Woodstock [Archive] - Mandolin Cafe Forum

Chief

Aug-13-2009, 9:53pm

OK- somebody had to do it. Unless you've been living in a cave, you should know that this weekend is the 40th. anniversary of Woodstock. Yes, there were mandolins there. According to the book "Woodstock- the Summer of Our Lives" that I'm reading, The Incredible String Band had mandolins there. They didn't make the movie. There might have been others. So, being basically an old hippy myself, I'm wondering if anybody reading this was actually at Woodstock. And if so, what do they remember. And if not actually there, what were you doing when Woodstock took place. That's assuming you were alive. Me, I was at Coast Guard boot camp in Cape May NJ having a wonderful time. I read about Woodstock in the Philly papers. It got lots of press. Wish I would've been there instead of boot camp. And you?

SternART

Aug-13-2009, 10:31pm

Rain...mud......I was into the Bay Area bands, as I recall electric grounding problems on stage when the Grateful Dead played, causing sparks from the mic stands........they were freaked & didn't play too great.......Airplane coming on at Sunrise....what I thought was a cool set at the time. Abbie Hoffman being pushed off stage by Peter Townsend during the Who's set......John Sebastian's - in between bands, one song- was amazing......he was high like a kite, but nailed his song. Hard to remember what I remember.......rain....mud......lotsa people......rain.....mud......

mandroid

Aug-13-2009, 10:34pm

Was the last year of my Navy hitch , Port was the Brooklyn Shipyard , then pretty much closed ,
But I did get that weekend off... I remember the pasture was muddy .. :whistling:

man dough nollij

Aug-14-2009, 12:29am

It was a couple of weeks before my seventh birthday. We lived in Palo Alto, CA. I remember going into "The City" for day trips. Might have driven through the intersection of Haight and Ashbury-- that's as close as I got.

Soupy1957

Aug-14-2009, 3:02am

I was only 12 when Woodstock occured. I'd like to make a trip out to the site one day, and talk to that fella that went and never left there, about it. Anyone been inside the museum they built there? There was CERTAINLY enough refuse left over for countless exibits, if you believe the pictures you see of the aftermath.

-Soupy1957

chasgrav

Aug-14-2009, 6:16am

I was sixteen. Got a ride there from my home in NJ, and camped about 100 yards from the stage, (maybe more). I remember a few bands vividly, (Canned Heat, particularly, as I was a huge fan). It was wet and a little scary, but the vibe was friendly and exciting.

I remember enjoying every bit of it except for the chore of leaving and hitch-hiking home. I have three b&w photos, seemingly shot at random directions of nothing in particular. Doh!

Dan Hoover

Aug-14-2009, 6:27am

i was 6 yrs old at the time...nope..wasn't there,i remember a week or so before it happened,my dad dropped my brother and me off at the barber,dad owned the gas station in town,the barber was a mean miserable old coot,used to shave our necks w/straight razor,he'd always knick us alittle..and we always got flat tops..anyhoo,as we were leaving his shop,crying,a bunch of hippies/kid's were traveling through,on there way to Woodstock..a girl hollered out "let your hair grow!" Shandoo,the barber flipped her the finger...dude was hard..
i picked up Woodstock 40th dvd for my wife a couple days ago,she's the hippy chick in my family...we'll be watching that.don't see the I/S Band on the xtras? do see CCR though:grin:

Ravenwood

Aug-14-2009, 6:33am

Yep, rain ... mud ... Santana ... Ritchie Haven. I don't remember a lot of that weekend. I wonder why ;)

Kirk Albrecht

Aug-14-2009, 6:37am

AlanN

Aug-14-2009, 7:09am

I was a camper at Camp Watitoh in Becket, Mass. Our bunk won a 'clean bunk' contest and got to go to Tanglewood. The show was The Who, The Jefferson Airplane and B.B. King. And it was maybe 2 weeks before Woodstock. I remember the Who played most of Tommy.

There's a grainy youtube of Jerry Garcia and David Bromberg in the Woodstock crowd playing a kind of grass tune, forget which.

mandopete

Aug-14-2009, 7:26am

Grass tune at Woodstock?

Nah!

:)

AlanN

Aug-14-2009, 7:38am

O Behave!

mzuch

Aug-14-2009, 9:16am

Anyone been inside the museum they built there?

