| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 8:17:09 AM |
I graduated in 1969 (wasn't that the 'Summer of Love'?)
no, the Summer of Love was 1967, which was also the year of the first big music festival in Monterey.
i had only just turned 9 years old when Woodstock took place, but it was hard to miss on the tv news every night - alongside the Vietnam coverage.
my mother's youngest sister (who is only 6 years older than i am), lived with us for the 6 years after their mother died until my parents' split up. because of her and her friends, i still listen to 60s music more than anything else.
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 8:48:54 AM | | ^^^I don't think I ever watched TV in those days. In fact, didn't watch TV for about 10 years. Don't watch it now, but I did during the intervening years. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 9:06:45 AM | Funny Thing is at That time I never used drugs. My friends and I were very heath conscious. So I do remember a lot about that weekend. The music was great and The girls even better. There was this redhead............. I'll save that for a letter to Penthouse. Reality is I was lost one night couldn't find where we were camped. This young lady invited me to join her and her friands for abite to eat and some wine. We spent the night fully clothed cubbling on her sleeping bag.
Four of use drove up there in my 1963 Ford Falcon stationwagon. We arrived one day early so missed the whole traffic jam and all that. Even getting there early the offical camping area was already full. Another farmer opened up his fields and charger the outragious fee of $2.50 a night.
When Kent state happend I was already in the Army with orders for Viet Nam. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 9:19:01 AM | | I would love to have been at Woodstock. The great music, the great people, and a magical moment in history. Unfortunately, at the time I was on an all-expense-paid trip to lovely Southeast Asia, courtesy of Uncle Sam. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 9:26:39 AM | | Uncle Sam was very generous with those all expense paid trips. I did try to lodge a complain The accommodations were far less then four star and the meal plan really sucked! | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 9:26:56 AM | I realize now why I don't remember any of it. I was way too young. Just a kid.I've been lying about my age all along.  | |
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jbogie
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Joined: 9/30/2008
Msg: 32 | |
| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 9:34:01 AM |
Uncle Sam was very generous with those all expense paid trips. I did try to lodge a complain The accommodations were far less then four star and the meal plan really sucked!
but the barbeques, camping under the stars, the great outdoors, manly bonding. ah, couldn't get much better could it? | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 11:20:21 AM | The year of Woodstock was when I gave up that life style for the life of a housewife and mother. My oldest daughter was actually born just over a month prior.
I do know that both my husband at the time and I had wished we had had the money to go.
Recently they had a documentary and it really did ring home what a different time it was back then.
How soon we grow up and older and settle in.
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 12:01:31 PM |
I lived in Kent Ohio during that time....a year later the shootings on campus...Marshall Law overtook the town.
i remember seeing that on tv, too. maybe it's because of the way my memory works, but i even have vivid memories of the events surrounding President Kennedy's assassination - and i was only 3 years and 3 months old at the time.
Kent State University is one of 3 places in the world that has given me a "creepy" feeling when i visited them. Dealey Plaza is another, and Glendaloch in Ireland is the third. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 1:47:07 PM | Ah, breath, I do envy you your "trip." 
Artz and oldfolkie: My enlistment was over in 1968. I left Kansas a naive and sappy flag-waving American and returned 3 years later a lot sadder and wiser.
I did not attend Woodstock, but spent many weekends going to the old Filmore Auditorium in San Francisco (with side trips to the Haight-Ashbury district - woo hoo!) and was fortunate to see most of the Woodstock artists live in that venue. The light shows and music were fan-friggin-tastic! Also attended the Monterey Folk Festival.
I remember being astounded that Richie Havens could use his thumb to chord on the guitar! So few people now even remember who he is!
Ahhhhh, the memories!
Sequoyah | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/7/2009 2:44:13 PM | OP
I was not at Woodstock -- too young, and too messed up to make it past the county line, much less several states (from Texas). :) But I do remember the era somewhat -- the music, the culture, the acid, the weed, the, ah, more or less, free love (if I did any of the drugs, I never inhaled). I remember, as the war was winding down, the 1A classification, and like, you, went through the Army barbershop where, if you had longer hair, they would ask you "How do you want your hair?" Whereupon, no matter how you answered, they proceeded to cut you bald. Dang barbers.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if there WAS a Woodstock anniversary. I mean, I'll bet that all of those "good" youngsters of the era, the ones who sided with the "the establishment" would be the first to buy tickets -- because now it's safe and because now, the 60s hippies are considered "cool." I can remember cold stares from folks out in Texas at first glance of long hair, flare jeans, and a van. The real hippies, freaks then and, many, freaks now, would probably go if they could take time off from the food coop, free clinic, or whatever, or could afford to go. Given that scenario, I'm more comfortable with no anniversary.
