Three months after Woodstock, the hippie scene shifted south.

To the boondocks west of West Palm Beach.

On Thanksgiving weekend, 40 years ago.

See anyone you know in the crowd? (Courtesy Ken Davidoff)

And the local ruling class didn’t like it one bit.

Then-Palm Beach County Sheriff Bill Heidtman vowed to make life miserable for the free-loving, pot-smoking, anti-establishment youngsters who gathered at the Palm Beach Pop Festival. He threatened to herd alligators toward the crowd, gathered at the Palm Beach International Raceway. And he swore he’d have his good ole’ boys dig out fire ant colonies and relocate them at the venue.

Yet, 50,000 people showed up for the three-day event, the only one of its kind ever in this area. And they got to calling Heidtman “Sheriff Eichmann,” after Hitler’s henchman, Adolf Eichmann.

Mick Jagger at the 1969 Palm Beach Pop Festival (Courtesy Ken Davidoff)

The lineup of bands was nearly the same as the earlier New York state rendezvous. Except that Jimi Hendrix couldn’t make it. He was replaced by a little band known as The Rolling Stones. Janis Joplin belted out a few tunes, as did The Byrds, Sly and the Family Stone, Johnny Winter, Grand Funk Railroad, Spirit and Jefferson Airplane.

Florida rocker Tom Petty was there, too, after hitch-hiking south from his hometown of Gainesville.

Palm Beach society shutterbug Ken Davidoff remembers the festival well. At 19, he scored a gig as the event’s official photographer.

Janis Joplin and Johnny Winter at the 1969 festival (Courtesy Ken Davidoff)

“It was rainy and freezing cold and people were ankle deep in mud,” Davidoff said. “There were 50,000 at the beginning, but by the time the Stones got on stage on Sunday, there were maybe 3,000 left. The weather and delays just drove people away.”

Among the delays, Davidoff cited the Stones’ arrival after authorities forced the band to wait on their jet on the tarmac for six hours, sorta, kinda, on purpose.

Davidoff recently built this Web site for the anniversary and stuffed it with some of the 600-plus pictures he took that weekend. He’s also interviewing festival-goers, roadies and promoters for a documentary.

“The festival was definitely a historical event that very few residents knew about,” Davidoff said.

For more photos, click here.

It wasn’t so long ago, Miami resident Cynthia Rodriguez only had to look across the breakfast table for her daily dose of eye candy. She was married to New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez.

The good old days (Courtesy Sports Illustrated)

But then, along came Madonna, and the SoFla lovebirds were divorced. Both A-Rod and C-Rod have moved on. Alex is playing house with starlet Kate Hudson. And Cynthia took out her new main man, whose id is still unknown, for a stroll in Miami Beach the other day. Did she upgrade? Look below to find out and vote, or click (Read more…)

Back in the days: Varga and Mersentes (Palm Beach Post file photo)

Stolen nude pictures of a Palm Beach socialite.

Allegations of spying and stealing against a well-known society butler.

Big money. Conspiracy. Intrigue.

The latest filing in a Palm Beach County circuit court by the new husband of diet guru Robert Atkins‘ 72-year-old widow has it all.

Alexis Mersentes, 72, a serial groom of rich women who married the multi-millionaire Veronica Atkins in 2007, has joined his ex-girlfriend, former Worth Avenue store owner Ildiko Varga, 57, in a $1 million-lawsuit that Varga originally brought against him.

Confused yet?

Don’t be.

In the January lawsuit that the black-tie Palm Beach gala stalwart Varga brought against Mersentes, Varga claimed Mersentes took pictures of her posing nude then distributed them without her consent.

Now this: Mersentes, the defendant, has joined Varga as a plaintiff, claiming that he is as much a victim of the pictures’ distribution as she is.

Dozens of Varga’s nudie shots ended up in the hands of lawyers in an unrelated lawsuit in Miami.

So, how did the pictures end up in the public realm?

The butler did it!

Want more? Look below, or click (Read more…)

Stewart

Part-time Palm Beacher Rod Stewart this week got sued for not paying $3.3 million in legal fees to a Los Angeles firm that represented him in three cases.

What is it about the rocker and IOUs?

Back in 2001, the Palm Beach interior designer Kemble Interiors was stiffed by Stewart. To the tune of $168,000, according to records. The firm decorated his three homes — Palm Beach, London and Los Angeles — and charged him $1.4 million.

