The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
New documentary explores how Conn.’s 1970 version of Woodstock became a Fyre Fest fiasco
THE POWDER RIDGE ROCK FESTIVAL WAS GOING TO FEATURE PROMINENT MUSICIANS SUCH AS NEIL YOUNG, JANIS JOPLIN, SLY & THE FAMILY STONE, THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND AND
The idea for Gorman Bechard’s next film came by chance during a visit to the Connecticut State Police Museum.
The award-winnning documentarian and his wife stopped by the museum after her father — a former state trooper — had died. Searching for photos of his fatherin-law, Bechard found pictures of something different. Something that sparked what he calls the most fun he’s had making a film.
“She’s looking for pictures of her dad, and I’m walking around and see these pictures of this rock concert that looks like Woodstock. I’m like ‘what is this?,’” Bechard said. “I’m a live music fanatic and I had never heard of this thing.”
Bechard called it “the greatest non-festival of all time.” But the thousands of hippies and so-called societal degenerates who descended on Middlefield in July 1970 called it the Powder Ridge Rock Festival. Powder Ridge was schedule to begin on July 31 and would run for three days featuring prominent musicians such as Neil Young, Janis Joplin, Sly & The Family Stone, Allman Brothers Band and Little Richard. But the town filed an injunction and the festival was halted.
Despite no music, the fans came and created their own pseudocommune glorifying all things antithetical to then-President Richard Nixon’s America — sex, drugs and the celebration of rock and roll music.
Bechard accessed 3,600 stills and three hours of 8 mm film, most of which had never been seen before, to put the documentary together. One particular strip of film he found led Bechard to start the project in the first place — footage of his father-in-law directing traffic outside of the festival grounds.
Creating the documentary
The Powder Ridge Music Festival documentary is Bechard’s latest project. It chronicles the events
of the “greatest non-festival of all time.
The documentary covers the many facets leading to the festival’s organization and premature end. That includes a power struggle between organizer Lou Zemel and local politicians stemming from Zemel’s leftist beliefs, along with the prevalence of sex and drugs with concert goers at the time. Bechard even talked with singer-songwriter Melanie, the only performer to show up and play the festival thanks to a sound system hooked up to a Mister Softee ice cream truck. According to Bechard, Melanie “had a great memory of it” and even compared herself to Santa Claus for concert goers.
“As we start digging into this, we start realizing that we’re peeling back all the layers of the onion. And it’s not like we’re finding more onion — we’re finding sacks of onion,” Bechard said. “It just gets crazier and crazier and crazier.”
Bechard initially had the idea to make a short film. But after conducting more research, he figured he had enough material for a longer documentary. Bechard said
he’ll conduct around 100 interviews when the project is completed. So far, working on the documentary has taken him everywhere from San Diego to Nashville. And he’s looking for more.Bechard wants to interview people who attended the festival or know of anyone involved in any aspect of the Powder Ridge Rock Festival story. He’s also searching for more footage to include in the documentary and is asking the public to send him any material they may have.
A kickstarter was launched to help fund the documentary. Funding prizes include t-shirts, concert posters and the opportunity to be listed as an executive producer on the project. Bechard hopes that with some additional funding that he can hire Melanie to write a song for the documentary akin to her song “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain).” It was written about her experiences at Woodstock. After the next round of funding, Bechard aims to start filming some reenactments to supplement footage for the documentary.
Bechard said he is about halfway through the process. He plans to finish the film by fall in order to submit it for the film festival cycle.
History of the Powder Ridge Rock Festival
Though the exact number differs among historians, tens of thousands of music fans descended on Powder Ridge Ski Area.
But after the success of Woodstock in August 1969, opposition to music festivals began to grip the nation following the deadly Altamonte Speedway Free Festival. In December 1969, a member of the crowd at Altamonte was stabbed and killed by a member of the Hells Angel Motorcycle Club. Coupled with the notorious nature of these festivals bringing nudity and drugs to local communities, the festival was served an injunction blocking it, just days before it was set to be held.
The two main figures in the crosshairs of disgruntled townspeople were Zemel and Raymond Filiberti. Zemel operated the ski resort alongside his brother, and Filiberti was the promoter of the festival. Zemel was a known liberal in a staunchly conservative town, according to Bechard. He said that raised the ire of local politicians. Five years before the festival, Zemel was at the center of a case in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. He unsuccessfully challenged a federal law that blocked him from traveling to Cuba.
“Louis Zemel, the principal representative of the two defendant corporations who own the land in question, has exhibited a very relaxed attitude toward the zoning regulations. He has paid them no heed, almost as if he thought they would quietly go away,” the injunction filing read. “Of course, they could and should have checked on the zoning regulations, but there is no evidence that they did so.”
Filiberti allegedly failed to refund patrons after the event was canceled, which led him to be indicted on six counts of perjury, according to a New York Times article from 1971. In 1972, Filiberti was given four years of jail time. Filiberti was also scrutinized for his supposed organized crime ties, which his lawyer refused to address.
Despite no festival being held, the crowds came and camped in the area while celebrating two of the three tenants of the hippie movement: sex and drugs. Herman Zemel had to go down the mountain to announce that “there’s a lot of bad stuff going around. Smoke marijuana if you have to use something. But don’t buy this stuff.”
That “bad stuff going around” was allegedly everything from mescaline to LSD. Bechard saw footage of a two-foot joint being passed down the mountain that at least 2,000 people took a hit of.
Bechard said there is no telling how significant the impact of holding the festival could’ve been on the music and cultural scenes of Connecticut.
“Had this happened, I think we’d still talk about Woodstock but we’d also talk about this in the same breath,” Bechard said. “I think it would’ve put that part of central Connecticut on the map.”