I've been. It is much more than a museum, it is the Bethel Woods Center for the Performing Arts. Saw CSNY there, and Crosby quipped, "This is our 4000th gig and we're scared s***less." Saw Bob Dylan there, and he claimed to have played at 6am in the rain at the 1969 festival. Don't know what he was thinking, because he was not there in '69. Going to see Grisman and Sebastian on one of the small stages in October. If you are ever in the area, it is definitely worth a trip (no pun intended).

JeffD

Aug-14-2009, 9:57am

If you remember it, were you really participating?

Rick Schmidlin

Aug-14-2009, 10:10am

I was fourteen living in the Pocono's and heard about it on the local radio, my parents wouldm't let me go even if it was an hour away.I did go a few years later to Watkins Glenn for The Dead,Band and Allman Brother which was larger in croud but a different vibe.I saw the movie many times and had a very special first exsperance after a screening in Montana in 71. My girlfriend was born the summer of 69, so I consider here a Woodstock era baby.

journeybear

Aug-14-2009, 10:33am

I had just turned 17, could have gone, but didn't - tickets were, what, $28? That was a lot for a teenager to come up with at the time. Hitchhiking 200 or so miles on spec didn't seem sensible. I'd seen Ten Years After at the Newport Jazz Festival July 4th weekend, along with Jethro Tull, Jeff Beck Group, Blood Sweat & Tears, Johnny Winter, and Led Zeppelin, so I wasn't completely deprived that summer. :mandosmiley: I also saw Jefferson Airplane at the University of New Haven field house that fall for $3, and The Who at the Clark University field house also that fall (they did almost all of "Tommy" and then went right into "Shakin' All Over" and a lot of other stuff from "Live At Leeds," just an incredible 2+ hour show - so I don't feel I completely missed out. Ten years after Woodstock the bass player from my band at the time said he went, but didn't have a whole lot to say. Don't know why - not his kind of music at all - but he was going to college in upstate New York.

BTW, mzuch, I thought David Crosby's quip was that this was their second gig. :confused: And that old "joke" about "if you remember the 60s, you weren't there" - can we put that to rest? It's so overdone, and not really true. I remember a lot of what was going on then, and I was there. Memory retention has more to do with paying attention than being buzzed, and while I'll grant that getting a buzz on can be pretty distracting, if you're paying attention to what's going on around you as well as inside your head you'll remember a good amount. Oh, and I heard someone dosed Grateful Dead, which by then was no longer where they were at, and then they had to play with the bad electricity situation with lightning flashing (for real) all around them. I've got a tape. They were not having fun. :(

Peace and love are still pretty nice ideas. The world could really use some. And what's so funny about peace love and understanding? :confused: I really miss the idealism and camaraderie that were so much a part of the mindset at the times. There was some crazy stuff, and different factions of society were at odds with each other, but overall people were friendlier and more trusting, even squares. Something happened, I'm not sure what, but the culture took a turn. Maybe that was just a dream some of us had ... :sleepy:

Charley wild

Aug-14-2009, 10:46am

I was living in northern Michigan at the time and "into" the whole thing that was going on. And the "whole thing" was REALLY going on in the Traverse City-Leelanau County area at the time. What a GREAT place to spend the 60's! I had friends that went and enjoyed it but I never considered it. I have never like mass gatherings of any type. I quit going to the larger Bluegrass festivals for the same reason. Too many people in too small a space.
I've never regretted not going.

AlanN

Aug-14-2009, 11:06am

Watkins Glen - my brother went, I so wanted to, but parents said 'No!'

Laird

Aug-14-2009, 11:33am

And that old "joke" about "if you remember the 60s, you weren't there" - can we put that to rest? It's so overdone, and not really true. I remember a lot of what was going on then, and I was there.

Oh, and I heard someone dosed Grateful Dead, which by then was no longer where they were at, and then they had to play with the bad electricity situation with lightning flashing (for real) all around them. I've got a tape. They were not having fun.

A couple responses. First, I don't mind the old joke, though if I wanted to correct it I would expand it a bit (and lose the humor) by revising the first clause: "If you remember the sixties accurately," or "If you remember the sixties the way that other people do...." One thing I've learned as I've grown older is that my memories of what happened thirty or forty years ago--even from times when I wasn't exploring other realms of consciousness--only rarely accord with the memories of others who were there. I think our subconscious is always at work revising our memories.

