Press

Tickets are now on sale at the New York State Museum for the first concert in the Museum's Woodstock summer concert series, and tickets for all of the concerts will go on sale Friday, June 4th.

The concert series is being held in conjunction with the State Museum exhibition -- Spirit of the Woodstock Generation: The Photographs of Elliott Landy -- which opens June 19th as part of a summer-long festival at the Museum commemorating the 35th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Located in the Museum's Crossroads Gallery through September 6th, the exhibition will present more than 50 original photographs taken by Landy, official photographer of the Woodstock Festival.

The concerts, featuring musicians who performed on the 1969 Woodstock stage, include Melanie, June 25th; Arlo Guthrie, July 1; John Sebastian, July 23rd; Music of The Band, August 6 and Country Joe McDonald and former members of the Fish, August 28th. All performances will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Museum's Clark Auditorium. Other VIP events with performers will be announced at a future date.

The prices are $18 for Museum members and $22 for non-members for Melanie, John Sebastian and Music of The Band. Tickets for Country Joe are $20 for members and $25 for non-members. Arlo Guthrie tickets are $38 for members and $45 for non-members. Tickets are on sale in the Museum lobby Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and anytime at (518) 408-1033. Any proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit Museum education programs.

There also will be a "Woodstock Night" at Caffe Lena on Saturday, Aug. 21 at 8 p.m., featuring songs from the Woodstock Festival sung by area performers. Ticket information is available at Caffe? Lena at 583-0022.

Melanie will also perform at a State Museum reception, open to the public at no charge, on Tuesday, June 22. "The Taste of New York" reception, from 7 to 9 p.m., will feature foods and beverages from around New York State. Also present at the reception will be Landy and the three surviving organizers of the 1969 Woodstock Festival - Michael Lang, Artie Kornfeld and Joel Rosenman.

The Museum also plans other programming throughout the summer including a panel discussion on Thursday, August 12th - "Woodstock: The Music, the People and the Times," featuring Landy, Lang, Kornfeld and Rosenman. They and other panelists will give perspective to this pivotal event in American history. The moderator will be Parry Teasdale, the editor of the The Independent in Hinsdale, N.Y., who documented the original Woodstock festival using what was then revolutionary portable television technology.

Also planned are craft activities, a Café Karaoke night on Friday, July 16th from 8 to 11 p.m. ($5 admission fee) and a free tie-dye workshop on Saturday, July 10th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration for the workshop is required by July 8 and may be made by calling (518) 473-7154. Participants must bring a white or light-colored tee shirt.

The Woodstock exhibition has been made possible by Baum Image Group, Inc. of Valley Cottage, N.Y., with support from the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which owns the original Woodstock Festival site in Bethel, N.Y.

The New York State Museum is located on Madison Avenue in Albany. It is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week throughout the year except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.