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[bacasper]

Place your Woodstock stories here.

My Woodstock 40th Anniversary Reminiscences

I was a mere teen that hot August afternoon when a friend of my older sister's asked, "Hey, wanna go to a concert?"

My sister had only bought three tickets, and one was not for me. But I was reassured. "Neither do I. We'll buy them at the gate."

I had nothing better to do, and from what I'd heard, it promised to be good. After all, I liked The Who and Santana and Sly so I said, "OK."

Three cars headed out in our caravan. We'd heard of the humongous traffic jam on the NY Thruway (it hadn't been closed yet), so our navigator decided we should take some long, roundabout route there which would get us there in about five hours instead of the normal two, but better than forever under the circumstances.

We made it to Bethel, the town outside of White Lake where Yasgur's farm was actually located. Unfortunately, the three care were unable to stay together, and even more unfortunately, mine was the one with the cooking equipment but NOT the food. We could see the farm in the distance, and even vaguely hear some music.

At this point, the road to White Lake no longer was, but rather a parking lot. We decided to wait under a tree along the road as we were hungry, and decided that they had to pass here eventually. Barbara, my sister's friend, met a guy with a motorcycle and took off with him to go up to the gate.

After a couple of hours, I happened to say, "I'm hungry," when a hand with a sandwich appeared. Some people nearby who'd heard me, but to whom I hadn't even spoken, just so casually offered it. I was very impressed by this and, corny as it may sound, this atmosphere of peace and love would persist throughout the weekend. I accepted the sandwich.

Barbara never returned, nor did my sister ever appear. As much as I wanted to get to the music, my remaining companions decided there was no rush, and we could take our time and get there well in time for the Saturday morning groups.

I think we walked the rest of the way. By Saturday morning when we arrived, the fence had been torn down, and it was a free concert.

People were everywhere. The stage was far away from the spot we finally decided to plop down on. I think it was about noon. The performers looked tiny, but surprisingly we heard the music quite well. The natural bowl and amplification were to thank for this.

At the back of the crowd were food stands, toilets, etc. Throughout the crowd, people were openly touting drugs of all sorts. There was a guy with a big stack of hemp and a Mr. Natural sign, another guy kept shouting, "THC, $2 a hit, THC, $2 a hit." I heard someone else yell, "Anybody got any smack?" Fortunately or unfortunately, I was a drug virgin at Woodstock.

There were a bunch of soothing announcements on the PA system, like "Keep feeding each other" and "Beware of the bad acid." They really cared about us. The situation was unprecedented, and we all knew we had to work together to survive it.

I am not going to go into many specifics of the music even if I could remember it all. The movie, which I highly recommend, does a great job of that anyway. I do recall that by time The Who came on (6pm?), I was so tired from not having slept all night that, as badly as I wanted to see them, I could no longer resist and went into our tent from where I could certainly still hear them. I dozed off for a few hours, and was awakened by a couple of guys who came into the tent and asked me if it was OK to smoke a bowl. I had no objection. While I was quickly losing my innocence, I didn't take them up on their offer to share. I got up just in time to hear The Who performing the end of "Tommy."

It had to be about 10pm by now. I remember Sly came out in an outfit which, when he raised his arms, made him appear to be an eagle, one of the few things I could make out from my distance. All the music was tremendous and went on until the wee hours, and then some. If I recall correctly, it went on until about 6am, although I probably went to sleep before then.

Between the novelty of it all, the ordeal of just getting there, my exhaustion, and fear of losing the only people left from my original contingent, and the rain (yes, of course, the rain!) I'd stuck close to our camp on Saturday. But the next day, feeling a bit better and more familiar, I went about exploring a bit. By now the mud was actually feeling good squiggling between my toes.

I passed a couple taking their clothes off in a grassy area,a s well as the ubiquitous drug dealers. I found the lake area and still can see the handwritten sign: "No soaping swimming shitting pissing in upper lake." Others were already in the water, and I joined them. I came around a bend and saw dozens of couples and other assorted types just sitting naked up on the overlooking hill.

Peace and love were all around. People were sliding in the mud. Everyone was caring about each other. It was a great time.

Sunday's music was again great. I slept in the daytime and hoped I could stay awake for tonight's sets. What I remember of that was that Jimi Hendrix came on about 3 or 4am. I had recently heard "Hey Joe" on the radio and was excited to see him live. In the back of my mind, I realized the weekend was ending and that at some point we'd have to go, but no one mentioned it. The crowd was beginning to thin out a bit though.

My final memories are that, after Hendrix did his infamous national anthem, my companions decided it was time to leave. Granted it was now Monday morning 10am, but I said to myself, "How could these guys walk out on this great guitarist?" As I had no other ride home, I had no choice, and to this day I am ashamed to say that I walked out on Hendrix.

I arrived home changed from that experience. I soon had my first toke. When I returned to high school in September, my classmates did not believe I'd been there.

I attended the 30th anniversary show, but the vibe was very different. No one was getting in without a ticket, and there were lots of cops around. There were ATMs! It just seemed like someone was exploiting the original show. Its feeling could never be duplicated. It really had been "Three Days of Peace and Music."

[Rteacher]

Thanks to a hipster friend, I had bought my ticket a couple months in advance, and a carload of us showed up on Friday morning.

I think that there were fewer than a couple thousand people there, and I vaguely remember sitting maybe 50 rows back when some yogi guy opened the show with breathing exercises...

The first few acts were pretty mellow (eg: Joan Baez, Richie Havens ...) as the crowd gradually swelled, but it took me only a few hours to lose the party I came with - no big deal other than causing me to miss much of Jimi Hendrix's performance on Monday morning as I had to find a ride back to Massachusetts.