My second point is simply to question the suggestion that the Dead were not into psychedelics at that point. That doesn't mean they weren't negatively affected by being dosed by someone else, but my understanding is that psychedelics certainly were still a part of their repertoire.

On a final Woodstock note, I'm seeing Phish in Saratoga Springs this weekend (only because it means a lot to my sweetie). I saw them a lot when they were a regional act in the late 80s, and only once since then. Hoping they'll pull out something to commemorate that iconic concert that took place just down the road.

Laird

Aug-14-2009, 11:34am

Watkins Glen - my brother went, I so wanted to, but parents said 'No!'

Probably my favorite Dead show of all time.

Michael Gowell

Aug-14-2009, 11:51am

I was 22, driving south out of the Adarondacks with my young bride and new baby, in the middle of our first 2-week vacation. We had some vague notion of checking out Woodstock, but about 40 miles away there was a police roadblock and a very thorough search of each vehicle. Their story was that there was an escaped convict in the area, but I dunno...the timing seemed too coincidental...but then we were all jumpy about troopers and cops in those days.

In any case, the experience dampened our ardor and we went to New England instead.

Rick Schmidlin

Aug-14-2009, 11:51am

Probably my favorite Dead show of all time.

Mine: Scranton Pa. April 71 w/New Riders and Jerry on pedal steel

lenf12

Aug-14-2009, 11:55am

I had just turned 17, could have gone, but didn't - tickets were, what, $28? That was a lot for a teenager to come up with at the time. Hitchhiking 200 or so miles on spec didn't seem sensible. I'd seen Ten Years After at the Newport Jazz Festival July 4th weekend, along with Jethro Tull, Jeff Beck Group, Blood Sweat & Tears, Johnny Winter, and Led Zeppelin, so I wasn't completely deprived that summer.

Hey Journeybear,

Thanks for the memory refresher. I too was at the Newport Jazz Festival in
'69 and you're right, after that festival, nobody was deprived. I was 18 and a newly minted high school grad who had to work a shabby, low paying supermarket job the weekend of Woodstock. I was able to get the July 4th weekend off however and went to Newport from my home in Providence (a mere 30 or so miles). What a trip that was and a precursor/warmup for many Woodstock performers and attendees. Prior to 1969, attendance at Newport Jazz Fest was in the 15 to 20K range. In 1969, that skyrocketed to over 85K prompting the promoters and local police force to start the rumor about Led Zeppelin cancelling their show closing Sunday night performance. Many people left the festival grounds but many more stayed to see if the rumor was true. "Been dazed and confused for so long it's not true" rang out through the misty skies of the City by the Sea. What a great time to be a teenager. After talking with a few friends who did attend Woodstock, I'm kinda glad I had to work and only experienced that festival through the movie and recordings.

BTW - some coincidences aside, Journeybear. We were both at Newport in '69, own(ed) Gibson F-12's and now live in Florida. Small world. Sorry to have led this discussion on a temporary tangent.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

journeybear

Aug-14-2009, 12:08pm

Hey Len - Have we met? Who am us, anyway? :))

(Don't worry folks - I'll get to Woodstock soon, but right now the New York Thruway is closed, man ...)

Newport is about 40 miles from where my mom's place was then, along the southern shores. I hitched up for Friday and Sunday evenings. I recently found a copy of the ad for the weekend, and I am kicking myself for not going up on Saturday too. The Mothers? Sly And The Family Stone? Stephane Grappelli??? Of course I didn't know who he was then and had only been playing mandolin a year, but in retrospect ...

I hadn't heard about that rumor spread by the police, but I'm sure they were concerned. Friday night some people knocked down part of the fence, and I'm sure they were worried about a repeat. I was sitting on the hill behind the fenced-in area, and you could hear just fine from there, and for free. The promoters decided not to have rock acts again in 1970, tried again in 1971 with more mayhem, and never had any since. I've been doing research on these shows, and have managed to find set lists for Tull, Zep, and Jeff Beck Group. Jogging my overburdened memory just a bit ...

