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Sitrick And Company is working with Woodstock 50 founder Michael Lang as he tussles with Dentsu Aegis Network's Amplifi Live unit, which pulled its financial backing for the event that is slated to run Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen.
DANAL, a part of Japanese ad giant Dentsu, announced April 29 that despite its "tremendous investment of time, effort and commitment, we don't believe the production of the festival can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock brand name, while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees."
Lang, an original partner of the 1969 Woodstock festival, fired off a letter to DANAL on May 6 in which he asked that it "honor the law and your obligations, stop interfering with our efforts to put on this wonderful event and return the $17M that you improperly took."
He contends DANAL "illegally swept $17M from the festival bank account" when it announced that it was canceling the festival that is supposed to feature Jay-Z, Dead and Co., Santana, Miley Cyrus, the Killers, Imagine Dragons and dozens of others.
Sitrick's Sallie Hofmeister, former New York Times business reporter and Los Angeles Times reporter/editor for arts & entertainment, is distributing the letter for Lang's team, which includes lawyer Marc Kasowitz, who represents Donald Trump.
DANAL rejects any wrongdoing, saying as a financial backer it had every right to protect its investment by canceling the event and recovering the funds in the festival account.
Lang told the NYT on May 1 that the show will go on and that he is looking to replace DANAL financially. "We are in talks with investors who are anxious to come in," he said.
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