Addendum:
Totally off post -- give a listen to Clerence Clearwater Rivival's "Bad Moon Rising." All through the 60s era, I would sing along with the song, and, in the refrain, would sing, "There's a Bathroom on the Right." It wasn't until later that I realized that the proper wording is "There's a Bad Moon on the Rise." But if you listen to the song again, you'll realize why I made such an unfortunate mistake. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/8/2009 7:53:11 AM | | I remember Woodstock very well. I grew up in Woodstock, MN, just a hop and a skip from the ballpark. Although I was too young to go to the actual Woodstock, a small one occurred less than a block from our house. My younger brother and I watched all the festivities from the roof of our house. My Woodstock, population of about 250, was transformed into a city between 2,000-3,000 for a week. It was a blast even though I was too young to attend. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/13/2009 6:33:58 PM | | With all these people saying they were to young to attend I'm starting to feel old. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/13/2009 7:14:59 PM | "With all these people saying they were to young to attend I'm starting to feel old. "
I sort of hit that point when I played "Here Comes the Sun" and anything by It's a Beautiful Day, and my kids would ask me why anyone would bother recording weather reports. I figured it was revenge for all the times I turned off my mother's favorites, Ezio Pinza and Rosemary Clooney and Jaye P. Morgan. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/13/2009 7:38:33 PM | | know whats really scary??? all the young people who wanted change then and got it? are running the country now...oh oh...we're still focked up | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/13/2009 7:53:33 PM |
With all these people saying they were to young to attend I'm starting to feel old.
Woodstock brought back some good memories, but dang some of these posters are making me feel my age...Guess thats why I'm a grannie... | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/13/2009 7:57:20 PM | | I was talking with a friend last week about Woodstock. I helped in the cover-up for a friend's older brother's attendance. He must have been a junior in high school at the time. He took off without his parents knowing where he was. He got in soooo much trouble when he returned home and I felt so bad. But he just smiled this silly grin and said it was worth it! He got the albums later on and kept them hidden only playing them when his parents were out (lol it was a sore subject for a long time.) I remember everytime he played them seeing that same grin. lol | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/13/2009 8:04:45 PM | my mother wouldn't let me.  but, i did go off to the chicago rights and worked on the southern challenges to register the african american vote! at least "uncle louie" was proud of me (my parents were too worried). when they showed us getting teared gassed on tv, uncle louie proudly told everyone: "that's my favorite niece!"
i too was never a druggie. but, my whole house plan, i found out years later at my father's funeral, was plastered on every conceivable drug. i was the president and it seems that the general consensus was that i was the leader. i often felt "left out" and now i know why! most of them went to woodstock. i thought it was for the music. 
ps i realize now, i probably could have moved out of my home legally sooner than age 21. but, my mother didn't tell me that either. however, i made up for it later. 
monterey? do you mean the annual jazz festival! i love it and now am within driving distance away! however, it's mellow. it would be nice to be a bit more "frolicky".
my first boyfriend's sister was at kent state the time of the shootings. first all the assassinations and then all that. the series of events during that period with respect to social justice, was the first MAJOR turning point in my life in terms of my "efforts" here on earth. the next one came, when i adopted my kids ten years ago. of course, there is always growth and the events are just markers in time. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/14/2009 11:11:17 AM | Artz, don't feel old. I was married and pregnant with my second child when Woodstock took place. I was not physically there, sure was mentally. Couldn't get enough of everything I could read or watch about that era. Alot happened in that decade, alot of history. Hopefully some lessens were also learned, by the "establishment". Not sure, from I still see!! Probably need another one of those eras.
outdoorgirl | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/14/2009 4:08:09 PM | I was there for the entire weekend........it was amazing.....it didn't start out that way.....it was just going to be a huge concert and I drove there from Long Island (with a buddy).......we thought that we'd try to crash it and if we couldn't get in, we'd just head back......
Well,.......whatever gates/fence there was.......was trampled down and it was just a huge free for all.....and we saw this turn into the biggest thing ever.......we knew that history was in the making when the countryside was just covered with people.....
The energy was amazing and the music was just wow!.......
