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.

JLo, Marc Anthony and Floyd, the German shepherd guard dog (Courtesy www.celebrities.au)

A flight attendant on a private jet carrying salsero Marc Anthony and his wife, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, was attacked by the couple’s guard dog in flight because she was carrying eating utensils to their table.

So the flight attendant, Lisa Wilson, is suing the couple in a Brooklyn, N.Y., court over the 2006 attack in a Gulfstream jet. Wilson says the snarling dog lunged and head-butted her, causing her to fall and injure her back.

For her pain and suffering, she is demanding $5 million.

According to the New York Daily News, the German shepherd, Floyd, received military-style training and has a thing for sharp objects being handled near the Dolphins’ minority owner Anthony. According to the court documents, the glamorous couple’s personal chef also has been harassed by the pooch.

An animal behavior expert hired by Wilson’s legal team said the dog is dangerous and the famous couple knew it. Early in the flight, Anthony warned Wilson not to look at Floyd in the eyes and call his name when she wanted to pass by.

“The dog was obviously dangerous and we will prove at trial that it was only a matter of time before he hurt someone,” Wilson’s lawyer, William Cafaro, told the News.

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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…)

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.

Schneider

Funnyman Rob Schneider’s interview on the Wild 95.5 morning show last week has put co-hosts Kevin Rolston, Virginia Lang and Jason Pennington in the national limelight.

Schneider cut short the already-infamous live banter fest on West Palm Beach’s station and left in a huff after Lang walked out on the comic, mumbling: “I quit this bitch!”

And after the video of the ill-fated interview spread on the web, the King of All Media himself weighted in on his Sirius show this morning. Howard Stern sided with the diminutive Schneider, saying that the locals behaved like small town amateurs. Stern called Virginia’s colorful co-host, Jason Pennington, a d…head.

“That’s awesome,” Pennington gloated.

See the video here.

Schneider, an alumni of Saturday Night Live who went on to the big screen in flicks like The Animal and Deuce Bigalow, was at the station Friday to hawk his weekend gig at The Improv in West Palm Beach’s CityPlace.

Schneider, however, got ticked off that a previous interview ran long and that he had to wait in the stations’ parking lot.

Kevin, Virginia and Jason (Courtesy Wild 95.5)

At one point, Schneider told Virginia on the air: “I make a lot more money than you. I can buy and sell you, and people like you.” What’s more, the actor kept calling the threesome “a-holes.”

“He was pompous and condescending to the staff even before the show,” Lang said, adding that waiting in the parking lot had been Schneider’s choice. “Then we started going back and forth on the air. I was devastated. That’s not what we do. We don’t fight with people. He was a jerk. I just had to leave the studio.”

One highlight: When Schneider put down his headphones and walked out, Pennington announced: “Elvis has left the building. Uh . . . Make that, little Elvis has left the building!”

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It’s that time of year. Millionaires at the helm of mega-yachts pulled into town for their yearly rendez-vous at Rybovich Marina on West Palm Beach’s north side. Three dozen 100-footers will be docked through the weekend, and their owners are paying up to $20,000 to be there. That money is going to the Boys and Girls Club of Broward County. The event includes, among plenty parties, a yacht hop and Saturday’s gala at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, featuring a concert by disco diva Donna Summer. Parts of the event are open to the public. To see who’s there, check out Palm Beach Post lensman Ray Graham’s photos of last night welcome party:

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Kimberly Roden and Tim Mahoney (Courtesy Stuart News)

– One of several women who caused the spectacular fall of area U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, Martin County operations manager Kimberly Roden, is walking away from her $73,000-a-year gig in a buyout effort by the county. A comely blue-eyed blonde who was credited for getting the U.S. government to pay for hurricane cleanup that it didn’t pay in neighboring counties, Roden was disciplined (sorta!) three days without pay earlier this year for not telling her superiors that she and the very married Mahoney were an item. The Democrat lost his reelection bid to Republican Tom Rooney last year after he admitted to several affairs, including one with an employee. His wife, Terry, filed for divorce within days. Roden took several tax-funded trips to Washington, D.C., while Mahoney was in office. Roden’s departure comes as the county offered to pay longtime employees for up to 16 weeks if they leave. “The program is absolutely voluntary,” said county administrative services boss Gary Gierlicz. “No one is being pushed out.”

Alex Rodriguez

– Major Leaguer Alex Rodriguez, who just won the World Series with the New York Yankees, has discounted his Coral Gables mansion. It was on the market for $14.8 million. Now, it can be yours for $10 million, according to realestalker Web site. Wouldn’t hurt so much if A-Rod didn’t buy the six-bedroomer for $12 million five years ago. The house is also on the auction site billionaireexchange.com. Rodriguez is said to be getting ready to play house on the Left Coast with Hollywood actress Kate Hudson (Fool’s Gold, Almost Famous). Tour A-Rod’s digs by clicking here.

With the NFL more than a month behind last year in announcing the halftime entertainment for the Feb. 7 Super Bowl at Land Shark Stadium, rumors are rampant that the league is considering one of two solutions.

The first, according to a source close to the host committee, is that the Miami Dolphins’ new co-owners — salsero Marc Anthony, hip-hopper Jennifer Lopez and Latin star Gloria Estefan — would combine forces for one of the world’s most-watched halftime shows. It’s unclear whether Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, who agreed to purchase a small share of the team but hasn’t paid for it yet, would participate.

“Gloria appeared in six Super Bowls,” said Estefan publicist, David Naranjo. “She enjoys helping showcase the city. But I haven’t heard anything about her doing it again.”

The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend

The other avenue, according to a report in Sports Illustrated’s online version, it that the British band The Who may be thisclose from receiving the nod. While the band’s music is going through a renewal of sorts with the soundtracks of TV series like CSI: Miami, The Who aren’t touring and have no new CD to sell. The band’s frontman, Roger Daltrey, is in the states on the tail end of a solo tour. He appears at the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino in Hollywood on Nov. 29.

“The committee feels that it’s strange that the NFL hasn’t made an announcement yet,” the source said. “Last year, they did it (it was Bruce Springsteen) during a Sunday night game in September. “

At the NFL headquarters in New York, a spokeswoman said there’s no timeline to announce halftime shows.

“When we have something to announce, we will,” she said.

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Coop

– Have you noticed that CNN star anchorman Anderson Cooper looks even more relaxed on the air these days? There may be a good reason for that. The New York media are abuzz that the Silver Fox just returned from a vacation in India. And, according to the New York Post, the 42-year-old son of socialite Gloria Vanderbilt spent most of his time in a $3,200-a-night suite at the famous Rambaugh Palace hotel in Jaipur with — gasp! — a dude! Coop’s friend was id’ed as Ben Maisani, the owner of a gay bar in Manhattan’s East Village. And boy, is Maisani beefed up or what?

Ben Maisani (Courtesy gawker.com)

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– TV actress and self-help book author Suzanne Somers (Three’s Company) was on hand Tuesday to welcome to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale the brand new MSC Poesia, an ocean cruiser from the Italian-owned MSC line.