Woodstock 40 Years On: The Legend, The Legacy

[WillyT]

Woodstock 40 years on: The legend, the legacy
In August 1969, 186,000 people bought tickets for an event billed as 'three days of peace and music'. In the end, half a million turned up to revel in the sex, drugs and rock and roll. Forty years on, Roya Nikkhah talks to the key players behind a cultural milestone.

...

<snip>

Barry Levine was the stills photographer for the Oscar-winning Woodstock film. During his six days on the festival site, the only sleep he got was a 45-minute nap on the piano cover on stage during the performance by Blood, Sweat & Tears: "The vibe at Woodstock was one of people understanding that there is a little heaven in every disaster. There was not enough food, water, toilets. It was uncomfortably hot and wet, but nobody complained. Everyone was determined to show the world that, given the opportunity, there was a different way of doing things from the traditional 2.3 children, buttoned-down-shirt way of life, and we knew the whole world was watching. Hippie or not, everyone there was anti-war. That was the unifying spirit.

"People were taking acid and smoking dope openly at a time when marijuana was supposed to be the next big evil that was going to destroy the country. There were plenty of cops around, but they didn't bother anyone. Folks were skinny-dipping and walking around nude. At the time, having long hair in the US was enough to get you beaten up, and espousing peace and love drew accusations of being a communist. But, when half a million people came together to share that ethos, it made you feel that you weren't alone, that we were a movement, that, no matter what your beliefs were, we were united on some very basic issues.

"I remember walking up to one of the ponds on the site and seeing a crowd of people, arms crossed, looking down longingly at the water. A friend and I dropped our clothes and cameras and ran into the water. The next minute the pond was filled with naked people. My favourite image of Woodstock is the picture I took of a couple kissing in the water. I don't know who they were, but, to me, it says in a simple and beautiful way what Woodstock was all about, which was peace and love."

<snip>

...



Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/5995703/Woodstock-40-years-on-The-legend-the-legacy.html

:hippie::smoke::hippie:

:hi:

[taterguy]

1. Woodstock was in 1994, which was only 15 years ago

Take another bong hit dude

[PCIntern]

2. Bwahaha! DUzy...I hope!

[WillyT]

4. LOL !!! - My... You ARE Young !!!

:rofl:

:hi:

[Dennis Donovan]

11. The event 40 yrs ago should've been called "Bethel"...

...by that same token, the '94 concert should've been called "Saugerties".;)

[taterguy]

17. I thought it was named after that bird in Peanuts

[Wilms]

23. The other way around.

"Schulz acknowledged in several print and TV interviews in the mid-1970s that he took Woodstock's name from the rock festival."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_%28Peanuts%29

[demodonkey]

52. Oh dear...... you poor child.

Google and YouTube is your friend.

Here are some starter links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_Festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PFCgAhZEO8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1WGF5sA-3c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bON96n2TNL0&feature=related

This song came out of it:
http://www.mp3lyrics.org/c/crosby-stills-nash-and-young/woodstock/

[Cha]

54. Poor thing..study up on some history

dude:smoke:

[taterguy]

65. History Lesson Part II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGHNcQ4zv6Y

[lame54]

3. Trailer for upcoming movie 'Taking Woodstock' with Demetri Martin...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iq8z2WDbKo

[gblady]

39. thanks.....

definitely a MUST see...
Ang Lee is a fantastic director.

[Indydem]

5. I was surprised there weren't events this year.

Youths all across the country are out of work and bored, three days of music and enjoyment could do a lot ot lift their spirits.

[WillyT]

7. There's Gonna Be One In San Francisco On October 25th !!!

And it's gonna be free!

Link: http://www.2b1records.com/woodstock40sf

And I think there are going to be several others.

:shrug:

[musette_sf]

25. thanks for the heads-up! :-)

and now for a photo of someone who is conspicuously missing from the Summer Of Love 40th Anniversary Gallery, Page 3:


i'm presuming it's his penance for not complying with the Charlatan Dress Code :-)

[WillyT]

30. You Are Quite Welcome !!!

I went to the 40th of SOL too. Tried to find Proud Patriot all day, but to no avail. Finally saw her on a BART train on my way home.

:hi:

[musette_sf]

32. will definitely be at WestFest!!

hope Mike, George and Richard get on board and decide to do it One More Time... i see DH&HHL in the lineup but no Charlatans... (yet)... (crossing fingers)

(2007 was supposed to be the last performance, though, so we may just have to live with it.)

