Nicky and assisted her in obtaining a lawyer. The lawyer helped Helen get control of her husband's estate by having the Brooklyn Surrogate Court recognize her as Administratrix of Nicky's estate. Helen gets a copy of the deed that June said made her owner of the Woodstock site and sees it is a forgery. The lawyer takes the deed with other records of Nicky's signature to New York State Examiner of Records, Gregory McNally, who verifies the forgery. As a result, a court order was issued in 1991 by the Surrogate Court in Brooklyn prohibiting June Gelish from transferring, leasing or hypothecating about said property until adjudication by the court. The same court order was again renewed in 1994 and was in full affect until October 1, 1997. After attending the 21st reunion of the Woodstock Nation at Bethel Daniel Eggink and his wife, Abigail Storm, discovered questionable records filed by June Gelish that claimed she owned the property and began to challenge her right to evict anyone. Also they recognized there was a public easement that had been established by the public's continual use of the open field for more than 20 years. In July 1995, Abigail Storm founded the Woodstock Nation Foundation as a not-for-profit corporation chartered to protect public assembly at the Woodstock site and prevent development of the property, to raise funds and ultimately buy out whoever was discovered to be the true owner of the Woodstock site. A board of 6 trustees They staged a benefit concert in the Hamlet of Woodstock starring Arlo Guthrie and raised enough to open an office and purchase a computer and fax. Unbeknownst to the Woodstock Nation Foundation, in April of 1996 June Gelish ignored the court order and entered into a secret agreement with Alan Gerry to form Gelish Reality, L.L.C. The foundation believes Gelish Realty was created for the sole purpose of establishing a false chain of ownership to deceive the public and Helen Necketopoulos. (according to deposition filed in the Brooklyn Surrogate Court by Darrell Supak, who claims to be senior vice-president of Gelish Realty, LLC, and Granite Associates, LP.) The court order issued by the Surrogate court of Brooklyn and filed in Sullivan county,New York is a public record intended to inform and protect the people of the State of New York from fraud. It is prima faci evidence that June Gelih had no legal standing to sell, transfer,or hypothecate the Woodstock Property in April of 1996. The problem here is Gelish Realty, LLC, is a corporation created to conceal hypothecation and transfer of title to the Woodstock property prohibited by court order and establish a false public record. The question before the court are: Was the court order against June Gelish enforceable in April, 1996, when she transferred the property? Do Storm and Eggink and the people of New York have standing to challenge the deceptive chain of title? When June Gelish died in April, 1997 without a will, Alan Gerry in the press announced he had bought the site from her for $1,100,000. and the public would be denied free access to the property. on May 29th 1997 The attorneys for the widow Helen Necketopolous filed an order to show cause to discover real property withheld and belonging to the Decedent. The court order prohibiting transfer was still in affect and no effort had been made to make a settlement with Mrs. Necketopolous the widow. July 9th Daniel Eggink, Abigail Storm, daughter Jewel, Joe Anderson, his son Jay and daughter Joy Debberman set up tents on the Woodstock property as an exhibit of the publics right of prescriptive easement because they believed Alan Garry could not in good faith have legally acquired the Woodstock property and did not have the lawful right to arbitrarily prohibit public access. July 1997 Photo by Wayne Skala Eggink Family camping on 1969 Woodstock Festival Site When Eggink et all were informed they would have to leave the property or be charged with trespass they challenged Bill Ruth the agent of Granite Associates to prove ownership. They then had a meeting with Alen Gerry and informed him that they did not believe he owned the property. A few days later Daniel Eggink et all were arrested and charged with trespass As a defense against the trespass charge they have standing to require proof of lawful ownership by Alan Gerry, Granite associates L.P.and Gelish Realty at the time of their arrest. The Bethel Town Magistrate would not allow the attorney for Storm and Eggink to introduce evidence that Alan Gerry could not be the lawfull owner of the Woodstock site and convicted Daniel Eggink, Abigail Storm, their daughter Jewel, Joe Anderson, his son Jay and daughter Joy Debberman of trespass and fined them $350 each. Darrel Supak Senior vice president and chief of staff of Granite associates in a deposition filed on the 18th day of July 1997 says that at no time prior to the July 24th 1996 closing did the Gerry respondents know that a court had issued a temporary restraining order in 1991. He failed to mention the restraining order was renewed in 1994. Supak goes on to say "Prior to the closing Granite requested ( and Gelish agreed) to amend the purchase agreement so that instead of Gelish transferring title to Granite, the property was transferred to the LLC, and the interests of the LLC were simultaneously transferred to Granite and Alan Gerry." He says"(Gelish transferred her stock in Gelish properties, Inc,. which held an interest in the LLC to Gerry and Gelish transferred her personal interest in the LLC to Granite). He said the" consideration paid to Gelish was $1.1 million (inclusive of the commritive monument on the site". This testimony does not match with the Sullivan County Public record where June Gelish on July 24th 1996 filed a deed in violation of a valid court order transferring The Woodstock property from herself June Gelish to Gelish reality LLC for no money and naming herself as the buyer as President of Gelish Reality LLC with office at her address in Brooklyn,New York. Supak testified that "The transfer of the Woodstock property to the LLC concurrent with the transfer of the LLCs interests as set forth above avoided the need to record a deed with the Sullivan County Clerk naming Granite as the owner of the Woodstock Property and from which the purchase price could be discerned". So the LLC was created to avoid filing with the Sullivan County Clerk by June Gelish the President of Gelish Realty LLC and Derill Supak Vice President of Granite Associates L.P. with the agreement of Alen Gerry. Then June Gelish President of Gelish Realty LLC went ahead ignoring the court order prohibiting the transfer and filed a false record of transfer with the Sullivan County Clerk. The only conclusion can be that Gelish Realty LLC was created for a fraudulent purpose and its the people of the State of New York who have been defrauded. Six members of the public were falsely arrested and prosecuted for trespass and fined a total of one thousand, eight hundred and fifty dollars. The Woodstock Nation Foundation was unable to continue a credible fundraising campaign to buy the property from whoever proved to be the lawful owner. protecting that the public easement and the becoming caretakers of the property in cooperation with others. And hundreds of thousands of Tourists were turned away from the Festival site by state troopers acting as private security for Alan Gerry, depriving Sullivan County tax payers the revenue from sales tax that would have been in the millions. Since June Gelish president of Gelish Gelish Realty, L.L.C. formed that corporation with the intent to deceive and defraud the public it cannot be a legal corporation in the State of New York. Therefore, any interest Gelish Realty LLC obtained from Mrs. Necketopolous is void because of the basic fraud. When Storm and Eggink heard that Gerry intended to build an entertainment center on the Woodstock site they again on August 19th 2000 challanged his ownership by staying on the property after dark and were arrested. Woodstock Nation Foundation Home Page ã copyright 1998 EGGINK "a family business" The Woodstock Nation Foundation web site is generously donated by ________________________________________________ Get your own "800" number Voicemail, fax, email, and a lot more http://www.ureach.com/reg/tag 040806 ... monee my second eldest uncle jack calls me woodstock 041216 what's it to you? who go blather from