Joel Rosenman (born 1942) conceived and co-created the

Woodstock Festival The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

in 1969. Rosenman thought of the idea for the three-day concert when he and business partner

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

were evaluating a proposal from Michael Lang and

Artie Kornfeld Arthur Lawrence Kornfeld (born 1942) is an American musician, record producer, and music executive. He is best known as the music producer promoter for the Woodstock Festival held in 1969. Kornfeld is also known for his collaborations with Art ...

for a recording studio in upstate New York. The four went on to create the event. Rosenman and Roberts are the co-authors of ''Making Woodstock'', originally published as ''Young Men with Unlimited Capital'', a non-fiction account of their exploits as producers of Woodstock.

Childhood and education

Born the second of three children, Rosenman grew up on Long Island in the town of Cold Spring Harbor, New York. He is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. He attended Princeton University followed by Yale Law School, but sought a career as a professional musician.

Early career and media sound

In 1967, after hearing Rosenman perform at

The Bitter End The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually s ...

in Greenwich Village, John Hammond, then head of A&R at

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, offered Rosenman a recording contract as a vocalist. Rosenman opted instead for a career in writing and venture capital with friend, and then partner, John P. Roberts. In 1967, Rosenman and Roberts drafted the pilot episode of a

situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

based on two young men looking for investment opportunities. In search of plot material for the series, they placed a classified ad in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' claiming to be "Young men with unlimited capital" looking for "legitimate and interesting...business proposals." Rosenman and Roberts received hundreds of responses, some of which were attractive enough to warrant evaluation as real investments. Through this channel they were presented with the opportunity to build the Media Sound recording studio, which later led to Woodstock.

Portrayals

In Ang Lee’s 2009 film '' Taking Woodstock'' Rosenman is portrayed by Daniel Eric Gold. Rosenman also appears in other Woodstock-related books, films, TV shows, interviews, panels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenman, Joel 1942 births Living people People from Cold Spring Harbor, New York American music industry executives 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Woodstock Festival