[WillyT]

36. Here's More Info For Ya !!!

<snip>

Acts confirmed with more to come: Country Joe (Country Joe and the Fish), Denny Laine (of Paul McCartney, Wings, Moody Blues); Lester Chambers (the Chambers Brothers); The Original Lowrider Band (with Lee Oskar); Harvey Mandel and the Snake band; Barry “The Fish” Melton; Alameda All Stars (Gregg Allman’s Band); Michael McClure (Beat Poet) and Ray Manzarek (from the Doors); David Denny (from Steve Miller) with Perry Prince, Diana Mangano (from the Starship), Greg Douglas, Carlos Rios; PF Sloan; Jimmy McCarty (from Detroit Wheels); Peter Kaukonen (from Jefferson Airplane); Terry Haggerty (from the Sons of Champlin); John York (from the Byrds); Leigh Stevens (from Blue Cheer); Michael Narada Waldon; The Great Jeffersonian Tricycle (members of the Original Jefferson Airplane); El Chicano; Cathy Richardson (Starship); David and Linda La Flamme (It’s a Beautiful Day); Lydia Pense and Cold Blood; Lost Creek Gang and the Merry Pranksters with Ken Babbs, George Walker, and Mountain Girl; Jose Neto and Friends; The Mutaytor; Scoop Nisker - KFOG; David Harris – speaker; Ben Fong -Torres (Rolling Stone); David Hilliard - Black Panther Party; Benjeman Hernadez – Harts and Hands; Dennis Banks – AIM Wounded Knee; Dennis Peron and Richard Eastman (Marijuana Initiative); Terrance Hallinan (Former SF DA); Paul “Lobster” Wells (DJ);.

Poster Artists series: Staley Mouse, Arnold Skolnick (original Woodstock 69 poster artist), Chris Shaw, Mike Dolgushkin, Wendy Wright, David Singer, Wes Wilson, Mark Henson, Carlon Ferris, Dave Huckins, Lee Conklin, Bob Masse, Andrew Annenberg, Victor Moscosco, Michael Moss, Thomas Yeats, Chrissy Costello, Gilbert Johnson, Ron Donovin – Fire House Crew.

<snip>

And I particulary love this...

<snip>

In honor of Jimi Hendrix, who headlined the festival in 1969, 3,000
guitar players will attempt to break the World's Record for the Largest
Guitar Ensemble playing "Purple Haze" -- all at the same time!
Players are encouraged to register at: http://www.steveroby.com/Jimi_Hendrix_Archives/Register.html

<snip>

Link: http://420magazine.com/forums/420-calendar-events/97333-west-fest-40th-anniversary-woodstock-san-francisco-sunday-october-25-2009-a.html

:hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

48. Oh, my gosh, we might have to time our annual trek

to San Francisco to correspond with this! What a great lineup.

[Blue_In_AK]

62. WillyT, we're making plans to come down there.

Thank you so much for the heads up. :hippie:

[BreweryYardRat]

67. Know of any on the East Coast?

Driving cross-country isn't a viable option for me right now.

[liberalmuse]

6. For my birthday...

a coworker decorated my cube with strings of peace signs, flowers, happy face confetti, Woodstock/Cream/Hendrix posters and old candies we used to buy when we were kids, and he got me the Woodstock collectible dvd set (with film extras!) from Target which includes a Life pictorial, tickets and all sorts of other goodies. Best fucking present ever!

[SpiralHawk]

8. Ye Olde Spirale Hawke was there

hitchiked 400 miles with girlfriend, Joan -- and had a blast at the first union of the Rainbow Nation the elders had forseen so many years ago.

[WillyT]

9. Ah... I'm So Envious...

My parents wouldn't let me go... I was in the 9th Grade.

;)

:hi:

[RagAss]

10. The 2 Biggest Bullshit Stories in America regarding Woodstock.

1. "I was at Woodstock" - if everyone was at Woodstock who claims that they were, there would have been more people there than lived in France in 1969.

2. "I was too young and my mother wouldn't let me go." - Common with those who were 12-15 years old in 1969 - most of these kiddies didn't even hear about the event until the news of the traffic jams hit after the concert ended...or until the album came out the following summer.

This is the 40th anniversary of Woodstock and this bullshit too.

[G_j]

12. I was 17

I went a day early, and stayed a day late

& you don't have to believe it!

[RagAss]

13. I believe ya...you're a DUer !!

[G_j]

15. thanks

:hi:

[Ani Yun Wiya]

55. I was seventeen too.

AND went up early (3 days) and stayed late (three days)

Then 108 days later--Altamont.

I wonder how many folks were at BOTH of those events as well as other festivals that went on that year.

