蜜芽传媒

Think 'Woodstock' and the mind turns to the seminal 1969 festival that crowned a seismic decade of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. But Woodstock itself was over 60 miles from the site to which the fabled half a million flocked. So why the misnomer? In his recently published book, Small Town Talk, music writer Barney Hoskyns attempts to recreate Woodstock's community of "brilliant dysfunctional musicians, opportunistic hippie capitalists and scheming dealers" drawn to the area by Bob Dylan and his sidekicks, The Band. Weekend's Ben James spoke to him and for those of us who haven't been to Woodstock, asked him to describe what the town itself is actually like.

(Picture:Young revelers at the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock music festival in August 2009 in Bethel, New York. Credit:Mario Tama/Getty Images