Much of it's a blur, but I distinctly remember leaning against the stage and facing the oceanic crowd of music-lovers for most of the big acts on Saturday night including Credence Clearwater Revival and The Who...

I was also very near the stage as Gracie Slick and the Jefferson Airplane opened their memorable set at the crack of dawn while most of the vast crowd were in various stages of sleep...

When I was visiting relatives in New York last week I couldn't help but notice the widespread media coverage of the original Woodstock happening and wideranging interpretations of its sociological, historical, and musical significance (or "insignificance" - in some peoples opinion...)

There's no shortage of websites devoted to it. Here's one of the first ones I came across listing the original acts and their playsets ...
www.woodstockstory.com/bandsperformerssetsplaylists1969.html#ccr

[bacasper]

Yeah, it sure was a blur a lot of it. Luckily, there are those parts that i will never forget. I'm kinda glad i put down my reminiscences here.

By Monday morning, as Hendrix played, the crown had thinned out enormously, maybe only 25,000 of the original 4-500,000 remained. That was when I could finally get near the stage.

Bob, what was it like being near for the whole thing? And from Friday morning, no less!

I left as Hendrix was playing the national anthem. So you were that guy looking for a ride to Mass!

[bacasper]

Michael Jackson, Woodstock Spark Surge In Music Memorabilia

By Janet Morrissey
Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009

Death and nostalgia are proving to be a money-making opportunity for music memorabilia collectors and big auction houses who are hawking everything from Michael Jackson's iconic white glitter glove to old ticket stubs from rock's legendary Woodstock festival.

Another auction is currently in the works that will include the trademark sequined glove that Jackson first wore during Motown 25th anniversary show, where he first performed his famed moonwalk dance. "That piece is the Holy Grail," says Julien, who expects the item to sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Interest and demand in music memorabilia is steadily growing despite the economic downturn.

"Rock and roll collectors with a passion for memorabilia can turn the hobby into a nest egg," says Leila Dunbar, a former director of collectibles at Sotheby's Auction house, who now heads up her own appraisal firm.

Even Wall Street is moving into the sector.

"We have Wall Street clientele who are looking at rock n roll memorabilia as a way to diversify their portfolios," Julien says.

Savvy music collectors, who began snapping up rockers' guitars, autographed albums, books and other items in the '60s, '70s and '80s are seeing the biggest gains as many were able to buy items at bargain-basement prices before the internet and sites such as eBay moved memorabilia collection into the mainstream. Baby boomers are driving the growth.

[Rteacher]

By the time I got to Woodstock I was only 20 years old, but I had already begun losing my hair so I think I kept my black goucho hat on for the entire time - probably were only a few thousand folks wearing black goucho hats there so that narrows it down some when I try to find myself in the film clips ...

I think I was more-or-less constantly stoned for the next five years, but I haven't had any drugs or alcohol since 1974.

Doing this karaoke song was kind of a flashback, though ...
http://www.singsnap.com/snap/r/be1197d3a

[bacasper]

Very cool.

I never actually knew all the words to Eight Miles High.

Now if I only had my strobelight!

[Trevor]

Little known factoid for your Trevor-Trivia files: my father is the guy with the ABC microphone in the 3-hour movie version of Woodstock. Both my parents went and my dad was in the movie for about 3 minutes. I clearly remember having to spend the weekend with a 70 year old babysitter named Mrs. Schwartz who yelled the whole time and wouldn't let me go on the swing for fear that I would break my neck. She also stole the milk. She got caught once by my parents when a leaky container soaked her old-lady-style shopping bag as she was leaving. (My parents didn't care and let her continue to steal the milk because she was the only babysitter within miles that was willing to tolerate me).

And strobe lights are from the 70's, Casper (fer chrissake).

Lava lamps are from the 60's.

[bacasper]

[Trevor]

Well, they did let her steal the milk, but I don't think it was out of 60's - style altruism -- and I don't think she needed it that bad. She was on a fixed income, but lived comfortably in a nearby retirement community. They let her steal the milk because I was truly the most obnoxious kid imaginable and she was the only babysitter who would tolerate me. For the cost of babysitting me for three days worth of fun and music, she got a quart of cow juice thrown into the bargain.

Here's the difference between the 60's and 70's.

60's: weed
70's: coke
60's: tie dye
70's polyester leisure suits
60's: Santana
70's: The Captain and Tenille


Let me know if I can clarify this any further.

[On the other hand]

Benny Hill once did one of his trademark fast-motion chase scenes about a folk festival called "Woodstick". It was scored to a tune that went...

[bacasper]

[Sushi]

I read somewhere that the person who organized Woodstock put a lot of his own money into it, and never saw one stage performance while he was there. Probably too stressed out to enjoy it. He apparently had to plead with Governer Rockfeller to not send in state troopers.

[Cheonmunka]

Well, I tell you guys, recently there was a thread here asking whether you are into Rolling Stones or the Beatles. I would have had to click 'neither.'
But if the question included CSN: Crosby Stills Nash, then that would have been a definite check.

Funny though, I think you have to be a little off center in your life to come to that kind of music nowadays, or, at least the time well after it had become popular and well after Hendrix had died. Hendrix, Robert Plant, CSN et al aren't mainstream in many places. So, you end up there via a scene, as it were.
Tell you what though, right now sitting here with my Grado headphones
listening to Suite Judy Blue Eyes in true wide stereo, can almost be there.

PS: Have seen that Beny Hill sketch. He's a laugh and a half, eh.
Here's one you might enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FseNtQ5yzo4&feature=related

[bacasper]