But when the last payment came due, Kemble waited for months. Then the business sued in a Palm Beach County court.

‘He’s at it again,” said Mimi McMakin at Kemble.

She declined to comment further because the firm and Stewart settled then signed a confidentiality agreement.

Funny thing, the singer of Maggie May and Baby Jane also was sued by the Boca law firm that represented him in the Kemble case, Proskauer Rose LLP, for $20,000. Seems that Stewart, 64, had forgotten to pay those attorneys, too.

The latest lawsuit on the Left Coast claims Stewart, a multi-millionaire who’s notoriously cheap, owes for legal work on three cases, including one involving the cancellation of a gig in Las Vegas. A federal jury ordered Stewart to pay the Rio hotel-casino $2 million for canceling the Christmas 2000 concert.

Stewart’s manager could not be reached.

(Robert Holland/Special to Page2Live)

What’s a Babar book worth if it was signed by former First Lady Barbara Bush and her son, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush?

Five bucks? Twenty? One hundred?

Make that $850,000!

A resident of Palm Beach County who asked to remain anonymous just contacted organizers of the upcoming celebrity-book charity auction in Stuart, The Little Auction That Could, and bought the signed copy of The Travels of Babar for the equivalent of three Rolls-Royces.

The Jean De Brunhoff work is part of a collection of nearly 100 children’s books John Hancock-ed by world-famous celebrities, including poet Maya Angelou, golfer Tiger Woods, Pres. Barack Obama, singer Jimmy Buffett and astronaut John Glenn. The books will be auctioned at the Lyric Theatre Friday, and proceeds are going the Hibiscus Children’s Center, a Martin County shelter for abused and neglected kids.

But the anonymous caller just couldn’t wait and was adamant he wanted the book signed by momma and sonny Bush.

The sale Thursday morning sent some organizers into a joyous frenzy. With the wire transfer minutes later, they’re guaranteed to raise well above $1 million.

“First thing I said when I got the call is: Are you serious?” said Karla Preissman, who spent two years painstakingly gathering the signed books. “I’m not a professional fund-raiser or anything. I was very humbled by it.”

Jeb Bush’s reaction? “That’s fabulous!!!!’ he e-mailed Preissman.

Dame Celia Lipton Farris is already a historic figure in Palm Beach … and this has nothing to do with her age.

When it comes to the arts, there isn’t much she hasn’t done. There was Broadway, the London stage, the movies and early television, singing and painting. And when it comes to charity, she’s one of the most visible donors on the do-gooder scene.

It’s fitting, therefore, that the great dame is to be honored by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County on Dec. 9 at its yearly fund-raiser. The pre-party was Saturday, at the palatial digs of Cleveland lumber magnate Patrick Park at the Bears Club in Jupiter. It usually takes a lot to lure Palm Beachers to the northern confines of the county, but more than 200 people came to the Tuscan mansion.

“Dame Celia keeps Palm Beach moving,” Park said. “She’s the driving force behind many charities.”

Check out the pre-party photos, by Lucien Capehart:

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Howard Kessler with Dame Celia Lipton Farris and Michelle Kessler

Solomon Hurwitz and and Gertrude Maxwell (Courtesy Palm Beach Daily News)

The 95-year-old man who eloped with 98-year-old Palm Beach socialite Gertrude Maxwell and married her in July is sane, according to members of a committee charged with recommending whether Solomon Hurwitz should be under a guardian’s care.

A psychologist on the three-member panel — which also includes a medical doctor and someone outside the medical field — found Hurwitz unable to take care of himself and conduct simple tasks like counting money, according to court papers.

And counting is at the heart of the battle for control over the multimillionaire’s money.

On one side are his five children, who are based out of state. In their petition to have Hurwitz found incompetent and in need of a guardian, the siblings’ lawyers accused Maxwell of taking advantage of Hurwitz for his cash. She, according to the court documents, blew through $24 million in the past five years and is going broke. Maxwell, who’s best known for finding good homes for abandoned pets, proposed to Hurwitz, an Alzheimer’s sufferer, after one date.

On the other side is Hurwitz himself, who says he’s in love and should do whatever he pleases with the dough he made in his lifetime as a liquor dealership owner. He’s having a ball, he tells friends, and Maxwell has been helping him paint the town red.

“It’s going to come down to a judge’s decision after a trial in January,” said David Garten, a West Palm Beach lawyer randomly appointed by the court to represent Hurwitz in the court proceedings. “Members of the committee don’t seem all to agree.”