Some of my recollections.......Johnny & Edgar Winter.....they weren't in the film....but they tore it up......
Creedence Clearwater Revival.....one of my favorite Woodstock performances.....
On Friday, I remember drums, drums, drums,.....my first taste of Santana......
Ten Years After......they came out on stage.....flubbed the opening to their first song 3 times......left the stage.....came back out in 20 minutes and rocked.....
There was just so much going on as there were many camps set up....tents with tables & food.....school buses in circles........people dancing.....meditating......and into some other ritual stuff.......no matter where you went, there was something going on and people doing fun & weird things......and everybody was sooooo friendly......so many different freaks (freaks being "hippies")........
and when it was over and people were leaving.....there were so many people hitch hiking to all corners of the country.....and you knew that you would most probably never see any of them again.......and that this brotherhood of an event was waning and over......never to be duplicated.......but you felt a comraderie to everybody even though you didn't know most or any of the people......
So, I ended up there by "default"........but looking back I'll say this to those who didn't go because they were too young or didn't go because of the "small stuff" that we sometimes base our lives around.....
Get your ass up, go, and do it (whatever it is) because you never know what can happen......anything can turn into an adventure....you never know.......
"Do I Dare To Eat A Peach?" | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/14/2009 10:34:27 PM | I was 13 when Woodstock happened. I didn't know much about it until the film came out a year later, which I saw opening day as my father was a theatre manager. I was highly influenced by the film and recently realized that I still am after seeing a documentary about Woodstock on some cable station. At that time I could hardly wait until I was 18 so I could join sit-ins and protests and go to rock festivals. Of course by the time I turned 18, the hippies were gone and disco (yuck) was coming in. (sighs).
A question for those of you who attended the festival. I read an article recently in the Wall Street Journal about "Woodstocks forgotten man", Bert Sommer. He played at 8 on Friday night and got a standing ovation. Due to being on a different record label, Warner Brothers left him off the record and the film. Does anyone remember his performance? Mr. Sommer had another claim to fame as well. It is his image we see in psychodelic colors on the original Broadway "Hair" album. He was part of two of the counter cultures greatest events yet was a forgotten man by the 70s. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/15/2009 8:19:28 AM | | I was just under 20 when that historic event transpired. I went. It was indeed a most memorable event. I recently reconnected with the girl I was with that weekend and she told me she had pictures of us from the event, which I vaguely remember being taken. I so want to see them, I can't wait. Sometimes I look back on it and can't believe I was actualy a part of it all! What a time to be young! | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/15/2009 8:52:03 AM |
Woodstock would have been UNREAL. I'm soooo jealous of you, Breath. It would have been amazing to see all those legendary musicians live and at their finest. How did you get there? Did you hitch? Do you remember ANY of the bands?
No, I didn't hitch. I had been traveling with my other hippie friends throughout Canada and USA, coast to coast, for several months prior.. in a small caravan of decorated hippie VW busses.. camping. We headed to Woodstock as the grand ending to our travels .. and grand it was!
With all these people saying they were too young to attend I'm starting to feel old. I know what you mean!
Last thing I noticed was how much stuff was left behind when it was over. After all the rain and slogging stuff around that got absolutely filthy, a lot of people just dumped their belongings and left. For sure. When it was all done, most of the people gone, you were left walking not on ground but on a layer of muddy packed down 'stuff' on top of the ground.
There was just so much going on as there were many camps set up....tents with tables & food.....school buses in circles........people dancing.....meditating......and into some other ritual stuff.......no matter where you went, there was something going on and people doing fun & weird things......and everybody was sooooo friendly......so many different freaks (freaks being "hippies")........
and when it was over and people were leaving.....there were so many people hitch hiking to all corners of the country.....and you knew that you would most probably never see any of them again.......and that this brotherhood of an event was waning and over......never to be duplicated.......but you felt a comraderie to everybody even though you didn't know most or any of the people......  YEP, to everything you wrote. Had a rush of memories reading that.
Breath~I read your profile. It made me laugh and cry. You are truly a unique and very cool woman. Much love and peace to you. Aw, thanks! | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/16/2009 11:31:46 AM | | I just saw a new box set of CD's of previously unrelesed music from Woodtock. I'm going to save some money and get that set. | |
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| Woodstock!
Posted: 9/16/2009 9:44:44 PM | | I think they actually included some of Bert Sommer's performance on that new CD set. | |
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