New Yorkers know that the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 didn't actually take place in Woodstock. The concert happened in Bethel in Sullivan County, not far from where Deirdre and I spend our summers. Last year the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts opened on the site of the original Woodstock festival. Bethel Woods is designed as a venue for summer concerts, and in addition to a tedious line-up of geriatric rockers and contemporary snoozers booked for the first year was an appearance by the New York Philharmonic. I was eager to attend until the disappointing program was announced — works of such pure pap that I felt insulted on behalf of everyone in Sullivan County and, indeed, the entire state of New York. I wanted to complain at the time, but I let it go. I had high hopes for the future. There was some talk that Bethel Woods might become a summer home for the New York Philharmonic, and I felt confident that future programs would display just a tad more intelligence. Am I naive Read More...