WOODSTOCK

[Welsh Wench]

Forty years ago tomorrow was the start of a festival the likes no one had ever seen before.
Or since.

WOODSTOCK

On August 15-18, 1969, half a million people gatthered at Max Yasgur's 600 acre dairy farm  in Bethel, NY (Woodstock is 43 miles away) to celebrate three days of peace, and music. He was paid 75,000 dollars for the use of his property.

Among the perfomers were Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, the Who (began at 4 AM and did a 25-song set) Sly and the Family Stone, Grateful Dead, Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills Nash, Neil Young, and Jimi Hendrix.

Joni Mitchell who wrote the definitive song Woodstock, declined to do Cavett. The Doors passed it up because Jim Morrison disliked outdoor venues. Jethro Tull said no.

Unfortunately I didn't make it there but I had friends who went.






One of the most famous photos of Woodstock - Bobbi and Nick Ercoline, then 19 and 20 years old, married in 1971 and are still together today.
They don't know what happened to the blanket though.








PEACE.

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

[Noble Dreg]

If you saw the picture in color you wouldn't want the blanket!  

I always wondered how much it cost to clean up afterwords.  The amount of garbage in most of the photo's is astounding!  

I could listen to that music for hours, mater of fact I think Katy Perry's getting the boot from my ipod and I'll pop some Jefferson Airplane into the cars CD player on the way home..."Don't you go chasing rabbits..."

[Welsh Wench]

Tickets  18.00
Blanket   4.99 at Kmart
Clean-up  Who cared? Or remembered!
Memories  Priceless*


*if you remembered them  

[Lady Nicolette]

And even if they didn't make the cut to the film or soundtrack, one of my cult faves of all time, The Incredible String Band played Woodstock too.  Robin Williamson and Mike Heron were some of the first people to mix up rock and acoustic folk music. 

And Joni Mitchell didn't play there at all, even though she did write the definitive song about it.  Melanie also wrote a beautiful paean to the event, "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)," despite her insipid later works.

[Blackjack Roberts]

"By the time we got to Woodstock;
We were half a million strong.
And everywhere was a song,
And a celebration."

*Didn't get to go either.* 






Oh, yes................DON'T EAT THE BROWN ACID!

[Rhiannon]

I just got another copy of the film on DVD. I had one before, but Goddess only knows what happened to it. I didn't go, since I was only 8 at the time, but if I'd been in my teens at the time, I would've gone.

[Lairde Guardn]

I am actually from NY and had heard of the Music Fest, but at that time in my life I was in Berkley California and had either just attended or was preparing to attend my first Rennaisance Faire that was held on the Campus back then. 

[Molden]

I was a wee feller at th' tyme... BUT I had some majorly kewl babysitters then!

*'twas likely the contact "high" wot made th' fritos, ho-ho's, an' hotdogses n' cokes taste sooo magnificent...an' got me 7  year ol' noggin' lovin' Monty Python!*

[Tipsy Gypsy]

I was too young too, but I'd have loved the opportunity if I'd been older. I laughed at Woodstock '94 and '99. Really? You gotta be kidding. There's no way you could ever hope to do justice to the original. That was a "once in history" event.

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

My parents friends had a summer house about a mile from the festival site, and unbeknownst to me, they asked my parents if they wanted them to take me up there for the weekend because they knew there would be a rock concert.  Being a young teenager, my parents said no.  I never knew about this until years later.

So what did I do?  August 18th is my wedding anniversary.  I got married on the 10 year anniversary of Woodstock.  It was something I had to do.

[Demetrius]

I had Woodstock stickers on my notebooks.

The Beatles were asked to play there but were busy breaking up- their last official photo shoot as a band took place on August 22nd, 1969.

[Richard de Graeme]

The Spirit of the event exists in the collective consciousness. All the Blessings, Brothers and Sisters!

[Gauwyn of Bracknell]

I just got another copy of the film on DVD. I had one before, but Goddess only knows what happened to it. I didn't go, since I was only 8 at the time, but if I'd been in my teens at the time, I would've gone.

The newly released bluray version has a bit of additional concert footage -

[KeeperoftheBar]

Dadburned Hippies...

"Roses are red,
grass is green.
Be a man,
become a Marine."

John Wayne on Laugh-in.