For the past four decades, Pete Fornatale has offered one of the most distinctive voices on New York radio as a disc jockey, interviewer and well-nigh legendary collector of oral history and creator of Mixed Bag Radio.
Few observers of rock and roll history have written about the topic with as much passion and clarity. And here in the 40th anniversary season of Woodstock, the longtime WNEW-FM DJ brings his skills as a latter-day folklorist to bear with a highly anticipated new book called Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock, and a multimedia presentation on the subject that he’ll be bringing to a somewhat surprising venue, Bellas Seafood Bistro in the bayshore borough of Atlantic Highlands.
As the first in a special series of Artists’ Lectures arranged by the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council, Fornatale visits Sunday. We talked to the broadcasting great (now happily ensconced at WFUV out of Fordham U) about the Mud People and the Hand People; about the Santanas and the Porta-Sans, the Rockefellers and the storytellers.
It’s all here, as a way of easing into a brilliantly busy September weekend, in Red Bank oRBit.
