"The Road to Woodstock": The Stories Behind Rock History : Rolling Stone

Courting Dylan

I still hoped to add a few more surprises to the show, particularly some artists living in Woodstock. Paul Butterfield agreed to perform with his Blues Band on Sunday night. Fred Neil had moved up from Coconut Grove. His song "Everybody's Talkin'" was the theme song for Midnight Cowboy (and would soon become a huge hit for Nilsson). This made him even more reclusive than he already was, but he said he'd play Friday night. We added him to the press release listing the lineup. Then, a couple of days before the show, he said he wasn't going to make it.

Bob Dacy — whom I'd known in the Grove and now ran Woodstock's Sled Hill Café — arranged a meeting for me with Bob Dylan at his home. Dylan's songs were important in my life, as they were in the lives of countless others. I just thought I'd tell him that we'd all love to see him there, unannounced, of course. His wife, Sara, made lunch and we all talked about what I had planned. I explained the reasons why I hadn't made an offer to have him officially on the show. I knew he was uncomfortable with the mantle of "prophet" that he'd been tagged with by the press. He'd rarely played in public since 1966. Bob was the most important artist of our generation, and because of my respect for his artistry, I underestimated the side of him that is about business. Maybe if I'd offered his booking agent a large enough fee, he'd have played — like he would at the Isle of Wight festival not long after Woodstock. In any case, during the two hours we hung out, he was cordial and said that maybe he'd stop by.

Later that week, Al Aronowitz wrote in the New York Post:

The day before, it had rained so hard the mud was deep enough to give you a good headstart to China... The owners of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair were busy acting like people who had a half a million dollars to spend. Meanwhile an hour and a half away, where Woodstock really is, Bob Dylan was coping with rumors that he was going to make a surprise appearance at the festival. "I may if I feel like it," he said. "I've been invited, so I know it'll be okay to show up.... My opinion of that festival is not any different from anyone else's. I think everyone is probably going to have a good time, but I wouldn't blame them if they didn't."

A few days after the festival, I was crossing Tinker Street in Woodstock and happened upon Bob, riding in an open jeep with Bernard Paturel from Café Espresso. As they drove by, I waved and gave a sort of "sorry you didn't make it" shrug. With a grin, Bob tipped his hat and nodded back with what I took as a "me too." (Twenty-five years later, Bob would finally take the Woodstock stage.)

NEXT: Negotiating with the Dead & the Who

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