[immoderate]

56. We got there on Wednesday night.

Stayed till most were gone. There was a lot of muddy camping equipment left behind. :hi:

--imm

[G_j]

57. and what looked like a muddy field was countless blankets and sleeping bags

with a thin layer of mud.
Before the concert it was a lush field of clover.

[G_j]

59. never made it to the west coast

until years later.


But shorty before Woodstock, I went to the Newport Jazz Festival, which had taken on many rock acts for the first time:
(that was my favorite festival)


"The festival's 1969 program was an experiment in fusing jazz, soul and rock music and audiences. Its lineup included, besides jazz, Friday evening appearances by rock groups Jeff Beck, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Ten Years After and Jethro Tull. Saturday's schedule mixed jazz acts such as Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck with others including John Mayall and Sly & the Family Stone. James Brown was among those who appeared Sunday afternoon followed in the evening by Herbie Hancock, blues musician B. B. King and English rock group Led Zeppelin.

Miles Davis remarked that the various artists involved were highly encouraging to each other and that he enjoyed the festival more than ever before. He noticed and appreciated the spirited nature of the younger audience. But some clashes did occur. Excess crowds of several thousand who had been unable to obtain tickets filled an adjacent hillside, and the weekend was marred by disturbances including fence crashing and crowd surging during the most popular performances. Saturday evening's disturbances were particularly significant, prompting producer George Wein who feared a riot to announce that the Sunday evening Led Zeppelin appearance was cancelled. That show was allowed to go forward as initially scheduled after much of the overflow crowd had left the city following the cancellation announcement."

I also had the unsettling experience of attending the following year:


"For 1971 the festival booked The Allman Brothers Band, a pioneering Southern rock group. Many more fans were drawn than Festival Field could cope with. On the second night of the festival, would-be festival goers occupying the adjacent hillside crashed the fence during Dionne Warwick's performance of What The World Needs Now Is Love, initiating a major disturbance. That year's festival was halted after the stage was rushed by the intruders and equipment destroyed. The festival would not return to Newport in 1972."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Jazz_Festival

[WillyT]

16. Well... We Had A Radio Station Back Then (KZAP 98.5) That Was Promoting It...

Plus some of my friends older brothers and sisters went.

:shrug:

Link on KZAP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KZAP_%28defunct%29

[RagAss]

37. Sacramento..yes..I'm sure they did. As far as the New York area...

There was a muzzle put on the promotion out of fear of bringing commerce to a halt on the east coast...as it turned out, the highways were shut down anyway since so may from the Midwest and west coast showed up.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. I Wasn't There. I Was Just 13.

So, there is one who doesn't claim to be there! In fact, with all the rain and everything, i'm glad i wasn't there. I'm not exactly the camping type.
GAC

[catzies]

38. I was there. Seven years old. Mom took me & my 5-year old brother.

Hated it. I got hurt and they couldn't find my mom because she was off tripping in a field somewhere.

Your kids grew up, and they weren't at all thrilled with your self-indulgent ways.

Suck on THAT, hippie revisionists.

Any other small children who were there?

[WillyT]

41. Well At Least You Didn't Grow Up And Vote For Reagan...

did ya?

:hide::evilgrin::hide:

[catzies]

43. Nope. But I did help my mom who was proud of her "30 years underground" get Social Security.

Without reminding her that tuning in, turning on and dropping out was the only thing at which she was ever successful.

[pipi_k]

40. Well, believe it or not...

I was 16 at the time. My mom really wouldn't let me go. She kept us kids on a very short leash, and she wouldn't even let me go to my High School football or basketball games... :(




anyway, I have the video/dvd. I've watched that thing so many times I can almost feel like I was there...

:hippie:

[SpiralHawk]

44. Swallow your own BS, RagAss.

I speak only truth.

[ipaint]

45. These folks where there.

Forty years after Woodstock and being captured in the iconic image that became the cover of the Woodstock album, Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, both 60, remain together. (New York Daily News)

http://www.pbpulse.com/music/2009/08/08/remembering-woodstock-on-stage-tv-books-cd-and-dvd/

[alsame]

49. "I WAS too young and my mother wouldn't let me go." And I knew

all about it because I had older cousins who went...and we lived in Westchester County, NY where it was being advertised on all the NYC radio stations.

In retrospect, it was probably better that I didn't go, but at the time I was very upset.

[annabanana]

53. yeah.. except you didn't have to be at Woodstock

to BE at Woodstock.

(You know who you are.)

