TAKING WOODSTOCK

As a native of Woodstock, New York, author Eliot Tiber saw his town evolve from a Jewish resort community in the fifties—when he helped his family run a hotel there—to the mecca for hippies it became in the sixties. In between is a tale of friends, family, culture, and commerce—all against the backdrop of Tiber's coming-of-age as a gay man amid the social upheaval of the time. Listeners be warned—the story is explicit in parts. Jim Frangione's voice is delightful as he applies his nasal tone to the myriad characters—from the original Borscht Belt crowd to the campy denizens of Seventh Avenue, with whom Tiber was running by the late sixties. He was even on the scene of the Stonewall Riots, which he recounts vividly. J.S.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2009]