Monmouth Museum Presents: Summer of Love

This exhibit is titled "Woodstock at 50: Summer of Love" and will run starting June 8th until Sept. 1st. Admission is free and open to the public!

This summertime exhibition in the main gallery will journey through the explosive era that gave life to the 1969 Woodstock Festival, the pivotal outdoor music and art fair held 50 years ago on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains. It will feature the renowned documentary and rock photography of the Official Woodstock Photographer, Elliott Landy.

Elliott's images of Bob Dylan and The Band, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Van Morrison, and many others documented the music scene during the classic rock period of 1967-1969. The exhibition will also feature vintage concert posters and vinyl albums, immersive video and audio experiences, 1960’s memorabilia  along with art workshops for adults, teens and kids, tours and more.

The exhibit itself is free, but if you would like to attend a Preview Party on Friday, June 7^th from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm where you will meet Elliott Landy as he presents his Woodstock vision, you can get a first-hand account about the creators, builders, hippies, and straights that describes the spirituality, the trials and tribulations, and the sheer joy of being there. Admission to that special party is $50 for Museum members, $65 for non-members, and Students $25. CLICK HERE for tickets.

Elliott Landy is one of the first music photographers to be recognized as an “artist.” Author of six photographic books, his images have been exhibited in major museums and galleries throughout the world. His photographs have appeared on the covers of major magazines such as Life, The Saturday Evening Post and Rolling Stone and in all media internationally for the past forty years.

Elliott Landy, born in 1942, began photographing the anti-Vietnam-war movement and the underground music culture in New York City in 1967. He photographed many of the underground rock and roll superstars, both backstage and onstage, from 1967 to 1969. His images of Bob Dylan and The Band, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Joan Baez, Van Morrison, Richie Havens, and many others documented the music scene during that classic rock and roll period which culminated with the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

Summer of Love was in June – August of 1967. Usually this description refers to 1967, in and around San Francisco when the "hippie movement" was in full flower. Particularly during the summer months, thousands upon thousands of young people flocked to the Haight-Ashbury to take part in a somewhat pale imitation of the true hippie experience. Many were drawn by the gentle lyrics of a song penned by John Phillips, member of The Mamas & the Papas. Phillips' song San Francisco (written in anticipation of the Monterey Pop Festival in June) romanticizes the era and atmosphere. Scott McKenzie's cover-version of the song was on the airwaves by May -- just in time for summer vacation. “If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...If you come to San Francisco,Summertime will be a love-in there.”

1969 Woodstock Art and Music Fair was August 15 -17, 1969. Woodstock: Three Days of Peace, Music & Love. An estimated audience of over 400,000 people gather for three days of music near Bethel, NY, swarming across the pastures of Max Yasgur's dairy farm. The festival is the brainchild of four men under age 26 (including one with a multimillion-dollar trust fund). Only 186,000 tickets are sold, so around 200,000 people are expected - but the amazing lineup of bands and musicians draws many more. Fences are pushed over and tickets become pointless. On opening night, sponsors declare free admission to all, and the word spreads like wildfire. Police estimate a million more people trying to reach Woodstock are stuck in traffic jams up to 50 miles away. In rain and mud, thousands listen to Janis Joplin, The Who, Canned Heat, the Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and Country Joe & The Fish. On the last morning, guitarist Jimi Hendrix wakes the crowd with a riveting solo version of the national anthem. The final cost is $2.4 million. A film of the concert is released the following year.

An incredible part of music history and photo journalism, and an incredible opportunity to see the exhibit or meet this famous photographer!