Joel Rosenman

Joel Rosenman (born 1942), conceived and co-created the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Rosenman thought of the idea for the three-day concert when he and business partner John Roberts evaluated a recording studio proposal brought forward by Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld. The four went on to create the event. Rosenman and Roberts are the co-authors of Young Men with Unlimited Capital, also published as Making Woodstock, 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.[1][2]

Early career and Media Sound

John Hammond, then head of A&R at Columbia Records, offered Rosenman a recording contract in 1967, but 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 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 claiming to be "Young men with unlimited capital" looking for "legitimate and interesting...business proposals." Rosenman and Roberts received thousands of responses, including a few which lured them into the field of venture capital as entrepreneurs rather than sitcom writers. The following year, in 1968, they commenced work on the construction of Media Sound Recording Studios, a large-scale recording complex on the west side of Manhattan in New York. A year later, the studios opened to considerable interest in the music world. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, it was the preferred recording location for many of the era's leading artists.

Woodstock
Main article: Woodstock

Known for their involvement with Media Sound, Rosenman and Roberts were approached by Michael Lang and Arthur Kornfeld, who initially approached Media Sound for partnership in building a recording studio in upstate New York. Intrigued by a section in their proposal which called for an opening day cocktail party that would invite local artists "like Bob Dylan," Rosenman recast the proposal as a concert instead of a studio. He and Roberts encouraged Lang and Kornfeld to consider the idea, and the four later agreed upon the new direction, forming Woodstock Ventures, Inc. to develop the concert over the ensuing six months. Zoning Board permits issued to Woodstock Ventures authorized a maximum attendance of "50,000," but in August 1969, several million would-be concert-goers clogged the highways and country roads of New York State, trying to get to the concert. Half a million succeeded in reaching the performance area and spent the weekend helping to create the "Woodstock" phenomenon.

Though the 1969 Woodstock Festival earned acclaim and cultural prominence, the overwhelming turnout resulted in unforeseen expenses which left Woodstock Ventures in substantial debt. For more than a decade following the Festival, Rosenman and Roberts worked to repay the losses from the event, eventually tying up those loose ends in the early 1980s.

Current

Rosenman managed an investment fund, Source Financing Investors. The fund advanced Democratic Party fundraiser Norman Hsu's company, Components Ltd., $40 million, money which Rosenman later reported to be missing.[3] Hsu pleaded guilty to counterfeiting documents and defrauding Rosenman and other investors out of their investments.[4]

Portrayals

In the 2009 film Taking Woodstock Rosenman is portrayed by Daniel Eric Gold.

References
  1. Bloom, Nate (August 19, 2009). "The Hidden Jewish History of Woodstock". 18Doors. The lawyer for Lang's rock group put Kornfeld and Lang in touch with two Jewish backers, Joel Rosenman, now 67, and John Roberts ...
  2. Benarde, Scott R. (July 1, 2003). Stars of David: Rock'n'roll's Jewish Stories. Brandeis University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-1584653035. Four Jews organized the Woodstock Festival: Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld, John Roberts, and Joel Rosenman
  3. "$40 Million Borrowed by Dirty Democratic Fundraiser Norman Hsu is Missing". Fox News. September 12, 2007. Archived from the original on October 21, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  4. Emshwiller, John R.; Bray, Chad (May 8, 2009). "Hsu Pleads Guilty in Investment Scheme" – via www.wsj.com.

Further reading
  • Rosenman, Joel. Young Men With Unlimited Capital: The Story of Woodstock. Scrivenery Press, 1999. ISBN 978-1-893818-02-6.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.