Speaking of which ... Yeah, Laird, I wasn't 100% clear. What I meant is they weren't tripping while playing any more (as far as I know), though what they did on their own time is anyone's guess. :) Besides, there is a big differrence between planning to trip and getting dosed, the latter being cruel and disorienting, and potentially far, far worse.

Dan Hoover

Aug-14-2009, 4:21pm

hey..how was the saturday afternoon with James Brown w/Nipsey Russell??:grin::grin:
i looked at this woodstock dvd again,haven't watched it yet,i have seen the original many times...lp and cd...but my wife say's "wait,tomorrow night"...but i see Mountain is on the uncut disc...any Mountain stories you ol'foggies want to share??:grin:

woodwizard

Aug-14-2009, 5:08pm

I almost hitched up there. Was 17 and going to be a senior in H.S.. Was really into the music. But New York seemed like another country to me from Arkansas and when some of my friends that were going to hitch with me backed out so did I. Not to mention my parents were going banannas over my plan. Yes ... I wish I would have went. Peace...

Charley wild

Aug-14-2009, 5:25pm

Ahh, Newport. I attended the infamous 1960 "Beer Riot" festival. I was in the Navy and stationed there. Who at the age of nineteen could pass up a festival of any kind? It was crazy! I remember walking down Thames Street and just picking up full cans of beer from the street. About three blocks later we were covered with beer from opening all the cans! The music was great. I wasn't and am not a jazz fan but even then I sense enough to recognise talent when I heard it! Great fun!

SternART

Aug-14-2009, 5:25pm

My second point is simply to question the suggestion that the Dead were not into psychedelics at that point. That doesn't mean they weren't negatively affected by being dosed by someone else, but my understanding is that psychedelics certainly were still a part of their repertoire.

If you read the kiss & tell books......even Phil wrote one.......Laird is correct, by many years, and this as I recall, includes on stage. Most of the Jerry books, by various members of the Dead family, came out years ago & I read them as they were published. Phil's was interesting too.

re simmers

Aug-14-2009, 5:30pm

I was 10 years old. My dad was a white shirt and wing-tip IBM man. He brought Woodstock to my attention after it was over.......just to reinforce the fact that my hair was NOT going to EVER be long. I immediately went down to the liquor store and bought a magazine that had big story about Woodstock. I was hooked. I got my grandfather to give me one of his blue & white hankys to use as a headband; my grandmother gave me the biggest pair of sun-glasses she had, and I started going barefoot everywhere. I was living on the edge at 10!!! Dad happened to see me "in uniform" and quickly took me to the barbershop for a complete crew-cut. Yeah, I remember it.

Link

Aug-14-2009, 6:05pm

Woodstock? The Peanuts bird? Spoke in lines? Yeah, I remember him. He was awesome! There was this one strip... Wait.

That concert thing? Pshaw! There was no metal there!

jim_n_virginia

Aug-14-2009, 6:36pm

I'm wondering if anybody reading this was actually at Woodstock. And if so, what do they remember. And if not actually there, what were you doing when Woodstock took place.

Since I was 11 years old I was probably riding my bike and tormenting my sister comepletely oblivious to Woodstock at the time.

I didn't even hear about Woodstock until I was much older and my friend's older brother talked about it.

mrmando

Aug-14-2009, 6:58pm

Me? I was at home, contemplating my living quarters. I said to myself, "In about three months I'm going to outgrow this place. But that's OK, I think I'll be ready by then to get out and see the world."

jefflester

Aug-14-2009, 7:03pm

farmerjones

Aug-14-2009, 7:11pm

i was living in L.A. and didn't make it, but shortly after, we were talking with Arlo about it at Woody's shack in Topanga canyon.

We had the Love-ins at Griffith Park. Now, if you were at one of those, you were definately a part of the Summer of Love.

Altamont messed it all up.

SternART

Aug-14-2009, 7:17pm

Farmer is right.
Started with the Summer of Love/ Monterey Pop Festival......segue to Woodstock.......Ended with Altamont. There was one exception.......Grateful Dead concerts.

jim simpson

Aug-14-2009, 7:20pm

I dated a girl who had attended - that got me some cred among our local hippies. Loved the performances in the movie.