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SammyWinstonJack]

61. +1

:spray:

[LeftHander]

68. My mother was tripping when I was born in the mud at Woodstock...

They found me with a bandana around me as a diaper and a bottle filled with joints, I was laying on a dirty blanket while Jimi was playing.

My father(s) are now Republican banking and oil executives pulling in 10 figure salaries with bonuses and options.

After 30 years I found my mom. She is living in trailer in slab city and is a vegan lesbian wiccan goddess.

That is my made up Woodstock story.

[inthebrain]

14. And then they all voted for Reagan

Sad but true.

Pete Thownsend had an interesting perspective on the "Woodstock Generation" in that they squandered a lot of good idea and sold out. Really quickly.

He was talking about the mess this generation is leaving behind. Much of it stuff that going to take decades to clean up.

[WillyT]

18. For Some... It Was Fad And Fashion... For Others, Philosophy...

Not unlike now I think.

Plus, although over a half a million showed up in Bethel, they were still a vast minority of the American people. Otherwise, Nixon would have never won in 1972.

:shrug:

[inthebrain]

20. Nixon won in 72

Because folks decided rather than to endorse a corrupt political system is was much better to rebel against it and bring it to it's knees.

That and the fact that LBJ had a lot to do with getting MLK killed when he sicked Hoover on him. MLK was about to run on an independent ticket. Much like what happened to Sheehan, many Democratic Party loyalists considered it sacrelig and dropped him on his ass.

That's why Nixon won.

And these same people 10 years later all voter for Reagan.

[WillyT]

22. Really ??? - All 600,000+ Of Them ???

You said: "And these same people 10 years later all voter for Reagan."

Mighty broad brush you have there.

Would love to see some fact-based evidence of that.

:wtf:

You seem... bitter.

[H2O Man]

34. He also won

in 1968.

[abumbyanyothername]

51. Hard not to win in '68

when you murder the opposition.

[Deja Q]

21. Yup. Anyone who thinks all hippies were commie pinkos is a damn fool.

[kentuck]

24. Think about the timing...

Nixon had just taken office and the Beatles had just come out with Abbey Road. Jimi Hendrix was the hero of music lovers around the country. The troops were starting to come home from Vietnam. Marijuana was becoming the drug of choice of our entire generation. We were trying to recover from the recent deaths of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Nixon was a crook and we knew it. George McGovern and Eugene McCarthy were our favorite politicians speaking truth to power. The Baby Boomers had turned 21 years old and knew they had a lot of political power. There were many fake "hippies" that joined for the excitement of the movement but they were fairly obvious to those who believed in the movement. For the first time in our history, we were ready for something besides war. We questioned authority. We thought women and minorities deserved equal rights to the rest of us. It was not a trivial event.

[H2O Man]

26. You might want

to rephrase the "Nixon had just resigned" part.

[kentuck]

28. sorry about that.

you are correct.

[H2O Man]

29. Perhaps

people there had divinely-inspired premonitions.

[kentuck]

33. I think maybe they did..

:-)
Or some drug-induced vision?

[taterguy]

27. That's the Spirit!

Nixon resigned 5 years after Woodstock.

Time is such an arbitrary constuct.

[WillyT]

31. Wait A Sec... You Just Said Woodstock Was In 1994 !!!

:rofl::hi::rofl:

[taterguy]

42. I read the rest of this thread and changed my position

That's what this site is about man:

Learning and
evolving.

[kentuck]

35. edited... thanks

I was thinking of August.

[Blue_In_AK]

46. I missed Woodstock, but ended up at Altamont.

Just my luck. :(

[kgnu_fan]

47. changed my life forever nt

[glinda]

50. A woman who almost bought our old house said she was the woman in the water naked.

I actually kind of believed her.....

[defendandprotect]

60. And it was a revolution to totally change society . . .not only sexually...but in every way--!!

[kwassa]

63. I was at Woodstock, and ended up in a photo in Life Magazine

here is a closeup, I am the guy in the black hat.





and now for the big picture

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=woodstock+music+art+fair+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwoodstock%2Bmusic%2Bart%2Bfair%2Bsource:life%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26start%3D54&imgurl=62c5600149542cd9

[Rhiannon12866]

64. That is very cool! Wonderful pic!!! You're a part of history...

I had some older friends who went to Woodstock. One of them told me that the music was great, but he hated the rain and the mud. :smoke:

[Echo In Light]

66. What it represents is exactly what some establishment elements have fiercely opposed ever since

I was born around that time, but by ten yrs down the line it was still the vibe and tone of the music and expression from that era that framed my interest in becoming a musician.