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.
(http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/film/images/Woodstock_music_festival_poster.jpg)
(http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/PICTURES/gossip/2009/08/2009-08-14-woodstock-music-festival-40th-anniversary/woodstock-fans-with-blanket-12824140-mfbq,templateId=renderScaled,property=Bild,height=349.jpg)
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.
(http://z.about.com/d/honeymoons/1/0/2/Z/1/09ticket.jpg)
(http://www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery/Woodstock1969/images/prevs/imw0019176.jpg)
PEACE.
(http://buthaina-wwf-peaceconf08.wikispaces.com/file/view/peace_sign-google2.jpg)
If you saw the picture in color you wouldn't want the blanket! ;D
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..."
Tickets 18.00
Blanket 4.99 at Kmart
Clean-up Who cared? Or remembered!
Memories Priceless*
*if you remembered them ;D
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.
"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! ;) :D
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.
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.
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!*
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.
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.
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.
The Spirit of the event exists in the collective consciousness. All the Blessings, Brothers and Sisters!
Quote from: Rhiannon on August 15, 2009, 11:43:01 AM
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 -
Dadburned Hippies...
"Roses are red,
grass is green.
Be a man,
become a Marine."
John Wayne on Laugh-in.
John Wayne,"I was never a Marine, but I played one in the movies."
The Dadburned hippies were right!
(http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e65/welshwench/superjoel.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5M_Ttstbgs
My sister and her husband went to Woodstock this past Saturday for the 40th aanniversary concert.
They said the concert was awesome. They had some of the original bands there that played at the first Woodstock. My sister said some of the bands did not have all of their original members anymore, but they all sounded great.
She said the grounds were immaculate. They had nice buildings set up with a museum, shops, restaurant and bathrooms. Security was good. No alcohol or food were allowed to be brought into the concert. Big diiference from 40 years ago, but still great music !
I'm sure the music was fantastic but I don't think they could ever duplicate the ambience of the original festival.
Immaculate grounds...BATHROOMS??? ;D
Quote from: Welsh Wench on August 18, 2009, 02:11:47 PM
I'm sure the music was fantastic but I don't think they could ever duplicate the ambience of the original festival.
Immaculate grounds...BATHROOMS??? ;D
I know, my sister said the same thing.The music was good, but the ambience was different. And she too said the Bathrooms, clean grounds were nice but not the same. ! Her husband said the whole area around there, and town, had been really build up to be a tourist area, with museums and shops. Sigh, anything to bring in tourists and make money. Some things are best left alone as they are.
I was too little to go to the original Woostock, just a baby, but i have heard stories that my older sisters told, about begging my parents to let them go, and my parents telling my sisters " Over our dead bodies !" LOL ! How times have changed.
There was a really good show on the History Channel last night for 2 hours, "Woodstock, Now and Then."
I quickly and minimally searched the channel's schedule and didn't find it. Maybe somebody else could look and post it here. I didn't get to see all of it, but what I did, I enjoyed, and wouldn't mind seeing it in its entirety.
I remember coming home and asking my Mom if I could borrow the money to go and she said...."You nuts?? No way!" I guess being a teen didn't help. :-\
Oh well........now I can drive there some 40 years later! ;D
If Woodstock were to happen in this day and age, things would be not as peaceful. It took the right time, the right people and the right music to make it all come together.
I did get to see Jimi Hendrix in person though. He was the opening act for the Monkees. ::) He walked off stage as the echo of......."We want the Monkees"...was all that could be heard! :o
Quote from: irish on August 18, 2009, 06:41:43 PM
If Woodstock were to happen in this day and age, things would be not as peaceful. It took the right time, the right people and the right music to make it all come together.
Oddly enough, it was the same thing my mother said. She said it was could never happen the way it was back then.
A gentler time.
Oh....and it cost 100,000.00 to clean up afterwards.
I was in my early teens - way too young to go bopping off to NY for a concert. I had a kite w/the guitar/dove icon that my dad hated on principal. Also a floppy leather hat that I practically lived in. Dadburned (wannabe) hippies.
Quote from: Lady Renee Buchanan on August 18, 2009, 05:42:52 PM
There was a really good show on the History Channel last night for 2 hours, "Woodstock, Now and Then."
I quickly and minimally searched the channel's schedule and didn't find it. Maybe somebody else could look and post it here. I didn't get to see all of it, but what I did, I enjoyed, and wouldn't mind seeing it in its entirety.
I watched it! Very illuminatiing. The woman and man covered by the pink blanket on the album cover, were on the show and are still together.
I was 17 at the time and did not go to Woodstock. The following Summer I hitch hiked from Louisville to Florida to New Orleans and back to Louisville. Two weeks later I hitch hiked to Toronto and then to Byron, Ga (outside of Atlanta). The Atlanta Pop Festival was supposed to be held again, but Lester Maddox got a restraining order and shut it down. Then hitch hiked back to Louisville. All in all a very enlightening experience. Met many good people of every age and persuasion (met some weed kickers too). I still hold that Spirit and will never lose it! Unity, Rememberance and Peace.
Posted this above (in "what are you listening to?"), it somehow always seems connected to Woodstock in my mind, as it sort of pulls so many things together of the era:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIccZsURyLc&feature=fvw
Quote from: Lady Nicolette on August 19, 2009, 07:07:56 PM
Posted this above (in "what are you listening to?"), it somehow always seems connected to Woodstock in my mind, as it sort of pulls so many things together of the era:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIccZsURyLc&feature=fvw
I remember the album well. CS&N also covered this Airplane song. Thanks for the memory, Lady Nicolette. 8)
Too young to have gone to the Country, but I identify strongest with the music of that era.
I did catch Michael Wadleigh's film recently (had seen it years ago) and didn't realize that the Airplane's "morning maniac" rant was because they were closing a "night" out at 8 in the morning.
Amazing.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, WOODSTOCK!!!!!
(http://www.ideachampions.com/heart/woodstock-nation.jpg)
Let's hope we remember the lessons we learned from that time.
Peace.
Those were the days, my friend.
And I truly wish the spirit of the time never ended.
(http://buthaina-wwf-peaceconf08.wikispaces.com/file/view/peace_sign-google2.jpg/38447830/peace_sign-google2.jpg)
We are stardust, we are golden.....we are billions year old carbon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sH0uR2u7Hs
And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden...
By the time we got to woodstock,
We were half a million strong
And everywhere was a song and celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bomber death planes
riding shotgun in the sky
turning into butterflies above our nation...
Awesome song!