Rhinestone

Aug-14-2009, 7:32pm

I was 22 at the time and I spent that summer playing lead guitar in a top 40 rock band that had a steady 6 night a week gig (remember those?) at the Peppermint Beach Club in Ocean City, Maryland. I wanted to make it and about 20 or so of my friends did go to Woodstock but I had a gig and couldn't get the time off. It was historically important and I wish I could say I was there but with all my buddies told me about the hassles getting in and outa there,the rain,mud and bad acid - plus I've seen and met most of the bands that played there either before or shortly after that - it's probably just as well.
Speaking of the Dead, my band opened for them in the summer of 68 at the Virginia Beach Dome and Jerry asked me to jam with them at sound check which I attempted to do but something I'd ingested earlier in the day was kicking in and causing my mind to wander so Jerry yelled across the stage for me to unplug and sit down. I was crushed. That story followed me all the way to California and across 4 decades and in the minds of some,I'm still "The guy who was too high to jam with the Dead...."

acousticnotes

Aug-14-2009, 7:32pm

I was 10, living in suburban Philadelphia. I remember my brother - who was 14 at the time - unsuccessfully arguiing with my dad about going. He was a drummer and really into the music scene and all that went with it in 1969, but my folks weren't about to let him hitch to NY state for some rock music festival. They were - wisely - pretty scared about the effects of the growing drug culture.

I later became good friends with a couple who were there (their oldest son is my godlson), and worked for a guy painting during college who survived the brown acid.

Same story. I was also fourteen at the time. I lived in upstate N.Y. so I didn't have far to go. Nobody knew how big this was going to get but my mom didn't want me to hang around the older kids that were going. Looking back at her decision I'm glad she stopped me. Let's just say it didn't work out to well for the others. Mom's always know:confused:

JeffD

Aug-14-2009, 7:55pm

Different times, different sensibilities, different music.

I was eleven. It would be a year before I played a musical instrument, and seven years before it was a mandolin.

Marcus CA

Aug-14-2009, 8:02pm

I was only 12 when Woodstock occured.

Me, too, and I was on the wrong coast. If I had been on the right coast, I wouldn't have bothered asking my parents, because their answer needed no speculation.

However, to their eternal credit, my parents --- who still can't stand rock-and-roll --- took me to see the movie in the theater when it came out the following June. R-rated movie. Couldn't go without them. Couldn't just wait for the video to come out. The theater even had that special smoke in the air. :disbelief: They knew that the movie was three hours long, and never made any suggestion to leave early. They endured.

SternART

Aug-14-2009, 8:08pm

Speaking of the Dead, my band opened for them in the summer of 68 at the Virginia Beach Dome and Jerry asked me to jam with them at sound check which I attempted to do but something I'd ingested earlier in the day was kicking in and causing my mind to wander so Jerry yelled across the stage for me to unplug and sit down. I was crushed. That story followed me all the way to California and across 4 decades and in the minds of some,I'm still "The guy who was too high to jam with the Dead...."

Michael......wonderful story ......a badge of honor IMO!!!

jim simpson

Aug-14-2009, 8:26pm

I did make it to Woodstock some years later and found Big Pink!

Chief

Aug-14-2009, 8:49pm

Hey- some great stories- hopefully most of them are true. Let's keep the good vibes going all weekend!!! Let's all go back to Yasgur's farm one more time. I'm amazed that people reading this were actually there. Totally heavy. I'm not worthy!

taterpicker

Aug-14-2009, 9:04pm

Rhinestone - I was only sixteen at the time, but well remember the Wild Kingdom when I was growing up in Williamsburg, Virginia. You were quite the rock and roll legend as I remember. We likely had a few friends in common as I knew a lot of local rock and roll players, but I soon was bitten by the bluegrass bug and never looked back. I saw lots of great shows at the Dome in Va Beach, but not the Dead. Wish that place were still there. Didn't expect to find you on the Cafe, but glad I did. Those were certainly interesting days. Nope, didn't go to Woodstock, but my best friend and I considered it.

Philphool

Aug-14-2009, 9:09pm

I was working in a retail store as a summer job to get some $$ for next semester college. Woodstock wasn't even on my radar at the time.

Fortunately, I had just seen Janice J., the Association, 3 Dog Night, the Fifth Dimension & Chicago that year, so it wasn't a total loss.

