Artie Kornfeld has worked personally with artists such as Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon over the course of his career.
Photo courtesy of Melissa Rechin / Photo Editor
ANNE RITZ
News Editor
On Monday, April 7, the McEwen lecture hall was packed with students, faculty and community members awaiting to hear one of the greatest influences of ‘60s culture.
Artie Kornfeld, co-creator of the Woodstock music festival, came to speak at Fredonia. The talk was sponsored by DFT Communications and Waring Financial Group.
Kornfeld discussed his life’s work in the music industry. Armand Petri, coordinator of the music business program, hosted the discussion.
In addition to being the co-creator of Woodstock, Kornfeld has had a career in producing and started out as a songwriter. He also recently released a book titled, “The Pied Piper of Woodstock,” in which he tells the story of his career.
Kornfeld told the story of how Woodstock came to be a massive outdoor music festival. He was vice president of Capitol Records in New York City at the time of the creation of Woodstock. He partnered with Michael Lang, a smaller producer.
“I was so blown away by what I saw in front of me,” said Kornfeld. “That this actually came true, that this was really happening,” Kornfeld said to the audience about the Woodstock festival.
Kornfeld told several interesting stories about his life: the iconic artists he has met throughout his time and his friendships with others that have influenced history. He told the audience about his friendships with artists such as Jimi Hendrix and that the belt he wears was once Hendrix’s — he hasn’t taken it off since he received it. He gave it to him three weeks before he died.
The room was almost overflowing as audience members took seats on the stairs and stood in the back of the room just to hear Kornfeld speak.
“It is awesome,” said Brian O’Reilly, senior public relations and media management major, about what he thought of the event.
“It was just really interesting to hear about what he had to say. It was interesting how nonchalantly he just talked about the people he knew, wearing Jimi Hendrix’s belt. I just think it was really interesting and really cool what he had to say,” he said.
For some, attendance was required but that did not take away from the experience. “First it was a requirement for the class, but I wanted to come anyway. That’s a legend up there and it’s just really cool to hear his stories and get inside what was happening back then,” O’Reilly said.
Students were excited to hear firsthand of the cultural impact that Kornfeld had on the world. “I just think it was amazing to see how much he’s actually done and how his work has changed the music industry and just the culture of the world. I just can’t – somebody this big has come to talk to us,” said Alex Mikol, senior music business major.
Kornfeld was an inspiration for some students’
future plans. Marina Piazza, senior marketing and
music business major, explained that she hopes
to have a future in the music industry some day.
“I thought it was great. I mean just sitting here listening to its history and his mindset of what the past is. He did everything for the future and the future’s here and he’s still looking forward to it,” Piazza said.
“I like learning about things. I mostly came to the event because it is a part of history. I came to it because I wanted to see his side of what he experienced. Ultimately I want to be a tour manager. He put on a wide festival so I wanted to see his take on it, his view of why he did it and how he executed it, which you can see throughout his speech,” she said.
Kornfeld discussed that he has high hopes for our generation. He believes that everything he devoted to creating Woodstock was for now. “Woodstock is my child and seeing you all here is seeing my child grow,” he said.
He explained that he feels strongly about our generation and hopes that our generations will make positive changes in the world.
“If you just make the change with yourself, you can make the change in the world,” he said.