For more, look below or click (Read more…)

Dion and her elderly husband, Rene Angelil

There’s a good reason why Canadian songbird Celine Dion has been flying below the radar over the past few months.

Holed up in a rented house at the Bear’s Club in Jupiter while her waterpark-outfitted castle on Jupiter Island is being finished, Dion suffered a miscarriage, according to her husband.

And the singer of My Heart Will Go On then went through another unsuccessful attempt at artificial insemination, he told the French Canadian Journal de Montreal.

A third attempt is scheduled this weekend in New York.

The 41-year-old Dion’s hubby and manager, Rene Angelil, told the newspaper that Dion became pregnant in August but lost the baby a week and a half later.

Said Rene, who’s 67: “We are living the same reality as the majority of couples who face these techniques of procreation. The road can be long and arduous. It doesn’t always work like it did the first time with (their son, born at Palms West in Loxahatchee in 2001) Rene-Charles. In August, the doctor believed that the pregnancy had started well. It wasn’t the case. We were in shock.

“But you know Celine. She doesn’t let go. We are not discouraged.”

Hey, guys, here’s a novel idea: How ’bout an adoption?

Joel Koeppel, with wife Carole, and comedian Robert Klein in Mar-a-Lago (Courtesy Davidoff Studios)

Despite an extensive Palm Beach clientele, big deal real estate attorney Joel Koeppel just filed for bankruptcy.

In paperwork delivered to the federal court in West Palm Beach, Koeppel claims to owe between $1 million and $10 million to 10 creditors, including Amex, Bank of America, Colonial Bank and the IRS.

He also owes about $1 million to his former law partners, who accused him in a lawsuit they recently won of ripping them off. Former partners Larry M. Mesches and Stuart Gottlieb claimed Koeppel wrote himself checks drawn from the firm’s accounts to pay for things like his membership to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

Mesches and Gottlieb won $857,187, plus court and attorneys’ fees.

Koeppel filed for bankruptcy Oct. 28, the day he was supposed to be deposed by Mesches in legal action to force Koeppel to cough up the dough.

“We don’t know what his intentions are in filing for bankruptcy,” Mesches said, “whether it’s to delay or avoid paying us. But we’re now checking into whether he transferred assets, which could be illegal.”

Koeppel has been involved with many charitable and civic organizations over the years, including the Town of Palm Beach’s powerful Code Compliance Board. He couldn’t be reached at his offfice and didn’t respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Norman (AP Photo)

Double bogey for Jupiter Island golfer Greg Norman!

Not only is he dealing with his separation from new wife Chris Evert, the Boca Raton-based former tennis star, but now he’s got a ticked off ex-wife to deal with.

Palm Beacher Laura Andrassy says the Great White Shark stiffed her in his yearly payment of their divorce settlement.

She contends in new paperwork filed in the Martin County courthouse in Stuart that his $2 million wire transfer to her June 15 was about $72,000 short. She asked a judge to force Norman to pay up, or order arbitration.

According to their contract, the ex-missus, a former flight attendant, will be $103 million richer by 2023 as a result of the agreement they signed when they were divorced two years ago.

So, what’s $72,000?

“It’s a substantial sum of money,” said Andrassy’s lawyer in West Palm Beach, Jack Scarola. “I have no desire to annoy Mr. Norman. But he has an obligation to meet his contractual commitments. If someone owes $72,000, just pay up.”

Andrassy, leaving a divorce hearing with lawyer Jack Scarola in 2007 (The Palm Beach Post archives)

Norman’s divorce attorney, Jeff Fisher, declined comment. But in his response filed in court, Fisher wrote that Norman and his ex promised they’d seek arbitration for disputes instead of the court system.

Andrassy’s recent motion to enforce is nothing more than a “method to feed information (usually of a disparaging nature) about the former husband to the media.”

The $72,000 alleged shortfall, according to court papers, comes from the calculation of Andrassy’s share in Norman’s Colorado ranch, Seven Lakes Lodge. She’s supposed to get close to $780,000 a year for the ranch, but got much less.

Incidentally, Norman recently put the property on the market for $55 million.

The motion reopens the saga of golfer/vintner’s divorce, which was filed in June 2006 after Andrassy accused him of cheating on her with tennis champ Evert. Although Norman and Andrassy were officially divorced when he married Evert in June 2008, they’ve been ironing some of their differences since.

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