Marcus CA

Aug-15-2009, 5:22pm

I did make it to Woodstock some years later and found Big Pink!

I got there ten years ago, and it wasn't pink any more. :( Still, it was great seeing the house and the famously photographed meadow. Didn't have the nerve to get out of the car and ask my wife to take a picture of me, though. I'm jealous.

A buddy of mine had gone inside the house a few years earlier because the owner/resident at the time had a huge vinyl collection which he was trying to sell off. When my friend went to see if the guy had anything interesting, he discovered that the guy kept his records IN THE BASEMENT!!!

Bob DeVellis

Aug-15-2009, 7:30pm

I was working at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts that summer. I covered a couple of extra shifts so that some of the other guys working there could go to Woodstock. I'd lost my father earlier that summer and wasn't in a particularly festive state of mind, so enabling others to go seemed like a good option. Woodstock was certainly a cultural watershed.

John G

Aug-16-2009, 4:15pm

I was still high from Apollo 11. All I remember about Woodstock was the traffic jam on the evening news. I wasn't there but I doubt if the stench of b.o. and mud would have been very appealing. Pete Townsend had a similar feeling about the whole thing. Some great music though, even though sporadic. CSN, Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, Joe Cocker. Legendary performances. Still, if I had a choice, I think Monterrey Pop was the festival to be at. Most of the musicians have said the same.

RichieK

Aug-16-2009, 6:06pm

Hey Alan,
My wife went to Camp Scatico and was at that same Tanglewood concert as you. Her counselor went to Woodstock 'just for the day', and didn't get back for almost a week. Everybody was scared.
We ended up living in a small town near Woodstock starting in the mid-late 80's and I swore that I saw Mike Compton driving on Rt.28 and thought I must be hallucinating..he eventually told me that he did live around there for a short time.
BTW,most people don't know that the town of Woodstock is about 60 miles north and in a different county than where the festival was actually held.

journeybear

Aug-16-2009, 6:19pm

Monterey and Woodstock were two very different yet similar festivals, from a musical point of view, and both important for the burgeoning youth culture, rock evolution, and the whole counterculture/alternative lifestyle movement. Monterey was groundbreaking for being the first major festival of its kind, and being a real coming-out party for bands like The Who and Jimi Hendrix. Woodstock was important for being the fulfillment of a lot of young people's dreams of a new antiestablishment society (at least for three days :) ), as well as an opportunity for some great music - and a real coming-out party for bands like Santana, Ten Years After, and CSN. Monterey may have been more revolutionary, and its success led the way for other festivals, but Woodstock got more press and widespread notoriety. I don't know what the camping situation was for Monterey, but surely the weather was better, there were fewer attendees (not to mention gatecrashers), and people were a bit more "civilized." ;) Anyway, that's how I understand it.

Would some of you who were at Woodstock please tell me - was it CSN or CSNY? Neil Young isn't in the movie, but some people (including Neil Strauss of the NY Times in his 30th anniversary coverage) have said he performed there. Odd how there could be disagreement about something as obvious as this. :confused:

BTW, Jim - that is one cool photo of you in front of Big Pink! :cool: How did you ever find it? And Marcus - sad to think it's no longer pink. :disbelief: That should have been preserved by the National Register of Historic Places!

acousticnotes

Aug-16-2009, 8:26pm

acousticnotes

Aug-16-2009, 8:30pm

Ravenwood

Aug-17-2009, 3:09am

Would some of you who were at Woodstock please tell me - was it CSN or CSNY? Neil Young isn't in the movie, but some people (including Neil Strauss of the NY Times in his 30th anniversary coverage) have said he performed there. Odd how there could be disagreement about something as obvious as this. :confused:

There has always been a lot of confusion on that. Unfortunately, I can't help much other than to say that it was billed as CSNY at the time.

It really was quite an experience at the time. I was only 16. An older cousin was attending UM and living in Ann Arbor. For whatever reason, my parents let me spend weekends and longer with him during the summer. Ann Arbor was just thirty miles from the town where we lived. That week, I was invited to go along to a music festival. My parents had no idea what that was about, but then, neither did I. We drove all night Wednesday to get to Woodstock, NY midday on Thursday, only to find we weren't in the right place. It took us most of Thursday night to find our way down to Bethel. By the time we got there the crowd had already overfilled the place. We ended up near the back of the crowd. As it turned out, weather wise that was probably a good thing. The ground wasn't nearly as wet and muddy at the top of the hill.

