Musician By Night: WOODSTOCK 1969:

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

WOODSTOCK 1969:

One of the greatest (outdoor venue) rock concerts in US history is the famous ‘WOODSTOCK”. There are many different impressions of what occurred during that event, but one that is undisputable is the quality of the music and the talent that provided it. There were acoustic acts such as Joan Baez and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young as well as rockers like Jefferson Airplane, The Who and Grateful Dead; and of course you can’t forget the famous Jimmy Hendrix who was the closing act of the entire event.

The Line Up By Day in Order of Performance:

Friday, August 15

Saturday, August 16

Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18

In August 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair took place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY. Over half a million people came to a 600-acre farm to hear 32 acts (leading and emerging performers of the time) play over the course of four days (August 15-18). Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, The Who, Janis Joplin and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were among the line-up. Woodstock is known as one of the greatest happenings of all time and –perhaps- the most pivotal moment in music history.

Joni Mitchell said, "Woodstock was a spark of beauty" where half-a-million kids "saw that they were part of a greater organism." According to Michael Lang, one of four young men who formed Woodstock Ventures to produce the festival, "That's what means the most to me – the connection to one another felt by all of us who worked on the festival, all those who came to it, and the millions who couldn't be there but were touched by it."

By Wednesday, August 13, some 60,000 people had already arrived and set up camp. On Friday, the roads were so clogged with cars that performing artists had to arrive by helicopter. Though over 100,000 tickets were sold prior to the festival weekend, they became unnecessary as swarms of people descended on the concert grounds to take part in this historic and peaceful happening. Four days of music… half a million people… rain, and the rest is history.

Media coverage

Very few reporters from outside the immediate area were on the scene. During the first few days of the festival, national media coverage emphasized the problems. Front page headlines in the New York Daily News read "Traffic Uptight at Hippie fest" and "Hippies Mired in a Sea of Mud". Coverage became more positive by the end of the festival, in part because the parents of concertgoers called the media and told them, based on their children's phone calls, that their reporting was misleading.

The New York Times covered the prelude to the festival and the move from Wallkill to Bethel. Barnard Collier, who reported from the event for the Times, asserts that he was pressured by on-duty editors at the paper to write a misleadingly negative article about the event. According to Collier, this led to acrimonious discussions and his threat to refuse to write the article until the paper's executive editor, James Reston, agreed to let him write the article as he saw fit. The eventual article dealt with issues of traffic jams and minor law-breaking, but went on to emphasize cooperation, generosity, and the good nature of the festival goers. When the festival was over, Collier wrote another article about the exodus of fans from the festival site and the lack of violence at the event. The chief medical officer for the event and several local residents were quoted as praising the festival goers.

Middletown, New York's Times Herald-Record, the only local daily newspaper, editorialized against the law that banned the festival from Wallkill. During the festival a rare Saturday edition was published. The paper had the only phone line running out of the site, and it used a motorcyclist to get stories and pictures from the impassable crowd to the newspaper's office 35 miles away in Middletow.

Here are some samples of the music that was heard during the four days and three nights of WOODSTOCK 1969. It will never be forgotten . . . . . .

Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana and Evil Ways at WOODSTOCK 1969

Jimmy Hendrix

Jimmy Hendrix plays Purple Haze at WOODSTOCK 1969

The Who

The Who–See Me, Feel Me–Live at WOODSTOCK 1969

Even though there has been other WOODSTOCK events since the original in 1969, nothing will come close to the excitement, the controversy, and the music that was played on that stage on August 14th thru the 18th of 69’. I only wish I could have been there; being an avid musician myself, it would have been like attending the very first SUPER BOWL, entirely unforgettable.

Thanks again for all your support during my first three months of blogging. I’ve really found this quite enjoyable, entertaining and educational (concerning new and current gear), to the point that it has revitalized my desire to write music once again and to help others in the same position that I am in to give it a chance and do the same. I hope you all continue to follow me along my journey back on stage and up in front of all of you playing my music that I hope you enjoy. That is my dream and I’ll never give up on it. It doesn’t matter how old I get, I’ll never stop playing my guitar.

Don’t forget to give your kids a hug and a kiss to show them how much you love them. There are too many kids in this world that do not have anyone there to give them a hug or a kiss for encouragement or to share with them that they are loved. Don’t ever let you kids go a day without getting a hug and a kiss from you; no matter how upset you may be with them at that time, that doesn’t change whether or not you love them or how much you love them. Remember that !!!!!!!