Unfortunately, that put us far enough from the stage that we couldn't see all that well. I don't remember hearing him sing though. But then again, between being a bit buzzed and a bit overwhelmed, I'm not sure that I would remember all that well.

Dan Hoover

Aug-17-2009, 6:19am

i was 6,so i wasn't there,but Neil plays "Sea of Madness" w/CSN on the original soundtrack...i read or saw a interview w/Neil somewhere?,he said something about riding in the back of a stolen truck w/Jimi Hendrix at the event??...have to look around..here's the set list...cheers

http://www.woodstockstory.com/bandsperformerssetsplaylists1969.html

JeffD

Aug-17-2009, 6:45am

I'm not sure what, but the culture took a turn. Maybe that was just a dream some of us had ... :sleepy:

It must be a kind of wierd to see Woodstock, and indeed the whole 60s thing, treated like a historical artifact.

To me, at 11 years of age at the time, Woodstock was just something else parents and older siblings were incesantly yammering on and on about.

It was far more significant to me, a budding nerd, that we were walking on the moon.

I am reading a book about musical lives in the Carolinas, and there is this quote from a fellow recounting his times in a touring band in the late 60s early 70s: "At this point, it's evident that the counterculture died of self-inflicted wounds. The world didn't change as expected, and everybody was scrambling to catch up with real life, which was leaving us and our families in the dust."

There is a sadness there, that I did not experience directly but that I can understand.

journeybear

Aug-17-2009, 8:35am

Thanks Dan - that is a great resource! As so often happens with oral history, memory impacts accuracy - depending on who's doing the telling, diffrerent things get included, emphasized, or omitted altogether. From this author's account: "The set included acoustic performances of songs from the first album released without Young, who came out and played as a duo with Stills. They were announced as their former band Buffalo Springfield, although the actual Buffalo Springfield had since disintegrated." That makes it sound more like "CSN with special guest Neil Young." Then in the video clip, Neil is out there again playing guitar on "Long Time Coming." Plus on the set list is "Mr. Soul," a Buffalo Springfield song written by Neil Young. Still, CSN is how I'd score it, if most of the set was by the trio, and Neil was brought out for just a couple or few songs, especially since the posters say "Crosby Stills and Nash."

One other thing: I was surprised to see they did "Find The Cost Of Freedom," which was the B side of the single "Ohio," released soon after the killings at Kent State the following April. I'd thought that song was written by Stills as a protest, much as Young had written "Ohio" - guess not. Guess the song was just there, available, and thematically appropriate. Later on the author says "... a hasty move by Young to release his single "Ohio " dissolved the band's relationship and the band began shifting between releases as a trio and a quartet." First off, it was their single; second, they all played on it, so it was a group effort; third, there were surely other reasons Neil left, can't put it all on one song. The way I recall it, CSN would enlist Neil for touring, calling themselves CSN&Y, but the core was CSN. Oral history!

Clearly, this means a lot to a lot of people. So many people are still talking so passionately about it, forty years later. The History Channel is running a show, "Woodstock: Then And Now," which includes remembrances from peoplewho were there.

mzuch

Aug-17-2009, 8:46am

Would some of you who were at Woodstock please tell me - was it CSN or CSNY? Neil Young isn't in the movie, but some people (including Neil Strauss of the NY Times in his 30th anniversary coverage) have said he performed there.

Neil was there with CSNY. Apparently it wasn't one of his better gigs. He disparagingly called Woodstock "that helicopter day" in one of his later songs.

Keith Erickson

Aug-17-2009, 8:58am

Woodstock??? WOW!!!! It has to be one of the top 5 historical events in our time.

...and I have to say that when Woodstock was happening I cried hysterically :disbelief:

That's because at the time I was 8 months old and probably hungry and needed a diaper change ;)

Sorry I couldn't resisit :))

...but on the serious side, I've heard people, who were there, talked about it. They mentioned a guy by the name of "Brent Summer" (I believe that was his name) played an awesome gig but he's not mentioned anywhere.

Could anyone shed any light on him? I've googled his name but I haven't found anything.

Thanks,

journeybear

Aug-17-2009, 9:05am

Ha ha ha! You had some things in common with a lot of attendees - lacking clothing, needing a bit of cleaning ... :))

It's Bert Sommer, and if you go to that great site Dan found you'll see some stuff about him. Long long ago I picked up his album, mostly because he claimed the distinction of being the first person to play at Woodstock - he was not, Richie Havens was. But he might have been scheduled to go on first and there were some technical difficulties so they rushed Richie Havens out there. I heard somewhere that there were some technical difficulties with the production at this event? Weather related or something? :confused: Anyway, I don't remember much about his music, guess it didn't make a big impression on me.

From the website: Sommer was also the character Woof in the first Broadway production titled "Hair", his biography states that he never lost his sense of humor about himself. He is quoted as saying "I was involved in the two most famous counterculture events of the 60’s, "Hair" and Woodstock 1969. That and a token will get you on the New York subway!"

Rick Schmidlin

Aug-17-2009, 9:15am

The was the real event was a year later so when many of around the world united in movie theaters to exsperance Woodstock on the a large screen. It was an event to see all these bands in the glory anf then seek to see them live on stage on tour( we had no MTV or rock concert movies like this).Also the soundtrack albums was played and played among friend in basements and bedrooms and united us in a new genenration from hippie to freaks. This to me was the true Woodstock esxperance for me. Over the years I had become friend with John Entwhistle and when I asked him his he said it mud and he was afraid to electical shock, he hated it. He also said the bands did not spend time there. They where flown in and out quickly.

How many you considered yourself Freaks in 1970?

mandopete

Aug-17-2009, 9:29am

Yeah, I watched the movie on T.V. last night and it brought back quite a few memories. Like Rick, I recall listening to the recording in my parent's garage with my brother as I was only 13 at the time. I really got into "I'm Going Home (by helicopter)" by Ten Years After. Alvin Lee was my musical hero at the time.

As we watching the TYA footage last night my wife asked "who's that guy with the big red guitar?" She had no idea.

My favorite line from Woodstock was "there's always a little bit of Heaven in a disaster area."

David Newton

Aug-17-2009, 9:38am

I didn't go, but my friend did, all the way from Texas.

On the first day back to school, my senior year, our english teacher, who was a cool old lady, had Gayle, my friend, get up and tell everyone what he did for the summer. He started out about the music, but when he got to what we were really interested in, the girls with few clothes, she shut him down. That story continued at lunch break.

Dan Hoover

Aug-17-2009, 12:39pm

I He started out about the music, but when he got to what we were really interested in, the girls with few clothes, she shut him down. That story continued at lunch break.

...talking about girls at the lunch room table...man those were the day's...:grin:

JEStanek

Aug-17-2009, 12:52pm

...talking about girls at the lunch room table...man those were the day's...:grin:

And continues (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19074) and continues (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/blog.php?b=164). I think those days are still these days.

Jamie

David Rambo

Aug-17-2009, 2:28pm

I also didn't go. I was a junior in college, and decided that I'd better work. Being from Southern Minnesota, the opportunity to attend was there, and friends did offer me a ride, BUT WHO KNEW! At the time it looked just like another rock concert, and there would be many other opportunities like it in the future. Again, who knew what was going to happen, and the vibe(s) that would be in the air. Wavy Gravy said that he's spent the rest of his life trying to find them again.

Mike Bromley

Aug-17-2009, 3:25pm

I was old enough to go, and even close enough, in Nova Scotia. News of the happening filtered east beforehand with the stream of draft dodgers that came up from New England.

But I was also completely blown away by the moon landing that had happened a month earlier....I remember that month being particularly 'heady'....

wow, man.

Lee

Aug-17-2009, 3:43pm

I was twelve at the time vacationing in the Poconos with the family. We often took day trips in the car to sight-see. I remember seeing make-shift stands on the street. People selling fruit, PB&J sandwiches. Hitchhikers. Traffic. And my parents saying there must be some big event, as we turned away.
Many years later I saw the Dead at Englishtown Raceway, reportedly the largest attended rock event since Woodstock. (I might be wrong). What an ordeal. What a show! Yes, I remember it well, which remains a miracle.